MIDI Week Singles: "Bloody Road" - Skull Fang (ARC)

 

"Bloody Road" from Skull Fang from the Arcade (1996)
Composer: Hiroaki Yoshida
Album:  No Official Release
Publisher: Data East
Developer: Data East

I "watched" a longplay of Skull Fang and I could not find out where in the game "Bloody Road" takes place, but more on that towards the end.  Then again, most of the music from the game was often difficult to hear and quickly faded into the background once the shooting started.  The shooting started within seconds of the level starting, often before any enemy fighters appeared on screen.  Music in Skull Fang, and largely a lot of arcade games, feels ancillary to the rest of the soundscape in the game, often the sounds of guns and explosions given a higher priority.  All of this is somewhat forgivable as you might have 20+ other arcade games and their sound effects, along with ambient arcade noise to contend with so you have to decide what you want the player to focus on.  The music, or the effects of the game.

Which is still all kind of a shame considering how much there is going on in "Bloody Road" and just how good all of the parts are in this song.  I am not a drummer, but to me, the drums, for the entire song, sound like they are having the time of their life.  The melody, on whatever that digital instrument/guitar is supposed to be, is just pure carrying the action blazing goodness.  There is not one part of this song that I would change and the more I listen to it (obviously while writing this article, so I am a bit biased), the more I just love everything about it.

It is interesting though, that "Bloody Road" was originally written for Vapor Trail which was a similar top-down shmup, but I found that I did not vibe with the original version at all.  I found the main melody to be very tinny and hard to hear over the deeper and louder rhythm guitar sound.  I could only imagine that the melody would come across more as a vibrating sound rather than what you are supposed to be listening for when actually heard in an arcade.  I think that is another reason why I love the arrangement in Skull Fang so much more, that the melody instrument has been cleaned up and the melody is clearly defined, where it feels like it now exists as a song, not just additional sound to compete with itself and the rest of the arcade.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
No Buzz, Not Even From 500 Pounds of Folgers