2013-09-25 5:44:00 ¶ ●

By Toby ‘Radiation’ Fox. Original “Upward Movement” by Kalibration

A cool variation on Upward Movement (Dave Owns). That rad drum line gets yet another feature. The rather common classical trio of oboe, harpsichord, and Scalemate is used for most of the main melody.

2013-09-26 1:42:00 ¶ ●

By Malcolm Brown. Originals “Chorale for Jaspers” by Michael Guy Bowman, and “Aggrieve” by Mark Hadley

It’s a shame this wasn’t featured more extensively in the webcomic: only a few short segments are featured here. It’s as ‘strife’ a song as they come. Favorite part? The section with the eerie choir and the electric guitar lead that starts around the two minute mark.

2013-09-26 4:21:00 ¶ ●

By Joren ‘Tensei’ de Bruin. Original “Spider’s Claw” by Toby 'Radiation’ Fox

Starts off with a kick-ass guitar solo by Troll Eddie Van Halen (Edward Vhalen, I guess?). Seriously, if you like the intro on this song, go check out Eruption. So far as the rest of this song goes, it’s a slick combination of hard rock and blues horns, with a clean electric guitar bridge snuck in the middle.

2013-09-27 1:41:00 ¶ ●

By Malcolm Brown. Originals “Doctor” by George Buzinkai, and “Savior of the Waking World” by Toby ‘Radiation’ Fox

Awesome. Just awesome. Rises from a sober melancholy chorus, through a hopeful pizzicato rendition of Doctor, to a ridiculously energetic, driving overture. The song would have a completely different feel without the power-chords backing the main melody.

Technically, this version of the song is not used as part of a Flash animation (though it forms one of the main sections of Cascade). The coda is a bit different from the version used in Cascade: it doubles down on the energy with strings that smack of the shower scene in Psycho, until dropping just a little too abruptly.

2013-09-27 2:53:00 ¶ ●

By Michael Guy Bowman

I only realized recently that it’s not just generic, Gregorian chanting in the song: it’s ‘Warhammer of Zillyhoo’ repeated twice. That just adds to its cleverness. Bonus points for performing it completely straight, without a hint of silliness or irony.

2013-09-27 4:21:00 ¶ ●

By Clark ‘Plazmataz’ Powell. Original “Upward Movement” by Kalibration

The weird synth intro resembles sonar, as if it’s searching for something or someone (quite fitting for the void player featured in the Flash). The main riff has a sort of Eastern flair. It’s well done and makes for a great song, even as it treads back into more familiar territory in the second half.

2013-09-28 1:41:00 ¶ ●

By Erik ‘Jit’ Scheele. Original “Harlequin” by Mark Hadley

This music library must have the greatest collection of ‘scary as hell carnival music’ tracks in the world. Gamzee approves. As strange as it sounds, this is probably my favorite version of the ‘Harlequin’ motif. Crazy honk horns (and what seems to be some kind of a dinosaur) in the background are a bonus.

2013-09-28 2:54:00 ¶ ●

White Host, Green Room (By Joren ‘Tensei’ de Bruin) is one of the album bonus tracks (and thus only available if you purchase the album). It’s a jazzy, slow-paced piece. I’m not a big fan of it: don’t hate it, but it’s not really on my playlist. There’s one thing about it that does interest me: the intro.

The song begins with a fuzzy medley of four songs. The first two are Terezi Owns (on this album) and Cascade (on Volume 8: this sneak peek was released well before Cascade came out, mind you). The last song is Black Rose / Green Sun.

There’s an excerpt from one other song in the middle, starting at the ten second mark: epic choir chanting and heavy, distorted electric guitar. It sounds like a ‘final boss fight’ song. Yet the track that this little snippet belongs to hasn’t been released in any official way. So, what’s it all about?

Turns out it’s an unfinished track called 'The King in Red’. Tensei made a blog post about it here, and you can listen to the work-in-progress version of the song there.

2013-09-28 4:21:00 ¶ ●

By Erik ‘Jit’ Scheele, Original 'Beatdown’ by Curt Blakeslee

It’s a different take on the two source songs, but one that abandoned the best part of each, I think. It plays as though it’s building up to a payoff that never really comes.

