Interviews
[Interview] ‘Devil May Cry 5’ Composer Casey Edwards On His Love of Horror, Writing Music, and More
As we may have mentioned before, Devil May Cry 5 has an absolute corker of a soundtrack (not the only one in this series!), and the most prominent and popular example of that is Nero’s stonking theme Devil Trigger by composer Casey Edwards featuring vocals from Ali Edwards. The track has been listened to tens of millions of times since it was first heard alongside the Devil May Cry 5 reveal trailer at last year’s E3. Edwards contributed plenty more to that soundtrack too, and Bloody Disgusting got the chance to talk to him about his inspiration, influences, working methods, and of course, horror.
Bloody Disgusting: How much of the game had you seen before you started composing Devil Trigger?
Casey Edwards: I didn’t see much of the game at all during my entire process of writing Devil Trigger, The Duel, or Silver Bullet. When I first started Devil Trigger I was sent a few clips of Nero fighting in a confined apocalyptic urban setting to see how the game moved and looked, but that was about it. Later on, I had the pleasure of meeting Itsuno and a few other Capcom guys at a V/O session with Johnny Yong Bosch, who voices Nero. While I was there they showed me some brief early looks at how the final fight was going to look as well. Also, I don’t want to glaze over that last part so quickly. Not only was I already a DMC fan, but I’ve been a fan of Johnny’s work on MMPR since the early 90’s when I was a kid. That was a huge geek-out day for me!
Did the soundtracks for any previous Devil May Cry games inspire your musical choices?
Yeah, for sure! But only in the sense of genre-mashing, and not a direct song or theme referencing. My goal from the beginning was to represent Nero with EDM + pop. But at the same time, I didn’t want to abandon that hard edge that DMC music has had since the beginning. So I did my best to combine all those worlds together in one song.
Devil Trigger blew up well before the game actually released. Did it please you that the song resonated as it did beyond just being a soundtrack song?
It still blows my mind! I was both excited and terrified when they told me they were using my track as the announcement music for DMC5 at e3 in 2018. After the trailer dropped, the track was immediately put onto all major music platforms for purchase or stream and we also dropped a music video edit. Currently, on Spotify, the song has 7.2 million streams. At one point on YouTube, if you counted the multitude of uploads that were made by fans, we had over 30 million views. To me, that is INSANE!
You often see musicians agonize over the end result no matter what the reception is. Do you find it tough to accept praise for your music?
This is always a weird one. If someone showers me with praise I get skeptic as to why they like this regular thing I did that’s probably not even all that great. If someone dislikes something I did it’s kind of even more complicated because I’ll simultaneously think, “yeah you’re probably right…. ” and then “but it’s not that bad… is it?” With that said, feeling admired for making someone else have a joyful moment on some level never gets old to me. I’m moved by music pretty much every day of my life. I’m happy that in some small way I can give that to others.
While Devil Trigger gets most of the attention on the DMC 5 soundtrack, there’s plenty of other cracking tracks on there from you and others. So beyond Devil Trigger, what track are you most proud of?
I think that’d have to be Silver Bullet. Don’t get me wrong, writing The Duel was super fun and a total homage to teenager-me that played DMC back in the early 2000s, but Silver Bullet was a total risk experiment for me. Silver Bullet is first and foremost, a Devil Trigger remix that brings back a lot of musical themes and vocals from the original in a more hyped up musical context. Not only did Capcom double-down on the potential of Devil Trigger before anyone outside of Capcom had ever heard it by asking me to do a remix, but they let me get away with doing a full on 90’s inspired dance track. I thought for sure I’d be asked to rewrite it after my first demo. Yet, here we are. Fighting demons in DMC5 to dance music.
You collaborated with your wife Ali Edwards, who is a fellow musician, on the DMC5 soundtrack. Do you enjoy collaborating and hope to do more? Or do you prefer to work alone generally?
