Nintendo's iconic franchises give us lots of fan creations, often in the form of extravagant artwork. For Metroid fans that enjoy the franchise music, the 'Harmony of a Hunter' albums (from a collective referred to as Shinesparkers) are among the highlights that pop up relatively frequently. Distributed for free - as is necessary to avoid Nintendo's wrath, of course - they've given us plenty of hours of entertainment.
Shinesparker's lead Darren Kerwin has now confirmed that, after a bit of a break, Harmony of a Hunter Returns arrives soon - on 6th August. It's a project in memory of a friend of Kerwin that introduced him to Metroid, therefore indirectly inspiring a decade of music, and to celebrate the upcoming 35th Anniversary of the franchise along with Metroid Dread.
It's an album that'll have 5 hours of music across 65 tracks, as the project has also been a celebration of the Shinesparkers project (this is the 6th album). Below are some words from the press release.
Due to restrictions at the time on group gatherings, we were unable to see bands and groups come together to create music this time around. However, that didn’t prevent us from organising some remotely-recorded performances, such as “Call of the Warrior” (Super Metroid), by Vincent Rubinetti and The Reddit Symphony Orchestra, or the aforementioned “Corruption Consumed”, by Julia Seeholzer (feat. The University of San Diego Choral Scholars & guests). One of our hopes is that our album will equally help others through these difficult days as we look forward to a much brighter future.
...Harmony of a Hunter: Returns is a collaborative effort, without which this project would not be possible. My heartfelt thanks go out to the entire team for helping to make this project a reality, especially to my two Assistant Directors Zack Parrish and Sebastian Mårtensson, who have also contributed arrangements to the project, both individually and in a collaborative capacity.
You can head to the official website on 6th August if you want to download the album.
[source harmony.shinesparkers.net]
Comments 13
I will definitely be checking this out when it releases!😀
I'm just hearing long held string notes and blaring horn sections. Too bombastic for me.
The metroid music is all about nuance, suspense and minimalism - not starwars opera.
Amazing, I'd actually been on their website a lot this month and had been relistening to their previous albums. There was no indication that this was coming so soon!
@CLARICE Their previous Metroid albums have been incredibly diverse, I wouldn't worry if that one track didn't do it for you.
Check out Pyro Paper Planes beautiful piano pieces on the first album as an example.
@AJWolfTill thanks. Listening to it now. It sounds like Zelda, calming and consonant - zero Metroid atmosphere.
It's pretty and soothing and might be nice for a funeral but Metroid this is not, by a long shot.
Edit: I am sure the guy is a metroid fan, but he's either oblivious to the identity of the series or...he just wanted to write something he himself liked to play(romantic piano pieces humanity will apparently never tire of) and then published it under the metroid moniker for easier clicks and likes.
@Clarice
Respect for actually giving it a go! While I'd still recommend listening to the album for fresh takes on your favourite themes from the series it's definitely not trying to serve as a tension laced alternative soundtrack to the original games so maybe it's not what you are after.
I've still yet to hear a better or more unsettling version of the Space pirate theme from the original from Metroid Prime (1)!
I can't wait to listen to the music once it is released. Can't have too much good Nintendo-inspired music.
By the way, I believe one piece of information in the article is incorrect: you can sell music based on Nintendo games as long as you negotiate a licensing contract with Nintendo. Take a look The Legend of Zelda inspired albums at Bandcamp for example. Royalties are paid to Nintendo but the artists can still earn some money.
@AJWolfTill sure, hope you enjoy the release. 👍🏻
My ears are ready!
Imo, one of my favorite things in Metroid is how it sets the isolation ambience so well, and the music plays no small part in it. Yet, there are enough memorable pieces I love to listen over and over
@Clarice it may be worth listening to some of their previous albums as there’s a varied tone from track to track
Remember boys, these are not 1:1 renditions of Metroid music. They don't intend to make the exact same tracks you've already listened. These are new takes using the original tracks as a base.
So awesome!!! Hopefully this is available on iTunes
Misread the headline. I thought they were adding Metroid tunes to Monster Hunter and became very confused.
I am so excited for this. Harmony of a Hunter is one of my favorite video game albums. I wasn't super into 101% Run but I'm still hyped.
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