# Mick Gordon (composer)

Michael John Gordon (born 7 July 1985) is an Australian composer, record producer, musician, and sound designer, composing music primarily for video games.
Gordon has composed for several first-person shooters, including Atomic Heart, LawBreakers, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, Prey, the soft reboot of Doom and its sequel Doom Eternal, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, and the first two seasons of the 2013 fighting game Killer Instinct.

## Career
### Video games

Gordon began his musical career as a jazz/blues guitarist in his teens. He first began to work as a sound designer with Pandemic Studios, where he contributed additional sound design for Destroy All Humans! 2. In 2013, he scored the first season of the fighting video game, Killer Instinct, a reboot of the original 1994 title. The following year, Gordon scored the second season of Killer Instinct and the action-adventure first-person shooter Wolfenstein: The New Order (developed by MachineGames). He returned to the Wolfenstein series in 2015 to compose the score for Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, a prequel to Wolfenstein: The New Order.
In 2016, Gordon completed the score for the science fiction first-person shooter, Doom, a soft reboot of the franchise, developed by id Software. His score for Doom won a number of awards including a D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition, SXSW Gaming Award for Excellence in Musical Score, The Game Awards for Best Music/Sound Design, and was nominated for a BAFTA Games Award for Best Music.
In 2017, Gordon completed the score for the horror first-person shooter, Prey, developed by Arkane Studios. He also worked alongside Martin Stig Andersen to again return to the Wolfenstein series, scoring Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, developed by MachineGames.
In 2020, Gordon completed the score of Doom Eternal; while the music for the game was once again well-received, circumstances around the soundtrack release led to a public falling out between Gordon and id Software and a parting of ways. Both sides posted open letters alleging wrongdoing.

### Production work

On 23 June 2020 British rock band Bring Me the Horizon announced they would be working with Gordon on their upcoming release. Vocalist Oliver Sykes discusses how he fell in love with the Doom Eternal soundtrack during quarantine. Being heavily inspired by Gordon's work, the band decided to reach out to him and offer a collaboration. The resulting work, titled "Parasite Eve", was released on 25 June alongside an accompanying music video. The collaboration then expanded into the commercial release, Post Human: Survival Horror, released on 30 October 2020.
Gordon produced the song "Paralyze" with industrial metal band 3Teeth in 2021. On 3rd May 2023 3Teeth released "Merchant of the Void", and on 31st May released "Slum Planet" again collaborating with Gordon.

## Musical style and inspiration

According to Gordon's official website, he "utilises a broad range of modern musical sound design and traditional composition techniques in order to be unconstrained by any singular genre," and that it is "inspired by the connection between the audience and the experience."
Gordon's work "considers the role of music as a translation of the world in which it exists rather than a simple accompaniment."

## Discography
### Soundtrack albums

| Title | Release date | Label | Format |
| A Day in Pompeii | 21 August 2012 | Self-released | Digital download |
| Killer Instinct: Season One Soundtrack + Original Arcade Soundtrack | 14 October 2014 | Microsoft Corporation | CD, digital download |
| Wolfenstein: The New Order (Original Game Soundtrack) | 19 May 2014 | Bethesda Softworks | CD, digital download |
| Doom | 28 September 2016 | Bethesda Softworks | CD, digital download |
| Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus | 16 March 2018 | Bethesda Softworks | CD, digital download |
| Doom | 27 July 2018 | Bethesda Softworks | Vinyl |

### Production credits

| Year | Artist | Album | Title(s) | Notes |
| 2020 | Bring Me the Horizon | Post Human: Survival Horror | "Dear Diary," | Additional production |
| 2020 | Bring Me the Horizon | Post Human: Survival Horror | "Parasite Eve" | Additional production |
| 2020 | Bring Me the Horizon | Post Human: Survival Horror | "Obey" (with Yungblud) | Percussion, synthesizer, additional production |
| 2020 | Bring Me the Horizon | Post Human: Survival Horror | "Itch for the Cure (When Will We Be Free?)" | Additional production |
| 2020 | Bring Me the Horizon | Post Human: Survival Horror | "Kingslayer" (featuring Babymetal) | Additional production |
| 2020 | Bring Me the Horizon | Post Human: Survival Horror | "One Day the Only Butterflies Left Will Be in Your Chest as You March Towards Your Death" (featuring Amy Lee) | Additional production |
| 2021 | 3Teeth | EndEx | "Paralyze" (featuring Ho99o9) | Production |
| 2022 | Monuments | In Stasis | — | Co-production |
| 2022 | Motionless in White | Scoring the End of the World | "Scoring the End of the World" | Guest appearance |
| 2023 | 3Teeth | EndEx | "Merchant of the Void" | Co-writer, co-production |
| 2023 | 3Teeth | EndEx | "Slum Planet" | Co-production |
| 2023 | 3Teeth | EndEx | "Higher Than Death" | Co-production |
| 2023 | 3Teeth | EndEx | "What's Left" | Co-production |
| 2023 | Architects | The Sky, the Earth & All Between | "Seeing Red" | Additional Production |
| 2024 | Gravemind | Introsphere | "Failstate" | Guest appearance |

