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A diabolical combination

This is the music review of
Hellfire (1997).

If you're expecting another lengthy review of this video game classic, I'm sorry to disappoint you in the case of the Diablo-series. Because: I've never played it. That is, never really. In fact, my only point of contact with the hack-and-slash classic is the second part, which I played in co-op with my buddy Paul. In this case, 'gamed' meant that the overwhelmed Mattis ran behind a druid who was constantly turning into a bear, didn't get any loot because he didn't know how to pick up items and was constantly being berated from the floor above him about why he was so slow.

Things would probably be different nowadays, but since nobody wants to play Diablo III with me, my experience in this genre is limited to The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing ( once available for free on Steam), the surprisingly fun Titan Quest (recently played through again) and the first two Torchlight-spin-offs. Thankfully, the latter provides me with a wonderful segue, as the soundtrack for these games was composed by the same man who composed the score for Diablo: Matt Uelmen.

Uelmen stands out in his compositions for Diablo with an interesting mixture of three musical aspects that seem quite contradictory at first glance. First of all, the expected horror, after all, the monster bashing orgy captivates with a color palette ranging from dark grey to faeces brown. In order to achieve this, instrumental eary vocals are used, including siren-like howls (also often from children) and distant screams, which are used tastefully - and fortunately sparingly. These unholy sounds are garnished with effects such as reverb or echo to make it sound a little spooky.

The second major feature of the soundtrack, which complements the spooky atmosphere and doesn't quite fit into the picture, are the percussions. Hardly a track can do without this rhythm driver, which sometimes sets the beat in the sense of a march (Hell, The Crypt) and sometimes provides accents as a drum accompaniment in the background (Dungeon, Catacombs). As an old fan of drums, I like that, but it wouldn't have been the instrumentation I was expecting.

And the final point in this fusion of opposites are the guitars, which on the one hand, as an acoustic version, give rise to campfire vibes, for example on the iconic Into Town, the riff of which causes waves of nostalgia to swell in many fans and gives us a feeling of security and homecoming. On the other hand, the electric guitars that growl towards listeners in Hell , for example, give the impression of a metal album and make us want to hunt demons rather than play hide-and-seek.

In other words: a bit of horror, driving percussion and ambivalent guitars. Sounds like a mixture of DOOM and Soul Reaver and works surprisingly well. Where the soundtrack to Sacred (which I forgot to include in my list above), for example, sounds like a fantasy sundae, here experiments have been made with a rather unconventional combination that is definitely worth listening to. Perhaps not exactly something you'd turn on for a cozy carmine evening, but I can definitely recommend the Diablo score for the next Dungeons and Dragons round or as a pulse-friendly compromise to the aforementioned metal festival.

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No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
1	Intro	Matt Uelmen	3
2	Into Town	Matt Uelmen	4
3	Dungeon	Matt Uelmen	3
4	Catacombs	Matt Uelmen	3
5	Caves	Matt Uelmen	4
6	Hell	Matt Uelmen	3

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Hellfire

There are two tracks, so I'll keep it short: read the review of the main game Diablo, the soundtrack to the addon Hellfire is surprisingly (irony!) no different. The Nest is a bit boring because it's too quiet, The Crypt is more exciting because it's more action-packed. Have fun!

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
1	The Nest	Matt Uelmen	2
2	The Crypt	Matt Uelmen	4