It goes without saying the Silent Hill video game franchise
(particularly the first three games) is arguably my favorite of all time. Originally airing in 1999 on the Sony Playstation,
the story of a fictional American town where nothing is as it seems and
everyone has something to hide, Silent
Hill conjures up the atmospheric industrial and ambient terrors of David
Lynch and the visceral grotesque horrors of Jacob’s
Ladder. For the first time, the
survival horror game wasn’t just about button mashing against deadly
monsters. Rather, it was a dread soaked
psychological descent into madness where neither you the player nor the
characters weren’t sure what was happening to them. Finally, Resident
Evil met it’s match if not the successor in terms of becoming the pinnacle
of the survival horror subgenre.
Key to the survival horror
experience in addition to the creepy vistas of the ghost town immersed in
choking thick fog with inhuman monsters and demons of the flesh (or mind?)
running amok is the sound design. Thanks
to the great Akira Yamaoka, Silent Hill contains
a wide variety of sound engineering in addition to a thoroughly expressive and
unsettling electronic soundtrack. Often
consisting of either industrial loops, ambience or old fashioned rock and roll,
it’s a wholly immersive sonic experience which provides an essential component
to the listening aspect of the gameplay.
Sounds are also key to detecting enemies, as your avatar is adorned with
a radio which emits an eerie frequency whenever an adversary is near. There are times during the game where I want
to just hit the pause button, close my eyes and let Yakaoka’s soundscape take
me on a journey. It’s that rich and
texture of a soundtrack!
For years the only way to
obtain the soundtrack to this now classic game series was to fork over
exorbitant amounts of money for an import compact disc from Japan, some of
which have only gone up in value over time.
With the elite vinyl releasing label Mondotees however, Silent Hill recently received it’s
first-time ever vinyl pressing, housed in a custom gatefold sleeve with two
discs pressed with a ghostly looking snowfall tie-dye platter or the chose to
purchase a standard black vinyl.
Naturally, this limited-to-500 copies pressing sold out instantly and is
now going on eBay in the hundreds. I was
lucky enough to snag one before it sold out and it’s a wonderful addition to
this Silent Hill fan’s
collection. That said, this long-awaited
vinyl release is not without it’s share of controversy however.
Though everyone knows Akira
Yamaoka is the longtime sound designer and composer of the Konami Digital
Entertainment based videogame series, recent changes within the company that
have long since become infamous among gamers including Hideo Kojima’s much-publicized
exit from the company have invariably affected this Mondo release. Instead of giving credit where it’s due
proper, Mondotees due to licensing agreements have left Yamaoka’s name off of
this vinyl release entirely, crediting the release to Konami Digital
Entertainment. Fans of the series are of
course up in arms over this, proving the fallout of Konami is continuing to
have a negative impact on further releases of their library. While I won’t junk my still prized possession
over this, it is an injustice which Konami should be ashamed of.
Preventing the man who
created arguably some of the best videogame soundscapes in the history of the
medium from receiving fair credit for his efforts is completely unacceptable
though I can understand the compromise Mondotees had to make. Their hands were tied with this one, left
with the options of either no vinyl at all or simply drop Yamaoka’s name from
the credits. One day this rights/credit
snafu will be corrected but until then it unfortunately does take the overall
score of this otherwise great vinyl release down a peg. There’s really no reason for this issue of
excluding the composer’s name from the liner notes to exist beyond it being
another obscene absurdity from Konami.
Despite the issue of credit and the limited release, those lucky enough to have obtained one of these sets should nonetheless rejoice for having arguably one of the greatest survival horror soundtracks of all time in a lovingly detailed and remastered 180 gram record. Regardless of the aforementioned issue which will make or break the deal for many, Mondotees continues to do splendid work with their sleeve design, their pressings and the overall selection of music itself. Perhaps one day the other albums will come out on vinyl also, hopefully having sorted out the credit issues with Konami by then. For now, I’m just happy to have such an ornate special edition soundtrack to what is still likely going to remain my favorite videogame series of all time.
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki