Square Enix Music
The score for BioShock marks one of the most satisfying matches of narrative and musical accompaniment in game history: the music successfully mirrors the game's period setting, its location, its habitants, and its ambiguous history and what remains of it. Hitting all these marks, while producing a game soundtrack quite unlike any other, Schyman can lay claim to having composed a modern game score classic.

Higher Plain Music
Technically stunning and flawless, the way it captures the essence of the otherworld is memorizing and is already vying for Higher Plain Music’s 2010 soundtrack of the year award.

Square Enix Music
... it is one of the most intriguing and fascinating scores game music has produced in a while and shows how many more creative venues are still there to be explored by game composers who deploy orchestras to create their scores. ... Schyman further cements his reputation as one of game music's most interesting and innovative composers.

G4TV
With this release, Schyman has definitely captured what he has described as “the scary, grotesque, beautiful and tortured sounds” of this game world. The orchestrations are big and pristinely recorded affairs, appropriate, as the scoring was done at the legendary Abbey Road Studios, played by the Philharmonia Orchestra with the Metro Voice, both of which are on excellent display...

Original Sound Version - score review

Score Notes - score review

Screen Sounds - score review

MSXBox World - “The audio is very good and is probably the best part of the game.” “The music is chilling and epic in nature, and helps drive Dante onwards as he reaches deeper into the pits of depravity”

Terminal Gamer - The soundtrack to Dante’s Inferno is a work of art in itself. The score follows the darkness of Hell fittingly and enhances the overall mood of your journey.

Telegraph UK - …note-perfect and the menacing orchestral score by Garry Schyman (who also composed the music for the recently released BioShock 2 is excellent

Cheat Code Central - The game's packed with a movie-quality soundtrack.

The Sixth Axis - It is the musical score written and produced by Garry Schyman and recorded by the Philharmonia Orchestra and Metro Voices Choir at Abbey Road Studios which so perfectly accompanies the action as Dante journeys through the nine circles of hell.

… There is one point where you are floating across the Styx Marshes using your ranged holy cross attacks to keep the winged beasts at bay when you reach the shoreline the music changes perfectly to the grandeur that is happening on screen as something amazing happens. I’m not going to go in to detail for fear of spoiling it for the people who are still to experience it, but suffice to say it is my favourite moment in all of gaming, where the action, graphics and importantly musical score combine in to something which blew my mind.

Gaming Target - “The soundtrack is comprised of haunting orchestral numbers, sometimes grand and other times eerie. It fits the game perfectly.”

ZTGameDomain - “… some truly inspiring music.”

IGN UK - Matt Wales “Hell's soundscape is beautifully realised and frequently oppressive and the bombastic score does it job well.”

Arrived on Scene - …the soundtrack too was a fantastic compliment to the game.

Got Game - The score successfully creates the blockbuster feel when it heightens areas. Boss fights have some of the best music in the title. When the score is augmented by screaming, the title hits that “epic” mark.

Brutal Gamer - There are huge orchestral scores soaring away in the background like some tragic German Opera and they all capture the tone of the game perfectly.

Elder Geek - Rounding off the excellent presentation is a haunting score by Garry Schyman, the composer behind Bioshock and its sequel.

Amazon - The musical score compliments the titanic battle scenes well, as well as the generally unsettled feeling of the whole setting. Crank this game up on a 5.1 surround sound system to truly enjoy its cinematic splendor. Soundtrack: haunting and powerful, orchestra and opera-style vocals provide additional feelings of being trapped in a place of loathing and incredible power for which one should "abandon all hope, ye who enter here"

Shogun Gamer - By now I’m probably sounding like an overly critical game nerd but the one part of Dante’s Inferno that absolutely shines is the sound design, soundtrack and voice acting. We all know that EA always brings it to the table with the production values of their games but listening to the haunting score of Dante’s Inferno almost makes me think the bar has been raised for future EA games. The soundtrack perfectly captures that grand feeling as you travel through Hell and each section of course has its own theme which at times can be quite chilling due to the string heavy orchestrations, especially when you hear an almost gothic choir track start playing as you walk by a massive structure or descend into a place that you know is filled to the brim with things that want to kill you.

With a game like Dante’s Inferno it could’ve been rather easy to perhaps over-do certain themes which would’ve resulted in a bloated score but throughout the game the soundtrack never once over plays a key dramatic moment or action scenario and at times it can be rather subtle, something that you might not have expected from a game that takes place in Hell.

3D Juegos - Finally, speaking of the sound, it is noteworthy that this is probably the most solid section of Dante's Inferno. The music is simply great…

IGN - The soundtrack is notable, thanks to the orchestral score and choral presentation.

