For me. The best themes are the ones that remain in your head after the first playthrough. Even when you are not playing the game you recall the melody and start humming it. I remember Artaria's theme, Ferenia, the EMMI Zones, Burenia, Cataris, Dairon and even the Chozo warriors theme. All because they have strong melodies that are easy to remember, just like Zero Mission's Brinstar, Super Metroid's lower Norfair or the AQA sector in Metroid Fusion. If the music stays glued to my neurons after leaving a specific area or sector when moving through the different areas that is a successful theme. The only melodies that I cannot fully recall are from Elun, Hanubia and Itorash. Maybe because we spend less time in those areas compared to other areas? Possibly. Overall Metroid Dread has incredible music for my taste. Great themes for each area that are distinctive and easy to remember and associate. Just like previos games of the saga. Nintendo might have already realized that simple and catchy themes are the secret formula for their games to succeed. Maybe that's why Mario and Zelda music are so memorable. Simple, but efficient nonetheless.
Man it's nice to see a nuanced take about this soundtrack. I agree with a lot of what was said here. Personally i really like the rompler feel and just the general arrangement of the strings in certain sections. I've heard it described negatively as cacophonous but i honestly like that about it, something about the sound of some of these tracks feels very much like old-school mid 90s japanese video game music and i love it. In the end though i agree that on the whole it was merely fine, some peaks (raven beak bossfight), some valleys and many "good enough" tracks in there. Regardless i thought dread was a great great game.
Very fair review. Going into the game the soundtrack (and emmi zones) were the things that worried me most. Ended up enjoying both overall but I agree the soundtrack could use some stronger melodies. I'm a fan of Burenia, Cataris Depths, Ghavoran, most of the boss battle music, and the Ferenia theme has been in my head off and on since the game released. So I'm a defender of the soundtrack, but I'm also hoping all the criticism will be good for the next game in the series. Nintendo and Mercury Steam seemed to listen to the feedback on Samus Returns and made a much more polished game, so as the soundtrack seems to be the main weak point hopefully the composers push it for Prime 4 and Metroid 6.
I'm not a composer, but as a layman and fan of the series I agree. Dread may be the overall theme of the game, but some melodic themes would have elevated the soundtrack. The Prime series have a couple of good examples, such as Phendrana Drifts, Torvus Bog and Sanctuary Fortress (haven't played Prime 3 but pretty sure there are some strong themes and melodies in that game as well). Those examples may be a bit to upliftning, but they had Burenia in Dread, so it's definitely possible to have themes that feel darker.
While on the whole, I agree dreads soundtrack is not super or fusion level. I still think you left out some of the best tracks from dread. The 2nd and 3rd artaria themes are bops, how some of the area themes have motifs that carry into the boss themes wasn't mentioned. Kraids new theme, Raven Beak, experiment z-57, the new escape theme. Samus returns aside from the remixes of music from Metroid 2, played it way more safe with retreads of super. Dread minus a few was all new
I'm on my first playthrough now and have been playing for about three hours. I'll come back and watch the video once I've finished the game. I'm so disappointed about the soundtrack so far. I mean, is there even a soundtrack? Only generic atmospheric crap so far. It's truly a shame. Exploration and immersion have always been sooo enhanced by great soundtracks in the past games. What happened? I still haven't heard a single memorable track... Man...
![What if Metroid Dread's Soundtrack was Good? [Part V: FERENIA (1/2)]](/img/n.gif)
For me. The best themes are the ones that remain in your head after the first playthrough. Even when you are not playing the game you recall the melody and start humming it.
I remember Artaria's theme, Ferenia, the EMMI Zones, Burenia, Cataris, Dairon and even the Chozo warriors theme. All because they have strong melodies that are easy to remember, just like Zero Mission's Brinstar, Super Metroid's lower Norfair or the AQA sector in Metroid Fusion.
If the music stays glued to my neurons after leaving a specific area or sector when moving through the different areas that is a successful theme.
The only melodies that I cannot fully recall are from Elun, Hanubia and Itorash. Maybe because we spend less time in those areas compared to other areas? Possibly.
Overall Metroid Dread has incredible music for my taste. Great themes for each area that are distinctive and easy to remember and associate. Just like previos games of the saga.
Nintendo might have already realized that simple and catchy themes are the secret formula for their games to succeed. Maybe that's why Mario and Zelda music are so memorable. Simple, but efficient nonetheless.
Man it's nice to see a nuanced take about this soundtrack. I agree with a lot of what was said here. Personally i really like the rompler feel and just the general arrangement of the strings in certain sections. I've heard it described negatively as cacophonous but i honestly like that about it, something about the sound of some of these tracks feels very much like old-school mid 90s japanese video game music and i love it. In the end though i agree that on the whole it was merely fine, some peaks (raven beak bossfight), some valleys and many "good enough" tracks in there. Regardless i thought dread was a great great game.
Very fair review. Going into the game the soundtrack (and emmi zones) were the things that worried me most. Ended up enjoying both overall but I agree the soundtrack could use some stronger melodies. I'm a fan of Burenia, Cataris Depths, Ghavoran, most of the boss battle music, and the Ferenia theme has been in my head off and on since the game released. So I'm a defender of the soundtrack, but I'm also hoping all the criticism will be good for the next game in the series. Nintendo and Mercury Steam seemed to listen to the feedback on Samus Returns and made a much more polished game, so as the soundtrack seems to be the main weak point hopefully the composers push it for Prime 4 and Metroid 6.
Dairon's great, as is Burenia. The Raven Beak action theme is also really punchy and high energy
I'm not a composer, but as a layman and fan of the series I agree. Dread may be the overall theme of the game, but some melodic themes would have elevated the soundtrack. The Prime series have a couple of good examples, such as Phendrana Drifts, Torvus Bog and Sanctuary Fortress (haven't played Prime 3 but pretty sure there are some strong themes and melodies in that game as well). Those examples may be a bit to upliftning, but they had Burenia in Dread, so it's definitely possible to have themes that feel darker.
100% agree that it was too safe. Love the game to death (my favorite game of last year), but the score should’ve pushed things further.
While on the whole, I agree dreads soundtrack is not super or fusion level. I still think you left out some of the best tracks from dread. The 2nd and 3rd artaria themes are bops, how some of the area themes have motifs that carry into the boss themes wasn't mentioned. Kraids new theme, Raven Beak, experiment z-57, the new escape theme.
Samus returns aside from the remixes of music from Metroid 2, played it way more safe with retreads of super. Dread minus a few was all new
I'm on my first playthrough now and have been playing for about three hours. I'll come back and watch the video once I've finished the game. I'm so disappointed about the soundtrack so far. I mean, is there even a soundtrack? Only generic atmospheric crap so far. It's truly a shame. Exploration and immersion have always been sooo enhanced by great soundtracks in the past games. What happened? I still haven't heard a single memorable track... Man...