Universe At War: Earth Assault – music by Frank Klepacki
The latest real-time strategy PC gaming experience from Petroglyph Games is also the latest epic soundtrack from veteran game composer Frank Klepacki, and while I’ll admit I haven’t had a chance to check out Universe At War itself (something strange happens to my urges to blow stuff up when I have to bottle-feed a baby every few hours), the music alone makes me want to.
Which may be a big part of the reason why the game’s entire soundtrack – three CDs’ worth clocking in at over two hours – is available free online. As with many of the previous games scored by Klepacki, there are several factions with whom players can ally themselves, and each faction has its own robust selection of music, ranging from raging action to more menacingly low-key music while building up resources for the next attack (or the next last-ditch defense). And as with many of his past projects, the music for each playable side kicks butt in its own way.
The Hierarchy music is the sort of thing that Command & Conquer Players will remember well – crunchy guitars, percussion that doesn’t take prisoners, and driving beats aplenty. If that’s what you’re coming for, you won’t go home disappointed. The selection of music for the Novus faction is more electronica-driven, with a mysterious sound. There’s still plenty of distorted guitar in here, but the emphasis is on more obviously synthetic instruments and motifs. The dreamy “Technical Data” and the aggressive “Zap” are highlights here.
But by far the real meat and potatoes of the Universe At War score is the Masari music, which includes the game’s opening theme and end credits. The Masari tracks are blow-the-walls-down, theatrical orchestral-operatic epics – while listening to “Divine Intervention”, I was thinking “someone hurry up and make a great kick-ass action movie to go with this great kick-ass music.” This stuff knocks it out of the park repeatedly, and reinforces my total bewilderment as to how the man has managed to dodge a major movie assignment. Sooner or later, that’s gotta catch up with him. The end credits suite, combining elements from all three factions’ themes with a thundering techno beat layered in for good measure, makes me want to jump up out of my seat and empty a clip of ammo into something – it’s some of the best action music I’ve heard in years. (And I’m not prone to wanting to get up and fire away, so that should tell you something!)
It’s hard to go wrong with some free music, and for the sheer quantity of tracks that you get for a little bit of download time here, you’re almost certain to find something you like. Since this is a free download in support of a commercially available product, it’s only fair to recommend that you support the composer and developer by buying Universe At War: Earth Assault in theLogBook.com Store if you’re so inclined.
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Hierarchy
- Damage King (3:43)
- Doom of the Aliens (3:26)
- On Edge (2:20)
- Anticipating (2:41)
- Slithering (3:09)
- Schematic (1:45)
- Mechanical Brain (3:53)
- Strangers Attack (3:22)
- Impending Doom (2:58)
- Prepare For Oblivion (3:09)
- Surrounding (5:00)
- Haunt (3:55)
Novus
- Modern Design (3:53)
- Act On Invasion (3:19)
- Electrode (4:04)
- Calculations (2:23)
- Bass Case (3:43)
- Moving Forces (3:05)
- Technical Data (3:30)
- Roots (3:38)
- Hit And Run (3:05)
- Fog Of War (3:44)
- Composite (3:23)
- Resources (3:08)
- Zap (2:41)
Masari
- Divine Intervention (theme for Universe At War) (3:26)
- Reanimation (3:35)
- Surveying The Land (2:34)
- Resurfaced (3:00)
- Mind In Motion (2:28)
- Display Of Power (2:41)
- Disturbance (3:48)
- Dark Intrusion (2:52)
- The Gathering (3:53)
- Ancient Presence (3:06)
- Masari Suite (Suspended, Architecture, Masari Victory) (3:45)
- Credits: Universe At War Remix Suite (3:40)
Released by: Petroglyph Games / Frank Klepacki
Release date: 2008
Total running time: 121:45
Frank K. is back in the house, and this time he’s kicking the doors down and knocking the walls flat. Unlike his solo debut Morphscape, Rocktronic is a little more similar stylistically from track one to track ten. And that’s cool – I loved some of Morphscape‘s more off-the-wall offerings like “Gonna Rock Yo Body” and “Cosmic Lounge”, but if Rocktronic proves anything, it’s that Frank Klepacki’s always got more musical ideas rattling around. And for those of us who learned about his music through his hard-driving accompaniment to some classic Westwood computer games (and I’d hazard a guess that this category probably includes almost everybody reading this), Rocktronic is homecoming week for you – it easily lives up to its name.
