Composition from Eugene Des inspired by TR: Survivor's Guilt

Classic and "resurrected" reboot Tomb Raider fan Eugene Des proves quite the maestro, having submitted the above fan tribute composition to MoTR for publication. Although composing the piece was an in-the-moment idea after seeing the film Tomb Raider (2018), the video game composer Jason Graves is a huge inspiration to Des and this piece somewhat of a dedication to the work of Graves. The resulting creation is actually Des' version of Lara's theme, set to the 2014 comics series #1 issue "Survivor's Guilt":

"[The piece is] divided [into] four parts with its jungle-vibe intro, followed by Tomb Raider main adventure melody... [then a] more intimate but strong theme [especially] for Lara’s character, with its battling woodwinds/strings and brass finally resolving as one by the end. [The] outro gives us a hint of future adventures, a destiny waiting for her..." - Eugene Des

Support Eugene Des by following via Facebook, SoundCloud or Twitter. If you're interested in having a fan composition or remix featured on Music of Tomb Raider feel free to head over to our contact page.

Junkie XL holds "Now Score This" Tomb Raider competition

Tomb Raider (2018) composer Tom Holkenborg is following on from his "Studio Time" episodes with a "Now Score This" competition attracting aspiring composers. Holkenborg has opened the floor for submissions inspired by any and every iteration of the pop-culturally relevant icon Lara Croft.

With MoTR covering Tomb Raider Music fan tributes on the regular, we'll attempt to update this post with the #NowScoreThis SoundCloud contributions as shared by Holkenborg. Submissions close May 3rd

Now's your turn to score!

Pick any version of Lara Croft you want and create your own original theme. Upload to SoundCloud using #NowScoreThis (in the title and/or tag) and I'll share to our community.

Submission deadline: Friday, May 3rd 2018. pic.twitter.com/G56D0jW7mV

— Tom Holkenborg (@Junkie_XL) April 20, 2018

Dean Kopri publishes new fan-piece of nostalgic melody

Legacy fan composer Dean Kopri has published a new composition on his YouTube Channel, Dean Music Production, amalgamating thematic motifs from Nathan McCree's Tomb Raider games, Peter Connelly's Tomb Raider games and Alan Silvestri's Tomb Raider film scores. Elmas Mehmet provides vocals.

Kopri has been creating nostalgic Tomb Raider fan music tributes since 2008, even contributing as lead composer on Tomb Raider community Level Editor projects. He comments:

"...usually writing music for the game means that you are limited by the atmosphere, location, gameplay... And you need to be careful not to overdo it, especially when it comes to the in-game music tracks. I've been missing making something more adventurous, lighter, louder (avoiding the word "epic") - something that doesn't necessary need to fit the game, but still sounds familiar." - Dean Kopri

If you're interested in having a fan composition or remix featured just head over to MoTR's contact page.

MoTR wins official fansite Crystal award: Best interview (2016)

As part of the Official Fansite Program, Music of Tomb Raider has had the privilege of conducting interviews with important figures in the Tomb Raider music sphere since establishment in 2011. Last year we had a hap-hazard encounter with Ashley Revell, music editor on Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and brother to composer Graeme Revell, crossing paths at Auckland International Airport.

The community voted and awarded fellow fan site Tomb Raider Source for their interview with Nicobass : Remake de Tomb Raider II, while developer Crystal Dynamics hand-picked MoTR's article for the same award of Best Interview: "an exceptional interview conducted by a member of the Official Fansite Program focused on the Tomb Raider franchise which required extensive research and critical thinking to achieve."

"An interesting and exclusive interview with Ashley Revell – the music editor on Lara’ Croft’s first Hollywood outing – and brother to composer Graeme Revell. Music of Tomb Raider caught up with Ashely in person in Auckland, and the in-depth nature of the interview is sure to appeal to fellow music and cinema fans." - Crystal Dynamics

Thank you to Crystal Dynamics, the community and our readers. The full interview can be read here.

Piano medley celebrates twenty years of Tomb Raider music

Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix have supported a 20 Year Celebration Piano Medley performed by Sonya Belousova of PianoPlayer, spanning the four main themes of the entire franchise (above).

