Entry 755 - Signalis

Style: Video game music, dark ambient, horror landscapes, metallic percussion, serene passages

Primary Emotions/Themes: I swear this is the soundtrack to an unreleased Silent Hill game

Thoughts: They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In that case Signalis is one of the greatest love letters ever written to Akira Yamaoka. 

Calm piano passages, music that sounds like its played through an old speaker on a desolate pier, rhythmic thumping on metal containers, eerie soundscapes that continuously have me looking over my shoulder. These are the sounds that are found within Signalis. 

The soundtrack is nearly two hours long and goes through a myriad of different moods and genres. All of them fit together like an intricate puzzle. Not everything makes sense in the moment, but at the end the whole picture made it worth the trip.

I have not played Signalis, but ultimately that does not matter to me here. A lot of game soundtracks I enjoy because I enjoyed the game. The soundtrack reminds me of my time spent with that game. Some soundtracks are different though. They work as their own piece of music. I know I've covered this at length in other posts, but it certainly bears repeating here.

Signalis is more than just a soundtrack. Signalis is an album that works on it's own outside of the context of the game. If this was a release of an individual artist I would have picked it up. This is an album I would have picked up nearly the instant I heard about it if I had the means, pretty much regardless of the context. Signalis is that good.

The soundtrack does borrow heavily from the Silent Hill games in both atmosphere and execution. The rock elements from Silent Hill are no where to be found here, and that's part of what makes Signalis it's own soundtrack. It really does feel like Mr. Yamaoka had his fingers in the writing of this soundtrack, but he did not. The fact that he did not makes this all the more impressive. His style is often imitated but few ever come close to creating the horrifying soundscapes that he is capable of. Signalis does this, and does it exceedingly well.

Written April 2nd 2024