Soundtrack Review: ThreadSpace: Hyperbol (2007)

Posted by Jorn Tillnes

November 22, 2008

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112208 2306 soundtrackr11 Soundtrack Review: ThreadSpace: Hyperbol (2007) This is a review of the video game score to ThreadSpace: Hyperbol by Stuart Lawson.

“If you want an original soundtrack which isn’t afraid to challenge the tried and tested and likes electronic music, then this will be perfect for you”

ThreadSpace: Hyperbol is a game you most likely have not heard much of, but like the games Loco Roco and recently World Of Goo, it is one of the most fun and addictive games coming out in recent years. The game itself was released on July 12, 2007 and this score was released on iTunes on Nov 24, 2007. The composer is Stuart Lawson who had this to say about his new score:

“Part of my approach to composing the score was based what was required for the game, trailer music had to be sci-fi, fast paced, exciting, futuristic, and help show off the game. Another part of the approach was how the game inspired me, its complexity, skill, and teamwork. I chose this music style because I felt it would best fit the game’s universe, fast, futuristic, hyper and crazy. The original “Hyperbol Theme” inspired a lot of it. I had also had quite a bit of experience making electronic music in the past thanks to all the trackers out there.”

Track List

Intro
Hyper Rush
Go Forth
Beautiful Chaos
Prepare Us All
What We Lost
Enduring Struggle
Hyperbol Theme
The Plan
Tension
Drakes Cadence
The Outer Space
Victory

Slow Start

The soundtrack starts off with “Intro”, which is the music used for the web intro on the game’s webpage. The intro is quite different from the rest of the score (with a few exceptions), but it serves its purpose with its slightly heavy percussion beats followed by a brass heroic theme. It simply says: Let’s get ready for battle! What follows can simply be classified as a highly energetic and pulse throbbing video game score. The video game scores released are usually very grand and tries to emulate movie scores as best they can, but not this one. Stuart Lawson saw what this game needed, and it wasn’t a “Lord Of The Rings” epic kind of score or a “The Dark Knight” clone. It’s pure synthesizer techno type of music which certainly is a welcome addition to the current crop of game scores.

Let me get into the meat of this score real quick. The score officially starts with “Hyper Rush” and as the name suggests, is a true heart-beater. That and “Prepare Us All” differ from the first 6 cues as they are extremely fast and nervy while “Go Forth”, “Beautiful Chaos” and “What We Lost” are mellow dance tracks, what I call thinking tracks. They are not all about the action, but more about the strategy. It’s a bit slow first half overall for ThreadSpace: Hyperbol, but there are obvious highlights like “Hyper Rush” for it’s incredible catchy theme and “Beautiful Chaos” for its melodic and moody ending. Now hold on to what you can, because cues 6 to 13 are the real showstoppers on this soundtrack.

Hectic Finish

We start off with “Enduring Struggle” which is in the slower end of the cue, but the continuous beat of the hypnotic percussion makes this into one of the best cues on the score. The synthesizers blasted on top is complementary, but the percussion is the one that holds it all together. Now we get to the “Hyperbol Theme” which was the very first track composer Stuart Lawson made for the original Hyperbol according to the digital booklet that comes with every purchase. I forgot to mention that. Well there is a 15 page digital booklet with introduction from Stuart Lawson and a little history behind each track on the album which is an awesome idea. I wish every composer did that as I would love to read about the thought process behind each cue, which is exactly what Stuart has done. Back to the score now, namely “Hyperbol Theme” which Stuart says is all about getting pumped up for battle, something that this very frenetic track certainly does.

“The Plan” is all about strategy, thinking about what to do next and getting ready. It’s a slow track which uses musical elements like guitar pluck and also strings for its main variation. Percussion is used only in parts of this cue. “tension” could easily have fallen into the cracks as a filler-track, but from 2:20 and outwards is the best part of the whole score. The wicked beats and ‘crazy’ melody is simply a spectacular feast for the ears. We end this score with “Victory” which was created for the ThreadSpace: Hyperbol intro movie which is a very nice thematic song to end it all. It also shows the potential of Stuart Lawson as a composer. I would love to hear a different kind of score from him in the future, but we’ll see what happens. When I asked him about what he will do next he said:

“I hope to continue working on multimedia projects and other games. I’d love to do music all the time as I enjoy creating music the most, it really is my passion, but right now it just doesn’t pay the bills. I have other musical side projects, as well as a band that I’m hoping to release a twin CD for early next year. The band is called AFLARE and you can listen to some music here: http://www.aflaremusic.com , as well as download some free electronic tracks that will be on the Electronic Album, http://www.virb.com/aflare , Aflare is a mix between Alternative Rock with vocals, and Electronic. I’m very proud and excited about what it is shaping up to be. I’m hoping to release the full album in January/Feb 2009.”

Conclusion

While I liked this score, I can certainly see why others might not. It isn’t a typical video game score, but it brings some originality to the genre. If you want an original soundtrack which isn’t afraid to challenge the tried and tested and likes electronic music, then this will be perfect for you. If on the other hand you only stick to the orchestral music of Basil Poledouris and John Williams and can’t listen to anything else, then I’m afraid you won’t find much joy here.

112208 2306 soundtrackr21 Soundtrack Review: ThreadSpace: Hyperbol (2007)