"Annex - Silent Madness" from Castlevania (aka Castlevania 64) on the Nintendo 64 (1999)
Composer: Masahiko Kimura, Motoaki Furukawa, & Mariko Egawa
Label: Konami of Europe
Developer: Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe
Well today I found out that two of the Castlevania soundtracks that I had purchased (one on eBay, and the other from an old video game music store based out of Southern California) are bootlegs, which makes me a little sad. All of the music is the same, but the packaging is different, and obviously the money didn't go to either Konami or the composers; although even if it had been the official soundtrack, buying off of eBay wouldn't have given anyone deserving of the money their cut anyway, but that's a whole other ball of onions.
That aside, I felt like using a track from Castlevania during the month of October would be expected, but I wanted to use a track that you, our dear reader may not be as familiar with as say, "Vampire Killer," "Bloody Tears" or "The Wicked Child." This track, "Annex - Silent Madness" is much more subdued than the aforementioned Castlevania songs, as well as others from NES, SNES, Game Boy and later systems, but it fits in very well with the rest of the music from Castlevania (64). This music plays when your character, either Reinhardt Schneider or Maria Fernandez, explores in the inside of The Villa, a large house, somewhat reminiscent of the Umbrella Mansion in Resident Evil, although much smaller, and was based off the Château d'Azay-le-Rideau in France.
But that is beside the point. What I love about this song as well as the whole Villa area, is that there is a sense of exploration and less about trying to whip at flying Medusa heads or charging zombies. There is almost no sense of urgency and is replaced by a feeling of uncomfortable calm. If I recall correctly, within the Villa, there is only one monster that you end up fighting, which is very unlike any Castlevania game to that date.
I wish I could tell you which of the three composers wrote this track, but all the information that I have been able to find only lists the composers as a group without separating who composed which track. Additionally, I am not as familiar with any of the composers and their discography to be able to tell whose style the song was written in. So, we will just have to credit all three with this wonderfully subtle and hopeful, yet creepy tune.
~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
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