God of War releases on Friday, April 20, and we were pretty big fans of Sony Santa Monica’s massively retooled sequel. In addition to the fantastic visuals, compelling story, and engaging combat, the game’s soundtrack is absolutely killer — and you don’t have to own the game to hear it. The God of War soundtrack is now available on Spotify.
The soundtrack was composed by Bear McCreary, whose work can be found in the films 10 Cloverfield Lane and Happy Death Day, as well as Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Syndicate — now free for Xbox Live Gold members.
The God of War soundtrack feels appropriately Scandinavian, with emotional chants, supported by horns and strings in a title track so powerful, you can’t not murder some monsters after hearing it.
Soaring vocals are a theme throughout the soundtrack, with the song Ashes, featuring a female vocalist, sounding slightly similar to Sins of the Father in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
With the integration of Spotify and PlayStation Music on the PlayStation 4, you can essentially make the God of War soundtrack the soundtrack to any game you want. Why not try it out with God of War III: Remastered, just to see the contrast in tone between Kratos’ vengeful past self and his more reserved and introspective side showcased in the new game.
Kratos’ relationship with his son is also explored through McCreary’s work. In a developer video, McCreary said the three-note melody looped through much of Kratos’ theme is meant to be “stern,” conveying the mentoring relationship between the two characters and the lessening of Kratos’ unbridled rage.
“The fact that I could distill [that feeling] down to those three notes — it meant that if he walks into a scene or if he takes the upper hand … if he does anything, Kratos is here,” McCreary added. “He’s taking command, you know?”
It’s unclear if McCreary has inserted any subliminal messages into the God of War soundtrack, but it wouldn’t be out of the question for the series. We just aren’t sure which beverage he’ll choose to reference this time.
God of War releases exclusively for PlayStation 4 on April 20.
