The INSANE Rhythms of Doom Eternal | Jazz Pianist Reacts

[@CharlesCornellStudios]

I was BLOWN AWAY by how cool this soundtrack is!!!! What else you got??? Get the Improv Essentials bundle for like over 60% off or something crazy here: cornellmusicacademy.com/improvessentials

[@gubbinsly]

Thanks for this awesome video, Charles! Doom is one of my favorite games just for the feel of it all. One game that I also love is Sky: Children of the Light… it is completely different to Doom but I love it nonetheless, mostly because of the music! Please check it out!

[@CrabCake0]

You ask what else I got. I got 23 attempts to suggest the Hollow Knight soundtrack. It’s modern classical that will blow you away!

[@uncannyhiddencrow2385]

@@CrabCake0 I also strongly recommend the hollow knight soundtrack the classical chamber style of music is super original in a video game

[@astridposey]

You should check out Stardew Valley

[@mana20]

Doom 2016 has some of the best songs from Mick Gordon

[@m0urn1ng5tar5]

I love how - even if you're not a metalhead, most people's response to hearing that first drop in the song, is pure unadulterated joy.

[@Zomik02]

it's just THAT good

[@kopekito_fx]

I mean, that's how it should work. I can say, that I'm not into a certain type of music, but nonetheless I see this piece is brilliant. Music lovers and great quality music just works this way, I believe.

[@t3o6]

Went over to a friends place and he had doom eternal... I played 10 hours straight

[@m0urn1ng5tar5]

@@t3o6 I had already played and beaten D2016 and fucking loved it. To say that I was hyped for Eternal was the understatement of the decade. And oh man once I got my hands on it for the first time... I was instantly hooked. Even though I wasn't good at the game yet, I WANTED to be. And I did. I played until I literally could not stay awake anymore. Easily one of the top 3 best FPS games to come out of the last 15 years.

[@coastaku1954]

I'm not a metal head, I can tell you that I am not in joy, I'm in pain whenever metal plays, it's so fucking dark, so fucking scary, that I cower in fear whenever it comes on, whats worse is that EVERYONE ELSE doesn't share my thoughts, leaving me nothing but a sense of loneliness and actual anger towards the people who like it

[@SALEENS7GTR5]

I'm always happy when Charles reviews traditional Christian music

[@Marta1Buck]

True that, what is more religious than killing demons?

[@evanc.1591]

Reminder that Doomguy is canonically Catholic.

[@moltencucumber6514]

@@evanc.1591 One of the original creators of Doom is a devout Mormon.

[@foot2theballs]

Even Periphery IV is surprisingly religious-it even has a song about church! CHVRCH BVRNER!

[@SirChronDonIII]

I've heard Christian music like that. I remember one called "Forever" by As I Lay Dying. It stuck because it was pretty good and I couldn't believe it was a Christian band.

[@joshuawatts5378]

I really really hate that id decided to treat Mick Gordon the way they did over Doom Eternal. This soundtrack is absolutely magnificent, and it is marred is controversy because the studio tried some shady shit. I really hope that one day we get a proper soundtrack mixed and mastered by Mick. I really appreciate seeing his music covered and gushed over here. He is so incredibly talented.

[@juliancarreon5569]

Unless its taken to court and Mick wins, we will most likely never get a full ost

[@DystopianDr3am]

Mick is making the atomic heart ost, it is great

[@connie_d]

that was such a disillusioning moment to me when all that came out, id had made such a show of being wholesome af as a company, listening to and interacting with the fans to a degree i've never seen and just seeming to be genuinely nice, i unquestioningly believed their version of events when they got rid of gordon. how wrong i was.

[@Radeo]

@@connie_d never believe the machine

[@armata_strigoi_0]

​@@connie_d Fitting username.

[@pup64hcp]

Charles reviewing metal is always a treat

[@bolillo5013]

Agreed

[@infinithree6969]

Hell yeah brother 😎

[@psychatnight]

Charles reviewing anything is a treat

[@cringeanimations7227]

Have any of you heard Alex Terrible’s cover of one of the doom songs?

[@AurelienCarnoy]

I read "chewing" 😅

[@squishy949]

One important thing about the recent Doom soundtracks, they're written to be adaptive to the game rather than primarily as normal, linear songs. Each "song" is a selection of parts which the game can dynamically arrange as you play, so that it ebbs and flows with the combat action. Doom 2016 got an official "album" version release where Mick Gordon himself arranged these dynamic pieces into linear songs, -but unfortunately Eternal never got an official release- _correction: it sort of got an official release, and Mick Gordon released his mixes unofficially_ . A lot of the pieces you find on youtube are mostly people's own arrangments of the dynamic sections ripped from the game, some of which are fantastic, but some of them end up sounding a bit odd when listened to as a song because they were never arranged that way by the original artist. I still hold out hope for an official Eternal soundtrack release, but it's looking pretty unlikely now. It does make for an amazing experience when playing the game though, the music is not only fantastic but it perfectly scores your own combat as it flows in real time.

[@BeingBetter]

I'm not really into video games, but my husband told me that, and I thought it was cool.

[@gervasiocampana6217]

Eternal did get it's own, but it was originall mixed by someone else due to a scheduling conflict with Mick Gordon, but Mick Gordon did end up making his own and gave them to reuploaders on youtube.

[@squishy949]

@@gervasiocampana6217 Ah that's awesome! I knew there was some controversy around it and no official release of Mick Gordon verisons but I'd missed that he had done an "unofficial" version, thanks for the correction :D

[@ChristopherRoss.]

@@gervasiocampana6217 Can you point me to any of the re-uploads? Google is failing me.

[@gervasiocampana6217]

@@ChristopherRoss. I don't know where Mick himself released them but the videos are still on youtube, if you hear a particularly good mixing on a third-party upload of a DOOM Eternal song, it's probably Mick's

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

You gotta love how music that’s basically heavier than metal itself is enjoyed by metalheads AND non metalheads alike

[@raiden_mc]

It's named Argent Metal, so I'd say it is still metal I guess.

