Discussion Steve Henifin (and other unknown composers) appreciation topic

[7threst]

First of all:

Ever since playing Blood Omen, I was immediately captured by the creepy yet fitting OST. The man who made this was Steve Henifin, who was associated with Silicon Knights his whole career. He doesn't have a huge discography, but what he did is, imo, timeless:

Composer:
X-Men: Destiny (Video Game)
Too Human (Video Game)
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (Video Game)
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (Video Game)
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (Video Game)
Powerslave (Video Game)
Super Caesars Palace (Video Game)

Music department:
Death Stranding (Video Game) (composer: additional music - uncredited)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Video Game) (composer: additional music)
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (Video Game) (music producer)
Gex (Video Game) (composer: additional music)
Off-World Interceptor (Video Game) (composer: additional music)
Cool Spot (Video Game) (composer: wall tune)

Sound department:
Too Human (Video Game) (audio director - as Steven S. Henifin) / (sound director)
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (Video Game) (sound director)
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (Video Game) (sound effects)
Gex (Video Game) (sound effects)
Solar Eclipse (Video Game) (sound designer)
Off-World Interceptor (Video Game) (sound designer)
The Terminator (Video Game) (sound)
RoboCop vs. The Terminator (Video Game) (sampler)
Aladdin (Video Game) (sound effects: digital sampling)
Cool Spot (Video Game) (audio)
Star Control 2 (Video Game) (sound editor)

(Source)

Somehow I feel his music flew under everyone's radar, which is a damn shame if you ask me. Check out this classic from Blood Omen from the moment you leave your tomb:



That's some world building right there! Really, the way he mixes creepy atmospheres and mysteriousness in quite catchy tunes is out of this world.

No Steve Henifin-topic is complete without his classic Eternal Darkness OST:



Share you favourite Steve Henifin tracks please. But also, to make it more interesting, I thought it would be interesting to also share music of other lesser known composers

 

[Krvavi Abadas]

I actually haven't heard much of Steve's work, but there is another composer i could commemorate.
Stan LePard




Outside of his legendary work on the Halo series and the XBLA version of Uno, he also did the soundtrack for Crimson Skies, and it's sequel High Road to Revenge.




Lots of work for Guild Wars II




and he composed the infamous installation theme included with Windows XP, which was originally used for an Internet Starter Kit.

 

[Shadow]

Never thought I'd see a topic about Henifin on here (or anywhere really). The Eternall Darkness is some amazing stuff and I really wish I had that CD. It's so bloody good!

 

[Deleted member 1896]

Ben Houge, the composer behind the soundtrack for Troika's influential RPG Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.
He also contributed to soundtracks for games in the Half-Life series, King's Quest, Gabriel Knight, and more, but I think Arcanum is his best work.



You can read more about it and what makes it so unique here:

Ben Houge, Arcanum Soundtrack

benhouge.com

This quote basically encapsulates my feelings:

"The Arcanum suite, recorded by four exceptional string players from the Seattle Symphony, is sophisticated enough to pass muster on its own as an extended string quartet."​

—Melinda Bargreen, The Seattle Times​

​

Ben Houge - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Shadow]

Anything but a unknown composer, but they've done a total of mere five video game soundtracks, so I'm counting it even if there's an ton of anime, movie, albums and more done. Yuki Kajiura has composed one of my absolute favourite soundtracks ever, even if the game itself is an absolute dumpster fire if you ask me. The soundtrack is a really weird mix of different genres at times and I wouldn't have the slightest clue at times under which I should put it. But man, I absolutely love it and those nonsensical lyrics work wonders!

Main theme:



Chase scene:



Whatever the hell this is supposed to be: