Thursday, October 22, 2026

Armageddon

 

Armageddon

(Original Motion Picture Score)

Music by
Trevor Rabin

Additional Music by
Harry Gregson-Williams

Released in the summer of 1998, Armageddon stands as one of the defining examples of the high-concept Hollywood blockbuster of its era. Directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, this science-fiction disaster film combines spectacular set pieces, an ensemble cast, and an unabashedly sentimental narrative into a quintessential piece of late-1990s popular entertainment. Starring Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Billy Bob Thornton, Will Patton, Steve Buscemi, Keith David, Owen Wilson, Peter Stormare, William Fichtner, Jason Isaacs, and Michael Clarke Duncan, the film brings together a collection of established stars and emerging talent for a story in which the fate of humanity rests in the hands of an unlikely group of blue-collar workers.

The premise is suitably straightforward. When a gigantic asteroid is discovered on a collision course with Earth, NASA determines that the only viable solution is to drill into its surface and detonate a nuclear device before impact. The agency consequently recruits Harry S. Stamper (Willis), an experienced oil-drilling specialist, and his team to undertake the mission. After a crash course in astronautics, the crew is dispatched into space, where technical complications, personal conflicts, and a succession of increasingly improbable obstacles threaten to derail the operation. Matters are further complicated by the relationship between Harry's daughter Grace (Tyler) and A.J. Frost (Affleck), one of his most capable employees and the last person Harry would willingly choose as his son-in-law.

Written by Jonathan Hensleigh and J.J. Abrams, with story and adaptation contributions from Robert Roy Pool, Tony Gilroy, and Shane Salerno, Armageddon operates according to the particular logic of the Hollywood event picture: the stakes must be global, the obstacles monumental, and the emotional payoff proportionate to the scale of the catastrophe. Bay's kinetic direction and Bruckheimer's production sensibilities provide the framework for a succession of explosive action sequences, comic interludes, and dramatic confrontations.

The film's reception was decidedly mixed. Critics frequently took issue with its implausible science, overextended running time, and reliance on familiar disaster-movie conventions. Yet these shortcomings did little to diminish its commercial appeal. Made on a reported budget of approximately $140 million, Armageddon grossed more than $550 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1998 worldwide and one of the year's major box-office successes. Its popularity demonstrated the effectiveness of the Bruckheimer formula, in which spectacle, star power, humor, and emotional directness could compensate for a narrative that was not always interested in plausibility.

Music played a significant role in establishing the film's identity. Alongside its orchestral score, Armageddon featured a prominent collection of rock songs, most notably Aerosmith's power ballad "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing." Written by Diane Warren and performed by Steven Tyler and his band, the song became an enormous commercial success, reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Its association with the romance between A.J. and Grace, reinforced by the real-life father-daughter connection between Tyler and Liv Tyler, gave the song an additional layer of publicity and emotional resonance.

Behind the familiar songs lies a substantial original score by Trevor Rabin, supplemented by additional music from Harry Gregson-Williams. Rabin's background as a guitarist, songwriter, and producer informs an approach that combines rock-derived energy with expansive orchestral writing, a combination that had become a defining characteristic of the Bruckheimer sound. Electric guitars, driving rhythms, synthesizers, and orchestral textures coexist throughout the score, giving the music a muscular, contemporary character without sacrificing its melodic focus. Gregson-Williams, who had developed considerable experience within Hans Zimmer's Media Ventures circle, was brought in to contribute additional music, partly because Rabin was occupied with another film. His contributions would prove particularly significant in the more intimate and emotionally reflective passages, introducing a contrasting musical sensibility that complements Rabin's forceful action writing.

At the score's heart lies a heroic anthem that stands among Rabin's most memorable thematic creations and is frequently cited as one of the finest musical statements to emerge from the Media Ventures school of film scoring. Its enduring appeal lies in the way it brings together two closely intertwined thematic ideas. The first is an ascending motif associated with family, representing what the characters stand to lose and the personal bonds that give their mission its meaning. This gradually gives way to a more solemn, overtly heroic theme, celebrating the courage, honor, and sacrifice of those willing to venture into space to save humanity. The two ideas frequently unfold in unison, their complementary qualities lending the music both emotional warmth and an unmistakable sense of grandeur. Rabin develops this material with a keen understanding of the emotional directness required by the film, allowing the anthem to move seamlessly between intimate expressions of affection and full-blooded declarations of heroism. Its most affecting presentation can be heard in "Harry and Grace Make Peace," where a delicate acoustic guitar brings the thematic material down to a more personal level, emphasizing the familial bonds at the center of the story. By contrast, "The Launch" and "Returning Home" offer expansive, full-ensemble statements that capture the scale of the mission and the emotional weight of its consequences. The anthem's combination of soaring melodies, gradual builds, and emphatic orchestral climaxes proved particularly effective beyond the film itself, helping establish it as one of the signature sounds of late-1990s blockbuster scoring. Its frequent use in trailers and promotional material further cemented its association with cinematic heroism, demonstrating how a theme rooted in the specific emotional stakes of Armageddon could acquire a life of its own.

