Review: Warlands – The Soundtrack
Bryan K. Borgman founded Bailey Records in September 1999 to serve local independent bands with promotion, management, recording and production work on the road and in studio. In October 2000, Borgman adopted the persona “Stratos” as his new techno-music alias when original club music was needed for an independent film, The Screen. Since then, Stratos has released numerous soundtracks for games (such as the CyberNet Official Roleplaying Soundtrack…) and independent films (The Charnel Gospel), has been featured on several compilation discs and is currently working on television and film placement for various songs.
The 20 tracks available on Warlands – The Soundtrack are:
- “Prelude to Armageddon”
- “This is Warlands”
- “Snakes on the Playground”
- “Alone and On the Run”
- “Surviving the Wastes”
- “Get da Guzz”
- “Cruising the Old 66”
- “Monkey Wrenchin’”
- “Nomads and Road Runners”
- “Escape from Lost Vegas”
- “This Cursed Earth”
- “The End is Extremely Nigh”
- “Zombie Nation”
- “The Streets of Despair”
- “The Zombies Are Taking Over”
- “They’re Everywhere!”
- “Undead Walking”
- “Left Coast Lingo”
- “Look to Tomorrow”
- “Bailey Records Fanfare / Age of Apocalypse.”
Game soundtracks have often been labeled as collections of “odds and ends.” And perhaps that’s not a dismissive phrase to your ears, especially now that track-at-a-time blog culture has turned us all into scavengers to one degree or another. But to me it’s always suggested the remixes and lesser-known experiments and doodles finally deemed fit to turn a buck after every other nook and cranny of an artist’s oeuvre has been exploited, so it’s not a big deal to just pop a few dozen short tracks on a CD and call it a soundtrack.
Fortunately, that’s not the case here.
While I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing some of Stratos’ music before, I’ve always done so with the fear of messing up the review because I let too much of my own personal bias enter in. I’m not a music reviewer, but I do understand the sensitivity of an artist and just how much of their soul goes into composing – far more than sculpting a miniature or writing a ruleset does.
I also like Bryan, and while I’m not worried about hurting his feelings, I am concerned about short-changing the work he’s done because his music is his baby. That is exactly why I have no desire to write basically the exact same thoughts on each individual track. There is only so many times I can say “This is great, love it” – and for all 20 tracks I would only be doing a disservice to Bryan.
The Good
Every great composer has their quiet conscience, the genetic bullshit detector who keeps the artist grounded when the danger is there that their ego could become too inflated from all the praise. From following Bryan on Twitter for some time now, he’s shown time and time again that he’s got just that – and that he loves his work.
The album feels as if it could have been released any time in the last 20-25 years (this is not a criticism), but the inspired arrangements – and, of course, Borgman’s obvious passion for what he does – make it sound fresh, too.
There’s not a weak track on the album, and it can be enjoyed without owning Warlands – it’s fun driving music and would easily mesh in with any cyberpunk / post apocalyptic / dark future genres of games.
The final word? There’s no doubt that Stratos is living proof that the electronic music industry is still very much alive.
The Bad
None.
The Ugly
None.
Product Summary
Name: Warlands – The Soundtrack
© 2009 Winged Warrior Publishing (ASCAP) (884502065350) (format: CD-R)
Publisher: Bailey Records
Category: Dark Future
Price: $10.99 (CD) / $10.99 (MP3)
Rating
