Behind the scenes: How Sunset Overdrive got its gritty punkpocalyptic soundscapes

Sunset Overdrive‘s kickass punk rock soundtrack is a thing you can buy for yourself via iTunes, Spotify, Rdio, Google Play, and AmazonMP3 starting on November 25. Modern punk turned out to be the perfect backing material for developer Insomniac Games’ anarchic, open world “funpocalypse” in which your hand-crafted hero takes on a city overrun with slobbering mutants, gun-toting vandals, and deadly robots.

Music fuels Sunset‘s beating heart, with a dynamic soundtrack that layers in more and more pieces of multi-track mixes as the intensity of the action on the screen ramps up. The soundtrack breaks out the various songs that were chopped to bits in the game — from a variety of modern and up-and-coming punk outfits like Bass Drum of Death, Cheap Time, Dan Sartain, and more — into their own, full-fledged cuts.

Insomniac assembled Sunset Overdrive‘s musical wizardry with the help of Pyramind Studios, which served as producer on the 42-song soundtrack. Some of the music was created in-house by players assembled to form “fictional” bands and the rest was pulled from the known punk world. You can get a sense of how it all came together in the above video, which dives behind the scenes with Pyramind for a peek into the process there.

The digital release of the soundtrack culls the 42-track listing down to 18. You can check it out right here:

1. “This Is The End” performed by Boats!
2. “We’re Gonna Have A Party” performed by Dan Sartain
3. “Smell The Night” performed by Bass Drum of Death
4. “Unknown Town” performed by Meat Market
5. “Total Annihilation” performed by Cheap Time
6. “Feel The Hate” performed by Brenna Red
7. “Folding Socks” performed by Meat Market
8. “OD Life” performed by Dan Sartain
9. “Different Answer” performed by Boats!
10. “I Don’t Want Your Company” performed by Meat Market
11. “I’m On The Run” performed by Bass Drum of Death
12. “Horror Night” performed by Cheap Time
13. “I’ve Got Gunz” performed by Boats!
14. “Violence” performed by Meat Market
15. “Between The Lines” performed by Bass Drum of Death
16. “More Action” performed by Cheap Time
17. “Alright OK” performed by Boats!
18. “No One Else” performed by Meat Market