LogFAQs > #953887532

Out of Tartarus
Class::CIEL_N_PROTECTA;
Untamed Heart

I've started games for a few different reasons, but Hades was definitely the first game I started for "vgmgg research purposes." (It wasn't even specifically to use the music in the guessing game!) I'd heard this track before, and enjoyed it, but when I first heard the second half of it in-game-- during a Tartarus mini-boss door fight-- I got really hype. It's grown on me a lot ever since.

Out of Tartarus, like a lot of Hades music, sets up its mood flawlessly. The guitar mirrors the sort of casual, almost arrogant poise of Zagreus in the first half, and his capacity for violence in the second. There's a sort of darkly exotic feel expressed by the way the guitar uses the diminished fifth relative to the tonic, and the way it uses that specific note is maybe my favourite part of the track. The main riff is catchy but also kept really interesting by both its 4+4+4+3+6 rhythmic structure (this is how I hear it) and the way there's always variations on the last 6. I think the little synth beeps in the first half are a wonderful detail too. Just a really cool track and one of my favourites from this game.

Every time 1:21 hits in Dear Dragon I halfway expect it to turn into the second half of Downtown Jazz from Tetris Effect. It doesn't do that, but it still does some really neat stuff. It's that and the four-note high synth loop that stick with me the most in this very fun track. The buildup to the first section at 0:28 is well-done, and the floaty feel of 0:55 is great. If there's one part I'm kinda down on, it's the last third of the track, which doesn't stick with me quite as much.

The code-chanting choir is invariably my favourite part of CIEL_N_PROTECTA; the Japanese vocals follow a more straightforward (though not unpleasant) progression. That part is nice enough, but it's not specifically what intrigues me about hymmnos. The erhu's pretty great, though.

Track 7 knows what it wants to be-- some pretty chill drum'n'bass. And it's pretty successful at doing just that, though I think I'd enjoy it more as part of a longer mix of dnb vgm, maybe! It feels a bit slight as a standalone track.

Untamed Heart feels like drifting into an afternoon nap in the sun. That sounds unflattering-- it's a track that reminds me of sleeping-- but it's very pretty and idyllic, like memories of a happier time; a lazy afternoon without worry. There are musical details that keep me attentive-- I'd be much less engaged if I thought it was compositionally boring-- but it's that image and sentiment that sticks with me and moves me when I listen to this.

Foregone Destruction has one of those darned synth ostinatos that I find pretty catchy. The dnb here feels a bit more polished than in Track 7, and I think I enjoy it more overall, with some variations and synth melodies that build on its starting premise.