SkyWorld
| SkyWorld | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Two Steps From Hell | ||||
| Released | October 25, 2012[1] | |||
| Recorded | live in 2011 by Capellen Orchestra and conductor Petr Pololanik.[2] "Dark Ages" was originally recorded in 2007. | |||
| Length | 1:15:56 | |||
| Producer | Thomas Bergersen, Nick Phoenix[2] | |||
| Two Steps From Hell chronology | ||||
| ||||
SkyWorld is the fourth public album by the group Two Steps from Hell, and was released in October 2012. The album contains 22 tracks written by composers Thomas J. Bergersen and Nick Phoenix. All tracks, except for Dark Ages, are brand new original tracks. The cover and sleeve are designed by Steven R. Gilmore, with the futuristic city illustration by Sergey Vorontsov.
On November 19, 2012 the album was made available through ExtremeMusic.[3]
This is the second album featuring tracks that have English lyrics, including Titan Dream (feat. C.C. White and Nick Phoenix), The End is the Beginning (feat. Nick Phoenix), and Back to the Earth (feat. Nick Phoenix).
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [4] |
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "All Is Hell That Ends Well" | Thomas Bergersen | 3:53 | |
| 2. | "Titan Dream" | Nick Phoenix | 4:04 | |
| 3. | "SkyWorld" | Thomas Bergersen | 3:12 | |
| 4. | "El Dorado" | Thomas Bergersen | 4:14 | |
| 5. | "The End Is the Beginning" | Nick Phoenix | 4:51 | |
| 6. | "All the King's Horses" | Thomas Bergersen | 2:06 | |
| 7. | "Realm of Power" | Nick Phoenix | 3:55 | |
| 8. | "Winterspell" | Thomas Bergersen | 3:20 | |
| 9. | "Blackheart" | Thomas Bergersen | 4:27 | |
| 10. | "Juggernaut" | Nick Phoenix | 2:34 | |
| 11. | "Dark Ages" (from Nemesis) | Thomas Bergersen | 3:25 | |
| 12. | "Our Last Hope" | Nick Phoenix | 3:57 | |
| 13. | "Icarus" | Nick Phoenix | 2:53 | |
| 14. | "For the Win" | Thomas Bergersen | 2:12 | |
| 15. | "Sun & Moon" | Thomas Bergersen | 4:22 | |
| 16. | "Big Sky" | Nick Phoenix | 4:08 | |
| 17. | "Starfleet" | Nick Phoenix | 3:22 | |
| 18. | "Queen of Crows" | Nick Phoenix | 2:43 | |
| 19. | "Blizzard" | Thomas Bergersen | 2:53 | |
| 20. | "Breathe" | Thomas Bergersen | 2:56 | |
| 21. | "Back to the Earth" | Nick Phoenix | 4:24 | |
| 22. | "Ocean Kingdom" | Nick Phoenix | 2:20 | |
Total length: |
1:15:56 | |||
| Bonus tracks[5] | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | |||||||
| 23. | "Freedom Fighters Remix[6]" (original version from Legend) | Thomas Bergersen | 2:34 | |||||||
| 24. | "Identity Crime" | Nick Phoenix | 3:09 | |||||||
| 25. | "Beneath the Ice" | Nick Phoenix | 2:02 | |||||||
| 26. | "The World Is Mind" (later publicly released on Classics Volume One) | Nick Phoenix | 2:39 | |||||||
| 27. | "Children from the War" | Thomas Bergersen | 2:37 | |||||||
| 28. | "Requiem for Destruction" | Thomas Bergersen | 1:30 | |||||||
| 29. | "The Colonel" | Thomas Bergersen | 2:30 | |||||||
| 30. | "Stormwatch" (later publicly released on Classics Volume One) | Nick Phoenix | 2:20 | |||||||
Personnel
Per liner notes[2]
- Thomas J. Bergersen – composer; producer; violin on "Winterspell" and "Blackheart"; guitar on "Dark Ages"; vocals on "Sun & Moon"
- Nick Phoenix – composer; producer; vocals on "Titan Dream", "The End Is the Beginning", and "Back to the Earth"
- Capellen Orchestra – orchestra; choir
- Petr Pololanik – conductor
- Additional musicians
- C.C. White – vocals on "Titan Dream"
- Aya Peard – vocals on "Titan Dream", "Our Last Hope", and "Ocean Kingdom"
- Merethe Soltvedt – vocals on "All the King's Horses", "For the Win", and "Breathe"
- Carina Istre – vocals on "Sun & Moon"
- Molly Conole – vocals on "Blizzard"
- Tina Guo – cello on "Titan Dream", "The End Is the Beginning", "Big Sky", and "Back to the Earth"
- Shane Gibson – guitar on "The End Is the Beginning" and "Juggernaut"
- James Rickabaugh – guitar on "Big Sky"
- Tal Bergman – drums on "The End Is the Beginning", "Juggernaut", and "Our Last Hope"
- Chris Bleth – winds on "Realm of Power", "Big Sky", and "Back to the Earth"
Charts
Weekly charts
| Chart (2012–13) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Classical Albums[7] | 10 |
| US Billboard Top Heatseekers[7] | 19 |
Use in media
Two Steps from Hell's music has been licensed for several trailers.
- All is Hell that Ends Well and Titan Dream were used in some History Channel commercials.
- Blackheart was used in a PlayStation 4 commercial.
- For the Win was used in a trailer for the movie, Epic, a commercial for the Cartoon Network series, Ben 10: Omniverse, and a CNN commercial. It was also used by Kenichi Ebina in his performances en route to his victory in the reality show, America's Got Talent.
- The Colonel was used in a commercial for the Disney XD show, Lab Rats.
References
- ↑ SkyWorld release news on the official Two Steps from Hell facebook page
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 SkyWorld (PDF) (Official booklet). Two Steps from Hell. 2012.
- ↑ SkyWorld release news on ExtremeMusic's Facebook page
- ↑ Monger, James Christopher. "Two Steps from Hell — Skyworld". Allmusic. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- ↑ "SkyWorld on ExtremeMusic.com". Extreme Music.
- ↑ Official Freedom Fighters Remix on Youtube on YouTube
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Billboard Chart history for Two Steps From Hell". Billboard. Retrieved 5 June 2013.