MoTR is closed for 3 months - thank you for the support!

A huge thank you to the Tomb Raider community for all the support the Music of Tomb Raider has received over the last four and half years! Between November 23rd, 2014, and November 23rd, 2015, MoTR has had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Bobby Tahouri (Rise of the Tomb Raider), Wilbert Roget, II (Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris) & Nathan McCree (Tomb Raider I, II & III) in association with VGMO. We've also continued to support the current projects of legacy composers Nathan McCree and Peter Connelly with PR, as well as publicise fan tributes from around the globe.

A trending first in Tomb Raider history, developer Crystal Dynamics released the Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, Lara Croft GO and Rise of the Tomb Raider soundtracks for FREE. Despite the very rare support of the series' music division in the early years, we hope to have facilitated the attention the music of Tomb Raider is now receiving and deserves with the collaboration of the composers, developers and of course the community. Please continue with the discussion at our new Facebook page!

Following the tenth pillar franchise installment Rise of the Tomb Raider, sadly MoTR must close until February 22nd, 2016, while webmaster Harry undergoes a veterinary expedition in rural South Africa. We'll be back in time for the PC and PlayStation community to enjoy the game as much as we did on Xbox, and our past coverage on the new music will still be here to inform you. We're excited for the future of the Tomb Raider/Lara Croft franchises... our best wishes for the remainder of 2015 and the New Year!

The official Rise of the Tomb Raider soundtrack releases for free - exclusive MoTR interview with composer Bobby Tahouri

With 4 days until the game's launch, Redwood City studio Crystal Dynamics has officially released the Rise of the Tomb Raider Original Game Soundtrack for streaming and download via SoundCloud. The music is the work of composer Bobby Tahouri and the full track list for the album can be found in MoTR's Community Discography. This audio gift signals a trend in fan treatment from Crystal Dynamics, following the full free release of the soundtracks to their most recent titles, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris (2014, Wilbert Roget, II) and Lara Croft GO (2015, Square Enix Montreal/Pixel Audio). The next franchise pillar instalment is no exception it seems, despite the first commercial video game soundtrack release of the franchise accompanying 2013's Tomb Raider. Tahouri took an entire two years to complete the nuanced and sweeping score to Rise of the Tomb Raider:

"...the main goal is to try and figure out how best to musically support the narrative... There are so many cinematic moments in this game that just call for sweeping melodic treatment, but on the other end of the spectrum, you’ll hear plenty of ambient music to support whenever Lara needs to move with extreme care and caution... Composing the music for this game has been a dream job, and I’m looking forward to the fans playing it and experiencing the score."
- Bobby Tahouri

MoTR also had the pleasure of conducting a pre-release interview with Tahouri at the end of October, including community input, which we are able to publish today. The composer boasts numerous production credits on television and film work such as Game of Thrones and Iron Man. Tahouri takes over from established Tomb Raider (2013) composer Jason Graves - the Rise of the Tomb Raider soundtrack utilises "Lara's Theme" by Graves to maintain musical continuity for the rebooted franchise. While the soundtrack is a fixed representation, the game itself will feature procedurally generated music (effectively providing a dynamic soundtrack to each play-through), which Tahouri has elaborated on in our interview.

Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's was tasked with writing and performing an original song for Rise of the Tomb Raider, "I Shall Rise", which is too available from all good digital music retailers. Rise of the Tomb Raider releases November 10th on Xbox One and Xbox 360. Full PR via the official Tomb Raider blog. The complete interview and production credits are available after the jump below!

Original in-game song "I Shall Rise" by Karen O has digital release, accompanies Rise of the Tomb Raider launch trailer

Karen O (of indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs) has collaborated with Rise of the Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics to produce an original song for the game. As featured on Rolling Stone, the track "I Shall Rise" serves as the soundtrack to the Rise of the Tomb Raider launch trailer and is available to download today from all good digital music retailers including iTunes, Amazon & Google Play.

"Exploring Lara Croft’s relentless journey as she tests the limits of the human spirit, “I Shall Rise” is not only featured in the game, but is the soundtrack to both the launch trailer and the global TV campaign for Rise of the Tomb Raider. Inspired by Lara Croft’s journey through a hostile world as she searches for the secret of immortality, “I Shall Rise” captures the gravity and cinematic presentation of Rise of the Tomb Raider, and marks Karen O’s first original song for a video game." - Crystal Dynamics

"I Shall Rise" Official music video

“Karen truly captures Lara’s indomitable spirit and determination. The mood and atmosphere the song evokes is simply fantastic and compliments the game’s aspirational sense of adventure really well.” - Noah Hughes, Crystal Dynamics Creative Director

Although her first video game recording, O is no stranger to film soundtracks, having recorded the entire audio accompaniment to 2009's Where The Wild Things Are. She elaborates to Rolling Stone:

