Doom - E1M1 - At Doom's Gate

Composer: Bobby Prince

I fear opening a can of worms by starting to include tracks from computer games. The question becomes, where does it stop? It seems almost unfair to compare 8-bit and 16-bit tunes with computer compositions, considering how much deeper the instrumentation and quality can be. So I figure I'd try to beat around the bush a bit by including this classic Stage 1 theme from the original Doom. It should be noted, however, that while I do enjoy this tune, it is not the best from the original series, yet it is probably the most immediately identifiable backing track from Doom. I personally prefer the E2M1 song "I Sawed the Demons" or the E3M8 track "Facing the Spider." No matter, "At Doom's Gate" is still a quality piece of early MIDI video game thrash.

Most of the tunes in the soundtrack to Doom are blatantly stolen from the late 80's-early 90's thrash scene, of which I am personally a huge fan. For example, the main riff in "I Sawed the Demons" is the basically the verse riff from Master of Puppets after a kickass drum roll introduction; E3M3's "Deep Into the Code" is obviously Slayer's "Behind the Crooked Cross" (which one could argue is also a blatant bite of Master of Puppets); E3M1's "Untitled" is undeniably taken from Pantera's "Mouth for War", or Doom II's "Entryway" is clearing the opening riff from Megadeth's excellent "Hangar 18" (which in and of itself was the basis of Metallica's epic "The Call of Ktulu"). While immediate first impressions of "At Doom's Gate" may remind you of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" intro riff, it is really closer to the chorus of "No Remorse" from their debut album Kill 'Em All, specifically the harmony riff.

The riff carries the whole song, transitioning between what I believe is a I-IV-Vm progression starting in E. The riff itself is absurdly simplistic; on the guitar you are just tremelo picking the low E, hammering on the octave and progressing down 3 whole steps while on the last measure moving up a half-step before repeating. The song has a great beat; I particularly like the double bass drum kicks throughout and the cymbal crashes during the final progression. In fact, the drums seem to be the most "realistic" instrument in the entire song.

As with the rest of Bobby Prince's Doom soundtrack, At Doom's Gate is really just one simple riff milked for all it's worth, but the underlying harmonization and kickass drum beats keeps you rocking and rolling and, more importantly, blasting and killing.