A keen ear can spot cues and homages to movements from both Yamane’s compositions in the two songs, along with, but not limited to, the opening notes of “Bloody Tears” from Simon’s Quest, principally composed by Matsubara.įew things seem more appropriate than having a band like DragonForce tackle the Castlavania series. The characters went from colourful NES sprites with oddly chosen attire (given their locales and time periods) to fully-fledged, aristocratic and anime-inspired pieces of art.įurther credit must also be given to Michiru Yamane, the principal composer for both the aforementioned games and a number of others in Castlevania’s history, along with Kenichi Matsubara, who was the main composer for Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (1987). Equally, the iconic illustrations of Ayami Kojima would provide the art style that would flavour Castlevania moving forward. Under the then co-direction of Toru Hagihara and Koji Igarashi, Symphony of the Night was responsible for changing how the series would progress gameplay-wise from there on out, forging itself through its unique platforming and open-ended gameplay aspects into a staple of the RPG genre. These two games - with Symphony of the Night, in particular - are considered to be high points in the series. Specifically, these include the eponymous Symphony of the Night, which was first released on the Sony PlayStation back in 1997 along with Curse of Darkness, which, although its storyline takes place earlier in the chronology, was released on the PS2 in Japan in 2005 and in Europe in 2006.
What both these two songs have in common is the subject matter their lyrics deal with, which, as I’m sure a number of you game aficionados have already picked up on, are direct references to Konami’s Castlevania series of games. As we fast approach DragonForce’s impending Australian tour near the end of this month, for this edition of Geeks In Metal, I take a look at a couple of the band’s more lyrically interesting tracks: “Symphony of the Night” (off their 2014 release, Maximum Overload) and one of their newest songs, “Curse of Darkness” (from their latest release, Reaching Into Infinity). “Behold my true form, and despair!” - Count Dracula, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Konami, 1997)įew bands inspire images of fantasy or hope in the face of tragedy or ruin in quite the same way as English power metal act, DragonForce, does.
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