Mick Gordon, the visionary musician and composer behind the peerless synth metal soundtracks to both Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal, has revealed a brand new track which will appear on the soundtrack to the upcoming boomer shooter Warhammer 40k: Boltgun 2. ‘Ascent of the Arkifane’ is the boss theme for the game’s newly revealed villain, Vashtorr the Arkifane, and debuted on Wednesday in a new release date trailer; fans of 40k and retro FPS games only have to wait until October 14.
Warhammer 40k Boltgun 2 is a fast paced boomer shooter with an aesthetic like Doom and mobility more like Quake or Unreal. I thought the original Boltgun was one of the best Warhammer 40k games ever, but one of my few complaints was the soundtrack: it’s orchestral and choral, which is a common choice for games set in the 40k universe, but not one that reflects the game’s tone or the videogame tradition it’s part of. Getting Mick Gordon to provide at least some of the music for the sequel is about all I could wish for.
You can listen to Ascent of the Arkifane in the trailer below:
Getting Gordon to write Vasthorr’s theme is also perfect casting because, just like Mick Gordon, Vasthorr is a god of metal. Well, specifically he’s an unaligned greater daemon with enough willpower to resist being subsumed into the psychic gestalt of the four main Warhammer 40k Chaos Gods, but he has designs on godhood and is worshipped as a patron by those who build only to destroy. He’s the demi-god of the military-industrial complex, the hammer that kills both by crushing heads and by crafting the machinery of war.
A Warhammer Community article reveals what Vashtorr is up to in the new game. “The Master of the Soul Forges has unleashed a vast daemonic machine that obliterates an Imperial fleet sent to investigate Chaos activity”. That leaves it to returning protagonist Malum Caedo, and new hero Sister of Battle Nyra Veyrath, to clean up the mess. I say ‘clean up’, but Boltgun devotes a surprising amount of engine power to rendering gibs, as I discovered when I first interviewed the team at developer Auroch Digital.
We know that Boltgun 2 will feature daemons from all four of the Chaos Gods, but Vashtorr also creates many daemon engines, binding unwilling daemons into the shells of colossal war machines. Seems like a perfect excuse for some more (as yet unrevealed) boss enemies.
Mick Gordon fans are always welcome in the Wargamer Discord community. Quality sees quality.
Source: Wargamer
