Hozier on His New Song for God of War: Ragnarök, “Blood Upon the Snow”: Exclusive
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The post Hozier on His New Song for God of War: Ragnarök, “Blood Upon the Snow”: Exclusive appeared first on Consequence.
The hype has been building for God of War: Ragnarök (out November 9th on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4), the newest installment of the hit video game series. Not only is it the first new God of War game in four years, it marks the end of the “Norse” series, which centers around Norse mythology and follows protagonist Kratos and his teenage son, Atreus.
As exciting as the new God of War is for fans, there’s something different about this release than the usual fare: Irish singer and songwriter Hozier has teamed up with the game’s composer, Bear McCreary, for a new song to accompany the official Ragnarök soundtrack, out the same day as the game. The track, titled “Blood Upon the Snow,” is a daring, cinematic number that hits at all the thematic notes of God of War: Ragnarök, and finds Hozier using his signature velvety tone to evoke both tenderness and awe.
It’s been a long few years for Hozier, who released his sophomore LP, Wasteland, Baby, in 2019 to widespread success, but has stayed relatively quiet since the dawn of the pandemic. Aside from a collaboration with producer Meduza last year, Hozier has been keeping his head down focused on his upcoming third album, releasing only one song, “Swan Upon Leda.” Now comes “Blood Upon the Snow,” which you can hear now via its accompanying lyric video here:
Needless to say, Hozier’s very excited for the collaboration to be released, and for the game to reach audiences around the world. “I’m interested in the digital arts as a maturing medium,” Hozier tells Consequence over Zoom. “The previous release in that series was some sort of a game-changing (no pun intended), cinematic achievement. And I was quite impressed with a vision that was going to take a story and maybe 30 hours of a journey without one camera cut.”
He praised the collaborative spirit between him, Bear McCreary, and the game’s director, Eric Williams. And though “Blood Upon the Snow” features a more dramatic, classical style, his new music won’t necessarily echo the same sonics. “We were trying to hit the beats of certain themes and trying to make it work for the universe of the game, to make it work in sympathy with Eric Williams’ vision and Bear’s vision as well, too,” says Hozier, “So it’s nice to sort of flex a different muscle.”
This may be Hozier’s first song for a video game, but his abilities as a storyteller and powerhouse vocalist have been on display since his 2014 self-titled debut. As he hits a soaring high note in climax of “Blood Upon the Snow,” it’s clear that the world could use some more Hozier music in the future.
Ahead of the release of God of War: Ragnarök and the God of War: Ragnarök (Original Soundtrack), Hozier sat down with Consequence to discuss crafting “Blood Upon the Snow,” using the natural world and the game’s narrative as inspiration, his love of the digital arts, and the status of Hozier’s yet-to-be-announced third LP. Read below for the full Q&A with Hozier, plus watch a behind-the-scenes mini-doc of the recording process that went into “Blood Upon the Snow.”
Congrats on this great new single, “Blood Upon the Snow.” What drew you to work on a song for God of War: Ragnarök?
Well, I was familiar with the series [God of War]. I’m interested in the digital arts as a maturing medium. The previous release in that series was some sort of a game-changing (no pun intended), cinematic achievement. And I was quite impressed with a vision that was going to take a story and maybe 30 hours of a journey without one camera cut. So yeah, little things like that drew me to the project.
And as a child of the ’90s, I have been interested in the digital arts ever since my uncle gave me a Super Nintendo as kid — before I could read, I was dodging turtles. And then I’m familiar with Bear McCreary’s work, a big fan of his work and his composing. So we just kind of looked into it — it sort of was thrown to me through Sony, I’m signed here in the states to Sony Columbia. It was something I wanted to explore, and it’s something I’ve never done before. So that was another reason.
When making a song for a video game in development, how much did they give you to work off of thematically? Were you allowed to play a bit of the game, see a lot of the artwork, or learn a lot about the narrative?
I had sat down just for a chat with the game’s director, Eric Williams. And so in this instance, I actually had quite a bit to go on, which was super helpful, because it would have been sort of shooting in the dark without that. Sadly, I didn’t get a chance — I would have loved to, but didn’t get a chance to sit down and play the game. So Eric sort of talked me through the arc of the two main characters, Atreus and Kratos, their relationship and how that grows, how that erodes, and how that’s challenged, the push and pull of that.
And then some of the imagery — one of the themes in particular that he was keen on leaning into, which was a challenge but a fun challenge at the same time, was this idea of two disparate creatures, or two disparate animals, moving together as a sort of odd pack, that of a bear and a wolf. That’s a theme that comes up throughout the game. So yeah, I sat down for a good long chat with Eric at the beginning, and then he had a few ideas and things that he felt might be interesting and might work to lean into. It helped as well, because I wanted to make sure that it worked with his vision; it’s his baby at the end of the day.
The track seems to be really inspired by nature and the natural world. Have you been spending more time outdoors throughout the pandemic?
I was a little bit! During the pandemic, I was very fortunate that I spent that time in Ireland, so I was close to the seaside and close to a lot of greenery and was able to spend a bit of time there. I wasn’t exactly in hiking mode or anything like that, certainly not. [laughs]
But I will say, actually, during the pandemic, I was leaning into stuff that was finding its way into my own work. I was reading epic poetry, and just sort of picking up on some classics, and it just felt like fun — maybe not fun, but just appropriate and interesting timing. There’s an Irish poet called Seamus Heaney who did a wonderful translation of Beowulf. So I had been sitting with Beowulf, I had been sitting with some Ovid and stuff like that, a lot of mythological themes. So I think that was sort of floating above my head a little bit. And for the sort of natural themes, I guess I was just channeling the influence of the countryside, and the sort of stark, and, at times, brutal nature of the natural world.
