The 31 Days of Horror Music in Gaming - Day 7
I would strongly advise against listening to this with headphones. I will explain why below.
A curious little gem, Pulseman was a platformer released by Game Freak (y'know, those Pokemon cats?) for the Sega Megadrive in the mid 90's. With surreal twists on present day locations and digital worlds, the game boasted a rather upbeat soundtrack that was heavily techno based.
Around the middle of the game, all of that is thrown out the window. Preceded by a similar track Brain Wash, Brain Voice feels a lot slower, way more desolate and just... bizarre. It's an incredibly unfitting song for what is an otherwise energetic, fast-paced game.
This song's most distinguishing trait are the explosions littered throughout. Now, what you're listening to is an edited version. That is to say, I had to go into a sound program and manually lower the volume. The sheer intensity of these explosions really is ear-shattering. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what Masuda was going for here. I have a hard time deciding whether the abrupt explosions add or take away from this piece. What I do know, though, is that they did not have to be nearly as loud as they are.
If you're feeling curious, here is the unaltered track.
By itself, Brain Voice is an extremely odd song. The most terrifying thing about it, though, is that I feel it can potentially damage your speakers.
