Music

Exclusive Interview with The Arkadian Ahead of RetroGameCon in Syracuse

Interview graphic featuring The Arkadian.

The Arkadian was born in 2015 as the brainchild of Jon O’Neal, a musician with a passion for both heavy rock and the timeless soundtracks of video games. Influenced by artists like Stemage, Viking Guitar, Mega Beardo, and Master Sword, he began crafting arrangements that fused 70s and 80s-inspired metal with the melodies gamers grew up with. What started as solo experiments in a basement studio quickly grew into something …

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VomitroN Interview: NES Metal Covers, Gaming Roots, and the Future of 8-Bit Metal

When it comes to fusing heavy metal with the 8-bit sounds of classic gaming, few names resonate louder than VomitroN. The project is the brainchild a Massachusetts-based musician, producer, and lifelong gamer whose work has turned the nostalgic bleeps of the Nintendo Entertainment System into sprawling metal epics. What started as an experiment in the late nineties while playing Contra in a college dorm became a full-blown passion project, and …

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Exclusive Interview with FamilyJules: Video Game Metal, YouTube Journey, and Gaming Soundtracks

Interview featuring musician Family Jules with guitars.

There are guitarists who cover video game music and then there is FamilyJules. For more than fifteen years Jules Conroy has taken the melodies that defined childhoods and pushed them through soaring leads, relentless rhythms, and full scale metal productions that feel as big as any arena show. His journey started in western Massachusetts where he first picked up a guitar after years of dabbling in piano and drums. What …

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The Two Greatest Retro Video Game Soundtracks Ever: Castlevania Symphony of the Night and Final Fantasy VII

For those of us who grew up in the late 1990s, video games were more than just a pastime. They were entire worlds that we could lose ourselves in after long school days or weekend sleepovers. The soundtracks of these games did more than fill silence. They became the background music of our youth. Every time we booted up a game, the music etched itself into our memories, attaching itself …

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