It is certainly worthy of the BAFTA game award for Best Original Soundtrack and in my opinion is worthy of most accolades one could feel given to award it.įamily Video Game Age Ratings | Home | About | Radio shows | Columnists | Competitions | Contact The themes and tones of this album stay with me long after the last note has faded from hearing and I find myself wanted to revisit this time and again. That aside, this is one of the most balanced and beautifully written and recorded soundtracks I have had the pleasure to come across. These themes suffer a little from not being integrated into a wider piece elsewhere but still provide appropriate thematic support to the surrounding music. This is a powerful soundtrack of gripping ideas, driving pace and disquieting dischords placed alongside melodic and introspective piano sections and beautiful instrumental solos.Ĭommon with soundtracks of this type there are one or two shorter tracks, clearly scored into the game to provide musical cover for game sequences. One of the most balanced and beautifully written soundtracks I have come across.
#Heavy rain soundtracks full#
The piece often breaks down into small groupings of instruments together - rather than over-using a full orchestral sound - and Corbeil's choice of particular instrumentation hits exactly the right emotion. The Rite of Spring) although mixed with Blues and broken up by some haunting piano melodies.Īs my first experience of Corbeil I was immediately struck by his skill with these musical elements. Somehow it reminded me of Stravinsky (e.g.
Normand Corbeil communicates the turmoil of the characters using heavily discordant strings alongside raging percussion. It is fairly modern-traditional in style, not sounding out of place alongside many film soundtracks or even some of the modern pieces popular in western orchestral music early last century. The soundtrack is essentially an orchestral suite. It's true that the score undoubtedly resurrected emotional reactions to the game's story even with that aside, however, the melodies, motifs and arrangement of the music manages to resonate very deeply with me.
What I found most remarkable about the Heavy Rain soundtrack is how much I can enjoy it away from the experience of the game. It is traditional, but packs an emotional and musical punch setting it apart from its peers. There are many tracks that appear in the game but are considered as the "Unofficial." It is unknown why they are said to be, because they were created for the game, for example in the Blue Lagoon or Ethan's apartment, or even the " For Love" trailer.Heavy Rain's BAFTA-winning soundtrack (Best Original Score, Videogame, 2011) exerts an excellence common among film scores but which is quite rare among games.