To be honest, I think after hearing these two songs that's exactly what this game's trying to accomplish with it's aesthetic: something closer to a more contemporary anime aesthetic, like some shounen series on the more grittier/muted sorta side. I mean it lines up very well with the muted color palette and the new character/world designs they've been using too (recycled assets aside). I'm really curious as to if the story'll be able to really tie it altogether now.
Aww definitely. Like even if I wasn't really practice the style itself, I certainly knew about it. This is how I got into Linkin Park, Green Day, etc etc AMV's were everywhere, you could not escape them.
Eh. It's alright. It just sounds unfocused and without a core melody, which is how I felt about Fist Bump, although it's still better than that garbage thankfully. And yeah, the lyrics and vocals do kinda sound like the guy is making up stuff on the spot. Kinda disappointing after hearing Vandalize, which is just overall a much stronger song, and maybe that's because it's by an actual band that specializes in heavier rock. No disrespect to Ohtani, but I think he works much better with more lighthearted genres, because I like this less than Reach for the Stars. When it comes to heavier songs like this, I think it would be better to have Jun handle those. I also don't like how gritty this song is for the main theme. I'm down with how gritty Vandalize is, if the ending can work with it, but even Fist Bump had some semblance of "fun" inside it. When I heard the snippet in the commercial, it sounded adventurous and cool, but this instead sounds like a song meant for a final boss. I like that Sonic is embracing anime and dramatic storytelling as much as anyone else who grew up with 00s era Sonic, but even I have my limits. I just don't think this game's story is going to be dark enough to justify such a theme song.
If the past is any indication, Sonic tends to struggle balancing a dramatic tone and it comes off as laughable as a result. Or, some people just cannot fathom the idea that Sonic should be dramatic in any way shape or form and prefer if they never tried at all. Sonic Adventure 2 is probably the game I feel nails it and even that game has its fair share of detractors who feel its where Sonic was "Ruined forever" So, I feel like this game is gonna be like that. Its not gonna be everyone's cup of tea and they're gonna be annoyed by when these tropes are used in later games until the pendulum inevitably move back to bring whimsical.
I've hated the entire emo subgenre since 2005 in my tween years. So I think both the songs so far kinda blow ass. LMAO But hey, good for anyone who didn't hate that music when it came around. I guess. 2000s fans really gettin' fed! Can't believe Forces and Frontiers have failed me on the music back-to-back. Nothing is sacred in Sonic anymore lol
Forces failed where its vocal tracks and Classic Sonic's level themes were concerned, but it's Modern Sonic level themes were alright. The shrill synths actually kind of worked? It's of the weakest soundtrack of the 3D games, and still manages to be alright enough of the time. To each their own though, of course. So far Frontiers is just way ahead of Forces in the audio department, based on what little we have to reasonably compare. My biggest concern is that I've become less of a fan of Ohtani's work as the years go by. Lost World sounded bland, Forces has big issues with its techno/dance/electronic styles and with Colours Ultimate he managed to ruin so many tracks by infusing them with his newfound electronic style. I'm still very curious to here how Frontiers sounds in the overworld, cyberspace and boss fights. It could go one of two ways with him.
I'm of the different opinion that I preferred the vocal tracks of Forces to most of the Modern and Classic Sonic music, besides like Network Terminal's two songs. That game's such a mixed back audio-wise that it's no surprise that people are really split on what they liked and disliked out of that game. I feel like Frontiers is gonna elicit that even more since Sonic Team seem to jump from grungy guitars to synths to sad pianos and orchestra on a dime.
