Echoes of the
Masquerade
Echoes of the Masquerade is my first game as director, but I've worked also as a composer for it and it has been my greatest challenge so far!
As the game is set in the southern part of Italy and, to be more specific, in an unknown town in the centre of Sicily, I've wanted to make sure that the music could be tied with the culture as much as possible.
This got me into a long research process along with tons of studies to deliver this concept at its best.
As I am from Italy as well, I could find very interesting resources without spending too much time on researching and I've managed to gather some of the most traditional instruments with not too many difficulties.
The main theme for the game has been composed as first track, so it has been my first ever approach to the epic orchestral music!
It also features italian lyrics written by me and sung by a dear friend of mine and amazing singer Sara Sushilover
The battle theme is where the main combination between the italian tarantella and the epic sounds blend together, creating a sense of battle with the rhythm of a dance.
It features a sung and an instrumental version!
The typical sicilian music around the 16th and 17th centuries was characterized by the prominent usage of the marranzano (jaw-harp), the friscalettu (small flute) and the mandolin; the main genre was the tarantella, a specific type of music that, in Italy, varied in instruments and rhythms from region to region.
To create the perfect music experience for Echoes of the Masquerade, I wanted to make a mix between the tarantella and the epic music, creating pieces that could tie the rhythms of the main italian cultural music genre with the sense of action and adventure given by the epic music.
Inspired by other majestic works such as The Witcher 3's OST by Marcin Przybyłowicz and Mikołaj Stroiński or Enotria's OST by Aram Shahbazians, I've tried to mix the folklore/culture of italian music through the traditional instruments with epic elements such as trumpets, horns, strings and heavy-rhythmed drums.
The boss theme introduces gothic and holy elements such as choirs and organs, creating a feel of a holy fight taking place in a cathedral.
