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Ultimately, it reads as both narrative speak and dialogue from the game’s main protagonist, Alucard, the progeny of Dracula. What’s then just as apt is how DragonForce cleverly approached their lyrical angle with the song, “Symphony of the Night”. It feels quite ingrained in the idea of how one would be during that period, and how being an immortal probably would give one the idea to speak with an elevated tongue. And when you take that smugness, that sorrow over eternity, and those self-righteous attitudes, the idea of exaggerated dialogue no longer feels as campy or forced. The aristocratic touch always seemed so apt. I’ve always loved the idea of Gothic, Georgian and Victorian-era style vampires ever since I first watched the film adaptation of Anne Rice’s novel, Interview With the Vampire (1994). The storyline, however (as growingly convoluted as it may be today), has as such always been of interest. SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT DRAGONFORCE SERIESI never owned an NES when I was a kid, and I didn’t really invest much time into the series until much later, during its PS2/PS3 eras. SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT DRAGONFORCE FULLThe music of Castlevania has never been one to shy away from the use of metal and gothic passages, and, for as flamboyant, high-energy and full of self-aware cheese as DragonForce are, the same can be said of the Castlevania series - a series which is just as lauded for its Gothic settings and fanciful imagery as it is for its typically Japanese over-the-top in-game dialogue.Ĭastlevania is a series I’ll admit I was a late-comer to. A keen ear can spot cues and homages to movements from both Yamane’s compositions in the two songs, along with, but not limited to, the opening notes of “Bloody Tears” from Simon’s Quest, principally composed by Matsubara.įew things seem more appropriate than having a band like DragonForce tackle the Castlavania series. ![]() The characters went from colourful NES sprites with oddly chosen attire (given their locales and time periods) to fully-fledged, aristocratic and anime-inspired pieces of art.įurther credit must also be given to Michiru Yamane, the principal composer for both the aforementioned games and a number of others in Castlevania’s history, along with Kenichi Matsubara, who was the main composer for Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (1987). Equally, the iconic illustrations of Ayami Kojima would provide the art style that would flavour Castlevania moving forward. ![]() Under the then co-direction of Toru Hagihara and Koji Igarashi, Symphony of the Night was responsible for changing how the series would progress gameplay-wise from there on out, forging itself through its unique platforming and open-ended gameplay aspects into a staple of the RPG genre. These two games - with Symphony of the Night, in particular - are considered to be high points in the series. ![]() SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT DRAGONFORCE PS2Specifically, these include the eponymous Symphony of the Night, which was first released on the Sony PlayStation back in 1997 along with Curse of Darkness, which, although its storyline takes place earlier in the chronology, was released on the PS2 in Japan in 2005 and in Europe in 2006. What both these two songs have in common is the subject matter their lyrics deal with, which, as I’m sure a number of you game aficionados have already picked up on, are direct references to Konami’s Castlevania series of games. As we fast approach DragonForce’s impending Australian tour near the end of this month, for this edition of Geeks In Metal, I take a look at a couple of the band’s more lyrically interesting tracks: “Symphony of the Night” (off their 2014 release, Maximum Overload) and one of their newest songs, “Curse of Darkness” (from their latest release, Reaching Into Infinity). “Behold my true form, and despair!” - Count Dracula, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Konami, 1997)įew bands inspire images of fantasy or hope in the face of tragedy or ruin in quite the same way as English power metal act, DragonForce, does. ![]()
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