Neal Acree
Neal Acree is a composer known for his work across film, television and video games. He has been creating music for World of Warcraft since The Burning Crusade. Neal is responsible for the cinematic music of the game as well as animated shorts such as Harbingers: Khadgar.[1] Other game projects include Overwatch, StarCraft II, Diablo III and Heroes of the Storm,[2] while Acree's screen credits include Stargate: SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Sanctuary and more than 30 feature films as of 2016.[3]
Composed music[]
The Burning Crusade[]
- The Dark Portal (cinematic) - (see also Russell Brower)
Wrath of the Lich King[]
- Arthas, My Son
- Invincible (lyrics) (see also Jason Hayes, Russell Brower and Derek Duke (lyrics)
Cataclysm[]
- The Shattering - (see also Russell Brower, Derek Duke, Glenn Stafford and David Arkenstone)
- Xaxas
- Burning Steppes (Cataclysm)
- Darnassus (Cataclysm)
- Eye of the Vortex
- Ghosts (Cataclysm)
- Grove of the Ancients
- Mysterious
- Night Elves Themes
- Nightsong
- Ruins of Auberdine
- Shadowglen (Cataclysm)
- Siren Questline
- Stormwind (Cataclysm)
- Twilight Highlands
- Twilight's Hammer
- Twilight Vale
- Westfall (Cataclysm)
- Winterspring (Cataclysm)
- Patch 4.3 music - (see also Russell Brower)
Mists of Pandaria[]
- Heart of Pandaria - (see also Russell Brower, Sam Cardon, Edo Guidotti, Jeremy Soule and Jason Hayes)
- Why Do We Fight?
- Wandering Isle - (see also Russell Brower)
- August Celestials
- Battle for Pandaria
- Mantid Themes
- Monk Themes
- Shen-zin Su
- Vale of Eternal Blossoms - (see also Jeremy Soule and Russell Brower)
- Valley of the Four Winds
- Wind Spire
- Patch 5.4 - (see also Derek Duke, Edo Guidotti, Glenn Stafford, Jason Hayes, Jeremy Soule, Russell Brower and Sam Cardon)
Warlords of Draenor[]
- A Siege of Worlds - (see also Russell Brower, Sam Cardon, Edo Guidotti, Clint Bajakian, Eimear Noone, Craig Stuart Garfinkle and Jason Hayes)
- The scores for all Warlords of Draenor cinematics.[4]
- A Hero's Sacrifice
- A Light in the Darkness
- Grommash Hellscream
- Iron Dawn
- Khadgar's Plan
- Nagrand
- Night Spires
- Shadowmoon - (see also Sam Cardon, Craig Stuart Garfinkle and Eimear Noone)
- Spires of Arak
- Warsong
Legion[]
- Kingdoms Will Burn - (see also Russell Brower, Sam Cardon, Glenn Stafford, Edo Guidotti, and Jason Hayes)
- Azeroth's Last Hope - (see also Russell Brower)
- A World Divided (Anduin's theme)
- Dalaran - (see also Russell Brower)
- Demon Hunter
- Patch 7.2 - (See also Russell Brower and Sam Cardon)
- Patch 7.3 - (see also Clint Bajakian, Glenn Stafford, Russell Brower and Sam Cardon)
- Patch 7.3.5 - (see also Clint Bajakian, Derek Duke, Glenn Stafford, Leo Kaliski and Russell Brower)
Battle for Azeroth[]
- Before the Storm - (see also Clint Bajakian, David Arkenstone, Glenn Stafford, Jason Hayes, Leo Kaliski and Sam Cardon)
- What Makes Us Strong
- Goblin Greed
- K'thir
- Lordaeron Alliance
- Lordaeron Horde
- Point of Impact PVP
- RTC (Real Time Cutscenes) - (see also Adam Burgess, Clint Bajakian, David Arkenstone, Derek Duke, Glenn Stafford, Jason Hayes, Leo Kaliski, Russell Brower and Sam Cardon)
- Shrine of the Storm
- Vulpera
- Patch 8.1 - (See also Sam Cardon, Glenn Stafford and Leo Kaliski)
- Crucible of Storms
- Patch 8.3 - (See also Glenn Stafford, Sam Cardon, Jake Lefkowitz and Leo Kaliski)
- Vulpera Allied Race - (See also Jake Lefkowitz)
Shadowlands[]
- Through the Roof of the World - (see also Glenn Stafford, David Arkenstone, Jake Lefkowitz, Grant Kirkhope)
- The King & The Queen
- Drought - (See also David Arkenstone, Glenn Stafford and Grant Kirkhope)
- Domination Ambient
- Domination Battle
- Domination
- Unbroken Will (see also Glenn Stafford)
- Revelation - (See also David Arkenstone)
- The Dreamer
- Patch 9.1 - (See also Jake Lefkowitz, Glenn Stafford, David Arkenstone and Derek Duke)
- Domination In Chains
- Zovaal - (See also David Arkenstone)
Dragonflight[]
- Dragonflight Cinematic Music (see also Jake Lefkowitz)
- Patch 10.1 - (see also Jake Lefkowitz, David Arkenstone and Glenn Stafford)
The War Within[]
- The War Within - (see also Leo Kaliski, Jake Lefkowitz, Adam Burgess, David Arkenstone, Glenn Stafford, and Jason Hayes)
- Tranquil Strand - (see also Russell Brower
- Nerubian Raid
- Nerubian Combat
- Queen Anusarek
Notes[]
On July 14, 2006, Acree sent to Blizzard a demo piece, re-scoring the original World of Warcraft cinematic. He would later learn that this was an audition to score the Burning Crusade introductory cinematic, and his piece would win him the position. Although he had already scored around 20 films, and served as co-composer on Stargate: SG-1, Acree's demo was the first piece of video game music he had ever written.[5][6]
References[]
- ^ Terran Gregory on Twitter (2016-07-28). “Harbingers: Khadgar! Score by @neal_acree, directed by James McCoy, director of Hearthstone's launch cinematic.”
- ^ Neal Acree on Twitter (2016-05-18). “Had a lot of fun working on this with @TerranGregory who wrote and directed it!”
- ^ LinkedIn profile. Retrieved on 2016-05-18.
- ^ Terran Gregory on Twitter: "The entire score of all of the cutscenes were written specifically for them by @neal_acree. The movie is the name of the song :P"
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUdKqR4cCzU&feature=youtu.be
- ^ Neal Acree on Twitter (2016-07-14). “10 years ago today I sent this demo to Blizzard.1st piece of game music I ever wrote. Debated sharing but here goes. https://youtu.be/yUdKqR4cCzU”
External links[]
- Selected media
- Venture Beat: Overwatch, World of Warcraft composer Neal Acree is Blizzard’s cinematic music meister (2016-07-15)
