Soundtrack Review: Legendary (2008)
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This is a review of the video game score for Legendary by Jack Grillo & Ricardo Hernandez.
“This is not as great as for example Metal Gear Solid 4 by Harry Gregson-Williams, but this is certainly far from the other end where really horrible stuff exists”
This little gem of a video game score came upon me recently and of course it is always exciting with something new and I hadn’t heard about Jack Grillo and Ricardo Hernandez, but they both have been around the ‘block’ and worked with composers like Alan Howarth, Christophe Beck, Brian Tyler, Sean Callery, Michael Giacchino, Nathan Barr, Christopher Franke, Christopher Lennertz and Tomandandy. Not a bad CV at all if you ask me. The score itself has been on iTunes for a week already and the game comes out on October 21st. I have watched the trailers to get a feel for the game itself before I did this review. The game looks very impressive, but does the soundtrack live up to the same standards?
Track List
- Prologue (**)
- Flashpoint (****)
- It’s Just Business (***)
- All Alone (***)
- Enemy Of My Enemy (**)
- All Fall Down (**)
- Is Anybody There (***)
- Full Moon (***)
- Minotaur! (****)
- Bullets And Blood (**)
- Counterstrike (****)
- Little Devil (**)
- Target Id – Kraken (***)
- Barf Pinata (**)
- The Tower (*****)
- Epilogue (**)
Music For Creatures
The score consists mostly of a metal guitar played by Jack Grillo and heavy percussion beats which seems to go well with the game itself. It has a rough edge to it and it’s appropriate with modern sounds instead of classical instruments. The score itself is 47 minutes and probably used well throughout the game itself. There is something clever here, yet annoying, and I’ll let you know what that is later on. In the world of Legendary, there are creatures such as werewolves, minotaurs, griffons and golems. Sounds great to me, but they need some music to go with the mayhem.
Clever But Annoying
They have opted to go for video game sequences inside the soundtrack which is fine, because it’s kind of cool and not very annoying (ask me after the 10th listen). It starts off with an intro to the game telling us what it’s all about, how they happened to open Pandora’s box and unleash hell. Then it goes on to one of the best cues of the score which is called “Flashpoint”. Love that edgy guitar, which is sadly missing from most tracks. It will no doubt drive you a bit crazy because I mentioned that there is something clever, yet annoying in this score and that is called repetition. The tracks sometimes seems to go in an endless loop with very few varied themes, although it is very clever in a way that it can be used again and again for the game. My ears would definitely like some more variety, then again, I can’t be too harsh on that as it is the norm these days.
The Good, The OK And The Repeated
There are a few good cues on this score and the best ones are “Flashpoint”, “Counterstrike” and “The Tower”. Honorable mention goes to “Minotaur!” which has a mean bass guitar with a rock percussion beat on top of it. The rest of the cues are pretty average with a few less successful ones like “Enemy of my Enemy” which like the title repeats a boring track over and over. “Bullets And Blood” starts with a sequence from the game and one of the characters say: “Sometime low-tech beats high-tec, know what I mean?”. It would be nice if they followed up with some low-tech instruments as well, but it’s just a standard drum beat over a tired guitar. I won’t mention them all, but there are a few other non-starters. This doesn’t in any way change my overall feeling of this score and it’s a good feeling. I have listened to it 5 times now and I like what I hear and I see potential for expanding this for their next soundtrack.
Conclusion
This is to my knowledge their first official soundtrack they have made. This is not as great as for example Metal Gear Solid 4 by Harry Gregson-Williams, but this is certainly far from the other end where really horrible stuff exists. All in all I have to say it’s a well crafted soundtrack that fits great with the theme of the game. It will be great to see upcoming projects coming from these two as they have started off quite well in my book
Listen to Legendary by Jack Grillo & Ricardo Hernandez on MySpace
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Comments
Thanks Toby, it definitely has a creepy vibe to it which I forgot to put in the review. “The Tower” was my favorite track on the album. “Minotaur!” was good as well. Great sound design all around.
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There are some great tracks on this game soundtrack. The feel is apocalyptic and eerie. What I like the most is how different it is from anything else I’ve purchased recently.
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Glad you think so Raul. I’m excited about their next project.
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I first heard the soundtrack preview on myspace and wanted to hear more. I got it on iTunes two days ago and have been rocking to it non-stop. It is a very unconventional score that has creepy atmospherics, huge sounding, raw pounding drums and very aggressive guitar playing. First time, I listened to the whole thing non stop and it was a great creepy experience of mythical proportions. I love the way the use dialog excerpts from the game,( a la Pulp Fiction, 21 Grams)it brings a story telling aspect that is refreshing and engaging. My favorite tracks are “The Tower”, “Minotaur!”, “It’s Just Business”, and “Is Anybody There”?
The Sound Design here is also top notch and includes disturbing whispers (coming from Pandora’s Box?), enraged creatures and creepy atmospherics. If you like unconventional soundtracks…you will love this!
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