Partnership with Wave, The Mill, and We Are Royale Brings Pentakill Artists & Fans Together for a First-of-a-Kind Interactive Experience
Riot Games Music, the music division of leading game publisher Riot Games, is partnering with virtual entertainment leader Wave and VFX and immersive experience powerhouse The Mill to produce Lost Chapter: An Interactive Album Experience, featuring virtual heavy metal band Pentakill from the massively popular video game League of Legends. The virtual concert will premiere on Wednesday, September 8, 2021 at 1:00 pm PT on Wave’s platform, wave.watch.
The announcement comes on the heels of exciting developments in the Pentakill universe. Just last week, the band announced its long-awaited third full-length album, III: Lost Chapter, followed by an alternate reality game (ARG) campaign that, unbeknownst to Pentakill loyalists, would set the stage for a full-on journey through the secret lore of Pentakill.
Leveraging Wave’s state-of-the-art broadcast tools and technology platform, the virtual show will give fans a front row seat to experience the sights and sounds of Pentakill like never before – all propelled by interactive VFX and animations with real-time gaming technology by Oscar-winning creative production studio The Mill.
The ARG campaign, created in partnership with creative production studio We Are Royale, commenced on the @riotgamesmusic social channels on August 29th. Pentakill fans were invited to solve a series of riddles, puzzles, and ciphered messages from a mysterious source who would ultimately be revealed as Viego, a character from League of Legends, who is driven by an infatuation for perfecting the world of Metal. Upon solving the ARG puzzles over the course of four days, Riot Games will call upon Pentakill’s legion of fans to help determine the next phase of the Lost Chapter journey.
The ARG campaign will culminate with the interactive concert experience on September 8th, which will not only give fans the final say in how the journey concludes, but also their first chance to hear the III: Lost Chapter album in full. The album will be available on all major digital streaming platforms immediately following the concert. Fans can pre-save the album to their playlist in advance of the release.
Riot Games Music previously revealed III: Lost Chapter will be a concept album traversing a range of metal subgenres behind Pentakill’s quest to enter new sonic realms. Pentakill is a fictional heavy metal band featuring the galvanizing vocal force of Karthus and Kayle, gargantuan riffs by Mordekaiser (Master of Metal), brutal bass lines by Yorick, keyboardist Sona’s enchanting harmonics, and thunderous beats by drummer Olaf.
The III: Lost Chapter campaign marks the latest effort in Riot Games’ push into music and the metaverse with story and character-driven experiences. Riot Games Music recently made a splash in the metaverse of music with K/DA, a K-pop-inspired virtual girl group, and hip-hop collective True Damage, both featuring League of Legends characters. More recently, Riot Games Music released Sessions: Vi, a 37-song compilation created in collaboration with 21 different artists from across the instrumental music industry. The album was created for the Riot streaming and creator community to use without concern of copyright strikes.
“We’re excited to continue to push the envelope in music and storytelling with Pentakill,” said Toa Dunn of Riot Games Music. “With our partners at Wave, The Mill, and We Are Royale, we have set out to showcase what the future of virtual entertainment experiences can be.”
Wave has developed virtual performances for artists worldwide including The Weeknd, John Legend, Dillon Francis, Alison Wonderland, Tinashe and more – reaching millions of viewers around the world.
“Riot Games is an ideal Wave collaborator as they have been an innovator in using music and emerging technologies to build and extend their worlds beyond games,” said Jarred Kennedy, COO of Wave. “Wave has sat at the intersection of music and gaming since its inception, and we’re excited to work with Riot to help shape the future of virtual performance.”
Riot Games Music’s internal music production team of composers, artists, producers, and audio engineers produced III: Lost Chapter. The album team features alumni from II: Grasp of the Undying, including renowned rock/metal vocalist Jorn Lande (Masterplan) as the voice of Karthus, songstress Noora Louhimo (Battle Beast) as the voice of Kayle, and Per Johansson. Joining Riot’s supergroup lineup for Lost Chapter are Tyler “TELLE” Smith (The Word Alive), Adam “Nolly” Getgood (Periphery), Benjamin Ellis (Bloodshot Dawn), keyboardist Jose “Atlan” Aranda, and violinist Ray Chen.
More on Pentakill
Pentakill rose to mainstream prominence in 2014 after its debut EP, I: Smite & Ignite, cracked the Billboard Top 40 and reached No. 1 on the iTunes Metal and Rock charts. Pentakill’s scorching follow-up LP, II: Grasp of the Undying, was released to critical acclaim with celebrity musicians and producers joining the album sessions, including producer Scott Kirkland of The Crystal Method, producer and vocalist Danny Lohner, formerly of Nine Inch Nails, world-renowned drummer Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe fame, drummer Mike Pitman and vocalist Rich Thomson of Xerath, and many more.
About The Mill
The Mill, part of Technicolor Creative Studios, is a world renowned visual effects, immersive experience and creative production studio for the world’s most innovative and forward-thinking companies. Founded 30 years ago as a creative partner for the advertising industry, The Mill has led the evolution of computer graphics from the linear stories of the screen to incredible interactions in real places and real-time fantasies in virtual spaces.
About Wave
Wave’s mission is to bring people together through virtual entertainment experiences. Wave’s proprietary tools and platform enable artists and audiences to collaborate in the creation of the most interactive live performance experiences in the world. Waves are live, interactive and immersive shows that are unlike any virtual concert ever experienced. Waves combine the best of live music, gaming and broadcast technology to transform the live music experience. Through cutting-edge broadcast technology and real-time gaming graphics, artists are transformed into a digital avatar and perform live in a virtual setting where they can interact with their fans in real time.
Waves are live streamed globally on wave.watch and across popular social and gaming platforms including YouTube, Twitter, Twitch, TikTok, Facebook and Roblox. To date, Waves have been attended by millions of fans worldwide and the company has hosted more than 50 Waves for a number of popstars, DJs and artists including The Weeknd, John Legend, Dillon Francis, Alison Wonderland, Tinashe, Imogen Heap, REZZ, Galantis, Jean-Michel Jarre and Lindsey Stirling.
Wave was founded by music and technology veterans Adam Arrigo and Aaron Lemke, whose experience includes supporting the design and development of leading music and gaming apps including the Rock Band series and Dance Central series. The company is based in Los Angeles, CA. For more information, go to https://wavexr.com.
About Riot Games
Riot Games was founded in 2006 to develop, publish, and support the most player-focused games in the world. In 2009, Riot released its debut title, League of Legends, to worldwide acclaim. League has gone on to be the most-played PC game in the world and a key driver of the explosive growth of esports. As League enters its second decade, Riot continues to evolve the game while delivering new experiences to players with Teamfight Tactics,Legends of Runeterra, VALORANT, League of Legends: Wild Rift, and multiple work-in-progress titles. Riot is also expanding the world of Runeterra through multimedia projects across music, comic books, board games, and the upcoming animated series Arcane: League of Legends. Founded by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill, and led by CEO Nicolo Laurent, Riot is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, and has 3,000+ Rioters in 20+ offices worldwide.