Hey! Listen! Materia Collective’s ‘Hero of Time’ now taking pre-orders

Video game music label Materia Collective have opened pre-order sales for Hero of Time. The 21-track album is based on the beloved The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, brought to life by over 1,000 Kickstarter backers and a 64-piece orchestra. Fans hoping to get their hands on limited edition CD or vinyl formats may want to act now; otherwise, the album is slated to release digitally on 27 March.

“Orchestral recordings of music from The Legend of Zelda have become increasingly popular over the last several years,” noted arranger and project director Eric Buchholz.

“With Hero of Time, we sought to create a single, cohesive experience that weaves all of the complex underlying themes of the game, like impermanence and mortality, with Koji Kondo’s timeless melodies that have become as iconic as the game itself. The orchestration takes an ‘east-meets-west’ approach, with the inclusion of taiko ensembles, eastern woodwinds, and harmonies found prevalent in Japanese film and game scores.”

The album’s track listing is as follows:

01. Hero of Time
02. The Man with Evil Eyes
03. Fateful Morning
04. Hyrule Field
05. Castle Town Market
06. Princess Zelda
07. Lon Lon Ranch
08. Dungeon Dwellers
09. The Legendary Blade
10. Seven Years
11. Sheik
12. Memories of the Forest
13. Feast for the Fire Dragon
14. Dark Waters
15. Village of the Shadows
16. Spirit of the Valley
17. Courage, Wisdom, and Light
18. Ganon’s Tower
19. Great King of Evil
20. The Desecration of Power
21. Epilogue ~ End Credits

You may listen to the first track, “Hero of Time”, on Bandcamp or iTunes right now. It doesn’t disappoint, successfully squirrelling money out of my poor bank account.

Coincidentally, there’s a comment on the Bandcamp page by Josh Whelchel, the composer for Witching Hour Studio’s Masquerada: Songs and Shadows. He writes:

“Materia Collective brings together artists from ALL backgrounds and creates beautiful, diverse productions from our most cherished memories.
HoT is no f@#king exception.”

Hero of Time will be available via the following platforms:

• Bandcamp (Digital – 27 March) & (CD/Limited Edition CD – 24 April)
• Iam8bit (Vinyl – Q2 2017)
• iTunes (Digital – 27 March)
• Spotify (Digital – 27 March)

If you’re looking for other Zelda albums then do try out Theopany’s excellent work on Majora’s Mask.