Darius Twin Original Soundtrack
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Album Title: Darius Twin Original Soundtrack |
| Record Label: Zuntata Records |
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| Catalog No.: ZTTL-9040 |
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| Release Date: October 5, 2011 |
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| Purchase: Download on iTunes |
Overview
At the height of the series’ popularity, Taito developed two SNES spinoffs of the Darius franchise in the early 90s: Darius Twin and Darius Force. While the soundtrack for the latter has yet to be released, Taito eventually made the music for the soundtrack available for digital download through iTunes. Composed by Shizuo Aizawa rather than Hisayoshi Ogura, the soundtrack sounds like an action game from the SNES era rather than something from the Darius series. My immediate comparison is that of some of the Mega Man X themes. As for the actual music itself, I think it’s well composed, but it’s very generic and doesn’t fit the Darius environs at all.
Body
Right from the start of the soundtrack, it’s clear that Shizuo Aizawa has shifted away from the electronic sound of the series in favour of an action-packed rock approach. The first stage theme “A Flashing Dual Hawk”, for example, is a power rock theme with a strong melody. The track is quite well-developed and boasts robust SPC synthesis thanks to sound programmer Norihiro Furukawa. However, the whole thing feels more than a tad generic. There is a subtle influence in the accompaniment of times that seems to be reminiscent of the first Darius game, but aside from that, it could be a theme in Mega Man game.
“Silent Diagonal”, “Hysterical Field”, and “Cloudy Blast” have a bit more of that Darius sound to it, but they still manage to come off as run of the mill action oriented themes. I do appreciate the strong electric guitar melodies in these themes too. “Logical Crustacean,” presumably the boss theme, definitely has more of a Darius sound with its heavy beats and atmospheric accompaniment. However, I think that the melody line is more akin to the rest of the soundtrack. Strong, but not necessarily fitting.
Shizuo Aizawa was conscious to paid direct tribute to Ogura’s scores in places. “Doubt Lines” seems particularly inspired by the likes of Darius‘ “Inorganic Beat” with its irregular metre and percussive focus. However, it comes across jumbled rather than particularly inspired. The last theme I’ll mention is “Boss 7”. This theme is a resynthed version of the Darius final boss theme. It’s a strong composition, but I think the SNES synth makes the theme lose some of its charm.
Summary
It’s not that the Darius Twin is a terrible soundtrack, because it’s pretty decent in both composition and implementation. However, I don’t find that it fits the overall Darius sound that every other game in the series has given its rock focus. Furthermore, I’m not sure the soundtrack justifies its 10 USD pricetag given it features just 24 minutes of music. Unless you’re a hardcore fan, I’d skip this soundtrack in favor of other entries in the series.
Do you agree with the review and score? Let us know in the comments below!
2.5
Posted on November 9, 2015 by Don Kotowski. Last modified on November 9, 2015.
About the Author
Don Kotowski Currently residing in Philadelphia. I spend my days working in vaccine characterization and dedicate some of my spare time in the evening to the vast world of video game music, both reviewing soundtracks as well as maintaining relationships with composers overseas in Europe and in Japan.
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