2013-09-28 20:59:00 ¶ ●

Image source: Homestuck

Maplehoof’s Adventure (By Michael Guy Bowman) is another album-only bonus track on Homestuck Volume 7.

I travel to the South a fair bit, where sweet tea is king. Here in the North, once the sugar stops dissolving in your iced tea, that’s it, it’s sweet enough. In the South, the laws of chemistry aren’t allowed to get in the way: it must be sweeter. The tea is heated to near boiling and even more sugar is dumped in. Then it’s cooled back down again. It shouldn’t be possible, yet there it is. It’s Trickster Mode iced tea.

That’s what I think of when I hear this song. Just ridiculously saccharine sweet.

2013-09-28 22:31:56 ¶ ●

(high-res version)

RATING: 8 / 13 - hot sloppy shenanigans

The first half of the album is very strong. The stretch of songs from the beginning (Black Rose / Green Sun) all the way through Awakening (the ninth track) is solid. But like Homestuck Vol 6, it sputters a little in the second half.

It’s ambitious, though. Of all the volume albums to date, this one wanders from the comic’s roots the most. There’s very little chiptune to be found. It doesn’t necessarily improve or detract from the album’s quality, but it does mark an interesting departure.

I like quite a few songs on this album, but even better versions of many of them (Black Rose / Green Sun, Savior of the Dreaming Dead, and Even in Death, to name a few) are waiting in the wings, lurking on future albums. It’s one of the pitfalls of reviewing in hindsight.

Click here for individual song reviews for Homestuck Vol. 7.

2013-09-29 1:41:00 ¶ ●

‘Black Hole / Green Sun’ by Malcolm Brown. Solo piano, violin, guitar parts written and added by Toby “Radiation” Fox, featuring Joren “Tensei” de Bruin on electric guitar and Kelly Sadwin on violin

Black Hole / Green Sun begins at 10:48 in the Cascade medley. It’s only available as a stand-alone track when you purchase the album, but the album version is unchanged from the final few minutes of Cascade.

I like this remix better than its source (Black Rose / Green Sun), but only just. The changes aren’t huge: this track’s more like a driving classic rock anthem. The melodic guitar solo in the first half is great, and the soulful, Celtic violin refrain in the second half is even better.

And I love the extended chord that finishes things up. Now where’s that been done before?

2013-09-29 4:21:00 ¶ ●

By Clark “Plazmataz” Powell

Excellent. Just excellent. At its core it’s another simple piano tune. Starts off with a simple arpeggio – it’s a technique that’s quite common in the Homestuck library, and it’s almost always effective.

But the piano part – though superb – isn’t my favorite part of the song. It’s the percussion line that gets me. It reminds me a little of another song in that it’s very simple and static, but powerful in its own right.

This version of the song’s even better than the one featured in Cascade, in my opinion. It’s not forced to build up near the end (as required by the Flash animation), so it stands a little better as its own composition.

2013-09-29 18:29:00 ¶ ●

## can I just say it's refreshing to not have all reviews of these tracks be glowing praise

Yeah, I certainly don’t want to pile onto anyone, and hostility has no place here. But since the songs are for sale, I think even-handedness (especially in the album reviews) is important. Of course, it reflects my own taste to a great extent: a song I don’t like might be a great one in someone else’s book.

2013-09-30 1:41:00 ¶ ●

Arranged by Michael Guy Bowman. Original ‘Ocean Stars’ written by Mark Hadley

Great, easy listening. Starts off low key and builds slowly to a pretty cool groove. I’d have to call it a haunting refrain if it weren’t so damn cheerful and bouncy.

2013-09-30 4:21:00 ¶ ●

By Malcolm Brown

What an awesome, well-balanced combination of instrumentation. At its most basic level, it’s a duel between leads: chiptune, piano, electric guitar, string section, bass guitar. When one section takes over the main melody, parts of those prior leads add to the harmony.

A song like this could very easily feel stapled-together with so much variation, more like a medley than a single composition. Except for a rather abrupt break in the middle that adds a bit of character (and also proved helpful for the bifurcated Flash animation that features it), this track flows easily from one part to the next. It feels totally complete as a single piece. And to top it all off, the main hook is awesome, and it’s not overplayed or relied on too heavily. This is one of my favorite tracks in the library.