Demons of Asteborg Soundtrack

Demons of Asteborg Soundtrack, 2021, Jacob Altmann / Roland Sepherulo

The number of retro games presenting themselves as new Sega Genesis titles is not huge, but since the 2010s there has been a steady trickle of such projects. 2021’s Demons of Asteborg was one of the stronger Genesis pastiches, combining elements of classics such as Ghouls’n Ghosts and Castlevania: Bloodlines – with even a dash of Space Harrier. Developer Neofid Studios seasoned this Gothic platforming action with Metroidvania elements, and after a successful Kickstarter campaign even released Demons of Asteborg as a physical Sega Genesis cartridge alongside Switch and Steam versions. Reviews were positive, praising the game’s polished mechanics and lovingly crafted presentation.

Part of that appeal lay in the quality of the score, written by Jacob Altmann and Roland Sepherulo. At the time of writing, shortly after the game’s release, both composers remained rather elusive figures. There is next to no information on either artist online, beyond Altmann’s sparsely populated SoundCloud account and a few Reddit posts presenting his music, including some NES tracks. Sepherulo barely appears at all outside a press release promoting Demons of Asteborg. Then again, arguably his only consistently excellent contribution to the soundtrack is “Cemetery”, so it seems fair to identify Altmann as the project’s principal creative force.

On the Demons of Asteborg soundtrack, Altmann delivers the expected blend of orchestral, pop and rock elements, often merging them seamlessly. He seasons this mélange with the requisite Gothic-fantasy flair, giving the music a sense of mythical, cinematic grandeur audible from “Intro: Scenario” onwards. The cue moves confidently from a spooky, escalating march into an almost lullaby-like interlude. A chromatic, threatening reprise of the march then leads into an animated, racing climax built from rushing arpeggios and urgent snare drums. It is a persuasive demonstration of Altmann’s ability to tease richly varied moods out of the Genesis’ FM synthesis and shape them into a cue that develops with real organic momentum.

Moving into the body of the score, Altmann adopts two distinct approaches. The soundtrack’s first half is filled with intriguingly creative compositions that rely more on atmosphere than on memorable melody or rhythmic drive. “Swamp” begins fittingly subdued, with a slow bass line and a wandering, echoing melody, before subtly expanding into a fuller arrangement reinforced by a circular drum pattern. Altmann builds tension effortlessly between the repetitive rhythms, chromatic melodic arpeggios and ominously swelling background chords. His decision to use sampled drums pays off handsomely, their thunderous impact creating an effective contrast with the surrounding muted synth haze. “Caves”, the soundtrack’s longest and most ambitious cue, follows a similar path. Here, the friction between muted atmosphere and nervous melodic ostinato eventually erupts into a B section driven by hammering rhythms and capped by a thin, sharp chiptune lead.

The other side of the coin consists of those cues where Altmann leans fully into the soundtrack’s rock and metal inclinations, revealing a gift for rock-solid grooves and melodies catchy and expansive enough to sustain an entire track. These Gothic-tinged rock anthems appear early with “Village”, whose bopping mid-tempo pulse urges the player onwards into adventure. Altmann gives the cue extra depth and complexity through the clever use of counterpoint, layering short motifs that hover somewhere between rhythm and melody.

It takes until the score’s second half for this melody- and riff-heavy approach to reappear, but when it does, it all but takes over. “Mountains” is somewhat less successful, since its attempts to emulate jagged guitar riffs through FM synthesis prove a little too intrusive. After that, however, “Castle”, “Portal” and “Lost Dimension” form a superb trifecta of hard-rock writing for the Genesis. Each cue drives forwards on mid-tempo chugging rhythms that provide the ideal foundation for Altmann’s catchy pop-rock melodies. These develop and unfold beautifully, easily attaining the required Gothic stature before rising into majestic climaxes. Melody writing this sprawling yet instantly memorable is a rare gift, and Altmann surrounds these tunes with substantial layers of concise countermelodies. “Boss Theme” predictably accelerates the formula, pushing it towards power metal while crescendoing synth figures create an appropriately eerie sense of approaching horror.

Two cues bridge the gap between these two sides of the Demons of Asteborg soundtrack. “Fields” opens in measured fashion with a strummed acoustic guitar and another circular drum rhythm, laying the groundwork for a pleasingly medieval atmosphere that presents its short, snappy melodic fragments in evocative fashion. Sepherulo’s “Cemetery” manages to feel both coldly cosmic and intimate, setting sturdy rock rhythms, ethereal arpeggios and a dignified melodic line against one another. Once again, the key lies in the careful management of contrasts, as the stately melody continues undisturbed even when the rhythmic backdrop hardens into a hammering march. Admittedly, not every part of the Demons of Asteborg soundtrack is as convincing as the strongest examples discussed above. Still, there is a good half-hour of excellent FM synthesis here, full of adventurous spirit, memorable melodies and impressive scale.