Celldweller opens the ‘Thief: Pulse of Promise’ soundtrack with ‘Never a Thief’
Celldweller released “Never a Thief” on August 19, 2026 through FiXT, the first track from the “Thief: Pulse of Promise” graphic novel soundtrack.
Celldweller released “Never a Thief” on August 19, 2026 through FiXT, the first track issued from the official soundtrack to “Thief: Pulse of Promise”, a licensed graphic novel from Bit Bot set in the Thief stealth game series. The electronic rock project of Klayton wrote and produced the track, with Brian Skeel mixing and mastering. It is out on digital platforms and Bandcamp, and a lyric video went up the same day.
Klayton describes the brief as an exercise in matching the source material without imitating it. He stated: “I was thrilled to get the opportunity to work in the world of Thief. It’s pretty much the quintessential stealth game franchise, and anyone who plays these kinds of games knows how important audio is to the experience. When you’re Garrett, hiding in the shadows, listening for footsteps and trying to avoid a patrol, sound and music are a huge part of what creates that tension. I had a lot of fun digging into the sonic DNA of the original games and figuring out how to pay tribute to what made them sound so unique, while bringing some of those ideas into 2026 with a modern Celldweller spin. The goal was to make something that felt like it belonged in the world of Thief, but still had my fingerprints all over it.”
The official lyric video runs 3:40 and carries cover art by Emanuele Ercolani, laid out by Cory Todd. The track is published by Eidos under exclusive licence to Bit Bot Media and distributed by FiXT.
What the ‘Thief: Pulse of Promise’ soundtrack covers
The full soundtrack is set to run to twelve or more original songs and will include new performances by Stephen Russell, who voiced the master thief Garrett across the original games. A limited vinyl and CD edition with Ercolani artwork forms part of the graphic novel’s BackerKit campaign, with the digital album to follow later.
The book itself is written by Joshua Viola and Sean Eads, with interior art by Ercolani and Gianluca Papi and lettering by Jeremiah Lambert. Its story sits between “Thief: The Dark Project”, released by Looking Glass Studios in December 1998, and “Thief II: The Metal Age” from March 2000, and brings back Artemus and Father Karras. Nightdive Studios, Eidos-Montréal and Atari announced “Thief: The Dark Project Remastered” on June 7, 2026 for a winter release on PC and consoles.
“Never a Thief” is the third Celldweller release of the last two months. “Respawn” arrived on July 29, 2026 as the second instalment of the ongoing “GOD MODE” single series, which began with “Fakebreaker” featuring Swarm and Reebz. FiXT has scheduled the complete “GOD MODE” album for 2027.
About Celldweller
Celldweller is the solo electronic rock project of Klayton, born Scott Albert, who took the name from a childhood nickname and turned the project into his main outlet in 1999 in New York City. His work before that ran through the industrial metal band Circle of Dust, formed in 1990 and signed to R.E.X. Records, the Buka collaboration Argyle Park, whose single album “Misguided” appeared in 1995, and Angeldust with illusionist Criss Angel, which produced “Musical Conjurings from the World of Illusion” in 1998.
The self-titled Celldweller debut came out on February 11, 2003 through Esion Media and Position Music. Klayton then founded FiXT in 2006 with James Rhodes and moved his catalogue onto it, releasing “Wish Upon a Blackstar” on June 11, 2012, “End of an Empire” on November 6, 2015, “Offworld” on July 28, 2017 and “Satellites” on October 14, 2022. He launched the synthwave project Scandroid in 2013 with producer Varien and the instrumental outlet FreqGen in 2017, and reclaimed the Circle of Dust rights in 2016 for the album “Machines of Our Disgrace”.
Placement work runs alongside the records. Celldweller music has appeared in Blade Runner 2049, Westworld, Deadpool 2, Call of Duty: Elite and Assassin’s Creed, among others. Klayton also scored “Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – The Dead Shall Rise” for FiXT in 2026, issuing “Ozar Midrashim” on March 4 and “Elaleth” with Matthew Kiichi Heafy on March 18 before the game score arrived on April 1. Side-Line last covered the project when “Respawn” opened the second chapter of the “GOD MODE” run in July 2026; “Never a Thief” moves the work back into licensed game territory.
Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!
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