Jobie's Bite-Sized Music Reviews #47: UNDERTALE Soundtrack (album) - Toby Fox
- arrangednoisefan
- Jul 21, 2022
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 28, 2022
Recommended
UNDERTALE Soundtrack is a 2015 soundtrack album by Toby Fox, a video game developer and composer, widely known as the creator of Undertale, which this album is the soundtrack to. The soundtrack is a mix of chiptune style music (such as “Bonetrousle”), jazz, lounge (for instance, “Hotel”), chipmetal (i.e, “MEGALOVANIA”), and classicalesque music. It includes all of the songs heard in the game*, including lesser known incidental songs found in the game (such as the song “Bird That Carries You Over A Disproportionately Small Gap”). Even these short, incidental pieces sound great, which demonstrates Fox's dedication to creating a great video game soundtrack. Of special note are the various leitmotifs that the soundtrack calls back to throughout the duration of the soundtrack. They are re-iterated on and repurposed throughout the soundtrack. There are several of these leitmotifs (a complete list of which can be readily found online), each of them helping the soundtrack's individual tracks be instantly recognizable; whenever one hears a song from the soundtrack on YouTube, for instance, you can instantly register any given song as from this soundtrack, since these leitmotifs are very memorable and (as mentioned previously) are reprised throughout the entire soundtrack. The soundtrack evokes a variety of feelings: a sense of intrigue, comfort and/or relaxation, feeling triumphant, etc, etc. This ability to evoke a variety of emotions is an indicator of Toby Fox's composing skill. The soundtrack isn't without its shortcomings, however. There are a few pieces that, outside of the context of the game, don't stand on their own (such as “Ooo”). These tracks, compared to the sheer volume of tracks that do stand on their own, are few and far between. Though, the sonic areas that Fox explores with these tracks are quite interesting. Since this album has 101 tracks, and I am allowed to have 33% of a work's tracks as favorites, my list of favorites is much too lengthy to list here. However, I have listed all of my favorites over on Pastebin (Internet Archive Backup). Overall, the Undertale soundtrack is a great soundtrack by Toby Fox. Though not a 100% perfect soundtrack, its wide musical variety, leitmotifs, evocation of various emotions/feelings, and overall memorability, make it a soundtrack that is certainly worth listening to.
*As well as a few tracks that are not used in the game. A few modifications are present on the soundtrack versions of these tracks (mostly minor modifications to the speed of the song).
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