Alongside these sweeping thematic statements, Rabin employs a recurring melodic ostinato, supported by heroic harmonies, to propel the narrative forward. Heard in cues such as "Arrival at NASA," "The Drilling Commences," "Bad News," and "A.J.'s Return," this figure provides a sense of continuity and determination as the characters progress through their increasingly perilous mission. Its repetitive construction creates forward momentum without sacrificing the score's melodic character, while the underlying harmonies lend the music a reassuring quality, suggesting that the characters can persevere despite the obstacles ahead. On the other end of the spectrum, Rabin's country and bluegrass influences bring a distinctly American flavor to the score. Guitar riffs, twangy textures, and harmonica feature prominently in "Meet Harry Stamper," establishing the rough-and-ready personalities of the oil-drilling crew and providing a playful counterpoint to the film's more extravagant dramatic moments.

The action writing, meanwhile, is among the score's most forceful material. Cues such as "Death of Mir," "Asteroid Chase," "Secondary Protocol," and "Remote Detonation" showcase Rabin's command of driving rhythmic patterns, muscular orchestral writing, and layered electronic textures. The music combines the propulsion of rock with the scale of a full orchestral ensemble, supported by emphatic percussion and relentless rhythmic figures. Its sound is very much in keeping with the Media Ventures aesthetic that became synonymous with major Hollywood action films of the period, particularly those produced by Bruckheimer.

Gregson-Williams's contributions provide an important counterbalance to this muscular approach. His music favors a more wistful, Celtic-inflected sound, with flute and electric cello helping create a distinctive sense of longing and vulnerability. This material is particularly effective in the score's more intimate passages, including the love theme associated with A.J. and Grace, as well as a poignant sacrifice theme heard during the second half of "Asteroid Chase," in the middle sections of "Bad News" and "Secondary Protocol," and at the beginning of "Returning Home." Where Rabin's music often emphasizes determination and collective heroism, Gregson-Williams introduces a more fragile emotional perspective, reminding us of the personal cost behind the spectacle.

A final, particularly distinctive element is the choral motif associated with the asteroid itself. Employing a female choir and drawing on the solemn character of the Agnus Dei, the music gives the celestial threat a religious dimension. Rather than depicting the asteroid solely as a physical object, this material lends it an eerie, otherworldly presence, suggesting something immense and beyond human comprehension. The motif is particularly prominent in "Asteroid Chase," where it is integrated into a propulsive action arrangement that accompanies one of the film's most impressive sequences. The relentless rhythmic drive and the choir's haunting presence combine to create a powerful sense of urgency as the characters confront the sheer scale and destructive potential of their adversary. Taken together, these elements give Armageddon a musical identity that extends beyond its reputation as a bombastic action score, balancing heroic spectacle with melodic warmth, humor, romance, and genuine pathos.

The original Armageddon score album, released in 1998 by Columbia/Sony, offered only a partial representation of the music heard in the film, with a selection of cues presented in an order that did not follow the narrative's progression. The separate soundtrack song album also included a three-minute suite of Rabin's score, providing a brief glimpse of the instrumental music amid its collection of rock songs. Over the years, a couple of bootleg releases attempted to address the omissions. The first was a 30-minute promotional album assembled by Rabin himself, which also remained out of chronological order and left much of the score unreleased. A more extensive two-disc bootleg subsequently surfaced, featuring over two hours of music and providing a considerably broader overview of the score. Nevertheless, despite its length, this expanded release did not necessarily offer the most coherent listening experience, leaving room for a presentation that would bring the material together in a more narratively satisfying way.

This Renovatio Records release seeks to present the score in a more cohesive listening experience, restoring a largely chronological progression that follows the events of the film. The revised sequence allows the music to develop alongside the narrative, moving from the introduction of the characters and their mission through the increasingly perilous journey into space, before reaching its emotional and dramatic resolution. The inclusion of material absent from the original release, particularly music by Gregson-Williams, also gives greater prominence to his contributions, revealing a more varied musical landscape than the original album alone might suggest.

Ultimately, Armageddon is a score whose appeal lies in the balance between its larger-than-life heroism and its more personal emotional moments. Rabin's memorable themes and energetic writing provide the foundation, while Gregson-Williams's contributions introduce a contrasting dimension of tenderness, melancholy, and reflection. By bringing these elements together in a more complete and narratively coherent presentation, this release aims to offer a fuller appreciation of the music and the different approaches that shaped it. Beneath the film's spectacular destruction and unabashed sentimentality lies a score that understands the importance of both the people fighting to save the world and the immense forces standing in their way.



