"Dracula Castle" from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on the PlayStation, SEGA Saturn, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 4, iOS, & Android (1997 - 2020)
Composer: Michiru Yamane
Album: Akumajo Dracula X ~Gekka no Nocturne~ Original Game Soundtrack, Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night (Original Video Game Soundtrack)
Label: KONAMI, Mondo
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo
I've always known this as the opening stage music to Symphony of the Night once you take control of Alucard, but I never thought of it as Alucard's Theme until reading up on the song to make sure that this game was the first instance. It turned out that, as of the 2008 release of Castlevania: Judgement on the Wii, Konami had officially recognized "Dracula Castle" as also being Alucard's Theme.
Anyway!
I have no real or significant music analysis of this or thoughts on the instrumentation. No real thoughts about the subtle disconnect between the heavy electronic synths throughout the song and the late 18th-century setting. It's actually quite remarkable to think that the United States was 21 years old at this point, with John Adams as its President. Napoleon would begin his Napoleonic Wars in only five years time. It's brought up as a point of building Richter Belmont's backstory in the Castlevania: Nocturne animated series, but the Belmonts using whips as their main weapon for centuries has always made this series feel like it's stuck in the mid-late 15th century.
The point is, "Dracula Castle" is a great song, albeit a lackluster name from a franchise that seems to pride itself on nearly half of all the song titles sounding like cryptic gothic riddles ("Wicked Child," "Sapphire Elegy," and "Don't Wait Until Night" to name only a few out of hundreds). It's got ample amounts of energy and gusto to push you through to the next area and just enough newborn nostalgia baked in to make coming back to the entrance of the castle just as exciting as Alucard clearing the drawbridge right as it closes.
~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Well into Madness, With Each Setting Sun
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