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Game Music

Soundtracks to Original Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2 Releasing to Vinyl

February 21, 2019 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Soundtracks to Original Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2 Releasing to Vinyl Share this

It’s a good time to be a Resident Evil fan, and even moreso now for fans of the soundtracks to the original two games. Laced Records has teamed up with Capcom to release Resident Evil (Original Soundtrack) and Resident Evil 2 (Original Soundtrack) deluxe double-vinyl collections.

Composed by the Capcom Sound Team, Masami Ueda, Makoto Tomozawa and Akira Kaida, Resident Evil’s brooding score became a benchmark for horror games, giving the original genre-defining masterpiece a persistent and unnerving sense of claustrophobia.

Incontrast, the Resident Evil 2 Original Soundtrack conveys fundamental themes of panic and desperation via varying musical styles. Featuring ambient horror, industrial pieces and rousing militaristic anthems you’ll experience classic orchestral compositions alongside ominous piano underscores, taking you back to Racoon City’s iconic Police Station, Sewer and Underground Laboratory.

Each soundtrack has been remastered for the release, with high-quality artwork from the games on the vinyl gatefold sleeves as well as standard edition and limited edition marble colourways.

Each deluxe release will cost about $35.00USD and are available for pre-order now with an as-yet unannounced shipping date. The Resident Evil (Original Soundtrack) and Resident Evil 2 (Original Soundtrack) vinyl is available on the Laced Records website.

Given I wasn’t too impressed with the soundtrack of the recently-released Resident Evil 2 remake and ended up downloading the original soundtrack to play with the game instead, this announcement is a welcome one and I look forward to giving these a listen once they are released.
Game Music

Kirby Star Allies Original Soundtrack Releases February 14th

February 7, 2019 | Brenna Wilkes | 4 Comments Share this

A sweet treat for all Kirby fans who enjoyed the music of last year’s Switch release. Kirby Star Allies is seeing it’s official soundtrack release this upcoming Valentine’s Day.

Kirby Star Allies Original Soundtrack will feature a whopping six discs full of music from the game, which saw it’s full version released with extra modes this past November. Over 220 songs are included with a booklet with long-table discussion of sound staff (40 Pages). Drawing illustrations by the development staff on the surface and rough sketch of the production process on the back. The limited edition soundtrack release will feature 3-sided back with carton case, PLAYBUTTON (a badge type music player) KIRBY ARRANGE SELECTION and original earphone all included.

Currently the soundtrack and limited edition are only available through special import shops online, though may be available for streaming soon. Kirby Star Allies Original Soundtrack is available for pre-order on Play-Asia for $53.99USD.
Doujin, Game Music

Videogame Menu Music Gets Their Own Musical Tribute

January 25, 2019 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Videogame Menu Music Gets Their Own Musical Tribute Share this

If you’re a fan of menu music in video games or just have fond memories of that initial starting music you encounter upon boosting up your old cartridges & disks, Materia Collective has a new arrangement album project for you. MENU: An Homage to Game Title Themes features 52 arrangements paying tribute to menu themes across many fan-favorite video games big and small, including Final Fantasy, Overwatch, Celeste, Blue Dragon and a whole lot more.

“For many, opening and menu themes, along with their respective title cards, trigger a great sense of nostalgia. All of these themes are composed and designed with a sense of beginning, acting as gateways towards something bigger. Specifically, we want to encapsulate the feeling of when you first played a game, be it playing a videogame for the very first time or picking up any game for the first time.” – Monica Wang and Ben Wallace, Album Producers

<a href="http://materiacollective.bandcamp.com/album/menu-an-homage-to-game-title-themes">MENU: An Homage to Game Title Themes by Josué Ferreira de Oliveira</a>

A massive amount of artists and performers contributed to the album, including Reven, Sean Schafianski, Michael Hoffman, John Robert Matz and more. You can check out the entire track listing and credits on the Materia Collective page for the album.

MENU: An Homage to Game Title Themes is currently available on Bandcamp, iTunes and streaming on Spotify.
Game Music, Indie Music, Music Production

Jeremy Soule Declares 2019 The Year of the Northerner

January 10, 2019 | Ryan Paquet | 7 Comments Share this

On January 10, 2019, composer Jeremy Soule tweeted “I have two upcoming albums in 2019! “The Northerner: The Moon and the Night Sky” and “The Northerner Symphony” – I hope you enjoy the music!” Many of you will recall that the composer ran a kickstarter campaign several years ago for The Northerner: Soule Symphony No. 1 which had an expected completion date of September 2013. Little information about the symphony’s status was known until late 2017 when Jeremy Soule released The Northerner Diaries Symphonic Sketches album which got a wide release via the Materia Collective on July 5, 2018. Composer Neal Acree’s comments on the album’s wide release remain with me to this day:

Jeremy Soule has also confirmed in replies to his tweet that both of these new albums will be available on bandcamp, and features live instruments and singers.

In the meantime, be sure to check out The Northerner Diaries Symphonic Sketches below, it’s a stunning work.

<a href="http://jeremysoule.bandcamp.com/album/the-northerner-diaries-symphonic-sketches">The Northerner Diaries Symphonic Sketches by Jeremy Soule</a>

Check back with OSV in March for news on The Northerner: The Moon and the Night Sky. If you want to be the first to know what’s up I recommend following Jeremy Soule on Twitter. Are you looking forward to these albums?
Game Music

Soundtrack to Horror Fighting Game Omen of Sorrow Available Now

December 18, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Soundtrack to Horror Fighting Game Omen of Sorrow Available Now Share this

You may have heard of the PS4 game Omen of Sorrows in your travels, either due to artist GENZOMAN’s character and cover artwork for the game or through curiosity. The horror-themed 2D fighting game akin to Darkstalkers, the AOne Games release features a darker tone as well as an interesting soundtrack courtesy of Chilean composer Francisco Cerda.