[@tr4cer_wh1te]

I see you literally everywhere. Arm Wrestling, Charles Cornell, good God I love your taste in KZbin

[@kevinwillems8720]

@@nebylicza look up Bleed by Meshugah. It's similar to this

[@kevinwillems8720]

I don't think you've explored the true depths of heaviness.

[@kevinwillems8720]

But also yeah, this is metal. A nice mix of Grove and industrial. If you like this listen to Fear Factory and Lamb of God.

[@andywillis9701]

very nice of Mick Gordon to include a game along with this masterpiece.

[@eviltwinzak]

Underrated comment.

[@XeLYoutube]

lol xD best mich gordon comment

[@Lon1an]

Yeah he made a great game.

[@NoNonsenseSpider]

😹😹😹

[@RIlianP]

what game it is the video clip for the music

[@SideshowJO]

Fun fact for anyone who doesn't know: the unique synth/guitar voicing that Charles mentioned is the result of Mick Gordon using the chainsaw sound effect from the original Doom and turning it into a digital guitar plug-in. Literal heavy metal

[@zavierverbick852]

That's only in hellwalker

[@Anklejbiter]

and in Cultist base, he uses a recording of a lawnmower as the bass synth (I may have gotten it wrong where and how he uses it, but there's definitely sampled chainsaws and lawnmowers in the Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal soundtracks. Just for kicks, he also crafted an entire choir of nothing but heavy metal singers. The dude is as metal as it gets.)

[@benpowell5348]

holy crap that's the most metal way to achieve that I can imagine

[@beeswithchainsaws]

HOLY SHIT REALLY

[@VeritabIlIti]

I think there's a weed wacker in there somewhere too. Literally industrial metal

[@Kalebfenoir]

Okay hearing it in piano form at 6:40, I now kinda wanna hear an orchestral, piano-centric version of The Only Thing They Fear Is You. Lol. That sounded sweet as hell

[@evlredsun]

welcome to the internet where that has absolutely been done already

[@zackjones8802]

I learned this solo piano arrangement, the composer also did BFG division kzbin.info/www/bejne/eIDFe6uCgql6npY

[@mapsofbeing5937]

@@evlredsun and welcome to 2024 where if you don't find a cover you like you can just generate the AI music yourself

[@pedrobarros2864]

Dear Charles, such a cool jazz player dropping the "Stank face" while banging to metal riffs fills my heart with joy.

[@homeslice60148]

I straight up did the "Leo snapping and pointing" meme when I saw him do it! 😆

[@yurilopes420]

im a hip hop head that doesnt have a single non rap/hip hop song in my playlist, and this shit is STANNKKKKYYY as fuck, i can't listen to this soundtrack and not immediately get goosebumps

[@Vindilax]

Doom's soundtrack just fits the game so unbelievably well

[@bolillo5013]

Couldn’t agree more

[@irrefutable_mrT]

Rip And Tear

[@rizzkolnikov]

The game just fits the soundtrack so unbelievably well

[@3deanimations557]

🤓:"um actually, what?!?! impossible I can't find a minuscule flaw in his logic?!??!?"

[@umbraemilitos]

I saw a comment that said they wrote dozens of transitions to adjust the music in game to the current action.

[@RealDeadBird]

A fact that makes soundtrack even cooler is that a lot of the sounds are from chainsaws, weed whackers, lawnmowers etc. You're basically jamming out to the sound of power tools. Mick Gordon is just that awesome, It's beautiful.

[@sprinkleddonuts6094]

But synthesised

[@bobbygreen2134]

It was sine waves run through a crazy setup and the chainsaw was the actual sound of the chainsaw from the original doom game run through a guitar

[@mercurius0]

​@bobbygreen2134 yes, this. There's a cool talk he gave about the setup. He explains he used an AI audio plugin tool that basically blends two sounds into one. On one side is the guitar, on the other is the classic DOOM chainsaw. Really cool stuff

[@Lord_eBatts]

Even a jazz pianist can't help but headbang and pound his chest to the greatest soundtrack of all time

[@spongechameleon6940]

especially a jazz pianist

[@gcvibe]

Have you ever heard of Tigran Hamasyan? Check it out

[@somedude1392]

The bfg division drop is still one of my favorites

[@mutlucansihman]

@@gcvibe who is he

[@tomoakley760]

Mick Gordon ks a genius. I heartily recommend his GDC talks, he has a rare ability to not only make inspired music, but also to break down his own process in a way anyone can understand. One of the things he talks about is how he wanted the combat music in Doom 2016 / Eternal to help the player stay "locked in" to the fast pace of frenetic, "push-forward" combat, and its interesting you picked up on this "pushing forward" element of the soundtrack itself. What's really mad is how the in-game OST has a whole procedural system in place for piecing together multiple layers of music samples to essentially 'compose' fight music on real time, that ramps up or down in intensity based on the combat situation and the players actions within it. And this real-time composition is taking place whilst making all those syncopated, 'off-beat' sub-rhythms fit into the overall flow of music. The easy way out would've been to metre everything to a strict 4/4 rhythm and just add pr remove instruments accordingly. But Mick Gordon created this system that retains a progressive musical throughline whilst throwing in a flurry of atypical variations that, under less skilled hands, could've easily become an incomprehensible mess.

[@adfdasdfadfadsfareae]

Martin O'Donnell and the rest of the sound team on Halo somehow figured out the same "combat responsive music" system way back in 2001. Mind blowing stuff.

[@isturbo1984]

Looks like this was one of the few Micky did write. It's a misconception people think he wrote the entire sountrack, when he is only credited for just a few tracks.

[@tomoakley760]

@@isturbo1984 Mick Gordon created all of the music as it appears in-game. The 'album version' of the OST was mixed partially by Mick Gordon, with the bulk of the tracks being mixed by Chad Mossholder and possibly one or two other contributors, based on the master recordings that Mick created for the in-game soundtrack. All the music you hear in game is Mick's creations through and through. He just didn't do all the mixes for the standalone OST release, because of drama that's too long to cover in a KZbin comment lol

[@isturbo1984]

@@tomoakley760 Read your reply wrong with my original reply. You are right.