Track listing:

1. Prologue - 65 Million Years Later (4:38)
2. Meet Harry Stamper (1:58)
3. Arrival at NASA (3:01)
4. Demands (1:23)
5. Love Theme (1:34)
6. Underwater Simulation (2:11)
7. Harry and Grace Make Peace (1:43)
8. The Launch (7:43)
9. Death of Mir (4:22)
10. Asteroid Chase (6:29)
11. The Drilling Commences (3:20)
12. Secondary Protocol (6:30)
13. Bad News (4:38)
14. A.J.'s Return (4:08)
15. Short Straw (3:45)
16. Long-Distance Goodbye (2:30)
17. Remote Detonation (3:41)
18. Returning Home (5:16)

Total Running Time: 68:50






Size: 436.5 MB
Files type: FLAC Audio File [.flac]
Channels: 2 (stereo)
Sample Rate: 44.1 KHz
Sample Size: 16 bit
Bit Rate: 1,411 kbps




Cover Artwork:







Credits:

Music by Trevor Rabin

Additional Music by Harry Gregson-Williams

Executives in Charge of Music for the Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group: Kathy Nelson, Bill Green
Score Produced by Trevor Rabin, Paul Linford and Steve Kempster
Executive Producer for Renovatio Records: John M. Angier
Music Supervisors: Kathy Nelson and Bob Badami

Engineered by Trevor Rabin, Paul Linford and Greg Silk
Orchestra Recorded by Steve Kempster at Sony Scoring Studios (Culver City, CA)
Mixed at Media Ventures and The Jacaranda Room by Steve Kempster, Alan Meyerson and Trevor Rabin
Concert Master: Endre Granat, Ralph Morrisson
Contractor: Sandy De Crescent
Conductor: Gordon Goodwin
Orchestrators: Gordon Goodwin, Bruce Fowler, Trevor Rabin
Drums: Lou Molino
Solo Violin: Hugh Marsh
Music Preparation: Booker White-Walt Disney Music Library
Music Editors: Will Kaplan, Shannon Erbe
Mastered by Joe Gastwirt at Ocean View Mastering, Los Angeles, CA

Album Sequencing: John M. Angier
Music Edited and Re-Mastered by April Faust
Re-Mastered at RR Studios
Album Art Direction: Mira B. Ellis

Published by Buena Vista Music Co. (BMI)

Trevor Rabin would like to thank: Jerry Bruckheimer, Michael Bay, Kathy Nelson, Bill Green, Monica Zierhut, Bob Badami, Reggie Wilson, Shelley & Ryan Rabin, John Kalodner, Tony Dimitriades, Tiffany Goble, Richard Kraft, Laura Engel, Lyn Benjamin, Sony Scoring Studios Crew, The Staff at Media Ventures and The Jacaranda Room, Harry Gregson-Williams, Don Harper, John Van Tongren, Scott Holtzman, Doug Mark, Helen Triesch, Peter Fletcher, Glen Brunman

Trevor uses: EMU, Korg, M&K Speakers, Digital Performer, D'Addario Strings





Cue Assembly:

Track Title

Cue Title

1. Prologue - 65 Million Years Later

Main Title

65 Million Years Later (Edited)

2. Meet Harry Stamper

Oil Rig

3. Arrival at NASA

Harry Arrives at NASA

Top Secret (Edited)

X-71 (Edited)

4. Demands

Demands (Edited)

5. Love Theme

Love Theme (Edited)

Animal Crackers (Edited)

6. Underwater Simulation

Underwater Simulation

7. Harry and Grace Make Peace

Harry and Grace Make Peace

8. The Launch

Launch (Edited)

9. Death of Mir

Mir (Edited)

Death of Mir Part 1 (Edited)

Death of Mir Part 2 (Edited)

Fly to Moon (Edited)

N°2 Strikes Oil (Edited)

10. Asteroid Chase

Asteroid Chase (Edited)

11. The Drilling Commences

Goodbye Independence (Edited)

Survivors (Edited)

12. Secondary Protocol

Secondary Protocol (Edited)

13. Bad News

Back in Business (Edited)

Bad News (Edited)

14. AJ’s Return

A.J.’s Return (Edited)

15. Short Straw

Draw Straw

16. Long-Distance Goodbye

Sacrifice - Good-Bye Grace (Alternate)

17. Remote Detonation

Evacuation

18. Returning Home

A Wing & A Prayer




Motion Picture Artwork and Artwork Title © 1998 Touchstone Pictures. This compilation and cover artwork © 2026 Renovatio Records. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws. For promotional use only.

Renovatio Records [0-01702-19118]

Thursday, September 17, 2026

Cyberpunk 2077


Cyberpunk 2077

(Original Game Score)

Music by
Marcin Przybyłowicz,
P.T. Adamczyk,
and
Paul Leonard-Morgan

Some worlds are defined as much by their sound as by their image. Few recent examples demonstrate this better than Cyberpunk 2077. Developed by CD Projekt Red, the studio behind the acclaimed The Witcher game series, the game marked the developer's move from the dark fantasy world of Geralt of Rivia into a radically different kind of future. Released in 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 is set in Night City, a vast metropolis where advanced technology, corporate power, consumerism, body modification, violence, and social inequality have transformed almost every aspect of human life. Yet this world did not originate with CD Projekt Red. The game is rooted in the Cyberpunk universe created by game designer Mike Pondsmith, whose tabletop role-playing game Cyberpunk 2020 provided the foundation for its setting, technology, factions, and vision of a dystopian future.

