# Please recommend your favourite fantasy orchestra/rock/metal fusion tracks - preferably from video games!



## SimonCharlesHanna (Jul 27, 2021)

Ill try and find some examples myself to help hone in what I am after! 

Thank you


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## Trash Panda (Jul 27, 2021)

This should be a fun thread. 

Let’s kick it off with some Sawano.


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## rainierjmartin (Jul 27, 2021)

Literally every song from Final Fantasy VII Remake combines so many genres of music with such amazing orchestrations and arrangements of the original OST!



The remake of One Winged Angel is simply a masterpiece. Nothing else to say.



This remix of Yuffie's theme, Descendant of Shinobi, is sublime!



And, in the new DLC for the game, they had a chase sequence with just a sax ensemble!!

Seems like all the arrangers of Uematsu's original music, including Shotaro Shima and Masashi Hamauzu, really took his music to a whole other level with such a tasteful modern spin. Definitely my favorite video game soundtrack last year!


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## Trash Panda (Jul 27, 2021)

You can’t do an FF7 Remake music appreciation , especially one geared towards symphonic metal, without its magnum opus.



Fun fact: I lost this boss fight the first time because I was head banging too hard to pay attention to the boss’s cues.


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Jul 27, 2021)

Oh man, the Japanese are just on another level. 

These are great so far, is there any more darker stuff (from any IP)?


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## Trash Panda (Jul 27, 2021)

SimonCharlesHanna said:


> Oh man, the Japanese are just on another level.
> 
> These are great so far, is there any more darker stuff (from any IP)?


It’s not video game music per se, and any orchestral elements are more in the background, but it’s definitely darker.


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## thevisi0nary (Aug 2, 2021)

Kind of pushing it in terms of hybrid since it's mainly just an addition of choir.


If I think of something darker I'll post.


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## gtrwll (Aug 2, 2021)

Oh boy, have I mentioned Xenoblade Chronicles 2 anywhere?


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## gtrwll (Aug 2, 2021)

One of my absolute favorites is Nihon Falcom's Falcom Sound Team jdk, here's some examples from Ys and Trails (The Legend of Heroes). Ys has probably a more traditional "rock/metal infused with synths" sound, and Trails has more orchestral and jazzy elements in the mix:


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## dhmusic (Aug 6, 2021)

The Evergrace OST is one of my favorites and I think it hits all those categories (at one point or another). This is one of the earlier more experimental FromSoftware games a few years before Demon's Souls.

I thought it was bizarre when I played it as a kid but didn't have all this floating elitist bullshit in my head to keep me from enjoying it. It just sounded really cool to me. Everything about the game has this glorious "jank" to it that creates a quite uncanny sort of immersion.

It's amateurish in all the best ways. To me it sounds like the composer Kota Hoshino is pushing his skills to their limit - well into the realm of experimentation - and then trying with some limited success to reel all these wild ideas back into something cohesive. The spirit of it is actually very punk imo.

I hope one of these days we return to our senses and start making more art that is intuitively bonkers lol. Here's the Evergrace OST:




Valkyrie Profile another great lesser know one by Motoi Sakuraba that has a lot of those classic JRPG prog rock vibes going on if that's more what you're looking for:


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## dhmusic (Aug 6, 2021)

thevisi0nary said:


> Kind of pushing it in terms of hybrid since it's mainly just an addition of choir.
> 
> 
> If I think of something darker I'll post.



whelp 10 seconds in and we've exhausted every Balkan choir syllable we have at our disposal 😂


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## darkmagi250 (Aug 6, 2021)

This is the first track I could think of. Some good ol' Soulcalibur.


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## proggermusic (Aug 7, 2021)

I mean... I think it's hard to mess with the Chrono and early FF games for this kinda stuff.


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Aug 11, 2021)

Hey thanks for all the references. So very helpful and some great music!

I was wondering do we have any more death metal + Orchestra vibes?


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Aug 11, 2021)

now i gotta figure out how to mix this shit ha! 