"They wanted drama and high-stakes and melodrama. That was very appealing to me because I love making music connected to a storyline. It was all stuff I loved like having the theme song to Lara Croft becoming an icon and the creation myth to the moment she becomes Lara... The emotional and very human story, of a young woman’s perseverance and journey in accepting her destiny as the Tomb Raider is inspiring on many levels, and I drew on those inspirations for this song. She’s such an iconic hero, the opportunity to compose this song and be part of Lara’s history is exciting.” - Karen O

There's still no word on an official Rise of the Tomb Raider soundtrack release, but as "I Shall Rise" was written and recorded explicitly for the title, the song is also set to feature within the game. While Tomb Raider: Underworld's launch trailer featured Lamb's "Gorecki" in 2008, such an internally licensed song (with a music video to boot) has not graced the Tomb Raider video game franchise since 2003's "Angel of Darkness" by Alex C. - the vinyl of which is still a rare collector's treasure to this day.

Enjoy the trailer and the official lyrics to "I Shall Rise" after the jump below!

Developer Crystal Dynamics elaborates on scoring dynamic combat with procedural music in Rise of the Tomb Raider

Following the departure of long-time Crystal Dynamics audio director Alex Wilmer (Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider: Legend, Anniversary, Underworld, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, Temple of Osiris), colleague Jack Grillo takes the wheel after the latest franchise instalment Rise of the Tomb Raider goes gold. Grillo elaborates on the procedural music system Rise of the Tomb Raider boasts with the help of Philip Lamperski, audio director, via the official Tomb Raider Blog.

The game utilises a new middleware licensed by Intelligent Music Systems, LLC that analyses MIDI compositions and generates new music - thus dynamically providing a different soundtrack to each play-through within the audio engine. The team have also provided a video demonstrating this system in action, featuring Rise of the Tomb Raider game-play with an isolated music stream (percussion only):

Read the full developer blog after the jump below! Rise of the Tomb Raider launches November 10th, 2015, on Xbox One and Xbox 360. MoTR will publish an interview with composer Bobby Tahouri prior.

Lara Croft GO Music Week continues with Pixel Audio interview, live performance footage at PAX & more [Updated]

Pixel Audio performing Lara Croft GO live at PAX, Seattle - watch the music video now
Starting the week off, Crystal Dynamics announced the release of the Lara Croft GO Official Soundtrack for free via SoundCloud as part of "Lara Croft GO Music Week". Day 2 of the occasion marks an interview with the music outfit responsible, Pixel Audio. The team behind the "mesmerising" music consists of composers Ulric Corbeil Trudel, Eric Shaw and Mathieu Beaudet:

"We were inspired by the work of Nathan McCree (Tomb Raider I, II and III) in the early stage of production. His musical composition hints to something grandiose and mysterious, almost religious, with a feeling of loneliness, while remaining luminous. Our challenge was to keep these key elements while acknowledging that Lara Croft GO is a completely different game than the franchise. It’s a turn-based puzzle-adventure game. Even though it can become very intense at times, there are no action sequences per se. We decided to go for a softer and more ambient mood in general." - Pixel Audio

The Lara Croft GO Official Soundtrack will grace our Community Discography page once all of the tracks have been released (CD promises by Friday). Read the entire Q&A and see additional photographs from the Lara Croft GO recordings at the official Tomb Raider Tumblr, as well as after the jump below!

Lara Croft GO Music Week Recapitulative:

• Day 1: Official Soundtrack announcement with track #1 A Forgotten Path
• Day 2: Pixel Audio Interview
• Day 3: Pixel Audio Live at PAX music video
• Day 4: Q&A with James Wearing, sound designer at Square Enix Montreal
• Day 5: Lara Croft GO Official Soundtrack released in full

Lara Croft GO Official Soundtrack releasing for free by Friday

As with the Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris Original Soundtrack (2014), Crystal Dynamics is set to publish the Lara Croft GO soundtrack for free via the studio's SoundCloud. "Lara Croft GO Music Week" kicks off with track 1 - A Forgotten Path, as well as the Official Soundtrack album artwork:

The Lara Croft GO soundtrack is the work of Pixel Audio, the team of composers Ulric Corbeil Trudel, Eric Shaw and Mathieu Beaudet. Every day this week a new content will be released - and MoTR will update as it hits - stay tuned! Three preview tracks were previously made available via Square Enix Music.

Bobby Tahouri composing Rise of the Tomb Raider soundtrack

Redwood City studio Crystal Dynamics, helming the development of Rise of the Tomb Raider, today announce Bobby Tahouri as the composer for the next instalment of the Tomb Raider series (full press via Xbox Wire). Tahouri's credentials include Game of Thrones, Iron Man and Despicable Me 2.

“It’s been an honor working on such a storied franchise. Lara is someone who embodies an indomitable spirit, and crafting music to accompany her on her journey has been a fantastic experience.” - Bobby Tahouri, Rise of the Tomb Raider composer

Tahouri takes the reigns from established Tomb Raider (2013) reboot composer Jason Graves. Tahouri will utilise Graves' new thematic motif for the franchise - "Lara's Theme" will carry over to Rise of the Tomb Raider in order to maintain musical continuity. Rise will feature procedurally generated music during combat and stealth segments, "using a middleware system licensed by Intelligent Music Systems, LLC". Unlike prior Tomb Raiders, said construct is to "analyse" Tahouri's compositions on the fly, effectively composing new music and providing a dynamic soundtrack to each play-through.

