Not only is Hades an incredible game but the music speaks to us deeply in our souls. It’s amazing to me that the Lament of Orpheus has been written time and time again for thousands of years. Wether it’s Gluck and Orphée or Berlioz, Offenbach, or @Supergiant Games. The tragic story of Orpheus and Euridice lives on. Why does it speak to us as much as it does? Why have we never been able to shake this tragic tale?
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Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:20 Orpheus has a hard time
01:00 Operatic history
01:03 Che faro senza Euridice – Gluck
01:34 Orpheus in the Underworld – Offenbach
01:50 Why has this story survived the test of time?
02:17 Music pt1
02:38 The Power of Humming
03:05 Music pt2
04:06 Pitching Down/up
04:40 No Full Voice Here
05:04 Music pt3
06:54 Hushed Tones
7:10 Falsetto
07:45 Haunting Evolution
Credits:
Singer: Darren Korb
Developer: Supergiant Games
Composer: Darren Korb
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, MORE
Awards: BAFTA Games Award for Best Game, MORE
Publishers: Supergiant Games, Private Division, Take-Two Interactive
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Oohh yes Hades! Would love to hear your thoughts on In The Blood as well! Always love when Ashley Barrett and Darren Korb duet for Supergiant games' soundtracks. What a wonderful pair!
I grew up on Greek mythology (as well as those of several other civilizations) so Orpheus was quite familiar to me. It's quite interesting to see his tale carried throughout history through his own craft in such varied ways.
So much respect for you musical talent just instantly picking up the song to illustrate your points. Wish I could sing. Great video as always!
I didn’t know that song was called Orpheus in the underworld! I knew it was from Offenbach but didn’t know that name
so happy to see you check out Hades
The craziest thing about this piece is that the singer is also the composer of the score for the game (Darren Korb), who also voiced Zagreus AND Skelly. Zagreus has an absurd number of lines in Hades, for those who don't know. In the thousands. Darren Korb is ridiculously talented. You can never go wrong with any pieces from Supergiant Games' games. Bastion, Transistor, Pyre and Hades all have excellent scores. Thanks as always for the insightful analysis and interweaving of opera/musical history into your discussion of the piece.
Didnt play the game, but i love so much the Orpheus' story
I studied in a High School where greek and latin were my everyday, i love so much the mythology and its beautiful stories (like the Ovidio's Apollo & Dafne story)
That buffed up as hell Pikachu in the background was not something I'd expect to see today. Yet, here we are.
This makes me really want to play Hades again! Such a fun game with absolutely beautiful music! 🥹
Yo, you should really try checkin out the Project Wingman live orchestra arrangement. I swear you won't regret it
I've been waiting for this.
Now you can see here how Orpheus managed to bring a tear to Hades’s eye and convince the stoic king of the underworld to give him even the smallest chance to bring back his lover.
This was a really interesting learning experience! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and views on the music and the stories history.
How did I never think of Hades for this channel? The entire soundtrack is great, let alone the three lyrical ones- this, Good Riddance, and In the Blood
I love this song!! Really nice tone from Darren
The voice actor of Zagreus is the singer who sings this song. He voices Orpheus’ singing voice, Skelly, and Zagreus
LESSGO HADES WOOOO
Also
Day thirty-three of recommending Stay Gold from the Arknights OST
You might want to check out the duo version of this one (as well as the live version) and of Good Riddance.
Yes I requested this one!! LOVE your insight into this, this is one of my favorite tracks ever.
Hades has A LOT of great soundtracks, i hope you make more reaction videos for this game 😁
Did someone request you to do Subtitles? … You're extremely well spoken, why? o_o
In the blood, is another great OST from Hades and I strongly recommend it
You should take a listen to all of the songs from orpheus and euridice from this game. They all follow this type of style but they all have somthing different. If i had to reccomend two it would be "good riddance" by euridice, there are two verions of this song one sang by euridice and one by orphues and both despite having the same lyrics give off a completely different message. and "hymn to zagreus" by orpheus, which the reason in the game for why orpheus made the song is pretty funny but ended up leading to probably my favourite non battle theme in the game.
There's a lot of reaction videos out there, even a lot of music breakdown videos out there, but so far I haven't found anyone who brings your perspective to it. Good work!
Now you need to listen to Good Riddance and In the Blood to complete the story!
youve got to listen to in the blood, it's eurydice and orpheus singing !
I bought this game a few weeks ago, but I've yet to play it. After hearing that song, not playing seems criminal. A powerful piece of music right there.
Ohhhh, Supergiant soundtracks!!! I'm definitely invested! I've never played HADES, but I'm familiar with the soundtrack and this one in particular. Im a greek mythology nerd (my avatar is literally my own depiction of my fave Pantheon goddess, Artemis), and I already knew Orpheus' tale when I heard this one. Which was so much more impactful to me when I heard Darren Korb singing the "don't look back" at the end, like… ughhh so heartbreaking! Both Darren Korb and Ashley Barrett (the female's voice on the background and the main singer in other songs) are so incredibly amazing as musicians, holy crap. Their live performances are _insane_. I feel so lucky to live in a time where I can hear their and other game composers' works.
