!YAP INCOMING!
Ok so like, this is going to come out of left field, but I am a massive fan of Terraria: Calamity Mod's OST. DM DOKURO was run out of the music production because people were sending him death threats over "Brutal, Stained Calamity," which fucking sucks, because if you listen to his work it's MAGNIFICENT.
Throughout every piece that he wrote, you can feel a story being told. A story, within every piece, every note and instrument choice so deliberate it's hard to imagine that it was made by a human person and not just a manifestation of the characters themselves.
Past the storytelling element, the integration of all of these different genres at once (things like symphonic metal/rock, EDM, ambient, slow orchestra, heavy metal/death metal, orchestral, and dark choir) which is rare to come across, and especially rare to see it done well. Some of my favorite pieces combine metal with orchestra and choir (like the aforementioned "Stained, Brutal Calamity" and "The Leviathan Trilogy"). If you haven't taken a deep dive into this music and you're a music theory enjoyer, please please do! You won't regret it.
Plus, like another modern famous composer–cough cough Toby Fox cough cough–DM DOKURO knew how to use motifs and leitmotifs perfectly well. Some are more obvious than others, like the Bells of Calamity, which play in the pieces of more god-like entities' battles. It tells you that they're connected with one another and that you're fighting a big bad at the same time, which is something you immediately subconsciously note. These themes connect bosses and environments together seamlessly and build upon the already known lore so well that it gives me the CHILLS.
If you haven't already listened to the sountrack, Terraria fan or not, please consider doing so. Every piece in the soundtrack is so wonderfully written and becomes even more beautiful when you take the time to dissect them. I say this as a fan of music theory and music in general.
Thanks for reading my yap!
