This week Materia Collective released the debut self-titled album for the acoustic video game cover band, The Hit Points. The album features bluegrass performers Eli Bishop and Matt Menefee and a number of guest artists and soloists. They cover a variety of great video game soundtracks, from League of Legends, and Final Fantasy, to Sonic the Hedgehog, and Journey. You can check out the full tracklist below.
01. Those Who Fight Further (Final Fantasy VII)
02. Guile’s Theme (Street Fighter)
03. Presentiment/Chrono Trigger (Chrono Trigger)
04. Rocket Hideout (Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow)
05. Athletic Theme (Super Mario World)
06. Green Hill Zone (Sonic the Hedgehog)
07. Ballad of the Goddess (The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword)
08. Dance of Pales (Castlevania: Symphony of the Night)
09. Nascence/Road of Trials (Journey)
10. Taliyah, the Stoneweaver (League of Legends)
11. Double Dragon Theme/Mission 1 (Double Dragon)
12. Streets of Whiterun (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim)
There are a lot of fan-favorite tracks in that list, they really covered all of their bases. You can also check out The Hit Points’ first music video, for “Ballad of the Goddesses” from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword below.
“Bluegrass was a huge part of our musical upbringings, but we’ve been continually inspired by the music in video games. While playing video games, it’d be common to grab an instrument and play along to the music in games like Castlevania or Pokémon. I suppose combining Bluegrass and videogame music seemed like a natural progression under those circumstances. The instruments used in a traditional bluegrass ensemble are extremely versatile and we wanted to demonstrate that by merging our passion for video game music with those instruments to create a unique project that has never been done before.” ~The Hit Points founders Eli Bishop and Matt Menefee.
You can pick up the album today on Bandcamp, Spotify, or iTunes. And you can check out their official website to learn more about The Hit Points if you are interested.