[@highestsettings]

One time I fired a rocket launcher at a Mancubus to start a big fight with a bunch of demons. The drop landed just as the rocket hit and it was the most intense feeling I think I've ever had in a game to be honest. Someone said on KZbin that every track is like boss music and that's because YOU are the boss and that just explains it perfectly to me haha. I felt like I was letting the game down every time I died, like I owed it to the music to be as good as I possibly could be at the game.

[@sorendaniels754]

I honestly think Mick Gordon is up there with Howard Shore and Hans Zimmer. What a genius composer.

[@SnowBlnd12]

hans is a mastermind behind composing. id say hes one of the best

[@Ismael-kc3ry]

Without question.

[@GamingwithAlex117]

Respectable opinion I agree

[@TheHeadincharge]

I think Zimmer is on another level simply due to his range.

[@Malc180s]

He's clearly nowhere near to Zimmer!

[@zhujik]

I love how he listens to the first 10 seconds of the first track and immediately talks about the brilliance of it for 5 minutes :D

[@james.d.fowler]

The fact that the melody is in Eb Major when you'd expect it to be minor totally fits in with the Doomguy's mindset. It's his psychotic joy in the middle of the carnage.

[@ValiantNoob]

EXACTLY

[@Enderplays12]

Reminds us of those horror movie notes, but on speed, and the POV of the monster.

[@XeLYoutube]

that that non-minor evolution is so catchy and original

[@Tricker1266]

Well, Eb Major is also C Minor so

[@lmtman6199]

@@Tricker1266 technically e flat Spanish Phrygian (don’t remember the technical name lol)

[@jiraffe3790]

"it just draws you in and keeps the flow just punching forward" not only a great description of the song but also exactly what the game is about

[@swxqt6826]

"The Only Thing They Fear is You" with the melodies on piano genuinely sounds like something you'd put in a Dark Ambient/Atmospheric Black Metal song.

[@Pit_Lord]

That’s because it is. Just move it to the octave that suits the song in the right key and you’ll have a baseline melody that would be right at home in that genre! As to the melody specifically, you’ve heard it or variations constructed from the same ingredients before, which is what gives it that “familiar, but can’t quite place it” vibe. Off the top of my head, a lot of Amy Lee’s vocal/piano parts for Evanescence on their first two albums use this melodic structure.

[@swxqt6826]

@@Pit_Lord any examples of Black Metal songs that have something like that?

[@pianoboi4842]

@@swxqt6826 it’s not strictly black metal, but I think that Agalloch’s “The Mantle” is a good example of melodic metal.

[@SlyHikari03]

Yeah. Sounds like something id hear on a liturgy or botanist track (not black metal but influenced by it..)

[@supremelordoftheuniverse5449]

Not really a very BM style melody

[@Assabinnas]

The melody settles on a major harmony because the slayer is in his element. He's not disturbed by the horror and violence but invigorated. Enraptured.

[@almachizit3207]

Doom is a horror game where you are the horror

[@artshayler8747]

This sounds like it is either the obvious way mick gordon designed the song, or an english teacher interpretation.

[@tomoakley760]

Yeah I think Mick Gordon said in a talk or interview (paraphrasing heavily) that the music had to make the player feel powerful and headstrong, diving into the action as if frothing at the bit for demons to kill. It couldn't feel like the music is intimidating the player. Hell, the most popular song is literally called "the only thing they fear is you". The Doomslayer is a wrecking ball and the player gets tp smash that wrecking ball into countless demons for their own gratification. The music reflects this power fantasy insanely well.

[@actuallythepie]

isnt the whole thing in phrygian dominant?

[@viaris1725]

@@artshayler8747 the song is literally called "the only thing they fear is you"... Like you are the horror, you are the blade slicing through hell and all that shit.

[@hedgeearthridge6807]

4:14 The way he's patting to the exact beat of the song after explaining the theory, it's like the biggest "AHA!" moment ever, I couldn't even figure out the way the beat works

[@AndrewMerideth]

I'm surprised you missed that opening track is utilizing the Double Harmonic Scale! Usually you are on the ball with those. 1-b2-3-4-5-b6-7 or Eb-Fb-G-Ab-Bb-Cb-D in this case. So well used here since that scale usually has a middle eastern vibe to it from the augmented 2nds

[@weryxavier]

He didn't miss. He just focusing about higher interest. And newer. I beleive even non musicians have noticed double harmonic scale. But the 3 over 4 rythm with a one unregular is way more interesting IMO. But he could have tlaks about quarter tones ( scale ) used also.

[@BuddhaBKFL]

@@weryxavier how the fuck is a non musician going to know what double harmonic is

[@ThorsShadow]

What am I missing here? Isn't this just Phrygian mode? Why give it a different name?

[@weryxavier]

@@ThorsShadow because andrew made a mistake in writing intervals: double harmonic has a 7M and not a 7. With a 7, it would be a phrygian mode for minor harmonic scale( wich by the way is not called phrygian but mixolydian 9 13). That's what I understood after researching myself. So I could be wrong.

[@BuddhaBKFL]

@@ThorsShadow nah its different than Phrygian mode. The basic mode itself doesn't have the raised 7th degree and has a flat 3rd degree. If you're thinking of Phyrgian Dominant then that is one note away from the Double Harmonic minor scale which has a raised 7th degree unlike Phyrgian Dominant.

[@Whiteythereaper]

That groove for Only Thing They Fear Is You is so good. Doom's music is always incredible and Eternal really pushed it so hard

[@philippemorin7634]

You just tapping both rhythms at 4:13 is just so impressive to me

[@ryanh1892]

You should check out Meshuggah, friend!

[@FG-vp6id]

not that hard tho lol

[@mxr3385]

@@FG-vp6id if it takes a lots of practice for most people to do then you could consider it as something hard

[@Adam.Clark.]

