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Akira Yamaoka's work in the Silent Hill games is utterly magnificent.

gitrektali

gitrektali

Member
Feb 22, 2018
3,191
Just re-discovered some of Akira's score work for the Silent Hill games, and it's just fucking fantastic. The atmosphere is always top-notch, and some of the vocal tracks are mesmerising. It's just really sad we won't get something like this again.



Probably the more known track from the library, and it's a doozy.



This is one of my all-time favourites. Such dense atmosphere. Quite possibly my favourite as well from the franchise.



AND THIS! The vocals in this!

It really pissed me off when Downpour didn't have Akira on it, but Daniel still ended up with a decent score, just not nearly as memorable.

What are some of your favourite tracks from the games?
 
Trevelyan

Trevelyan

User requested permanent ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,196
For the last 15 years I've always played all the soundtracks during September and October. By far some of the greatest music ever composed for any medium. It's fantastic by itself, but it's simply stellar when coupled with the games.
 
TheJollyCorner

TheJollyCorner

The Fallen
Nov 7, 2017
9,469
I love the progression of his 'sound'.
SH1 is very hectic, dissonant, industrial- with the rare dreamlike (and occasionally Badalamenti-inspired) melodic tune.
SH2, in contrast, is very hauntingly melodic- but his guitars really take center stage in a lot of ways.
SH3 is really when he starts flexing his drum and bass appreciation muscle, almost to a determent. And, of course, the vocal tracks begin.
And so on and so forth.

He's right there with Uematsu as my favorite consistently excellent composer in the business.
 
OP
OP
gitrektali

gitrektali

Member
Feb 22, 2018
3,191
i'll add this too from Homecoming. The game was, uh, okay, but the music is still superb.

 
Christor

Christor

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,573
Silent Hill and Akira Yamaoka's work are like peanut butter and jelly. It's too perfect for each other.
 
Dennis8K

Dennis8K

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,161
The original Silent Hill theme is the best.

It was a rare gift but you didn't deserve it and now Silent Hill is dead.
 
Dust

Dust

C H A O S
Member
Oct 25, 2017
32,227
Theme of Laura is one of the best tracks ever in a video game.

I personally love O.R.T and I think it is underrated.

 
Coolsambob

Coolsambob

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,268
Absolute greatness.

Saw Silent Hill band play a tiny venue a couple of years back and he seemed like a really nice guy. So awesome.
 

Deleted member 3812

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,821
I completely love Akira's music in the Silent Hill games.

Akira Yamaoka also received his first Hollywood movie credit with the 2006 adaptation of Silent Hill where he was brought on board as not just the music composer for the movie, but also an executive producer, he returned to compose music for the 2012 movie sequel Silent Hill: Revelation:

 
NotLiquid

NotLiquid

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
34,762
Alone In The Town used to be my background music when I had a temporary office job and needed to pass time, what a serene jam.

Actually, is it cool if I share some of Yamaoka's other works? Some of the OSTs he did for Grasshopper were brilliant, his sense of atmosphere is truly felt in these cuts as well.


 
deadfolk

deadfolk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,528
Only game OSTs I ever bought physically were SH1, 2 and 3.

Even used some of the tracks as ringtones at various times.

Magnificent.
 
ActWan

ActWan

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,334
Probably my all time favorite video game composer. SH 2 and 4 OSTs hold a special place in my heart. And I loved the other stuff he worked on like Shadows of the Damned! What a legend.
 
Schlomo

Schlomo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,133
SH2 and 3 are some of my favorite albums of all time. Unfortunately Yamaoka has never come close to that again in his later non SH soundtracks.
 
Zocano

Zocano

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,023
Yamaoka is just so good. Absolutely love his stuff. And I haven't even played any Silent Hill myself because I cannot deal with horror in games/movies. Beautiful music that I can sink my misery in.

While I had heard Hell Frozen Rain before it, Shadows of the Damned's main theme was my first real hook into exploring Yamaoka's music.
 
Winston1

Winston1

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
2,104
Yamaoka's work in the first four Silent Hill games truly was fantastic. His music in the Western developed games kind of felt like he had lost passion, but the stuff he did for Shadows of the Damned was great.
 
Jroc

Jroc

Banned
Jun 9, 2018
6,145
One of my all time favourite musicians.

Hate the cheesy vocal tracks though. I think Silent Hill 2 was his best work.
 
Treestump

Treestump

Member
Mar 28, 2018
8,364
One of the best in the business. As already mentioned, the man even put in work on Homecoming in which the soundtrack is the only saving grace.

 
Transistor

Transistor

Hollowly Brittle
Administrator
Oct 25, 2017
37,145
Washington, D.C.
Silent Hill 3 is his magnum opus. don't get me wrong, all of his soundtracks are amazing, but Silent Hill 3 is just something special.

Athough I have a special place in my heart for the SH4 soundtrack. Had a really heavy make-out session to that soundtrack back in the day
 
Dusk Golem

Dusk Golem

Local Horror Enthusiast
Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,804
His Silent Hill 1 OST is legitimately dark and unnerving at points, it's got this kinda' nightmare-like atmosphere to it, and I think even the calmer tracks sound like they're depicting a dream.

Silent Hill 2 has some very pretty music in it, kinda' a mysterious beauty feeling to them. Some of the tracks are more industrial and darker, and some of those are even amazing (such as Pyramid Head's second fight theme), but some of the tracks you'll still hear regularly on YouTube and the like and have become near iconic at this point. Theme of Laura is also amazing.

I may have a bias as Silent Hill 3 is my favorite SH game, but while SH3's OST isn't as pretty as SH2's as often, I think it perfectly fits the game, and there's a very unique feel to SH3. Plus the scary tracks are tense and the pretty tracks are very pretty.

