Anno 1701
Year: 2006
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Tilman Sillescu, Pierre Langer
Number of tracks: 32
New shores and orchestral depths
This is the music review of
The Sunken Dragon (2007).
After Anno 1503 , the series took a leap of two centuries into the modern era in 2006 with the sequel Anno 1701 , the first series spin-off that I actually only played for a few hours. Reason 1: The graphics. After the rather serious look of 1503 I deemed 1701 too colorful, too comic-like. Everything was a bit squeakier, more cuddly - an absolute no-go for a pubescent 14-year-old. Reason 2, although more banal, was in fact, the more deciding factor: the game engine. Like most titles of that time, the game simply didn't want to get along with my Windows Vista and when it did run, it was too slow. I gave up and missed out on a game that probably only became good with the campaign of the expansion The Sunken Dragon . No loss in that respect, you might think, were it not for the excellent soundtrack in the good old Anno-tradition.
For this review (and future ones too), I've decided to delve deeper into the subject matter, do more research and report more extensively on the background and creation processes of the soundtrack. Of course, that's not always possible, but in this case I was able to gather a few interesting facts ... off we go t! Anyone who has read my review of the music for Anno 1503 may remember that Alexander Röder sampled the compositions back then. He would later work at Dynamedion, a German company founded in 2000 by Tilman Sillescu and Pierre Langer that specialized in video game compositions. It's surprising that it's only now appearing in one of my reviews, as many, in my opinion, very good soundtracks come from this creative company.
Among them, one was written for Anno 1701 . The minds behind it were Langer and Sillescu. They were able to convince publisher Sunflower to have the soundtrack recorded by the Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt, which meant a huge qualitative leap. Only recently I wrote about how thrilled I was with the orchestration of Gothic 3 , which was also not sampled - as was usual at the time - but recorded with the help of a real orchestra. Sure, MIDIs and Soundchips do have their charm, but can you imagine a Lord of the Rings or Star Wars without real instruments? Hardly. The whole thing was also mixed in 5.1 for a particularly full sound experience - a novelty for video games.
For their work on the 1701-soundtrack, the composers were able to draw on their experience with other games such as The Guild 2, ParaWorld or SpellForce 2 respectively, and there are many tracks that cannot deny their similarities. In general, Dynamedion has occupied the niche of medieval-fantasy-background-bombast since then and always delivers a consistently high quality, which flushes many tracks onto my Top-Liste ... just like here. While in Anno 1503 there were still many adaptations and variations of well-known seafaring songs such as Scarborough Fair or works by classical composers, the tracks on 1701 are entirely new compositions. Inherent in all of them is the character of new beginnings, positivism and hopefulness - a reference to 19th century Romanticism.
It starts with the first track A New World, which, unlike other soundtracks, establishes a leitmotif whose triadic progression we will find again in many other pieces. After a brief pause, the orchestra opens up. Strings, percussion and flutes call us forward before the wind instruments play the theme. Maybe it's my over-excited imagination, but it pushes just the right buttons to form an image in my head of a ship setting sail for distant shores. As we watch it slowly leave the harbor, the orchestra recedes again as I watch a boy on the quay talking to another stray about where the crew's journey might take them. The orchestra accompanies this conversation in a measured way before it swells up again. The camera in my head zooms out and moves across the deck of the ship, at the bow of which the captain is gazing into the horizon - finally, we're off.
The soundtrack retains this basic tenor over long stretches and the matching images in my imagination likewise remain the same. Beautiful Day , with its deliberate winds and strings, is partly reminiscent of a western, but at the same time makes me think of Oliver Twist and Disney's Pocahontas. In general, Anno's score with its medieval idyll resembles various pieces from the films of the aforementioned mouse company. In Enter the City , for example, we once again hear the main theme, which is varied by changing instrumentation and reminds me of the scene from The Beauty and the Beast in which Bell dances around the marketplace.
In the 7th track, Fight for Freedom , the carefree island development and the previous grandeur are disturbed for the first time, the horns call for battle and bustle. These tracks (Cataclysm, Melee, Cold Steel, Onwards Annonians, Kill and Bite as well as Battleground) are very similar - both to each other and to Langer and Sillescu's work on the fantastic SpellForce 2-score - which is why I have a soft spot for them despite their shockingly short length. At the same time, elements such as vocals also appear here, which are missing from the romantic settling.