“Music is incredibly important in video games to help create the right atmosphere, mood and tone, and this is especially true for Rise of the Tomb Raider, which is set to be Lara’s biggest and boldest adventure yet. We love the sound Bobby brings to the game, and we’re excited for fans to join Lara in this adventure when the game launches.” - Rich Briggs, Crystal Dynamics brand director

Crystal Dynamics have also released a preview of the "Official Soundtrack" to Rise - possibly indicating the release of a commercial soundtrack for only the second time in the history of the Tomb Raider franchise. Download the track via Crystal Dynamics' official SoundCloud or take a listen below!

Rise of the Tomb Raider launches November 10th or 13th (territory-dependent), 2015 on Xbox One. PC and Playstation 4 versions are to follow in 2016. Crystal Dynamics promises additional pre-release media from their in-house audio team, "expanding on the unique soundtrack implementation" in Rise.

Wilbert Roget, II performs "Lara Croft Overture" piano solo

Much to fan delight, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris composer Wilbert Roget, II published a recording of his "Lara Croft Overture" on YouTube (below). Following this sublime presentation, MoTR made a request for the sheet music - what would be a franchise first. But Roget, II informed us that he usually plays "these piano arrangements by ear". A fair excuse, having composed the music himself.

Here's a piano performance of my theme to Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris! Watch me ham it up :-) https://t.co/FpGQPRTEkW #gamemusic

— Wilbert Roget, II (@WilbertRoget) September 8, 2015

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris was released in December 2014 on PC, Xbox One & PlayStation 4. Unlike it's musically recycled predecessor, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, the soundtrack to Temple of Osiris consisted of an entirely original score. MoTR had the pleasure of exclusively interviewing Wilbert Roget, II at Crystal Dynamics' launch of his original soundtrack album, which is still available for free!

Original Tomb Raider theme as recreated by Simon Spark

Tomb Raider music fan Simon Spark has submitted the above faithful remake of legacy composer Nathan McCree's original "Tomb Raider Theme" to MoTR. Not unlike prior re-renders of Tomb Raider III by tomekkobialka, Spark is in the dedicated process of remaking the remainder of 1996's Tomb Raider score. The (work in progress) playlist can be accessed via YouTube - the creator elaborates below:

"I've always been a big fan of the original Tomb Raider, more than any other game in the franchise, and the sense of awe, mystery and wonder that game impressed upon me (and many others I'm sure) way back in 1996 remains a fond memory thanks to Nathan McCree's music. It was like nothing else I'd heard in a video game and it even contributed to me becoming interested in making music myself.

So I created this piece mainly for fun and as something of a tribute. The Roland hardware that the TR1 score was created with was sounding a little dated to me so I set out to remake the main theme anew. Importantly though, I didn't want to reinterpret the music but rather stay as faithful to the original as I could. This took a lot of listening to the piece, picking out the notes by ear and re-creating it inside my DAW. It was a process I enjoyed so much that I'm thinking of doing the same for other early Tomb Raider tracks so, should I have time, I'll probably do exactly that." - Simon Spark

Please feel free to support and appreciate Simon Spark's efforts via the following media links, where he has also published a remake of the mansion theme from Resident Evil (1996), as well as a reinterpretation of Gareth Coker's main theme from Ori and the Blind Forest (2015). If you are interested in submitting a fan tribute piece to feature on MoTR yourself, head over to our contact page for the full details.

Simon Spark
Soundcloud | Youtube | Twitter

Preview 3 tracks from Pixel Audio's Lara Croft GO soundtrack

Square Enix Montreal have released three tracks from the original Lara Croft GO soundtrack for preview. "The Maze of Spirits", "The Maze of Stones", & "The Maze of Snakes" can be streamed via SEM's Vimeo account. The video game audio and music production company Pixel Audio, being composers Ulric Corbeil Trudel, Eric Shaw and Mathieu Beaudet, helm the "mesmerising soundtrack" to Lara Croft GO:

The Maze of Snakes.

News of a full album featuring additional original tracks has yet to be announced, either as a free download via SoundCloud à la the Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris: Original Game Soundtrack or a commercial release. An isometric, turn-based and 2-dimensional puzzle game developed by Square Enix Montreal, Lara Croft GO launches worldwide on iOS, Android, and Windows mobile devices, August 27th.

