What's good, everyone?! After talking with a couple of people about the music from Shattered Memories and reading everyone's posts here, I wanted to chime in and share some love for the SHSM soundtrack. For lack of better words (and if you don't want to read the rest of my post, the following will do just fine), I feel that this is exactly what the series needed.

OK, so there are four McGlynn vocals. Again. And, granted, they originally come off as painfully dark and forced, but after a couple of listens I got hooked on all four of them. I know these vocals might not be everyone's favorite types of tracks, so if you want to skip 'em, you should skip 'em. I don't. Whatever way you want to shake it, they're better than the ones in SH Zero. Somehow keeping the four-vocals-per-album tradition alive feels fresh this time around amid all the new music.

That said, this is definitely not the instrumental Yamaoka we're used to. What you will find here is something quite different than his past Silent Hill soundtracks, and as far as I'm concerned this is a very good thing. From the exploratory chilling piano motifs of "Creeping Distress" to the blunt industrial harshness of "Devil's Laughter", SHSM has some intense tracks, along with more mood-setting BGM like "Searching the Past" and the scattered and shuffled "Forsaken Lullaby". If anything, as in-game music, Yamaoka nailed this one down. If you're looking for a quick SH fix or are expecting SH1/2/3/4/Z/H part 2, you surely will not find it here, and you will be disappointed. But, I think, that's the whole point. Reimagining the series = reimagining the music. This album makes me want to sit down and actually play through the game, and for someone who really only plays video games when Miker brings his Wii over (true story), that says a lot.

So, yeah. I think this is some really great stuff! DK, I have a feeling that you'll lick those chops and eat this one up. For those of you who weren't so hot on it, maybe it's worth another spin or two to see how you feel about it. I know everyone won't fancy the music, but I am enjoying it enough to come out of my semi-retirement for one more strikeout post before benching myself again. Give it a chance!!!

EDIT: You can read my full review of the soundtrack for SEMO right here!

Sounds promising... Argh, the wait is killing me... Soon, soon.

Feel free to leave the bench as frequently as you like.

Yeah, dude. I'm sure there are a few games here and there that will pique your interest once in a while. We love hearing from you, brother.

So I just played and loved the game and now I can't stop listening to this CD!  As a whole, I think this one is more solid than The Room, Origins, and Homecoming.  Not quite up there with the original trilogy, though I'm not sure you can even compare it to others in the series because it's so different, but whatever.  I can't understand how some people were referring to Shattered Memories' music as being tame, because damn it's anything but.  Try laying down in the dark while listening to this CD with headphones.  It's not quite as a disturbing and nightmare-inducing as SH1's soundtrack but after listening, you will never be the same again, haha.

I concur with my boy Zane on this one, Silent Hill Shattered Memories Soundtrack earns a very solid 9/10.

*bump*

So for those of you who got this, was the sealed copy shrink wrapped? I ask as I just got one off ebay for $10 that claimed to be sealed and all it had was a circular 'security' sticker over the cardboard sleeve's opening to keep the disc inside.

Will post impressions at some point, unfortunately I don't have the time to rip it today.

Always On My Mind is Yamaoka's best vocal track.

End of discussion.

Something awesome I noticed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUDEZVP3wFw - around 3:33

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eds1ivwq1oc   - around 1:54

Dude, that part gets reused ALL the time, how did you NOT notice before?
It's pretty much the "SH Theme" if there ever was one.

Also: MAJOR spoilers in the comments on the first video by some pathetic trolls. DON'T read them if you haven't played the game yet.

I'm awfully sorry to disappoint you, Amazingu, but I love this soundtrack.

At first, it didn't leave much of an impression on me other than a feeling of "WTF?" (<---I usually like those), and I felt that it was the weakest SH-soundtrack. But I know my man Yamaoka too well to dismiss his stuff after just one listen-through, so I kept it spinning. As many have already pointed out, the music very easily escapes into the background if you don't focus directly on it, and what struck me the most initially was the lack of any "hits" or tracks that really jumped out and got you from the start (for example, Homecoming was pretty mellow and abstract in many regards, but it still had tracks like "Cold Blood" that just caught your attention right off the bat). In this respect, the approach used is very similar to SH1's OST, tracks, atmospheres, and moods just flowing into each other, barely graspable by the mind's ear, sneaking in through the back-door of the unconscious and pushing buttons and conjuring up images and thoughts while you're looking the other way... While being structurally similar to SH1's OST in many ways, the music itself is the direct polar opposite of the harrowing netherworld of SH1 OST, possessing no sharp points or edges, attacking sideways instead of from the front. I guess it could be called the "light-refection" of the SH1 OST (I thought about writing "the shadow of SH1's OST", but can something that is pitch-black really cast a shadow?), signifying the conclusion of a circle or cycle, with the trip-hop heaviness of SH3 and SH4 representing the half-way point between. In some ways exactly the same, in other ways completely different: the perfect balance for a re-imagining of a classic as well as the (presumptive) farewell of the composer to the series and company, no?

