'The DNA Of The God Of War Score' Takes Us Through The Process Behind Composing The Music For GOD OF WAR

Peter Scaturro, who is the Lead Music Producer for the new God of War, tells us about the process that goes behind composing the music for the game and how it gives players the emotional subtext as it gives you hints of what the characters are feeling at a specific part of the story. He thinks that "that is what draws players to the gameplay and makes that connection with the characters" and that for this game they tried to do something that was very reflective of Kratos and the new setting of the game.

Scaturro mentions that there's a few particular traits that make the sound in God of War unique and is very representative of the series and that is that there's always an epic choir, big strings and some big brass. "So what we wanted to do for this installment of the game was keep that DNA intact but also give it a fresh sound and a fresh point of view." According to Mr. Scaturro, that fresh point of view came from the choir and the languagethey had the choir sing, which was Old Norse instead of the traditional Latin that a typical choir would sing. In order to do that, Scaturro says that "hey had to go to Iceland, where folk can sing and can also sing in Old Norse."

"Modern Icelandic hasn't changed very much in the last thousand years so it's very close to Old Norse" however, Scaturro says, "there are some differences and we did hire a linguist in Iceland that helped us with the translation from English to Old Norse."

He also mentions that the choir that they're working with is the Schola cantorum, which is a very popular choir in Iceland and is the one that actually sings at the church that's on the top of the hill in Reykjavik.

"Hearing Bear[McCreary ]'s initial demo for the new God of War theme...what caught our ear right from the get-go was the low choir that was used in the opening notes." Scaturro tells us that this type of sound "is the one you get with many, many singers, although it's very difficult to find a large group of singers that can sing in that low register."

One of the things that the team did was to record the Icelandic choir singing in Old Norse first because they wanted the autenticity in the pronunciation of the lyrics. When they were done recording, Scaturoo says that they took their crew to London and worked with a choir that specialises in those base notes. "So we had another choir sing on top of the sonic blueprint that was already created bythe Icelandic choir."

"What we're hoping that fans take away from this is a sense of authenticity that comes through in the music and its support of the new environment that this game is setting."

His vengeance against the Gods of Olympus years behind him, Kratos now lives as a man in the realm of Norse Gods and monsters. It is in this harsh, unforgiving world that he must fight to survive…And teach his son to do the same. This startling reimagining of God of War deconstructs the core elements that defined the series—satisfying combat; breathtaking scale; and a powerful narrative—and fuses them anew.