Together with the thematic songs, such as the music of the indigenous tribes and disaster background music, this makes for a welcome change in the uniform overall work, with tracks that sound similar due to the leitmotif and only differ in nuances. Personally, this doesn't bother me much, as this is exactly what I expect from an Anno-soundtrack: pleasant background music that accompanies my gaming experience as I relax and optimize my supply chains. However, Simon Elchlepp from vgmonline.net takes a different view, criticizing the following in his recommendable and much more analytical review:
The sometimes gorgeous beauty of these compositions is never in doubt, and particularly for lovers of lyrical woodwind soli, this soundtrack is a feast for the senses. But the compositions’ relative emotional uniformity is the soundtrack’s biggest, albeit hardly fatal, downfall. Most of the cues on the soundtrack fall into the described mold of pastoral, mirthful orchestral material, and particularly when sequenced in longer stretches, like in the middle portion of the soundtrack album, the music’s relentless optimism and sunny demeanour can become a bit tiring and predictable.
Simon Elchlepp, soundtrack critic
I can understand why this criticism is made if you experience the soundtrack as a whole album and don't listen to individual tracks like I do. If I were to penalize every score for its similarity to other works by the same composers or within an album, I would no longer be able to enjoy Assassin’s Creed , I would have to hate DOOM for its electric guitar uniformity and let's not even start with the Heroes-series. No, I can order the same pizza in 30 restaurants and it will taste different every time. I like the musical snacks in Anno 1701 I always find it rather amusing when I recognize elements from somewhere and the line of associations is set in motion. Like in Stay Negative, where the strings remind me of the Goa'uld theme from Stargate . Or the image of departure, which fits Anno just as well as it does Pocahontas.
| No. | Title | Artist(s) | Ratings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | A New World | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer |  |
| 02 | Beautiful Day | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer |  |
| 03 | Apples in the Trees | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 04 | Enter the City | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 05 | Rich Merchants | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 06 | Catch the Rabbit | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 07 | Fight for Freedom | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 08 | Cataclysm | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 09 | Melee | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 10 | Aztecs | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 11 | Pirates | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 12 | To the Shores | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 13 | Rivers and Meadows | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 14 | Sing and Rejoice | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 15 | Lake Freedom | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 16 | A New Day | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 17 | Glory to Our King | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 18 | Fields of Peace | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 19 | Beggars and Kings | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 20 | Cold Steel | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 21 | Onwards Annonians | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 22 | Kill and Bite | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 23 | Battleground | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 24 | Black Death | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer |  |
| 25 | Stay Negative | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 26 | Irokese | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 27 | Asia | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 28 | Indians | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 29 | Move Forward | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 30 | Land of Happiness | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 31 | Cheerful Clouds | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 32 | Windmills in Green Fields | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
Year: 2007
Type: Gamerip
Composer(s): Tilman Sillescu, Pierre Langer
Number of tracks: 49
The Sunken Dragon
As the name suggests, the add-on The Sunken Dragon takes us to the Far East, with a superb campaign, which I haven't experienced. The Asian theme is also picked up on musically and, as is typical of Dynamedion, is presented in a high-quality way ... even if it's not particularly exciting. This becomes particularly clear in the title track Eye of the Dragon . In the introduction, wind instruments herald a departure before strings play a solemn melody. It sounds great and gives hope for great things, but there is no cultural classification. Instead, the track could also appear in the main game, expectations of the Far East are not fulfilled.
In fact, there are only a few songs that pick up on the Asian theme and use panpipes (The Simple Life, Eastern Kingdom) or create a mythical atmosphere (Ancient City), for example. This doesn't have to be a negative point, as the use of stereotypes and familiar tropes is no guarantee of quality. However, it is noticeable that in a game that so clearly sets itself in a setting that is atypical of the series, there is hardly any acoustic emphasis on this particular aspect. Beyond such criticism, we hear a lot of typical Anno-fare (Call to Ports, For His Glory I + II, Greedy Times and Crimson Skies), which is fun, but could also appear in other games orchestrated by Dynamedion such as The Guild 2, Runes of Magic or SpellForce 2 . Fans like me will enjoy this regardless.
| No. | Title | Interpret | Ratings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Eye of the Dragon | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer |  |
| 02 | The Simple Life | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer |  |
| 03 | Del Torros Revenge | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 04 | Ancient City | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer |  |
| 05 | Ancient City II | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 06 | Call to Ports | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 07 | Campaign Won | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 08 | Crimson Skies | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 09 | Eastern Kingdom | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 10 | Eastern Kingdom II | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 11 | End of Days | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 12 | For His Glory | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 13 | For His Glory II | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 14 | Fury of the Gods | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 15 | Greedy Times | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 16 | Next to the Throne | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
| 17 | Shaking Earth | Tilman Sillescu; Pierre Langer | |
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