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Boss battle best-of

This is the music review of
Artorias of the Abyss (2012).

People who have read a few of my reviews will have come across the souls-like genre and its founder Dark Souls . Core gamers should be familiar with the game anyway, as it is considered the Holy Grail of gaming by its masochistic disciples. Personally, I could never get my head around the idea of regularly risking the loss of my hard-earned progress in infuriatingly difficult battles. What's more, the PC version was totally buggy, which is why I was tired of it before I even got to the first miniature-boss.

Thusly, I have no nostalgic memories of the soundtrack that assaults our eardrums during these deadly dances. The fact that it is nevertheless convincing in its own way is largely due to the force with which composer Motoi Sakuraba relentlessly bombards us. Not only does the composer use a full orchestra, he also has the entire choir perform on many of the pieces.

The score can be divided into two distinct universes: The quieter, darkly melancholic tracks that make us feel the trepidation of this enchanted fantasy horror and all its macabre creations. And the boss tracks, where we are dwarfed as we stand in awe (and fear) of our new tormentor. This fits in wonderfully with the game concept, although the music loses some of its grip when detached from it.

For example, while both Dark Souls and Dragon Age: Origins are set in dark fantasy universes, the latter uses recurring melodies and motifs to bring the various facets of its world to life. Conversely, Dark Souls relies heavily on its bombastic adrenaline rushes, which may have the desired reinforcing effect in the duel for life and death. However, if you listen to the tracks separately from this, a certain one-dimensionality becomes apparent. Of course, comparing different genres is rarely useful, but the similar tonality makes it a good fit in my opinion.

Whether it's the Taurus Demon, Bell Gargoyle or Gaping Dragon - they are all dramatic, full of dissonance and driven by a choir that almost screams at us. This overwhelming concept runs through all the boss fights, with variation only to be found in nuances: Iron Golem somehow reminds me of classic (Japanese) action films, while Centipede Demon and Gravelord Nito lean more towards horror. The male choir dominates in Four Kings and Bed of Chaos with its strings is reminiscent of Steven Spielberg's Jaws.

I particularly like the track to the boss duet Ornstein & Smough, which comes across as a little more heroic with its fanfares, but at the same time never hides the danger that you are exposed to in battle. But the over-the-top emotional Gwynevere, Princess of Sunlight, which proclaims angelic purity with its song of praise, also has something going for it.

Of course, I can't blame the composer for this uniformity, as the soundtrack fulfills 100% of its intended effect. After a while, however, a sense of saturation sets in - and that's never a good thing. Even the interspersed atmospheric pieces, which move away from the sheer bombast of the battles and instead illuminate the world of Dark Souls in an atmospheric way, only help to a limited extent to overcome the signs of fatigue.

Great Grey Wolf Sif sounds more like medieval fantasy fare, while Ceaseless Discharge can best be compared to Inon Zur's work for Dragon Age. The Ancient Dragon and Crossbreed Priscilla offer male and female-dominated choral fare, while Gwyn, Lord of Cinder is a rather simple piano piece. Other tracks such as Chaos Witch Quelaag or Seath the Scaleless are swing and miss despite (or perhaps because of) their somewhat more experimental nature.

This all sounds much more negative than it is, because the score is by no means bad. In my perception, it just falls a little short of the expectations I have of the music for a smash hit like Dark Souls . Nevertheless, Sakuraba does a good job, so that his score combines music from games such as Telltale's The Walking Dead (Firelink Shrine), BioShock (Prologue) or Left 4 Dead with action cinema from The Lord of the Rings or the orchestral grandeur that should become synonymous with the Dark Souls brand.

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No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	To the Moon	Kan Gao	4
02	Between a Squirrel and a Tree	Kan Gao	4
03	Spiral of Secrets	Kan Gao	4
04	For River - Piano [Sarah & Tommy's Version]	Kan Gao	4
05	Bestest Detectives in the World	Kan Gao	4
06	Too Bad so Sad	Kan Gao	1
07	Teddy	Kan Gao	5
08	Uncharted Realms	Kan Gao	4
09	Having Lived	Kan Gao	4
10	Moonwisher	Kan Gao	5
11	Born a Stranger	Kan Gao	5
12	For River - Piano [Johnny's Version]	Kan Gao	5
13	Lament of a Stranger	Kan Gao	4
14	Everything's Alright (Music Box)	Laura Shigihara	4
15	Moongazer	Kan Gao	4
16	Anya by the Stars	Kan Gao	4
17	Take Me Anywhere	Kan Gao	4
18	Warning	Kan Gao	1
19	Beta-B	Kan Gao	5
20	World's Smallest Ferris Wheel	Kan Gao	4
21	Once Upon a Memory	Kan Gao	4
22	Once Upon a Memory [Piano]	Kan Gao	4
23	Everything's Alright	Laura Shigihara	4
24	Everything's Alright (Reprise)	Laura Shigihara	4
25	Tomorrow	Kan Gao	5
26	Launch	Kan Gao	5
27	To the Moon - Piano [Ending Version]	Kan Gao	4
28	Eva's Ringtone	Kan Gao	1
29	Trailer Theme, Part 1	Kan Gao	4
30	Trailer Theme, Part 2 (feat. Laura Shigihara)	Kan Gao	4
31	Trailer Theme, Part 2 [Instrumental]	Kan Gao	4

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Artorias of the Abyss

Usually the score for the only expansion of Dark Souls, called Artorias of the Abyss, is included in the OST of the main game. As a stickler for detail, however, I've split it up and (logically) included all the tracks in here after the credits. In numbers, that's eight. The style of the score remains true to itself, even if the ratio of ambient and boss music has tipped slightly towards the atmospheric.

This can probably be explained by the smaller scope compared to the main game and is not an indicator of quality, as much remains the same: Lots of the grand orchestra is present again (Sanctuary Guardian, Manus, Father of the Abyss, Kalameet), as well as plenty of drama (Sanctuary, Overture) and melancholy (Knight Artorias, A Moment’s Peace). In fact, only Battle of Stoicism , with its almost cautious style, is a little out of line. Beyond that, Dark Souls-fans are well catered for musically here.

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	Sanctuary Guardian	Motoi Sakuraba	3
02	Knight Artorias	Motoi Sakuraba	4
03	Battle of Stoicism	Motoi Sakuraba	3
04	Manus, Father of the Abyss	Motoi Sakuraba	3
05	Kalameet	Motoi Sakuraba	4
06	Dark Souls	Motoi Sakuraba	4
07	Overture	Motoi Sakuraba	5
08	A Moment's Peace	Yuji Takenouchi	3