Skyrim: Gamer's Magazine

Skyrim Soundtrack! (Solienna and Catticus)

SHEOGORATH: GOOD EVENING PEOPLE, TODAY WE BRING YOU A SPECIAL ARTICLE BROUGHT TO YOU BY HASKILL. ANYWAYS, GRAB YOUR CHEESE THAT SHOULD BE RAINING DOWN FROM THE HEAVENS ANY MOMENT NOW AND LET’S GET ROLLING INTO THIS ARTICLE. TRY NOT TO GET CRUSHED.

Catticus: Thank you, Uncle Sheo, for that maniacally demented introduction. (See what I did there, Oblivion fans?) Well readers, I know its been a while but this article is gonna be special. This is what we're gonna call a collab article, where both Adri_and_Cat (see what I did there?) write in the same article. Its gonna be amazing, spectacular, and probably a bit different. Today's topic is the Music of Skyrim, so we picked some of our favorite tracks from the game and we're going to give you a review. You can find the playlist in the external link, if you’re interested. Anyways, let's get started!

i. UNBROKEN ROAD

Catticus: Alright, so I chose the song Unbroken Road as mine this time, since our collab story that we literally brought back from the grave is Unbroken. (FUN FACT: Unbroken wasn't originally named for the song Unbroken Road, I didn't know about the song until after we started work on it for the second time.) The song Unbroken Road is over 6 minutes long, but its worth every second in my opinion. If you listen to it, at some points the melody switches to a melody that was used in the theme song for TES: Oblivion, otherwise known as Rise of the Emperor, I think. The melody is the second part of the song, after the heavily orchestrated battle version of the Morrowind theme, Call of Magic, and its sort of the victory part of the battle theme. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Jeremy Soule did an amazing job on this song, and not just because of his major of melodies and phrases from other previous songs (but mainly because of that...). Unbroken Road is a pretty amazing song, and there's even a bit of flute in it (ANOTHER FUN FACT: Catticus plays the flute) which is one of the many reasons I love that song. Anyway, I think I've given you enough lecturing on how talented Jeremy Soule is and how awesome the song Unbroken Road is.

Adri: Alright, whaddup, my fellow milk-drinkers? Solienna here, finally! Missed you dudes a lot, I have. But anyways, the music! Unbroken Road, to be specific. So, while Cat rambles on and on about Soule and other Elder Scrolls stuff like a possessed nerd, I’m just gonna tell it to you how I think it is. Personally, I love the Skyrim soundtrack because it’s so...atmospheric, if that makes any sense. It’s really calming and quite beautiful, really. (SLIGHTLY ENTERTAINING FACT: Both Cat and I use the Skyrim soundtrack while writing to focus on actually writing.) Unbroken Road - let’s call it UR for short - is no exception. Also, if you’ve played Oblivion or at least heard some of its soundtrack, you will definitely be reminded of the game in this composition, as Cat stated earlier on. However, like I said before, Skyrim’s music is atmospheric, and yet again, UR is no exception. Before I had to write this review, I had to sit still for about six-and-a-half minutes and just focus on paying attention to the song without dozing off or trying to get other things accomplished just because Cat forced me to, and lemme tell ya, it wasn’t easy. There was no thoughts of “I think I’ll go make a sammich” or “I think I’ll just take a quick nap” (mind you, it is 2:34AM as I type this) or “Nocturnal bless my soul, this is boring”. This composition is not to be jammed out to, but merely, in my opinion, to be playing in the background and making yourself seem epic as you do whatever it is that you’re doing (writing, doing homework, planning the demise of the earth, etc.) Don’t get me mistaken; it’s a very lovely composition, but you can’t do air guitar to it, sadly. You fall asleep to it becauSE DAMN IS IT SOOTHING SOULE KNOWS WHAT HE’S DOING

ii. RAGNAR THE RED

Catticus: Ragnar the Red is okay, I guess. It’s a good tale, but I just don’t really like it for some reason. Maybe it’s just because I don’t like Mikael. Anyway, I guess Ragnar the Red is cool and all, but until I hear the Malukah version (which doesn’t exist) I don’t think I’ll like it.

Adri: Ah, a fine but bloody tale, this bard song is. But seriously, this is such a hilarious little song that Bethesda cooked up for us and when I first heard it I fell in love with it, I didn’t care which bard sang it. Cat didn’t like this song very much because Cat doesn’t like things that are fun. *hmmph*

iii. SKYRIM MAIN THEME (DRAGONBORN)

Catticus: By the Nine, (not the eight, you people know I'm a Talos-believing imperial dog.) Dragonborn is literally the best thing since Eidar cheese. It’s basically the battle-version of Unbroken Road, plus it has the Call of Magic melody buried into it and so much dovah language like GAHHH JEREMY SOULE YOU DESTROY ME BRO. Anyway, Dragonborn is seriously amazing, like I can't even. There's so much I could say about the dynamics and the amazing instrumental work, but I think I bored you all enough with my long review of Unbroken Road, so I'll just leave it at this: DRAGONBORN IS THE MUSIC OF THE GODS AND IT GIVES ME LIFE.

Adri: THIS PIECE. EVERYTHING ABOUT IT IS EPIC. Whenever I play Skyrim, I get stuck at the main menu because I don’t want to cut off the masterpiece that is this. Now this is something your rock out to, something that makes you feel truly epic. This is one of those Skyrim songs that isn’t atmospheric because it’s too friggin’ awesome to be ignored.  I know about half of the Dovahzul (or Dragon language, for you commoners) being sang in this song by heart, and I’m currently trying to memorize the other half because Nocturnal damn me, it’s worth my time. The, well, barbaric choir in this piece is just magnificent and really gets me pumped and makes me want to return to the land of Skyrim in front of my Xbox 360. I completely understand you not liking the other two pieces described in this article, but if you don’t like this piece, then what is wrong with your brain? This, simply put, is pure unadulterated brilliance.  

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Adri: Okay guys, that’s going to do it for now! Please, leave us suggestions in the comments below on what we should cover next, because we want to know what you want. Tell us if you liked this article, if you want to see more of these kind of articles with both of us, whatever! We love feedback. I apologize for the fact that we’ve been slacking on this account as of late, but hopefully we’ll get back on schedule soon. Solienna out!

Question of Today: What is your favorite Skyrim musical masterpiece?