An album that documents my feelings towards the time that I spent hovering around the cities in World of Warcraft, particularly from the original title through to the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

Ten original tracks inspired by whatever activities I used to get up to in the cities of the Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor and Northrend. Whether it was sitting down answering questions from the quiz bot and having AoE dancing battles in the auction house, taking the flight path down into the depths of the city or launching a raid on the opposing faction's capital, I have nothing but nostalgia for those days of old.

Primarily focusing on my progressive and atmospheric style, I hope to encapsulate what each area on the map where these cities resided truly meant to me. Whether that is heavily modified sounds or pure FM synthesis, I hope to have produced something that meshes well yet ebbs and flows between upbeat heavy/dance tunes to slower and mysterious atmospheric tunes. A small nod to gameshow theme tunes thrown in to boot.

In the order of the track list, the cities represented are as follows:
1. Stormwind City
2. Ironforge
3. Darnassus
4. The Exodar
5. Orgrimmar
6. Thunder Bluff
7. Undercity
8. Silvermoon
9. Shattrath
10. Dalaran

My original ideas were noted back in 2015 but I finally put the hard graft in over these past five months to get these released. I do hope that you enjoy this foray into what I remember from playing back in the day! 

Composed using SunVox.

Vocals by Jon Herbst (Oh Cheese and Eggs, Terrace of Moon Cakes, Totemic Might).

Samples both recorded by Jon Herbst and utilised from LMMS' included sample library.

Album art by Jon Herbst.

Cities Above and Below

Track 01 / 10 from my newly released original album composed entirely in SunVox, Cities Above and Below - "Oh Cheese and Eggs".

Many evenings were spent in the Stormwind City auction house, dancing randomly, channeling AoE spells and answering questions from user addons such as the infamous quiz bot! It was always a chilled out time there, waiting for queues to pop, finding additional party members for a dungeon or raid and recruiting new guild members! Getting ten signatures for my first ever guild was a fun time.

Who could forget attempting to get to the top of the fountain in the main square, unfortunately made redundant by the eventual introduction of personal flying mounts.

Due to these dancing ogres, banging music and overall atmosphere, my biggest takeaway vibes that I got from this was that sense of a server rave or always a party going on and yes, I did know what was always going on down the road at the second play area, that being Goldshire.

Hence, I wanted this first track to be a bit of a party with those 80s synth vibes and a few vocals repeated a couple of times:

Oh cheese and eggs
Oh how they taste so good
Oh cheese and eggs
Cheese on toast too

There was always a meme going around about what the original lyrics to the main Stormwind City theme were but for those of us that didn't understand what they were, "oh cheese and eggs" was always the first thought and that explains the title.

All the best.

Oh Cheese and Eggs

Track 02 / 10 from my newly released original album composed entirely in SunVox, Cities Above and Below - "Pint-sized Gnome".

Sure, the great central forge, Halls of Explorers and all of the tinkering going on in the city was great but you haven't really lived until you've been inside of one of the famous taverns of Ironforge. Drink, get merry, drink some more, belch, rinse and repeat!

It's a shame that the taverns weren't really a gathering place for a lot of players but it was still fun to vibe and get your essential rested bonus. Plus, the music was always great there. Because of this, I went with a more laid back, off-beat vibe to sum up the feeling of maybe drinking alone, even though you were still surrounded by your Dwarven brethren. Such a lonely place but bustling at the same time.

Outside of the bank and auction house was always far busier but just off to the side, there was a tiny little pocket of solitude to drink your woes away and forget about everything that happened that day. Also, Gnomes were always just the right size to punt around the tavern to release some of that tension!

The eventual introduction of the Monk class would rectify the lack of any playable alcohol connoisseurs (aka Brewmasters) so until then, any of my favourite race of Dwarves had to do when the going got tough! Short and tiny but incredibly powerful.

Pint-Sized Gnome

Track 03 / 10 from my newly released original album composed entirely in SunVox, Cities Above and Below - "Terrace of Moon Cakes".

The journey into Darnassus through the Night Elf starting zone on Teldrassil was one of my fondest memories, probably because I regularly leveled a character there with a friend and Druids being one of my favourite classes alongside the Priest and Warrior.

