Return to the Wild

Thank you Scarlett Moon Promotions for sending us this album to review!

I am a long-time fan of The Legend of Zelda, since the NES gold cartridge days, and I did enjoy (and review!) The Breath of the Wild. I also enjoy some hard rock; one of my favorite genres of music is progressive and instrumental rock, like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Dream Theater, and Yes. So, when I was offered the chance to review this album, I instantly jumped at the chance!

In 2017, Ro Panuganti released one of his first game-related albums on Bandcamp, called "The Wild". While I can only guess how popular it was, it did catch the attention of the indie label Materia Collective. Now, with the release of Tears of the Kingdom, he released this spiritual sequel, "Return to the Wild".

Compared to the five tracks on the original 'The Wild' EP, this is a full CD-sized release, with nearly fifty minutes of music. Five of the tracks are remixes of the originals, while the nine others are all new, making this album fourteen tracks. All tracks are hard/progressive rock, and prominently feature excellent guitar playing along with percussion and other accompaniments. Below is a track list with my thoughts as I listened to each one:

Awaken - Nice piano intro with electric guitar and synthesizer melody, heavy drum beats, short start to the album, and sets the tone

Guardian - Strong Guardian theme via guitar plucking, battle notes have strong emphasis, then fades to background as heavier riffs come forward; melodies come and go, always lots of tension and shifting time signatures keeping the listener on edge; some saxophone later; mellow, acoustic ending

Riding Day - Piano to start, with signature tune for the outdoors that strongly points back to the game; calming with violins in the background and occasional guitar riffs; short

Hinox - Higher energy track, with heavy percussion and a strong guitar lead with synthesizers; very tense as battle music should be; also has alternating time signatures; some wood flute mid song before returning to heavy riffs; occasional jungle-like sounds, ends with harmonica and sounds of footprints

Kass - Heavy tones with a clear, strong melody with mostly guitar

Gerudo Town - Jam heavy, with a strong lead melody; lots of guitar and percussion; longer

Tarrey Town - More mellow, starts with piano and ocarina; jazzy presentation with calming lead guitar with ocarina given a prominent place in the melody; some country-ish tunes near the end

Zora - Lower distortion electric guitar with harmonics and prominent piano; relatively calm with a strong melody; mellow and enjoyable song overall with a strong lead guitar presence over piano

Korok Forest - Strong bass lines with a prominent violin, and acoustic guitar; very different presentation than many of the other tracks; very enjoyable for a jazz lover like me; lots of echo effects

Shrine - One of the most recognizable songs on the whole album for players of the game; starts acapella with stereo effects simulating the starting shrine jingle, and moves to low distortion electric guitar; moves into a harder sound, with more guitar distortion

Molduga - Starts with strong percussion, and jams into one of the heaviest songs in the album with strong rhythms and a heavy jam, with a melody driven by less distorted guitars; several time signature changes; this one is very metal

Rito - Begins with distortion and piano, recalling the theme of the area, and much more mellow than the previous song; nice low-distortion guitar with a strong melody; ends with a loud, hawk-like sound

Hyrule Castle - Starts with a bold announcer pronouncing doom; goes into a strong distorted guitar melody with heavy percussion, with some piano backing; later in the song, some great bass lines and harder riffs with the classic Zelda themes

Sheikah Tower - Begins with some echoing piano and guitar; a very atmospheric, mellow ending to the album

I feel like this album is best played in order and enjoyed as an album, as several of the song transitions are clearly meant to be from one to the next. I would say this does mean that it's a bit less ideal in a shuffle format, though you can certainly enjoy the tracks in that way, even if a few end a bit oddly.

Return to the Wild is a jam-packed album that I highly recommend to fans of Zelda music who also enjoy harder rock. I really enjoyed this album a lot; it is one of the best indie game-themed albums I've heard in a while.