Dan Forden: Mortal Kombat I & II Soundtrack (Colored Vinyl) Vinyl LP

A-B-A-C-A-B-B. This is an essential  pick up if you, like me, lived and breathed Mortal Kombat in the early 90s. Like the generation before us who rebelled against their parents by listening to Guns ’N Roses (ugh), living on the edge in 1992-3 meant locking your bedroom door and hitting up the blood code. MK2 rolled out a couple years later w/ better graphics, better cheats and more colorful characters (my first crush was Mileena; second crush: Kitana). If you’re keeping up, then a lot of this game’s BGM is probably still rattling around in the rotted corners of your brain. In retrospect, knowing what bad video game music sounds like (and what real music sounds like), Dan Forden’s imaginative Mortal Kombat score holds up nicely; simultaneously eastern, medieval and futuristic, with sound design that any FM synth lover will appreciate. Some of these joints (“The Armory,” “The Dead Pool”) sound like they could have come straight from the last Oneohtrix Point Never record. Pressed on ‘reptile acid’ colored vinyl, limited to 700 copies. Worth pointing out the preservation of the original game’s graphics for the album packaging - where most reissue labels would conjure up some annoying reimagining of the game’s aesthetics, here you have untouched graphics yanked straight from the game. Back cover features the character select screen from MK2; open the gatefold and it’s a screengrab of Baraka lacing Reptile with a fatality. Flawless victory!

• 'reptile acid' colored vinyl
• includes music from Mortal Kombat (1992) and Mortal Kombat II (1993)
• housed in gatefold sleeve
• digital download included
• limited to 700 copies
• music label: Enjoy The Ride Records 2019

reviewed by D.U.L.L.A.R.D. 04/2019