I know I've read that when bands want to incorporate orchestral elements that they should mix their band fully (so it could work without the orchestral elements) but im not sure that applies for cinematic music hmm.


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Aug 11, 2021)

Production is always a problem with these kind of tracks. Even in top tier Hollywood. They really don't know what to do with the drums and guitars. It always sounds really anemic and weak, which defeats the whole purpose.

Metal bands that have orchestral elements in their music generally sound much better. Not a fan of that style, but the way that stuff is produced works a lot better than the media music which uses rock band + orchestra. The orchestra must be embedded in the band sound, not the other way around.

This is just samples - the old VSL stuff, it's an album from 2007 - but the idea is the same.




You got the band roaring full blast, dry production, and the orchestral stuff sits in there. But the band is upfront, and some of the orchestra ambience and low end has to make way.


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## dunamisstudio (Aug 11, 2021)




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## dhmusic (Aug 12, 2021)

SimonCharlesHanna said:


> Hey thanks for all the references. So very helpful and some great music!
> 
> I was wondering do we have any more death metal + Orchestra vibes?


seems like FalKKonE might be up your alley

"Video game music writer, arranger, and producer. Psychopath. Madman. Creator of Intense Symphonic Metal Covers. Terminally addicted to music."



https://www.youtube.com/c/FalKKonE


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## darcvision (Aug 12, 2021)

video games, i guess the most popular one example like jdk band, YS, or legend of the heroes trail in the sky.

band, i like fox capture plan because the music sounds like jrpg battle theme








anime, sometimes they made a soundtrack with kind of orchestra rock, mostly with violin or cello as a melody, example like this

maou mayu yuusha

not exactly an anime, but i love this track

boku no hero academia


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## thevisi0nary (Aug 12, 2021)

dhmusic said:


> whelp 10 seconds in and we've exhausted every Balkan choir syllable we have at our disposal 😂


Hahahah


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## thevisi0nary (Aug 12, 2021)

dhmusic said:


> I hope one of these days we return to our senses and start making more art that is intuitively bonkers lol. Here's the Evergrace OST:



Thanks for posting this, super interesting stuff. Especially the second track.


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## thevisi0nary (Aug 12, 2021)

Not from a video game but metal + orchestra.


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## dhmusic (Aug 12, 2021)

thevisi0nary said:


> Thanks for posting this, super interesting stuff. Especially the second track.


That track is totally transporting it's my favorite


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## Gil (Aug 13, 2021)

Hello,
I don't know if it can be categorized under "fantasy", but enjoy it:

Regards,
Gil.


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## jeremyr (Aug 14, 2021)

dhmusic said:


> seems like FalKKonE might be up your alley
> 
> "Video game music writer, arranger, and producer. Psychopath. Madman. Creator of Intense Symphonic Metal Covers. Terminally addicted to music."
> 
> ...


This guy did one of my favourites:


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Jan 18, 2022)

I wanted to thank everyone for the great references and help! 

Finally finished mixing and this is how they went! I am pretty happy for my first try incorporating these elements together


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## Fenicks (Jan 20, 2022)

dhmusic said:


> The Evergrace OST is one of my favorites and I think it hits all those categories (at one point or another). This is one of the earlier more experimental FromSoftware games a few years before Demon's Souls.
> 
> I thought it was bizarre when I played it as a kid but didn't have all this floating elitist bullshit in my head to keep me from enjoying it. It just sounded really cool to me. Everything about the game has this glorious "jank" to it that creates a quite uncanny sort of immersion.
> 
> ...



Even being messy, this music is honestly so inspired and inspiring.


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## amorphosynthesis (Jan 20, 2022)




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## thevisi0nary (Jan 20, 2022)

SimonCharlesHanna said:


> I wanted to thank everyone for the great references and help!
> 
> Finally finished mixing and this is how they went! I am pretty happy for my first try incorporating these elements together



Awesome job man, came out great. What brass are you using?


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Jan 20, 2022)

thevisi0nary said:


> Awesome job man, came out great. What brass are you using?


Thanks!! 

JXL


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