Last month, Behind the Voice published their interview with Markus Kaarlonen and Olli Tukianen from Poets of the Fall and their fictional alter ego, Old Gods of Asgard.
Throughout their fifty-minute conversation, Abhi, Markus and Olli reflect on the band's history from Late Goodbye, through to standing on the stage at The Game Awards. They explore topics as their favourite Remedy game, their longest guitar solo, and discovering their songs in game. Check out the full conversation below or on the Behind the Voice YouTube channel, HERE.
Although two members of the band were involved in Remedy’s original Max Payne, the official collaboration between the studio and Poets of the Fall began in 2003 with Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. For that title, the band wrote their first song, Late Goodbye, based on a poem by Sam Lake, following a conversation between Lake and Marko Saaresto about the formation of the band.
Nearly a decade later, Poets of the Fall returned for Remedy’s next major project, Alan Wake, contributing two original tracks, The Poet and the Muse and Children of the Elder God, under their in-game alias, Old Gods of Asgard. Their song War, from the Twilight Theater album, also featured in the game. In 2012, they returned once more for Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, with Balance Slays the Demon and The Happy Song (the latter also appearing on Temple of Thought). Around this time, the exclusive single Can You Hear Me from their Alchemy Vol. 1 collection was included in Remedy’s mobile debut, Death Rally.
Despite continuing their creative relationship, external circumstances prevented the inclusion of a dedicated track in Quantum Break. However, fans can still catch echoes of their sound in the reimagined version of The Labyrinth, featured on the Clearview album.
It wasn’t until 2019’s Control that the band and studio reunited in full force. Their track, Take Control, played a central role in the iconic Ashtray Maze sequence, while The Dark Disquiet, released under in their album, Ultraviolet, also made an appearance.
For
Alan Wake 2, they returned with three unique songs custom-made for the adventures;
Dark Ocean Summoning,
Herald of Darkness, and
Anger's Remorse. A few weeks after the launch of the game, the Old Gods of Asgard debut album,
Rebirth - Greatest Hits is being released, nicely coinciding with their performance on The Game Awards stage.
Over the past couple of years, Abhi has spoken to an array of Remedy actors and developers including
Ilkka Villi (Alan Wake, Mr Scratch, Thomas Zane),
David Harewood (Warlin Door),
Matthew Porretta (Alan Wake, Dr Casper Darling, Mr Scratch)
Christina Cole (Christina Cole)
Janina Gavankar (FBC Agent Kieran Estevez),
Shawn Ashmore (Jack Joyce, Tim Breaker), and Courtney Hope (Beth Wilder, Jesse Faden). He has also crossed into the development side, speaking to
Sam Lake (Creative Director)
Kyle Rowley (Game Director).