Soundtrack Saturday: Sins of a Solar Empire

In this weekly feature, I recommend game soundtracks. I share a few of my favorite tracks, talk about why everyone should listen to the soundtrack, and a little bit about the composer. This week's choice is Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion by Ironclad Games.

THE STATS

Name: Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Developer: Ironclad Games
Publisher: Stardock
Release Date: March 1, 2011
Genres: Real-time strategy
Composer: Paul Schuegraf

MY FAVORITE TRACKS

(The titles link to YouTube videos... and I highly recommend some good headphones to best enjoy all of the subtle elements of the music!)


Expulsion
(Length: 2:44) The vocals and the chimes, accented with the thooming bass drum -- I almost feel like I'm listening to a new Peter Jackson Tolkien movie.

Desperate
(Length: 2:17) Great use of dissonance in the opening, and the staccato of the plucked strings counters the broad brass and bass.

The Prophecy
(Length: 2:22) This almost sounds like a track that could fit in on the Portal 2 soundtrack -- it's dark, brooding, and makes me want to know what the prophecy is.

Sins Rebellion Theme
(Length: 4:44) The definition of epic!

Defending the Colony
(Length: 3:24) This one is all about how the strings are used. IT'S FANTASTIC.

Fate of the Apostate
(Length: 3:26) Possibly my favorite of the bunch! The build-up of this one is beautiful. Audiophiles will love the layering and balance of this track! Elements of it gave me flashbacks to Eternal Poison.

You can listen to the full soundtrack on YouTube:

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion OST

WHY I RECOMMEND IT

This is what I call a "full body soundtrack." It has everything. No track is wasted as just filler or ambiance. Every track has a melody, harmony, bass line, balance... singing tone, timbre, cadence. It's all there! This is the full package, folks. This is how game soundtracks should be, in my opinion!

EPIC.

THE COMPOSER: PAUL SCHUEGRAF

The dude is credited for composing the music for Sins of a Solar Empire.

Yep. That's all I could find aside from different ways to listen to the music. There's no telling what kind of person Paul is or what he's doing now, or if he'll ever see this little blip about him in the vast internet.

Thanks for this music, Paul. I'm sure it contributed a great deal to the success of the game, because I loved it!