At the center of Cyberpunk 2077 is V, a mercenary attempting to establish a reputation in Night City's dangerous criminal underworld. What begins as a potentially career-defining job quickly turns into a struggle for survival when V becomes the unwilling host of a prototype biochip containing a digital engram. The engram belongs to Johnny Silverhand, a legendary rebel rockerboy and former terrorist whose consciousness has been preserved in digital form. Played by Keanu Reeves, Silverhand becomes an increasingly important presence in V's life as the two attempt to understand their strange connection and find a way to prevent the technology from permanently taking over V's mind. From there, the story expands into a much larger exploration of identity, mortality, memory, and the question of what it actually means to leave a mark on the world.

The game's scale is central to that experience. Night City is not simply a backdrop for the story, but a world filled with competing factions, corporations, fixers, mercenaries, gangs, celebrities, criminals, and ordinary people trying to survive within a society increasingly dominated by technology. V's journey can take radically different forms depending on the choices made along the way, from relationships and personal loyalties to decisions that ultimately determine the fate of both V and those around them. This combination of open-world exploration and a deeply character-driven narrative became one of the defining characteristics of Cyberpunk 2077, allowing players to experience Night City not merely as a setting, but as a place in which their own version of V could take shape.

For Renovatio Records, this release represents a first. After years of producing custom editions devoted to film scores, Cyberpunk 2077 marks the first time that the label has turned its attention to a video game score. The transition is a natural one: like a film, a narrative-driven game can use music to establish atmosphere, define characters, shape dramatic momentum, and guide an audience through an emotional journey. Yet the interactive nature of the medium presents its own unique challenges. In Cyberpunk 2077, music can accompany a carefully scripted story sequence one moment and an entirely unpredictable player experience the next. The score therefore exists simultaneously as dramatic scoring, environmental music, and part of the living identity of Night City itself.

The musical identity of Cyberpunk 2077 emerged from a collaborative scoring process. The game's original score was written by three composers: Marcin Przybyłowicz, P.T. Adamczyk, and Paul Leonard-Morgan. Przybyłowicz, who had served as music director on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and Adamczyk were already part of CD Projekt Red's internal music team, while Leonard-Morgan was brought in to contribute a different perspective to the project. Rather than dividing the soundtrack into three clearly distinguishable bodies of work, however, the composers worked toward a unified musical language, sharing instruments, synthesizers, sounds, and even musical material between cues. Music could be broken down into layers and reused or recombined in different contexts, allowing a piece written by one composer to become part of another composer's work. This gives the score a remarkable coherence despite its multiple authors.

Thus, the music is built less around a single genre than around an attitude. Its electronic elements can be cold, abrasive, and mechanical, but they are frequently contrasted with organic instruments and performances. Electric cello is particularly important to the score, at times subjected to distortion and electronic processing until its original acoustic identity becomes difficult to recognize. Drums and bass provide much of the music's physical impact, while layers of noise, synthesizers, and processed instrumentation create an almost tactile sense of machinery in motion. It is music that rarely sounds clean for long. Even its more melodic passages tend to exist within a deliberately damaged or unstable sonic environment.

That philosophy is established almost immediately in this Renovatio edition with “V.” As an opening statement, the cue does two things at once: it introduces V's musical identity and establishes the sonic world in which the character exists. The electronic textures, percussion, and processed sounds make Night City feel less like a futuristic backdrop than a living machine. From there, “The Rebel Path” immediately pushes the album into much more aggressive territory. It figuratively introduces Johnny Silverhand not simply as a character, but as a disruptive force entering V's life, with pounding percussion, industrial electronics, distortion, and a persistent rhythmic drive giving the album its first major jolt of aggression.

There is also a particularly clever connection between Johnny's score and the music of SAMURAI, Johnny's rock band, whose songs are performed by the real-world hardcore punk band Refused. The principal idea in “The Rebel Path,” which becomes Johnny's most recognizable musical motif, is essentially derived from the guitar riff of SAMURAI's “The Ballad of Buck Ravers.” In other words, Johnny's thematic identity is not merely represented by music that sounds like his fictional band. The score actually takes a piece of that band's musical language and transforms it into underscore. The distinction between Johnny the character, Johnny the musician, and Johnny's memory therefore becomes deliberately blurred. P.T. Adamczyk, who wrote much of Johnny's material, has spoken about how much he enjoyed working with the character, while the composers as a whole treated the game's fictional music and original score as closely interconnected parts of its world.

From there, the first part of the album establishes the various forces surrounding V. “Meet Dex” and “Corpo Deal” move into the mercenary and corporate underworld, maintaining the rhythmic and electronic vocabulary established by “The Rebel Path” but making it more atmospheric and menacing. “Chrome and Blood” introduces the Maelstrom gang and some of the most overtly industrial music on the first disc, emphasizing the violent, chrome-heavy side of Night City. “Braindance Calibration,” by contrast, briefly strips things back into a more synthetic and technological space, providing an important change of texture before the album returns to the increasingly dangerous events surrounding the Konpeki Plaza heist.