@@mxr3385 it isn't to bad, just think of saying "pass the bread and butter", it's a trick percussionist sometimes use to get polyrhythms quickly

[@burritoomg]

If you want to go down the "artists tapping polyrhythms" rabbit hole, you should check out Jacob Collier. He can tap a different time with each finger of his hand simultaneously.

[@weevilsnitz]

The even more coolerer part of the Doom (2016 and Eternal) soundtrack that you won't get from listening to the OST album is that the implementation in-game is dynamic/adaptive. Mick Gordon recorded parts in small pieces (I believe even to the point of less than a single bar) and as the game is played the music dynamically changes intensity based on the action that is happening at the current moment (which has to be dynamic because no 2 players are doing the exact same thing at the exact same time) BUT ALSO he devised it so even a 2nd playthrough in the same area won't play the same micro-parts/sections in the same order. So, the soundtrack exists as the "proper" song, but as you play the game the soundtrack, even in the same song, consistently changes. Mick stated that while there is still a verse-chorus structure, the pieces within that structure are dynamic. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYmWfZWQdt2Fhqc

[@Zachary_Sweis]

He did the same thing on Killer Instinct.

[@Guitarfailtastic2857]

incredible

[@Arrynek01]

That tech was first applied in Kingdom Come: Deliverence. A friend of mine was finishing his engineering degree and the guy who wrote the dynamic algorhytms was his thesis supervisor. He'd be gone for two weeks at a time, just sitting in his cabin with a cello and a paper, trying to figure out the Maths. Cool stuff.

[@SeraphsWitness]

I watch Charles because of how much he loves music. It's just a joy to watch.

[@barking_mad6649]

Agreed. People with enthusiasm for anything they are into is always infectious, even if you have no interest in it :)

[@DZCOSENTRY]

And the crazy thing is that the gameplay matches up perfectly with the rhythmic focused music. Mick Gordon knew exactly what kind of gameplay he was composing for. And on top of that the music will shift in-game to match what the player is doing. Never have I experience such a harmony between gameplay and music. Doom has such an amazing feeling to it.

[@gutsoriginal83]

Make it burn dem far cry 3 is another one that comes close

[@sheercold13]

Hollow Knight for sure is a must! Christopher Larkin’s music is incredible.

[@aarepelaa1142]

Also rainworld has some cool music.

[@olsonbryce777]

Yesss

[@titannova1418]

Hollow knight is a must do review

[@rajput36000]

no hollow knight is for pedos

[@RubyLoxolyte]

VOUCH

[@tomchristoffer]

My favorite part of 'The Only Thing They Fear is You' that I'm a little sad you didn't talk about, is when the chorus with the Eb-major comes the second time around after the interlude, there's a REALLY cool chord progression that's different from the first chorus, and it SLAPS hard. It's around 2:38 on the soundtrack video

[@enricofoa8804]

yeah you're right. That part is really amazing and I hoped it was in the video.

[@Kumquat_Lord]

I know the exact moment you're talking about because that's my exact favorite moments the entire track

[@SKJESUS-qk5qy]

Dude the way you explained dotted notes actually just blew my mind lmao. I know what they sound like, I’ve watched videos explaining, and can play simplistic versions and variations but you explaining what the dot “translates” to pushed me way further along than anyone else has

[@PostmanDan87]

I will always appreciate the use of the DOOT meme. That being said, I think metal has really adopted this love for the polyrhythm over the past few decades and the music Mic Gordon makes really exemplifies that. His blending of industrial tones and more analog synth add to the harshness of the 8 string F# base that lines his work and those low end hits punch well with the kick. These modern “Djent” techniques bleed into metal as a whole now and Doom 2016 and Eternal both play with those themes almost as a defining factor to these games. It’s why the music in the rhythm game doom clone, Hellsinger, doesn’t even come close to the line of work Mic produced for the modern Doom reboot.

[@ErebosGR]

Actually, Meshuggah were the ones who popularized polyrhythms in metal, influenced by Indian Konnakol music.

[@DreasEst]

The Hades game soundtrack is vaguely reminiscent of Haken's The Mountain. That polyrhythmic, slightly Balkan sound combined with making odd time signatures so smooth you almost don't notice you're bopping to an odd number!

[@ErebosGR]

@@DreasEst That's polymeter, not polyrhythm.

[@argr4sh]

Tbf, I feel like hellsinger wouldn't be fully able to make playing with the rythm and the beat work as it would make it trickier to do all your actions on the beat, especially for people (like me) who aren't musicians and have built a more natural awareness of rythm and beat. Which why I feel they chose deliberately to focus on melody and getting in some great vocals.

[@shaylahunter1825]

What a brilliant video from a KZbinr. You're catching metalheads to listen to jazz and your jazz fan base is being opened up to metal. We can all be friends guuuuuys

[@KindredBrujah]

Jazz and metal have a lot more in common than people might initially assume. Syncopation, unusual time signatures, spicy tone and chord choice, instrumental solos.

[@hptk01]

As a lifelong metal musician, gotta say it gives me life seeing a Jazz pianist so appreciative of the genre. You got my sub, I hope you blow up man you just made my morning

[@cosmictreason2242]

If you have not heard the METAL version of “The Battle Hymn of the Reformation” originally written by Martin Luther, performed by Tim Bushong, fix that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y4jcd36qjMuobpY

[@octane613]

"The only thing they fear is you" has got to be one of the hardest songs created for a game. It always gets me hyped.

[@Cimlite]

That's a neat breakdown of the soundtrack, but what's even neater is how it's linked to the game itself. That grab-hold-and-push-forward style of the music, is reflected in the gameplay itself. The game is designed to force the player to engage the enemies up close to get health, so the worse you're doing, the more you have to get right up to the enemies. There's no hiding, no taking cover - only running head first into danger. It fits both with the storyline of Doom as well as the music. It's all perfectly melded together. How they managed to do that, I have no idea... but it's some visionary stuff.

