Released On - May 20, 2014
Composed By - Darren Korb
Vocals Performed By - Ashley Barret
Lyrics By - Darren Korb
Published By - Supergiant Games
To be honest, 2014 has not been a good year for official video game soundtracks in my book (Pokemon Recochestrated: Double team was quite good though). So when I picked up this release I wasn't very optimistic. But this one far acceded my expectations. This is a post rock album with electronic influences at its core with some nice vocals for added charm. And the whole album has a very refreshing sound, overall balance in quality of all the songs and quite high re-play value.
For me the first and foremost thing that makes a video game OST special is, if it makes you want to play that game. With this soundtrack it makes me wanna try the game from the first few minutes. The feeling of entering a new world and the joy of adventure is almost palpable throughout the length. Although the overall construction of the album is that of an post-rock approach the mash up of electronics was a nice element. The electronic piano and programmed percussion adds a lot to the overall effect.
The instrumentation is really well coordinated as expected from a one man project, Darren Korb seems quite comfortably in his element and his passion for music and emotions are apparent throughout the album. While some songs are totally electronic pieces or some completely post-rock tracks there are quite a lot mash-ups of these two elements and a folk rock touch whick really mades the after taste that much better. Lots of instruments are used in this album. I can make out guitar, accordions, harps, piano and synthesizers among others and all these sounds blend together nicely and complements each other quite remarkably.
Another strong aspect is the vocal performance by 'Ashley Barett'. She does a very fine job with her melodic and beautiful vocals (specially check out the song 'The Spine' for her amazing performance). Her wonderful performance adds much more depth to some of the tracks and also makes you wanna play the game that much more. In fact the only complain with the album is that I wish there were more vocal pieces.
An almost flawless album in my book. Recommend to everyone who enjoys good music irrecspective of whether they are fans of video game soundtracks or not.
Notable tracks - 'Old Friends', 'Traces', 'Coasting', 'The Spine', 'Apex Beat', 'We All Become', 'Tangent', 'Impossible' & 'Paper Boats' among others.
So, Overall Score - "9.5 out of 10"
You can get the album at (among other sites) -
http://supergiantgames.bandcamp.com/album/transistor-original-soundtrack You can get the album at (among other sites) -
http://store.supergiantgames.com/products/official-transistor-soundtrack
No comments:
Post a Comment