(Best thing about this post? You can download ALL this music LEGITIMATELY right here.)
My introduction to the Legacy of Kain series was with the PlayStation game, Soul Reaver. It was a dark, atmospheric third person adventure game, with the usual block-moving puzzles made most popular by Crystal “Tomb Raider” Dynamics. But by far the favourite part for me was the music. By the second game, I’d become so fond of the soundtrack, I used to leave the game running just to have the music playing (these were before the days of YouTube–I had to work to listen to my favourite tracks!). (more…)
With the mindset of “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything”, I’ll keep my opinions on the 2002 film brief.
Suffice to say, it was a film with flaws, poorly-adapted characters with little to no faithfulness to the books (books plural – Queen of the Damned was an amalgamation of Anne Rice’s book of the same name, and also “The Vampire Lestat”, her previous book) it was based on. Even judged on its own merits, it was still…well, it wasn’t great. Still better than Twilight, but…
Alright, now I’ve offended any fan of this film, let’s move onto the music, shall we?!
The score was a joint venture by composer Richard Gibbs and KoRn front-man Jonathan Davis.
At the time of the film’s release, I was a 100% Davis fan girl. I was obsessed with him. I had pictures all over my wall, and I had this picture frame on my window sill that had a cutout from a magazine picture of him in it, which you can see in this picture:
There he is, just off the to right. And all over the walls. I had a bit of a problem, I guess.
Oh, I would’ve done anything–and I do mean anything–to/with that man.
But I digress; what I’m trying to get across is the fact I had a bit of a “thing” for Jonathan Davis, and it was this “thing” that got me so interested in the Queen of the Damned movie, and that kept me interested when I should have left it well alone.
The Score
The score itself is fairly short (10 tracks), and highlights for me include:
This is the musical accompaniment to the opening titles, where we see Akasha (played by the late Aaliyah) in an enigmatic series of shots. It’s a nice build-up track, lots of suspense.
The music video above only has half the track, which is a shame, because the second half has a quiet, eerie quality to it, that dips and sways into a sharp finish. It’s the only one I could find on YouTube.
One of the characters in the film, Jesse, is an orphan who has dreams of a forgotten childhood, wherein she had a family that cast her out.
The music has a very bi-polar quality to it. In the beginning, it is dark and with plenty of long, drawn-out what I think are cello notes, possibly double-bass, which is replaced by soft, tinkering bells, giving it a very child-like quality, but also quite detached and sombre.
On the beach is a scene where Lestat and Marius (played by Vincent Perez and by far one of the film’s few saving graces) are discussing the importance of concealing themselves from mortals. Lestat, having none of this, joins a gypsy girl in a violin “music-off”. Lestat’s playing becomes more frantic and eventually the gypsies become afraid and try to flee, at which point he and Marius kill them.
This is my favourite track on the score, not least because I can hear Davis’ voice in the beginning, but the violin track is wonderful: long, drawn-out and haunting notes that really grip at you.
The soundtrack is a mixture of original tracks designed to be Lestat’s songs in the film, and the usual “inspired by” fare.
Mostly hard rock and metal of the late 90’s/early2000’s, featuring most of the big rollers of the time (Marilyn Manson, Disturbed, and Static X to name but a few).
Just as a bit of a side note, “Down With the Sickness” is easily one of my favourite songs of all time; I have written countless scenes to it, and I hope to continue doing so.
All the songs on the soundtrack are great, and it’s going to make for a long post if I list them all, so instead I’ll just put this playlist link in here, and you can enjoy them all.
For what I assume were legal/contractual reasons to KoRn, Davis’ vocals on the songs written specifically for the film couldn’t be included on the official soundtrack release. Instead, the album had various other artists, including Chester Bennington and Marilyn Manson, to fill-in as Lestat’s voice.
