Year: 2007
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Jeremy Soule
Number of tracks: 23

★★★★★

A Score Supreme

Massive battles, hundreds of units, fantastic graphics - developer legend Chris Taylor and his team gloriously delivered on all these promises in 2007 with Supreme Commander . The game was a fever dream come true for every strategy nerd who no longer wanted to see their fantasies of omnipotence reduced to just a few kilometers of battlefield and a handful of units. Instead, in the distant future, we command armies of units, from small mini-mechs to skyscraper-high, rolling tank factories - on the ground, in the water and in the air!

To get this war machine up and running, we build energy-efficient bases and upgrade them through the three tech levels in order to autonomously produce the two required raw materials (energy and mass) at some point. While units flow out of our factories like an assembly line, we build defense towers and shield generators, install sensor and sonar systems, protect areas with artillery positions, and so on. The concept that we don't have to deduct these investments from our resource account in the traditional way, but 'only' have to make sure we have a positive final balance, was as revolutionary as it was unusual.

Supreme Commander (2007)

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance (2007)

Supreme Commander 2 (2010)

We get the tools to understand these mechanics in the extensive campaign, which we can choose to play from the perspective of the rival factions UEF, Cybrans and Aeon - all three with their individual characteristics and idiosyncrasies, of course. If you wanted to complain about a lack of content, you've really come to the wrong place with Supreme Commander . Instead, I can only warmly recommend (not least because of the computing power now available and designed for it) that every genre fan should give the game a try if they haven't already done so.

Massive game, massive soundtrack? A thought that may also have arisen when deciding on the musical accompaniment and found its answer in the name of Jeremy Soule. Already a big name in the western games industry at the time, it was an obvious and logical decision to engage the composer of the Guild Wars and The Elder Scrolls series - not least because he had already contributed the OST to the spiritual predecessor Total Annihilation.

In keeping with the epic on the screen, Soule's acoustic interpretation of the action is also designed for grandeur, scale and sheer bombast. To this end, he draws on his well-honed keyboard of fanfares, drums and strings, as we know them from other games such as Knights of the Old Republic or Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Meanwhile, requests for futuristic sounds go unheard (with the exception of the techno borrowings in The Tip of Our Spear). Instead, the score is an expansion of Soule's work on Company of Heroes, which was released a year earlier.

In general, the proximity in terms of content to his other strategy compositions is both clearly apparent and logical. Consequently, the Supreme Commander-OST reads like a classic performance, anachronistic to the sci-fi setting, broken down to the military confrontation between two factions. The pieces sway back and forth. Triumph and failure lie close together in tracks such as The Final Cataclysm , reflecting the dynamic course of the battle.

One particularly nice feature: there is a main theme called Bellum Infinitus! And this is not just a decorative accessory, but runs consistently through the entire arrangement. For example, it can be found in excerpts in the intro video The Final Act Begins , the calmer Risk, Relief and Victory, in a sustained version in One Planet at a Time and finally in the track The Future Battlefield, which accompanied the 2006 E3 trailer. Readers know that I'm going to applaud this, as to me a leitmotif is what holds a composition together and makes it complete.

While the themes of the factions (United Earth Federation, The Cybran Nation, The Aeon Illuminate) are pleasantly diverse and less militaristic, the remaining battle tracks such as The Winds of Change, Clash of the Champions, Massive Attack and the aforementioned Risk, Relief and Victory are also largely convincing. A few atmo tracks such as Dead Grounds, Employed Strategy, Followers of the Way, A Cloudy Path as well as Enlightenment bring the average back down to a good level.

I am also surprisingly uncritical of the fact that tracks that were used in cutscenes have made it into the OST. This is because the narrative component gives the sometimes rather uniform pieces a dynamic and a little more epic - or at least a climactic structure. As one of Soule's specialties, it is simply fun when the calm build-up in pieces such as The Final Act Begins or The Future Battlefield work towards something that discharges with full force and rewards us for patient listening. The final movie There Will Be Peace on the other hand, falls a little short. The bottom line, however, remains a clear recommendation!