Fan piano rendition of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation receives attention from legacy TR composer Peter Connelly

Jackson Richards (aka BaaFoKeemb of Tomb Raider Forums) published a cover of Peter Connelly's main theme from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1999) as a piano solo back in March. The video has sinced gained momentum after being spotted by the composer of the piece himself, Peter Connelly:

"Although Tomb Raider was (and still is) an international success and huge video game phenomenon, I'm overwhelmed that, after 16 years, my music is still being recognised. I didn't give it any thought that it might possibly live on, never mind see others perform it and perform it so beautifully (well done Jackson Richards)." - Peter Connelly

What's more, the talent has kindly shared his arrangement of the piece for all to play at Tomb Raider Forums - click here for the PDF. Connelly published the complete soundtrack to Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation in 2012. A re-recording and future commercial release of the material could be in the works.

Rise of the Tomb Raider's dynamically adaptive soundtrack from unannounced composer showcased at Gamescom 2015

New gameplay footage of Rise of the Tomb Raider debuted at Gamescom, Cologne today as part of developer Crystal Dynamics' promotion for the upcoming franchise pillar installment. Amongst gorgeous string swells making set-piece reveals, like its predecessor, the soundtrack dynamically adapts to the player's situation. Throughout the demo the score can be heard to escalate when Croft's new focus on stealth is compromised, and again during fully-fledged combat. Percussion-based stingers occur at kills, blending seamlessly into the underlying track. Following the Siberian demonstration, a montage of Croft's journey in Syria is accompanied by a crescendo variation of Jason Graves' rebooted Lara's Theme.

The music is the work of a yet-to-be-announced composer, as Jason Graves departs the franchise following his critically acclaimed score for Tomb Raider (2013). At E3 earlier this year, Graves' theme made not only a notable return but a Western Asian variant of the motif (E #F B G F# E #D E) was heard in the "Bringing Lara to Life" feature. Crystal Dynamics have confirmed that the new thematic motif for Lara Croft as composed by Graves for Tomb Raider will feature to maintain musical continuity in Rise.

Rise of the Tomb Raider releases on Xbox One & Xbox 360 November 10th, 2015, with recently announced versions for PC due early next year as well as PlayStation 4 at the end of 2016.

Tomb Raider Tribute by film composer Douglas Edward

Composer, orchestrator and Tomb Raider fan Douglas Edward has provided MoTR with an exclusive edit (as scouted by our contributor Tudor Tulok) of his Tomb Raider Tribute - an orchestration reel utilising Nathan McCree's original Tomb Raider motif. It is a variant of an unrelated piece composed by the talent post-tribute, "Road Not Taken", with the Tomb Raider theme substituting the original thematic material:

"The Tomb Raider Tribute was something I did for fun. I've always been a huge fan of the franchise especially TR2 and TR3. Exploring different places like the opera house, the jungle, and even places like Lara's mansion were some of my favorite aspects about the games. The melody Nathan McCree wrote for the series was so simple and yet quite effective. Anytime I hear an oboe playing a single note above an ensemble it's hard for me not to think of Tomb Raider (which is definitely a sign that I played those games way too much). The tribute was basically my homage to the TR theme. The original music is such a bold reminder of the games for me, so I thought it would be cool to re-create it to an extent. Doing something like that was new to me, and despite all the video games I've played in the past, Tomb Raider is still the only one I've created a tribute like this for." - Douglas Edward

"At 0:14 you can hear me singing the theme the oboe usually plays. At 0:33 is a live performance of a classical guitar I had recently obtained. I think this is the first time I recorded it. At 1:14, I break off from the theme and build to the next section. I bring the theme back at 1:41 with a sampled choir sound of my voice I had created. 2:04 has the theme played with sampled french horns. I'm back singing the theme at 2:44 accompanied by a high live violin. At 3:25, a live viola joins the classical guitar and takes us to the end." - Douglas Edward

Douglas Edward is an accomplished festival and award-winning film composer as well as a classically trained violinist/pianist whose works include Sanitarium (starring Malcolm McDowell, Robert Englund, and Lou Diamond Phillips), Adopting Terror (starring Sean Astin and Samaire Armstrong), Meteor Apocalypse (starring Joe Lando and Claudia Christian), and The Boys of Ghost Town (starring Danny Trejo).

The composer started taking piano and violin lessons in the 3rd and 5th grade respectively: "Funny story - after taking 2 years of piano, I looked at a violin and thought this will be easy. Boy was I wrong! I continued taking lessons on both until college where I joined a choir and studied mostly Piano and Music Composition. I picked up Guitar somewhere along the way as well. Since college, I've written original scores to a number of films and productions."

Please feel free to explore more of Edward's works via the portfolio below. If you're interested in submitting a fan tribute piece to feature on MoTR, head over to our contact page for the full details.

