Soulless: game music comes to life with one beastly package
A warrior king-turned-beast, evil magi and a fantasy world soundtracked by very ’80s game music. This is the experience of Soulless, a retro arcade-adventure released almost a decade ago and beloved not just for its gameplay, but also a chiptune soundtrack which has caught the ears of synthwave fans and gamers alike.
Soulless was released by Psytronik Software in 2012, a software label devoted to releasing new video games for classic computer systems like the Commodore 64 (C64) and ZX Spectrum. Created by Georg Rottensteiner and Trevor Storey, Soulless is a love letter to 1980s platformers such as Impossible Mission and Draconus. The Soulless soundtrack meanwhile is being issued for the first time on physical formats by Chiptune Records, a subdivision of synthwave label Amicom Records.
“With Chiptune Records, we aim to release music from C64 games released by Psytronik Software,” says label owner and synthwave musician Koen De Brabander. “We released the soundtrack for the game Hessian last year, and now aim to release the Soulless soundtrack on double vinyl and CD. We love vinyl records and 8-bit music, so why not combine both?”
“The Soulless OST has this genuine 8-bit vibe with ’80s and even new wave influences, which I love a lot. Listening to this music really catapults you into a different world, and that’s what good music does in my opinion: it makes you forget you’re actually listening to it!”
The release package comes with new artwork by Trevor, an artist in the sci-fi, fantasy and horror realms. He also likes to design retro games, including Soulless and its brand new sequel Soulless II: Armour Of Gods, to be released this year by Psytronik.
“I designed and did the artwork for the actual games so I knew exactly how the characters should look,” Trevor explains. “The environments on the album art are based on actual game environments, the cover and back being the final stage of Soulless II and the gatefold art being the temple from Soulless.”
The intense, hypnotic tones of the first Soulless game soundtrack a beast in search of its stolen soul within an esoteric temple. The music is by Mikkel Hastrup, who is “very humbled” by the fact that there is an audience who would love to hear it on vinyl.
“Back in the fall of 2011, I started working with Trevor and Georg (and) we communicated through text files in a shared Dropbox folder, if you can believe it. Trevor wanted something in a medieval/atmospheric style and he mentioned Master of Magic by Rob Hubbard as a reference.
“The in-game music (the main track) was something I worked out on a synthesizer over a longer period of time, so it was very much a cut-and-paste of various recordings I’d made until I had appealing melodies and musical parts that fitted together, then composing them in a tracker for the SID-chip.
“I knew it would be music that had to loop, so I tried to make the in-game music pretty lengthy. It could probably have been even longer to fit the game, but I ran out of ideas.
“The rest of the music was composed similarly, but the intro music is actually something I wrote about 10 years earlier, and not for the SID-chip, and also never used for anything until this game came along.”
Listening to the Soulless soundtrack today, Mikkel can hear a bit of game composers Matt Gray and Tim Follin in the arrangement style.
“But in general, Martin Galway is my all-time favourite SID-musician,” Hastrup reveals.
Mikkel’s music in turn inspired Saul Cross, who composed the soundtrack for this year’s upcoming sequel to Soulless, and which is being released as part of the double vinyl package from Chiptune Records.
“I was inspired by Mikkel’s original Soulless music for the loading tune and then moved away from that fairly quickly into something a little darker (I hope) so that there would be a little transition but it would also be very clear that Soulless II was a very different game with a very different feel,” says Saul.
“Mikkel, I think, has a much lighter touch than I do and is better when it comes to subtle, haunting and meandering tunes, while my music tends to be a lot more regimented and structured and I think a little more aggressive.”
Saul composed the music for Soulless II directly in Goattracker, with a keyboard on hand for “noodling around on” and working out chords for the wave table values.
“Trevor usually gives me a good idea of what type of thing he wants and is very good at providing some detailed information about the game settings and levels and I try to link the music in with that thematically.
“I do occasionally include motifs for specific things but in most cases it is more likely to be something rhythmic or in the instrument design that is used to set the mood and to try to capture the essence of the game environment and game play for any given stage.”
Soulless I & II: The Original Game Soundtrack album will be released by Chiptune Records on double vinyl, CD & digital download in January 2022. The package features a Lord of Dragonspire / Kentilla 12" featuring Rob Hubbard & Jason Page for Kickstarter backers, with artwork by Trevor Storey and liner notes by Giacomo Lee.
