''Vanquish'' is the ninth studio album by the group

Two Steps from Hell Two Steps from Hell was an American production music company based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 2006 by Thomas Bergersen and Nick Phoenix, a pair of composers born in Norway and England, respectively. They created the company to make tra ...

, released on 2 December 2016. It consists of 17 tracks written by composers Thomas J. Bergersen and

Nick Phoenix Nick Phoenix (born 25 August 1967 in London, England) is a British composer, pianist, and co-founder of the production music company Two Steps from Hell. He has written music for a number of trailers, with over 1,200 scores and placements in tota ...

. The album is the first major public release to include no material from industry album releases. It was recorded live by Capellen Orchestra under the supervision of

Petr Pololáník Petr Pololáník (born April 24, 1973) is a Czech conductor, orchestrator and music producer. His father Zdeněk Pololáník belongs to foremost Czech composers. Petr studied both violin, piano and conducting; in 1996, he earned his Master of Art ...

, and features vocal performances by Felicia Farerre, Asja Kadric, Jenifer Thigpen, and Linea Adamson. The cover artwork and the sleeve are designed by Steven R. Gilmore. The album was made available to the industry via

Extreme Music Extreme Music is a production music arm of Sony Music Publishing. The company creates and licenses music for use in television, film, advertising, and online media. Their library includes music from artists and composers such as Quincy Jones, H ...

on January 4, 2017. The album is dedicated to Phoenix's late son, Jack, who was killed in a

hit and run In traffic laws, a hit and run or a hit-and-run is the criminal act of causing a traffic collision and not stopping afterwards. It is considered a supplemental crime in most jurisdictions. Additional obligation In many jurisdictions, there ma ...

incident a year before its release aged 15.

Track listing

Critical reception

Clothilde Lebrun of ''Trailer Music News'' was favourable, describing the album as "epic and bombastic at times, inspiring and sweeping at others", albeit not having "the dramatic intensity that some previous industry releases had". Considering the latter, she said it offers "a more diverse listening experience, with very elaborate compositions by Nick Phoenix and more experimental ones by Thomas Bergersen", concluding, "Vanquish is a welcome sequel" to ''

SkyWorld ''SkyWorld'' is the fourth public album by the group Two Steps from Hell, released in October 2012; their third major release following the success of ''Invincible'' and ''Archangel''. The album contains 22 tracks written by composers Thomas J. B ...

'' and ''

Battlecry A battle cry is a yell or chant taken up in battle. Battle Cry may also refer to: Music * ''Battle Cry'' (Omen album), the debut album of American heavy metal band Omen * ''Battlecry'' (Two Steps from Hell album), a 2015 album by the band Two ...

''. The review by Brigid Ehrmantraut published in ''The

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

LP'' was also favourable. She claimed the album was "finessed in comparison with some of the group’s earlier releases". She was most critical of the album's lyrical tracks, calling them an "iffier proposition" compared to tracks featuring choirs. Overall she felt "last year’s output was more compelling" ('' Classics Volume Two'' and ''

'') but that both of the aforementioned "lacked finer points of instrumentation compared with Vanquish". Ehrmantraut concluded: "If Two Steps from Hell classically delivers slices of larger stories and flashes of unfinished dramas, then quite excitingly, Vanquish’s longer numbers, more extensive lyrics, and subtler orchestrations may, in places, be a little closer to offering us fully-fledged plotlines."

IFMCA The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) is a professional association for music journalism, online, print and radio journalists who specialize in writing about film score, original film and television music. History and purpose ...

Track listing

Critical reception

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links