While the capital itself wasn't really that popular, I absolutely adored the serenity and the colour scheme that Darnassus provided. Purples and greens, alongside a few blues are a feast for the eyes.

Bringing that mysticism influence heavily into this track, the lack of inherent structure and use of some of my heavily modded vocals hopefully creates a sense of wonder and peace, yet for some reason there was always a slight sense of unease. Maybe it was the fact that it was almost deserted - waiting for something to happen, something to strike. Maybe it was because of what happened with Illidan Stormrage.

While Night Elves do not have any shamanic traits, I wanted to bring a little of that into it as I do feel that the Draenei would settle well in a place like this.

Dioniss aca.

Terrace of Moon Cakes

Track 04 / 10 from my newly released original album composed entirely in SunVox, Cities Above and Below - "The Crystal Maze".

I used to love taking the flight path into The Exodar, descending through the weaving path towards the core of the capital. Much like with Darnassus, The Exodar never really got a huge amount of love from the World of Warcraft population but it's true that it was never as connected to the rest of the alliance as cities like Stormwind and Ironforge were. That and the fact that this new city came along with a new expansion for a new playable race - the Draenei.

Such a beautiful city though, really utilising the sense of scale through the rapid changes in elevation. It did get to be a tad confusing at times though so it was never really as immediately recognisable.

As the Draenei homeland has copious amounts of crystal shards and larger masses, it did make me instantly think of an old UK gameshow that I still adore - "The Crystal Maze". That is where I got the idea to turn this into more of a TV show intro and keep it short, sweet and catchy. A simple structure, bassline and progression but no real complexity. A small nod to the "Blockbusters" theme tune also, another UK gameshow classic theme.

The Crystal Maze

Track 05 / 10 from my newly released original album composed entirely in SunVox, Cities Above and Below - "The Way of the Warrior".

For a Horde capital city, I spent very little time roaming the roads of Orgrimmar but that could also be down to the fact that I was in fact a filthy Alliance player. Funnily enough, my first character was Horde but then I realised that all of my friends played Alliance so naturally, I had to switch.

There used to be a UK martial arts gameshow by the name of "Masters of Combat" that the surroundings used to remind me of, so this theme ended up being a little more off-key and grungy. There is only so much one can do with an oriental base when it comes to analogue sounds and FM synthesis but I think that it turned out pretty well.

Actually, I think the only times I used to go to the city were when I had just made my way through the gates of Orgrimmar after playing through the Orc starting zone on a new character. Thinking about the designs, I do wish that I had given the Horde far more love but I cannot change that.

The Way of the Warrior

Track 06 / 10 from my newly released original album composed entirely in SunVox, Cities Above and Below - "Totemic Might".

The high rises of Thunder Bluff are of impeccable design and Mulgore and The Barrens in general are incredible. What's not to love about running around as an 8-foot handsome cow whom also has shamanic traits and loves to pick herbs and flowers.

The Tauren Shaman was the quintessential race and class combination in the early days of World of Warcraft and really laid the groundwork for the entire Horde experience. While Thunder Bluff remained serene, which shows in the majority of this track, the Crossroads were far from that, being a main point of contention for raiding Alliance players just looking for a scrap and to be a nuisance. I know this because I was one of them too.

The chants used here came from an idea based on the Klingons from the Star Trek universe. There are a lot of similarities that I can draw between them an the Tauren, more so recently with the change in Worf's style of combat and Klingon guile, seen in Star Trek: Picard.

I wanted that to mesh cohesively with a steady drum beat, emulating hitting a gong or large drum but at the same time, maintaining that feel of what it truly means to be a Tauren.

Totemic Might

Track 07 / 10 from my newly released original album composed entirely in SunVox, Cities Above and Below - "Sticks and Stones".

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me. This is especially true for the Undead as they are nothing but bones, completely devoid of any skin and flesh in most cases. I'm sure some of the cloth that they end up wearing is probably derived from human matter anyway.

Alongside a later track, this is one of my personal favourites as I love how it turned out. I really feel that in encapsulates my feelings towards how it was to be an Undead character, trouncing around the Undercity and who could forget that male dancing animation. Just rocking out and one of the main reasons why this is a "heavier" track - sure "heavy" might be a bit of a reach but cut me some slack here, please.