For example, here is the movie version of Forsaken, complete with a full music video, including Davis’ vocals:
And here is the soundtrack release, with Disturbed’s David Draiman providing vocals instead:
Personally, I prefer Draiman’s version, but only because that is the one I had on the soundtrack CD, so that’s the one burned into my brain. Plus, Draiman has a somewhat more powerful voice.
Music to Write All Sorts of Scenes To
If we’re talking about the score, it generally goes well with writing tense scenes, with many of the tracks steadily building in intensity and leaving you feeling uncomfortable or unprepared for what’s coming.
On the other hand, the soundtrack serves better for action and fight scenes, as hard rock should.
You can download the MP3 albums on Amazon.com, with the score here and the soundtrack here.
OK, just to forewarn you, this is going to be a big one (that’s what she said, hur hur), because I’ve been waiting a long time to get the opportunity to talk about Final Fantasy VII, and – on the off-chance that you have never played Final Fantasy VII – be aware that story spoilers are more than likely. If you want to skip the story and move straight to the tunes: I don’t care about your life story, woman, just tell me about the music…
Shadow of the Colossus is a PlayStation 2 game released in 2005 (and re-released in HD for the PS3 in 2011). It tells the story of a young man who ventures into a forbidden land in the hope of reviving his dead girlfriend, and who is instructed by forces unknown to kill the creatures (the colossi) that inhabit this vast landscape in order to restore life to his beloved.
Kill all 16 of these majestic, building-sized beasts,
and you might get what you want…but at a price!
(Watch a video of this particular fight here)
It’s safe to assume that you have at least heard of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, whether through the book itself, the Disney classic based on it, the Tim Burton “re-imagining”, any of the lesser known TV movies based on it, or even the porno (yes, there’s a porno – click for a review, which is NSFW, for obvious reasons). But in October 2000, a PC game that explored a darker Wonderland was released for the PC.
Alice and the Cheshire Cat as they’re depicted in the game.
Koudelka was released in 2000, and is a Horror/RPG, one of the first of its kind to blend both classic ‘fantasy’ elements of an RPG with certain ‘horror’ elements akin to the likes of, say, Parasite Eve […].
I like music. That’s OK, though, because other people also like music, too. There are people who don’t like music, and they should be rounded up like cattle and beaten to death with pool cues. I mean, really, who doesn’t like music? Soulless cretins, that’s who.
What was I saying?
Right. Yes. I like music, and I also write books (or, rather, I try to), and I like to listen to music while I write the aforementioned books. I find the right track can focus my mind on the task at hand: my fight scenes work to Pendulum, my death scenes (hypothetical death scenes, that is, since nobody dies…that would be spoilers!) are supported by Ludovico Einaudi, and so on.
So I’m going to try something new: every Sunday, I will share some of my music tastes with you (plus, in most cases, the stories behind how I came to listen to them). Won’t that be exciting! Yes, it will.
Shut up.
The Music
These won’t be released in this order; it’s more a case of ‘when I get around to it’.
Underworld, Underworld: Evolution & Underworld: Rise of the Lycans [Film]
Vampire Masquerade: Bloodlines [VG]
Vib Ribbon [VG]
FAQ
Q // Can you tell me where I can download [name of music here]?
Nope, sorry. While I can’t stop you stealing music off the Internet, I’m not about to support it by providing links. I will always look out for and provide links to any music that can be purchased (either through services such as iTunes or the good old-fashioned CD).
Q // Can you e-mail me a particular track/album?
Sorry, no. Again, I’ll provide purchase links, or you can look for the music yourself.
Q // Why haven’t you looked at [name of music here]?
The music I look it comes purely from my own experiences and discoveries. If I haven’t looked at something that seems blatantly obvious, chances are it’s just because I haven’t come across it.
Q // Will you look at [name of music here]?
If you have a suggestion, I’d be happy to hear it. Leave a comment below or contact me and I might check it out. Just bear in mind that music – like everything – is a matter of personal taste, and I will not talk about music that I don’t personally enjoy, as I would be unable to do it justice.
Q // So does this mean you’re not actually writing at the minute?
