Composer Lorne Balfe (The Sweeney, Assassin's Creed: Revelations) is released Assassin's Creed III soundtrack on October 30, 2012.
"When I found out that the new Assassin's Creed was going to based on the American Revolution, and that we were introducing a new Assassin born from a Native American mother and a British father," said Balfe, "I realized this was going to be a difficult score to write."
"Visually, the game is rich in colors and I wanted the music to take players to new levels of the Assassin's Creed franchise," Balfe continued. "There are large naval scenes in the game and I wanted to create an epic feeling that would compliment the grandeur of the visuals. This was the beginning of America as we know it todayfilled with cultures from across the world. With such diversity available, I was able to bring Celtic and other musical influences into the game to further accentuate the complexities of the game itself."
A native of Inverness, Scotland, Lorne Balfe is a Grammy Award-winning film composer, known for composing the scores to the Dreamworks' animation Megamind, and Ron Howard's film The Dilemma, in collaboration with Academy Award-winning composer, Hans Zimmer. In addition to being recognized for producing two of Zimmer's Oscar-nominated scores, Sherlock Holmes and Inception, Lorne has also received significant recognition for his work in the United Kingdom. In 2009, Lorne was nominated for the Discovery of the Year World Soundtrack Award for his score for BAFTA Award-winning Crying With Laughter and he was nominated for the prestigious Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award.
Balfe began his career in Hollywood providing additional music on several major motion pictures, including: the Pirates of the Caribbean II, and III, The Simpsons Movie, Angels & Demons, Iron Man, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and Frost/Nixon. Complimented by his additional music, Balfe's role as a score producer on 2008's The Dark Knight earned Lorne a Grammy for "Best Score Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture."
Balfe's film and TV projects include the British made film The Sweeney, Ironclad, the TV anthology Five (directed by Jennifer Aniston, Alicia Keys, Demi Moore, Patty Jenkins, and Penelope Spheeris) and the Ron Howard-produced Imagin8ion (directed by Bryce Howard). His work can also be heard in the video games Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Assassin's Creed: Revelations (featuring main theme, cutscenes & multiplayer music by Balfe), Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (co-composed with Hans Zimmer) and Skylanders: Giants. Balfe's upcoming projects include the thriller The Frozen Ground (starring Nicolas Cage and John Cusack) and Not Another Happy Ending (starring Karen Gillian).
"Working with the Ubisoft team was a joy," said Balfe. "Their openness and enthusiasm for experimenting pulled away all musical restrictions, allowing us to create a new and exciting level of experience for the player."