Soundtrack Review: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots (2008)

Posted by Jorn Tillnes

August 7, 2008

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071008 1502 soundtrackr1 Soundtrack Review: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots (2008) This is a review of the video game soundtrack for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots by Harry Gregson-Williams & Nobuko Toda.

“Don’t expect old fashioned orchestras and grand themes, it is more like a rough modern action score”

Welcome to the first ever game music score review at soundtrackgeek.com. I have been thinking about it ever since I wrote an article back in December last year about the possibility of 2008 being the year for game scores. It’s been a long time coming and I wanted to expand a little bit. Now it doesn’t mean I will review every game score coming out, but a few select ones and first out is the MGS 4 score by none other than Harry Gregson-Williams & Nobuko Toda. Gregson-Williams needs no introduction, but I bet Nobuko Toda isn’t a familiar name for many people. I had to dig a little myself, but the only thing I could find out about him is that he is Japanese and has composed for the Metal Gear Solid games. If anyone can fill in the blanks, that would be great. There are also tracks from Jackie Presti, Lisbeth Scott, Norihiko Hibino, Takahiro Izutani and Yoshitaka Suzuki. This is the track list for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots:

Track List

CD1:

Old Snake
Love Theme
Gekko
Haven Troopers
Bb Corps
Drebin 893
Vista Mansion
Laughing Octopus
Breakthrough
Endless Pain
White Blood
Call Me Hal
Midnight Shadow
Paradise Lost
Great Escape
Desperate Chase
Raging Raven
Confrontation
Mobs Alive
Violent Cease Fire

CD2:

Next-Gen Control
Crying Wolf
One More Reboot
Sin
Atonement
Infinite Loop
Everything Ends
At Dawn
Screaming Mantis
Guns Of The Patriots
No Place To Hide
Sorrow
Full Circle
Everything Begins
Father & Son
Metal Gear Saga
Here’s To You
War Zone
A Rebellion Rests
The Hunter
The Hunted
Forced Hand
Under Curfew
Unmanned Army
Cold Memories
For Liberty
Surrounded

Fast, Modern & Militant

There certainly is a lot of music on this score, most of it from Nobuko Toda (25 tracks) and 14 tracks are from Harry Gregson-Williams. The total play time is 2 hours 20 minutes. This soundtrack compelled me to write a review because I don’t listen to many scores and when I do, I am mostly disappointed. This was not the case here, and when they release something with Harry Gregson-Williams I have to listen. It is a very militant score and the first track by Harry Gregson-Williams reminds me a little of The Rock which is funny since he was one of the composers on that score. It’s definitely not many sleeper tracks on this album as it’s fast paced and very modern. Don’t expect old fashioned orchestras and grand themes, it is more like a rough modern action score. It sounds much more like a soundtrack from a motion picture than a game, not that there are two many differences these days, but game scores have a tendency to sound a little light.

Hard To Get

Harry Gregson-Williams contribution to this score is great and it is for me the best part of the MGS 4 score. Nobuko Toda does a great job as well, and although it’s different from Harry Gregson-Williams, it is composed in the same style. He shows much promise and I wouldn’t be surprised if he were to score for movies in the near future. Another thing I have to mention is Jackie Presti which could well be Lisa Gerrard’s understudy with her deep soothing voice. I highly recommend this score, which unfortunately might be hard to get outside of Japan. It was in iTunes, but then it was removed. It is out there however and was officially released on May 28^th by Konami. If you like Harry Gregson-Williams action scores, then you’ll love this one. Listen to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots by Harry Gregson-Williasm & Nobuko Toda below: