Information[]
Battlecry, released April 28th, 2015, was the eighth public album released by Two Steps From Hell and the thirtieth overall. It was described as an "epic follow-up" to SkyWorld, featuring 22 completely new tracks of the epic genre, alongside an altered version of Welcome to Amaria from Amaria and instrumental versions of two tracks (specifically Battleborne and Star Sky). None Shall Live is also a shorter instrumental version of Thomas Bergersen's single Children of the Sun, the original featuring vocals by Merethe Soltvedt. Notably, it is the first public album to be released on two discs and also to feature new vocalist Felicia Farerre.
Additionally, the version available on Extreme Music features two tracks that were previously released as singles by Thomas Bergersen entitled That's a Wrap and Children of the Sun, the former of which was solely created using Bergersen's sample library and the latter of which features vocals by Merethe Soltvedt.
Finally, Victory, Cannon in D Minor and Star Sky would later be re-released as ringtones on Two Steps From Hell: Ringtones.
Track List[]
Tracks with a * are altered from their original versions.
Disc One[]
| # | Title | Composer | From | Later Released On | Vocalist Featured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | None Shall Live* | Thomas Bergersen | Children of the Sun (released under Thomas Bergersen) | N/A | N/A |
| 2 | Stormkeeper | Nick Phoenix | N/A | Impossible | N/A |
| 3 | Victory | Thomas Bergersen | N/A | Impossible | Merethe Soltvedt |
| 4 | Wolf King | Nick Phoenix | N/A | N/A | Felicia Farerre |
| 5 | Rise Above | Thomas Bergersen | N/A | N/A | Merethe Soltvedt |
| 6 | Spellcaster | Nick Phoenix | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 7 | Never Back Down | Thomas Bergersen | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 8 | Red Tower | Nick Phoenix | N/A | N/A | Felicia Farerre & Merethe Soltvedt |
| 9 | Cannon in D Minor | Thomas Bergersen | N/A | Impossible | N/A |
| 10 | Blackout | Nick Phoenix | N/A | Impossible,Singles (alternate version, as Blackout Suite 2023) | Felicia Farerre |
| 11 | Stronger Faster Braver | Thomas Bergersen | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Disc Two[]
| # | Title | Composer | From | Later Released On | Vocalist Featured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Battleborne | Nick Phoenix | N/A | N/A | Felicia Farerre, Nick Phoenix & Merethe Soltvedt |
| 13 | Last of the Light | Thomas Bergersen | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 14 | Ultraground | Nick Phoenix | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 15 | Release Me | Thomas Bergersen | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 16 | Freedom Ship | Nick Phoenix | N/A | N/A | Felicia Farerre & Merethe Soltvedt |
| 17 | Amaria* | Thomas Bergersen | Amaria (originally Welcome to Amaria) | Legacy (w/out the alterations; as Welcome to Amaria) | Unknown (possibly Jenifer Thigpen) |
| 18 | Flight of the Silverbird | Thomas Bergersen | N/A | Impossible | N/A |
| 19 | Outpost | Nick Phoenix | N/A | N/A | Felicia Farerre & Merethe Soltvedt |
| 20 | Unforgiven | Thomas Bergersen | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 21 | Across the Blood Water | Nick Phoenix | N/A | N/A | Felicia Farerre |
| 22 | No Honor In Blood | Thomas Bergersen | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 23 | Sariel | Nick Phoenix | N/A | Maze of Dreams (as part of Sariel Nighthawk Suite) | Felicia Farerre |
| 24 | Star Sky | Thomas Bergersen | N/A | Impossible | Felicia Farerre |
| 25 | Battleborne (Instrumental) | Nick Phoenix | N/A | N/A | Felicia Farerre & Merethe Soltvedt (uncredited) |
| 26 | Star Sky (Instrumental) | Thomas Bergersen | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Tracks Only Available on Extreme Music Edition[]
| # | Title | Composer | From | Later Released On | Vocalist Featured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | That's a Wrap | Thomas Bergersen | That's a Wrap (released under Thomas Bergersen) | N/A | N/A |
| 26 | Children of the Sun | Thomas Bergersen | Children of the Sun (released under Thomas Bergersen) | N/A | Merethe Soltvedt |
Cut Tracks[]
| # | Title | Composer | From | Later Released On | Vocalist Featured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Chosen One | Thomas Bergersen | N/A | N/A | Unknown (possibly Thomas Bergersen) |
| 26 | Chosen One (Instrumental Mix) | Thomas Bergersen | N/A | Thomas Bergersen/Humanity (new version as L'Appel Du Vide) | N/A |
Trivia[]
Media Usage[]
- Last of the Light and Unforgiven were used for two trailers of "Uncharted 4".
- Star Sky was used in a trailer for the History Channel's "The Universe".
- None Shall Live/Children of the Sun was used in the trailer for the Ultimate Edition of "Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice" as well as “The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone" launch trailer DLC and the “Aquaman“ movie trailer. It was also used twice in the Netflix/Dreamworks Animation tv show “Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia”.
- The track was used for the first time in season 1 episode 12 “Claire and Present Danger”, and the second time in season 2 episode 13 “In the Hall of the Gumm-Gumm King”.
Other Facts[]
- Both this album and Unleashed feature the most amount of songs with lyrics, with four.
- This is the second public album to feature two versions of a track, after Miracles.
- The "instrumental" version of Battleborne still possesses the beginning vocals, albeit turned down a bit.
- However, it lacks the flute and choir featured in the beginning part of the song with the vocals.
- The "instrumental" version of Star Sky still features a choir, though it no longer sings audible lyrics.
- Amaria is altered in order to bridge it to the next piece Flight of the Silverbird.
- This is Felicia Farerre's first appearance as a vocalist. She takes Aya Peard's place as Phoenix's vocalist.
- This is only the second time Merethe Soltvedt provides vocals for Nick Phoenix and the first time since Invincible.
- This is also the first time she provides vocals for songs composed solely by him.
- This is the third time Nick Phoenix sings a song with audible lyrics.
- This is the sixth time that Bergersen has been featured more than Phoenix in a public album, with 14 songs to the latter's 12 (or 16 to 12 in the Extreme Music edition).
- However, if one does not count the songs from previous releases, then this is the second album in which the two are even, with both at 11 (12 if one counts the instrumental versions of Star Sky and Battleborne), the first being SkyWorld.
- Victory, Cannon in D Minor and Star Sky were three of the songs selected to be cut up and used in the public toolkit Two Steps From Hell: Ringtones.
- The instrumental version of Star Sky is the longest piece on the album, with a duration of five minutes and 34 seconds (the original version is four seconds shorter). By contrast, None Shall Live is the shortest track as it lasts two minutes and 19 seconds.
- Victory currently holds the most views out of all the songs on the YouTube channel, with over 26,000,000.
- In April 2017, Two Steps From Hell released Battlecry Anthology, which featured orchestral and instrumental versions of all of the tracks.
- Even when discounting the instrumental versions of Star Sky and Battleborne, this album is the longest public album released time-wise, lasting 1 hour, 26 minutes and 25 seconds.
- The cut track Chosen One was ultimately released in 2020 as L'Appel Du Vide on Bergersen's solo album, Humanity - Chapter I.
Gallery[]
Booklet[]
Behind the Scenes[]
Two Steps From Hell - Freedom Ship (Battlecry)
Two Steps From Hell - Spellcaster (Behind the Scenes)
Two Steps From Hell - Sariel (Behind the Scenes)
Two Steps From Hell - Red Tower (Behind the Scenes)
Two Steps From Hell - Blackout (Behind the Scenes)
Two Steps From Hell - Across The Blood Water (Behind the Scenes)
FFM & SSO proudly present "TWO STEPS FROM HELL"
Cannon in D Minor
TSFH - Never Back Down (Battlecry) - recorded by the Sofia Session orchestra & choir