Douglas Edward
Website | Film/TV Score Reel | Space Shuttle Sign-off: The Last Flight - a documentary edited and scored by Edward | Tell Me Why - music video from a film scored by Edward

Lyrical Tomb Raider theme as covered by Forest Elves

Talented duo Merry & Jordi, each half of the musical outfit Forest Elves, have submitted a vocally layered and rhythmic cover of the original Tomb Raider theme as crafted by legacy composer Nathan McCree. The track is a combination of elements from the 1996 Tomb Raider main theme as well as 1998's Adventures of Lara Croft main theme, with of course some original flair from Forest Elves:

Utilsing the lyrics "Bela miro de la mondo kion mi trovos sur mia vojago?" to allude to Croft's adventures, the track has garnered over 10,000 combined plays on YouTube and SoundCloud from which the piece can be downloaded. The pair have offered to elaborate on the project to MoTR below:

"For this version of the song I was very inspired by the first and third Tomb Raider themes. Both have always been my favourite out of all theme songs and actually the third Tomb Raider game is my favourite of the series. So naturally I included my favourite parts of the two songs into the instrumental." - Merry

"One of the first games I remember playing as a child was the very first Tomb Raider. I will always remember running away from the wolves and avoiding being underwater for to long; both of which made this child extremely anxious! But above all, I always enjoyed the music, which is why I suggested to Merry that we arrange a tribute cover. We put our heads together and decided that we wanted to add vocals too. We were both learning Esperanto together; a language that brings many other languages together. I felt it was fitting, just as Lara Croft travels the world and experiences so many different cultures!" - Jordi

Please feel free to support Forest Elves at the following Social Media links. If you're interested in submitting a fan tribute piece to feature on MoTR, head over to our contact page for the full details.

Forest Elves
YouTube | SoundCloud | Facebook | Twitter

Jason Graves not returning as composer for Rise of the Tomb Raider, but new Lara theme is. New composer to be revealed and a Rise of the Tomb Raider soundtrack CD release likely.

Farewell Jason! While Graves' theme will continue to accompany Lara, sadly the composer will not

MoTR has received word from our E3 2015 ambassadors on the show floor after an interview with Rise of the Tomb Raider Creative Director Noah Hughes and senior community manager Meagan Marie of Redwood City studio Crystal Dynamics. We asked, "will Jason Graves be returning as composer?":

Meagan Marie: "Jason [...] is not involved. But we don’t have any announcement for who the new composer is. I’m sure we’ll blow it out when we do."

We also asked Marie if there'd be a CD soundtrack release for Rise like its predecessor Tomb Raider:

Meagan Marie: "I think that the answer to that is we know how much fans love music, and that you guys loved the CD last time, so I would expect we’ll do something very similar. That’s not a formal announcement, but we’re definitely looking into options and we’ll let you know as soon as we have details."

Noah Hughes: "I should clarify then in that context that I really enjoyed working with Jason and I think we’d enjoy working together again, so it was something where we very much respected each other’s work. This was more a decision about this game being an evolution of the last game, and really trying to capture a new personality, so part of it was saying from the ground up that if we want to score this experience, how can we best show this transition in Lara’s character?"

Our Tomb Raider community ambassadors in Los Angeles also queried if Jason’s theme would come back, having just made a triumphant reappearance in the E3 2015 game-play trailer:

Noah Hughes: "Yeah that is fair to say that we really loved the theme work that Jason helped us establish with the reboot, and so we like themes as a style of scoring the game. We try to make sure those themes take on the tone and emotion of the moment so they are very portable but we do work with common themes to help get that sense of identity."

Thus Graves leaves his mark on the franchise with the continuity of his wonderfully crafted thematic motif for the reboot. Much like the original Tomb Raider composer Nathan McCree, his legacy may hold fast in the sequential franchise instalments to come. We wish the composer the best in his future endeavours.

Lara Croft GO to feature "mesmerising" original soundtrack [U]

Update: The video game audio and music production outfit behind Hitman GO, known as Pixel Audio, have identified themselves as responsible for the soundtrack to Lara Croft GO. Their team of in-house composers consists of Ulric Corbeil Trudel, Eric Shaw and Mathieu Beaudet. Original story below:

Expanding the Lara Croft franchise over mobile and tablet devices, Square Enix at E3 2015 today announces Lara Croft GO. The isometric, turn-based and 2-dimensional puzzle game follows the success of Hitman GO and delivers "gorgeous visuals" and "a mesmerizing soundtrack". The game has been developed by Square Enix Montreal - the music could be the work of an in-house composer but a name is yet to be attached. Take a listen to the new atmospheric material in the trailer below:

Word on the isolated release of said soundtrack via the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics' SoundCloud (à la the Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris: Original Game Soundtrack) is quiet at this early stage. But Crystal Dynamics have made the point of promising more information on the music soon. Lara Croft GO is slated for a to-be-priced worldwide release on mobile and tablets later this year.

Lara's new thematic motif by composer Jason Graves makes triumphant return in Rise of the Tomb Raider gameplay reveal

Microsoft held its annual conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles today, where Lara Croft took centre stage for a second time after showing Tomb Raider, the 2013 reboot of the franchise, at E3 2012. Rise of the Tomb Raider gameplay premièred on stage, featuring the first in-game musical cues. The ominous, danger-carving percussion-based score is closely related to the title's predecessor - only strengthening rumours of the reattachment of composer Jason Graves to the franchise. We've tweeted the BAFTA-winning composer for an indicating response, and have community ambassadors on the show floor bearing the very question of his return for developer Crystal Dynamics.

