Merry Christmas 2011 & a Happy New Year!

MoTR will be back with you in January 2012. Thank you for supporting us in our year of commencement! We have been more successful than we had hoped, having received over 10,000 hits in 6 months as well as Tomb Raider fan site officiation from Crystal Dynamics.

But it doesn't stop there! We've got exciting ideas in the pipeline, and hope to feature some of them in the official Tomb Raider blog's weekly community round up next year. Our commercial and community developed discography catalogues are to be published, as well as the expansion of our media section (delivered directly by Crystal Dynamics). While continuing to simultaneously research the last 15 years of the franchise, we will also be bringing you the latest news on Tomb Raider (2012) and of course, it's music.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Best wishes for those new year's resolutions, and enjoy the holidays!

- The crew @ MOTR.

Raiderfest 2011 results announced

IndyCroft's competition for original compositions, performances and/or remixes of the Tomb Raider and/or Indiana Jones themes has concluded. The winners have been announced, and are believed to have succeeded in a very tight race!

1st Place: Tribute to Tomb Raider by Dean
2nd Place: Tomb Raider Orchestral Theme by Adriaan
3rd Place: Tomb Raider Meets Indiana Jones by Thomas K.

All of the twelve entries can be streamed via IndyCroft's competition page.

Congratulations to all the winners! Placing first, Dean, aka Only TR lover, takes home a choice between "The Art of Tomb Raider" hardback by Dreams and Visions press, or a Sideshow Collectibles Indy Figurine.

Thanks again to IndyCroft webmistress, L.E. Croft, for organising the fantastic opportunity and prizes, the guest judges for donating their valuable time to the cause, as well as all the participants via IndyCroft for their interaction with MoTR! We look forward to a new competition in the future.

Retrospective: surfaced recording of Mozart's "Lacrimosa" used in Tomb Raider: Underworld theatrical trailer

In July 2008 the Tomb Raider: Underworld cinematic teaser trailer debuted exclusively @ GameTrailers.com. The dramatic imagery of the recognisable Croft Manor in roll back destruction was accompanied by an isolated musical score:

The enigmatic piece is titled "Lacrimosa" and features as part of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Requiem Mass in D minor", completed in 1791, offering scope to the destruction of Lara's home. The classical era composer's works are world renowned and post 75 years of the prodigy's death (100 in some regions) they remain royalty free for any contributing artist to reproduce.

Thanks to some dectective work by NCFirebolt21, we think we've discovered the particular recording used in the trailer. A seemingly identical version of "Lacrimosa" appears as track #70 on the "99 Must-Have Mozart Masterpieces" compilation (iTunes | Amazon) published by Cobra Entertainment LLC not till June earlier this year. The recording is obviously edited down for use in the trailer.

Community Manager Meagan Marie "taken back" by fan tribute performance of classic Tomb Raider II piece

As featured on the Official Tomb Raider Blog; a rendition by YouTube's sondrolo.

A hauntingly authentic performance of the popularly titled "Venice Violins" from Tomb Raider II: The Dagger of Xian. Composed by Nathan McCree, the piece plays in Croft Manor if the player is to manoeuvre Lara to turn on her stereo.