#akmigone

Artist: Akmigone and Zack Parrish featuring Anthony Morgan

Original: Title (Metroid) by Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka; Theme of Samus by Kenji Yamamoto; Metroid Prime Menu by Kenji Yamamoto and Kouichi Kyuma

Length: 6:50

Now introducing, Harmony of a Hunter Returns! Where the original Harmony of a Hunter was created for the Metroid series' 25th anniversary, the Returns album was created both as a celebration of the series' 35th anniversary and in honor of the first album's ten-year anniversary. While Shinesparkers never stopped releasing tribute remix albums in the interim between 101% Run and Returns, with two albums remixing songs from Super Smash Bros and one remixing Pokemon, this album was a return to their roots as a Metroid fan community.

The timing of the album, too, could not have been more serendipitous; while the album had been in the works for a year before the official reveal on 23 July, 2021, it neatly coincided with the surprise reveal of Metroid Dread the month before, a breath of new life into the fanbase. As a result of this timing, there are very few remixes of songs from Dread in the album, but the album's branding was redone in the glitchy style of Dread's title in its honor. Altogether, 2021 was a very good time to be a Metroid fan.

With this album, Shinesparkers sought to cover old ground in a new way. The general philosophy behind this album was to remix songs that hadn't received remixes in prior albums, and to cover songs that had in totally different ways. Many of my reviews for this album will call back to older remixes for comparison. This album also has the benefit of coming after Federation Force and Samus Returns, so those games' soundtracks get remixes for the very first time.

This album ups the ante from the last one with a gigantic 65 remixes, a full 26 more than 101% Run, with a total runtime of over five hours. This album also has more information available in the form of musician bios and commentary on the livestream, so I'll have a lot to say about these remixes!

The new album opens on a medley by Akmigone, Zack Parrish, and Anthony Morgan of three of the series' most iconic themes: the Title theme, Samus's theme, and the Metroid Prime menu/credits theme. This is a piano- and electric guitar-led piece supported by a full orchestra. It opens on the Title motif before going into a gentle piano cover of the NES game's title theme. The transition to Samus's theme (the Theme of Super Metroid) is marked by the introduction of the electric guitar as backing for the piano, and the final section, the Prime menu theme, swaps the guitar to the main melody and the piano to the accompaniment. After an electric guitar solo based on Prime's menu, the song closes out on a soft piano coda.

'My Past is Not a Memory' is comparable to 'In the Beginning...' (Title) from the first album and 'Primoris' (Prime menu) from the second, which are some pretty big boots to fill. Nonetheless this remix passes with flying colors, resembling something a mix of the two, with the gentle piano from 'In the Beginning...' and the full orchestration from 'Primoris'. The evolving instrumentation between the medley's three songs is very welcome. Tone-wise, the medley hits the dark and mysterious highs the series is known for, but with a distinctly light-hearted and adventurous side, too. It's a fantastic start to the album and sets the stage for more remixes to take a new look at beloved classics.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