Quake series has been known in the gaming industry for nearly 14 years. The first three parts were made by franchise owners - id Software, and could boast of Trent Reznor, the irreplaceable leader of Nine Inch Nails, who created a dark ambient of the first part, and Sascha Dikiciyan (Sonic Mayhem), who worked on the second and the third parts. Despite the different approaches to work on the soundtrack, all the music throughout the trilogy, one way or another, had something in common in its concept. Gnash, screams, march and metal inseparably ran all through the entire series.

And here the fourth part, which suddenly decided to continue the plot of Quake II, comes into play. Developers from Raven Software, who had long-standing and very close ties with id Software guys, were invited to create the sequel. But after the creators got their hands on a big name and an expensive engine, they took a completely fresh composer.

I hasten to upset (or to make happy) those, who only read the title, but had never been acquainted with the music presented on this album: it’s as relevant to the game as “Duke Nukem: Music To Score By” is, - in other words it’s irrelevant. Actually it has below-zero relevance at all.

Overall, it is rather strange to twist a small box with the disk in the hands and read the names of performers. You can hardly find even 3 familiar names among all of them. And, as past lessons prove, musicians yet not spoiled by the glory and high budgets of top labels are, perhaps, the most prominent figures of the music industry, still able to create works beyond the limits, ready for experimentation and risky steps, providing very exotic types of music.

The whole two-disc album is a collection of tracks connected to each other with smooth transitions and a complete lack of logic. Each disc starts with an introductory track and ends with Outro. An empty space between the beginning and the end is occupied by guys from the Unit, The Young Gods, Coptic Rain, Nine Inch Nails, etc. Even Rob Zombie paid a visit; he was placed right in the middle of the album. And what are the names here! Starfucker Inc., Yggdrasill, March of The Fuckheads, Jahya, 2x81. It is better to take them for a simple set of letters, symbols and numbers, rather than try to consciously understand what it means and how it is related to madness happening on the screen. And we have quite good reasons for such sharp words. Untrained people, for example, your mom or grandma will hear some sort of diabolical tune, squeezing the mind. And to some extent they're right. It is difficult to define a particular music style to what all action is related - so diverse this work turned out to be.

So what do we have as a result? It’ quite a worthy hodgepodge of different musical styles and you’ll want to listen to it over and over again in search of some hidden meanings and in futile attempts to understand why this high-quality fusion got the name of the famous franchise. So, it is highly recommended listening.




TransRail