Hi virulent vamps! Ever wondered how the music behind Plague Inc.’s Shadow Plague was put together? Do you find yourself pondering what dark recesses we have to plumb to get the tone just right? Or maybe you’re wondering what all that ominous chanting is really all about? Meet Marius Masalar, the musician behind the music of the most recent expansion’s tunes.

Hi Marius! To start us off, what were your initial aims as work began on the Shadow Plague update? How was it different to other Plague Inc. tracks you've worked on?

The Shadow Plague was a special one for me… I’m from Romania - literally born in Transylvania - so I remember laughing when we first started discussing this update. Talk about right up my alley! A lot of the planning around this cue centred on finding the right mix between the gothic feel of vampire lore and the more modern edge of the existing Plague Inc. music. My goal was to find interesting ways to incorporate some of the classic “vampire” instrumentation (the choir, the church organ, etc.) without falling into stereotypes or deviating from the musical language we’d established for the game up to this point.

Can you take us through your songwriting process? How did you have to iterate on the piece to make sure it was the perfect fit for the new expansion?

Sometimes I find that giving myself a bit of space is important. If you dive in head-first, you run the risk of taking the obvious approach rather than the best one. For projects without tough deadlines, I like to set aside some low-pressure time near the beginning of the process to let the concept percolate before I sit down to write. By the time I started sketching, I had a clear theme in mind, and a good idea of how I wanted to establish the mood for this plague type. The very first work-in-progress sketch I submitted was remarkably close to where we ended up. From that initial sketch, most of the back-and-forth involved finessing the pacing and structure. It’s a tricky aspect of game music, because even though Plague, Inc. isn’t frantically paced, a looping cue has to sound appropriate not only for the beginning of a play session, but also the end where tension is running high. Fun fact: all the various vampire noises - the growls, the hissing, the roars - were recorded by yours truly. By the end of it, my neighbours were very concerned and I had entirely lost my voice!

Is working on music for Plague Inc. different than working on music for other games?

For most projects, I get a call and write the entire score from start to finish. With Plague, Inc., the core music was written at one point in time, and then each new expansion brings with it an opportunity for new music. I get to come back to the project with a fresh outlook and a new theme to immerse myself in. Each cue brings new challenges, and we often experiment with different writing and implementation techniques in an effort to keep things interesting. It’s a refreshing and deeply inspiring way to work and I’m always profoundly grateful to be involved.

Finally, many fans have asked, what are the vocals in the song actually saying?

All I’ll say is that it’s part of an old incantation… and I don’t recommend looking up the rest.
A full visual layout of the Nox Eternis track.

If you’re keen to discover the Shadow Plague track, Nox Eternis, for yourself, as well as the rest of the Plague Inc: Evolved Soundtrack - including more tracks from Joshua Kaplan and Marius - then you can head here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/315960/ This is a shorter, Steam-friendly version of a longer, more in-depth interview. If you want to read the whole thing then you can: over on our official site!