The Arasaka material introduces another important musical identity. “Patricide” brings in the ominous string progression associated with Arasaka, a motif that gives the corporation a very different musical character from the street gangs and mercenaries encountered earlier. The score's approach to Arasaka is particularly interesting because it does not rely exclusively on electronic futurism. The composers have described experimenting with detuned basses, electric cello, koto, and other Eastern instruments, often processing them until their original identities became difficult to recognize. The music suggests both immense technological power and something ancient and ritualistic beneath it.

The death of Jackie Welles, V's partner, then changes the album's emotional direction. “Jackie's Demise” is the first major consequence of the events that have been building since the opening tracks, and “The Voice in My Head” takes that change even further. Johnny is no longer simply an external presence intruding into V's life. The conflict has moved inside V's own consciousness. Slower electronic and string textures replace much of the relentless forward motion of the opening section, while Johnny's motif appears in a particularly striking cello passage. At the same time, V's own theme is brought into the foreground on cello, turning what was introduced at the beginning as a statement of identity into something much more tragic. The cue also introduces the musical material associated with Mikoshi, establishing an idea with distorted and unnerving female vocal effects that will remain important until the album's final act.

The album subsequently opens outward again, moving through the different musical identities of Night City's gangs and criminal factions. “Cloudy Day in Japantown” provides a moment of atmospheric relief while introducing the Tyger Claws' Japanese-inflected sound world, before “Tyger Claws” returns to aggressive percussion and distortion. “Sugar Skull Turf” does something similar for the Valentinos, but with Latin rhythmic elements incorporated into the electronic and percussive framework. “Extraction Gig” and “Scav Hunt” return to the more generic mercenary and industrial language of V's work. Together, these cues demonstrate one of the score's most effective ideas: Night City does not have one musical identity. It has a collection of them, each reflecting a different part of the city's social and cultural ecosystem.

This is particularly apparent when the album moves into Judy Alvarez's story. “Finding Ev” marks another significant shift away from the harsher action material, introducing Judy's theme as one of the score's most distinctive melodic ideas. Where much of the preceding music is driven by percussion, distortion, and electronic texture, Judy's material is considerably more melodic and emotionally exposed. That contrast becomes increasingly important on the second disc, where “Bells of Laguna Bend” gives her theme one of its most intimate and atmospheric presentations, and “Thoughts Breathe Easy” transforms it into a beautiful trip-hop-influenced romantic piece. The same musical idea can therefore function as character introduction, intimate reflection, and romance without losing its identity.

The transition into the Badlands introduces another of the score's strongest thematic identities. “Winds of the Badlands” introduces Panam Palmer and the Aldecaldos through music that could hardly be further removed from the industrial aggression of Night City. Acoustic guitar becomes central, surrounded by soft, low-frequency ambient synthesizers and long sustained tones. There is an almost physical sense of space in this music, with the sustained notes suggesting the distant horizon and the lighter textures evoking the desert wind itself. More importantly, the music captures something fundamental about Panam and the Aldecaldos: beneath their toughness is a sense of warmth, vulnerability, and belonging. That material develops through “Ursa Major Leak” and eventually reaches its emotional culmination in “Outsider No More,” where the acoustic guitar becomes even more prominent as V moves from being an outsider to becoming part of the clan.

Other parts of the city receive equally distinctive treatment. “Digital Loa” moves into the mysterious and technologically ominous world of the Voodoo Boys and Pacifica, incorporating unusual wooden percussion and woodwind-like textures into its electronic soundscape. “Beyond the Blackwall” takes that atmosphere into cyberspace itself, where the music becomes increasingly abstract. “Patri(di)ots” provides the 6th Street gang with another gritty, distorted electronic guitar identity, while “Whispers in Charter Hill” introduces an entirely different form of tension during the Peralez investigation. Its subdued bass and percussion, mysterious string writing, and electric guitar create unease without relying on overt action. Here, the threat is not physical violence but paranoia and uncertainty.

The second disc consequently becomes increasingly character-driven. “Johnny Takes the Wheel” provides a burst of humor and industrial rock-inflected energy as Johnny takes control of V's body, with the central guitar idea derived from another SAMURAI song, “Chippin' In.” “AfterWard” and “Follow the River” provide the corresponding emotional material for River Ward, while “Bakeneko” gives Goro Takemura a more personal musical setting. The latter is particularly notable for its cello writing and its association with the motif of Death, an idea that will return during the confrontation with Adam Smasher.

The Arasaka material reaches its largest expression in “The Koi and the Dragon.” The music accompanying the parade sequence expands the Japanese influence into a large-scale orchestral and percussive spectacle, with taiko-like percussion dominating the cue before the music turns toward action. It is one of the album's most expansive pieces, and an effective example of how the score can take a faction's musical identity and enlarge it to match the scale of the situation.

By this point, the album has accumulated a considerable collection of musical ideas, and the final act begins to bring them together. “No Headstone,” with its quiet guitar figure derived from SAMURAI's “Never Fade Away,” returns to Johnny's musical identity in a completely different emotional context. The aggressive rebel of “The Rebel Path” has become a dead man confronting his own legacy, and the music reflects that transformation. “Outsider No More” then completes the Panam and Aldecaldo arc before “Storming Arasaka” launches the album into its final sustained action sequence. “Smasher” provides the final burst of physical violence, while the return of the Death motif from “Bakeneko” connects the confrontation with the thematic material that had been introduced through Takemura's story.