[@TheRealJonster]

I love the level where "The Only Thing They Fear Is You" is introduced. The close combat in the hallways and office spaces, forcing you to go extra aggressive because of the limited space, and just keep pushing.. Pushing.. Pushing! David Levy's UAC Atlantica track in the DLC has the same "push" feel to it, and it is one of my personal favourites besides Mick's work 🤘ಠ_ಠ🤘

[@kaptinskorge5728]

It's actually a lot more than that. In a GDC talk, Mick explained how the music was broken down into verses, choruses, bridges, and transitions between all of them. The game pays attention to how you're playing and picks parts appropriately. If you get low on health or ammo and back off a bit to regroup, it'll drop the music into a less intense verses, then quickly transition back into the heavy choruses when you're back on the offensive. An absolutely incredible design that feels so natural people don't even notice it.

[@yurilopes420]

MY GOD THAT FIRST RIFF GETS ME GOING like i can be doing anything, and im still sitting here goosebumps from head to toe, literally

[@thewatchersofthewood3530]

Yep. You should listen to the doom workout mix on youtube.

[@RobotSocialist]

Hearing you play it on piano makes me wish they did a MIDI version of the soundtrack. It sounds like it would fit really well

[@Ennello]

There's one out there. A few classic doom wads use it, but i don't remember exactly which ones.

[@TommyAgramonSeth]

There is definitely a fan-made MIDI version of The Only Thing They Fear Is You, unfortunately it's not perfect. An official version would be nice.

[@jk-qj2qz]

It's important to note how the soundtrack helps get the player into that perfect blend of flow and hyperawareness, just syncopated enough to grab attention but not so off putting that it distracts from all the craziness happening in the game. Like you said it just keeps pushing the track forward.

[@TheCyberDruid]

Your chestbump rhythm analysis is worth the subscription. Well done.

[@jmrwacko]

This piano expert is just a casual expert drummer too

[@loveyourwaifu1035]

fun fact: the guitar in "the only thing they fear is you" is actually a chainsaw. and the synth is a drivable lawnmower. Mic Gordon, the artist behind this track, was writing music for doom and his neighbor started cutting the lawn, so he used that in his song

[@uncroppedsoop]

That's only half true. The chainsaw was only used in 2 songs across both Doom games he made the soundtracks to. Respectively, Hellwalker in '16, and Cultist Base in Eternal

[@loveyourwaifu1035]

@@uncroppedsoop oh from what i heard it was all they fear is you where the chainsaw was used.

[@uncroppedsoop]

@@loveyourwaifu1035 nope, people tend to just hear that there was a chainsaw _in_ the OST and then say that it's in every song instead of a guitar. That one's just got the lawnmower

[@BileyyggR]

That's also because id software didn't want guitars in the ost because it was already done in the original games

[@orvixvaxis]

Bethesda actually turned to Mick Gordon and told him "no guitars" and made is life a lot more hell. So instead he took sounds like the lawnmower/chainsaw etc etc and just mutated the sound to what we hear to sound like guitars. That man is a fucking genius :D

[@chubbysumo2230]

this track goes hard 100% of the time, and goes right with the game. so glad we got such a masterpiece to go with the games.

[@awintory]

Mick is among the most-respected and admired of all our colleagues in the game world. A musician, composer and producer on a whole other level and you've done a fantastic job at distilling it here. Bravo!

[@camchase9059]

Whattttt Austin Wintory watches this guy?? That’s so cool. I love your work bro!!!

[@AdamAmbrus]

Journey! 😍😍

[@beck_murphy_music]

I really love that phrygian dominant mixed with the harmonic minor sound for metal, especially with chromaticism. its a great way to make badass or hellish or creepy or fun sounding riffs depending on how you use it.

[@pAWNproductionsDE]

Considering that lead uses the flat 2 and the raised 7th, I think that would make it the double harmonic major scale

[@smergthedargon8974]

@@pAWNproductionsDE Yup! I recreated part of the song, and TOTTFiY is primarily in double harmonic.

[@dragonmaster0656]

The rhythm and flow that he's talking about at the 10:00 mark is what the whole game is about. Very nice that he noticed that even without having the context of the game. Very nice, good job there.

[@deathmetalsl]

Mick Gordon is incredibly creative. There is a GDC conference on KZbin where he divulges what inspired the Doom soundtrack and some great insight into his creative process. On another note, PLEASE check out Blotted Science! Ron Jarzombek is an absolute genius and it's outrageous how underrated he is. Love these videos Charles! 🔥

[@0babul0]

Hell yea, Blotted Science is the best. Throwing some classic composition techniques, like transforming one theme into whole little piece in Oscillation Cycles, and making the theme as a note series at the same time.

[@daniellee2671]

There's also Spastic Ink with his brother Bobby Jarzombek, very forward thinking and exciting music

[@sterbern6762]

Wish I could like your comment twice. We NEED to see his reaction to Blotted Science. Especially a track that no one except the band understands like Bleeding in the Brain (my favorite, but like no one can cover it... for good reason...).

[@doomslayer_ch4280]

ah, my people's music, the rhythms are amazing in the soundtrack, really makes your head bang hard as hell!!

[@kiwigaming09]

*Hell* yes it does

[@JK_5076]

I'm very impressed that he can hear this once and almost just know what notes to play, been a Doom fan for a while, I can't even remember the names of notes

[@shahs1221]

Hades' (or any Supergiant games) soundtrack is always a treat to dive into!

[@cooldebt]

Yes! Also, you might enjoy The Consouls cover of From Olympus kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaDGmGmZnLioaac

[@se7enhaender]

Yeah, their in-house composer and musician, Darren Korb, had me hooked in the games I played (Transistor, Hades). I'm confident that the rest is great as well.

[@mtmsammetal9124]

I love Transistor and how there are corrupted variants of tracks. I'm a big fan for stuff like that

[@seraph1337]

Yessss please. I love the Hades soundtrack to death. I was a huge fan of Bastion's soundtrack, Transistor was solid, but then Hades came and blew the doors off.