I do both week in and week out. I’m constantly genre-hopping, whether it be for work or personal projects. I song-write and produce tracks quite often. Either alone, with Ali, or other artists and friends. Getting together with other songwriters is like a therapy session wherein the process of catching up or discussing ideas, you find lyrical gems just floating around in conversations. Just in the songwriting world alone, in the past few months, I’ve written pop, rock, r&b, and even a bit of new jack swing. Most of these with collaborators, including Ali. Then there’s plenty of time where I get to crawl into my “composer cave” and create or really chisel out the details alone. Lately, I’ve been getting to explore animated TV orchestral and jazz styles akin to something like Richard Stone did back on Animaniacs. I can never stay in one musical space for too long.
You finished DMC 5 recently for the first time. Was it surreal to hear your work in the game? For many, it’s synonymous with the action now, but I can imagine for you it could be a bit strange and exciting to see it alongside the end product.
I’d be lying, and I think even doing a disservice to all those who work hard on these games if I said it wasn’t incredibly exciting to hear my music in a video game that is played by millions around the world!! It’s an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction and reward every time I hear Devil Trigger start playing during the action. Even if I get tired of hearing the song outside of the game, it’s always important for me to step away and remind myself what an incredible opportunity I’ve been given.
You’ve done a bit of composing for horror games, is horror a genre you’re particularly into? If so, any favorites in games/film?
I LOVE HORROR! Ever since I was young Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. I grew up watching stuff like “Goosebumps” and “Are You Afraid of The Dark” when I was a kid. And occasionally caught shows like “Tales from the Crypt” on TV as well. Eventually, I started watching slashers classics and then our generation got a pair of our own iconic slasher films with the SCREAM series. Today we have incredible films like “The Conjuring” that really deliver the spooks!
Musically it’s hard to not take a massive nod to both classical composer Penderecki and horror legend John Carpenter. Aside from those massive titans, I really enjoy Christopher Young, Joseph Bishara, and Disasterpeace’s work. All of them masters in their own way.
Game wise, I could play Dead Space 1 and 2 over and over until the day I die!!!
Is there another popular game series you’d love to compose for?
It’s always tricky to answer this without some sense of guilt because essentially I’m being asked to replace titans in the industry who have inspired me today to even do what I do! But, c’mon…there are plenty I’d love to be a part of. I’m a big fan of long-form thematic games that allow you to really have a relationship with the music and its ties to the story. The Last Of Us comes to mind. Halo was a big part of my college experience. Writing for games like that would be incredible. I’m also a massive Spider-Man fan, and being a part of Insomniac’s Spider-Man universe would have been incredible. And speaking of Insomniac, if there’s ever a follow up to Sunset Overdrive SIGN ME UP! Trashy punk rock vs drum’n’bass in a world that’s so insanely over-the-top is definitely a place I could call home.
Devil May Cry 5 is out now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
You can find the Devil May Cry 5 soundtrack on Spotify.
Nothing is the same when two crewmates return to shore in Rose of Nevada, the latest by Enys Men filmmaker Mark Jenkin.
Time and reality blur for stars George Mackay (Wolf, 1917) and Callum Turner (Green Room, “Neuromancer”) in the hallucinatory time travel mystery releasing in New York and Los Angeles theaters on June 19, 2026.
But this isn’t your standard time travel movie.
Rose of Nevada bends time and genre in its exploration of Cornish identity and community, upending the lives of Nick (MacKay) and Liam (Turner). There’s a listless, dreamy quality to the time travel, and for inspired reason: Jenkin approaches it like a haunting.
While time travel was on his mind early in the writing process, Jenkin’s partner and collaborator asked a question that unlocked Rose of Nevada and inspired the filmmaker.
Jenkin explains, “I remember saying to Mary [Woodvine], my partner, who’s in the film, I said to her, ‘God, it really seems like I’ve fallen into this thing of either making films about ghosts or films about time travel,’ and then she said to me, ‘Yeah, but aren’t all ghost stories just time travel films, and aren’t all time travel films just ghost stories?’ And then I thought, ‘Oh, great. So I’m not making two types of films. I’m actually always making one type of film.’ But that was ultimately liberating because I thought there’s a nice gap or a crossover in the perception of genres, there’s a lot of room to play and to be free within that.”
