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Methods of Destruction – The alternate Quake soundtrack

One of the mysterious “lost” things from the Quake universe, one of the most interesting maybe, is the Methods of Destruction audio CD. It was created in 1996 by Sascha Dikiciyan (“Cyber-Age Studios”) who later did the Quake 2 soundtrack as Sonic Mayhem. Methods of Destruction received a nice review by Bluesnews and that’s about all information that is left about it. Well, ok, the tracklist is known:

Methods Of Destruction Quake Add-on
(1. Data Track)
2. Welcome to Mayhem
3. Premonition
4. B7
5. Ultimate Rage
6. Military Installation
7. Methods Of Destruction
8. Mental Anguish
9. Sounds of Decay
10. B7 (Reprise)

Some more random tidbits: 1, 2, 3, 4 (says it was not him alone making the music). There are hints that some more snippets might have aired at QuakeCast. I could not find the files though, the only QuakeCast shows I have are quakecast_intro.mp3 and quakecast_oct_2_1997.mp3. Anyone got more? Maybe even the original .ram/.ra files? Send them in!

Well, so I just randomly stumbled upon it today for the hundredth time and thought “hmm, I wonder if the Internet Archive has something on it”. And yes it has, I cannot believe I am the first one to try it(?): Here is the original website. I was not able to try the Shockwave streams (Anyone can do? Any chance to rip them? Send them in!) but I downloaded the .wav files, “repaired” the .zip files they came in and here they are (Ogg Vorbis are encoded in Q5 and tagged by me):

I want that CD. Badly! Even if a bad mp3 rip is all that is left. I’d pay for the CD, 50€ or more, no joke. Being a completely compulsive obsessive nostalgic archivar I have to… :)


26 Responses to “Methods of Destruction – The alternate Quake soundtrack”

  1. Anonymous Says:
    14.10.2008 08:51

    I always thought Quake had better industrial music on its soundtracks than 99.9% of what was being released in that genre….id love that album too.

  2. erc Says:
    15.10.2008 12:29

    Maybe Sascha himself would upload a copy of it?

  3. Spirit Says:
    15.10.2008 12:56

    I mailed him to ask. :)

  4. Trippa Says:
    18.10.2008 10:05

    Had a look at those shockwave players – they call separate SWA (mp3) files, which unfortunately don’t seem to be part of the archive.

  5. gb Says:
    24.10.2008 16:05

    sounds a lot like Quake 2. The trippy stuff sounds like an Alien soundtrack, but personally I prefer NIN’s.

    I like the Q2 soundtrack, though, it’s actually rather good. Too bad you only do Q1 Spirit :-)

  6. AAS Says:
    08.11.2008 17:50

    What news about this CD?

  7. Spirit Says:
    10.11.2008 11:49

    I got no reply from Sonic Mayhem, so now I mailed John Romero and http://www.fourbarsintertainment.com/ (the “employer” of Sonic Mayhem I think).

  8. Spirit Says:
    19.12.2008 18:42

    I got 128kbit/s MP3s now from John Romero. My archivist heart beats happily. :)
    Do NOT ask me to send them to you, I will try further to get an “ok” by Sascha.

  9. AAS Says:
    11.01.2009 11:25

    And what Sascha said?

  10. Spirit Says:
    12.01.2009 12:54

    He still says ” ” = no reply. I’ll mail him again, maybe a spam filter ate it.

  11. Brunen-G Says:
    13.01.2009 18:14

    Rats! I really want those tracks, badly! It’s even cannot be purchased, what the reason to hide it from us? :)

  12. phide Says:
    07.02.2009 06:09

    Romero’s great about this kind of stuff. I imagine I’ll try shooting him an e-mail myself and seeing if he can set me up with the same “deal”.

