{"id":5716,"date":"2012-11-19T13:48:08","date_gmt":"2012-11-19T18:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=5716"},"modified":"2012-11-19T13:49:26","modified_gmt":"2012-11-19T18:49:26","slug":"cd-warriors-odyssey-a-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=5716","title":{"rendered":"CD: Warrior’s Odyssey, A (2012)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>V to Z<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label: Howlin’ Wolfe Records<\/a>\/ Released: October, 2012<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 18 tracks \/ (48:12)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: \u00a0Gate-fold album with 12-page colour booklet and liner notes by Gergely Hubai..<\/p>\n

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Composer: Penka Kouneva<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

What began as a personal project for composer & ace orchestrator Penka Kouneva (Midnight Movie<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>]) quickly evolved into a concept album, housing music for a non-existent video game and functioning as a solid demo for scoring action-oriented video games.<\/p>\n

Kouneva has scored and orchestrated music for a wide variety of genres, and her long association with Remote Control Productions and orchestrating several of Steve Jablonsky\u2019s action scores (notably the Transofrmer<\/strong> franchise) has rubbed off with a writing style that\u2019s as muscular and robust as the company\u2019s house sound, yet Kouneva\u2019s own voice comes through in melodic material drawn from her own cultural roots.<\/p>\n

Born in Bulgaria and enriched with the folk instruments and sounds of central Europe, Kouneva\u2019s conceptual CD features all the hallmarks of an action score \u2013 a big orchestra, electronic \/ orchestral hybrids, chorals, and a tough sound \u2013 but without being tied to a specific game and \/ or game sequence, the music has its own natural dramatic flow and isn\u2019t affected by some of the repetitive cues that can affect action & horror games.<\/p>\n

In addition to some beautiful folk themes (particularly the lament within \u201cMinotaur Battle\u201d), there\u2019s always an undercurrent of classical composition of which the best tends to be the intricate instrumentation, and occasional shifts from large, aggressive sounds to delicate chamber arrangements.<\/p>\n

The three chapters that make up the album feature a variety of cues with varying lengths, and whether the music is pulsing techno and chamber orchestra (\u201cMission Fail 1\u201d), ambient synths and a haunting blend of orchestra and folk instruments, or odd meters that propel percussion textures (\u201cMinotaur Battle\u201d) with synths, Kouneva maintains a strong continuity in her impressionistic album.<\/p>\n

As per Howlin\u2019 Wolfe Records production values, the CD features excellent mastering and attractive graphic art, with a lengthy booklet that also serves to introduce the composer to audiences.<\/p>\n

A podcast interview<\/a> with the composer is also available.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2012 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Composer’s Website<\/a> — Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0V to Z<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ V to Z . Rating: Excellent Label: Howlin’ Wolfe Records\/ Released: October, 2012 Tracks & Album Length: 18 tracks \/ (48:12) . Special Notes: \u00a0Gate-fold album with 12-page colour booklet and liner notes by Gergely Hubai.. . Composer: Penka Kouneva . . Review: What began as a personal project for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[194,1635],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1uc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5716"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5716"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5731,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5716\/revisions\/5731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}