Doom's composer talks taking the game's music to the next level

Features
By ( Louder ) published

A new Doom game has arrived and, as is customary for the series, the action is fully supported by a brutally intense heavy metal soundtrack.

Doom 2016 Baron of Hell PS4 Xbox One PC Bethesda
Baron of Hell (Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)

A new Doom game has arrived and, as is customary for the series, the action is fully supported by a brutally intense heavy metal soundtrack.

In a new video series exploring the creation of the new soundtrack, composer Mick Gordon has been talking about the methods he has used to create what is possibly the the most crushingly heavy game soundtracks around.

One of his main tools in building the soundtrack for Doom is a nine-string guitar to add that extra edge of heaviness to the game’s music.

Gordon enthused, “Doom carries a really strong legacy. It set such a high bar when it first came out it set the trajectory for the modern first-person shooters that we know today. When you’re dealing with such a strong legacy it’s really important to treat it with the utmost respect.”

“That original E1M1 riff is iconic. It is Doom. I wanted to try to find a way to make it bigger and bolder,” he went on. “The first thing I did was make the riff a little bit lower. When you play the riff back lower it feels more aggressive already but I kinda felt that it needed to be lower still. I got ahold of a nine-string guitar to go even lower. Then what I was able to do was reconstruct E1M1 using the nine-string guitar while still incorporating the original four notes.”

Doom is out now on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Our review of the game is coming really soon so watch this space.