I wrote the ultimate boss track 😈

For the past year, I’ve been haunted by four notes.

I wrote them in my boss track last year, and when I did, I thought I was done with them—but they kept coming back.

On walks.
While I’d eat.
In the shower.

And that’s when I realized: the boss in my story wasn’t happy with his ending.

So last week, I decided to give him a new one.

I decided to write the ultimate boss track.

To create the sound, I drew on my experience as a game composer working on titles like Honor of Kings, but also from my childhood inspirations like Tigran Hamasyan, Radiohead, and Snarky Puppy.

I really started locking into the sound when I found a synth that felt grimy and baked into the room, starting softly and slowly coming towards the listener:

From there, a dramatic, open, and strange rhythmic pattern emerged…

…followed by a section that revolved around the “Wither” motive from my last album—G F# E D#—repeated in a kind of jarring, relentless pattern:

As I listened, I thought, “This is cool… but it’s missing something.”

I shared it on my Instagram, and that’s when something awesome happened.

My friend Tabor Mullins, a killer guitarist, reached out and asked me if I wanted a guitar solo:

After that ripping solo comes one of my favorite parts — the bridge.

This bridge actually pulls from a theme that first appeared in The Final Act, the battle track on The Call of Raven’s Hollow…

…but repurposed in a more triumphant, climatic battle:

From there, we move into what I call the “cooldown state”—where everything settles back into a low groove.

I pictured the Boy stepping back mid-fight, recovering before the next phase of battle.

Another callback to The Final Act happens here too, with the jarring off-kilter 3/4 groove in the bass:

(That’s one of my favorite things to do as a game composer—weave themes back in different ways.)

The groove builds up while the drums flip underneath between 4/4, 6/8, and 2/4.

And finally, we get a reprise of that original 7/4 4/4 climax—telling the listener that the battle has finally come to its end.

This track was so much fun to write.

Right now, it’s for a game that exists in my head, but my hope is that someday I either make that game, or I get to write this kind of music for a game.

If you enjoyed it, the track is coming to streaming platforms soon, and you can grab the audio and MIDI on Patreon.

MIDI + Audio

Thanks again—your support helps make videos (and music) like this possible. 🙏

Zach