STUART RYNN - Ancient Aliens

Among video game soundtracks with huge untapped potential, the one composed by Stuart Rynn for "Ancient Aliens" has always deserved a closer look, pardon, a closer listen. Not so much for the Australian musician's compositional skill, but for his knack for going beyond the fences of mere syncopated sound designed chiefly for fans of the historic Doom series.
Also known as stewboy or Forty-Two, Rynn is also a level designer for Doom itself and has composed music for several famous pwads, such as the various Back to Saturn X, Plutonia 2, Speed of Doom, Resurgence, and many more.

The twelve tracks featured in this new release, put together ten years ago to score one of the most intriguing episodes of the series created by Paul DeBruyne, form a universe of their own. Rynn revisits them here to craft a proper record of video game music or midi music — the nuances are endless — capable of leading the listener into the world of Doom without fully immersing them in it.
The Sydney-based composer starts from the original premise, namely an unspecified ancient civilization that abducts the famous Doomguy aboard a UFO to take him on an intergalactic journey. That condition sets the tone for every moment on the album, from bursts of progressive electronic and house ("Hypercube") to sudden, vividly colored jazz-fusion interludes that aim to recreate a stopover on deserted islands of another solar system ("Spirit Dance").

Some tracks are faithful remakes of the originals, as Stuart himself states, but many others only borrow a few distinctive traits to create something new, without undermining their primary spirit, which is always devoted to scoring one very specific sci-fi story. The new piano lines added to the base scores thus unleash further imagination, while moments like "Exoplanet" bring to mind an Aphex Twin hired by a video game company.
"Ritual Of The Ninth Moon" goes even further, staging a danceable tension that would deserve a remix from one of the giants of the console. And then there's "Imaginarium," closing everything out with a triumphant flourish.
It's the fitting conclusion to an epic journey that Rynn has lovingly chosen to revisit in a highly recommended work, worth listening to regardless of the gaming connection: in short, whether you're a Doom fan or light years away from the world of video games, it hardly matters.  

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

01/08/2026