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	Bellum Infinitus	Jeremy Soule	5
02	The Final Act Begins	Jeremy Soule	5
03	An Old Idea Made New	Jeremy Soule	5
04	United Earth Federation	Jeremy Soule	4
05	Risk, Relief and Victory	Jeremy Soule	5
06	The Cybran Nation	Jeremy Soule	4
07	Symbiont Legion Rising	Jeremy Soule	3
08	Dead Grounds	Jeremy Soule	1
09	Employed Strategy	Jeremy Soule	2
10	The Wings of Change	Jeremy Soule	5
11	One Planet at a Time	Jeremy Soule	5
12	The Aeon Illuminate	Jeremy Soule	4
13	Followers of the Way	Jeremy Soule	2
14	Clash of the Champions	Jeremy Soule	5
15	A Cloudy Path	Jeremy Soule	2
16	Enlightenment	Jeremy Soule	2
17	Massive Attack	Jeremy Soule	4
18	The Final Cataclysm	Jeremy Soule	5
19	There Will Be Peace	Jeremy Soule	3
20	The Future Battlefield	Jeremy Soule	5
21	Build Music	Jeremy Soule	4
22	Battle Music [Bonus]	Jeremy Soule	3
23	The Tip of Our Spear [Bonus]	Jeremy Soule	4

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Year: 2007
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Jeremy Soule
Number of tracks: 17

★★★★★

Forged Alliance

With Forged Alliance , not only did new (super) units and buildings enter the battlefield, but also the discreetly overpowered fourth faction of the alien Seraphim. With various gameplay adjustments and optimizations, the add-on is a must-buy for fans of the main game, even if the campaign is a little less diverse this time. Instead of different actions, we are only given the choice of which of the original factions we want to play with at the start of the mission - lame.

The score, once again composed by Jeremy Soule, continues the tradition with well-known strengths and relies on a mixture of battle epic and irrelevant ambient sprinkling. While the latter in particular is unlikely to inspire enthusiasm, it is negligible anyway due to the game concept. After all, it is replaced by the much more exciting battle tracks such as Rhiza’s Offensive or Seraphim Unleashed at the faintest idea of a confrontation.

Meanwhile, the composer allows himself a slight evolution through the integration of rock elements, which give tracks such as Supreme Commander Reprise or Cybran Razors a headbanging momentum in the form of electric guitars. Although they also work well in the versions without strings, I like it a little better with the extra 'Spice' and it also reminds me of the work of Soule's brother Julian for Star Trek: New Worlds. In general, however, this innovation can't hide the smaller scope and enthusiasm factor that the Forged Alliance-OST has in my opinion. It's not bad, but it is somewhat overshadowed by the fantastic main game.

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Nostalgia warning

The rating of the individual tracks is purely subjective and clearly colored by my own experience with the game. You can find out more in the article About Nostalgia.

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	Visitors from the Quantum Realm	Jeremy Soule	3
02	Colonial Defense Coalition	Jeremy Soule	4
03	The Art of War	Jeremy Soule	5
04	Rise of the Seraphim	Jeremy Soule	3
05	Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Cold	Jeremy Soule	3
06	Supreme Commander Reprise	Jeremy Soule	5
07	Brackman's Strategy	Jeremy Soule	2
08	Cybran Razors	Jeremy Soule	5
09	Aeon Aggressors	Jeremy Soule	3
10	Rhiza's Offensive	Jeremy Soule	5
11	Seth-Iavow's Inner Sanctum	Jeremy Soule	1
12	An Approaching Darkness	Jeremy Soule	2
13	Seraphim Unleashed	Jeremy Soule	3
14	The Princess Seals the Deal	Jeremy Soule	3
15	An Old Friend Returns	Jeremy Soule	3
16	Supreme Commander Reprise [Withouth Guitar]	Jeremy Soule	4
17	Cybran Razors [Withouth Guitar]	Jeremy Soule	4