Soshiro Hokkai & Michiru Yamane - Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (2002)

 

Composer: Soshiro Hokkai and Michiru Yamane
Console: GBA
Game Release Date: 2002-07-06
Bootleg Release Date: 2021-07-05
Ripper: Unknown
Runtime: 56:32, 31 Tracks

It's no secret I love the metroidvania-Castlevania series. Each game has its own gimmicks and different style to it that keeps it fresh across the 10 (give or take) games. Hell out of the 10 games and excluding the two I still have yet to play (Grimoire and Harmony 2) there was only one I didn't like (Circle). Also worth typing that the best GBA games are these ones (excluding Circle). 

Harmony of Dissonance is one of the first I played, having it on a cartridge with Aria of Sorrow. I loved Aria way more and didn't like Harmony at the time. It wouldn't be until circa 2017-2018 that I gave the game another try and was woo'd by it. Aside from Circle of the Moon I count all the games as extremely good so saying that, say, Harmony is better or worse than the others. That's like comparing gold to other gold. You'll only find minute differences in quality. 

Harmony of Dissonance (hereafter referred to as Harmony 1) is a metroidvania in which you take control of Juste Belmont as he and childhood friend Maxim Kischine venture into this mysterious castle to find their friend Lydie Erlanger. Oh, also it is Dracula's castle somehow. In this "series" I like to consider this the second game to play right after beating Symphony of the Night. 

The game has Juste go throughout the castle. Unlike Symphony you stick with one weapon, the vampire killer but can upgrade it from there. Other than that it is the standard fair, grab upgrades, explore and level up. There is a "gimmick" that is present in the game that sets it apart from the others but it's tied heavily to the latter half so I won't mention it. 

The early game is quite unforgiving, especially with the lack of save points but after learning to play safely and getting deeper in the game the difficulty eases. After about 25% map completion I found it much easier. However, that could possibly be chalked up to me playing safer as a result of lack of save points. 

Although I have played this game before I never thought to get this ones soundtrack until it was pointed out to me that it was a fusion of chiptune and the 16-bit music the GBA soundchip was capable of. It also keeps the lobit quality that a lot of GBA soundtracks have. Compared to the other Metroid/Castlevanias and hell, compared to other GBA games Harmony's soundtrack is very unique.
The games music was composed by Soshiro Hokkai and Michiru Yamane. Hokkai is really only known for his work on Harmony and Aria. Outside of those two games it doesn't seem like he has done any more composition work. It looks like he mainly sticks to sound effects. A real shame too, because he has talent. As for, Michiru Yamane she is way more known for her work composing Symphony of the Night. She has also done work for TwinBee, Bloodstained (unofficially Metroid/Castlevania 11) and many other Castlevania games. 

It's like this waltzy chiptune that seems to fuse the 8-bit and 16-bit sounds into these beats. It almost seems there is an acid influence too. Of course it still has the gothic and medieval sounds that Castlevania is known for but if it was also microdosing. Also very crunchy sounding. Maybe a bit jazzy? It's hard to say. 

I can't recall where I got my rip for this but it's all 320kbps sourced from the games sound files. Enjoy!

Download: aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWdhLm56L2ZpbGUvZmM1dzFUekEjVzh4WE9QZ2RsY1BDRmtoVGRwWnZpaktyd0NWUjJrbndxWVExalh1VkpNRQ
p@ss: prettylittleroom