Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Óscar Araujo

 
" Game music conquers the filmmusic listener again! "

Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release

When and where have games changed? When and where did games become the beacon for promising orchestral filmmusic? When did they take over where films just often tend to go? Not really sure, but I'm pretty confident that the freedom that remains in a game world remains one of the ultimate reasons why game music is more often than not the one and only place to get powerful and promising FILM music. I know having no boundaries allows a composer to write a more consistent score than having to follow each scene in a movie, but this hasn't stopped film composers before in the past. And the simple reason that it stops most composers today is because they tend to follow a line which is to support and not overpower anymore its visual counterpart.

Well, enter game music to simply continue to do just that. Somehow the makers of the games still have this crazy feeling that the music doesn't need to support it but actually elevate it. After all it's the same visual counterpart and it has the same boundaries of a specific genre, and yet somehow here game music can be over conquering, powerful, thematic and creative. Daring if you would use the perfect word. Because limits don't exist in games, neither visually, story wise or musical. What is now largely absent in the film world remains to enthrall us in the game world. And Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is just one of the many MANY examples that good music isn't that hard to find, if the composer knows just one thing really well. When he knows what carte blance really means.

And Oscar Araujo knows this pretty well. Araujo, a Spanish composer who already composed music for several games before he started working on Castlevania. And being a fan of the previous Castlevania games, Araujo was given the chance to go over the top with this new version. Using a 120 piece orchestra, the game goes about Gabriel Belmont to wants to seek revenge for the death of his wife. Through the course of the game, Belmont needs to defeat the evil force which is called Lord of Shadow in order to have his revenge and revive his wife. Due to the many adventurous encounters with monsters and titans, all set in a mystical world, the sound demanded for something epic, a sound which you only receive in the best adventure films of today (LOTR naturally comes to mind).

So it isn't a surprise the score of Castlevania is huge from start to bottom. And it opens immediately with the main theme of the player's character, a choral supported outburst of heroism and determination, followed by the main musical structure what you'll about to get from Araujo after that. Namely the heart and soul of Castlevania. Trumpets and choir. Remember their names well because they will conquer your ears relentlessly during the following hour. The same main theme pretty much sets "The Warg" on fire after that, using the theme much more as dominant force during the amazing trumpet frenzy and choral relentlessness. Pretty much a top track by sheer force alone. And it can't be a surprise to think of LOTR when you open with "Hunting Path", a cue that offers for the third time in a row the main theme as driving force of this choral laden piece.

The first sign of some relief comes during the slightly gloomier "The Dead Bog", but here Aaraujo still keeps it pretty epic by letting the choir to do most of the talking. And when the choir gives it a rest for a couple of minutes, the breath of the trumpets does the talking instead in the pretty amazing "The Swamp Troll", a cue that once again goes for the most epic vibe possible. And such a nomination goes to "The Ice Titan" as well, having one of those amazing main theme performances, including a wall of glorious sounds coming from that ever demanding choir.

However from this moment on, it's time for a change. A tempo lower and a force of three softer. And luckily the soundtrack follows our demand swiftly. "Labyrinth Entrance" and "Waterfalls of Agharta" offer various versions of the main theme, only more fragile and human here. All the while "Maze Gardens" is an angelic example of mythical proportions, closely assisted by several moments for solo vocal and one glorious main theme statement for choir. But from "The Evil Butcher" it's time to dance again on the thunderous rhythms of Arauja's demanding orchestral voice. Example nr. 115 is "Carmilla", another furious combination of trumpets and choir.

Luckily that gets the ultimate encore in "Final Confrontation", a cue that unleashes everything including THE most amazing main theme statement of all. A glorious heroic version of it that sends you to the filmmusic heavens and beyond. I was one of the lucky ones who was able to hear this in 2011 at the Ubeda film festival, and it remains until this day one of my most top 5 concert performances of all. The soft "The End" and the final eruption of the main theme in "Love Lost" (which happens to be entitled either Love Lost or The Big Battle on several versions) are lovely tracks, and end the score the way we started it. In amazing fashion.

Perhaps the thing that Castlevania: Lords of Shadow misses a bit is diversity. Diversity in tone I mean. The soft cues don't differ much from the epic cues in mere tone, something that a solo instrument could have done easily instead (like Howard Shore so masterfully did in his LOTR scores). But aside from the fact it's a bit the same, Castlevania is nonetheless one sheer thundering example of epic music. Araujo unleashes a perfect combination of the 2 strengths he masters in. Trumpets and choir, going over the top during numerous occasions. The choir is perhaps even a bit too frequently used, creating the power for sure but lacking that impact that makes it special. It's like you expect it no matter what. That's a quibble Araujo corrected in the sequel Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, a score that has in my opinion all of the strengths of the first one, but in even bigger more demanding fashion. And that's why this score is huge, but not that brilliant as the one that follows it.

Favorite Moment - The Final Confrontation (4.38 - 5.48)
Though we heard epic'ness, the heroic conclusion of this track is downright amazing. Hallelujah for the choir I say!

Track Listing

1. Besieged Village (4.23)
2. The Warg (3.26) Excellent track
3. Hunting Path (2.28)
4. The Dead Bog (2.31)
5. The Swamp Troll (5.03) Excellent track
6. The Ice Titan (4.12) Excellent track
7. Labyrinth Entrance (3.17)
8. Waterfalls of Agharta (2.45)
9. Agharta (1.27)
10. Cornell (4.11)
11. Maze Gardens (3.19)
12. Castle Hall (4.09)
13. The Evil Butcher (4.10)
14. Laura's Mercy (1.38)
15. Carmilla (2.03)
16. The God Mask (1.18)
17. Belmont's Theme (2.53)
18. Final Confrontation (6.09) Excellent track
19. The End (5.47)
20. Love Lost (1.27)

Total Length: 66.36
(click to rate this score)  
 
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(total of 3 votes - average 4.5/5)

Released by

Sumthing Else SE-3070-2 (regular release 2013)

Orchestrations by

Ferran Cruixent, Claudio Ianni & Alejandro Román