Primary Emotions/Themes: Betrayal, measuring up to ones father, edgy brooding
Thoughts: Imagine being born of a demon father. But not just any demon, the demon that stood against his own kind and forced back the legions of hell with his immense power. That's quite the legacy to live up to.
Devil May Cry's main character is just that. Dante is the son of Sparta, one of the most powerful demons to ever exist. He is constantly in the shadow of his father and tries to separate himself from that legacy. He's been trying to do this the last 2000 years... yet he is still haunted by this specter.
That would probably put a chip on anyone's shoulder, and that comes through in the second disc of Devil May Cry's soundtrack. The music has become more active and ups the anti on the combat portion of the music.
This second disc integrates more guitars and the beats are more forceful. Instruments that previously were only in the ambient portions of the music have now been integrated into the rock oriented tracks - particularly the pipe organ.
I love the way that the soundtrack progresses over time. It starts off brooding and as the game evolves so does the music. It transitions slowly from an almost purely ambient selection to a more dynamic and varied soundtrack as time goes on. Disc 2 is perhaps the best example of that, containing a majority of the combat music in the game.
The soundtrack continues to excel in its transitions from ambience to the more active sections. Again, this is what makes or breaks a good soundtrack for me. Does it work together in the context of the game? But more importantly, does it work on its own outside of the game? Can the album stand on its own two feet when the game context is removed. Some games can do that, some games can't. Devil May Cry absolutely can.
Written October 30 2023
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