Doom 1 or Doom 2 music?

[bones58]

Cards on the table, which game has the best soundtrack?

 

For me, Doom flattens Doom 2 in terms of music. The tracks are more memorable, energetic and even the downbeat ones like E2M4 and E1M8 are haunting. For me the only true dud is E1M6.

 

As for Doom 2, I do have a nostalgia for them but most of the tunes are fairly low-key/underwhelming. The music for Icon of Sun however is as good as anything Bobby Prince ever produced which funnily enough was made during the Doom 1 development cycle.

 

if anyone has got a case for TNT then I would be fascinated to hear it.

[Space Truckin']

That's a really tough question. I personally find myself listening to Doom 2's OST a little more, the tracks are a little less overplayed to me and add to the atmosphere just a little bit more.

 

Evolution has some great tracks too, like Blood Jungle and Into the Beast's Belly.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Space Truckin'

[TheMightyWhoosh]

(Ultimate) Doom, by far! TNT: Evilution has some bangers, though! 

[Eurisko]

Doom II, though I agree TNT has fantastic tunes too.

 

[Somniac]

TNT's music is some of the best ever made for Doom in my opinion:

 

You've got slower, haunting pieces like Agony Rhapsody (a personal favourite, magnificent austere minimalism), Haunted and Legion of the Lost.

 

Funky, quirky tracks like Soldier of Chaos and Cold Subtleness.

 

Epic "time to kick ass" bangers like Sadistic, ITBB and Smells Like Burning Corpse.

 

Then you've got the dramatic, emotional and pulse-pounding Death's Bells. 

 

Its a fantastic set of tracks. TNT wouldn't be the same without them, and they've been used effectively many times since. 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Somniac

[Graf Zahl]

Doom 1 is the clear winner here. Its only real stinker is E2M3. In Doom 2, almost everything non-recycled from MAP11 onwards flat out sucks.

 

 

[Quagsire]

I personally can't pick a winner, only a loser. And that loser's Plutonia for not having any new tracks to begin with.

[Gifty]

D_STALKS should never have been allowed to happen

[Pure Hellspawn]

DOOM has much better music. DOOM II has a few good ones, but not as many. 

 

Best:

 

E1M1 - How could you not?

E1M8 - Provides a perfect spooky feeling to the end of the episode. You know something bad is going to happen.

E2M4 - A perfect mix of tech and hell, all combined into one.

E2M6 - Another good horror song. Good leadup to E2M8.

E2M8 - A perfect track to introduce possibly one of gaming's most (in)famous creatures. 

E3M1 - This song is perfect for this game. Especially to introduce an episode, or as a secret level song.

E3M2 - This song feels like an ascent, and then as it gets further, like you're in the firefight of your life. Especially if listening during E4M2.

 

M

Map18 - This song gives off a sad vibe, as if something is lost. Perfect for Maps 18 and 27, especially since 27 is entering deep hell, and the song is a perfect remainder that all that is not pain and suffering is lost.

Map28 - This song is a perfect continuation to Map27. It's sorta like a Doom 2 version of E1M8 in the sense that a horror is about to occur. And since The Spirit World is probably the most "hellish" level in the game, it's a perfect track for this level.

Map30 - A perfect spooky song, although I liked Alien Vendetta's Point Dreadful a lot better. There aren't too many of these, but a non-IOS level with monster spawners would be a really good fit for this song!

 

Worst:

E1M2 - Seems kind of dull, especially after E1M1. 

E2M2 - Seems more creepy than spooky. Level is good, music not so much.

 

Not Map01 - Despite having listened to it more than any other song. But because it's the most heard OST, I will bring it up anyways.

 

Map02 - No. Also funnily enough, "The Healer Stalks" may be an allude to the Intro to the Arch-vile in Map11.

Map03 - Not terrible, but worse than the other songs. I will admit it's a good fit for Map21 though.

Map05 - Doesn't really add any ambience to the level. I feel silence is better than this OST.

Map06 - Same as Map05.

Map20 - I feel this song takes away from the ambience rather than add to it.

Map25 - Very similarish to Map02 IMO. More relaxing sounding than dark. 

