The late-90’s and early 2000’s saw a significant rise in the niche genre dubbed “Nintendocore,” a musical hybrid of hardcore, metal and chip music. The combination of those styles felt as magical as that of peanut butter and chocolate. For a brief time bands like Horse The Band and iamerror ushered in a new era of heavy music fueled by experimentation and the internet culture. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when that ship sank, but I personally feel that the sound quickly stagnated with the lack of true progression. You can go but so far churning out MIDI loops over Grindcore riffs. The VGM scene has found much steadier footing in the past few years, embracing various genres like Hip-Hop, Folk and Metal. Mega Beardo (the moniker of Descension Rate lead guitarist Ryan Postlethwait) is no stranger to videogame covers, having already released works inspired by Mega Man 2 and Castlevania, Postlethwait has once again put his mark on the scene by descending onto the Land of Hyrule with unprecedented levels of brutality on the Ledjent of Zelda EP.
Inspired by the original version of the iconic adventure game, Postlethwait delivers a punishing yet surprisingly melodic tribute. For the record, the EP’s title is not a typo, but rather a clever play on words. Ledjent of Zelda pays homage to Sweedish extreme metal pioneers Meshuggah, who are credited in popularizing the palm-muting guitar technique known as “Djent.” The Meshuggah references don’t end there as the tracklisting drops numerous winking nods: “Triforcesphere” (a reference to the 1998 album Chaosphere) and “The obzEnd” (inspired by the 2008 album obZen). Rather than run through the themes in a standard cover song fashion, Postlethwait selects multiple samples from each theme and converts them into compositions that sound more organic and natural. Further adding to the appreciation for the source material there’s several bits of fan service peppered throughout the album, including the “item” sound effect in one of the breakdowns in “Triforcesphere.” These fan service moments are kept to a pleasant minimum, which reduces chances of cheap pandering to fans.
The original dungeon theme had a funny way of instilling a sense of fear and dread, even when all you were doing was swinging a sword at 8-Bit skeletons. Playing the game in complete darkness only amplified those feelings for me. “Labyrinth of Fragmented Wisdom” preys on these fears with amazing fretwork and brilliant drumming that often channels former Dream Theater prodigy Mike Portnoy. The drum loops during the bridge provide a nice break from the breakneck riffing. The original song isn’t the most musically varied piece and the track suffers a bit with small stints of repetitiveness, but the final breakdown more than compensates for the oversight.
It’s no surprise that the strongest track on the EP is “Ganon Lives!” Postlethwait pulls out all the stops and courts headbangers with a brutal tribute to the King of Thieves. Where “Triforcesphere” soared with triumphant solos, “Ganon Lives” delves into the depths of the Dark World with down-tuned guitars and melodies drenched in desolation. “The obzEnd,” which pulls its inspiration from the “Game Over” melody, is the EP’s one misstep, but excels when it doesn’t closely adhere to the source material. This is no fault of performer per say, as the song doesn’t quite lend itself to a metal makeover. By the 2:15 mark things take shape and those amazing solos are once again placed at the forefront.
While I’ve heard countless metal covers of The Legend of Zelda, I admit that none of them have matched the originality and precision of this EP. I can only hope that a follow-up EP will be produced in the future. The “Song of Storms” would go hard in the pit.
Rating: B
Top Pick(s): “Ganon Lives,” “Triforcesphere”
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