Takahashi Tetsuya was chosen for the musical background of CAPCOM’s CG* action movie “Biohazard: DEGENERATION,” which is better known in other countries as “Resident Evil: DEGENERATION.” He kept much of the spirit of the games in the music, particularly the tension and drama, without copying the game soundtracks but creating his own sound. Like the movie, the music is tells the story of the heroes from "Resident Evil 2," Leon and Claire.
The movie soundtrack has 23 tracks, totaling for nearly an hour of sound. Many of the tracks have much in common, but they have their differences. Within the first six tracks, you come to realize that Takahashi Tetsuya loves to play with tension, tempo and emotions; to create these feelings, he uses classical instruments like strings, brass and woodwind, but also modern ones like the compact sound of electric guitars and drums. One of his favorite stylistic elements seems to be military style drumming; and he seldom uses a choir. For tracks five and fifteen, he got support from Oonishi Shougo in composing. The image song GUILTYis sung by none other than Tsuchiya Anna, although the song is written by LUCA and can’t be credited to Takahashi.
With the first few songs, he consciously builds up more and more tension. The fourth track, which plays when the dead are coming to life, sends shivers running down your spine from time to time with the sinister distortions of the strings, which could be taken from a horror movie directly. There are also well placed breaks and play with the volume to ratchet up the tension. The aforementioned electric guitars were put into action in track five, where they provide tempo and power.
However, not only dark or tension driven songs are on the soundtrack. With Curtis ~genjou houkoku~ (Curtis ~progress report), you feel a little bit of relaxation, but also grief. Generally, Takahashi likes to use the piano when it comes to the calm and emotional passages. In the following songs, quiet melodies and those that build up tension take turns; here you can listen to a harp for the first time. Rakuen (paradise) creates a clear atmosphere of relaxation and a heavenly feeling. For three minutes, you can easily close your eyes and let yourself go, before the yearning and drama begins again with Kako (past). The latter feeling grows stronger with each track that follows.
The climax hits on track fifteen, Kousen (fight). Once more, the electric guitars come into play, and you can tell there is lots of action going on in the background. The tension doesn’t falter after that song though - the opposite is the case - and even more baleful moments are waiting; the tempo rises dramatically and “Alien”-like sounds helps in creating this special tune. The action drops to a short silence in Sorezore no michi, but after that, you experience the last moment of shock in Matsuro (end). Then, the threatening background is left step by step, and the time for the image song and Tsuchiya Anna has come. The voice of the rock singer harmonizes perfectly with the energetic rock charm of the track. The English lyrics remain fairly understandable, and the fast tempo of GUILTY develops into a real catchy tune. Unfortunately, the song is pretty short at slightly under three minutes; nevertheless, it fades out well.
Approximately 45 minutes later, the soundtrack and the journey into another world comes to an end. The music, on its own, brings to life the spirit of the video games and the movie. Sure, you could simply watch the movie, but the soundtrack is the only way you can hear the music fully without dialogue, sound effects, etc. getting in the way. Plus, it allows you to imagine your own weird and exciting action scenes to match the thrilling compositions. For fans of the series and the movies, this soundtrack is a definite must-have, but for people who like the blend of classic and modern music, which is able to tell an exciting and forceful story, this OST is more than worth it!
*CG = Computer Generated, images that were created on computers.
