{"id":6637,"date":"2013-05-21T01:25:33","date_gmt":"2013-05-21T05:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6637"},"modified":"2013-05-21T01:25:33","modified_gmt":"2013-05-21T05:25:33","slug":"cd-god-of-war-ascension-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6637","title":{"rendered":"CD: God of War: Ascension (2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>G<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Very Good<\/p>\n

Label: \u00a0La-La Land Records<\/a> \/ Released: March 12, 2013<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 27 tracks \/ (65:35)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: 16-page colour booklet with liner notes \/ Limited to 3000 copies.<\/p>\n

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Composer: Tyler Bates<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

300<\/strong> (2006) may have typecast Tyler Bates to the extent of being the go-to composer for epic scores that harken back to a Medieval or antiquities era, but it\u2019s arguably given him plum opportunities to write and perform scores with massive orchestral elements, and God of War: Ascension<\/strong> doesn\u2019t disappoint in its enormous scope, with big brass, percussion, and mixed chorus (with vocal solos by Ciscandra Nostalghia).<\/p>\n

Bates was able to integrate a handful of themes into the PS3 video game score, ensuring most of the CD follows a quest-like path after the obligatory opening action cue (\u201cPrimordial Rage\u201d). Most tracks build towards a major dramatic declaration, if not snarl forward into a heavy action cue with thunderous percussion (\u201cWarrior\u2019s Truth\u201d) and heavy chorus reminiscent of Basil Poledouris\u2019 Conan the Barbarian <\/strong>(1982), but Bates’ fluid marriage of styles also traverse Gregorian harmonics, raging liturgical incantations, and little touches that pay homage to middle eastern prayer calls.<\/p>\n

The choral declarations get a little too familiar near the end (\u201cPrison of the Damned\u201d) due to Bates structuring cues to reach the same high-strung, emotional pitch, but there\u2019s much to enjoy in his orchestrations, especially the fine instrumental details and vocal colours which ensure none of the action build-up are wholly identical (and monotonous).<\/p>\n

La-La Land\u2019s CD features sharp mastering, and although most cues average 2 minutes, the hour-long disc features just enough balance between action and short slow-down cues to let listeners decompress a little between the orchestral grandeur (such as the leadened \u201c\u201dMartyr\u2019s Chamber,\u201d with its echoey trumpet that oddly evokes jazzman Don Ellis).<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2013 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB — Soundtrack Album — Composer Filmography<\/p>\n

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Select Merchants:<\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" —\u00a0BSX<\/a> —\u00a0Intrada<\/a> —\u00a0SAE<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0G<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ G . Rating: Very Good Label: \u00a0La-La Land Records \/ Released: March 12, 2013 Tracks & Album Length: 27 tracks \/ (65:35) . Special Notes: 16-page colour booklet with liner notes \/ Limited to 3000 copies. . Composer: Tyler Bates . . Review: 300 (2006) may have typecast Tyler Bates […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[2044,438,1637],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1J3","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6637"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6637"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6657,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6637\/revisions\/6657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}