    If he does, I won’t be shy about redistributing ;)

  13. Spirit Says:
    07.02.2009 09:44

    Well, I am not spreading them for one major reason: Respect for Sonic Mayhem. How could you decide if you can spread it? Also I would not want to drag Romero into the mud (as it is obvious I got it from him). Maybe I will ask him if he would mind (if I released the files I got from him) as I still haven’t got any sign of life from Sonic Mayhem.

    If you go ahead and release this, you are one big fat ugly asshole in my eyes.

  14. phide Says:
    08.02.2009 04:45

    I’d host the files directly and respond appropriately to any takedown notices, assuming Romero is as forthcoming with me as he was with you. This wouldn’t be a peer-to-peer affair.

    I’d happily take it a step further and send Sascha an e-mail letting him know that I’m redistributing. If he should express that he wanted it pulled, I’d be happy to abide by his wishes.

  15. Spirit Says:
    09.02.2009 14:04

    I don’t think that would be a good thing. Asking BEFORE distributing is the only nice way and I am already trying that.

    Imagine someone shared personal stuff of you with that attitude. “Oops, I did not know you did not want x people to download it. Uhm, let me make that unhappen, err, sorry, does not seem possible.”

    If it is P2P or server to client is splitting ethical hairs (and no real difference technically).

    Pulling stuff is more a legal thing (DMCA etc), asking beforehand is being social.

    But please do try getting hold of Sascha, I’d love it if anyone succeeds.

  16. AAS Says:
    24.02.2009 09:27

    Goddam, 4 month past and no response, seems like he’s waive us completely. Just put this stuff on thepiratebay.org under random created nick and delete this thread for good.
    Even Romero don’t think this is BAAAAAD deed (and if he was employer of Sascha, he have all rights for music produced in that time by him, right?), don’t be diehard one :)

  17. Spirit Says:
    24.02.2009 22:22

    There is a HUGE difference between releasing something to the public and sharing with friends.

  18. johan Says:
    27.03.2009 16:32

    I happen to have an original CD as it was my cousin who helped him master it. It still rocks when I play Q1 :D

  19. ijed Says:
    02.04.2009 03:17

    Agree with Spirit on this one. There’s lots of material I have that wouldn’t get me in trouble in any real way if I uploaded it somewhere or used some backhand method of distribution.

    But it’s nice to be nice. The games industry is full of cock knockers who don’t think twice about ripping off peoples stuff, or ‘whoops’ redistribution.

    On the other hand I want these as well – but it looks like Sascha’s mailbox is dead?

    Any news Spirit?

  20. AAS Says:
    05.05.2009 19:16

    Sirit, you’re kinda hypocritical: http://quakeone.com/forums/quake-help/general-help/2807-quake-music.html#post32982

    Uploading copyrighted matherial is OK for you, but doing it with unreleased for 10+ years and forgotten by all (except one person that already gave it for you for free, without any copyright issues) is NOT. So, you respect Sonic Mayhem more than authors of Quake + SoA + DoE + Malice. It seems strange :/

  21. Spirit Says:
    05.05.2009 19:51

    If you are curious why I feel righteous hosting the soundtracks, read my post here: http://forums.inside3d.com/viewtopic.php?p=16269#16269

    What you imply is plain wrong.

  22. twosheds Says:
    09.07.2009 13:42

    Johan,

    Is there any chance of a copy?

  23. Dominus Says:
    14.07.2009 12:10

    Hi, can you reupload those wav tracks please? I’m hunting for this CD since forever..

  24. Spirit Says:
    14.07.2009 12:53

    The files are unchanged. What is not working for you?

  25. Spirit Says:
    15.07.2009 08:40

    After deleting a few harassing posts I am closing comments for now. Can’t see a reason why I should let anonymous people insult me.

  26. Methods of Destruction (non-)update Says:
    11.08.2009 10:57

    [...] Methods of Destruction – The alternate Quake soundtrack Sascha Dikiciyan / Sonic Mayhem keeps ignoring my attempts to get in contact. Since we all know [...]