VGBA 5 - Unavenged

Random Encounter - Unavenged

Video Game Rock! Now featuring an accordion~

Band - Random Encounter
Sites - Home. Facebook. Bandcamp.
Type of Album - Video Game Covers and Remixes.
Genres - Video Game Rock, Alternative Rock.
Favorite Song/Songs - Gerudo Valley.

Review - Today, I bring you another awesome Video Game Rock band. Their name...is Random Encounter! (Obviously) They're musical styling is video game music merged with alternative rock. Although honestly, the only thing really alternative about this band (to me) is the accordion.

That's right! Random Encounter makes use of an accordion in many of their songs. For a video game band? It's a pretty good and interesting twist to have in it. It really works well with several of the songs covered too. I'd say easily one of the best parts of the entire album is during the Legend of Zelda medley. Around the 1:45 minute part (handy link), they start into Song of Storms! WHICH IS BASICALLY MADE FOR AN ACCORDION! SO YEAH!

On the negative side, I can imagine many people will be almost immediately turned off by the idea of an accordion. It's a cool idea, but I have a feeling that some people would just scoff at it or find it weird. All in all, I say it really works for them. However, there were a few times where I felt the accordion was either overly present in the songs, and then they flip around and completely drop the accordion out of other songs. I realize it's to fit the situation/song, but it needs to be spread around better if you ask me. Not a huge complaint mind you, but it's something to keep in mind.

For a video game music band, they've got a good variety about them. They cover songs from Final Fantasy and Legend of Zelda (generally common) to less common songs from titles like Metroid and F-Zero. (Being fair, these are still common-ish, but not nearly as much as the former two.) And unlike most, they HAVEN'T done the Mega Man 2 Wily Theme! (Listen to it here. And I love this theme much like everybody else, but all the bands cover it.... All of them.) Now that I've said it though, they'll probably do it...

Regardless, all of the video game covers they do are generally well done! They play it fairly safe compared to others, but safety isn't a bad thing with this kind of music. If you drift too far from the source, you end up with something that's either 1. a new song OR 2. a bad cover/remix. The only cover I could truly complain about is the "Introduction" from FFVI. It's not a complaint about the cover but about the song itself. It might be on purpose, but the accordion sounds waaay too loud near the beginning. If just a smidge quieter, it'd be almost perfect. JUST SAYIN'

On top of all this, there's a few original pieces that are inspired by video games in general. I can identify several of the video game songs, and I believe the original pieces are supposed to be: Unavenged, the song in Russian, Miss You, What's Up People, and Boletarian Syndrome. Although Mother's Brain is pretty Metroid heavy, I think it's also supposed to be original. Either way, I didn't like the original pieces nearly as much as their video game covers. That's not to say they aren't good, but they didn't really stand out to me as much.

Overall, Random Encounter is a great band! They have a lot of variety compared to your average Video Game Band, and I'd give them a lot for that. Their accordion inclusion brings something not seen (as far as I know) among most of the bands, but it tends to get under/over played. Their original pieces are neat, but I don't like them nearly as much as their video game covers. I'm going to say 4 out of 5!

Pros - ACCORDION! A great value for the price. Incredibly variety compared to most video game bands. Some random yet awesome video game inspired music. Good video game covers in general.
Cons - A couple of their tracks suffer from LOUDNESS. ACCORDION! For those looking for pure "Video game music covers", you'll have to look elsewhere. Video game covers tend to play it safe though.
Rating - 4 out of 5.



Side Note - Be sure to check out their Kickstarter for their new album here. --> LINK

Side Side Note - I'll try to include more links in future reviews so I can give a better idea of what I mean at times. I'm making no promises though...

Side Note 3: Return of Side Side Note - I know what you are thinking... I've given almost every album that score since I started. I just can't see it in myself to give these lower than a 4, but very few of them reach high enough to earn a 5. That... and it's hard to force myself to review a bad album. I'll work through a few more backlogged albums, and then I'll look to review something new from scratch.

~May the Crystals Guide Me~