After seven years of churning out the hard-hitting accompaniment for Electronic Arts’ Command & Conquer series of real-time strategy games (among others) and releasing over half a dozen albums’ worth of material attached to computer games, not to mention stints with Las Vegas bands like Home Cookin’ and Mo’ Friction, Frank Klepacki is flying solo – and proving there’s more to his repertoire than being EA’s own C&C music factory. Klepacki flexes his signature funk-techno muscle on such tracks as “Defunkt” and “Freaks From Within”, but delves into some new territory, including lounge music and even the glorious vintage ’70s throwback that is “Gonna Rock Yo Body”. In a true tribute to the roller disco era, “Rock Yo Body” features “robotic” vocoder-processed vocals, synth-string stabs, and the kind of cheesy electronic percussion you’d expect from the late ’70s and early ’80s. And the beauty of it is, it works. If you, like me, grew up during that era…this song will give you a thrill of recognition and a goofy grin. It’s good cheese, a nice little trip back to the day when Grandmaster Flash was considered new, not old-school. “Gonna Rock Yo Body” is an unlikely candidate for the best song on the whole CD, but if you’re already acquainted with Frank Klepacki’s body of game work, this track should jump out and grab you because it demonstrates what he can do outside of that genre. “Mode One” shifts into new wave gear with an ever-so-slight nod in the direction of early, pre-drenched-with-samples Depeche Mode. By the end of the album, you’ve gotten to hear so many styles and distinctive pieces that you’re not left thinking “Hey, this stuff all sounds exactly like 
It’s been nearly five years since it first hit PCs (which few people could have missed, given that a marathon Sci-Fi Channel airing of David Lynch’s Dune was sponsored by Electronic Arts in support of the release), and despite all the good stuff we’ve gotten from both game developer Westwood Studios and their in-house music guru Frank Klepacki, Dune 2000 is still my favorite PC strategy game – and still my favorite computer game soundtrack.
The Command & Conquer games are loaded down with so many obedient soldiers under the player’s control, how could a game be made about any one of them? The answer’s easy: make a game about the one soldier you don’t see in the C&C games. A loose-cannon, gun-totin’ badass. And that’s what Westwood’s first-person blast-fest Command & Conquer: Renegade is all about.
It may seem silly to snatch up the music of a game I don’t even own (honestly, I’m not sure my system could handle it), but sometimes it’s worth it. Frank Klepacki carries on the proud, if unorthodox, tradition of tracking a wargame with some serious techno beats that wouldn’t be out of place in the club scene. The smooth groove of “Lone Trooper” and the slow-building jam of “Scouting” are some of the finest techno cuts I’ve heard, game or no game. “Mutants” kicks off with the slimiest slice of modern funk I’ve heard in a long time, and the menacing “Approach” track echoes the ticking clock percussion of some of the better cues from John Williams’ JFK score. “What Lurks” is a bit reminiscent of 
Hailed by many gamers as a big improvement over Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, Red Alert 2 refined the 3-D graphics engine introduced in its predecessor – and it rocked out the music. If there’s one thing that makes the Red Alert 2 soundtrack – which was available from Westwood Studios for a limited time around the game’s release – stand out from the rest, it’s a refreshing blast of heavy metal guitar. The real standout here is the blistering, fast-paced “Destroy”, though there are close runners-up: “Grinder” and “Industrofunk”. The six-string pyrotechnics are a nice addition to the by-now-familiar C&C style of techno music, but the old style isn’t completely lost – tracks 
Another blast of raw energy from the other C&C music factory, Frank Klepacki’s music from the immensely popular Red Alert PC strategy game brings into sharp focus the elements that made his music from Command & Conquer such a compelling listen even away from the computer. Gone are most of the soundbytes within the music (the chilling refrain of film-footage “sieg heil” samples in “Hell March” being an exception), Klepacki brings in da funk in full force. “Mud” is perhaps the best example of what he achieves with the music from this game: funky, atmospheric, moody, and rhythmic, without relying on a hit-you-over-the-head-with-it, four-beats-to-the-measure techno beat at all times. 
It may have been a little ahead of its time, but the soundtrack from Westwood’s acclaimed real-time strategy computer game Command & Conquer could almost earn the subtitle “music that could have been, but wasn’t, in The Matrix.” Frank Klepacki’s richly textured pieces rely heavily on techno, primarily because it’s easy to loop seamlessly (which is a requirement when scoring a video game). But while he could’ve just set the war machine on autopilot for these tracks, Klepacki made a real effort to vary the sound of each individual piece. Standouts include “Radio”, “Drone”, “Rain In The Night” and “Target”, all notable for a nice, uneasy but not overbearingly bombastic atmosphere, just the sort of doom-laden tension you need for a war game.
Westwood sold copies of the Command & Conquer soundtrack through their web site for several years, and copies have also been known to be included with bundled versions of the game with its expansion packs (and, most recently, included in a music bundle at Best Buy stores with Red Alert 2). However, the C&C score is now out of print. It’s worth the effort to find, however, if you have a taste for this particular genre of music.