## Works

| Year | Title | Notes | Ref. |
| 2006 | Hot Dog King | Music and sound design | |
| 2006 | Destroy All Humans! 2 | Additional sound design | |
| 2007 | Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots | — | |
| 2008 | El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera | — | |
| 2009 | Real Racing | — | — |
| 2009 | Need for Speed: Shift | Co-composed with Stephen Baysted and Mark Morgan | |
| 2009 | Marvel Super Hero Squad | — | |
| 2010 | Real Racing 2 | Game sound effects | — |
| 2010 | The Last Airbender | — | |
| 2010 | Need for Speed: World | — | |
| 2010 | Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet | — | |
| 2011 | Shift 2: Unleashed | Composed with: Heavy Melody Music Ramin Djawadi Troels Folmann Stephen Baysted Mike Reagan | |
| 2011 | Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat | — | |
| 2011 | Need for Speed: The Run | Additional music | |
| 2012 | A Day in Pompeii | Audio Director; Museums Victoria exhibit | |
| 2012 | Battle Group | Also sound designer | — |
| 2013 | Real Racing 3 | Game sound effects | — |
| 2013 | ShootMania Storm | — | |
| 2013 | Killer Instinct | Season One (2013) and Season Two (2014) | |
| 2014 | Wolfenstein: The New Order | Additional music by Frederik Thordendal | |
| 2015 | Wolfenstein: The Old Blood | Additional music by Michael Tornabene and Casey Edwards | |
| 2015 | Project CARS | Guitars with John J. Harvey | — |
| 2015 | SOMA | Trailer music | |
| 2016 | Doom | Additional music by Chris Hite and Ben F. Carney | |
| 2017 | Prey | Additional music composed by Ben Crossbones, Matt Piersall, and Raphaël Colantonio | |
| 2017 | LawBreakers | Composed with Jaroslav Beck, Dieselboy, Mark The Beast, and Malcolm Kirby Jr. "Faust" and “Toska-9” tracks in the official album | |
| 2017 | Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus | Composed with Martin Stig Andersen; additional music by Frederik Thordendal | |
| 2019 | Borderlands 3 | Additional Music Support Original game score by: Jesper Kyd Michael McCann Finishing Move Inc. Raison Varner | |
| 2020 | Beautiful Desolation | — | |
| 2020 | Doom Eternal | | |
| 2023 | Atomic Heart | Composed with Andrey Bugrov and Geoffrey Day | |
| TBA | Routine | Audio Director | |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Ceremony | Category | Work | Result |
| 2006 | Game Developers' Association of Australia | Best Audio | Destroy All Humans! 2 | Won |
| 2012 | Game Audio Network Guild | Best Audio, Other | A Day in Pompeii | Won |
| 2013 | Game Audio Network Guild | Best Interactive Score | Killer Instinct | Nominated |
| 2013 | Game Audio Network Guild | Best Original Song, Vocal (Pop) | Killer Instinct ("Touch Me and I'll Break Your Face") | Won |
| 2013 | Game Audio Network Guild | Best Original Song, Vocal (Pop) | Killer Instinct ("I'm Back to Rise") | Nominated |
| 2016 | The Game Awards | Best Music/Sound Design | Doom | Won |
| 2017 | Game Developers Choice Awards | Best Audio | Doom | Nominated |
| 2017 | SXSW Gaming Awards | Excellence in Musical Score | Doom | Won |
| 2017 | D.I.C.E. Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition | Doom | Won |
| 2017 | British Academy Games Awards | Best Music | Doom | Nominated |
| 2018 | New York Game Awards | Best Music in a Game | Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (shared with Martin Stig Andersen) | Nominated |
| 2018 | D.I.C.E. Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition | Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (shared with Martin Stig Andersen) | Nominated |
| 2020 | The Game Awards | Best Score and Music | Doom Eternal | Nominated |
| 2020 | Steam Awards | Best Soundtrack | Doom Eternal | Won |