 

TNT- Map28, 29, and 30 are all very good.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Pure Hellspawn

[TheFocus]

i love Doom 1's soundtrack, but i'm always gonna be partial to 2. i just love the dreamlike atmospheric blues type sound Bobby Prince created, and i couldn't imagine any other midis being used for Doom 2's maps.

(also Running From Evil>At Doom's Gate)

[Individualised]

Doom 1's soundtrack is of course more iconic, I think more care was put into it. Less songs were composed specifically for Doom 2, the rest were scraps cut out of Doom 1, some of them even being cover placeholder songs that probably shouldn't have been in there legality-wise. People often downplay Bobby Prince's achievements because of this, but a lot of other games back then did this too, it's just that they were used as placeholders and cut before release, and it seems that was the intent for Doom as well but some of them ended up making it anyway. Today, I think I love both soundtracks equally (along with TNT's soundtrack) but I remember when I was younger (when I mainly used to play Doom 1 over the other games) thinking that Doom 2's soundtrack was a bit weird and unfitting for the game compared to Doom 1's soundtrack (though "Suspense" from Doom 1 gave me the same feeling, I always thought it sounded silly, but these days I can't really feel that anymore, funny how our minds change over time like that).

 

While we're on the topic, something that always used to bug me was that in the SC-55/Microsoft Wavetable version of "Demons on the Prey", at about 1 minute 35 seconds in is what sounds like an old DVD player spinning up. I know it's just the bird ambience instrument or whatever being pitch bended but it always sounded like an old CD or DVD-ROM drive to me and I still find it hilarious. I hope I'm not the only one who has thought this.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Individualised

[Doomkid]

I prefer Doom 1’s soundtrack overall, but I’m gonna go against the grain a little and say Doom2’s soundtrack is better than people give it credit for..

 

D_RUNNIN is a great MIDI, mappers are all just sick of it. D_BETWEE has a badass drumline, D_SHAWN is heavy as shit and perfectly menacing for the maps it’s used on, D_DDTBLU has this way of building up ever so slightly over the course of the song in an ear-wormy way, D_IN_CIT is just simply a darn good riff, D_DEAD is perfectly evil and would have been right at home in Doom 1 (much like Map10 itself), D_AMPIE and D_MESSAG have this insane chaotic “Hellish vibe” that imo sets the mood well for the last episode of Doom2, and D_OPENIN is nice and creepy, perfect for the hardest of the boss battles a player would have seen up to that point.

 

I also can’t bring myself to shit on D_STALKS - as hilariously unfitting as it is for Doom, at least it is a relaxing and nice-to-hear little tune. D_THE_DA’s starting riff should be played on a tuba to emphasise how goofy, plonky and “waddling” that silly bass line sounds, lol. Possibly one of the most boring MIDIs ever composed, period. If not for the funny little whistle sound right at the end of the track, it would just be completely null and devoid of anything..

[rzh]

TNT, Tom Mustaine and L.A. Sieben have some really memorable tracks.

[Individualised]

If we're talking about TNT my favourite track has to be Death's Bells.

[No-Man Baugh]

Doom 2 soley for that sick guitar solo in Message to the Archviles!

[fai1025]

TNT>Doom1>Doom2

 

my favourite is

E2m1 and E3m1

and the track for mtpain in TNT (beast belly something) 

Doom2 sound a little too calm and sometime just pure rubbish like CountD

Edited January 9, 2023 by fai1025

[Herr Dethnout]

Doom 1.

I'm completely biased...

[Rudolph]

2 hours ago, Graf Zahl said:

Its only real stinker is E2M3.

Is it because it reuses "Intermission from Doom" or you just dislike the track itself?

 

Anyway, as for me, I think Doom 1 has the better soundtrack; Doom 2 is good too, but I do not feel like the game uses its soundtrack as well as its predecessor. For example, "The Healer Stalks" in itself is a fine track, but it sounds too much like muzak and it really does not fit the setting and the mood of the levels it is assigned to.

[Mr. Freeze]

Doom 1. E1M9, E3M1, Intermission, E1M8, E3M2 and that sinister End Game song. Doom 2 has a lot of great tracks but Doom 1's were always a bit more memorable to me. Hell, Intermission was the first guitar riff I ever learned. 