The demo ends with the gameplay teaser below, featuring Graves' bold new thematic motif for Lara Croft as intentionally constructed for the 2013 reboot. Despite the triumphant reappearance of the rebooted theme as well as the in-game signature percussion signalling involvement, Graves is yet to be officially attached to the project. Rise of the Tomb Raider hits Xbox One and Xbox 360 on November 10th, 2015.

The sound of Rise of the Tomb Raider expected at E3 2015:New trailer features "Xenocide" track from Brand X Music

Today Redwood City studio Crystal Dynamics, helming development on Rise of the Tomb Raider, gears up for E3 2015 with a second trailer featuring Croft backed by a dramatic theatrical soundtrack. The music from the new trailer has been identified as a custom version of the licensed trailer score "Xenocide" from Brand X Music, original excerpted below. Listen to the advertising audio company's entire original track via SoundCloud! "Xenocide" is placed on the industry-only, theatrical album Epyllion and is not publicly available for personal purchase. Composer John Sponsler is accredited for writing the piece.

Rise of the Tomb Raider's previous announcement trailer which made its début in June last year featured James Horner's "The Car Chase" from the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind, similarly externally sourced as the music from today's footage. Tomb Raider (2013)'s "Crossroads" trailer also featured "Thermal Shock" from RipTide Music, which is available for sale in composer Cliff Lin's digital compilation album This Is War.

It remains likely that the in-game score is the work of Jason Graves - the BAFTA award winning composer is expected to return for the sequel to 2013's Tomb Raider having crafted a new musical framework for the rebooted franchise and its iconic heroine. Thematic motifs by Graves can be heard in recent musical interludes on Crystal Compass Radio, suspected to be from Rise and signalling his rumoured attachment.

Gameplay footage with in-game music is expected to be shown at the E3 2015 Microsoft conference (June 15th). Yet to comment, MoTR will touch base with Jason Graves again then. Watch the new trailer, "Discover the Legend Within", after the jump below. The teaser premiered via French website Melty in conjunction with Coca-Cola. Rise of the Tomb Raider hits Xbox One and Xbox 360 later this year.

Peter Connelly channels Tomb Raider for Blackguards 2 OST

Update: The Blackguards 2: Official Soundtrack launches on digital music platforms including iTunes, Amazon and Spotify on the 1st of June 2015. [Originally posted 16th February 2015:]

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Chronicles and The Angel of Darkness composer Peter Connelly today releases an excerpt from his collection of work on PC-exclusive, turn-based strategy RPG Blackguards 2. Connelly's entire soundtrack to the game is included with its purchase from both Steam and Humble Store. The sample music can be streamed via the composer's SoundCloud.

In 2012 Connelly released his entire Tomb Raider catalogue via SoundCloud (The Last Revelation, Chronicles & The Angel of Darkness) including previously unreleased material. The composer was in touch with MoTR to let us know that the Blackguards 2 score is something of a spiritual successor to his music for Tomb Raider titles:

"My work on Blackguards 2 has multiple connections to Tomb Raider - it felt as though I was working on Tomb Raider again during the composition process..." - and Connelly elaborates across social media - "...when composing, I was thrown back to my Core days, so anyone who enjoys my older Tomb Raider soundtracks, particularly The Last Revelation soundtrack, will certainly enjoy this."

Connelly was last on the video game music scene for AAA Ubisoft titles Watch Dogs & The Crew (both 2014), as Composer and Audio Lead, and is next set to appear in the BEEP Video Game Music Documentary alongside fellow Tomb Raider composers Nathan McCree and Wilbert Roget, II. Feel free to like his Facebook page for updates on current projects.

Lara Croft: Relic Run soundtrack features original music

Soft-released in the Netherlands, mobile-only infinite runner title Lara Croft: Relic Run features original looping music composed by Matthew Scott & Adam Shaw. Video game sound designer Shaw can be followed on Twitter, while Scott's SoundCloud hosts "Dream". The piece accompanies Relic Run's credits:



MoTR has touched base with Tomb Raider/Lara Croft developer Crystal Dynamics - unfortunately due to the contiguous nature of the tracks there are no plans for the isolated release of this music via the studio's SoundCloud à la the Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris: Original Game Soundtrack. Lara Croft: Relic Run is slated for a free-to-play worldwide release on iOS and Android platforms later this month.

Featured tracks on Crystal Compass Radio: May 1st 2015

The second instalment of Crystal Compass Radio within the re-launched Crystal Compass Podcast (previously titled "The Crystal Habit") drops today. The dedicated musical section featuring musical breaks with both classic and more recent Crystal Dynamics Tomb Raider tracks is hosted by Senior Community Manager, Meagan Marie:

"And now for Crystal Compass Radio, prior to our Crystal Classic feature. This episode we'll be listening to the masterfully crafted 'Venice Violins' by Nathan McCree and the haunting main theme to the Angel of Darkness by Peter Connelly. Have a request for what track you'd like to hear next month? Send your thoughts to community@crystald.com. Enjoy!" - MM

As quoted, this episode's tracks include "Venice" from Tomb Raider II, composed by Nathan McCree, as well as "Angel of Darkness", serving as Peter Connelly's titular theme from the 2003 entry to the Tomb Raider video game series performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Both tracks also appear in MoTR's community and commercial discographies. Throughout the podcast also keep your ears alert for the suspected Rise of the Tomb Raider cues used as interludes during the show!