You collaborated on the track with the game’s composer, Bear McCreary. What was it like collaborating with someone used to writing for a different medium than you typically do?
In this instance, it was great. I had actually done a few rounds of songs and I think it took us a moment to nail down on something that felt right for everybody. It was trying to get that balance right between it being not too elegiac, not too much of an elegy, not too sweet, not too lullaby-esque, not too outrageously doom and gloom, and not too absolutely metal. So, what was wonderful about sitting down with Bear is that I had kind of a wealth of ideas. And it was great, because that was a nice focusing point.
We had gotten some ideas that made sense, we sat down in Los Angeles, and we just sort of marked up some ideas that he had. We were able to sit down finally together and create a shape of a piece that he married in with the themes that he has established throughout the series, like the Kratos theme, etc. So that was really great because it was something that just happened naturally. It focused everything and it accelerated everything, and I found that very, very easy. He’s also got a great working relationship with Eric at this stage, having worked on the previous game, so yeah, it was a very positive experience.
God of War: Ragnarök (PlayStation)
The track is very moving and dramatic. Does it feel like a good representation of the kind of music you’re working on right now? Or does it exist more independently from your new music?
Yeah, it’s quite independent. In what I was trying to achieve with God of War, it was trying to hit the beats of certain themes and trying to make it work for the universe of the game, make it work for in sympathy with Eric Williams’ vision and Bear’s vision as well. So it’s nice to sort of flex a different muscle, I suppose. There is some work off the upcoming project that absolutely, to a degree, I would say, is not too dissimilar in that it’s sort of like an elegy. But I’m always writing folk songs, I’m always writing depressing music too. [laughs]
Well, no matter what you work on, your powerful voice always makes it unique. I definitely felt that when you hit that soaring high note in the climax of “Blood Upon the Snow.”
That’s all Bear as well. I got on that note with Bear, because we were doing the choruses on the tracking day, he was like, “You know what dude, let’s just go there.” It’s great when you have a partnership where you have one person you’re playing off, you’re offering ideas to one another. So it was great working with him. He was like, “You got those notes, just hand ’em over.” I was like, “Absolutely, let’s do it.”
He’s right, you definitely do have those notes! Do you ever listen back to your own discography and find yourself surprised at your own vocals?
Tough question. I really don’t. I wish I could say that I listened back to my discography with any sense of surprise, but I just avoid doing that. I do a little bit — maybe I’ll cultivate a better relationship with the work, but I think you always have this thing within you that’s just like, “Okay, you’ve made it, you’ve made the thing. Don’t move forward, don’t look back.” Because if you reflect too much upon what you have done, you’ll only think about what you might have done differently and what you wish you could improve on now, or wish you had known at the time, so maybe that’s not a necessary place to go to when you’re going into this self-critical place. But the easiest way to just skip that roundabout is to just drive over it and keep moving forward.
But yeah, I’d love to get to that point. I know I’m sort of half joking, but I really would, because I think it’s a very healthy place to be when you have love for yourself and in all points of your career to just be like, “Yeah, that was cool. That was fun.” And I do have those moments, but yeah, that is a cool thing. You hear of some artists literally just listening to their own music just for the sake of enjoyment, and that sounds like a very wonderful thing too.
Hozier, photo by Ben Kaye
Looking ahead to the future and considering the cinematic nature of “Blood Upon the Snow,” have you thought about scoring films or working on songs for them?
I absolutely would. Yeah, I would love to at some point. I’m kind of going into a release cycle and a touring cycle, but I definitely would. What it offers is just very different; you’re kind of painting a different type of picture. You’re offered more of a landscape to work with. It’s wonderful in the way of writing a song with a different voice, to imagine writing from a different narrative place or writing from a different person’s throat. It’s something I would love to do more of, to look into, given the right time and given the right project. I would love to.
You’ve mentioned that you’re working on your third album, and I know that when that’s announced, we’ll all be very excited. But even from a broader sense, where are you feeling artistically right now? What have you been drawn to? What has been inspiring you?
Right now, I can only kind of speak about the project that I’m still working on. We’re just entering the mixing stages, or in some cases, finalizing the mixing. So I’m glad to be here and it’s been wonderful. I’ve enjoyed the process a lot this round. I will say, at the moment, I’ve always avoided not collaborations but co-writing. That’s something I’ve often felt wasn’t right, or it was hard to find that right partner.
So on this record, working with a few different producers, and one of which being able to jam, just actually jam in a very old school sense of playing music in a room and throwing ideas around. For me, writing had always been a very isolated experience, sitting down with an instrument until you feel something and just following that vein, and chasing that vein if you strike it. But on this record, being able to jam with musicians, such talented musicians that I’ve had the honor of working with on this round, has been super, super fun and fulfilling. It sort of opened up a new window into a different energy and a different way of approaching creation and approaching the experience of making music, it’s a very fun and very fulfilling new experience.
You mentioned playing Super Nintendo, but what are some of your favorite video games to play or video game memories that you have?
I think this will show my age, but I miss local co-ops — sitting down with four friends, and either tackling something like Gauntlet or tackling those four-player co-op games. I miss that, and it’s harder and harder to get four buddies in a space and just play locally. And Golden Eye — even though I don’t know how the hell you play with a four-way split screen like the way we used to, but there’s something so terrible and great (and I mean terrible in the best sense), to be able to laugh at your friends after some outrageous Golden Eye explosion that has taken place, or you have the Golden Gun and nobody can take you out. I love those memories. Having a Nintendo 64 as a kid, playing Mario Kart… I think those are very golden memories and very, very special. And I definitely miss that as a gaming experience, it’s something that’s communal and something that’s in the space with your nearest and dearest. I think that’s a really cool thing.
Hozier on His New Song for God of War: Ragnarök, “Blood Upon the Snow”: Exclusive
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