And on the topic of "humming is so powerful and melancholic", Transistor (another Supergiant game with songs also written and performed by Ashley and Darren) and it's soundtrack's ENTIRE DEAL is about Ashley having songs where she fully sings and whole versions where she JUST hums through it because of the main character's plot. The humming is used as both storytelling and mechanics device. So fascinating!
And Marco, I always forget to mention that I'm curious about your voice acting roles! Can you share or talk about any of them at some point, that would be awesome 😀
[Warning: very long comment ahead lol]
Ohhhh this video made me very, very happy. I love Supergiant Games, and especially their music, and seeing you "react to" but more importantly analyze and respond to this song was just very, very lovely. This song also has a special place in my heart since the last song I really actively worked on with my voice teacher before the pandemic hit was Monteverdi's "Tu se morta," another musical Orpheus interpretation, and I haven't really had a chance to sing much since…
(OH, also! You commented on how the melody is generally leading us upwards over the course of the song, while Orpheus himself is recounting a story about the underworld's depths, but what came to mind for me is that… well, in the story, Orpheus WAS climbing upwards, just like the song. And, just like the song, the most desperate, mournful, heart wrenching part of his journey came at the peak, when he did look back. The song's gradual climb to its high, plaintive climax feels very fitting to me, and I would never have had that observation if I hadn't watched this video <3)
Finally, a couple recommendations if you're interested in listening to any more music by this composer/from this game studio:
– "Remember the Bastion" from the album The Songs of Supergiant Games is a lovely encapsulation of a LOT of music from their first game, Bastion. That whole album is basically more fully orchestrated performances of some of their better known songs, but that one in particular is just… breathtaking, in my opinion, and features both of the songs with vocals from that game
– I highly, HIGHLY recommend basically the entirety of the game "Transistor," to the point that I'd even tentatively recommend you try playing it rather than just listening. In that game, you play as Red, a singer whose voice has been stolen, and a LOT of the score features her voice — even during instrumental songs, the melody will drop out and be replaced by her humming during various moments in the game. The game isn't strictly "about" music, but it's at the very least one of the core themes, as is "voice," and I think you might really enjoy it. If you want to just listen to a few songs out of context, I'd recommend most any of the vocal tracks — "In Circles," "Paper Boats," and "The Spine" are all personal favorites of mine. If you're interested in non-vocal tracks, "Impossible" is the final boss's theme, and I find it FASCINATING as a choice for a final boss.
I hope this extraordinarily long and rambling comment was nice to read rather than a chore, and thank you again for this lovely video!
All of Hades' songs are amazing. Good Riddance is just as haunting, and technically has 3 versions, In the Blood sounds kind of victorious, especially with when it plays ingame, and Hymn to Zagreus is a great song, but also utterly hilarious when you know the context. Even then, those are just the ones with vocals, and the boss, battle, and area music is just as good
Interesting how the composer wanted to tell the tale of Orpheus, but since the singer is literally Orpheus after the tale, he is both telling the story for people that don't know it and trying to forgive himself for what he did wrong.
I would love to see your reaction to each of the Good Riddance versions, 1st the Eurydice solo (Ashley Barrett), the 2nd the Orpheus solo, and the 3rd the duet by them both. It's the same song but the way they're sung individually gives off a different feeling that I think you'll appreciate!
1:38 Also I didn't know that that was titled "Orpheus in the Underworld" and I just kept laughing at the irony because it's mostly associated with funny bgms but it's actually about a tragic Greek character ASDKHJ
Not surprised you missed this song as you have to both give Orpheus nector and talk to him quite a few times before he'll start singing again. It's pretty easy to beat the main story before completing any of the quest for the house residents and even after completing the epilogue you'll likely have a few quest left to complete.
Hymn to Zagreus can take a long time to unlock because you have to progress through both Orpheus and Eurydice quest to the point that Zagreus starts boasting to Orpheus about his heroic deeds and then Dionysus has to ask Zagreus to lie to Orpheus about them being related. Dionysus has a couple hundred lines of dialogue and you can only get one per run the first time you get a boon from him. you can equip the overflowing cup to get him in the first room and then just suicide to cycle through his lines faster.
Definetly one of my favorite songs in a video game. If you haven't already I highly reccomend checking out Transistor's ost as well! (Another supergiant game)
Please look into other Supergiants Game soundtracks! They are all really beautiful.
OMG you've gotta do In the Blood now <3 (unless youve already done it)
hearing this after encouraging orpheus to sing for so long feels like such a reward X)
wait. the can-can is originally from an Opera about Orpheus? Now that I didn't know!
One thing I love about Hades is the song Hymn to Zagreus, which happens in game because two people are basically BSing Orpheus and telling him a yarn as a joke, and he turns it into a song as a story. The best part is that its actually part of the various fragmentary myths about Zagreus. What we know about him is verrrry limited, as a god he pre-dates Hades and may well be an aspect of Dionysis or something that was evolved into him as the Greek religion (and the tolerance of the Orphic cult became more acceptable) evolved over the centuries. I'd suggest looking up Overly Sarcastic Productions video about Dionysis to get the run down on what we think happened, and what Supergiant games incorporated into the story of the game.