Considering it's been mentioned that one of the cyberspace levels has a Forces-esque track (compared to Aqua Road iirc) and the rest of the OST besides these songs seems like it'll be some soft ambient BoTW-like junk, I have noooo faith that this game will deliver anything I like, musically. Maybe not an OST I'll hate, but one that'll probably get a shrug at best. ..Man, ST's music department has fallen off my radar. Sonic Colors was the last time an OST mostly hit, Generations was a "greatest hits" / remix collection, LW's was a mixed bag of great-to-forgettable tracks and Forces was hot garbage. And ALL of them had shit theme songs. Damn. LOL
I will say though; regardless of how one feels about Frontiers as a whole, you can't deny that this is definitely a game Sonic Team wants to make. When was the last time they felt this confident about a game to show it off so unabashedly. People criticize the marketing as bad, but think back to how little of Forces' gameplay we saw up until it came out. We certainly did not get a whole month dedicated towards showing off what Forces could do. Its a matter of perspective it feels like.
Speaking as someone who was also a tween in 2005, I didn't like emo music at the time either, but the biggest reason I didn't like it then is because it was cool to not like it. It was a popular punching bag for many years, much like a lot of things outside of what was acceptable for white straight male teenagers to be into. Now that I'm an adult, I'm not into the "emo" scene but I know I like punk rock, and emo music fits very neatly in that genre. I listened to Black Parade 10 years after its release and thought "Seriously? THIS is what people hated so much back in the day?" And now it's one of my all-time favorite albums.
You put it like this, no wonder Sonic fans gravitated towards the genre (and by extension Shadow); Sonic's entire existence is being a punching bag that's cool to hate for not being "socially acceptable"
I didn't like emo music because I didn't like it. Black Parade probably is a decent album, considering I've heard more than enough praise of it from people whom I respect their music tastes. I'll give it it's due someday. But that doesn't erase everything else I found unbearable. Emo music as a whole I always found overtly whiny and melodramatic. Which probably has some overlap with Sonic of that era (and other things fans of both things overlap with, like Kingdom Hearts, or basically any anime that warranted a Youtube AMV back then). Did that get it a lot of unwarranted hate in it's day? Maybe. But the genre was also very beloved, so I almost feel like any hate (at least at the time) was negated by it's sheer popularity. Eh.
Not a big fan of the new theme song. Maybe I'll warm up to it in a bit but it's just not my thing. Maybe that or I just had my hopes wayy too high after hearing the banger that is Vandalize, especially considering I immediately binged listened to 2 One Ok Rock albums after discovering them through this game, lmao.
I honestly don’t get where the Sonic = “whimsical” detractors even came from (I put it in quotes because I think visually the games do incorporate whimsicality but I’m guessing you’re referring to the tone of games like Colors). The only Sonic media that pushed stupid gags before Colors was AoStH and early Archie. This happened to me exactly… Ended up going to Munich to see MCR with my gf this June and it was great. I mostly listen to 80s post-punk stuff and always saw emo bands as lame pretenders, but it ended up growing on me. I always enjoyed the track Black Parade though, I just would never admit it lol. As for Forces’ OST, I’m surprised people are so down on the vocal tracks. I enjoyed them a lot but I do really like electronic music so maybe it was just me.
Take away the lyrics and honestly it sounds like a heavier approach to things like the Endless Possibilities remix for the end of Unleashed, and I can see why a lot of people think it sounds like an anime opening or a "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK ARE WE" moment.
In my initial post I said the song needed room to breathe… as an instrumental the song does just that. The instruments are emotionally powerful on their own. I also have to be honest: I really don’t like the singer on the track. The lyrics are bad so the singer doesn’t have much to work with but the way the singer blurts out “I’m heeere.” Awful, just awful. The instrumental transitions from soft to hard sections are great, but the singing just brings it down. I feel like I’m being harsh here and I don’t want to be. The vocal melody IS memorable. It’s just that the singing and (especially) the lyrics are clunky to me.
Yeah, it gives me that Fist Bump problem where it always feels like they composed these songs first, and then cooked up lyrics that are awkwardly stapled on and timed to the instruments. Some of Fist Bump's vocals were really unnaturally timed to its run, and the problem's even more blatant with I'm Here combined with the questionable lyrical direction too. Sega's done this for a long while, I still remember Phantasy Star Universe's Save This World having not only super cheesy lyrics but also feeling unnatural.
