While just about anyone who is asked to summarise the metal genre will refer to rapid electric guitar runs, adrenaline-pumping drumming, and an all-in performance from the frontman, the genre is far more complex than that.
Arguably one of the best heavy metal tracks of all time, Black Sabbath, showcases as much, flowing through eerie lows to frighteningly fast peaks. Given that metal can evoke so much from these two sides of the emotional spectrum, you’d think that it’d be more commonplace in gaming.
Some games have perfectly tapped into the genre to empower what’s being seen on screen. On top of this, even though metal isn’t exactly commonplace in the popular charts, so many people would attest to featuring it heavily in their playlists for gaming. Add them together, and there’s an underlying appreciation and demand for metal music in more games.
Making Use of Metal to Enhance the Experience
Metal music can offer a clear-cut path to powerful highs and somber lows. Across the spectrum of the genre, you can find all-out power runs like Ace of Spades as well as more low-key, atmospheric, and reflective segments, like the opening to Fade to Black. It’s all about the instrument selection and pace. Some sub-genres, like symphonic black metal and Viking metal, bring in mighty notes from folk music and choirs to build up through the track.
In a game, this could offer a progressive template from a low point to the protagonist rising back up and then meeting the challenge head-on. Naturally, this would work well for a death scene followed by some hard-hitting combat, but that doesn’t always have to be the case. Drawing from the same collection of distinctive rhythms, instruments, and sonic effects from the drums can work in a variety of settings, scenes, and occasions.
Just to showcase the genre’s versatility, we can look to how it’d be deployed in a corner of gaming that may not as naturally lend itself to metal. That corner is online slot gaming. There’s a whole host of different ideas that go into the slot games collection, from Chinese New Year games to space games and those depicting the gods. Where we have sometimes seen metal deployed here is in the Halloween section of the slots themes.
Here, you’ll find games like Ouija Secrets, Cannibal Garden, and Lucky Dama Muerta, which lend themselves quite well to metal music. Spooky, slow soundscapes can set the mood before amping it up a gear as the game progresses. After all, much of a slot game’s theme comes down to the music selection just as much as it does the visuals. Without much by way of a story to follow, they need a soundtrack that follows and emphasizes the mood.
For this, metal can be perfect for the slots in the Halloween theme and any other that really wants to emphasize the action. What would work in Hell’Sing, for example, could work similarly in the Might of Zeus game. This is because the base game wants to be made distinct from the special features and bonuses. Metal can keep the sense of low-key anticipation in the base game and then offer the highest ceiling for tempo as it flips to features.
It’s because of metal music’s ability to go all-out and fire you up on all cylinders that it can be so effective, but perhaps it’s because of this that soundtracks avoid it more often. It can be seen as a somewhat cheap way to emphasize the on-screen action and even overrule what’s being seen. Yet, when people play games they’re familiar with and want their own soundtracks on, you’ll find that many of them stack the metal tracks.
Deploying Metal Masterfully On-Screen
In the realm of gaming, some developers duly noted how popular metal music is with audiences, creating games that were as much about the hardcore soundtrack as they were the gameplay. In the likes of Brütal Legend, the Doom series, Quake (which tapped into the mid-90s hype of the still touring Nine Inch Nails), and Twisted Metal, the soundtrack is a huge part of the experience.
It’s similar to how the soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings trilogy is inseparable from the story and visuals. For the Doom series, it’s quite telling that even the change of setting from hellscapes to The Dark Ages in their upcoming game retained the metal soundtrack. In fact, the first official trailer’s ‘Most Replayed’ section is exactly when the soundtrack kicks in with its hardcore metal.
Given the setting, metal very much suits Doom. Where it was a bit more of a risk was in the Halo series. It’s a science-fiction action game where you’re regularly battling in quite clean-cut, sterilized environments with sleek, flashy weapons – almost the opposite of Doom. Yet, Halo 2 managed to fuse its awe-inspiring orchestral composition with distinctly metal notes that were inspired by bands like Incubus and Breaking Benjamin.
There’s a tremendous amount of range to be tapped into with the right metal tracks for gaming. Beyond stacking a gaming playlist, studios creating soundtracks should explore how the genre can be used to build up to the thrills in different ways. For now, though, you’ll mostly find that metal is held to games defined by their use of the genre.