[@ManifoldRiver]

“Atlas Stone” and “Cockroach King” by Haken. Prog rock that plays with mixed meter, with heavy jazz influences. The entire album “The Mountain” is great, but those two tracks would be standouts for analysis.

[@Ezio9791]

Hell yeah, Haken is fantastic

[@puff5074]

This would be fantastic

[@andy-simmons]

Yes!!!

[@casuallycanada1631]

PLEASE! MY LIFE WOULD BE COMPLETE

[@mattbecker743]

Nah, haken is essentially a rip off band. They pull HEAVY influences from so many other bands it's absolutely criminal.

[@joaosantos5503]

I seriously recommend his 2017 GDC presentation about how he composed the soundtrack for the original Doom. I'm pretty sure he used the same process for Doom Eternal. It's genius stuff.

[@longshot007]

Doom(2016)

[@Thewolfobsessedgamer]

The story of the doom eternal ost is actually sad and enraging, Mick Gordan was completely screwed over by being given an impossible deadline, he spent sleepless nights only being able to produce about 70% of the ost before the deadline and they went "Ha, you're fired!" and giving his music to basically an intern who made minor and botched edits and was given half the credit on the music

[@joaosantos5503]

@@Thewolfobsessedgamer Yep, I read his statement on his website or wherever it was. Very sad to see such pieces of shit working for ID software.

[@stanleyhyde8529]

I love seeing music nerds check out metal music. I've never understood music but I love it. It's always best when they start with the preconceived idea that they don't like it because they're like "what, this is good." Then they start gushing about how amazing the whole experience is and it gives me a new reason to love what I hear.

[@AlexMoukalaMusic]

I still haven't recovered from the first time I listened to this one! By the way, you should definitely check out Animals As Leaders if you haven't yet! I'm sure you have, but in case you didn't, check out "Para Mexer" and "Tooth & Claw" from them. Incredible stuff

[@IvoryMadness.]

Oh... you here? Nice!

[@Kristofferson15]

I second Tooth and Claw for sure. Such a great song!

[@SynthChris]

Para Mexer is phenomenal

[@mtmsammetal9124]

If we are talking stuff from The Joy of Motion album, I honestly think Ka$kade, Lippincott, Crescent, and The Woven Web would be contenders for defining that album Honorable mention goes to Nephele because it is an outlier of an AAL track in that it is the closest to sounding like a somewhat normal metal composition

[@mgk-metalgearkelly5054]

Alex, are you French?

[@yondertf2]

6:36 honestly every time charles cornell plays a cool chord progression and then just goes "woOOOOOOHOHOHOHO!!!" immediately in response, *i feel that*. god i love music so much

[@gitsurfer27]

I'm so glad metal is starting to get some of the respect it deserves from the music world. People are so put off by the screams and dark vibe that they miss the awesome complexity that can occur and assume there's nothing of musical merit to draw from. The truth is rhythmically metal is the most interesting genre out there, and there is a ton of cool ideas that can be bought into different genres if you were so inclined. Fascinating analysis as always!

[@Bobbias]

Yes, apart from the differences in instrument tone, I think the biggest signifier of different metal genres is how they use rhythm. Rhythm is the basis of riffs, and each subgenre has a different stylistic take on riff structure, and therefore rhythm.

[@spicymeatballs2thespicening]

Metal can be super interesting but I wouldn't be using djent as an example of that ngl

[@spimbles]

@@spicymeatballs2thespicening in terms of interesting musical structure, djent is definitely up there. im not much of a djent guy but theres some crazy songs with that kinda sound that have nasty polyrhythms that sound both interesting and genuinely good, especially when its used in the deathcore genre

[@novasoul99]

What are you talking about? Anyone who knows even a little about music knows metal guys are music beasts

[@minbari73]

"Respect" as in fodder for overly excited youtube reactions, where you can put your own suggestions in the comments.

[@mixn5919]

great content, another fun fact about this soundtrack is Mick wrote Hell on Earth in 5/4 time and came up with the melody by drawing a pentagram on the circle of fifths lol

[@TalynStormcrow]

I can't see that on the album.

[@YxngFresco]

Oh my god, when you broke down the syncopation; even as a musician myself, my mind was blown. You got it straight away!

[@believe07]

The way you described the songs is actually like the gameplay. It compels you to shoot your way forward through the demons in a very hectic experience. Man I love game songwriting.

[@aarono8979]

That's the problem with some of the other games trying to be metal games, like Slain. The gameplay doesn't compel you forward the way it does in Doom. Doom rewards relentless aggression but you have to be thoughtful about it or you die. Slain doesn't have an incentive for keeping pace, so the more difficult the enemies become the more you want to slow down and be very reactionary. In Doom the music and gameplay really complement each other perfectly, I've never seen anything like it.

[@smergthedargon8974]

Fun fact: The Only Thing They Fear is You is, like the Dune soundtrack, mostly on the double harmonic scale - the synth melody hits a few natural sevenths later on in the song.

[@barral69]

I have to learn to play the piano now... Hearing you repeat that metal tone with the classic piano somehow made that sound waaaaaay more creepy and I couldn't love it more!

[@palibakufun]

If you like prog, the Risk of Rain 2 soundtrack is probably my favorite video game soundtrack of all time. I've listened to on Spotify front to back so, so many times. It uses several motifs through it, and it uses all sorts of awesome harmony and cool rhythmic ideas. I highly, highly recommend it!

[@InternationalAwesomeFoundation]

Once In A Lullaby is my favorite song of theirs to date, that clarinet (I think?) just ties the whole thing together into this ethereal, mystical thing.

