With Plutonia 2's soundtrack rankings out of the way, let's cover the twenty unique tracks made for the revisited Plutonia community project, which was more homage-y and less of a sequel than Plutonia as you may know. There's a sequels to both coming out soon, and I wonder what tracks will show up there!
20. Plutonia Revisited Title
One of these days the title track will reign supreme! But today isn't the day.
19. PRCP Intermission
Most of the music was done by the more rock-oriented PRIMEVAL, who definitely loved making tracks that sounded metal but also Doom-y in a way. This is a nice blend of one, made to be an intermission, with spooky orchestra accompanied by heavy percussion. Intermission is quite nice.
18. Ballad of the Demons (MAP20)
But sometimes I feel like it's a miss in some way. This is just a rearrangement of Waltz of the Demons, in which the part after the spooky violins gets a volume increase and more guitar parts. While cool, it just feels like a remix of the original tune. Sure it rocks out well but I like a lot of variation in the melody for my favorite remixes and this one's melody doesn't quite cut it.
17. I Already Know About id (MAP32)
I feel that what really sold Nobody Told Me About Plutonia was exactly what I described earlier, lots of variation to give an already familiar tune a more livelier feel than the original and give it a better remix feel. I don't wanna sound harsh to PRIMEVAL since he definitely has better tracks later on here, but a lot of these remixes so far aren't as exciting as they would be cause there's not that much in variation. At least not yet.
16. Demons on the Prowl (MAP04)
And this is what I wanted! A little more variation, starting with a cymbal crash, making the original buildup spooky with the chimes, and then we hear a rather spooky choir instead of those brooding drum sounds. It actually does make the original melody sound MUCH spookier! When PRIMEVAL gets into that groove, it's what I like hearing.
15. Mission Possible (MAP22)
A sort-of remix of Kitchen Ace (and Taking Names) but almost entirely electric guitar-driven. That's even considering another song with a similar name to the original. Well, it's sure got the funk going for it, which is quite neat, and the melody is slightly sped up even though it repeats often. It can be digged.
14. Symbiotic (MAP10)
Once again, guitar-driven, and this time taking a melody from Adrian's Asleep. It sure sounds a lot like it. PRIMEVAL was actually going for the Death song Symbolic in his composition of the track here, and there's a slight variation in the original riff to make it seem as such. It gets repeated throughout, but with a number of instrumental variations to make it a little more memorable.
13. Stony Halls (MAP06)
It took a while, but I did notice what PRIMEVAL was going by! Actually, to me, it doesn't really sound like a Dark Halls remix. It feels much more sinister than just that, and when the notes kick in, I recognize them as a variant of In the Dark. That's what I think at least. The "dun...dun" part is certainly something that I remember from the original melody after that track brought up variation, and that gets included here and I took notice. Also this track is greatly underappreciated.
12. U R my NME (MAP11)
Darkwave has always been an interesting composer, preferring more mysterious, Final Fantasy-sounding tracks that offer more in atmosphere than action. And interestingly enough, the track Darkwave made for his one level seems like a love letter to the now-classic "Become the Hunted" by Jimmy, offering his spooky take with somewhat simpler composition but still very creepy and fitting for a level that...for once is a Plutonia MAP11 populated by more than just arch-viles.
11. Wicked Serenity (text music)
Here's a text music done right! One type of instrument I outright love in most MIDIs is the low-tuned guitar sound, which this is dominated by. It's a case of a repeated riff but the instrument choice and the melody sell it super well. It's a track that wants to blend you in to it and it succeeds.
10. Garden of Evil (MAP08)
Plenty of times does PRIMEVAL's softer tracks do better than his rocking tracks, and Garden of Evil with its cute harp notes can prove that well. A simple scaling up and then down again give this one a very atmospheric feel that prevails as you go through, well, a garden of sorts. Well it sort of feels like multiple gardens for MAP08 but still it's a great track.
9. Reginald (MAP27)
One of the three stewboy tracks here, Reginald is a rather action-packed tune that doesn't go too overboard. Very weird guitar riff but it works for the action-packed and short level it is on. The fun xylophone notes and other variations give it a bit more atmosphere.
8. Ivy (MAP26)
And we immediately go to the next one of those stewboy tracks. The string notes in the beginning are quite funny sounding, but we get into the rest of the melody afterwards. Not quite Doom-sounding, but it's stewboy, it don't need to be. It's quite fun actually, not heavy with the somewhat-muted sound but not too light to be taken lighty.
7. Overload (MAP07)
While plenty of times PRIMEVAL's softer tracks do better than his rocking tracks, it's actually more often the case that his rock tracks destroy his others. Overload is a great example. Very heavy on the guitars for a generally heavy MAP07, it just keeps that feeling of mowing enemies down in an overdrive. The melody sounds like a heavy metal version of Nobody Told Me About Plutonia's main melody as a neat bonus, at least that's what I can hear from it.
6. Jungle (MAP01)
Atmospheric way to build into the mapset's starter level. Jungle doesn't actually sound like a cliche jungle track, but rather an Imp's Song remix that starts off low as usual, but the jungle beat drums actually bring you up to speed in a remarkably dirty way. One that lets you know you'll be dealing with the dirty Plutonia-like gameplay of PRCP for sure!
5. Kitchen Names (And Taking Ace) (MAP16)
Despite its name, it turns out that Mission Possible was the more homagey of tracks! Here we have a track that doesn't feel like a remix to any of the Doom tracks, but the heavy guitar riffs feel like it belongs well in an actual doom metal or death metal track. And that's the beauty of it. Prodding riff, adding in the spooky background choir noises, a lot of it feels perfected.
4. Outer Darkness (MAP19)
Pure ambience, done PRIMEVAL style! Some may forget it as they wander the level that is MAP19 in PRCP, but it's a perfectly well-made ambient track that offers the best kind of spookiness for the nasty feeling you get when you play this level. Around any corner you feel the suspense and this one trickles the feeling more and more. The fact it gets used in MAP19 of Sunder also seals this deal as a legendary PRIMEVAL track.
3. Sewer Slide (MAP14)
stewboy takes the bronze with Sewer Slide, which is perhaps one of his strangest tracks to date. But the stranger the better right? This feels like it belongs in an underwater level in a Mega Man X game, with lots of drumwork and key notes with an occasional techno-sounding guitar included for great measure. Maybe it's that part that gives it the MMX feel? But hey, I sued this track in a map I made, so it must be excellent!
2. After All Is Gone (MAP25)
The moment I saw the name "Wicked Garden" I thought the map was gonna have a MIDI of Stone Temple Pilots but I guess not. Here we have those low-tuned guitars that I adore, with a scale-up and down but it all feels like it incorporates one hell of a sound. And I mean a rather serene-sound that still feels wicked. Perfect for this so-called garden level. The heavier guitars that come in don't detract the sound at all, they enhance it and give it a prodding rock feel that I can highly appreciate.
1. Dread (MAP15)
The sad thing about Dread is that it's on my least favorite PRCP map and possibly my least favorite Xaser map out of his entire catalog. But damn if that composition kicks some ass. It's amazingly well made, with the regal percussion combined with orchestra build-up, with that scaling-up violin providing much of the awesome. The bells and piano notes that later accompany the whole track make it even more worthwhile. An absolutely perfect composition that I'm grateful gets reused in more levels later on in the community.
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