Vetivs
‘Metal Reimagining: Inspiration Vol. 1‘
I love video game music. I effing love video game music. Now that I think about it video game soundtracks may be responsible for my love of both metal and classical music. So it goes without saying that I also enjoy when any of these loves of mine crossover.
I’ve known Vetivs mastermind Chris Valenta and been a fan of his music for close to twelve years now. Briefly I was even involved in one of his previous projects Arceos (Yeah this whole hard to pronounce and possibly made up words thing of his has been around for quite some time). So knowing this reader’s may call bullshit and say I’m biased and they’d be right but by the man’s admission I may also be his harshest critic. I love his music but I’ve freely told him when I thought a song needed work.
While faithfully recreating iconic tracks from some of people’s favorite video games from systems as early as the Super Nintendo to as recent as the previous generation of consoles there are numerous additions to spice up already catchy tracks such as “Ezio’s Family” – a song that Ubisoft can hardly release an Assassin’s Creed game without even close to ten years later.
Some songs I was more worried about. “Terra’s Theme” is one of my favorite songs in video games as a whole so it has a lot to live up t but this version really grew on me before I even finished listening the first time around.
Vetivs’ rendition of Metal Gear Solid 2’s “Main Theme” ended up catching the attention of Konami’s social media who shared the YouTube video for fans of their franchise. Speaking of Konami everyone doing video game music online has or will eventually do a cover of “Bloody Tears” and why wouldn’t they? It’s an excellent song but the idea of doing a medley keeps the track unique.
All said I’m having a difficult time picking out a weak song out of the bunch, maybe instead of “Frog’s Theme” we should have had “Gato’s Song” with the lyrics – I’m effing kidding!
Also a shout out to Nate Miller who Chris collaborated with for two of these songs playing the erhu. You can check out his covers and original music on YouTube here.
Vetivs has previously done composition work on an independent TV series ‘Tales of Synthina’, and an indie role-playing game ‘Legends of Arcrath’. In the future there is a debut album of original music entitled ‘The Demiurge’ currently set to be released in October. Knowing Chris it’s for fans of Behemoth, Dimmu Borgir, Strapping Young Lad, and Opeth. However ‘Metal Reimagining: Inspiration Vol. 1’ is out now and available as a digital release. Links down below.
Tracklisting
- “Dearly Beloved” from Kingdom Hearts 2 feat. Nate Miller
- “Gerudo Valley” from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of TIme
- “Gusty Garden Galaxy” from Super Mario Galaxy
- “Terra’s Theme” from Final Fantasy VI
- “Unfinished Battle” from Xenoblade Chronicles
- “Main Theme” from Metal Gear Solid 2
- “Frog’s Theme” from Chrono Trigger
- “Song of Storms” from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- “Bloody Prince” from Castlevania Series
- “Ezio’s Theme” from Assassin’s Creed 2
- “Hollow Bastion” from Kingdom Hearts
- “Defile The Crown” Original Track feat. Nate Miller
Check Vetivs out on Facebook, YouTube, Bandcamp, Spotify