Music for Zombie Gaming - Part 7

Bear McCreary is a name that has popped up quite a bit in recently years, if you're a bit of a nerd. The American born composer and musician lives in Los Angeles California. Not only does he have an awesomely manly name, he is also responsible for the soundtracks for the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead and Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. among other things.

He also composed the theatrical film score to Step Up 3D... which is actually rather good... but less talked about, certainly by most Walking Dead fans.

Although he studied under the legendary Elmer Bernstein he has undoubtedly created his own sound which, whilst clearly versatile, shows a superb understanding of pace and timing and is quite distinctive.

Bear McCreary normally works with a limited pool of musicians, typically around 10, often using less traditional instruments, with a considerable emphasis on percussion and the deliberate inclusion of discordant counter harmonies, his themes are subtle and build into considerable crescendos.

Bear McCreary's instantly recognisable opening theme to The Walking Dead is a great example of how this works and is a perfect mood-enhancer for any Zombie Board Game, Card Game or  Zombie Miniatures game.

Music for Zombie Gaming - Part 5

So here's where the purists go mental, sorry guys. 28 Days Later... yeah, I said it. Whilst upon release it was never touted as a zombie movie and even now we recognise it as an 'Infected' movie, even director Danny Boyle went on record years later to say "I kinda wanted to make a zombie movie, but I had to do things differently to get away with it.'

So whilst the movie threw a 'runners' spin on genre, John Murphy's soundtrack on the other hand really hits the spot.

Slow building, haunting and and subtly discordant, the Original Soundtrack makes a superb backdrop to any zombie game.

Personally, I would mark this as the first of the 'modern' Zombie scores, heralding in a new era of themes specifically for the genre as we know it today. As a stand alone soundtrack it is not specifically innovative. It relies upon the standards of the horror genre in building tension and conflict, music box style melodies with contrasting resonance in the strong section but I'm pretty sure it has influenced composers of the genre since it's release. For example, as it is hard not to hear its influence in Bear McCreary's work.