Throughout the main campaign, one of Call Of Duty 4's greatest strengths is the way in which it never flinches from making you face up to the full implications of your actions or a tangible sense of the danger you're in. This is modern warfare, and modern soldiers use brutal cutting-edge weapons and merciless tactics in the name of getting the job done. You'll murder sleeping soldiers in their beds, mow down helpless enemies from a gunship a mile in the sky and witness bullets interact with the faces of captured prisoners, but you'll just have to deal with it. Because they'd do exactly the same thing to you. And that's the direction we went in when coming upwith these soundtracks.
Note: COD4 unfortunately doesn't properly support custom soundtracks, instead playing your music over the game's own score. On levels without music, that's no problem, but when it's there you'll either have to put up with the occasional clash or turn the game sound right down to get the full impact of your music, as we chose to dowith a couple of these.
Ludwig Van Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata
Beethoven's quiet, beautiful, but ever mournful Moonlight Sonata acts as a harrowing contrast to COD4's fiercest fire fights. It's impossible not to be aware of the wanton carnage and loss of life exploding around you as its gentle piano lament echoes around the battlefield.
Autechre - Further
UK ambient electronica actAutechrehave got a couple of great tracks for COD4 on their Amber album. Further has a chokingly tense atmosphere of trepidation, made all the more affecting by the heartbeat-thump of its regular drum beat. As the track builds, off-kilter plinks and driving bursts of cold synth increase the tension immensely, making it perfect for the game's slower-paced levels.
Autechre - Teartear
Teartear's ominous, droning bass sounds, incessent beat and swirling high-pitched noises create an intense blend of methodical focus battling with increasing panic. And like Further, it has a deceptively infectious groove that subtly but steadily builds throughout its run-time, managing to make you feel very dangerous indeed despite the doom-laden cacophony.
