Soundtrack Review: The Lord Of The Rings Online: The Riders Of Rohan (2012)

The Lord Of The Rings Online: The Riders Of Rohan Soundtrack Review. This is a review of the video game score The Lord Of The Rings Online: The Riders Of Rohan by Chance Thomas.

“It is a very strong score almost all the way from start to finish.”

The Riders of Rohan is the fourth expansion in the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. It was released on October 15, 2012 as a web-based download and on Steam. The Riders of Rohan expansion features 6 new regions, all part of the Eastemnet: The Wold, The East Wall, The Norcrofts, The Sutcrofts, The Entwash Vale, and The Eaves of Fangorn. The score is composed by Chance Thomas.

Track List

1. Lotro Legacy	100
2. Theme For Rohan	100
3. Urgent Errands	100
4. Horse Lords Of Norcrofts	80
5. Shadow Of Argonath	100
6. Boromir’s Last Stand	80
7. The Eored	100
8. Heart Of A Hero	100
9. Learning To Ride	100
10. Learning To Fight	80
11. The Entwash Vale	80
12. Orc Encounter	80
13. Corruption And High Treason	80
14. Horse Und Hererinc	80
15. Roaming Free	80
16. Calm Before The Storm	80
17. The Conflict Comes	80
18. Ecgbracu	80
19. Fangorn	40
20. Boromir Seeks The Ring	80
21. Struggle For The Ring	80
22. Fog Of Wormtongue	60
23. Moria Highlight Reel (Bonus)	80

Chance Thomas is back with another score from The Lord Of The Rings Online universe. This time with the addon Riders Of Rohan. I’ve always enjoyed this music, even though it’s natural (and unfair) to compare it to Howard Shore’s film scores. Yeah it’s bloody unfair in fact, but it happens automatically and I can’t help it. It’s nowhere near as good, but it’s good enough in my opinion. I love the fact that in the cue ‘Lotro Legacy’ Thomas has created his own version of Shore’s themes, and it works great for me.

Both in ‘Theme For Rohan’, ‘Shadow Of Argonath’ and other’s, Thomas has used Celtic music, perhaps more so than the films, but it’s also a good inclusion. It gives the score more of an own sound than most scores. If you are into this universe you will no doubt enjoy this score as you have the others.

Conclusion

While we were waiting for Howard Shore’s Hobbit score, this score did just fine as something that belongs in Tolkien’s universe in my opinion. It’s not great, but it is a very strong score almost all the way from start to finish. Pick this up if you are a fan of fantasy game scores.

GEEK SCORE: 83.4 (SGI: 315*)

*SGI is the current placement in the overall Soundtrack Geek Index (Lower number is better…)