Another suggestion of Lloyd’s, Wilderness came to exist after several hours playing the Xbox 360 Arcade re-release of Golden Axe, originally released in Arcades, later ported to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. After growing up in the Mega Drive loving UK, memories of games like Golden Axe and Streets of Rage (more from that one later) are very much burned into the minds of all three of us.

Wilderness, being the first level in the game, is particularly memorable. Another heavy piece, this one is very strange in that it features no synthesised parts whatsoever. Which meant I only had to drum, so I’m quite happy. It was a chance to get in some heavy sounding distortion, and double bass pedal action on the drums.

Later on, the piece moves into slightly different territory, with a small poke at one of the most memorable pieces in the game, “Thief,” a tune to kick little creatures with sacks to. The original composers of this game are somewhat hazy, but our research suggests it is either Naofumi Hataya (幡谷尚史) or Tatsuyuki Maeda (前田龍之). Or both.

-Alex

Did you know?
None of the members of The Red Wings own an actual Golden Axe cart – all three own it, but on one of Sega’s “Mega Games” compilation carts.

Wilderness (Golden Axe) - The Red Wings [ 3:22 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Ken’s Theme is yet another very important track to us as a band, as it represents several firsts. Ken’s Theme was the first time the band ventured outside of the comfort zone of the Final Fantasy series. Despite being inspired by The Black Mages, we couldn’t let ourselves be contained in one series. It was time to break out, and one of Lloyd’s favourite games of all time beckoned!

Suggested and persistantly suggested until my prototype midi was complete for the track, Lloyd wanted to do a heavy rock version of Ken’s Theme. This, too, was another first – all of our previous tracks were of a melodic rock style, while this piece took a distinctly heavy stance. I can say this midi was a pain in the ass to sequence, but it paid off in the end, giving The Red Wings their first heavy arrangement and their first outright guitar solo.

Taken from Alph Lyla and Yoko Shimomura‘s famous Street Fighter II soundtrack, after a significantly difficult arrangement period, recording came together rather easily, with the totally accidental addition of a saxophone to the background of the track adding the finishing touches. Sometimes accidents are a blessing!

-Alex

Did you know?
Nobody in our circle of friends can play Street Fighter II properly, and most just choose E-Honda and spam that fast punch move. Lloyd, however, can actually play properly. Give me Smash Bros any day.

Ken's Theme (Street Fighter II) - The Red Wings [ 2:52 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download