An Undead Warlock, trouncing around the Barrens was my first ever character in the original classic World of Warcraft and casting Shadow Bolt on any unsuspecting customers like the wild boar and bizarre mini Tauren clones. I can't remember whether the Imp and Voidwalker pets were a thing back then but that could have been restricted to the Demonology skill tree. I was on the Destruction path through and through.

Again, this was a fun one and while it takes a little while to get started, it does eventually get funky with those chords backing samples.

Sticks and Stones

Track 08 / 10 from my newly released original album composed entirely in SunVox, Cities Above and Below - "Discommendation".

I ended up writing two tracks that represent my feelings of the Klingon pride and reputation within the World of Warcraft universe and Silvermoon City truly embodies the harsh and rigid structure of the order of the Blood Elves. A truly proud people indeed.

I can picture a path being laid out right now, laced with red carpet with Blood Elf guards either side, standing to attention and welcoming the royals back to their throne. Fiercely strong individuals such as Kael'thas Sunstrider and Lady Liadrin embody that spirit.

Another fairly discordant track, with heavily modified synths and percussion to paint the picture of a disgraced Blood Elf, possibly one that fled from a battle, having to face the council once again to receive their final punishment - being banished from the order of the Blood Elves, never to be mentioned ever again. The one thing that is worse than being punished by death - having to live with one's discommendation.

Discommendation

Track 09 / 10 from my newly released original album composed entirely in SunVox, Cities Above and Below - "Path of the Light".

Ah yes, the lonely path towards Shattrath City, home of the Aldor and Scryers factions and one of the connecting points to the Isle of Quel'Danas - I have a lot of great memories going there to do my dailies in the Burning Crusade, as a ripe level 70 Priest.

The surrounding areas in the rest of Terokkar Forest were always so desolate and empty. There was a lot of chaotic energy within the entirity of Outland itself and this is no exception. So much bloodshed, so much war, yet Shattrath seemed to be a very small bastion of hope for every player. That and being a main hub when trying to get elsewhere!

I always struggled with even the lower level heroic dungeons such as The Underbog and that is what the second half of this song embodies for me. The first half is the slow path to get there and the second is preparing to fight an eventual losing battle. I never really had the time or the courage to get any better gear for myself and would have to wait until the Wrath of the Lich King expansion to finally get a chance to raid with the big boys.

So, the song starts slow and melancholy but eventually turns into a bit of a slug fest, almost like spamming skills and really trying to do your best when the odds are heavily stacked against you. Thanks to my fellow guild mates for having the patience to take me along for the ride. We had some good times together....

Path of the Light

Track 10 / 10 from my newly released original album composed entirely in SunVox, Cities Above and Below - "Purple Skies".

The floating citadel above Crystalsong Forest where I probably spent most of my time in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Dalaran really was something else and the music for that place makes me tear up every time I hear it.

Fishing in the fountain, leveling up some cooking, selling and doing repairs before the next raid. It really was incredible. Obviously, it helped that Northrend was a beautiful place for the time period. Sure, the Undead were having a field day as Arthas takes the throne once again but who can blame him. You do your thing and you leave me to do mine and we're all good, right?

Also, the introduction of the Death Knight class blew things wide open. While I never got the chance to properly dungeoneer and raid with the Blood spec, I really did enjoy it for what it was. There's nothing quite like tanking while wielding a two-handed bludgeoning stick.

A lot of sweeping synths and electronic strings here, with a little bit of crunchier pulses and fm synthesis sprinkled throughout to hopefully create a large scale of space, time and dark matter. Yes, underneath that regal exterior still beat a heart of pure arthritis. The time continuum was hurting badly. The questline and dungeons associated with Chromie were always a blast - Durnholde and The Black Morass being two of them!

This track was a nice closing send-off and I do hope that you enjoyed these tracks that I produced.

All the best as always.

Purple Skies

Profile of Jonathan Herbst, a video game music composer from the United Kingdom. Creating original music and covers, specialising in electronic music - particularly Chiptune and FM Synthesis.

Cities Above and Below

Jonpon