The original Tomb Raider motif by Nathan McCree, the Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness adaption by Peter Connelly, Troels Folmann's Tomb Raider: Legend and the new theme for the rebooted franchise composed by Jason Graves all feature.

Composer and pianist Belousova has taken several franchises by key via her YouTube channel. This video was directed by Tom Grey and features multiple Tomb Raider themed settings as well as costumes, filmed in 4K to boot. The sheet music for the medley is also available for free via MusicNotes.

Dean Kopri celebrates Tomb Raider's 20th Anniversary

Legacy fan tribute composer Dean Kopri publishes a second track celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Tomb Raider. Kopri mixes variations of Nathan McCree's original Tomb Raider motif from Tomb Raider I, II, III & The Angel of Darkness into this new arrangement.

Dean Kopri has a respectable collection of Tomb Raider compositions and arrangements available to stream on his YouTube channel. Feel free to check out the composer's Facebook page too. If you are interested in submitting a fan tribute piece yourself, head over to our contact page for the full details.

Piano cover(s) of Rise of the Tomb Raider tracks published

Pianist Petya brilliantly covers Bobby Tahouri's "Echoes of the Past" and "Meet the Remnants" in their own arrangement, topping off the recording with a nod to the original Tomb Raider continuation motif by Nathan McCree. Apparently this is only a demo version - keep your ears listening for the full version set to "appear in the coming months". Enjoy the full demo recording below. 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.

Rise of the Tomb Raider fan music video: "Edge of the World"

Music video for "Edge of the World", complete with lyrics!
Gavin Dunne a.k.a. Miracle of Sound teamed up with vocalist Lisa Foiles to produce a musical tribute to Rise of the Tomb Raider. The "symphonic rock" track features string and brass instrumentation flavoured with bass, guitar and drums. Miracle of Sound also published a Tomb Raider inspired track in 2013, "The Savage Side of Me". Check out Dunne's Facebook page for more video game inspired music.

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

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.

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

Dynamic music suites spanning the entire franchise by Kejero

Tomb Raider music fan Kejero has accomplished a massive task of orchestrating and arranging the franchise's thematic motifs into sections of dynamically interplaying music. Most of the score sections are matched by ear with their original counterparts, amongst exciting new mashups with original flare, spanning the entire Tomb Raider video game saga as well as the two major motion pictures by Revell & Silvestri.

"I've recently finished work on a unique experiment that I've been working on during the last two years: a music suite blending music from all the major Tomb Raider games and both movies, driven by a dynamic music system that allows the listener to tell the orchestra at any time to transition to a different section of the suite. It's a work of love and nostalgia, and that's what I'm hoping to evoke from all the people who love this music as much as I do." - Kejero

The talented arrangement of concatenated suites has been presented in two static (non-dynamic) forms by the names of The Sanctum of the Ancients & That Kind of Attention, each running 9 whole minutes. The resulting 18 minutes of material is an ode to the last 18 years of Tomb Raider. Furthermore, the music can be experienced how it was intended to be - as an interactive dynamic audio presentation @ http://www.kejero.com/. Feel free to also like the muso's Facebook page.

Erudite reviews from dedicated Tomb Raider music fan: Dexter

Tomb Raider music fan Dexter Void has written thorough reviews on the music to Tomb Raider (1996) through Anniversary (2007). The Tumblr author claims to have little musical knowledge, and instead takes a fresh instinctual stance to explain their passion for the music of Tomb Raider:

"...this will remain the classic it always has done. It is so pure in its approach and naivety. Little did the creators know what they would unleash upon the undiscerning world. This, in turn is the definitive Tomb Raider experience. The music certainly lends itself to propelling it to that level of superiority." - Dexter Void, on Nathan McCree's original Tomb Raider

Dexter has included personalised and reordered track names for each title's base material reviewed. Articles for Tomb Raider: Underworld & Tomb Raider (2013) have yet to be published, but read each full review currently available at the links below:

Tomb Raider | Tomb Raider II | Tomb Raider III (Nathan McCree)
The Last Revelation | Chronicles | The Angel of Darkness (Peter Connelly)
Legend | Anniversary (Troels Folmann)

