Wednesday, April 11, 2018

MIDI Week Singles: "Battle - Large" - Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark (PC)


"Battle - Large" from Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark on the PC (2003)
Composer: Jeremy Soule
Album: No Official Album Release
Developer: BioWare




By now, it should be no surprise that the music that we are featuring on MIDI Week Singles is by Jeremy Soule, but this might (?) be a track you happen to not be as familiar with.  And despite having played the main game and the first expansion pack (Shadows of Undrentide), it was not until Hordes of the Underdark that I actively began looking for who wrote the music to this series.  That was the first time I came upon Jeremy Soule's name, although admittedly, it was not until The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim that I discovered that I was already a fan.

It was one of the large battles in the Underdark, during what Neverwinter Nights considered a cut scene that this music played.  I was blown away by the size of this song and I feel that if I were to ever be so lucky as to see it performed by an orchestra, that I would be watching the percussion section the whole time. I mean, those drums that run the entirety of the song scream war drums!  

For years afterwards I tried locating this soundtrack and only recently discovered that no official soundtrack was released.  Because this track runs six and-a-half minutes (the actual song runs roughly two minutes and seven seconds), it is one of my go-to tracks for playing during battles with our local Dungeons & Dragons group.

So if you happen to need some intense battle music for anything, "Battle - Large" (so titled until Mr. Soule reaches out and corrects me and the rest of the internet) is a great choice.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

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