3 out of 5

Label: Konami

Produced by: Junichi Kamei, Takanori Kaneko

Any new Silent Hill game is exciting, even in the franchise’s rather shaky state. Beyond the potential a new entry offers for gaming, there’s also the knowledge that we’re likely to get some more Akira Yamaoka score work – absolutely a reason for celebration, and the quality of the music evaluable quite separate from the other media experience.

However, context can add some notes of interest to Akira’s work, and in the case of Silent Hill: The Short Message, one might question how some of the game’s criticisms are reflected, especially since some general criticism suggested it was SH in name only – will the same be heard in the score?

Yes and no. Taken without awareness of the series or game, Akira’s score is lacking. The cavernous, creaking atmospherics of scores’ past are here, but they’re far from immersive, produced with a distancing digital gloss and are not necessarily thematic – mostly each song feels separate from the other. That doesn’t prevent the music from providing a lot of interesting sounds, especially when some classic SH effects guest appear, but the score caters more towards the fuller arrangements than ambience. “Fuller” here means guitar / drums rockers, though sometimes these lean industrial. These largely work because they’re longer songs – at least in comparison to 1-2 minute ambient snippets – and are supported by the crisper production. We also get our new vocal contributor on alternate versions of My Heroine – Esther Ortega Cantó – which is very stirring, and in the vein of traditional Silent Hill vocal tunes. But with the bulk of a 3-disc, 75+ song set given over to these siloed, rather unmoving cues, it’s hard to really get invested in the album beyond it being background.

Now let’s add some game awareness in. A free release, focusing on a topical concept – bullying – and lacking in combat. As mentioned, it was received (by some) as an almost knockoff of the franchise, if visually solid.

…While I surely don’t know Yamaoka’s process, if we at least assume he sees the game or gets a brief, there’s enough of a tonal shift / stylistic remove from previous SH entries, even with those surface descriptions / criticisms that might impact perception, purposefully or not, and then one can “match” the game’s vibe to a similar loosely-translated-from-previous-soundtracks mood of the music, taking some general ethos and then crafting them pretty separated from what came before. With a composer as storied and skilled as Yamaoka, that still generates a lot of interesting ideas, but it’s way too long of a record for that to be the main thing you hang your hat on.