Game Metal

Game Metal

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Game Metal is like Metal with videogame music style. Or videogame music on metal style. Whatever. Even when we try to expand the boundaries of this genre, we start from a particular taste: japanese videogame music from 8 and 16 bit generations. Here I have found an awesome style I have seen nowhere else.

 

But before justifying this ultranerd claim, I will explain the two main styles in videogame music composition: Background and Foreground trends.

The Background trend consists on giving videogame music merely a decorative function, to support the other elements, basically as it does in films soundtracks. It’s the main trend in western videogames (more preciselly, the non-japanese games). Even when there are notable pieces inside this category, most of the games they serve could be played without them, or almost with any other music.

In the foreground trend, the music blends with action, putting it at the same level as the graphics or gameplay. In these cases it’s unthinkable to play the game without its music.

Both trends have something in common: theirs songs are composed to be played in a loop, over and over again. In opposition to films scores in where the music is preciselly calculated, the videogame action is subordined to player’s freedom, and he can continue in the place of the track all the time he wants.

Following this principle, the first trend strategy is to sound so ambiental that you don’t even notice it. The strategy of the second is to make the tracks so awesome that you don’t mind to hear it a thousand times. This strategy has nasty side effects, like this band. Or like claiming that some of this tunes are some of the best melodies in the entire human history. I’d include dolphins too.

Music is basically made out of three ingredients: rythm, harmony and melody. The best rhytms, for me, are in metal (maybe in jazz too, I’m quite illetrated on that style). Harmony is a realm of cult music (sometimes refered wrongly as classical one (it’s just a period)). And the best melodies, always under my freaky point of view, can be found in japanese videogames from the late 80’s and first 90’s. And this trend, sadly, is been losing. Now, the majority of japanese games follows the western way, making most of their tracks boring as hell. But there are a lot of old jewells that bands like this one tries to rescue. And this is our first criteria to cover something: to be musically awesome, independently if it’s well known or not.

Surprisingly, videogame music blends perfectly with other of my beloved styles: METAL. Both are about action, energy, perfection, epic, complexity, intensity, power. And one of the Game Gods’ commitment is to heighten both styles. And this fusion would create a megastyle with even more power, which crush all the average bastard genres. That was before I realized the style was created some years ago.

I thing the first Game Metal album was Dracula Battle Perfect Selection, which I still consider the best in the genre. Since then there has been some bands following the steps, but it’s still a very unknown stuff, even for metal experts circles. And that is another of our objectives: to make not only this genre more popular, but algo the tunes it’s based on.

This was going to be like two paragraphs, and look out how it ended up.