The composer of Doom: The Dark Ages’ soundtrack has been revealed to be Finishing Move, the music production team behind the award-nominated Borderlands 3 and Halo Wars 2 original scores.
Formed by the duo of Brian Trifon and Brian Lee White, Finishing Move has been closely aligned with Microsoft’s games over the past decade, with credits on Halo 2: Anniversary Edition, Grounded, and Microsoft Flight Simulator to their name, as well as recently crafting the score for survival horror The Callisto Protocol.
During Microsoft’s Xbox Developer Direct, Doom: The Dark Ages game director, Hugo Martin, announced Finishing Move’s creation of the soundtrack, describing it as “a metal soundscape that’s loaded with guitars, medieval vibes, and pure adrenaline.” From the snippets we heard in the newly released gameplay, we can’t really argue with that description as the guitars joyously snarl and spit in time with the Slayer’s ripping and tearing.
The switch to Finishing Move comes after a complicated dispute between The Dark Ages developer id Software and composer Mick Gordon, who wrote the award-winning score to 2016’s Doom revival.
In what began as a question about Gordon’s involvement in the final mixing of its sequel Doom Eternal’s score, the feud grew over time, with the composer pointing accusations of unpaid wages at the developer, and singling out executive producer Marty Stratton for allegedly abusive behavior. Bethesda responded to these claims shortly after, describing Gordon’s version of events as an “unjust account of an irreparable professional relationship.”
Gordon would not work with id Software again, with soundtrack duties for Eternal’s DLC expansion, The Ancient Gods, handed to Andrew Hulshult and David Levy. Fans wondered if they would be the natural fit to handle The Dark Ages’ score creation, but evidently, id has gone in a different direction with Finishing Move.
Doom’s gunplay has always been inextricably linked to its metal soundtracks, with Bobby Prince’s original 1993 score one of the most iconic to have ever been created. Finishing Move will be eager to join the legendary ranks of both Prince’s and Gordon’s score when The Dark Ages releases later this year.
Doom: The Dark Ages is a single-player only first-person shooter campaign that arrives on Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 5, and PC on May 15, 2025. For more, here's everything announced during Microsoft's Xbox Developer Direct 2025.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editorial Producer who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
