Awesome Music / Doom

• Doom II
• Doom (2016)
• Doom Eternal
• Sigil

Doom

The vanilla game

• At Doom's Gate, a simple, effective, and powerful fast-tempo track, great for starting off your day at UAC with filling a zombie's face with pistol lead. It has also become synonymous with the series in general. Not bad for a Metallica influence; this track is noticeably similar to the intro to their 1986 single "Master Of Puppets", with both starting on E minor and walking down the scale from there.
• Nothing says facing your potentially final challenge more than Sign of Evil, the theme of E1M8, a grim droning melody that plays undauntingly even when you're in the fight for your life against the Barons and their Spectre hordes on Ultra-Violence. The song itself even sounds like it's telling you in no uncertain terms that you're going to die even if it's going out swinging.
• Nobody Told Me About Id, the theme for E2M8, is a slow-building theme encapsulating the shock and awe you get when you first lay eyes on the gargantuan Cyberdemon in that huge open field, and then into a proud, unyielding tempo as the two of you get down to one big, great rocket duel.
• Hiding the Secrets plays on E1M9, E3M9, and E4M9, and is a loud ass-kicking melody also all but congratulating you for looking high and low by giving you a whole new playground to mutilate demons in.
• Kitchen Ace (And Taking Names) for E1M4 is one hell of a blood-pumping hard rock tune, all parts of which seem expertly timed to a chaingun's firing rate. And you just so happen to find one on this level as well!
• Intermission From DOOM serves as the end of level results theme, both congratulating you for a job well done and getting you ready for the next round of wholesale demon slaughter. And when it works as level music in itself in Episode 2, it's all but saying a competent player has already won.
• Sinister fully lives up to its title - quite possibly the most oppressive track in the game, this is not the music you want to hear when prowling the dark, gloomy labyrinth of this level, being caught out of nowhere by a Baron of Hell suddenly jumping out in front of you. The Super Nintendo mix of the track also captures the sense of tension while delivering its own take on the track.
• They're Going to Get You, from E2M4, particularly the MSDOS OPL rendition. Probably the single spookiest track in the original DOOM, it has "Psycho" Strings playing constantly and has the feel of a Slasher Movie to match the Bleak Level it takes place in. MIDI version here.
• You might not have a good time on Slough of Despair, but its main theme, Donna To The Rescue, keeps your spirits up while also sounding like it's clear how now things are equal between you and the demons and they're going to give you all they got. Better pray the Id Mom herself comes to rescue you as the title says.
• Dark Halls is among one of the more atmospheric tracks in the game, giving a calmer, albeit far more tense feel. And get this - you're still rather early in the game, and the music's already shifting gears this constantly, dumping one iconic song onto you after another. A gorgeous sign of what's to come!
• The Imp's Song is an intensely menacing track, immediately taking the soundtrack to a darker turn after the legendary At Doom's Gate. Even with the dark tone, it still has a good beat, giving the feel of some sort of a demonic nightclub song. But even in spite of the march of the demons blaring in the background, you know it won't do a thing to save them from the real monster - you.
• Suspense is a very tense theme which plays in the abandoned Phobos Lab, and much like a few other tracks it goes for a more Slasher Movie vibe - and it nails it, sounding almost sinister even as you shoot up hordes of demons, telling the player that they have a long, long way to go. This song was so infamous that it became the Big Bad's Leitmotif in Doom (2016), and it winds up being a perfect fit.
• Episode 2, Mission 9 (or E-3, M-1 if you never found Episode 2's secret level) literally called "Untitled." Yeah, it's a ripoff of a Pantera song, but it doesn't matter. That riff. Kicks. ASS! If E3M1 is your first encounter with it, it also perfectly captures the feeling of being stuck stranded in Hell itself, with your only hope of escape being to mow down every demon in your way until you eventually find a way out.
• Facing the Spider (E3M8) is the Final Boss theme of the game, and hot damn does it sound climactic. It starts with a slow, imposing chord...before jumping right into high gear, going into a fast-paced, intense track that truly befits a final showdown against the Spider Mastermind. While not as iconic as other songs in the game, it's still definitely one of the best just because of how perfectly fitting the track is.