After Smasher's defeat, however, the music changes completely. “Mikoshi Core” brings back the Mikoshi material first introduced in “The Voice in My Head,” juxtaposed with V's principal theme. The album has moved from Night City's streets to the conceptual center of V's predicament, and the music correspondingly becomes less concerned with physical action and more concerned with identity, memory, and mortality. “Never Stop Fighting” continues this transition, beginning in a chaotic mass of distorted synthesizers and cascading noise before settling into a powerful, melancholy passage in which V's theme returns prominently on cello. What began as V's musical introduction has now become a musical expression of the possibility of losing V altogether.

The final tracks bring the score's major ideas into direct conversation with one another. “Never Forget” returns to the musical world of “Never Fade Away” as Johnny ultimately takes V's body in the Temperance ending, while “Don't Slow Down, Panam” offers an entirely different resolution through the Star ending. Here the music of Panam and the Aldecaldos returns in full, dominated once again by acoustic guitar, but now carrying the emotional weight of everything that has come before. The album moves physically away from Night City and musically away from its claustrophobic electronic world, toward the open landscape of the Badlands and an uncertain future.

Finally, “Never Fade Away (SAMURAI Cover)” brings the album back to Johnny. After two discs spent transforming musical ideas associated with V, Johnny, Judy, Panam, Arasaka, and Night City into a continuous narrative, the performance provides a fitting final coda. The song is not merely a credits track placed after the story has ended. It returns to the central musical idea of Johnny's world and, in doing so, reinforces one of the score's most persistent concerns: the fear of being forgotten, and the desire to leave something behind.

Taken as a whole, the score is remarkably thematic for a game of this scale. Its musical vocabulary can be abrasive, industrial, and relentlessly physical, but it also contains some of the game's most delicate and emotionally direct writing. More importantly, the themes are allowed to change meaning as the characters themselves change. Thus, the music does not merely accompany Cyberpunk 2077's story; it follows the same journey.

Given the sheer amount of music contained in Cyberpunk 2077, it was inevitable that the game's soundtrack would eventually become something of a discography of its own. The original score was officially released in December 2020 as a two-disc, 37-track album running for more than two hours, credited to Przybyłowicz, Adamczyk, and Leonard-Morgan. But the score represents only part of the game's musical identity. Cyberpunk 2077 is also rich in licensed and original in-world music, with numerous fictional radio stations providing everything from electronic music and industrial rock to hip-hop, metal, and pop. That material has itself been released separately in the form of five volumes, as well as an album dedicated to the SAMURAI songs alone.

The expansion Phantom Liberty added another substantial body of music. Its original score, written by P.T. Adamczyk and Jacek Paciorkowski, was released separately in 2023, first as a 15-track album and later as a 19-track Deluxe Edition containing four additional tracks. The expansion also introduced new radio material of its own. Note that none of this Phantom Liberty material is included in this Renovatio Records album; this release is concerned exclusively with the original Cyberpunk 2077 main game experience and its score.

While the official original score album provides an extensive selection of the game's score, it does not necessarily reproduce the dramatic journey that a listener would experience by following V's story from beginning to end. A video game presents its music differently from a film. Cues may be triggered by player actions, repeated, interrupted, layered with other material, or encountered in entirely different circumstances depending on how a particular playthrough unfolds. The official album is therefore a collection of music from the game rather than a linear musical retelling of its story.

This Renovatio Records edition takes a different approach. The material has been selected and arranged to create a narrative arc, beginning with V's introduction to Night City, moving through the Heist and Johnny Silverhand's growing presence, expanding into the various factions and relationships that define V's journey, and eventually arriving at the assault on Arasaka and the very personal question of V's fate. Themes and musical identities are consequently allowed to return in new contexts.

The album also makes room for music that had not previously been represented on an official soundtrack release. This is particularly important because much of the game's score exists in the spaces between the more prominent cues that made it onto the original album. By incorporating additional material, the Renovatio edition can fill some of those gaps and allow certain musical ideas to develop more naturally. Rather than superseding the official soundtrack, this edition offers a different way of listening to the same enormous body of music.

In that sense, this release also represents something of a departure for Renovatio Records. After more than a decade devoted almost entirely to film music, Cyberpunk 2077 is the first video game score to receive a Renovatio edition. The transition is nevertheless a natural one. Like a film, a narrative-driven game can use music to establish atmosphere, define characters, shape dramatic momentum, and guide an audience through an emotional journey. The difference is that a game allows that journey to be experienced differently by every player. The challenge here was therefore not simply to assemble the music, but to find a sequence in which the score could function as a coherent dramatic work outside the interactive environment for which it was originally created.

That is ultimately what this edition attempts to do. Cyberpunk 2077 contains an extraordinary amount of music, much of it designed to disappear into the experience of playing the game. Heard in isolation, individual cues can be atmospheric, aggressive, beautiful, or unsettling. Heard together and in a carefully considered order, however, they reveal something larger: a musical narrative about a mercenary who begins by trying to make a name for himself and ends up confronting questions of identity, mortality, memory, and what remains of a person after they are gone.

