God of War II
Year: 2007
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Gerard Marino, Mike Reagan, Ron Fish, Cris Velasco
Number of tracks: 31
Triumphant entrance
Two years after the God of War-series celebrated its extremely dramatic debut, which culminated in the coronation of protagonist Kratos as the new god of war, God of War II was released in 2007 and not only showed visually where the journey was heading: Bigger, more epic, more brutal was the motto. And what could be more blatant than not just taking on a deity from the Greek pantheon, but replacing them directly? That's right, waging war on the entire clan of gods!
The fact that this would also be reflected in the soundscape is as expected as it is welcome. After all, I had criticized the predecessor for lacking the bombast characteristic of the series. Admittedly, the first part of a series is difficult to speak of familiar standards, but nevertheless, my retrospective view is biased by what God of War stands for today - and that is epic.
So it's all the more pleasing that the army of composers who were brought together for the second part were able to pull some nice things out of their brains to satisfy my lesser instincts. Above all Cris Velasco, whose signature we already know from Dark Messiah of Might and Magic , hovers over the score. Let's take the fantastic The Isle of Creation as an example: Powerful drums, accompanied by violins and trumpets and finally complimented by chorales, herald an epic. We see the scenery unfolding before our mind's eye while the music gets us going. Soon there will be divine graves filling, soon there will be epic action. The track is emblematic of what characterizes this score: greatness.
This starts with the main theme God of War II , which thunders towards us like a Wagnerian opera with a wall of sound and leaves us awestruck, but it doesn't stop there. The theme for anti-hero Kratos also begins to slowly take shape, always accompanied by the surging lamentations of his enemies. It is exciting to see how the composers seem to be becoming increasingly sure of where the musical journey should go, namely towards more grand orchestration and away from more moderate tones, as we know them from Prince of Persia , for example. Prince of Persia , for example.
With its archaic hammer blows on the anvil, The Way of the Gods literally strikes a similar chord to the main theme, even if I like The Way of the Gods a little better here. Battle for the Skies, on the other hand, is chaotic and uncoordinated, like a fight in free fall. The Summit of Sacrifice and An Audience with Cronos are more reminiscent of 'classic' video game drama such as World of Warcraft or Dragon Age: Origins, without breaking out of the style of the score.
Despite the large number of contributors, the OST is once again pleasantly coherent: tracks such as the very tribal-like Typhon Mountain or quieter pieces such as The Bathhouse seem more inspired than in the first God of War. In general, the two years of production in the music department were successfully used to give the score the necessary polish that I felt was missing before. Only the final tracks such as the techno mash-up Colossus Remix by Junkie XL, the death metal orgy Blood of Destiny by Shadow Falls and the hip-hop intermezzo God-Like by George 'TraGiC' Doman fall completely out of line and, in my opinion, were not needed - but well, it doesn't hurt anyone.
And that's how I'd like to end this comparatively short review, which leaves me with the feeling that I've actually said too little. However, due to its uniformity, the OST is good throughout, but also difficult to differentiate. At the end, you get the feeling that you've just run a marathon to Athens and your blood has to cool down to normal temperature again. I therefore recommend - as I always do - simply listening to it. And if you don't believe me, you can also take another look at this review from tvtropes.org , which shares my opinion. Ha!
No. | Title | Artist(s) | Ratings |
---|---|---|---|
01 | God of War II | Gerard Marino | |
02 | The Glory of Sparta | Mike Reagan | |
03 | The Way of the Gods | Gerard Marino | |
04 | Colossus of Rhodes | Gerard Marino | |
05 | The Bathhouse | Mike Reagan | |
06 | Death of Kratos | Gerard Marino | |
07 | The End Begins | Gerard Marino | |
08 | Typhon Mountain | Mike Reagan | |
09 | Waking the Sleeping Giant | Cris Velasco | |
10 | Battle for the Skies | Mike Reagan | |
11 | Exploring the Isle | Gerard Marino | |
12 | The Isle of Creation | Cris Velasco | |
13 | The Summit of Sacrifice | Ron Fish | |
14 | An Audience with Cronos | Ron Fish | |
15 | The Barbarian King Returns | Cris Velasco | |
16 | Bog of Lost Souls | Ron Fish | |
17 | Battle in the Bog | Mike Reagan | |
18 | Crossing the Lowlands | Gerard Marino | |
19 | Atlas | Ron Fish | |
20 | Palace of the Fates | Ron Fish | |
21 | Phoenix Rising | Cris Velasco | |
22 | Ashen Spire | Gerard Marino | |
23 | Athena | Mike Reagan | |
24 | The Battle for Olympus | Gerard Marino | |
25 | Colossus Remix | Junkie XL | |
26 | Blood of Destiny | Shadows Fall | |
27 | God-Like | George 'TraGiC' Doman | |
28 | Atlas Remembers [Bonus] | Gerard Marino | |
29 | Kratos and Atropos [Bonus] | Ron Fish | |
30 | Pursuing Destiny [Bonus] | Cris Velasco | |
31 | Theme of Fates [Bonus] | Gerard Marino |