Respawn 7 – An Album of Game Themes

Should you ever be looking for a menu music album covering a dozen games from 2014 then Respawn 7 is it, from a group called Nostromo Pilots. They are a group of session musicians with a passion for geek culture. The music is made with mixture of live instruments and digital production to produce covers of gaming and sci-fi soundtracks and this latest album has just been released. It’s a good selection from the biggest games of 2014 – Dragon Age: Inquisition, Destiny and Call of Duty are all represented.

Taken on its own, each tune is at once recognisable. The Dragon Age cover is wonderful and captures the punch of the menu theme, but others feel significantly flatter than their originals. Sniper Elite 3’s menu theme too obviously lacks the heart-thumping drums and urgency of the game’s full orchestral version, as does the Transformers track.

As an album, it lurches jarringly from one theme to another. Listen to it in order and you’re abruptly yanked from the relaxing Himalayan paths of Far Cry 4’s Kyrat to the overly-perky island of Tomodachi Life and then straight into the Western twang of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Some better though could possibly have been put into the ordering, but then again, what could possibly lead smoothly into the theme of Tomodachi Life?

This is a good collection of 2014 video game theme songs that you would otherwise have to find piecemeal from multiple sources. Even though the album doesn’t quite work as a whole, I’ll probably include a few of the tracks in my rotation of random songs that I play regularly.

You can find Respawn 7 (Gaming Anthems 2014) on Spotify and buy the album or selected songs from Google Play.