Music to Level Up Your Day: Drakengard

March 08, 2022

I don't know much about musical theory, nor am I a musically inclined person. However, I do love to listen to video game soundtracks. Who doesn't? They can be a powerful listening experience in their own right, or be as evocative as the scores composed for film. Each of these posts will feature music tracks from a single game title, or series/franchise in some rare cases.

Composer:

Nobuyoshi Sano and Takayuki Aihara (Drakengard)
Ryoki Matsumoto and Aoi Yoshiki (Drakengard 2)
Keiichi Okabe (Drakengard 3)

Singer:

Kari Wahlgren (Drakengard)
Mika Nakashima (Drakengard 2)
Chihiro Onitsuka (Drakengard 3)
Eir Aoi (Drakengard 3)

North American Release Date:

September 2003 (Drakengard)
February 2006 (Drakengard 2)
May 2014 (Drakengard 3)

The games are set in a dark fantasy world called Midgard, where humans and mythical creatures enter into permanent bonds known as "pacts"; the price of a pact being something irreplaceable: your voice, a talent, an emotion, etc. The world is overseen by a group of unnamed gods, served by beings known as the "Watchers", entities created to destroy humanity. Drakengard's plot-lines usually revolve around the pact makers attempts at protecting the seals and keeping the Watchers at bay.

Drakengard is a special kind of special. It's world is unnervingly dark and slowly deteriorating, but retains a twisted sort of beauty. The game's music tracks do a good job of capturing this, particularly the first game, with some calling the music "auditory schizophrenia". They definitely posses a flavor of chaos and insanity. Nobuyoshi Sano and Takayuki Aihara created the first Drakengard's score using samples from well-known classical composers, while Drakengard 2's score was created by Ryoki Matsumoto and Aoi Yoshikihad, who had never worked on a video game soundtrack before. Keiichi Okabe had previously worked on Nier, and tried to emulate the work of the earlier composers for Drakengard 3 without imitating them.

Closing | (Final Boss Theme - Drakengard)