Ports and remixes

• Hangarmageddon is an awesome version of "At Doom's Gate".
• ZX Spectrum home port makes you wish you had that music on the original version.
• "Nobody Told Me About Id" is so good, it was used for the super-secret level of The Plutonia Experiment and gets a new remix for every community-made sequel for it. So far we have Nobody Told Me About Plutonia for Plutonia 2 and I Already Know About Id for Plutonia Revisited. The latter is actually a remake of the SNES version of "Nobody Told Me About Id", though this doesn't detract from the awesomeness.
• The music from the 3DO port of Doom deserves a mention. While the 3DO port itself is universally considered one of the worst Doom ports out there due to framerate and other issues, it's also universally agreed that it has the best music of any port, even putting the music of the original PC port to shame. A couple of good examples are the 3DO renditions of At Doom's Gate and The Imp's Song.
• While completely different from the original score, the PlayStation version's soundtrack (composed by Aubrey Hodges, who also scored Doom 64) is worthy of praise in its own right. Jettisoning the predominant heavy metal vibe of the original, the new score is more ambient and ominous, focuses entirely on building up immersion and suspense, and makes Doom feel even more like a horror game. And it works. In addition to the menu theme below, check out Hangar, Plant and Toxin Refinery for a good sampler.
  • The intro theme to Doom PS1 is so damn epic that many cite it to be the true theme song of the series, being a very dark and sinister take on your typical "heroic triumph" orchestral theme: it will send shivers up your spine when you'll hear it while seeing the title slowly rising from a sea of flames. This track appears in any Doom port or game that has Aubrey Hodges' music in it, meaning that it's on Final Doom, and Doom 64 (albeit in a slightly different version). It's even better when it plays at the end of 64, becoming a perfect capoff for the original trilogy, In the end, the one who saved Earth from Hell was no hero or man - but just something that happened to be worse than them. The embodiment of DOOM.
  • In this same OST, Danny Lewis (aka Technoman) made a speedcore theme for the secret level "Club Doom" which sets the mood for slaying demons in a nightclub.
• Andrew Hulshult, the man behind the awesome remixed soundtrack of the Rise of the Triad Reboot, decided to tackle the original Doom's soundtrack in his spare time. Behold: IDKFA. Like Mick Gordon before him, Andrew would later become a Promoted Fanboy and provide some music for Doom Eternal's DLC.

Mods

• The mod Back to Saturn X has plenty of original, great tunes. To wit:
  • Entering. The very first map, and it's got a very touching and sentimental track.
  • Liquid Luck, which alternates between a mellow, moody tune and heavy rocking.
  • Faultline combines heavy metal guitar riffs and haunting atmosphere together with some sick bass work to create a work of art.
  • 24. It may not be fast-pumping heavy metal, but it manages to sound mysterious, beautiful and a little tense.
  • The haunting and mysterious Mystproj.
  • Scattered Ashes. Someone described it as sounding like a badass cowboy theme, and it's an apt description.
  • The highly intense Ominus.
  • Birdsong starts off as an atmospheric song with an uneasy mood... then about the 1-minute mark it becomes a tense, gloriously oppressive tune.
  • Atomic, a hard-driven metal tune perfect for pumping you up for the demon slaughter to come in the super secret level of episode 1, with two solos halfway through.
• Requiem also has plenty of underrated gems:
  • Rage.
  • The mysterious, haunting Under Death.
  • Lordly Might plays on the tenth map to amp you up, which is helpful because before the end of the level you will have your first showdown with a Cyberdemon.
  • Mesmarine plays at the intermission screen, on the first secret level and on the thirteenth map. And the thirteenth map has plenty of monster ambush spots, which fits - even more so if you're playing at the highest difficulty.
• Icarus: Alien Vanguard is one of the megawads that excels in soundtracks.
  • Recapture really sets up the mood for the first stage and retaking back a shuttle so you can use it to travel towards the eponymous space ship. And at the end, you can hear The Demon's Dead from Doom II.
  • Map 04: Engineering gives off a perfect sci-fi feel and the feeling of unfamiliarity, since you're millions away from your home planet.
  • Map 10: Slow Evil. Slow as the title says, but still great enough for firing through hordes of demons.
  • Map 11: Feeding Frenzy. This map has lots of enemies, and the tendency to encounter hiding Chaingunners and other monsters around the corner makes this map frantic as hell (pun intended). But thanks to this song, you can turn that frantic feeling into a helpful rage.
  • Map 32: Prestidigitation. A nice short relaxing jazz track for a short easy stage (the stage has more goodies than enemies, and the enemies and their placements aren't that hard).
  • Map 12, Hydroponics. The demons really ruined Icarus. The song tells you that you should make them pay for that! You can hear some parts that will make you think of space. Yeah, Doomguy has been into space but not that far away. You're actually near Beta Pictoris.
  • Map 25, Another Fine Mess. Ever wondered what would Thriller sounds like if it was remixed modernly and with beeps properly? This is the result.
• Valiant: The song "Dark Angel", which begins slow but quickly turns into a frantic tune while you dare the challenge of MAP09's "14 Angrier Archviles".
• Jenesis: "Sunset Over Babylon", a mysterious-sounding, exotic, grim tune.
• STRAIN: "TechnoDoom", a fast-paced dynamic song. Composed by the same guy who composed the music on Requiem. And "Promenade", which has a bit from "Running from Evil" from the original Doom II, and it gets pleasingly melodic in the middle.
• Memento Mori II: "Give In (With Pressure)", a great relaxing upbeat tune. The same description goes with "Nothing So Cruel", and "Backroad Wanderer".
• Ancient Aliens:
  • The mellow jazz of "Web of Steel".
  • The sinister "Basement".
  • The mystical-sounding "Imaginarium".
• Resurgence actually has its own overarching Leitmotif: it starts in the main menu, grows more intense on the story text screens, and culminates in the last level with a track aptly titled "The Resurgence".
• "Quickfast" from Sunlust (originally composed for NOVA: The Birth), a song fit for an epic voyage with an uncertain end.
• Almost the entirety of Quake Champions: Doom Edition counts, courtesy of Michael Markie. Here are the standouts:
  • How do you introduce Durandal to the audience? By doing an even more rocking version of Marathon 2's main theme.
  • Then there's "Slipgate" the even more hard-rocking cover of Quake's main theme.
  • The Quake II representation is well-covered thanks to the covers of the already awesome "Quad Machine" and "Descent Into Cerberon"
  • Lo Wang's reveal trailer used the swell mix between oriental music and rock that is "Main Theme Remake" by Konstantin "Kerranswell" Tsikolenko.
  • Markie's Image Songs for the Quake Champions characters also made the cut for the OST. Some standouts include:
    • "Nightmare", Ranger's theme, an even heavier and more industrial version of Quake's main theme which begins with ranger exiting out of a level.
    • The tribalistic and heavy "Bull Rush", Scalebearer's theme.
    • Want to know how Industrial Punk would sound like? Take a look at the White Zombie/Rob Zombie-influenced "Punk's Not Dead", Anarki's theme.
    • The ominous and highly industrial "For the Makron!", Strogg & Peeker's theme, even includes a fragment of Quake II's "Descent into Cerberon" at some points, as well as the main theme of the oft-forgotten Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.
• Sunder's MAP32 music, "Aorta", a fantastic, gloomy and oppressive tune. It was originally composed for Panophobia, an in-progress mod themed around phobias and fear, and it fits the "fear" atmosphere very well.
• "Eviternity", the bombastic grand finale to the mod Eviternity. As a bonus, it's deliberately composed to go into high gear right at the moment the giant demon horde is revealed.

