September 2020 Feature Release - The Sphere Edition

It's now September which of course means that we'll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we're asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We're really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don't be shy.

This month's feature release for The Sphere is a little bit different as we've chosen to take a look at a 2013 video game soundtrack from an artist that wasn't previously known for working within the metal spectrum at all. LA music producer Jamie Christopherson had built his reputation on his ethnically-tinged orchestral scores but with "Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Vocal Tracks" we see him collaborating with former Machine Head guitarist Logan Mader for a series of futuristic cyber metal pieces that rarely exceed the 2 minute mark. Does it work in the context of metal for you? We'll be interested to see which way you guys go with this one.

https://metal.academy/releases/3296

Interesting listen. So looking at this the way you would a conventional record, you have the first 12 tracks which make up the songs, and afterwards you have remixes and instrumental versions. I like this because it reminds me of the Wax Trax! Maxi-Singles which would consist of as many remixes as actual songs. I also really like how the songs are almost all between 2 and 3 minutes, so you’ll have a verse and a chorus, but you’ll only hear them once. I assume the reason for this has to do with fitting in with the video game structure, but it actually makes for a really cool song format. I definitely like some of the tracks more than others, but none of them really get old because they go by too fast. They’re not 30 second grind blasts either though, so they fit in a weird space  that reminds me of punk, but only in terms of the length. So is it metal? I think so, at least for the most part. Although one of my favorite tracks is “A Stranger I Remain,” which is really just a fast pop song (or segment of one). There is a lot of killer shredding (which I assume is done by Logan Mader) especially on “The Stains of Time.” All the tracks are pretty fast, except for the moodier closer “The War Still Rages Within,” which clocks in at 5:00, easily the longest track, and probably one of my faves as well. Now we get to the downsides. There are several vocalists, and some appeal to me, others don’t. I may be losing some metal points for saying this, but John Bush from Armored Saint’s vocal track is probably my LEAST favorite. And the Kit Walters vocals on “A Soul Can’t Be Cut” kind of suck (he’s okay on “The Stains of Time” though). The main thing that I think keeps me from going all in on this release though, is that there’s just too much going on in all of the tracks. Like too many clean/orchestral synths over what would otherwise be some cool super-fast industrial. You would call it overproduction in most cases, but I understand that being a video game soundtrack kind of calls for a lot of polish. I think I enjoyed the more stripped down instrumental versions in the second half better, where it sounded like a roided out John Carpenter soundtrack. Still, I think this overall pretty fun. 3/5

To be honest, this sits a fair way outside of my comfort zone as the guitars are held too far back in the mix with the electro-industrial beats & samples being much more dominant. During the best moments I sometimes find Strapping Young Lad popping into my mind but these are generally too brief which is the nature of these sort of releases & they're inevitably cancelled out by cheesier tracks that remind me far too much stuff like of Linkin Park anyway. Overall, I'd suggest that I only enjoy around 45% of the tracklisting so I can't justify the healthy scores this release seems to draw from the video game audience. Fans of Neurotech, Deathstars & Sybreed may find something of interest here but it doesn’t do all that much for me personally.

3/5

This is an interesting one because I don't really think that this OST is a very good standalone product outside of the game. They definitely chose vocalists to appeal to the modern Alt-Metal crowd which doesn't exactly go along with the rest of the cyber/industrial stuff, but it's not that terrible in the end. If this released as a normal album I'd have to say it's pretty weak even though it has a lot of energy. Like Daniel said the guitars are pushed behind the drums and synth so much that it takes some careful listening to glean anything out of this except the front and center drum beat. There's some great moments here and there, like the strings in "Collective Conciousness" and the guitar solos in "The Stains Of Time", but it all comes and goes so fast that I almost wish that some of these tracks were 4 or so minutes instead of 2 and a half. I think this still does a great job of being an energetic and futuristic inspired take on a game OST and I can definitely see the appeal, but it's pretty surface level all things considered. 

I did a pretty in-depth review of the DOOM 2016 OST (shamless plug to RYM if you're interested) so I've gone down this Industrial Metal inspired video game OST road before, and let me tell you, DOOM definitely spoils you when it comes to stuff like this. DOOM's soundtrack is made to rise and fall with what's happening in the game, so you'd think that it wouldn't make a great standalone OST, but that isn't the case. It's just so hefty, so layered, and has more to it than something like this even though it's almost purely instrumental. That being said, I think this OST is the perfect example of something working within the game and not necessarily outside of it. All of these vocal remixes sound pretty hammed up at times to go alongside pretty generic cyber-industrial ideas, but when you're in the game zipping around destroying robots and "RULES OF NATURE" screams out from behind the rest of the game's sound effects, it hits a bit different. I haven't played Revengeance but I've seen gameplay and this soundtrack absolutely fits perfectly, which is probably why it's so highly regarded since people normally rate OST's in respect to them being in the game rather than standalone products. I don't necessarily agree with that idea, which is why I gave the DOOM 2016 OST a 4/5 instead of the 5/5 it probably deserved since "Rip and Tear" blasting into your ears as you're removing a demon's jaw from its face gives the music just a bit more punch.

2.5/5