"Monstrum Chronicles" novelist inspired by Angel of Darkness

The Monstrum Chronicles writer Katherine Silva treats Tomb Raider music fans today with an article reminiscing on Peter Connelly's music to Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness. Silva, author of the dark and mysterious The Monstrum Chronicles novel series, first published in 2010, cites Connelly's music as a great source of inspiration for her creative writing process:

"Peter Connelly and Martin Iveson’s engaging score for this game is one that I have gone back to time and time again while working on books. There’s this ominous undercurrent of menace that runs through each piece. These songs have proved invaluable while writing my horror series, The Monstrum Chronicles, as well as other books that I’ve worked on in the past. " - Katherine Silva

The author also details four specific tracks and what scenes she makes out from listening to them. The audio accompaniments are derived from none other than MoTR's community developed "Deluxe Edition" soundtrack to Angel of Darkness. Full article via The Monstrum Chronicles.

Fan submission: "The Big Chase" by George Flamourakis

"The Big Chase" by George Flamourakis

Composer George Falmourakis elaborates to MoTR on his Tomb Raider inspired piece, "The Big Chase":

"This piece was composed entirely in FL studios using the EWQL Gold Symphonic Orchestra. [It's called "The Big Chase" because it makes] you want to run and hide from someone who is after you. The instruments used are full string orchestra with brass and percussions (timpani, bass drum, cymbals, gong)." - Flamourakis

Please feel free to visit the composer's SoundCloud page for more of his talented work! If you'd like to submit a fan composition or remix for publication on MoTR, please do so by contacting us with the details requested.

Fan Submission: "Remembrance" by Guillaume Jouan

"Remembrance" by Guillaume "Nomadozic" Jouan

Inspired by Tomb Raider (2013), this fan submission was composed borrowing themes from the game by Jason Graves. Guillaume "Nomadozic" Jouan attempted to imitate Graves by re-orchestrating some parts of the recognisable melodies he wrote.

If you'd like to submit a fan composition or remix to MoTR, please do so by contacting us. Be sure to provide a short description to accompany the piece; this may include information on how you composed or remixed it, what instruments you used, or what served as inspiration, etc.

Composer shares sheet music to Tomb Raider's "Main Theme" - submit a cover and feature on MoTR!

Main Theme from Tomb Raider by Jason Graves

Ask and ye shall receive. Thanks for all the interest! fb.me/2iJDsB6Mx
— Jason Graves (@jgmusic) January 12, 2013

Tomb Raider (2013) composer Jason Graves today posts the "Main Theme" for the new iteration of the Tomb Raider series via his official Facebook page. Arranged for Piano in E minor, the haunting and melancholy piece will serve as the thematic backbone for the musical relationships across the entire score.

In regards to the main theme, Graves recently stated in an interview for "The Final Hours of Tomb Raider":

"First thing we did was the theme. There have been many composers in the games or the films, but they've always used the original theme. They [Crystal Dynamics] said we want to start with a clean slate; new theme. I did it on piano, very simple... I was really scared just to send it because I was like "I don't know, I think this really works, I think I like it". We ended up taking that exact theme, the first demo I sent, and it was on the first trailer. That exact same arrangement." - Jason Graves

When asked what square one was to him, the composer also emphasised the importance of beginning a score with a theme; "Call me old-fashioned. Then it was a matter of finding out what kind of percussion would work, and always going back to the melody and the theme, because that's the heart of the game."

Tomb Raider is slated for a multi-platform release come March 5th, 2013.

Feature on the Music of Tomb Raider!
Reply to this post with your cover of Jason Graves' sheet music and we'll publish it in an upcoming article!

Fan duo covers theme from Tomb Raider II on keys

An erudite fan rendition of the "Main Theme" from Nathan McCree's Tomb Raider II (1997) was picked up by community manager Meagan Marie thismorning. What a team effort; the video's unlisted on YouTube and has remained a hidden treasure for over a year!

Cover courtesy of RayActiveMusic:

[As featured on the Official Tomb Raider Blog]