12 Things You Didn't Know About Video Game Soundtracks

10. Doom: Plagiarism And Satanism

Doom's a**-kicking heavy metal main theme - officially titled 'At Doom's Gate' but known colloquially as "the f***in' Doom theme, man!" - is just about as perfect as it gets for putting one in the mood for blasting hordes of demons back to hell. The rest of the soundtrack is similarly brutal, and as it should be; it was composed by heavy metal's finest bands.

Sort of. Robert Prince takes credit for the 1993 FPS' score, but the majority of tracks are echoes of those from the era's elite thrashers. Amongst the bands from which Prince's score take more than a little 'inspiration' are Judas Priest, AC/DC, and most notably, Metallica - popular belief is that 'At Doom's Gate' is largely based off the band's 1983 No Remorse. The score even found time to feature a vague reprisal of Camille Saint-Saëns' diabolic Danse Macabre.

However, the original Doom isn't the only one in the series whose soundtrack dances with the devil.

Trading on the persistent and wholly unsubstantiated myth that the original Doom had the power to corrupt impressionable children to the side of evil, id's 2016 reboot of the franchise subtly secreted Satanic messages within the game's soundtrack - in the most clandestine way possible.

After the work of some clearly bored internet detectives, it was discovered that playing the game's audio through a spectogram - a devise used to visualise sound frequencies - apparently revealed numerous demonic symbols, namely a pentagram and the numbers 666. It's pretty safe to assume this is an intentional (and cynically, potentially viral) Easter egg on id's part, but you never know. Maybe a generation of hysterical parents were right afterall?

Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.