My Theory About The Music = The Aftermath of Mick vs. Marty

[Retro Slayer 💥]

Fellow Doomguys,

Just wanted to share some thoughts I’ve had.

First of all, the new music is fine. The riffs are good, I enjoy it—but it just lacks that little something. I can’t find a single track or riff that sticks with me after I’m done playing, or makes me want to listen to it outside the game. And yet, I still listen weekly to DOOM Eternal fan mixes. It’s all about that Super Gore Nest, man. That crazy heavy Trial of Maligog, or that insane, grinding, final assault Immora track—which David Levy named “Headstomp”, by the way.

But here’s the thing—I think this is exactly what id Software was going for. That is what they absolutely wanted. They wanted to take all the spotlight away from the music. Let me explain, and tie it into what happened between Mick and Marty.

Remember 2016. Remember when DOOM came out. It was amazing. Who was the director of DOOM? Marty Stratton. Hugo Martin was the creative lead, I think, or something like that—but the actual Game Director was Marty Stratton.

DOOM 2016 came out, and what were people talking about at the time? The game, the return to form, the refreshing lack of narrative, the Slayer tossing that screen aside before going to rip and tear. And... Mick Gordon. It was all about the music—how new it sounded, how vicious the menu track was, how Mick mixed a nine-string guitar with freaking chainsaws. Mick, Mick, Mick. So much that he ended up performing (with Sonic Mayhem) at the 2016 Game Awards. And who did nobody care about? Who was never mentioned in anything (as far as I can remember)? Marty Stratton.

I have a theory that Stratton became incredibly jealous of Mick’s recognition. He felt he should have been in the spotlight, but it was all about Mick Gordon—and it pissed him off. And that led to the DOOM Eternal OST ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ we all know about. Petty feelings from Stratton. It would also explain why they never even gave Mick the awards he won. They're sitting at the Dallas studio.

I won’t even get into Chad Mossholder... I think he’s a hack. The simple fact that he tried to present himself as co-composer of the DOOM Eternal OST says everything you need to know. I even messaged him on X at the time, and not long after, he shut down his account because people wanted an explanation from him. Tell me, why would you label it like this: "The Super Gore Nest – Mick Gordon & Chad Mossholder"? Like, seriously. They could have just said: "Composed by Mick Gordon – Arranged by Chad Mossholder". But no—they needed to take something from Mick. They needed to take part of his credit. The needed him not to be in the spotlight again.

Anyway, that’s my theory for why things fell apart, and why we ended up with Finishing Move Inc. Why not Andrew Hulshult or David Levy? They did great on TAG. David Levy’s Headstomp is iconic—at least to me.

But they didn’t rehire them, because they wanted to cut ties with “personalities” or standout composers. They wanted a safe, in-house, nameless group of musicians who would make a serviceable soundtrack that wouldn’t be its own star. They wanted “serviceable”—and forgettable.

That’s my theory.

Do you have any thoughts?

Mick, if you see this—we miss you, man. Been a fan since the Killer Instinct days, and I really hate to see how they have damaged your career. But we haven’t forgotten. And I’m pretty sure Stratton hasn’t forgotten either, since in every rare appearance he makes, he looks visibly insecure in his body language and facial expressions. A far cry from his confident look with the long hair around 2020. He knows he messed up. He does. But even if he wanted to apologize, which I don't think is the case, well his overlords at Bethesda and Microsoft would never allow it.

David and Andrew—you guys are sorely missed. Since Mick is out, I wish there were a reality where you two got the Dark Ages gig. You deserved it. You absolutely crushed it during the pandemic with TAG. I still listen to your work in 2025.

Finishing Move Inc.—not gonna lie, it wasn’t good enough. I don’t blame you, I'm sure you tried hard and did your best. But the music is supposed to drive the action. Like Mick used to say. Your music, whether it is Mossholder's fault or not, is just used as background music. That's what it is. Background music. On the other side, I do blame you for using that “Inc.” in your name. It gives off this off-putting corporate vibe. Drop it, seriously. "Finishing Move" sounds much better.

But hey—that’s just me.

DOOM is DOOM. And DOOM is forever. Until the next reimagining… when I’ll be in my late fifties at the earliest, I think. 😄

[Milkdust]

I hate Marty Stratton. I hate his face. I hate what he did to Mick.

I doubt Stratton ever cared about the music that much. He probably cannot even tell the difference.

[Retro Slayer 💥]

Bump? No one cares to discuss the musical context?

