Back in 2016, I was lucky enough for a chance to interview Petri Alanko. At the time, Petri had just wrapped up work on Remedy’s Quantum Break. The composer, who’s intrinsically linked to Remedy, managed to capture the hearts of fans with his work on Alan Wake. It’s hard for Remedy fans to imagine a game without him, yet Remedy’s first two Max Payne games do not feature any of his work.
During the interview, Petri and I briefly talked about the Max Payne franchise and how Petri’s approach to scoring such games would look. From that moment onwards, the curiosity of how Petri’s rendition of Max’s iconic theme would sound never left my mind. It was bonkers to think that was ever going to be a reality. But as I’ve learned at a young age: If you never have the guts to ask, the answer will always remain no. So for a moment, I stepped beside any rationale and decided to write the guy a love letter. All jokes aside, to my biggest surprise, Petri responded he’d been toying with such an idea for a while as well and would love to do it if his schedule allowed it.
A few days before the anniversary, Alanko messaged me the chances of him completing the theme on time would be slim. But then, right in the thick of it, he emailed me the audio file this morning. God, is it everything I hoped it would be. Dark. Eerie. Atmospheric and bombastic. It’s beautiful. This happening is a dream come true. And with me, I hope many other fans. Petri himself told me the “gods were with him” to make this happen. As the circumstances he was in gave him little wiggle room to pull this off. Without further ado, please enjoy the Max Payne Theme by Petri Alanko.
