Review Summary: Shadow Of The Colossus: Roar Of The Earth is a soundtrack that should make just about ever contemporary composer very, very jealous.
Thirty years ago, to call the video game a form of art would have been sheer insanity. After all,
Space Invaders and it’s contemporaries were certainly fun at the time, and many of them still are, but this series of blocky, pixelated forms accompanied by a two or three beeping noises were by no means art. And yet, now, that claim is far less far-fetched. Not only have games become a means of story-telling, and possibly even political criticism (as seen in
Bioshock), but they are now able to achieve the kind of atmosphere and immersion the likes of which the average cinematographer would not even dare to dream of.
Shadow Of The Colossus managed to create such an atmosphere better than anything to come before it and anything to come since, an achievement due largely, possibly even mainly, to it’s superb soundtrack.
The game throws the player into a surreal, magical world of mystery, providing absolutely no backstory. Alone, with only the companionship of a horse and the corpse of a girl, the protagonist must slay sixteen colossi, these being monstrous creatures that roam the land. Save these lumbering beasts, nothing populates the world: from the start of the journey to the end, only ancient ruins and vast, desolate landscapes are seen, thus making the player feel perfectly alone. Through forests, valleys, and mountains one rides, and yet, except from the occasional lizard or dove, which will be eager to scurry away at the first sign of man, not a soul joins them.
However, sixteen times, this relaxing, peaceful adventure is interrupted by the arrival of a towering giant. Scale the beast that blots out the Sun, one must, and plunge their blade into it’s body ‘till it falls to the earth with a deafening roar. Terror fills the adventurer as he must find a way to climb up the grotesque abomination, and when success does come, it comes as the reward of indescribable struggles.
These two faces of the adventure are reflected perfectly in the soundtrack. The peaceful travel is represented by calm acoustic guitars and woodwinds, with the occasional enchanted violin or melancholy piano dancing through the listener’s ears Such sections are normally categorized by a reflective, somber tone that stresses the loneliness of the journeyman in an abandoned, forgotten land.
However, a good half of the album consists of sweeping, orchestral arrangements to accompany the slaying of the beasts. Ominous and occasionally discordant, strings and booming trumpets spiral and crescendo, surrounding the listener with a despairing, moving fortissimo. As the beast begins to succumb to it’s hunter, this cacophony becomes replaced with stirring, string-driven, movements that never fail to excite.
Indeed, the score is filled with moments of impossible beauty. Swift Horse’s defiant, transcendent strings and The Sunlit Earth’s optimistic (and, dare I say it, near-perfect) piano melodies are two obvious highlights, and yet even amidst the loudest din, the album is always incredibly beautiful, as seen in A Despair-Filled Farewell’s percussive keyboards that provide a support for an entire orchestra.
And so, here upon us, we have a monumental work that perfectly evokes solitude, fear, courage, and even hope. Few soundtracks have ever been this ambitious, especially those written for a video game, and even fewer have been this enjoyable and beautiful.
4.7/5
Recommended Pieces
Sunlit Earth
Swift Horse
Counterattack
A Despair-Filled Farewell
