A Review of the Album ``Hunter: Brotherhood Original Soundtrack'' by MASKED

Under review is another album of music I've liked, available for listening and purchase on Bandcamp:
https://maskedsynthwave.bandcamp.com/album/hunter-brotherhood-original-soundtrack

Unusually, this is one of this band's newer albums, but I chose to review it first because it stands
out in my mind more easily than the others.  I only noticed upon writing this review how this serves
as a soundtrack for some video game modification; I'm most accustomed to such notices being in jest.

The album entries follow ordered by my preference, their names, their durations, and album ordering:

  Aggression (feat. HUBRID) [Fracticide Mix] 04:20 13
=                              Lock And Load 04:40 07
>                    Story Of My Life (Dark) 02:35 10
=                                Still Alive 02:20 01
=                 Story Of My Life (Hopeful) 02:18 11
>                          Just A Reflection 01:47 03
>                           Numb N' Bleeding 03:19 05
=                               Crying Blood 03:03 06
>                                Hello Again 04:37 12
>                     Story Of My Life (Sad) 01:43 09
>                                  Unfocused 02:24 02
=                                   Mindless 01:15 04
>                              Small Village 03:04 08

The first track opens slowly with a stringed instrument before adding very nice drums to the melody,
and maintains this for nearly a minute before changing with another addition.  The last third of the
song finishes the ramping up of complexity, and is the most pleasant section of the song.  It slowly
dies out near the end.  I usually listen to this song first, at every listening, and rarely skip it.

The second track keeps a simple, soft beat throughout, adding only mild variations as it progresses.
It's suitable for distracted listening, because it very easily fades into background noise, and also
made me understand just how appropriate its name is, but the track is otherwise rather unremarkable.

The third track is among my favourites in the album, from the very moment it begins; its first third
is simple but pleasant, and the second third is only slightly more complex.  Upon review, however, I
noticed it to be a much simpler track than I recalled, comparable in complexity to the second track,
and yet much more enjoyable despite such similarities.  I suppose the ever-higher melody without any
conclusion to be simply more pleasant to hear than something very appropriately named ``Unfocused''.

The fourth track is simple and foreboding.  As the shortest track, there's little to write about it.

The fifth track portrays disorientation well with its choice of instruments and features a melody of
sirens sounding back and forth.  I'm once again shocked with how simple this song is, compared to my
memory of it.  It's another track that's mostly similar throughout, and not one particularly complex
at that; the sirens only stop to give a brief reprieve in the middle of the song before returning as
before.  It well gets across its title, and gives off the feeling of a city alleyway alongside rain.

The sixth track is similar to the third, in that it starts off very strong with a pleasant choice of
instruments and the like.  Before the first third is finished, the song has gained a good a chunk of
complexity with added instruments.  The inclusion of a percussion instrument halfway through makes a
nice song nicer, but I struggle to remark on the track much more.  It only dies out at the very end.

The seventh track is a more typical kind of song, with better-defined sections, appropriate for this
album's longest track.  I like how it uses a very gentle instrument before moving on to stronger.  I
believe it has more instrument variety than most of the other tracks.  The tune repeatedly appearing
in this song in different forms with different instruments is just delightful to hear, especially by
the instrument choice with its second coming, almost but not quite some siren-like sound.  Listening
repeatedly revealed how the song is more repetitive than I first thought, but the variation hides it
so very well, and this improves rather than detracts from it, unlike with this album's other tracks.

The eighth track is slow and gentle, with an instrument selection reflecting as much; a drum is only
introduced after the first third is nearly finished; the song picks up speed and complexity upon the
midway time; and it has a pleasant, predictable ending.  This track is the black sheep of the album.

The ninth, tenth, and eleventh tracks are variants on each other, opening pleasantly and identically
with a simple tune.  It occurs to me only now that they very likely represent different game endings
based on how it was played.  It's interesting how the first two seamlessly blend into the next, when
heard in-order.  The first of the trio is by far the simplest, with new instruments added later than
the other two, and far fewer; it never picks up in tempo and is appropriately melancholy throughout.
The second of the trio adds complexity within the first twenty seconds, and adds instruments which I
associate with the band's other works; its tempo also never changes.  The third and last of the trio
is the only one which gets faster in any way, although it slows down soon thereafter.  It seems fair
to write that each of these tracks builds on that preceding it; they're still nice to hear in-order.

The twelfth track is yet another that largely stays the same throughout its run.  It heavily reminds
me of the third track, with an ever-higher melody that never completes, although they strictly sound
alike not.  This track is slower with simpler instruments, and most of them leave for a brief bit in
the middle, before more appear as the others return.  This is yet another track difficult to review.

The thirteenth and ultimate track starts off strong and fast to stay that way.  Like the seventh, it
has well-defined sections in comparison to the others and, also similarly, it's more repetitive than
it at first seems, although perhaps less so.  It also features a nice little tune throughout its run
that disappears and reappears, albeit without the variation in the seventh, instead always using the
same main instruments.  This may be my favourite track in the entire album, although it's best heard
during a normal play of the album as opposed to alone.  This track also takes a break nearly halfway
through its run, before resuming much the same.  This track is also hard to describe, but nicely so.

I was surprised with the simplicity of this album, once I gave it a critical ear.  Most of the songs
are simple and repetitive, which is usual for video game soundtracks, but I never noticed this while
merely listening to the album for enjoyment.  Despite the similar themes, each track has enough of a
personality to clearly distinguish itself from the rest, and the best very easily outweigh the good.