For all its distortion, percussion, and electronic aggression, Cyberpunk 2077's score is ultimately about people: who they are, what they remember, who they leave behind, and whether they can still be themselves when everything around them is changing. For Renovatio Records, that makes Cyberpunk 2077 a fitting first step into video game music. The medium may be different, but the underlying principle remains the same: take music created to serve a larger work, reconsider its shape as a listening experience, and allow the music itself to tell the story once again.



Track listing:

Disc 1:
1. V - Marcin Przybyłowicz (2:34)
2. The Rebel Path - P.T. Adamczyk (4:44)
3. Meet Dex - Marcin Przybyłowicz (3:09)
4. Corpo Deal - Marcin Przybyłowicz (2:53)
5. Chrome and Blood - Marcin Przybyłowicz (4:35)
6. Braindance Calibration - Marcin Przybyłowicz (2:26)
7. Patricide - P.T. Adamczyk (3:28)
8. Jackie's Demise - P.T. Adamczyk (2:47)
9. The Voice in my Head - Marcin Przybyłowicz (2:20)
10. Cloudy Day in Japantown - Marcin Przybyłowicz (4:07)
11. Tyger Claws - Marcin Przybyłowicz (2:28)
12. Sugar Skull Turf - P.T. Adamczyk (2:04)
13. Extraction Gig - Paul Leonard-Morgan (2:27)
14. Scav Hunt - P.T. Adamczyk (3:32)
15. Finding Ev - Paul Leonard-Morgan (2:25)
16. AV Chase - P.T. Adamczyk (2:43)
17. Winds of the Badlands - P.T. Adamczyk (3:36)
18. Digital Loa - P.T. Adamczyk (3:10)
19. Beyond the Blackwall - Marcin Przybyłowicz (3:38)
20. Patri(di)ots - Marcin Przybyłowicz (3:41)
21. Relic Malfunction - P.T. Adamczyk (3:53)

Disc 2:
1. Johnny Takes the Wheel - P.T. Adamczyk (2:16)
2. Bells of Laguna Bend - Paul Leonard-Morgan (4:33)
3. Thoughts Breathe Easy - Paul Leonard-Morgan (2:31)
4. Ursa Major Leak - P.T. Adamczyk (3:47)
5. Whispers in Charter Hill - Paul Leonard-Morgan (2:42)
6. Fight the Law - Marcin Przybyłowicz (2:52)
7. Juiced-Up Animals - Marcin Przybyłowicz (3:43)
8. AfterWard - Paul Leonard-Morgan (3:14)
9. Follow the River - P.T. Adamczyk (2:57)
10. Bakeneko - Paul Leonard-Morgan (2:47)
11. The Koi and The Dragon - Marcin Przybyłowicz (4:56)
12. To Hell and Back - P.T. Adamczyk (3:01)
13. No Headstone - P.T. Adamczyk (3:39)
14. Outsider No More - P.T. Adamczyk (2:55)
15. Storming Arasaka - P.T. Adamczyk (5:06)
16. Smasher - Paul Leonard-Morgan (3:25)
17. Mikoshi Core - Marcin Przybyłowicz (2:40)
18. Never Stop Fighting - Marcin Przybyłowicz (4:01)
19. Never Forget - P.T. Adamczyk (1:45)
20. Don't Slow Down, Panam - P.T. Adamczyk (3:17)
21. Never Fade Away (SAMURAI Cover) - P.T. Adamczyk featuring Olga Jankowska (4:46)

CD 1 Running Time: 66:40
CD 2 Running Time: 70:53
Total Running Time: 137:33





Size: 787.3 MB
Files type: FLAC Audio File [.flac]
Channels: 2 (stereo)
Sample Rate: 44.1 KHz
Sample Size: 16 bit
Bit Rate: 1,411 kbps




Cover Artwork:








Credits:

Music Composed by Marcin Przybyłowicz, P.T. Adamczyk and Paul Leonard-Morgan
Executive Producer for Renovatio Records: John M. Angier

Additional Musical Sound Designer: Richard Devine
Recorded at Sphere Studios, Capitol Studios, Sunset Sound, Sonus, Addicted to Music Studios
Recording Engineers: Rafał Smoleń, Michał Rypień
Mixing & Mastering Engineer: Rafał Smoleń
Additional Mixing: Jason La Rocca
Assistants to Paul Leonard-Morgan: Giacomo Lamparelli, Matt Lewis

Album Sequencing: John M. Angier
Music Edited and Re-Mastered by April Faust
Re-Mastered at RR Studios
Album Art Direction: Mira B. Ellis

Featured Soloists:
Electric Cello: Tina Guo, Eric Byers
Drums: Ilan Rubin, Szymon Linette
Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar: Ross Hamilton
Guitars: Piotr Lewandowski
Vocals: Olga Jankowska, Damian Ukeje
Piano: Joanna Przybyłowicz

