After its mixing and mastering at Abbey Road Studios, Nathan McCree's
The Tomb Raider Suite album was slated for release on May 1st, 2018. The composer announces today (April 11th, 2018) a 3-month delay, namely around the composer buffet reception. As guests to the UK and US receptions are to experience the premiere of the material, the delay accommodates for those patrons of the San Francisco event being held on July 14th, 2018.
The Tomb Raider Suite album will now release on
August 1st, 2018.
Update: Many fans who contributed to the Kickstarter campaign to fund the production of the album without desiring to attend these dinner events have felt left out. McCree had made a statement which can be read in full
after the jump, but was quick to make it clear in a subsequent statement that the delay is due to the vinyl production, "immense work load" and not "for the sole reason" of San Francisco:
"I am sorry to tell you that we have decided to delay the release. This was not an easy decision to come to but I feel it is the right one under the circumstances... After the recording at Abbey Road Studios in October last year, we managed to get booked back into the studio for mixing at the end of January 2018, and then for Mastering at the end of February. Since then, the team has been working round the clock on the preparations for the Composer Buffet Reception and we are simply unable to juggle the final stages of the album production so close to the launch party... We are also aware that by releasing the album on the 1st May as previously planned, it somewhat spoils the Premiere airplay we had planned for the Composer Buffet Reception in San Francisco on 14th July 2018, and so delaying the release until after this makes it more fair for our friends in the United States. I appreciate this may be a little disappointing but rest assured we are moving forward as quickly as possible... The fundamental misunderstanding that has occurred is that we actively chose to delay the release of the album for the sole reason of the San Francisco CBR, this is simply not the case." - Nathan McCree
The composer has since indicated that the digital release of
The Tomb Raider Suite album will now follow the UK composer buffet reception by 1-2 weeks, while the physical editions of the release remain in delay. We have attempted to clarify this further with McCree.
Meanwhile, a series of videos leading up to the UK buffet reception have been
filmed at Hatfield House, the Croft Manor exterior from
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and
The Cradle of Life (2003) where the first composer buffet reception will be held on April 28th, 2018. The last official Lara Croft model Alison Carroll returns to feature (see the embedded below). The promotional shorts are accompanied by "She's Cool", "Lara" & "Time To Run" - the first tracks we've heard from
The Tomb Raider Suite.
The community-funded Tomb Raider Suite project has been a fandom phenomenon and the album marks the first commercial release of music to
Tomb Raider (1996),
Tomb Raider II: The Dagger of Xian (1997) &
Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft (1998) in the history of the video game franchise.
The Tomb Raider Suite embodies the classic music with full orchestration - McCree is yet to announce the release of the original soundtracks, which were limited by the software of the era, within his 7-year license.
