Hynter does a little ranting: Hell Demon Song Choices

Oh hey.

You know I’m mad ionate about music. Like mad, mad ionate about music. I think music is a massive part of a lot of things and GD is one of them.

Despite the fact that newgrounds is a horrible website with a severe lack of variety, that's not the point.

I think music in GD can carry a level. If you choose a good song, it can mould the entire level around the song, from theme to decoration to gameplay. Music is super important in a GD level.

So why the fuck do people make such garbage song choices.

Going off track once again. But I do wanna discuss the song choices of some very popular levels relating to the theme of “hell”

And those are:

- Dimrain47 - At the Speed of light (The Trilogy)

- GLS - Flawless Wings of Yatagarasu (Yatagarasu)

I understand these are old ass levels, but these levels have influenced songs which are used in hell themed levels to the extreme. Especially the first one.

But before I do go in depth about all this. I wanna discuss something.

What would make for an effective song in a Hell themed level.

Well to answer this question, I have two options which I think would work effectively.

- A slow, melodic and downtempo orchestral piece.

And

- A heavy, fast-paced metal song

Oh yeah, sounds a bit contradictory but it has been done before. Infernal Abyss for the slow, melodic and downtempo piece and Orochi for the heavy, fast-paced metal song.

So, what does this have to do with the selected songs? Well uh… Good question.

If you look at the two song choices and then the criteria I have put down. You may realise something, so i feel it may be better to go into depth about.

So let’s begin.

Dimrain47 - At the Speed of Light

At the Speed of Light is an interesting song.

Despite my slight dislike of the song. (It's not so slight)

I think the concept of the song is interesting. It’s a fast paced techno song that Dimrain himself stated that is meant to feel like “A journey across galaxies in search for an answer.”

And I feel this explains the issue with this song being used in hell themed levels. The song just doesn't work. It lacks a certain something. That something being acoustics.

Of course, the song does have its moments of downtempo and slow piano parts and hey, it starts with a choir part. But the rest is an intense, synth-infused, 162 BPM, space themed song.

Just a few parts won't cut it for me.

Also if you want song offsets that i think work from worst to best it probably goes:

- Aftermath

- Bloodbath

- Cataclysm

Cataclysm has the choir and probably the most downtempo parts of the song whilst aftermath only really has the ending.

Now lets move on.

GLS - Flawless Wings of Yatagarasu

Hey, I have a quick question for the reader right now.

Does this character look hell related at all?

What about this song?

No? Ok.

Then why the fuck is a remix of this song used in one of the most popular hell themed levels.

Look, I don’t hate this song. I don’t like it either.

There are better touhou songs, just saying.

But I feel this song falls into the same category that AtSoL does. It's a fast paced, techno song (Higher BPM then AtSoL btw). Which once again must I explain why this is not fitting for a hell themed level.

Of course, I can say why the song is slightly fitting. But I also gotta say something.

The Yatagarasu in actual Japanese stuff has no relation to hell. Instead it relates to the Sun and in turn, so does Utusho.

The japanese have some really weird fucking names I tell you.

So I am just baffled at the choice here. Nothing fits the criteria I set before. The song has even less acoustics than AtSoL as well, consisting mostly of synths and the tactical nuke sound from MW2.

I can't really even say anything else. I think everything speaks for itself.

To conclude

Yeah these song choices suck.

The themes of the songs don’t match up with the theme of the levels (one relating to space and the other relating to a near god).

Do I really think there would be a “better option”? For the time, probably not.

Even now within newgrounds 1 billion audio file catalogue I believe that there is a severe lack of variety to make a level with a song that fits your theme.

And if you say that there is, you are either lying or you chose a bad theme or an unfitting song.

But that is another topic for another day.

To end it off, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings that i attempted to make an argument and goodnight.

- hynter.