[UNBREAKABLE]

Originally posted by Retro Slayer 💥:

Bump? No one cares to discuss the musical context?

we already did 4 years ago man

[PodjeGamen]

I don't know Marty Stratton or Hugo Martin or Chad or Mick Gordon personally. The truth always lies somewhere in the middle when two sides have a different view of a situation.

As a short first example: Maybe Mick does not care for those awards and never bothered to pick them up.

But I will say that jealousy because of the recognition Gordon got from the soundtracks sounds very silly to me. The soundtrack works so well in 2016 and Eternal because it fits with the rest of the game. If the soundtrack slaps, but the rest is awful, we would not remember it at all. For example; Anthem's soundtrack is amazing, yet no one knows it, because the game flopped. Same goes for Concord. It's an amazing soundscape, but nobody liked the game, it was only around for 11 days and so the soundtrack will never get any recognition as well.

If anything Marty Stratton and Hugo Martin get put in the spotlight constantly. Also way before Mick decided to move on. Makes sense, they are the leading men behind the trilogy.

They didn't rehire him and Mick would have outright refused. Gordon made that statement very clear : "I didn't quit DOOM, I quit a toxic client".

It's clear that the production of Doom Eternal was way more chaotic then it was supposed to be. Bad communication between parties can ruin a lot. And when it comes to enormous amounts of pressure and deadlines, those lines of communication are key to keeping things together. Considering that fell completely apart, Gordon really outdid himself on the soundtrack of Eternal. Probably because he got way more creative freedom with it as well (even though Gordon says that a lot of his work was initially rejected, but was put in the game anyway, but they did not pay him for that work, which is were a big part of his grievances lie).

Personally, I think Andrew Hulshut would have been an amazing choice to compose the music for The Dark Ages. He did a great job with Ancient Gods Part One. But maybe this scope is too big for him to tackle or something. I think the music of the Dark Ages fits the atmosphere, but there was never any headbanging moments like in 2016 or Eternal. That is a shame and an obvious step back from the other games.

[The Three]

I won't comment on Mick gettiing laid off, as I don't know enough about all this, but I definitely miss the guy very much. Dark Ages' only proves he was hugely responsible for the success of the 2016 release. In DA soundtrack is just a monotous, metal "bambambambam" on repeat - Mick's music had soul, each track greatly matched the theme of the level/arena and it pumped pure adrenaline to your heart.

I'll always remember "BFG Division", and I'll probably won't remember a single track from Dark Ages.

In general, I feel like Dark Ages is a missed opportunity - in terms of general art direction the game isn't very "dark age'y". It's just another resurrected DOOM with cyber dragons. I think if they went all in into the "dark ages" theme, a more rustical style (crossbows, impalers, whatnot - maybe magic infused plasma launchers?) the end result would have been so much more meaningful and stylish. Image a more dirty, grounded, primitive & "analog" Doom.

Maybe that was the original idea behind the dark ages in early stages of preproduction but some shareholders got scared it won't appeal to the masses?

[Gothmog]

Originally posted by The Three:

I won't comment on Mick gettiing laid off, as I don't know enough about all this, but I definitely miss the guy very much. Dark Ages' only proves he was hugely responsible for the success of the 2016 release. In DA soundtrack is just a monotous, metal "bambambambam" on repeat - Mick's music had soul, each track greatly matched the theme of the level/arena and it pumped pure adrenaline to your heart.

I'll always remember "BFG Division", and I'll probably won't remember a single track from Dark Ages.

In general, I feel like Dark Ages is a missed opportunity - in terms of general art direction the game isn't very "dark age'y". It's just another resurrected DOOM with cyber dragons. I think if they went all in into the "dark ages" theme, a more rustical style (crossbows, impalers, whatnot - maybe magic infused plasma launchers?) the end result would have been so much more meaningful and stylish. Image a more dirty, grounded, primitive & "analog" Doom.

Maybe that was the original idea behind the dark ages in early stages of preproduction but some shareholders got scared it won't appeal to the masses?

The Ancient Gods soundtrack proved that Mick isn't a necessity, per say as I generally liked the tracks in those six levels. Don't get me wrong though, the actual tracks Mick did in main DOOM Eternal were definitely more memorable.

Here, I don't know what happened. It all just kind of sounds the same. That echoing train horn sound follows you throughout the entire game, and some of the ambient tracks when you're not in direct combat sounds like it came straight out of Hollywood.

[Hyperion]

I am disappointed by the music it's good but it doesnt go hard enough not DOOM level should have just paid Mick what he was owed.

[Retro Slayer 💥]

Originally posted by PodjeGamen:

Maybe Mick does not care for those awards and never bothered to pick them up.

Just to say he absolutely does. Called them out for it in his one-hour long essay on Medium. But Stratton and the gang kept them.