[E] First Round #12 (Close to Home vs. Atlas Remembers)

Listen to both songs and select the one you prefer.

Download Links:

Uncharted Waters: New Horizons - Close to Home
God of War II - Atlas Remembers (Bonus Track)

Streaming:

Close to Home: Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:
Atlas Remembers (Bonus Track): Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:

Close to Home's melody is wonderful. I remember it appearing in the second segment in the orchestral arrangement that appeared waaaay back during week 37 of SotW, and the only reason I remember that is because I actually dug up the folder just to listen to it again. Awesome.

I have no doubt Atlas Remembers is going to get the proverbial "film scorey" boot, and hey, perhaps it deserves it, but I will be the first and probably only person to say this kicks incredible amounts of ass, enough for me to vote it over Close to Home. The short epic melodic segment after the "intro" isn't the greatest, but everything else pretty much wins, especially the legendary ending.

Can't help, this Yoko Kanno track is disappointing and annoyed me really fast. Easy win for Kratos here.

'Close to Home' - Bad instrumentation would have been excusable if this song had a little more going for it in terms of creativity. This music is just begging to go in one ear and out the other. The song boasts little harmonic complexity and even sounds downright clumsy at parts. Reminds me of some of the blander compositions that kids would bring in during my high school music theory class.

'Atlas Remembers' - Though I'm a huge PS2 nut, I still haven't gotten around to picking these games up. The gameplay better be amazing, because the soundtrack is just soo boring. I hate cinematic game music as much as the cinemas that the music usually accompanies. Worse than that is when music like this is used during actual gameplay. This is fine if I'm in a movie theater watching the armies of Mordor assembling to attack Gondor, but in a game...no thanks. Since this piece of musical scoring has no song quality whatsoever, I would feel like a hypocrite if I didn't vote for the other tune, which despite its blandness, knows how to be a song.

I really liked the first God of War soundtrack, but for some reason GoW II just comes off as a really poor replica of the first one. The game is still good, but the music was borderline insufferable, as this track demonstrates.

It's also possible I like the first soundtrack more because of the game than actual musical merits.

Anyway, I really like the melodic content in Close to Home, so this is an easy vote.

Uncharted Waters: New Horizons - Close to Home
Kanno's usually good in a pinch, and while this isn't her top drawer, the melody is affecting enough to overcome mediocre synth and arrangement.

God of War II - Atlas Remembers (Bonus Track)
Never played either of the Gods of War, but it's easy to see where the inspiration was coming from: this is clearly inspired by Basil Poledouris' "Conan the Barbarian." The melody's nowhere near as strong, of course, which is somewhat compensated for by the depth of the sound. I frankly don't care if VGM sounds like a movie score; it's one of a number of equally legitimate genres from which inspiration may be drawn.

Pretty close, but it looks like Atlas could use a boost.

At some points the strings are too Matrix-ey, but Atlas is the better track here, if only for its most propulsive moments. Close to Home sounds okay but it stretches for too long and lacks instrument quality.

: God of War II - Atlas Remembers (Bonus Track)
: Uncharted Waters: New Horizons - Close to Home

Close to Home's melody is absolutely perfect and I don't even care about the rest of the track it's that good.

Atlas Remembers doesn't have the melody so it starts off in a huge hole, but it makes up that deficit by pounding its opponent into the ground with awesome. Especially 3:05 on, epic stuff. Overall package is better, so it gets the surprising vote. Picking God of War over Kanno, never saw that one coming.

"Close to Home"'s melody is, yeah, wonderful. At about the 2 minute mark, I was wondering how the hell the piece could go on for another 6 minutes; surely it wouldn't last the distance. But then I remembered that it's Kanno, of course it lasts the distance. Well, I suppose it does drag a bit sometimes, but the melody is so charming it makes everything worth while, like what the above posters said.

But oh wow does "Atlas Remembers" kick ass or what. It does what every intense orchestral piece should do: keep the listener interested. The change in dynamics and timbre throughout does this exceptionally well. Not as memorable as its opponents, and that's ultimately it's downfall here...though it makes for a very entertaining listen.

"Close to Home" - 8.5/10
"Atlas Remembers" - 8.5ish/10