Music

[Retro Review] Silent Hill 1 OST

Published

12 years ago

April 2, 2012

It’s hard to believe that it was over 13 years ago that Silent Hill for Playstation came out. Has it really been so long? Have so many years ticked away? It seems like only yesterday that I was playing the game with my friend in his basement, our eyes wide with fear, every creak the house made a warning that something, some THING, was after us.

It was also the time that my now obvious near-obsession with Silent Hill began. For me, Silent Hill was to The Shining in the way Resident Evil was to Aliens. And as much as I love Aliens (a WHOLE LOT), The Shining is the movie I go to when I want to get scared. Part of the appeal is the work of renowned composer Akira Yamaoka whose name became synonymous with the franchise. Yamaoka’s work was nothing short of terrifying, creating an aural horror that assaulted the senses even when nothing was happening.

So, in honor of March and the release of both Silent Hill: Downpour (OST review/game review) and the Silent Hill HD Collection, I decided to go back to my mid-teen years and revisit the OST to original Silent Hill, the one that started it all.

It’s hard to describe this as a music review because, and let’s be honest here, this album is more experimental noise than traditional music. But that was what made it so unique and interesting in terms of being a video game score. Up until that point in my life, pretty much every video game soundtrack I heard was built around traditional musical cues and themes. I had grown up listening to Matsubara’s work on Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest and Kikuta’s Secret Of Mana, just to name a few favorites.

But here was something wildly different. Rather than express emotion through traditional strings, woodwinds, piano, etc… (admittedly, all in 8 or 16-bit sound), Yamaoka created a landscape of pure fear by utilizing sirens, ferocious percussion, howling winds, and what sounds like pipes being banged from a great distance away. These were sounds that reflected the bleak, cold, terrifying world that Harry Mason had to traverse in order to try and find his daughter Cheryl.

For me, the tones on this album were a true reflection of the fog that enshrouded the town. Many of the instruments sound like they are coming from beyond a veil, as if I have to wander further into my own dark imagination to understand what might be causing these sounds. Other tracks are a reflection of the Otherworld, rusted and violent, shrieking metal grinding against gnarled grates.

The album also has this fantastic analog flavor to it, enhanced by the addition of vinyl record scratches sprinkled liberally throughout.

The Final Word: An album like this never really has an issue with losing its effect or edge. After all, the wind will continue to howl long after we die, sending shivers up and down the spines of children all around the world, making them afraid to look under their beds. Akira Yamaoka’s Silent Hill 1 OST proves that the greatest horrors are brought to life through our own imagination.

Got any thoughts/questions/concerns for Jonny B.? Shoot him a message on Twitter!

JonathanBarkan

Managing editor/music guy/social media fella of Bloody-Disgusting

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Music

“He Walks By Night” – Listen to a Brand New John Carpenter Song NOW!

Published

2 weeks ago

April 9, 2024

John Squires

It’s a new day, and you’ve got new John Carpenter to listen to. John Carpenter, Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter have released the new track He Walks By Night this morning, the second single off their upcoming album Lost Themes IV: Noir, out May 3 on Sacred Bones Records.

Lost Themes IV: Noir is the latest installment in a series that sees Carpenter releasing new music for John Carpenter movies that don’t actually exist. The first Lost Themes was released in 2015, followed by Lost Themes II in 2016 and Lost Themes III: Alive After Death in 2021.

Sacred Bones previews, “It’s been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that would become Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood’s great second acts. Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. With Lost Themes IV: Noir, they’ve struck gold again, this time mining the rich history of the film noir genre for inspiration.

“Since the first Lost Themes, John has referred to these compositions as “soundtracks for the movies in your mind.” On the fourth installment in the series, those movies are noirs. Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes these songs “noirish” is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone.

“The trio’s free-flowing chemistry means Lost Themes IV: Noir runs like a well-oiled machine—the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John’s own Christine. It’s a chemistry that’s helped power one of the most productive stretches of John’s creative life, and Noir proves that it’s nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.”

You can pre-save Lost Themes IV: Noir right now! And listen to the new track below…