The Emperor Expects – My Writing Playlist
I recently blogged about the music I was listening to whilst writing book eight in The Beast Arises series, and as I used the same playlist for book three, The Emperor Expects (out this week) I thought I’d post it again as people seemed to find it interesting.
Getting some grand, martial music is a good start for Space Marine drop assaults and Imperial Knights laying waste to their foes, but it’s also important to find some tracks that add a bit of pacing to the playlist; for more reflective scenes, maybe the soundtrack to a stirring speech or creating the mood for the stealthy approach of an assassin. These are very strident, up-tempo tracks for the most part. It’s about constant motion, pushing the conflict on and on – Mad Maxesque action-as-narrative (essential to get the deluxe version of Mad Max: Fury Road for all the extra and extended tracks).
300 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Tyler Bates
Aliens, James Horner
Army of Two: The 40th Day, Ea Games Soundtrack
Batman Begins – Original Motion Picture soundtrack, Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard
Battlecry, Two Steps from Hell
Blood of the Dragon, Nox Arcana
Cataclysm vol. 1 – Heroes, Erik Ekholm
Cataclysm vol. 2 – Power, Erik Ekholm
Cataclysm vol. 3 – Kingdom, Erik Ekholm
Dredd (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Paul Leonard-Morgan
Dune, Toto
Epic Adventure and Action vol. 01, Epic Score
Epic Adventure and Action vol. 08, Epic Score
God of War: Ascension (Original Soundtrack), Tyler Bates
Holst: The Planets, London Symphony Orchestra & Sir Colin Davis
Mad Max: Fury Road (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [Deluxe Version], Junkie XL
Percussion Power: Intense, Cinematic & Explosive, Tyler Lee Bates
Selected tracks from The Science Fiction Album, various Artists
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), James Horner
The Dark Knight (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard
Verdi: Messa da Requiem, Katia Ricciarelli, Shirley Verrett, Plácido Domingo, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado & Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano
Wagner: The Ring Without Words, Berlin Philharmoniker
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, Doyle W Donehoo
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (The Soundtrack), Sascha Dikiciyan & Cris Velasco
You can also see this playlist on the iTunes store.
If people are interested I’ll post the playlist for all the books I write – I’d love to know if you read The Emperor Expects whilst listening to my playlist, and if it enhances your reading of the story – let me know in the comments.
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