I’ve never listened to a soundtrack from a mobile game. Not outside of playing it anyway. I mean, I have enjoyed the music in games like Dragalia Lost and Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. But I have never bothered to download an album for one of them. Guess I’m just old-fashioned like that. So when I saw a press release for a tribute album to Card of Darkness, I was intrigued. It’s an Apple Arcade game that was released earlier this year. And since I’m an android kind of guy, I have never even heard of it before today.
So imagine my surprise when I see that the original soundtrack for Card of Darkness was created by Stemage. That’s a name with some weight. His credits include work on the Steven Universe soundtrack, multiple video game remix albums, and live-work at events like MAGfest. So the original compositions for Card of Darkness were put together by some real talent.
Then I saw the contributors on the remix album. Takahiro Izutani, Tee Lopes, Keiji Yamagishi, Saori Kobayashi, and the list keeps going. It’s rare to see this much clout on a game’s original soundtrack, much less a tribute album. I have no idea the maneuvering required to get this group of people on one project. But it’s incredible. You can check out a quote from the album’s creative director below.
“This album was a pure joy to handle because the whole thing was wrapped up in a little over a month, and I usually take a year or two to finish a music album. I’ve been a huge fan of Stemage’s work on Metroid Metal for over a decade and I couldn’t be happier with how our tribute album for him turned out. Thanks to the exceptional musicians that we work with, this album is a testament to Brave Wave’s ability for producing remix albums in a unique and timely fashion.” – Brave Wave Creative Director Mohammed Taher.
If you’re interested in Card of Darkness: The Remixes, you can find it for purchase here. It’s priced at $7, which is a steal for a 13-track album with these names attached to it.