Metal

Game Music

Headbang with Double Kick Heroes Original Game Soundtrack Now Available

May 10, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Headbang with Double Kick Heroes Original Game Soundtrack Now Available Share this

Who doesn’t love thrashing zombies to the sound of heavy metal music blasting around you as your wreck havok on the undead? Upcoming indie rhythm game Double Kick Heroes has you covered in that regard. “Survive through 30 levels of total madness by killing zombies with your gundillac on the highway to hell!Only the power of Metal can save your band!“. Initially created for the Ludum Dare #34 game jam, what would become Double Kick Heroes got the Gold Medal for Audio, and took off from there.

Composed by Frédéric “Elmobo” Motte (Nightmare Creatures 1&2, Dark Earth), the game’s soundtrack is rife with heavy metal guitar work that ranges from contemplative and moody to upbeat and spunky, mixing in retro chiptune sounds throughout.

“Double Kick Heroes is the game I’ve been dreaming to score all my life. I was born a metalhead, and this game is giving me the chance to pay tribute to the music that fuels my life. I’m trying to cover as many metal genres as possible. Heavy, black, death, industrial, stoner, thrash…and I took the opportunity to invite some the incredible musicians I’ve worked with at Conkrete Studio to sing and play on some of my tracks. When listening, you’ll inevitably notice references to Iron Maiden, Rammstein, Meshuggah, Faith No More and even Babymetal!” – Frédéric “Elmobo” Motte, Composer

<a href="http://elmobo.bandcamp.com/album/double-kick-heroes-vol-1-original-game-soundtrack">Double Kick Heroes, Vol.1 (Original Game Soundtrack) by elmobo</a>

<a href="http://elmobo.bandcamp.com/album/double-kick-heroes-vol-1-original-game-soundtrack">Double Kick Heroes, Vol.1 (Original Game Soundtrack) by elmobo</a>

The music for the game is as heavy as described, featuring 28 tracks of intensity that fuels the rhythm game in which players shoot zombies by beating the keyboard in a post-apocalyptic pixelarted world. The soundtrack features a slue of additional guest contributors, including PJ666 of LOKURAH, Matt Dumas of HELL IN TOWN, Ludo Faraill of ANTHEUS and more.

Double Kick Heroes is currently in Early Access on steam for $14.99 with the soundtrack available for an additional $9.99. You can also nab the soundtrack by itself on Bandcamp and iTunes.
Doujin, Game Music

Pre-Order C-Busters: A Tribute to Mega Man Classic Album

April 12, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Pre-Order C-Busters: A Tribute to Mega Man Classic Album Share this

Artist Thennecan from Santiago, Chili along with the aid of Materia Collective has released his full album: C-Busters: A Tribute to Mega Man Classic. Featuring rock and metal fusion covers of tracks from several games within Capcom’s classic Mega Man series, the album pays homage to the Blue Bomber and the music that has stood the test of time.

“Mega Man 4 is one of the first games I ever played, and it is one of my favourites to this day. Mega Man also represents an extremely faithful community of people which have been keeping it alive for decades in different art styles, influenced games and music, so I definitely wanted to make my own contribution to that community.

Also, with this album I wish to break barriers in my local music industry, which hasn’t been aware of the potential and importance of videogame music at all. We’re musicians, and we make records too.” – Thennecan, Producer & Musician

Featuring music from Mega Man 1-10 (except for Mega Man 5 & 8, the poor black sheep that they are), the album spans 15 tracks and includes guest artists such as Jer Roque of Arc Impulse, Pokérus Project and more.

<a href="http://thennecan.bandcamp.com/album/c-busters-a-tribute-to-mega-man-classic">C-Busters: A Tribute to Mega Man Classic by Thennecan</a>

C-Busters: A Tribute to Mega Man Classic releases on May 11th and is available now for pre-order on Bandcamp and iTunes.
Chip Music, Demoscene, Game Music

Avant-garde, Metal, Chiptune: Master Boot Record and VirtuaVerse

December 13, 2017 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Avant-garde, Metal, Chiptune: Master Boot Record and VirtuaVerse Share this

MASTER BOOT RECORD, who claims to be an old 486 PC “processing avant-garde chiptune, synthesized heavy metal & classical symphonic music” has revealed that he’s also responsible for the upcoming cyberpunk adventure game, VirtuaVerse. The game is from the three-man studio Theta Division, with MBR behind the story and music, and also marks record label Blood Music’s first foray into game publishing.

“The soundtrack of VirtuaVerse is in fact how the MBR project spawned in [the] first place. After writing it, and inspired by demoscene vibes and the cyberpunk worlds of our game, I added more synthesized metal and classical music and then ultimately created the sound of MASTER BOOT RECORD.”

To celebrate the announcement, the team have released the first glimpse of the game in the trailer above. VirtuaVerse isn’t expected until sometime in 2019 but if you like the sound of MASTER BOOT RECORD’s tinny, synthesized metal I’m happy to tell you there’s loads more to hear while you wait. Over the last year he’s released seven albums of original synthesized, chiptune metal music on Bandcamp as well as a growing collection of similarly styled video game covers.

You can listen to his treatment of classics including DOOM, Mega Man, Ultima, Flashback, LOOM, Duke Nukem, and many others on SoundCloud. You might even score a download of the album, titled WAREZ, if you buy some of his music or add it to your Bandcamp wishlist.
Doujin, Game Music

Rock Out to Legend of Zelda With Octorock: The Zelda Metal EP

November 21, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Rock Out to Legend of Zelda With Octorock: The Zelda Metal EP Share this

Metalhead fans of The Legend of Zelda can get a taste of their two favorite things with the release of Octorok: The Zelda Metal EP that’s recently released by Materia Collective. Featuring arrangements from Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker, and Skyward Sword by arranger and guitarist Joel Kent, Octorock brings shreddage to several classic tunes across the series musical library.