Anyway, enough metaphorical hot air, a few words on the music itself... First off, the vocals: not terribly enamoured with them, I'm afraid. I love "Hell Frozen Rain" to death, and "When You're Gone" is pretty good, but I can't see why everyone is so ecstatic about "Always on My Mind", and "Acceptance" is my least favourite track on the CD. But never mind that shit, all is redeemed by the instrumental soundscapes sandwiched between the vocals. Note to the doubting Dutchmen out there: a lack of heaviness doesn't equal "tameness"! This soundtrack may not have the hard-edged darkness or aggressiveness that can be found on most Yamaoka albums, but it's sheer weirded-out abstractness more than makes up for it in my book. The shit's just insane! Insane, without screaming in your face about it. I'm not even going to try to break it down to smaller particles and focus on individual tracks, because that would be completely pointless given the nature of the music (besides, just between you and me, I'm kind of scared about what would happen if I would try to break it open and analyze it more deeply, I suspect that the uncanny, non-Euclidian, multi-dimensional Lovecraftian secrets hinted of at the apparent surface of the music would be too much for my puny human mind to handle and leave me a babbling, spitting vegetable in some godforsaken Bedlam somewhere). You could call this music "ambient", but that would still be wide off the mark, its almost like a new genre in itself. *wipes drool off chin*

I'm not even going to try ranking this soundtrack in relation to Yamaoka's other works or to other VGM released during 2009, because every time I try to grasp and categorize the music, I feel my mind nearing this state. Let's just say I like it a lot, OK? All things considered, in retrospect its almost a shame he left Konami, since this could have been the beginning of something... But then again, it will be interesting to see what he might come up with now!

BTW, all the talk and positive reviews of the game really makes me want to try it... Will post my thoughts on that if I get around to playing it.

I'm looking for a copy of this CD, so if anyone has one for sale or trade, drop me a line.

cheers,

-avatar!

Have there been any rips floating around? I'm just curious about the amount of music in the game. As I mentioned in the thread in the game section, it seemed to me like there is much less music than most SH games.

I'm also curious about seeing if there is another version of 'Always On My Mind' from the game. I've played it through three times now (I love the game) and the first time I played it, I got to the bit where that track comes into play and my first thought was - this is much better than the version on the soundtrack. But, the next two playthroughs, I was waiting for it to kick in and, while the vocals are different, the arrangement is the same as on the soundtrack. So I'm almost beginning to wonder if I imagined a different arrangement the first time I played.

The game does change quite a bit when you play it so there could well be more than one version of it. I also prefer the in-game vocals over the McGlynn vocals. Just more interesting.

Yeah, it has grown on me more, but the darker ambient (that evil horror sound) still doesn't hook me as the first Silent Hill, or Siren, or hell, even Resident Evil 5. And well, for the other stuff (trip-hopish mellow pieces) I radiate towards kt2. But considering that there isn't much like this in the field of VGM, I'm satisfied with what I get.

Maybe a quality rip would make a difference, as I'm not particularly in love with the album release of SH1 either, yet Dustfungo's fabulous rip makes all the difference.

It's definitely far more layered than Homecoming, I think. Homecoming was a rather unsuccesful rehash of his previous outings, especially Zero which echoed a lot in that work. Of course, I'm not saying he should innovate with his every release, but the sound he has gone for doesn't grab me for some reason. Shattered Memories takes a step towards the right direction, in my opinion.

But man, "Ice" is one hell of a track. One of his best pieces from the last years.

In general, even if it isn't a jaw-dropper in any sense, Shattered Memories is really unique. It's just so....weird and unprecedented, although I can't nail why it is so. That's the thing with the whole soundtrack, I have a really hard time describing how I feel about it, and I think that's good.

Let's hope there will be a day when I can pass a final judgment on this, as every time I'm still at loss of words, and even if I try to express my feelings, they end up as a contradictory mess.