Witness a classic brought back to life! The iconic Ultramarine Chant from the 1998 Chaos Gate has been remastered in Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters!
To mark the occasion, we're also making the remastered track available to download for free today!
The Ultramarine Chant remaster was composed and created by Warhammer music veteran Doyle W. Donehoo (known for his previous work on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2, Space Hulk: Deathwing and Battlefleet: Gothic Armada). We caught up with Doyle to understand what it is like composing music for the grim dark future of the 41st Millennium.
The world of Warhammer 40,000 is dark, gritty and dangerous. How does that affect composing music to fit into it?
I like composing dark and gritty music, so the universe of Warhammer 40,000 is a natural fit for me and my creative sensibilities. Warhammer and I excel in drama! The music I make for games set in this rich fictional universe reflects that.
The Ultramarine Chant from Chaos Gate (1998) is an iconic track, how did you go about approaching a remaster?
Back in 1998 when Chaos Gate (1998) was released on PC, composers had access to fewer tools than we have today. Being able to build upon the original theme with today’s technology gave me a real advantage, and helped me take this iconic track to the next level for a 2022 audience.
As I have been writing Warhammer music since Dawn of War II, I have developed my own particular style and approach to this universe, which I was able to apply to this new version of the Chant, keeping its awesome score but tailoring it for a new audience.
I'd also really like to thank the composer of the original 1998 chant, Jim Crew, for providing a terrific foundation to start from, and to my Assistant Composer Nikola Jeremić for his vital contributions, too.
Creating video game music is a daunting task, what can you give as an overview of the process?
It only really gets daunting when there is a lot of music to create at one time – otherwise, it’s a lot of fun. Composing to picture is relatively easy, because the video footage you’re given pretty much tells you what you need to do, and the producers spot the video and tell you what they expect.
For video games, you’re frequently working blind: you get artwork and early gameplay to look at of the project for inspiration, and the producers give you direction for what they want to hear for a given in-game environment. We trade direction ideas to get the music into the right ballpark, then I compose the full length track for that section of the game when we’re all on the same page.
Music can often help enhance a character in a game, were there any character themes you enjoyed or focused on?
As a Warhammer music veteran, I love working with all Warhammer 40,000 characters and factions. They all have their own thematic style and approach, giving a huge amount of variety to the audio of this iconic universe – my work across these games, right up to Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters, is made to capture the vastness of the Warhammer 40,000 fiction itself.