Kevin Riepl

Kevin Riepl is an American composer for video games, films and television shows. He is best known for his work on the Unreal series of games as well as Gears of War and Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Biography Riepl was born in Cliffwood Beach, New Jersey. His interest in music started at the age of six, when he began to play piano and guitar under the instruction of his uncle. In the fourth grade he began studies on the trumpet and piano and that continued throughout his high school years in which he was a member of a variety of bands and orchestras. After high school, he began private independent studies in composition and orchestration at the Village East Conservatory of Music. Following the years at the conservatory and few scoring projects, he attended Mannes College of Music in New York City for further education in composition and orchestration.

Riepl began his career working as an assistant and co-writing partner for Kevin Manthei in the early 2000s. At the time, Cliff Bleszinski, former design director at Epic Games, who was then looking for a different musical sound for the Unreal franchise, played his demo reel. In February 2005, Riepl became attached to Gears of War. Initially, he was asked to write the main themes for the game, but after submitting the pieces he had written, Epic liked what he created and signed him on to create the entire score. In March 2007, Riepl recorded the score for the massively multiplayer first-person shooter computer game Huxley, developed by Webzen Games.

In October 2010, Riepl suffered a sudden heart failure and was hospitalized. He had a pump installed in his heart until a donor heart could replace it, and underwent the heart transplant in July 2011. Shortly afterwards, a rare tumor was found on his adrenal gland, which was affecting his blood pressure. He has since made a good recovery.

In addition to his work on the video game industry, Riepl has composed for films and television series, including his recent scores for horror films such as Silent Night, Contracted and the Cabin Fever films (Patient Zero and the 2016 film remake).

Credits Kevin Riepl has composed music for the following media:

Video games Year Title Developer Notes 2001 Twisted Metal: Black Incognito Entertainment Additional music (uncredited) 2002 New Legends Infinite Machine Additional music Dead to Rights Namco Unreal Tournament 2003 Epic Games Nancy Drew: Secret of the Scarlet Hand Her Interactive Additional music Nancy Drew: Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake 2003 Nancy Drew: The Haunted Carousel 2004 Pitfall: The Lost Expedition Edge of Reality Torus Games Beenox Unreal Tournament 2004 Epic Games Shrek 2: The Game KnowWonder Nicktoons: Movin' Mass Media 2005 Unreal Championship 2 Epic Games Shrek SuperSlam 7 Studios The Bible Game Mass Media Credited in-game with Original Music Composition City of Villains Cryptic Studios 2006 Gears of War Epic Games 2007 Huxley Webzen Games Inc. Unreal Tournament 3 Epic Games Soul of the Ultimate Nation Webzen Games Inc. 2008 Gears of War 2 Epic Games Additional music 2010 Crackdown 2 Ruffian Games 2011 Hunted: The Demon's Forge inXile Entertainment 2012 Resistance: Burning Skies Nihilistic Software Borderlands 2: Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage Gearbox Software 2013 Aliens: Colonial Marines Themes by James Horner and Jerry Goldsmith Ascend: Hand of Kul Signal Studios 2014 Vlad The Impaler Section Studios 2015 Toy Soldiers: War Chest Signal Studios Nosgoth Psyonix Rocket League 2016 Battleborn Gearbox Software TBA Unreal Tournament Epic Games Bedlam Skyshine Games

Films Year Title Director Notes 2004 Look Eric Blue 2005 Sky High Mike Mitchell Credited as music programmer 2007 Lost Crossing Eric Blue Rogue 379 Douglas Choi 2008 Lost Boys: The Tribe P.J. Pesce 2009 Broken August Marc Pilvinsky New Hope Manor Danny LeGare 2010 Clemency Joseph Albanese Broken Moment Eric Blue Breathe Danny LeGare 2011 Mama's Baby Drew Daywalt Ruin Wes Ball 2012 HENRi Eli Sasich The Aggression Scale Steven C. Miller Dead Shadows David Cholewa The ABCs of Death Kaare Andrews Silent Night Steven C. Miller 2013 Contracted Eric England 2014 Cabin Fever: Patient Zero Kaare Andrews Resignation Joshua Caldwell The Night Crew Christian Sesma Criminal Denzel Whitaker Beacon Point Eric Blue 2015 Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts Butch Lukic 2015 Grandpa's Psycho Danny LeGare Credited as music supervisor 2015 Vigilante Diaries Christian Sesma 2015 Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem Butch Lukic 2016 Cabin Fever Travis Z Get The Girl Eric England Batman Unlimited: Mech vs. Mutants Curt Ceda 2018 Higher Power Matthew Charles Santoro Constantine: City of Demons – The Movie Doug Murphy 2019 Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Jake Castorena 2019 Greenlight Graham Denman 2019 Pureza Renato Barbieri 2020 Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons: The Movie Sung Jin Ahn 2020 Superman: Man of Tomorrow Chris Palmer 2021 Justice Society: World War II Jeff Wamester 2022 Green Lantern: Beware My Power 2023 Legion of Super-Heroes 2024 Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths 2025 Under Fire Steven C. Miller

Television Year Title Notes 2001–2006 Invader Zim Additional music 2003–2006 Xiaolin Showdown Additional music 2004–2006 Brandy & Mr. Whiskers Co-composer 2005–2006 Johnny Test Main Title Composer / Add. Music 2006–2007 Six Degrees Orchestration / Score Prep. 2016–2018 Justice League Action