New Silent Hill Composer Wants to Honor the Series [UPDATED]

[Logan Westbrook]

New Silent Hill Composer Wants to Honor the Series [UPDATED]

Silent Hill's new songsmith says he has the utmost respect for his predecessor and all the music he created.

Japanese composer Akira Yamaoka has provided music for the Silent Hill series for years, from the very first game on the PS1, all the way up its most recent outing on the Wii. The upcoming Silent Hill: Downpour, however, will get its music from Dexter composer Daniel Licht, who is hopeful that fans will like what he creates.

Licht said that he was a big fan of the Silent Hill series, and that he had a great deal of respect for Yamaoka , and the work he had done over the last twelve years. He said that he wanted to honor what had come before, while adding to it with something new and exciting. Silent Hill: Downpour is Licht's first foray into videogame music, but he's no stranger to horror. Besides his work on Dexter, Licht has scored a number of horror movies, include Hellraiser IV: Bloodines and Soul Survivors. He also provided the score for the upcoming medical drama, Body of Proof, which airs in March.

As with any horror game, the music for Downpour will be incredibly important to maintaining the atmosphere, and Licht has some pretty big, spooky shoes to fill. But that's not to say that he can't pull it off, and if the work he's done on Dexter is any indication, it seems like he's going to do pretty well.

Silent Hill: Downpour is scheduled for release this Fall.

UPDATE: A short snippet of Licht's score for Downpour has appeared online. As you can see from the video - which comes via Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5743110/the-music-of-silent-hill-downpour] - it sounds like Silent Hill music without being a carbon copy of Yamaoka's work. If the rest of the score is like this, I don't think we have anything to worry about in the music department.



Source: Game Informer [http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/01/24/dexter-composer-scoring-silent-hill-downpour.aspx]


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[Eternal_Lament]

The more I learn about this game, the more I'm interested to see if Vatra can pull it off. The sample clip for this game sounds chilling, and makes it seem more like a new Silent Hill as oppossed to another attempt to capture the same lightning of other games in different bottles. I still reserve that this should be the last Silent Hill with a released level editing/sharing software coming afterwards, to allow for everyone to show their version of Silent Hill.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

Judging purely from the trailer, it sounds like his style is a sort of Yamaoka replica with a tinge of Goosebumps. I don't know why my mind goes there, but it's not a bad thing.

It's gonna be a risky game for the franchise. It seems to be the most Westernised instalment yet, but I reserve judgement until release.

 

[hittite]

I, likewise, reserve my judgment until I see it. It'll be interesting, to say the least.

 

[HentMas]

mmm... i dont know, i have being burned before with this series, and i dont think a "composer" can fix everything that went wrong with the series, i mean, i loved the music in all of them, but since SH:THE ROOM i havent seen a game that is particularly good, and THE ROOM was one of the worst of the best!

and please, get that damn "Piramid Head" (and simmilars) out of the game?, IT WAS SUNDERLAND´S HEAD that created him, it doesnt make sense in any other game than 2

in the movie i can forgive its appearance because it was for fans, and it made sense in a F%&ed up kind of way, or even just to tease us, but in the games it doesnt

other than that, lets just hope this game takes the mental problems Murphy Pendleton may have and turn them into reality, thats what i thought Silent Hill 2 tryed to do.

 

[TheXRatedDodo]

I should reserve my judgement, but I get the overwhelming feeling that this is going to be absolutely awful.

Probably something to do with the fact that very few Westerners really have any grasp on the surreal at all, which is seemingly something that comes very easy to the East. I was watching what is Japan's equivalent of a Hollywood movie, caled 20th Century Boys (great film and great manga, check it out!) and all of the transitions had this very Lynchian vibe to them that gave you the imperssion of moving between worlds, moving between realities, altering your state of consciousness.

Westerners can't seem to get their head around much more than straight cuts.

That's just one example, but I really don't get the feeling this is going to amount to much at all, which saddens me.

 

[Corven]

mmm... i dont know, i have being burned before with this series, and i dont think a "composer" can fix everything that went wrong with the series, i mean, i loved the music in all of them, but since SH:THE ROOM i havent seen a game that is particularly good, and THE ROOM was one of the worst of the best!

and please, get that damn "Piramid Head" (and simmilars) out of the game?, IT WAS SUNDERLAND´S HEAD that created him, it doesnt make sense in any other game than 2

in the movie i can forgive its appearance because it was for fans, and it made sense in a F%&ed up kind of way, or even just to tease us, but in the games it doesnt

other than that, lets just hope this game takes the mental problems Murphy Pendleton may have and turn them into reality, thats what i thought Silent Hill 2 tryed to do.

From what I read in a GI article they're trying to keep Murphy's story his own, beside a few references around town there is nothing that links Murphy with past storylines in silent hill, no cult, no Alessa, and no James.

That said, the games not coming out for a while and most articles like this are usually nothing more than hype, but you can always hope, I suppose.

 

[DirgeNovak]

I loved Yamaoka's work in previous SH games, but Licht has this way of composing very creepy music that's also great to listen to on its own(Trinity's theme from Dexter 4 comes to mind). Yamaoka, on the other hand, made "music" that fit extremely well in the game, but I wouldn't put this in my MP3 player. If Licht can make his tunes fit in the game and be "iPod-worthy", the change in composer will have been worth it.

The other question, of course, is: Will the game itself be worth two shits?

 

[StriderShinryu]

mmm... i dont know, i have being burned before with this series, and i dont think a "composer" can fix everything that went wrong with the series

I agree, but I think the opposite is equally as true. Even if the rest of the game turns out well, because of how reliant SH is on it's atmosphere and mood, poor sound design and poor music could easily undo any positive steps that the game makes.

 

[hittite]

Well, the first taste is pretty good. Especially if they're going for a "creepy deserted ghost town" vibe.

 

[Rad Party God]

Wow... judging for the images themselves and the music, the game will be like a nice combination of Alan Wake and Silent Hill, but the music certainly sound very Silent Hill-ish.

Looking good thus far, I hope the soundtrack maintains this quality through out the entire game.

 

[Riobux]

I may be acting overly critical, but the drums in it doesn't seem to suit the type of scene it's probably trying to paint. However, we'll see in time if they pull it off. I don't expect to hear something like Silent Hill 1 or 2, but maybe something worth labelling as Silent Hill music.

 

[Worgen]

when I noticed there was an update for this I thought that the composer suddenly changed his mind about honoring the series and decided that catchy jpop was the way to go

 

[Popido]

Sounds awful. The instruments are in disharmony. Relaxing guitar play with *whooOOOSHHH* and shock drums played on top. I can see where hes trying to go with this, but this just makes me want to turn the bg musics off.

Well atleast now I know that the game is about Alan Wake.

...
OMG the more I listen this, the more shittier it sounds! This is bullshit! I have to go wash my ears...

 

[Stranger45]

It sounds a lot like Alan Wake meet the original Silent Hill, which sounds great to me.

 

[duedmen]

I have high hopes for this because it will be different from the emotional world of SH1-4 and the direct combat/actiony the american dev games brought(except shattered memories sure it failed in the long run but I give them kudos for actual trying something new and intriguing) eastern European dev's are excellent when it comes to atmosphere I mean look at stalker, metro 2033 , Amnesia and all those other goodies they have given us