The Crystal Compass Podcast can be listened to and subscribed to via iTunes. MoTR will continue to cover the Crystal Compass Radio segments which serve as official acknowledgement of Crystal Dynamics' back-catalogue of musical assets (acquired when the series was transferred from original Tomb Raider developer Core Design) that are yet to be commercialised. Stay tuned for more tracks next time.

McCree débuts unreleased Tomb Raider track, "In the Dark", for the 15th anniversary of Katie Fleming's official TR fansite

Web-mistress of 15-year-old Katie's Tomb Raider, Katie Fleming, introduces "In the Dark" (McCree)

Congratulations to fellow official Tomb Raider fansite Katie's Tomb Raider for reaching the milestone of its 15th birthday! Luckily for us, web-mistress Katie Fleming has been in cahoots with original Tomb Raider composer Nathan McCree to mark the occasion by releasing a musical treat for the fans (above).

McCree today releases "In the Dark" - a track the composer "wrote in 2001 which [he] thought would be good for a Tomb Raider project". The piece premières via Katie Fleming's YouTube channel. The composer left Core Design after completing Tomb Raider II (1997), but was hired freelance to continue music development for Tomb Raider III: The Adventures of Lara Croft (1998). Nathan McCree in fact interviewed Peter Connelly as his replacement for Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1999).

MoTR had the pleasure of interviewing Nathan in December via Video Game Music Online, where he teased the proper release of his original works. The composer is next set to appear in video game music documentary BEEP alongside Peter Connelly & Wilbert Roget, II. We have reached out to McCree for an elaborative on the new piece "In the Dark", stay tuned! Full report at Stella's Tomb Raider Blog.

Wilbert Roget, II releases additional Temple of Osiris music [U]

Update: Wilbert Roget, II has updated his Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris additional music collection with not only one but three previously unreleased tracks - "Set Awakens", "Scarab Attack" & "Osiris' Remains". The new tracks bring the total to six available for download via the composer's SoundCloud.

[Originally Posted 10th March 2015:]

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris lead composer Wilbert Roget, II today releases three additional tracks from the award-nominated video game score. The 6 minutes of newly available music can be streamed or downloaded in uncompressed WAV format via Roget II's SoundCloud. Tracks include "Pyramid of Osiris" (the tutorial level music, by popular demand) and "Of Course It's A Trap", as well as "The Priests of Sobek" by assistant composer Paul Houseman. The release of a fourth track is planned.

The Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris original soundtrack was released for free by developer Crystal Dynamics across December 2014 and January 2015 as a thank you to fans. Details are in our Community-developed Discography. Today's release features a shiny new custom-type album artwork by specialist digital artist Javier Gasco. MoTR also had the pleasure of exclusively interviewing the talented Roget, II.

New Rise of the Tomb Raider music featured in "Crystal Compass Radio" debut (new monthly in-show musical breaks)

Crystal Dynamics, the Redwood City studio behind the upcoming tenth franchise pillar instalment Rise of the Tomb Raider, today re-launches their Crystal Compass Podcast (previously titled "The Crystal Habit"). Not only does the podcast borrow brand new Rise of the Tomb Raider cues for use as musical interludes, but the monthly show now also boasts a dedicated musical section titled Crystal Compass Radio featuring "musical breaks with classic Crystal Dynamics tracks", hosted by Meagan Marie:

"We're excited to be back and bring in new features... something different... enjoy a little musical interlude with Crystal Compass Radio: We're going to take a quick break before the final segment of our podcast[s] and let you listen to two tracks, one classic and one current, from our titles. This episode we're going to listen to the main theme from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, composed by Peter Connelly, followed by the "Lara Croft Overture" composed by Wilbert Roget for Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris. These two pieces have been specially chosen to lead into our Classic Crystal feature which takes a retrospective look at Tomb Raider and the allure of Ancient Egypt." - Meagan Marie, Senior Community Manager

Tomb Raider (2013) composer Jason Graves has yet to be officially attached to the AAA title Rise but is likely to return having crafted a fresh musical framework for the reboot of the series. It can be safely assumed the podcast interlude tracks have been composed for the the game - Crystal did the same for Tomb Raider pre-release. The Crystal Compass Podcast can be listened to and subscribed to at iTunes. MoTR will be covering the monthly Crystal Compass Radio features with great interest as this is the first time Crystal Dynamics have officially acknowledged their back catalogue of musical assets (acquired when the series was transferred from original Tomb Raider developer Core Design). Take a listen to the new Rise of the Tomb Raider music - suspected to the work of Graves - after the jump below:

