Spook's Review: Miracle of Sound, Level 10

As I've said before, its my blog and I like to babble about all kinds of random stuff.  My previous Spook's review was detailing Far Cry 5, and what I viewed as its positives and many sins.

This time, I'm switching to the musical side of things.

Miracle of Sound is Gavin Dunne. He's a musician who I've been listened to for well, ten years now. He's very productive. And while some people think that a musician who cranks out songs so rapidly might be untalented, I think he just likes being paid.  And that's always a good mark in an artist.

An artist who wants to get paid is an artist who wants to produce a product that people want.

Miracle of Sound's 'Level' albums are pretty much entirely based on Pop Culture or Video Game themes. As Dunne's matured as an artist however, he's moved from songs that track a bit too directly to their source material to ones that merely capture that feeling. I think this is a positive. 

As an example, way back on Level 1, he had a song which was called 'Commander Shepherd' and was based on well, Mass Effect and made express mentions of the various characters and aliens from that material. 

Conversely, songs from Level 10 like 'A Thousand Eyes' or 'Open Air' are obviously songs about Bloodbourne or the Metro series, if you know what those series are. Otherwise one is a haunting, creepy song and the other strangely uplifting.  That's to say that while Level 1 was video-game-music, this is music about video games. And that's a major positive.

One of Dunne's spectacular talents though is his ability to reward continuity. As video games and other media have multiple interations, he's found a way to link the various Metro, Assassin's Creed, Witcher and other pop inspired songs through the use of expertly layered leitmotifs and lyrics.

'Open Air' is one of my favorites from Level 10 because of how it harkens back to the 'Day the World Died.' One is a song about the fundemental despair of the Metro universe, and then the other feels like a relief, and a shining light of hope.

Mr. Dunne also excels at capturing the feeling of each world that inspires his music. This means that his songs tend to have a diverse tone and feel, that makes each of his albums, and Level 10 in particular, feel like you're listening to more than one artist.

Buy this man's music. 

Musical Inspiration Challenge 2! Part 9: The First Encounter

Wake the White Wolf by Miracle of Sound

This one is going to be a bit odd. Wake the White Wolf is a fantasy song. Maybe too much of one. I think one of the major strengths of Miracle of Sound is that he makes songs based on video games, or science fiction or fantasy shows, and their source material is usually immediately identifiable, but its not so obvious that they can only be appreciated that way.

Wake the White Wolf is supposedly inspired by the Witcher series. The white wolf in question being the protagonist of the Witcher, who during the video game series, is dealing with increasing age and weariness, but who still rouses himself again and again to do what he has to.

Anyway, our lyrics.

Torches of war under hatred's sails
A whisper of doom on a wary breeze
Scorching the shores in a blazing trail
Cinder and fume foul the air we breathe

Blood of fallen kings
Blades of chaos ring
Steel and silver sing
For justice

Keen to the scent, the hunt is my muse
A means to an end this path that I choose
Lost and aloof are the loves of my past
Wake the White Wolf!
Remembrance at last

Wake the White Wolf at the dawn of war
The end of the age is-a coming now

Sign of flame will sting
Punishment I bring
Steel and silver sing
For justice

Keen to the scent, the hunt is my muse
A means to an end this path that I choose
Lost and aloof are the loves of my past
Wake the White Wolf!
Remembrance at last

Wake the White Wolf at the dawn of war
The end of the age is-a coming now
Ravaging the rivers scorching the shores
Fires in the night the torches of war

WAKE THE WOLF
WAKE THE WHITE WOLF

Wake the White Wolf at the dawn of war
The end of the age is-a coming now

I’ve said before that encounters aren’t necessarily punchy-fighty stuff. Not every encounter involves beating on a given target. Climactic Encounters are moments when the heroes have to contend against something, and when that contention has an important outcome. As before I’m not going into the details of the players having to do stuff like deal with angry orderlies in the old folk home or sneaking past doorways. That stuff isn’t stuff that really needs to be plotted.

In this case, our first major encounter is one that’s massively important.

They have to convince the guy they need to get the information from, to not give up or give in.

In a way this can be social. It might end up a combat encounter though. Rousing a man from his old dreams and getting him to lift his creaky bones free of the madness and despair that surrounds.

This might require us to examine some of our earlier plans though. After all, if our first real climactic encounter has them find the guy, well, then they could just take him back, have him open the vault, point out the princeling, etc.

Alternatively, they could have to rescue him from the vile euthanasia of this hellish crapshack that he’s found himself in, and he might not be in the best place mentally or physically after wards, but that seems like a cheat to me.

So, hmm, how do we get the players to get the guy they need to rescue early developmentally, but still have an adventure?