World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Interview

Music 4 Games had the chance to sit down with World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade lead composer Russell Brower for a lengthy interview about the powerful tracks he created for Blizzard’s expansion pack.

Q: (Lament of the Highborne) is another standout track. Who lends lead vocals? If there’s a commercial soundtrack, might you extend the track into a more full length version?

A: The vocalist is Queen Sylvanas Windrunner, or as I affectionately call the group, (Sylvie and the Banshees.) As I was writing the music for the new blood elf race, I became aware that the music was taking on a lyrical quality, almost as if there should have been words. Inspired by how some of Tolkien’s poems were set to music in the Lord of the Rings films, Derek and I collaborated on setting one of the melodies to words. It was just for fun, really…. But when the vocalist brought so much emotion and context to the performance, we realized we had something special. The quest design team enhanced a new quest line to incorporate the song as a payoff moment. We’re really thrilled with the positive response from our players on this too! Content like this is why I personally love to play the game, because in World of Warcraft, along with the phat loot and epic armor sets, expanded story and music are also worthy rewards for adventurers!