There’s no dancing around the fact that horror fans everywhere felt a twinge of excitement when the Slitterhead world premiere trailer started and the first thing we see is “Creative Director Keiichiro Toyama.” This immediate reveal that we are about to witness the next title from the creator of the Silent Hill series was enough to build up its own hype. And then, at the end of the trailer, the second name is revealed to show that the music is being designed by none other than Akira Yamaoka. From my personal point-of-view, as a long-time fan of the franchise, it felt like the horror fan’s dream team was back together again!
The above video is a self-interview from Bokeh Game Studio featuring their returning composer Yamaoka. There he talks about his past work with Toyama on Silent Hill and divulges into his process for creating music for the games he works on. It is really interesting that his process is so unconstructed and seems to be based on guessing until he finds what he likes. Of course, he explains it better, but I was just expecting a more direct approach given his music touch to games always comes out so fitting and memorable. His final quote really says it all too, “It’s not a meal that looks hard to eat at first sight, it looks easy to eat, then you get a bite of this very spicy seed. In the end, it’s the spice that makes the meal taste good and memorable.”
For many, the reveal of Slitterhead is also the reveal of Toyama’s own game development studio. It’s a bit of a shame because they have been providing some of these self-interview style videos so far and the one featuring the creative director legend himself is interesting as well. That said, I had to include his interview here for fans to watch as well because it is worth the time to get a small insight into these two men’s backstories and thought processes. Enjoy!