“I’ve been a huge Zelda nerd for as long as I’ve been able to hold a controller. And I still remember my first experience with the series: watching the full moon rise over Hyrule Field during the opening cinematic of Ocarina of Time. When I start up the game and hear those opening chords it still gives me chills and probably always will. Journeying through the various titles in the series to Koji Kondo’s melodies had as much an impression on me growing up as listening to my Dad’s classic rock albums.” – Joel Kent, Producer & Arranger

<a href="http://joelkentguitar.bandcamp.com/album/octorock-the-zelda-metal-ep">Octorock: The Zelda Metal EP by Joel Kent</a>

You can learn more about the Octorock: The Zelda Metal EP on the Materia Collective website, or purchase the album for yourself on Bandcamp, iTunes or streaming on Spotify.
Game Music, Reviews

Abatron Original Soundtrack (Review) + Giveaway

September 7, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | 6 Comments Share this

For those who fawn over the soundtrack crafted for the newest iteration of DOOM, composed by Mick Gordon, you might want to take a look at a new indie game with a soundtrack composed to sound quite a bit like the industrial vibe of the DOOM and Prey soundtracks.

Abatron, an action strategy shooter game in early access on Steam that styles itself as “galactic dominance with controlled combat” is very much akin to that of DOOM. The graphics and aesthetics certainly give a hard nod to the sci-fi horror-like imagery and feel of DOOM, though with a bit more of a technological spin to it. Abatron’s music is also a nod to the former, with both an oldschool and new feel to it. The game’s composer, Nils “NeonInsect” Sinatsch, had some very clearcut ideas in mind when he composed the game’s music.

(more…)
Game Music

Arrangement of the Week: Desert Castle Theme

November 6, 2015 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Arrangement of the Week: Desert Castle Theme Share this

One of my favorite things about searching for remixes and arrangements for videogame music, is that it often leads me to discover music from games that I’ve never even heard of. Today’s Arrangement of the Week selection led me to one such discovery.

The “Desert Castle Theme” is a piece from the Nintendo 64 game Chameleon Twist. The game is a 3D platformer that stars a blue chameleon, named Davy, who traverses the game’s difficult levels by using his incredibly long tongue. Despite owning an N64 back in the 90’s, I don’t recall ever seeing or playing this game. So it was a cool surprise to find a track from the game being covered by metal remix artist ToxicxEternity.

As with many of the other metal remixers on YouTube, ToxicxEternity performs the various parts of his creation on camera, with gameplay footage displayed behind him. Like the original piece, the arrangement opens with a few chord riffs before launching into the melodic material. The melody itself transfers quite well to the electric guitar and doesn’t receive a whole ton of embellishment, which I actually like in this instance. There are a few dramatic flourishes added during repeats of the melody, but each iteration sticks fairly close to the original “Desert Castle Theme” track.

Most of the build up and improvisation comes during the last section of the piece. Around the 2’03” mark ToxicxEternity turns his focus on the opening chord progression, with some rapid arpeggios building on top of the accompaniment guitar riffs. A few synth instruments come in as well around 2’55” before the arrangement starts to wind down. All in all, it’s a simple and well polished metal arrangement that highlights the music of a lesser known game soundtrack.

Have you discovered any cool game soundtracks through metal remixes, arrangements, or covers? Let us know in the comments below. You can check out more of ToxicxEternity’s metal videogame covers on his YouTube channel and you can support more of his work on Patreon and Twitch.
Game Music

Take Flight with Ground Pound Falcon’s Album “Press Start”

January 13, 2015 | Brenna Wilkes | 1 Comment Share this

We’re in a day and age where being a video game rock band is starting to become a more common thing. Simply going through our recent MAGFest features, you can see a wide variety of performers who have stepped up, grouped together and taken the dive into the world of video game music arrangements. Since this is becoming a more mainstream concept, it will be increasingly more difficult for newer bands to shine through and not be lost in the doldrums of mediocrity.

Enter Ground Pound Falcon; comprised of Noah Copeland performing guitar, bass and main vocals and Austin Anderson on drums and providing backing vocals. The duo hailing from Lawton, Oklahoma released their debut album “Press Star” back in mid-December to the masses for auditory consumption. Featuring 7 tracks from familiar games such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Castlevania and Super Mario 64, the band does a good job of putting their own spin on some classic tunes and produce a slew of high-quality pieces that make for an interesting EP release.

The twist they put into their style that most other VGM bands do not is the inclusion of original lyrics into their arrangements. Sung primarily by Copeland, the lyrics incorporate references to the source tunes and games they hail from, sung in a way that’s reminiscent of many groups from the ’90s rock and metal genre. Being a bold move, as vocal lyrics in video game music arrangements come away with mixed results from listeners and fans of the source music and can turn some people off, Ground Pound Falcon nonetheless own their style with all the enthusiasm of genuine gaming fans and true metalheads. Songs such as their take on “Green Hill Zone” and “Bloody Tears” may seem a bit jarring upon first listen, but you can tell their hearts are 100% in their music, and to me that’s the soul of what it means to be a lover and performer of game music.

“Press Start” is currently up for purchase and download on Loudr, iTunes and available for your listening pleasure on the band’s Youtube.

Ground Pound Falcon – Facebook | Twitter