God of War (2018 video game) and languages from various Northern European folk traditions." He also wanted the score to be huge and varied, "full of peaks and valleys, tiny incantations and gigantic set pieces." The main Kratos theme in particular features low orchestral instruments, Icelandic choir, deep male vocals, powerful female vocals (in particular Faroese singer Eivør Pálsdóttir), folk percussion, and Nordic stringed instruments, such as the nyckelharpa and hurdy gurdy. The track "Witch of the Woods" uses a renaissance and baroque instrument called a viola da gamba, which is an ancestor of the modern cello. The Stranger's theme, found in the track "Deliverance", uses
The Hurdy Gurdy Man Gurdy Man" were both released as singles well before the album was released. The recording sessions for the album are purported to have included future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. Page was in The Yardbirds at the time and was actively looking to rebuild that band. The album credits John Bonham for percussion on the song and Clem Cattini as the drummer. All tracks credited to Donovan Leitch. According to BMI, "A Sunny Day" and "The River Song" were collaborations with David J. Mills, but "Tangier" was written solely by Mills under its original title of