Other games

Other Games

• The Doom 3 heavy theme. Reason being that besides the startup, you'll only ever hear it again when you're victorious, and almost invariably at the end of any Doom 3 mod episode too. It's effectively an awesome music of crowning.
• From TNT: Evilution, we have Sadistic, Death's Bells and Into The Beast's Belly. The music from MAP14 (Steel Works) may not be the best song ever (mainly because it's a short, cool-sounding riff surrounded by several minutes of dull bass), but its remix by TheWeekle manages to make it epic.
• The "Legion of the Lost", the intermission theme from TNT Evilution, also used in MAP31 ("Pharaoh"), is in a class by itself. The somber piano in the opening gives the impression of a brief respite from the horrors you just braved. Brief indeed, because soon an ominous bell begins to toll and then the full instrumental backing kicks in, turning the melody from melancholically hopeful to bitterly hopeless; a mournful, despairing rumination on how no matter how tired you've become of the endless fighting, your struggle against the forces of Hell is destined to continue on and on, with no end in sight. It's the closest thing to a Tear Jerker on an official DOOM soundtrack since "Sign of Evil".
• Ever wondered what would happen if Bobby Prince decided to chip in during the development of The Plutonia Experiment? James Paddock did as well.
  • Lippeth's contributions, "Death Mask" and "Always Watching", are fantastic compositions that fit with the atmosphere of the levels they were intended to be used in.
  • "Plunge Saw." Oh, what's that? You want a fast-paced remix of "Nobody Told Me About ID?" Well, say no more, buddy.
• Doom 64 may not have much in the way of rocking tunes (only the opening and ending themes could be considered traditional music), but what it does have is an incredibly creepy and atmospheric ambiance that really helps set it as the most Survival Horror-y game in the series until Doom 3 came along (especially when you reach Hell). Here's one of the creepier stage themes if you need an example. One might think the frequent, lengthy periods of silence on the track would be a relief, but instead they leave you with a sense of dread anticipation for the moment that the nightmarish "music" starts up again.
• The pinball adaptation of the DOOM reboot doesn't just play like the game, it also sounds and speaks like it too, drawing upon Mick Gordon's well-scored soundtrack at appropriate moments. Several examples:
  • Enjoy hearing the high-energy "At Doom's Gate" when you're in lockdown during a mission where demonic presence hits unsafe levels, and you have to fight your way out to keep going.
  • When you've started the "Hell on Mars" side mode, the table glows red with terror - and the heavy-metal rage of a sample of "Rust, Dust and Guts" befits the peril that awaits as demons assault you.
  • The rocking energy of "Harbinger" keeps the mood tense in the "Observe, Repeat" mission as you try to remember several hologram trails that flash on the table and try to get the ball through them to escape the facility.
  • Escaping "The Pit"? Let the passive, but rising, frightening tune of "Incantation" guide you as you ascend it level by level.
  • Activated a 2-ball multiball (Super Shotgun or Experimental)? "RIP & TEAR" for some high scoring action!
  • Who knew that the screaming, loud and fast-paced "BFG Division" could work as a victory celebration for defeating the Cyberdemon, or great background music for a 3-ball Deathmatch Multiball round?

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