Sunday, August 1, 2021

Doom Musings: Soundtrack Rankings: All Hell is Breaking Loose!

Well, this one is gonna be quite short. Sorry about this, but I got a lot of coursework I gotta get through so I don't have a lot of time to fully grade a full megawad of new music. Therefore I'll go with All Hell is Breaking Loose. Much like Memento Mori 1, it's all Mark Klem, but it's all unique tracks, trying to do well for a forgotten classic partial conversion which more or less flies under the radar, despite that many people do know about it from the Top 100 WADs and such. Only 7 tracks though. But here we go! Especially since it's Mark Klem, a genius of MIDIs.

7. Title

The shortest title track I've ever heard, at just about six seconds! Five notes and a neat Doom-y echo pretty much tell you all you need to know about this title track. It was used as Biowar's title music as well. It almost seems like it fits on a game show even.

6. Intermission

Well, I'm actually not a fan of this intermission music at all. It's a drum beat with some bass, but that's about it. There's more instrumentation in Klem's other intermission tracks.

5. Bassline

This is a lot like the intermission track, in that it is heavy on the drums and, of course, the bass. The riff is genuine and works well. There's a few synths in the middle too. Serviceable, but Klem has always done better tracks than this one. Interesting that it got reused for Jenesis MAP22.

4. Retribute

A relatively servicable midi from Mark here with a memorable first riff and several more. It sounds a bit like some of the weaker tracks in Memento Mori like Slipslider, and I use that term loosely since there's no weak midis in Memento Mori. Funky indeed, but as always, Mark has done much better than this.

3. Fear Eater

The only thing I hate about these MIDIs is how much mileage they don't have. The top 3 in my opinion really need more traction, as they are almost as good as some of the best MIDIs Mark has made! Yet I rarely hear these tracks outside of this WAD. Fear Eater has an even better riff than the last two I listed, one which gets a few variations added to it and just sounds super badass all around. Works well for the cave spelunking of the level slot it's a part of!

2. Monster Thrash

How do you open up a partial conversion that's just crazy all around in gameplay? That's exactly right, you open it with a track that's just crazy all around. Monster Thrash wastes NO time in bringing your ears the juicy and grungey guitar work. It's there to show you what to expect, even though it's the first map and there's not that many monsters, you WILL feel the craziness. Monster Thrash delivers. It should definitely have more use in custom WADs.

1. Glock

Finally we have Glock. Not as crazy as Monster Thrash, but still a headbanging tune with at least two memorable guitar riffs. As short as it is, it deserves the number one spot due to keeping the blood pumping in a level where there's bound to be TONS of it. The city level in other words. There's so much to take in from playing this particular level and the music is a cherry on the top. This track pretty much inspired me to even make this musing in the first place, as it's so underused and one of the most underrated in Mark's collection.

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