[@Lesopal]

ultrakill is extremely impressive in its presentation, especially music, it blends with the gameplay in so many different ways, for example how 6-1 is split to 3 different tracks, a low droning for the beginning, dark hallways, no beat just noise, then it drops to silence as you move to the next area, and the real music comes in, a harsh electric guitar attacks you to emphasize the now open red abyss of heresy. as a finale to the level, tension builds with a voice you haven't heard since 3-2 announcing his presence below, and drops: 'come to me.' *spawns 2 of a boss you've only fought once* *a remix of the first fight theme drops instantly*

[@Samcanplaymusic]

I was surprised to hear a Jazz pianist bring up Periphery. I feel like Heavy Metal often gets overlooked, but there's so much musical complexity there (especially in the drums). I remember having a bunch of Metalheads in my Music Theory classes in high school and it was cool hearing my teacher (with a Master's in percussion) break down the songs like you're doing here. Cool to see Metal getting some deep analysis instead of being passed over. Great analysis!

[@lanonyme-vod8090]

NieR Replicant or NieR Automata would be so great. I mostly like how the composer, Keichi Okabe, made lots of chromatic ascensions in some of his tracks NieR music sounds like nothing else, it also emphasizes the power of the human instrument : the voice. Emi Evans even created the Chaos language, inspired by japanese, french, deutsch and many other languages.

[@cooldebt]

You might enjoy The Consouls' beautiful cover of Weight of the World kzbin.info/www/bejne/aqSYnoWmoMmora8

[@bentoarukin]

I'm up for this..

[@TheHobatron]

Charles Cornell reviews DOOM music. One of those occasions where I actually have to question whether I'm alive or if I've ascended to heaven. This is legit some of my favourite *music* of all-time, forget soundtrack, metal, whatever. Just some of my favourite music, outright.

[@ArrowStudios]

8:10 "it sounds really really boring" idk man, sounded beautiful to me. God I love music. To be clear i get your point I am just poking fun

[@robface2010]

Always love your insight on these things. In terms of rhythm, or polyrhythm, I really love the intro to Do Not Look Down by Meshuggah. It’s absolutely killer. It’s like 17/16 time, over a 4/4 drum beat, something like that. Each rotation of the riff falls differently on the 1, it’s gnarly. And the start of Stengah too, took me quite a while to figure out exactly what was going on there. ‘shuggah are the masters of that stuff.

[@jeynarl]

13:14 I haven't played this doom but that piano immediately informed me that the songs from the original doom. Really cool. Never knew

[@xalener]

The new Id Dooms are FULL of this kind of shit. Easter eggs just for the ~informed~ It's so fucking good

[@andrewtanzosh]

2:37 the way you did this so effortlessly blew my mind lmao, really goes to show your knowledge and how long you’ve been doing music!

[@Roccondil]

An interesting note you touched on: you mentioned that the rhythm and series of notes through the bar basically pushes and forces you through the track. This, in fact, correlates with the actual gameplay, which is intentionally designed to almost force you to play aggressively, including almost requiring you to often get up close and personal with the enemy with certain powerful melee attacks which reward you with health and ammunition.

[@yurilopes420]

gamer should actually straight up kill you if you stand still for 2 seconds mid fight

[@UVPhoenixMusic]

There are some songs from DOOM that are really harmonically interesting too! I recommend that you check out "Damnation" from DOOM 2016, as well as "Urdak" from DOOM Eternal. The harmonies are designed in a very weirdly emotional way, and I'd love to see a breakdown of it from you. Even if you don't though, I do suggest you give them a listen :)

[@tigerofdoom]

Those were all the correct facial expressions for appreciating metal. Nose scrunched and all

[@joshuasplural]

You should check out the band Oceans Ate Alaska or the drummer Chris Turner's solo project. They do some real fun metric modulation and other fun rhythm manipulation. Btw this sub sub genre of metal is called Ardjent and an amazing artist who does this style is a dude called Andromida. More Than Human is my favorite album from him

[@VeritabIlIti]

Did he actually finish an album? He's been on my Spotify release radar for years but I thought everything was single based

[@joshuasplural]

@@VeritabIlIti I got to talk to him and he does do albums but it's his singles compiled nowadays at least. He been releasing a new song every month. Wrath of the vangard and hellscape were on that release scheduIe think

[@SinclairesLabyrinth]

I would love to see Charles review Oceans... or anything on Steezy too. His mind would certainly explode lol

[@ControllerTape]

The Doom 2016 soundtrack is pretty epic too. Harbinger and BFG Division are a couple of my favorite all-time VG tracks full stop. The rhythms are crazy and the peaks/valleys just roll man

[@seanyeske]

The drop in BFG Division is pure involuntary agro headbanging.

[@annihilist1983]

All the “heavy” tracks on the OST are incredible but in my humble opinion, it’s the track ‘Urdak’, which doesn’t appear until the final level, that shows Mick’s unbelievable musicianship and creativity.. You should definitely check that track out!

[@8thlvlMage]

That track almost made me shit myself the first time I heard it. It felt 25x more ominous than the rest of the tracks.

[@WRDClark]

For a good deconstruction (and reconstruction) of Doom Eternal’s style and instrumentation, Geoffrey Day’s KZbin channel has some fantastic insight, twisting music from other games into this style.

[@Carrylikemariah]

Sitting here after a long day of work sipping a drink, thinking: "This guy gets as excited about music irl as I do in my head" It's so cathartic and enlightening to watch you react and explain. Top content right here. Loads of explanations for things I have experienced but don't understand.

[@IWFDI]

That's why I love Tool! Danny Carey's drums are so amazing. His style of playing not the same rhythm as bass or guitar and the complexity of it are simply divine!

[@chico1367]

I love when you cover videogames soundtrack. This one is so badass! As some mention, I would love to see you react to some Hollow Knight music

[@pajamaninja2157]

The "Bloodborne: Old Hunters" soundtrack is pretty good. It's like 5 songs they're all pretty good. I'm not musically literate to say why, but I like em.

[@Khael4001]

Charles fangirling over DOOM music for 17mins? YES please!