Film Music Magazine - CD Review

G4TV - Sounds from the Lighthouse - The BioShock 2 Soundtrack Album Review

Kotaku - A Fiddler’s Delight: Garry Schyman returns to score BioShock’s soundtrack and once again captures the desolate nature of the game through strong overtones of solo violin tracks. The game also features classic songs from the 1950s that provide a strange juxtaposition to the events happening in the game.

God Is Geek - The score to Bioshock 2 was composed by Garry Schyman with the aid of a 60-piece ensemble and it certainly shows. The music is consistently fantastic throughout the course of the game, especially during the Big Sister battles. The sheer panic of those moments and many others is captured perfectly through the stunning score.

Ultra Review - The soundtrack has been crafted by the award winning composer Garry Schyman that exemplifies and reflects a distinctive appeal that forms a hall mark of the Bioshock 2 game play exclusive sound architecture.

The Elder Geek - Rounding off the excellent presentation is a haunting score by Garry Schyman, the composer behind Bioshock and its sequel

Xbox World Austrailia - Aurally, the sounds of the city are just as pleasing. Garry Schyman is once again at the helm, and hasn't failed in his duty to deliver an exhilarating and familiar ride through Rapture. Having worked on the original BioShock, and won numerous awards might I add, there was never going to be another person for the job. There isn't a moment he can't capture – and the score in BioShock 2 will evoke a large number of emotions from you, completing the experience.

Big Shiny Robot - Another portion of the game that really stands out is the music. The soundtrack to the game is beautifully mesmerizing. From the stylized load screen music to the great symphonic score, I feel the music from this game compete’s with the soundtrack from Modern Warfare 2. Blend the well composed music with terrifying splicers, and a beautiful underwater world, and you get the greatest overall immersion that a game can create. If anything can be said of the Bioshock team, they know how to place you in a world, that not only terrifies you, it enthralls you.

Twin Galaxies - Aside from the iconic settings and characters of Rapture, one of the strongest atmospheric features of the original BioShock was its orchestral score. Therefore, fans will be delighted to hear that the composer, Garry Schyman, has returned to work on the upcoming sequel.

GamePro - “Garry Schyman, BioShock's award-winning composer also returns with another skillfully crafted score that expertly captures Rapture's distinctive aesthetic while complementing the game's stellar voice acting and ambient sound design.”

IGN Australia - …plus a wonderfully moving orchestral score.” (Score of 9.5 out of 10 in the “sound” category)

GameZone - “The music and sound effects are also fantastic. The soundtrack features an atmospheric score complemented by songs from the era, just as in the first game. The sound effects also make for some terrifying ambience and sound great. The voice acting is also nicely done.”

“The game’s sound effects are great, lending a great element to the ambience and giving Rapture a unique feel. The music also sounds very good, with score elements as well as classic music from the era.” (score of 9.0 out of 10 in the “sound” category)

MS Xbox World - “The music featured throughout the game, and even in the menus, is nothing short of staggering. It's not 'quite' what we listen to these days, but that dated and calm sense the music has doesn't half fit all too well in this beautifully battered, aged and eerie underwater city.” (score of 9.5 out of 10 in the “sound” category)

Cheat Code Central - “The background music, effects, and voice acting are amazing.” (score of 4.7 out of 5 in the “music/sound FX/ Voice Acting” category)

Game Informer - “One of the best soundtracks I’ve heard in awhile.”

Destructoid - Interview with the BioShock 2’s Audio Director Michael Kamper and Creative Director Jordan Thomas

“Like I said, I cannot speak highly enough about Garry and his work. He's like the only composer I ever want to work with again because the experience of working with him was so wonderful that I can't imagine it being any better than that.” (Kamper)

“[Garry's] score just works so well. He would just play some of that stuff for us and we'd be blown away each time.” (Kamper)

“Garry Schyman shapes what's almost orchestral noise into these really creepy cues. He recorded a lot of that for BioShock 2, so I'm sure that you'll be unfelled by the music.” (Thomas)

Telegraph UK - Garry Schyman manages the trick of being creepy, beautiful and jarring all at the same time.

BSO Spirit

Square Enix Music

Game Informer

G4TV

Gamasutra

Bloody Disguisting

Gametunes

Destructoid

Higher Plain Music

Album notes "Praan"
Credits:
Music By Garry Schyman
Drums and Engineering Dan Blessinger
Vocals Palbasha Siddique
Guitars and bass Kevin Dukes
Concertmaster Belinda Broughton
Orchestral contractor Ross DeRoche (DeRoche Music Inc.)
Vocal Contractor Melissa Nixon
Lyrics adapted from the poem "Stream Of Life" from Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore

Stream of Life
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow.
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life. And my pride is from the lifethrob of ages dancing in my blood this moment.