[ＤΞＬＴΛ]

Both are equally good. Bold statements only on this account.

[Kyka]

The Doom2 soundtrack is objectively better than Ultimate Doom's soundtrack. More creative, more musically adventurous, more varied.

 

That said, the Ultimate Doom soundtrack is still iconic, wonderful, memorable.

 

I can listen to any of those tracks and instantly trigger memories of which map they came from.

 

tnt tracks can be a little hit and miss, but tracks like into the beasts belly, open season and wormhole are just sublime.

 

Also, while we are on the subject of iwads, monumental props to @Jimmy for the superb sigil soundtrack.

 

*InsertTerribleJokeAboutHowThePlutoniaSoundtrackSoundsALotLikeTheDoomSoundtrack.

[xScavengerWolfx]

Well to be honest i don't really have a favorite among Doom 1 and Doom 2. Since joining back in 2020, i've been spoiled and exposed to great community midis. But if i had to choose one, it would be Doom 1 midis.

 

Only because doom 1 has some great tracks and same with Doom 2, but doom 1 is better with the tracks then Doom 2

 

Edit: I know when i do maps i like to use community midis because it give the composers a shout out and i really love there music they make. If i can't choose or i'm lazy i'll use stock Doom 1 and/or Doom 2 midis like a remix tape.

 

Edited January 9, 2023 by xScavengerWolfx

[ReaperAA]

I'll go against the grain a bit here.

 

While I do think Doom 1's music is better than Doom 2's, I don't think either are as good as they are made out to be. In fact, music might be the weakest part of Classic Doom games. Bobby Prince's later work, such as in Duke3D and especially in Demonstar (the shmup made by same company that made Raptor: Call of the Shadows) are better than that of Doom.

 

TNT is the winner among the iwads, because it actually has some bangers. Tom Mustaine and L.A. Seiben's midis > Bobby's midis

Edited January 9, 2023 by ReaperAA

[Agent Slacker]

I'm going to say DOOM II simply because Into Sandy's City is on the soundtrack.

[RHhe82]

For me, easily Doom I's soundtrack. There are hardly any duds (E3M8 perhaps?), whereas Doom II's soundtrack is littered with unmemorable tracks (and a few killer ones, fortunately, like indeed Into Sandy's City). TNT has a few good ones (The Wormhole map music! Is it Death's Bells?), but in total I find it rather unmemorable as well.

[roadworx]

that's an easy decision to make: doom 1. there's definitely some meh tracks in there, but overall, each song is honestly quite fantastic and incredibly memorable. meanwhile, doom 2 has map09 and 30, and...that's about it for songs that i find myself enjoying.

[Doomkid]

2 hours ago, ReaperAA said:

Bobby Prince's later work, such as in Duke3D and especially in Demonstar (the shmup made by same company that made Raptor: Call of the Shadows) are better than that of Doom.

 

TNT is the winner among the iwads, because it actually has some bangers. Tom Mustaine and L.A. Seiben's midis > Bobby's midis

Gotta agree there. I'd go as far as to say the Duke 3D theme is more badass than the Doom theme, and in general his work is just more evocative post-Doom.

 

I kinda like the utter simplicity of Wolf3D and Doom's MIDIs in a way though, they're relatively barebones and I find that makes them work incredibly well in many different map contexts, and I do have a certain appreciation for music that is composed to be "background music" that isn't intrusive/doesn't have a whole lot going on, but still manages to be catchy and sound generally good.

 

Still though, his work on Duke 3D seems to just have more "feel" in it, and at the end of the day, that's what I prefer.

[Professor Hastig]

The first episode of Doom 1 is the best. I've never been a big fan of Doom 2's music.

[NiGHTS108]

If I’m just listening to the iwad tracks without playing the game I’m likely to pick Doom II’s music, but otherwise I’d say Doom I’s is more fitting to the levels and atmospheric 

[Codename_Delta]

D1 anyday, but if including other IWADs, then TNT always.

 

Sinister is the best track from any id IWAD, imo.

 

 

Edited January 9, 2023 by Codename_Delta