"Never Fade Away (SAMURAI cover)"
Written By P.T. Adamczyk and Olga Jankowska
Performed By P.T. Adamczyk
Featuring Olga Jankowska

Cyberpunk 2077:
Developed by CD Projekt Red
Set in the universe created by Mike Pondsmith
Game Director: Adam Badowski
Second Director and Head of Production: Konrad Tomaszkiewicz
Senior Producers: Urszula Kominek, Krzysztof Nosek, Paweł Błasiak, Marcin Jefimow, Bartlomiej Miszkurka, Małgorzata Mitręga, Daria Zienowicz
Story Director: Marcin Blacha
Head of Animation/Animation Director: Sebastian Kalemba
Cinematic Director: Igor Sarzyński
Art Directors: Krzysztof Krzyścin, Paweł Mielniczuk, Lucjan Więcek, Jakub Knapik, Marian Chomiak
Music Director: Marcin Przybyłowicz
Audio Director: Atsushi Suganuma




Cue Assembly:
Track Title
Cue Title

1. V

0844

2. The Rebel Path

0045, 0442, 0870 (Edited), 0738, 0442, 0377, 0138, 0806, 0862, 0798 (Edited), 0963, 0888

3. Meet Dex

0151, 0620, 0833, 0103, 0961, 0881

4. Corpo Deal

0833, 0346 (Edited), 0276, 1039, 0544

5. Chrome and Blood

0106 (Edited), 0356 (Edited), 1106 (Edited), 0541, 0299 (Edited), 0755 (Edited)

6. Braindance Calibration

0361, 0958, 0449

7. Patricide

0933, 0698, 1125, 0230, 1068, 0383, 0650, 0393 (Edited), 1138, 0762

8. Jackie’s Demise

0241, 0576, 0799

9. The Voice in My Head

1082, 0876

10. Cloudy Day in Japantown

0281 (Edited), 0943, 0532

11. Tyger Claws

0871 (Edited)

12. Sugar Skull Turf

0091 (Edited), 0847 (Edited), 0896, 0668 (Edited), 0501, 0668 (Edited), 0116 (Edited)

13. Extraction Gig

0046, 0521 (Edited)

14. Scav Hunt

0707 (Edited), 0245 (Edited), 0440, 1135 (Edited), 0577, 0208 (Edited), 0766 (Edited), 0528 (Edited)

15. Finding Ev

0727

16. AV Chase

1134, 0685, 0213, 0486, 0074 (Edited), 0629 (Edited), 0110, 0757, 0639

17. Winds of the Badlands

0526, 0313, 0318, 0089 (Edited)

18. Digital Loa

1123, 0257, 0492 (Edited), 0569 (Edited), 1081, 1083, 1115 (Edited), 0503, 0974, 0499, 0868

19. Beyond the Blackwall

0539, 0079

20. Patri(di)ots

0587 (Edited), 0567 (Edited), 0296

21. Relic Malfunction

0604 (Edited), 0053, 0172, 0166

22. Johnny Takes the Wheel

0080, 0478 (Edited), 1055, 0073, 0375, 0357, 0430 (Edited), 0478 (Edited), 0073 (Edited)

23. Bells of Laguna Bend

0059 (Edited), 1093, 0869, 0444, 1127

24. Thoughts Breathe Easy

0970, 1093 (Edited)

25. Ursa Major Leak

0183, 0313, 0706, 0687, 1131 (Edited)

26. Whispers in Charter Hill

0630 (Edited), 0744 (Edited), 0235 (Edited), 0977, 0728

27. Fight the Law

0840, 0170, 0075, 0808, 0153, 0967 (Edited)

29. Juiced-Up Animals

0953 (Edited), 0011, 1035, 0016, 0452, 0773, 0011 (Edited)

29. AfterWard

1004, 0406

30. Follow the River

0712, 0390

31. Bakeneko

0262, 0919

32. The Koi and the Dragon

0645, 0071 (Edited), 0015, 0633, 0031 (Edited), 0525

33. To Hell and Back

0158 (Edited), 0060, 0626, 0760 (Edited), 0413 (Edited), 0087 (Edited), 0867, 0626, 0760 (Edited) 1065

34. No Headstone

0487 (Edited), 1053, 1132

35. Outsider No More

0155 (Edited), 0706, 0367, 0638 (Edited)

36. Storming Arasaka

1043 (Edited), 0739, 0466, 0578, 0419 (Edited), 0828, 0691, 0829 (Edited), 0199 (Edited), 0841, 0666, 0352

37. Smasher

0139, 0848

38. Mikoshi Core

0064, 1006

39. Never Stop Fighting

0201, 0605, 1104, 1024

40. Never Forget

0032

41. Don’t Slow Down, Panam

0023, 0916 (Edited), 1141

42. Never Fade Away (SAMURAI Cover)

0072




CD PROJEKT Ⓡ, Cyberpunk Ⓡ, Cyberpunk 2077 Ⓡ are registered trademarks of CD PROJEKT S.A. © 2022 CD PROJEKT S.A. All rights reserved.
This compilation and cover artwork © 2026 Renovatio Records. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws. For promotional use only.

Renovatio Records [0-01702-19119]