Midweek Music Box: Heavy Metal 8-bit Covers

Yes Virginia, there is a Metal Claus, and he is here to rock--in 8-bit, chip tune awesomeness!  Heavy metal can come in all forms from your standard head banging ball, to Sir Christopher Lee rocking out some Christmas tunes:

Seriously, this is a real thing! An awesomely real thing! Check it out!

So let's do something a little different for Midweek Music Box. Let's take time to recognize a few chip tune covers of some of the best (but by no means not all) of what heavy metal music has to offer. I don't need to really say too much of the songs themselves; however I will offer my brief thoughts on what I like about them. At the end of this article, please click the links leading to the artists behind these interpretations; 8 Bit Universe and Omnigrad.

Enter Sandman:

Enter Sandman 8 Bit by 8 Bit Universe

Let's start with Metallica, because of course we're going to start with Metallica! Practically everything they put out is instantly classic metal. Wouldn't this make epic last stage music? I mean seriously, the driving rhythm Enter Sandman would kick all sorts of butt. If you kept losing lives and had to restart said final level, wouldn't it be worth it to hear this track from the beginning? I hate losing and starting over in games, but sometimes the music makes it tolerable. A loop of this as I try to reach the end boss? Yes please.


Symphony of Destruction:

Symphony of Destruction 8-bit by Omnigrad

Again more, music that would rock in some form of a last stage for a game. Maybe part two of said stage? It's a little more "mellow" in comparison to the Enter Sandman 8-bit, but really, it works not just as an interpretation, but as something you can see as a calm before the storm situation. Not that Symphony of Destruction is calm mind you, just it gets you pumped in the right way.



Du Hast:

Du Hast 8 Bit by 8 Bit Universe

By itself, Du Hast stands as a heavy metal song for the ages. Transformed into an 8-bit track, this track sounds so much like it belongs in a boss battle. I've always had a love for rhythm of this song, and it is no less glorious in 8-bit. If some one were to do a game mod or 8-bit homage game, I'd want this to appear as the music for the final boss battle of the game.



Final Thoughts:

Seriously, as I listen to these various interpretations, I feel like they all belong in final stage of some unpublished NES game. As I said before, we need a game mod or some 8-bit style game where these things are featured. Not only do the individuals who did the 8-bit interpretations deserve credit for their tribute, but they deserve credit for making tunes I'd love to hear in a video game. In my music review for Blackthorne, I mentioned everything about the tunes conveyed that heavy metal feel. Obviously this is true more-so with actual heavy metal tunes turned into chiptunes, but it's worth mentioning because of how well the tunes have been done here. I instinctively know they are songs I've heard before. However, I can't help but picture a game like Mega Man where you progress through Dr. Wily stages at the end of the game, or maybe a Ghosts N' Goblins-esque game where you fight the devil himself.  

So big shout out to the artists of these songs who deserve your follow on Twitter, YouTube, or cash when they've made the track available for download:

8 Bit Universe Info:

8 Bit Universe on Twitter

8 Bit Universe Music on Youtube

Du Hast 8 bit available HERE FOR DOWNLOAD

Enter Sandman 8 bit available HERE FOR DOWNLOAD

Omnigrad* Info:

Omnigrad Music on YouTube

*User hasn't uploaded anything new in two months, but their other stuff is pretty awesome. Check out their channel, increase their view count, and maybe they'll make more!

Midweek Music Box: BlackThorne

And now the hit track "You'll bleed for me" from Blackthorne's debut self-titled album.

Synthesized heavy metal music, shotguns and bombs, demons and monster, and a ripped main hero?  If it isn't an 80's movie or a band from the same time period then it has to be Blackthorne.

Cutscene music

Dark heavy metal guitar synthesizer music not only set the tone for many a heavy metal band of the 80's but also helped sell the setting of this Blizzard/Interplay puzzle platformer.  I would call it a high-bred of the puzzle and platformer genres because of the way you need to not only wield your shotgun and bombs, but the fact that you have limited bombs on each level and need to to find various bridge extenders, keys, and other items to progress through the game.  It still surprises me that I got this game as a kid.  My parents were pretty careful about what my brother and I brought into the house when it came to games and music.  So something that that fused semi-demonic elements and hard rock finding its way on to my shelf was kinda a shake up from the norm.  But oh what an awesome shake up that was.  There's so many awesome things about this game, it might find its way into a review at a future date.  For now, I just want to focus on the music. 

As I keep saying, I like to use video game music for a variety of things from background music when writing to background music when cleaning.  I love game music.  This is another case where the game and music are nearly inseparable (at least in my mind).  

Mines of Galadril

Just listen to the bass guitar sound on that.  It's pretty sweet in it's own right, but man oh man does it help sell the oppressive atmosphere of the slave run mines of Galadril.  It has the just the right brooding tone to make you want to escape, and free your people.  (Either that or carelessly do an over-the-shoulder-accidental-sorry-I-just-killed-you-chained-up-guy-shotgun-blast-to-the-face.)  Honestly, with that long-haired,ripped hero you control it wouldn't be surprising if the guys and the demons just suddenly dropped the guns and started rocking out.  Heck, I think that would make an awesome video from the crew at Dorkly.  Screw this game!  Let's rock!

Let's talk tempo, because even though the music has a certain chomping, head-bobbing quality, the composer obviously knew how well it would fit the tone of the story.  As obvious as it would be that the happy-go-lucky music like the kind you find in first stage of  Super Mario Bros. 2 would not fit at all, I think it would have been possible to make the music have too similar a quality throughout the game.  Too much brooding would have sunk it.  However, as the game progresses, you get a bit of a faster tempo to the music, culminating in a nice, brisk pace for the end battle.  I like that there's an air of triumph to the music as you get closer to the game.  A game like this could have made for a fantastic open world game like Metroid, but with the tempo and tone of the music, it feels like each new level is a new chapter of a story.

Put this game in the "Pop it in just to hear the music at least" category.  You'll want to do some head-thrashing and gameplaying.  Possibly both at the same time.

Yeah, kinda Alpha Omega Sin style.