The Tomb Raider Suite recording material premieres at UK composer buffet reception & physical album release delayedUpdate: digital album to be released 1-2 weeks after UK CBR

After its mixing and mastering at Abbey Road Studios, Nathan McCree's The Tomb Raider Suite album was slated for release on May 1st, 2018. The composer announces today (April 11th, 2018) a 3-month delay, namely around the composer buffet reception. As guests to the UK and US receptions are to experience the premiere of the material, the delay accommodates for those patrons of the San Francisco event being held on July 14th, 2018. The Tomb Raider Suite album will now release on August 1st, 2018.

Update: Many fans who contributed to the Kickstarter campaign to fund the production of the album without desiring to attend these dinner events have felt left out. McCree had made a statement which can be read in full after the jump, but was quick to make it clear in a subsequent statement that the delay is due to the vinyl production, "immense work load" and not "for the sole reason" of San Francisco:

"I am sorry to tell you that we have decided to delay the release. This was not an easy decision to come to but I feel it is the right one under the circumstances... After the recording at Abbey Road Studios in October last year, we managed to get booked back into the studio for mixing at the end of January 2018, and then for Mastering at the end of February. Since then, the team has been working round the clock on the preparations for the Composer Buffet Reception and we are simply unable to juggle the final stages of the album production so close to the launch party... We are also aware that by releasing the album on the 1st May as previously planned, it somewhat spoils the Premiere airplay we had planned for the Composer Buffet Reception in San Francisco on 14th July 2018, and so delaying the release until after this makes it more fair for our friends in the United States. I appreciate this may be a little disappointing but rest assured we are moving forward as quickly as possible... The fundamental misunderstanding that has occurred is that we actively chose to delay the release of the album for the sole reason of the San Francisco CBR, this is simply not the case." - Nathan McCree

The composer has since indicated that the digital release of The Tomb Raider Suite album will now follow the UK composer buffet reception by 1-2 weeks, while the physical editions of the release remain in delay. We have attempted to clarify this further with McCree.

Meanwhile, a series of videos leading up to the UK buffet reception have been filmed at Hatfield House, the Croft Manor exterior from Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and The Cradle of Life (2003) where the first composer buffet reception will be held on April 28th, 2018. The last official Lara Croft model Alison Carroll returns to feature (see the embedded below). The promotional shorts are accompanied by "She's Cool", "Lara" & "Time To Run" - the first tracks we've heard from The Tomb Raider Suite.

The community-funded Tomb Raider Suite project has been a fandom phenomenon and the album marks the first commercial release of music to Tomb Raider (1996), Tomb Raider II: The Dagger of Xian (1997) & Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft (1998) in the history of the video game franchise. The Tomb Raider Suite embodies the classic music with full orchestration - McCree is yet to announce the release of the original soundtracks, which were limited by the software of the era, within his 7-year license.

THE TOMB RAIDER SUITE ALBUM RELEASE DATE

As far as the Album Release date is concerned, I am sorry to tell you that we have decided to delay the release.

This was not an easy decision to come to but I feel it is the right one under the circumstances for the reasons below.

After the recording at Abbey Road Studios in October last year, we managed to get booked back into the studio for mixing at the end of January 2018, and then for Mastering at the end of February.

Since then, the team has been working round the clock on the preparations for the Composer Buffet Reception and we are simply unable to juggle the final stages of the album production so close to the launch party.

We are also aware that by releasing the album on the 1st May as previously planned, it somewhat spoils the Premiere airplay we had planned for the Composer Buffet Reception in San Francisco on 14th July 2018, and so delaying the release until after this makes it more fair for our friends in the United States.

In terms of our production pipeline, we have been informed that there are only 3 Vinyl Pressing Plants left in the world, and the best of these, happens to be not far down the road from where I live, in Prague, Czech Republic.

We have also discovered that there is at least an 8 week lead time for getting albums pressed there. So at best we would be looking at the beginning of July, but again, to honour our friends in the United States and to give us a little breathing room, we think it safe to target our release for the 1st August 2018.

I appreciate this may be a little disappointing but rest assured we are moving forward as quickly as possible.

[...]

The delay has occurred because we are a very small team of volunteers (3 in fact, including myself) with an immense work load on our plates and we all have full time jobs and families. To get to this point, with a project of this scale, is an achievement we are all very proud of.

The fundamental misunderstanding that has occurred is that we actively chose to delay the release of the album for the sole reason of the San Francisco CBR, this is simply not the case and perhaps the wording could have been better phrased in the last update and for that we apologise.

To give you an insight into ‘behind the scenes’, of the delivery of this project, we work in a very ‘linear’ way, meaning we don’t have a large team of people to tackle multiple concurrent streams of the workload, so we systematically work from a large plan of prioritised tasks and tick off the ‘list of things to do’ as we go along.

The Composer Buffet Receptions were always a key part of the Kickstarter delivery. We understand that this event isn’t something of interest to all of you, but for those who did pledge at this tier, we always knew that we needed to provide something special.

The UK CBR has been a MAJOR event to organise and over the next 2 weeks, that will not ease up. But we promise it will be an evening to remember, for all Tomb Raider fans attending. Following on from the UK CBR, we will then be releasing the digital download of the album. However, please note, there will be a 1-2 week delay whilst we consider and arrange some important production and distribution aspects of this, but rest assured the digital download will be made available after the UK CBR.

Following on from this, we will be focusing on the delivery of the physical products. Our intention has always been to try and bundle these up as a single package to keep postage to a minimum. As we move forward, we will be better placed to understand if this is still practical or if we should separate the merchandise from the Jewel/Tin and Vinyl posting.

Please also be mindful that the mastering only completed in February of this year, that’s only 8 weeks ago. The Tomb Raider Suite album has followed a path very few productions have and - thanks to you - the album has the legacy of being recorded, mixed and mastered at the very best studio in the world.

My team and I will continue to push on and we thank you for your support. We hope this update has provided some detail into the work being undertaken by our dedicated team of volunteers.

We will, as always keep you updated on progress.

Many thanks,

Nathan.