“Once I’d abandoned the idea that I was going to master quantum physics in any academic sense,” the filmmaker continues, “It was incredibly freeing because I thought, ‘Well, I can just set my own rules here,’ and it really doesn’t matter what the rules are as long as you stick to them. You can’t bend them for the sake of the plot or for the sake of a character arc or something. You have to establish those rules upfront and stick to them, which made me really think I’ve got to limit the time travel element. This film can’t be about time travel.“
Bearing the brunt of the time travel disruption is Mackay’s Nick, a man struggling to support his family before the ill-fated voyage upends his entire world. It’s the type of role that was an easy yes for the actor, simply because of the filmmaker behind it.
“I saw Bait at the cinema when it was first out a few years ago and was so struck by it,” Mackay tells BD. “I just hadn’t seen a film like it. I want to work with the best directors. I want to work with the best directors and people who have a singular vision. As an actor, the process of work is almost my biggest draw, as well as what a story’s saying, but I think you learn by doing, and if I can do my bit in as many different ways as possible. The physicality and the discipline of Mark’s filmmaking, how that is so entwined in the DNA of the film, and therefore in the way that I work within it, that was the biggest draw. I’m just a fan of Mark’s. I was just very pleased to be involved.”
That reflects in Rose of Nevada‘s unique casting; Mackay initially was eyed for Liam.
“When I first got the call to meet Mark at the audition stage,” Mackay said, “We didn’t wind up reading scenes, but they said, ‘There’s a project. There are two roles in it that you could be right for, and Mark is leaning towards you for Liam.’ So, I had a look at Liam, Callum’s role, and had my interpretation of the script ready to talk about it and what I thought that character was, who he was, and how I’m thinking about how I might inhabit that or what I saw in him. And when we met, we didn’t talk about the film at all. We spoke about everything else. But following that meeting, I got the message, said, ‘Mark would like you to be part of the film, but he thinks you’re definitely more of a Nick,’ which I think I just may be a complete sheep because I went, ‘Of course I’m Nick.’
Mackay continued, “But it’s funny, I do have in my own life, I just started a family, and so much of my last few years of being has been trying to figure that balance and what that means and how you navigate that. So with family being at its core and all the kind of conundrums that come with staying level with that, that rang true. So I felt like I understood objectively, I have my interpretations of what both men mean to each other and within the story, but then once I was playing Nick, I just became about a very present focus on who he was and what his situation was. What I liked about him is that he’s a very straightforward bloke. In the best possible way, he’s quite a simple man. It’s just he’s in an extraordinary situation.”
Jenkin wrote Rose of Nevada during the pandemic lockdown that had forced a halt in production on Enys Men. He’d return to rewrite once Enys Men had been completed, creating overlap between films. “They are even more in conversation than you’d think because the first draft of Rose of Nevada was before I’d made Enys Men, and then everything I learned through the making of Enys Men, I fed into Rose of Nevada. But also the reaction to Enys Men, all the critics and writers and audience members who are telling me what Enys Men was about. I’m always the last to realize what I’ve done, I think like most filmmakers. You don’t really know what you’ve made a film about until the audience tells you. I was able to feed that into Rose of Nevada and also scale it up a little bit. So, yeah, in some ways it predates Enys Men, and in some ways it follows on from it,” he said.
Jenkin’s latest caps what’s unofficially been dubbed his Cornish trilogy, a moniker that initially surprised the filmmaker, but he’s come to embrace it. A recent revisit of Bait made it even clearer. “I can now understand why people are linking the three films together. I’d forgotten how linked they are, which is amazing, really, considering the first draft of Bait was written in 1999. So, most of my adult life has been one way or another making this trilogy. I am quite looking forward to starting the next chapter.”
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