Silent Hill 4 I think gets slept on by many. Both the released music album (which for some reason most of the tracks on it don't actually play in SH4) and the in-game music is actually memorizing. I find it hard to describe this game's OST, but it's definitely ethereal.

Silent Hill Origins may be his most slept on soundtrack. Some of the songs in Origins are actually amazing, and kinda' give off an almost tribal vibe.

Homecoming I think is his weakest SH soundtrack overall, but it's still very good and there's a few stand-out tracks.

Shattered Memories I think fits the experience perfectly, the songs sound more... homely, if that makes any sense? You spend a lot of time exploring in the game, and a lot of the songs sorta' reflect that gentle exploration.

Also if you love his Silent Hill music, don't sleep on Shadows of the Damned's OST. It's really good, and many tracks don't sound too out of his SH style (hell he even does a couple songs in that game with Mary Elizabeth Mcglynn)

As everyone's going to be posting songs from the games, I'll post a few I doubt others may post I'm fond of:







 
Garlador

Garlador

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
14,131
An Akira Yamaoka appreciate thread? I'm in.

Of all the Silent Hill songs, it's hard for me to nail down which is my favorite. I learned how to play the Silent Hill Theme, Theme of Laura, and so many others.

Though the song I've listened to the most is "Waiting for You" from SH4.


Also... I admit I kind of like what they did with his song "Love Psalm" in the otherwise-ignored Book of Memories.
 
Baccus

Baccus

Banned
Dec 4, 2018
5,307
It is. If it released in current times it'd storm the world. It's pure art.

Honorable mention to the "band" songs. If you compile them into one Playlist it becomes one of the best indie rock records of the 2000s.
 

Deleted member 3812

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,821
OmniOne said:
100% agree with this thread.

However Mary Elizabeth McGlynn should be getting some love here.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Totally agree regarding Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, here's an actual recording I pulled from my archives of convention recordings from Otakon 2009 where Mary Elizabeth McGlynn was a guest for Otakon in 2009. In this audio recording, you will hear me introduce myself, ask my question and hear McGlynn's answer to my question (the question is fully Silent Hill related):

 
FakePlasticTree

FakePlasticTree

Member
Jul 24, 2018
10,242
Dusk Golem said:
His Silent Hill 1 OST is legitimately dark and unnerving at points, it's got this kinda' nightmare-like atmosphere to it, and I think even the calmer tracks sound like they're depicting a dream.

Silent Hill 2 has some very pretty music in it, kinda' a mysterious beauty feeling to them. Some of the tracks are more industrial and darker, and some of those are even amazing (such as Pyramid Head's second fight theme), but some of the tracks you'll still hear regularly on YouTube and the like and have become near iconic at this point. Theme of Laura is also amazing.

I may have a bias as Silent Hill 3 is my favorite SH game, but while SH3's OST isn't as pretty as SH2's as often, I think it perfectly fits the game, and there's a very unique feel to SH3. Plus the scary tracks are tense and the pretty tracks are very pretty.

Silent Hill 4 I think gets slept on by many. Both the released music album (which for some reason most of the tracks on it don't actually play in SH4) and the in-game music is actually memorizing. I find it hard to describe this game's OST, but it's definitely ethereal.

Silent Hill Origins may be his most slept on soundtrack. Some of the songs in Origins are actually amazing, and kinda' give off an almost tribal vibe.

Homecoming I think is his weakest SH soundtrack overall, but it's still very good and there's a few stand-out tracks.

Shattered Memories I think fits the experience perfectly, the songs sound more... homely, if that makes any sense? You spend a lot of time exploring in the game, and a lot of the songs sorta' reflect that gentle exploration.

Also if you love his Silent Hill music, don't sleep on Shadows of the Damned's OST. It's really good, and many tracks don't sound too out of his SH style (hell he even does a couple songs in that game with Mary Elizabeth Mcglynn)

As everyone's going to be posting songs from the games, I'll post a few I doubt others may post I'm fond of:

Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

He did a song with Troy Baker as well.
 
Dusk Golem

Dusk Golem

Local Horror Enthusiast
Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,804
ThePhantom said:
I'd love to play Silent Hill, what's the best way to play each one from 1-4?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Silent Hill 1 is easy to emulate on PC, and the PS3/Vita versions you can buy for like $6 are pretty decent emulations themselves.

Silent Hill 2 is emulatable on PC and good, though a few fixes for cutscenes. If you can get the PC version, the in-the-works PC Enhanced Edition is fantastic.

Silent Hill 3's PC version is excellent, was handled by the original team themselves and even renders textures and some effects at higher resolution than PS2. However, emulating the PS2 version is still a great way to experience it.

Silent Hill 4, emulating the PS2 version is the best way to play it.
 

Deleted member 28461

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 31, 2017
4,830
My SO has never played or even watched me play a SH game, but now listens to the soundtracks on a regular basis after I played a couple tracks while driving one night. Even without the context of the games, the music is just incredible and stands on its own.
 

Deleted member 24021

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
4,772
Dusk Golem said:
Silent Hill 1 is easy to emulate on PC, and the PS3/Vita versions you can buy for like $6 are pretty decent emulations themselves.

Silent Hill 2 is emulatable on PC and good, though a few fixes for cutscenes. If you can get the PC version, the in-the-works PC Enhanced Edition is fantastic.

Silent Hill 3's PC version is excellent, was handled by the original team themselves and even renders textures and some effects at higher resolution than PS2. However, emulating the PS2 version is still a great way to experience it.

Silent Hill 4, emulating the PS2 version is the best way to play it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Thanks!
 
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