What does Akira Yamaoka sound like?

A mixture of heavy rock and creepy, industrial ambient noise.

The review of ‘Return to Silent Hill Original Motion Picture Soundtrack’ by Akira Yamaoka

Once again, the cinematic side of Silent Hill returns 20 years after the original Silent Hill film was first released in theatres. Akira Yamaoka, long-time series composer and executive producer for the film, returns to provide his unique soundtrack. Much like the film follows the second game, ‘Return to Silent Hill’ recalls the crossover point between gothic ambience and industrial terror.

The 50-track soundtrack spans 90-minutes and can be brutally severed into two styles of music, save for the traditional end credits rock track. The piano and faded string arrangement tracks from the game make a triumphant return here, although often with more clarity due to the live instrumentation used. ‘Chasing Laura’ returns from the game, expanded and less foggy. New tracks like ‘Dormant Voices’ follow similar themes. Piano motifs start off in earnest, but often wander off into a trickle, somewhat unresolved. Whether backed by strings or numbing ambient keyboard pads, like ‘Promise Me’, they often sound like memories seeping through bloodied fingers. Eerie, yet entrancingly delicate and beautiful. Akira Yamaoka is a master at half-melodies.

Part of this brilliance comes from Akira Yamaoka’s philosophy of “Do not explain fear”. If something feels too choreographed, the emotion collapses. This brings me to the second type of track on the soundtrack – industrial ambience. Sometimes it’s a ritualistic purge with metallic, rhythmic smashes like ‘The Maze’. It could be hues of distant voices like ‘The Ritual’, which breaks the usual standard and brings in a dramatic church organ and cinematic drum section. Most of the time, Akira Yamaoka is more intent on playing with industrial sounds. Is it a scraping knife? The cry of a pipe? A siren that is running out of battery? Fingernails on a radiator? Distant hums of a machine clunking away under your feet? Often, it is all of these and many more sounds and voices being chewed up into a death machine. What I love about the sound design is that sometimes it sounds like the instruments themselves are crying out in pain, or for help, or in sorrow. The slow pitch bend of an echoing pipe or a raspy bellow of a grizzly, bassy dirge paints an effective mental image.

There are new elements of sound design that peek into the traditional Akira Yamaoka Silent Hill audio universe. ‘Room 318’ sounds like everything is taking place inside a gas mask. There is an inventive use of throat singing throughout as a bass melody. Elements of ‘Running into Darkness’ have Nordic tagleharpa-like string stabs that work a treat. Occasionally, we hear the guitar in unusual ways, too. I also love some of the throwbacks to the original Silent Hill 2 soundtrack. ‘The Nurses’ is a fantastic reimagining of ‘Betrayal’. ‘Dormant Eyes’ is a subtly cinematic version of ‘Magdalene’, whilst ‘Deja Vu’ is a live instrumentation arrangement of ‘Theme of Laura (Reprise)’.

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but the soundtrack conveys the Silent Hill audio hellscape excellently. There are homages and reimaginings for fans of the source material, but the vast majority of this soundtrack is fresh and new. As it is sonically geared towards the harsh, damaged ambience of Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2’s game soundtracks, if you were only fans of the more melodic, at times trip-hop-like later Silent Hill soundtracks, this might be a bit too abstract and non-melodic for you to dive into immediately. However, no one does warped industrial horror with a splash of internal regret and loneliness quite like Akira Yamaoka.

Recommended track: The Nurses

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