Peter Connelly plans re-recordings & merchandise for Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Chronicles & Angel of Darkness

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1999), Chronicles (2000) & The Angel of Darkness (2003) composer Peter Connelly has indicated plans to turn to Kickstarter funding for a fresh rehash of his work on the titles, as well as the commercial release of his original Tomb Raider 4, 5 & 6 soundtracks:

"I have plans... BIG PLANS... plans to set up a Kickstarter project to help fund a remake of my Tomb Raider 4 - The Last Revelation, Tomb Raider 5 - Chronicles and, with the help and / or blessing of Martin Iveson (AOD co-writer), Tomb Raider 6 - Angel of Darkness OSTs. The production will be huge and the merchandise available will be a something to pledge for..."

Pledge-dependent merchandise to follow could include digital soundtrack downloads, limited edition signed CD box sets (including both the original soundtracks and planned re-recordings), the 5.1 surround-sound Angel of Darkness soundtrack on DVD, vinyl releases and accompanying musical score on sheet to boot.

Details should follow Connelly jumping through legality hoops - but the serious intentions of the project have been intimated. If successful, the composer will be making the first standalone purchasable soundtrack releases for aforementioned titles in over a decade. With fellow classic Tomb Raider composer Nathan McCree also set to make big announcement(s), 2015 is turning out to be particularly sonorous.

Rarity: "Akaro Female Vocals" from Tomb Raider (2013)

A long requested investigation has been finally conducted for our readers - details on the only externally licensed track from Tomb Raider (2013). Composer Jason Graves was even queried on twitter as to the origins of this piece - but it is the musical work instead of Markus Bravo. The haunting Japanese vocals play near the beginning of the game from a gramophone within a flooded bunker.

"Akaro Female Vocals" from the Ryukyuan: Classical collection can be streamed at Audiosparx.com. Audiosparx acts as a licensing agent, distributor and publisher of music typically composed for use in advertising such as Hollywood trailers - serving as a vast library of readily available music and sound effects. "Akaro Female Vocals" was evidently purchased by developer Crystal Dynamics for commercial use within Tomb Raider. The piece is described as a "mysterious and exotic Japanese/oriental track, sparsely produced, emotional, poignant, quiet", with dramatic indigenous female vocals likely to have been chosen for their Japanese timbre in relation to the game's fictional setting of Yamatai.

Lara memorably asks "Music?" upon descending into the bunker located in Tomb Raider's Coastal Forest. Loosing an arrow into the gramophone even stops the tune from playing. While proven popular, unfortunately the track is not available for personal purchase (it can instead be licensed commercially for around US$80). Thanks to our readers who suggested this rarity!

Award nominations recognise Temple of Osiris soundtrack

The Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris original soundtrack, composed by Wilbert Roget, II, has been nominated for an "Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition" award in the 18th D.I.C.E. Awards. As well as also receiving a "Best Score - Cinematic" nod from Video Game Music Online, the digital title received an honourable mention in Kotaku's "Best Video Game Music of 2014" last month. More recently the score was nominated for two Game Audio Network Guild awards, "Best Original: Choral" and "Music of the Year".

Roget, II enlisted a plethora of supporting talents for the recording sessions of the game's score, including cellist Sebastian Freij. The lead composer had these talents perform improvisations that he later wrote music around to in order to produce completely unique cues. Paul Houseman was hired as an assistant composer, also contributing three tracks to the soundtrack.

Developer Crystal Dynamics released the entire Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris original soundtrack album for free via SoundCloud as a thank you to franchise fans. Two additional remixes are due to be released as bonuses for the completion of in-game community challenges in the near future. MoTR will continue to collect award nominations and/or wins for Temple of Osiris and update this post accordingly.

Behind the scenes of the "Isis' Lament" Sebastian Freij remix

Freij performs "Isis' Lament" by looping layers live

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris developer Crystal Dynamics has released a video accompanying the recording of Wilbert Roget, II's "Isis' Lament", as performed and arranged by cellist Sebastian Freij. The talented musician uses a recording device to play back and over looped musical layers, on the fly:

"Isis’ Lament [Sebastian Freij Remix] is the first of three remixes I commissioned for this soundtrack. Sebastian plays cello on several pieces in this score (most notably on “Beneath the Desert Stars”), but one of his most unique talents is playing “live looped” electric cello. Seb played this entire piece in one single take, layering parts one at a time and using a system of foot pedals to arrange them live. When I first had the idea to include remixes in the score, I immediately thought of Seb reinterpreting one of my more melodic pieces in his own style, and so I’m very happy with how this performance turned out." - Wilbert Roget, II

The Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris original soundtrack has been segmentally released for free over the last month. The entire core soundtrack plus the Sebastian Freij remix of "Isis' Lament" is now available via SoundCloud, with 2 more remixes due to be released as out-of-game bonuses for the completion of additional community challenges. MoTR interviewed lead composer Wilbert Roget, II in December.