"300 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" Dominates Digital Charts

BURBANK, CA - Since its release on Warner Bros. Records, “300 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” -- the score to the feature film “300” -- has enjoyed impressive chart success, including a Number 1 debut on iTunes’ Soundtrack chart and Number 2 on the online retailer’s Album Chart. It is currently holding steady in the Top 10 on Billboard’s Top Digital Albums chart. The film’s score was written and produced by Tyler Bates, a composer best known for his work on the zombie horror films “The Devil’s Rejects” (directed by Rob Zombie) and 2004’s “Dawn of the Dead,” directed by Zack Snyder, who also wrote and directed “300.”

The digital success of the soundtrack, which is also available in a deluxe-version Digipak that includes a 16-page booklet, has no doubt been aided by the iTunes-only exclusive of “To Victory (Philip Steir’s Sacrifice For Sparta) Remix,” remixed by Los Angeles-based Philip Steir, an accomplished musician and producer who has worked on tracks by numerous top artists such as New Order, No Doubt, and Rob Zombie.

On April 24th, Warner Bros. Records will release a special vinyl version of “300 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack,” which fans and collectors will appreciate for its superior sound quality (on 180-gram high-performance vinyl) and special-edition artwork featured on the double-gatefold sleeve.

“300,” which is based on the acclaimed graphic novel by beloved comic book writer and artist Frank Miller, is a certified box-office smash, opening at Number 1 and bringing in more than $165 million domestically in less than three weeks. The film, which stars Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, and Rodrigo Santoro, recounts the epic Battle of Thermopylae that pitted 300 Greeks against the massive Persian Army in 480 BC. For the music, director Zack Snyder asked Bates to develop a compelling overall sound that would heighten the audience’s emotional reaction to the Spartans’ heroism and sacrifice.

To do that, Bates created a sweeping orchestral and choral soundscape, recorded at the Beatles’ famed Abbey Road Studios that embraced a tonal palette unusual for studio films.

“My intent was to stay true to the inspiration of the film and that of the Spartans’ freedom and will,” Bates says. “The greatest challenge was to bead a musical thread throughout the film’s ever-changing landscape of visual art, while sustaining its epic and emotional qualities. I had to approach it in a style as inventive as the film itself.”

Snyder has nothing but praise for Tyler’s score. “It moves the film into mythology,” he says, “cauterizing the images as you view them, making them something they could never be alone.”