Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
This kind of ridiculous midi was actually my 3rd attempt at writing a track for this map. Muumi came to me and asked if I had a spare midi lying around for a slaughter map he was working on; and since I didn't really think I had anything that fit, I offered to write one. He gave me some screenshots and I kind of went from there after briefly discussing what the map's vibe was.
The first version was more atmospheric and imposing initially, before transitioning into a more structured melodic part. It was not dissimilar to God of the Depths. But before I had even played the map, I started to feel like I wasn't moving in the right direction.
Eventually I began working on the version that became this song. As I developed more and more of it, I'd load up into the map to play through some of the early areas to feel out how the energy and pacing matched the map itself. Throughout this, I felt like there were many opportunities to continue adding to the song, and already planning for it to be long since the map itself would be as well give me a lot of space to lean into giving the song many different distinct sections.
The thing that really made the song come together early was figuring out the drums. It was a hard balance to strike with making them kinetic but not too busy. I experimented to get the rolling snare sound, which I layered on other drum notes in the TR-808 patch and I'm really pleased with the overall texture it creates. Between that and identifying the distorted guitar voice as the kind of dark horse of the song to really become the lead instrument, the song had a very solid core and some confident parts.
It got difficult trying to figure out how to ride out the rest of the song and keep it interesting for the length I was shooting for. The part where it opens up around 4:30 was easily the most interesting part of the song, but for its high energy I was concerned it would start to get annoying during a 90 minute map if the player heard it repeat every 5 minutes. And I really wanted that moment to hit and feel really special during the incredible setpieces muumi had created; a magic I had tapped into during some of those early tests of the map.
A good song needs to breathe. A lot of my songs feature a kind of call and response, inhale/exhale fluidity to the structure of the song but also the instruments in their melodies and how they are arranged. The trick is figuring out how to abide that need while writing something that sounds interesting to hear whether you're exploring in between battles or locked into a nasty scrum struggling to survive; and the moments in between. The 3rd part of the song, at this point I'm starting to think of them in terms of movements, was to serve this purpose.
The hardest part ended up being figuring out how to bring the song back around for a clean loop. The transition that occurs around 10:20 took quite a few cracks before I broke it open. Furthermore, my first attempt was just a 3 minute reprise of the exact same chord structure as the song's first movement, and it was kind of boring. I cut out a huge chunk and tried again, this time taking the chords in the passage's key and rearranging them to create a different chord progression. Then that part would very easily slot into the first movement's progression, and would set the end of the song up for a nice loop.
It took a lot of work and I played the map multiple times to bring the composition home, but I also can't overstate how much muumi's incredible gameplay and aesthetic design inspired me to write a song that I felt really pushed my skill as a composer. I hope you enjoy it.
Download Reldresal Crater: doomworld.com/forum/topic/159852-reldresal-crater-rc2-massive-slaughtermap-for-ultimate-doom-mbf21
This kind of ridiculous midi was actually my 3rd attempt at writing a track for this map. Muumi came to me and asked if I had a spare midi lying around for a slaughter map he was working on; and since I didn't really think I had anything that fit, I offered to write one. He gave me some screenshots and I kind of went from there after briefly discussing what the map's vibe was.
The first version was more atmospheric and imposing initially, before transitioning into a more structured melodic part. It was not dissimilar to God of the Depths. But before I had even played the map, I started to feel like I wasn't moving in the right direction.
Eventually I began working on the version that became this song. As I developed more and more of it, I'd load up into the map to play through some of the early areas to feel out how the energy and pacing matched the map itself. Throughout this, I felt like there were many opportunities to continue adding to the song, and already planning for it to be long since the map itself would be as well give me a lot of space to lean into giving the song many different distinct sections.
The thing that really made the song come together early was figuring out the drums. It was a hard balance to strike with making them kinetic but not too busy. I experimented to get the rolling snare sound, which I layered on other drum notes in the TR-808 patch and I'm really pleased with the overall texture it creates. Between that and identifying the distorted guitar voice as the kind of dark horse of the song to really become the lead instrument, the song had a very solid core and some confident parts.
It got difficult trying to figure out how to ride out the rest of the song and keep it interesting for the length I was shooting for. The part where it opens up around 4:30 was easily the most interesting part of the song, but for its high energy I was concerned it would start to get annoying during a 90 minute map if the player heard it repeat every 5 minutes. And I really wanted that moment to hit and feel really special during the incredible setpieces muumi had created; a magic I had tapped into during some of those early tests of the map.
A good song needs to breathe. A lot of my songs feature a kind of call and response, inhale/exhale fluidity to the structure of the song but also the instruments in their melodies and how they are arranged. The trick is figuring out how to abide that need while writing something that sounds interesting to hear whether you're exploring in between battles or locked into a nasty scrum struggling to survive; and the moments in between. The 3rd part of the song, at this point I'm starting to think of them in terms of movements, was to serve this purpose.
The hardest part ended up being figuring out how to bring the song back around for a clean loop. The transition that occurs around 10:20 took quite a few cracks before I broke it open. Furthermore, my first attempt was just a 3 minute reprise of the exact same chord structure as the song's first movement, and it was kind of boring. I cut out a huge chunk and tried again, this time taking the chords in the passage's key and rearranging them to create a different chord progression. Then that part would very easily slot into the first movement's progression, and would set the end of the song up for a nice loop.
It took a lot of work and I played the map multiple times to bring the composition home, but I also can't overstate how much muumi's incredible gameplay and aesthetic design inspired me to write a song that I felt really pushed my skill as a composer. I hope you enjoy it.
Download Reldresal Crater: doomworld.com/forum/topic/159852-reldresal-crater-rc2-massive-slaughtermap-for-ultimate-doom-mbf21