[@thedanliest]

Of all the reactions/breakdowns of Doom music I've seen on youtube, yours might be my favorite. I also loved your recreation of the melody at 6:32; it sounds so different like that but the way the chord progression works together just sounds so good and now I kinda want to see someone try to turn the track into a piano piece lol

[@flynntaggart7216]

Only thing they fear is you piano version i already done by someone check it out it's fire

[@CadenSheahan]

Hollow knight’s music has some amazing stuff, super atmospheric while also having some heavy hitters for bosses. I recommend City of Tears, and Mantis Lords, but you can look at ANYTHING.

[@TheZyrophobia]

You explaining the polyrhythmic aspect of the song has made me learn how to explain the reason I love this song and a lot of Periphery songs! Also, always enjoy when metal is so good that you can't help but scrunch your face, I do the exact same thing! xD

[@GeekMasterGames]

You mention the music pushing forward. This is 100% in line with the design philosophy of the gameplay: Push forward. Don't hide. The minor keys changing to major melodies with that chainsaw synth echoes the idea that you are the positive force pushing back the demon hordes. It's all on brand with this soundtrack.

[@fajaradi1223]

Me ... Keep on pushing S while shooting aimlessly.

[@benstanfill363]

I think one thing I've realized after years of being asked why I liked metal is that I like it because it's rhythmic. The guitars, drums, even metal vocals (mostly screams) are about rhythms. Sure there's pitch in there, but rhythm is what drives these songs and why they make you want to head bang. No other genre is really driven by rhythm like metal.

[@elkyubi4281]

Mmm, acid jazz?, There's a lot of genres of music at this. I think we limited to what we can encounter really.

[@MrEnvisioner]

I just wanted to thank you for consistently delivering inspired and readily digestible musical knowledge. I know the basics about music theory w/ piano & concert/marching band over the years. At first, with a gentle introduction about syncopation, I thoughtlessly assumed that this would just be an entertaining video covering some basic music theory stuff alongside game content. But as it went on, I found myself actually learning about practical ways to apply music theory in composition (specifically the bit at 7:38 about "playing over the barline"). Great work!

[@theharvardyard2356]

Can't watch yet but excited to. When I got some fat strings and downtuned them to try and play this, I was taken aback by how freaking complex these rhythms were to wrap my head around

[@shadowstorm9787]

The Risk of Rain 2 soundtrack is probably one of my favorite game soundtracks ever, and includes some of my absolute favorite songs, like con lentitud poderosa and You're Gonna Need a Bigger Ukelele. It would be awesome to see you listen to it, I think it is definitely the sort of thing you'd like!

[@vmart9020]

Charles definitely needs to check out ROR2’s soundtrack, I think he’d love it!

[@dualCalibur]

If you want more cool stuff about the RoR2 soundtrack, Chris did commentaries on his own channel.

[@vmart9020]

@@dualCalibur oh sweet, I’m definitely checkin this out. Thanks man!

[@palibakufun]

RoR2 soundtrack is incredible x100

[@noahsan92]

i can't believe they decided in include an entire game alongside this soundtrack!! awesome stuff

[@TurtleDrums]

Id love to see a video on Nobuo Uematsu's work on Final Fantasy VI. "Dancing mad" is such an interesting piece!

[@TurtleDrums]

Also “Kefka” “Another World Of Monsters” “Decisive Battle” and “The Empire Ghestal”. The entire OST is a great example or Nobuo’s dynamic abilities with music.

[@marekw7562]

You can have a mind of jazz musician but your heart is metal!!! But Mick Gordon did astonishing work to make his music interesting for so many people.

[@anthonycook6613]

The unexpected switch into E Flat major strikes my ears as being very Trent Reznor-like. That's quite appropriate for a Doom game, since Reznor wrote the soundtrack to another early first-person shooter, 'Quake', which was a main contemporary and competitor of the original 'Doom'. The internet tells me he also did initial sound design for Doom 3, though his work was later scrapped. There's a certain Reznoriness to the descending melody in 'Meathook', too. I wonder if these little flourishes are mini-homages on the part of the composer, Mick Gordon? If they are, that would be cool :-)

[@TheRealJonster]

I love the level where "The Only Thing They Fear Is You" is introduced. The close combat in the hallways and office spaces, forcing you to go extra aggressive because of the limited space, and just keep pushing.. Pushing.. Pushing! David Levy's UAC Atlantica track in the DLC has the same "push" feel to it, and it is one of my personal favourites besides Mick's work 🤘ಠ_ಠ🤘

[@CrabCake0]

Attempt 23: *PLEASE* listen to the Hollow Knight soundtrack!!

[@harrydavis5459]

Vouch

[@leandroP2323]

Up

[@Heavyshadowsound]

Do it

[@willcorff]

Hollow Knight has a beautiful soundtrack

[@dazza2350]

👉🌿

[@peterkaplar1660]

I think Red Alert 2's soundtrack is definitely worthy of your attention. It's a really nice combination of synthesizers and metal instruments. You could have a field day with it. 😁 Really cool analysis of DOOM's music, thank you!

[@jessegrisham]

Frank Klepaki is legendary

[@DantesKzPSC]

He have to do this. “Gentlemen, it’s a nuclear device”.

[@1slimshaney827]

Mick Gordon is a freaking genius. The entirety of Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal is so good and so unique. Majority of the sounds in the music is some form of synth; tuned waaaay down, distorted, broken, stretched. And then there are some sounds that are so cool, such as chainsaw sounds used in Hellwalker, and lawn mower sounds (courtesy of Mick's neighbor while he was working on the soundtrack) in The Only Thing They Fear is You. The video "Understanding the Music of Doom" by Liam Triforce breaks it down entirely and is just so cool to know how unique Mick Gordon made these soundtracks.

[@PaulSteenOriginal]

it would be genuinely interesting to see you cover some bands that cover extreme metal genres - like Archspire, Blotted Science or Infant Annihilator, etc etc

[@MLazyHunt]

At 6:38 we both did "woohoo" at the same time 🤣🤣i felt that chord!! Beautiful breakdown of the song!

[@BookofLetters]

I love that you can tell how loud he has it playing