By Michael Guy Bowman
This song channels the Talking Heads in a big way (both the lyrics and the melody can’t help but remind me a little of Once in a Lifetime). And Bowman’s vocal performance has a bit of that David Byrne vibe to it. The song features an actual, official music video, which is unique in the Homestuck catalog, so far as I know.
By Joren “Tensei” de Bruin
Image source: Homestuck.
Right off the bat, the album starts with a fantastic track.
Up until the middle of Act 5 Act 2, Aradia has a pretty hard time of it in the comic. She whiplashes from apathetic (as a ghost), to violent and hotblooded (as a homicidal robot), to serene (as a god-tier). This track characterizes that last development in character.
It’s just so perky and positive. Aradia’s spent so long being burned out and jaded that she doesn’t really know how to be cheerful and optimistic. So she accidentally goes way too far without realizing it.
In an album just jam-packed with memorable hooks and cool riffs, this one stands out as my favorite track.
By Joren “Tensei” de Bruin
Image source: Homestuck.
Most of it is pure Troll Pirates of the Carribean. But then, near the end, there’s a hilarious, accordion-backed version of Crustacean. To quote Tensei, “When writing this song, I kinda envisioned a big ship to ship battle between Vriska and Eridan, with a bumbling Karkat acting as comic relief at the very end…”
Mission accomplished.
By Thomas “EidolonOrpheus” Ferkol
Deep, distorted heavy metal. Part of me even thinks that this could have been a bad-ass theme for Vriska in the game: might be a little intense for a Flash game’s ambient music, but it’s such a cool jam.
By Toby “Radiation” Fox
Image source: Shelby Cragg.
Starting with that twangy, laid-back guitar intro, this song is sorta hard to pin down. The energy level drives upwards to a crazy synth beat, before drifting back down to a calmer interlude, over and over. It fits the webcomic Flash pretty well, what with its give and take between characters who aren’t afraid to bring random fork stabbings into the fray.
By Erik “Jit” Scheele
A remix of an unreleased song, “Penumbra Phantasm” by Radiation. Judging by the snippets of that song that appear in other places (read: every important moment in Homestuck, pretty much), this is a more cheerful, more irreverent take on the original.
The first half’s light with mellow synth and a perky flute lead. But it really picks up steam about a third of the way in, as fuzzy, deep electric guitar and more percussion is layered on.
By Erik “Jit” Scheele
The melodies from Ruins and Walk-Stab-Walk complement each other well. The choice in tempo makes both parts interesting: Ruins, at a faster pace, becomes foreboding, while Walk-Stab-Walk becomes a stately anthem.
By Erik “Jit” Scheele
Cheerful to the point of giddiness. It’s one of many tracks on the album with a strong piano part played against the main melody (glockenspiel, I would guess, by the sound of it).