The Omen of Sorrows Original Soundtrack features 16 tracks arranged by Cerda, along with a bonus track featuring a main theme written by Chilean thrash metal band “Straight Terror”.

An ambitious 16 track album, which combines the intensity of bitcrushed guitars and synthetizers along with the dramatic sounds of traditional orchestral strings. A musical journey that ranges from visceral experimentation to iconic industrial metal riffs.

<a href="http://franciscocerda.bandcamp.com/album/omen-of-sorrow-original-game-soundtrack">Omen of Sorrow (Original Game Soundtrack) by Francisco Cerda</a>

<a href="http://franciscocerda.bandcamp.com/album/omen-of-sorrow-original-game-soundtrack">Omen of Sorrow (Original Game Soundtrack) by Francisco Cerda</a>

Each fighter receives their own level theme, as is usual for fighting games, with the aforementioned industrial tones being featured heavily, though live guitars, strings and even french horn (performed by composer John Robert Matz ) are also highlighted throughout the soundtrack. This gives the music a heavier intonation, more like recent Killer Instinct games that older Darkstalkers, and helps set itself apart.

Released with help from Materia Collective, the Omen of Sorrows Original Soundtrack is currently available on Bandcamp and iTunes/Apple Music.
Game Music, Indie Music

Indie Platformer Chrono Ghost to Release Soundtrack December 21st

December 14, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Indie Platformer Chrono Ghost to Release Soundtrack December 21st Share this

Last year, I did a artist spotlight on new VGM band Moiré Effect, highlighting the group’s foray into the VGM community. This year, Scott Wells & Drew Etterle from the band will see their first game soundtrack composition release for the new indie platformer, Chrono Ghost.

Chrono Ghost is a soon-released game from NITETIME Studios, featuring the titular character the player takes control of. As the “spirit of time”, you must make yours way through various levels using your chronomancer abilities to determine just what it means to have such a title. The game looks very artistic, with the music combining orchestral and synth elements to highlight the time-manipulating action players will experience. Wells and Etterle have created more rock-oriented compositions for their work on Moiré Effect, so switching up to suit an entire game with a certain tone can prove challenging.

“I met Kelly from NITETIME Studios when they were demo-ing Chrono Ghost at MAGFest 2017. They said they were still looking for music. Scott got a chance to meet them again at this past MAGFest and they were still looking and interested if we’d be a good fit. We came up with a few demo tracks and turns out they dug it.” – Drew Etterle, composer

The music features much in the way of piano and synthetic tones to accentuate the atmosphere of the game, with slow and sometimes somber build-ups that open up to rhythmic whimsy. It comes together to create a simple ambiance that doesn’t try to overplay its hand. It takes flavors of what Yasunori Mitsuda did with Chrono Trigger and shapes it into something with almost a spiritual tone to it.

<a href="http://peribangrecords.bandcamp.com/album/chrono-ghost-original-soundtrack">Chrono Ghost Original Soundtrack by Scott Wells & Drew Etterle</a>

The Chrono Ghost Original Soundtrack consists of 21 tracks, seven of which are currently available for preview on Bandcamp, with the album in pre-order mode until it’s release on December 21st alongside the game. Chrono Ghost will release for both Steam immediately and consoles early 2019.
Experimental, Game Music

Turrican Series Gets a New Conceptual Soundtrack with “Rise Of The Machine “

December 12, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Turrican Series Gets a New Conceptual Soundtrack with “Rise Of The Machine “ Share this

“What would a Turrican 4 Soundtrack on the Amiga have been like in 1994?”. This is literally the first sentence of the newest release by Turrican II composer Chris Huelsbeck as a bonus stretch goal from his “Turrican – Orchestral Selections” Kickstarter-funded project. Huelsbeck took the ambitious challenge of creating a whole new conceptual Turrican soundtrack, as if it was still the mid-90s and the Commodore Amiga was still fighting the good fight among gaming platforms, and made it a reality.

Turrican – Rise of the Machine is a 19 track album that features a slew of brand new music, made tailored to the imaginary idea of a new Turrican sequel. Although basically a “fan album”, Huelsbeck and Thomas Boecker made sure that this new bonus album was in every way created as if it were specifically for the long-past Commodore computer.

Created with Chris Huelsbeck’s original TFMX Sound System on the Amiga and recorded on real hardware, this labor of love is meant as the soundtrack for a virtual and imaginary successor to one of the most beloved game series of the era. No detail was spared, even down to the memory and CPU limitations of mid 90s. But now it’s 2018 and time for “Rise Of The Machine”!

<a href="http://chrishuelsbeck.bandcamp.com/album/turrican-rise-of-the-machine">Turrican – Rise Of The Machine by Chris Huelsbeck</a>

Huelsbeck as done a fine job in resurrecting the Turrican series in the past few years, first with the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology and then with the Turrican II: The Orchestral Album. With the addition of Rise of the Machine, the Turrican series composer provides a fresh offering of familiar Amiga sounds for fans. We may never get a Turrican 4 game, but at least we can enjoy some series successor music.

Turrican – Rise of the Machine is currently available on Bandcamp for $15USD.