Dreams of Cruelty (Soundtrack)

Team Fortress 2 Official Soundtrack

"Team Fortress 2 (Main Theme)" "Playing With Danger" "Rocket Jump Waltz" "The Art of War" "Faster Than a Speeding Bullet" "Right Behind You" "Petite Chou-Fleur" "Intruder Alert" "Drunken Pipe Bomb" "More Gun" "Haunted Fortress 2" "TF2 Saxxy 2011 Theme" "A Little Heart to Heart" "MEDIC!" "Archimedes" "Dreams of Cruelty" "The Calm" "ROBOTS!" "Dapper Cadaver" "Rise of the Living Bread" "Red Bread" "Three Days to Live" "Seduce Me!" "Stink Lines" "It Hates Me So Much" "Misfortune Teller" "Soldier of Dance" "RED Triumphs!" "BLU Triumphs!" "Yeti Park" "Saxton's Dilemma" "Mercenary Park" "Saluting the Fallen"

"Dreams of Cruelty" is one of the song titles featured from the official Team Fortress 2 soundtrack, listed as track number sixteen. Added in the Pyromania Update, it is one of two songs featured in Meet the Pyro (the other being Do You Believe in Magic) and is one of 33 main menu start up themes. It is the thirteenth track to be added via patch subsequent to the game's release.

Analysis

Key: E Minor
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: 90-95 BPM
Length: 1:06
Release Date: June 27, 2012
Update: Pyromania
Composer: Mike Morasky
Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, clarinet, contrabassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 5 trombones (3 tenors, 2 basses), tuba, harp, keyboard (synthesizer), 2 percussion (vibraphone, low drums), 2 violins*, violoncello*, contrabass*
* parts contain overdubs

Written to accompany the Pyro's maniacal actions in Meet the Pyro, "Dreams of Cruelty" borrows many compositional elements from horror film scores.

Due to its horror-inspired nature, main themes of the track include dissonant harmonies, chromaticism, and pedal point. For most of the score, bass instruments gravitate toward E, with movement being limited to minor seconds, major seconds, or tritones. This provides a consistent yet brooding foundation for melody parts, which are similarly based in chromaticism and are found within a limited range of movement. However, this foundation intentionally creates extremely dissonant intervals, such as minor ninths, tritones, major seconds, and minor seconds, in relation to the melody parts. The overall writing becomes exponentially more tense from the beginning to the end, with the range of pitch widening, dynamics becoming louder, and harmony becoming more dissonant. The final note of the piece takes place over six entire octaves, and consists entirely of dissonant or perfect intervals.

Update history

June 27, 2012 Patch (Pyromania Update)

• This song was added as main menu music.

Trivia

• The title refers to the RED Spy's line in Meet the Pyro; "One shudders to imagine what inhumane thoughts lie behind that mask... what dreams of chronic and sustained cruelty?"
• The first few seconds of the track are used during the beginning of a Competitive Mode match.