Like most other Supergiant Games, Hades' soundtrack is superb. All of it is courtesy of Darren Korb, Supergiant's main composer, and he also provides Orpheus' singing voice for some tracks (as well as voicing the main character Zagreus himself).
Hades
- "Out of Tartarus"
is the perfect track for waging war in the underworld. Guitar riffs worthy of the god of war's cause? Check. Haunting chords and irregular time signatures fit for the land of the dead? Check. Tempo that matches a Supergiant Game's pace? Triple check! - "Through Asphodel" is a tense track for the hellscape you traverse, with distant drums reminiscent of Diablo building towards a guitar strum that steadily gets heavier, culminating in an intense head-banging riff.
- As you ascend Tartarus and approach Megaera (or one of her sisters), "Scourge of the Furies" builds a tense atmosphere with ominous synths and Middle Eastern/Mediterranean textures. Then the actual boss battle begins, an epic riff kicks in, and you'll be head-banging to the beat — even when you're killed again and again.
- Traversing Elysium, in some rooms you will hear "The King and the Bull", which is rather mellow during usual encounters, but ramps up to full intensity when you face Theseus and Asterius, going hard and heavy with guitars and drums, with its E1M1 inspiration coming to the front, fittingly for a game where you travel through Hell.
- "Final Expense (Payback Mix)", an almost dubstep-esque remix of Charon's shop music, gives players a fun duality to compound their impending regret. The sedate harpsichord melody is still there, making it clear Zagreus is still in the ferryman's domain... but the drums and low, angry droning waveform bassline make it equally clear that, by stealing that sack of Obols, you've royally pissed off a Chthonic deity; one who's about to show you what else he can do with an oar and the souls of the damned.
- "God of the Dead", the theme of the Final Boss. Besides being a remix of the main theme to highlight the similarities between Zagreus and the boss, it also has a low undercut of an electric guitar to highlight the rush of battle. That is, until the boss Turns Red, at which point the music cranks itself up into a full-on heavy metal brawling piece that wouldn't be out of place in Devil May Cry. It fits how much harder the battle becomes, matches the intensity of the fight, and signals that this is the final test. And if that's somehow not metal enough, there's "The Unseen Ones", which plays during the third and final phase of the boss, assuming you bought the "upgrade" to turn Extreme Measures up as high as it will go on the Pact of Punishment. Take "God of the Dead", have Masahiro Aoki and Daisuke "96" Kurosawa crank the guitars up to 11, and you've got a pretty good idea of the musical treat you're in for.
- Eurydice's leitmotif "Good Riddance" is a simple yet haunting piece that perfectly encapsulates her outlook on (the after)life. When you complete Orpheus's Favor and have the pair reunite in Asphodel, the song transforms into an absolute tearjerker of a duet.
- "In The Blood" serves as the game's requisite Award-Bait Song, and it's a hell of a way to close out the main story. Ashley Barret and Darren Korb's vocals soar over an epic orchestral-rock soundscape that seamlessly combines leitmotifs from across your entire journey into a gorgeous whole. And to top it all off, it's arranged and orchestrated by none other than Austin Wintory! An extra point of awesome for Darren Korb: if you listen closely to Zagreus' speaking voice and Orpheus' singing voice, not only does Korb nail Orpheus' accent/intonation, it seems like he's singing, if not in falsetto, at least much higher than his normal pitch. And it still sounds fantastic!
- As befitting his reputation as the greatest musician to ever live, all of Orpheus's songs are spectacular:
- "Lament of Orpheus" retells the original Greek myth by way of an ethereal falsetto performance that will give you chills. The Underworld Mix with additional percussion and uncredited backup vocals from Ashley Barrett is equally fantastic.
- If you get closer to Dionysus by giving him nectar, he suggests playing a harmless prank on Orpheus, by telling him that Zagreus and Dionysus are the same person, along with other absurdities like Zagreus' body being split by the Titans. Setting aside the fact those absurdities are cornerstones of Orphism, the "Hymn to Zagreus" that Orpheus composes to honor him is genuinely great. It makes the fact he took their absurd stories seriously even funnier.
- "Lament of Orpheus"
- "The Bloodless" is the leitmotif for the Barge of Death Mini-Boss encounter in Asphodel. It's an extremely tense piece of electric guitar and bouzouki rock music that plays to the situation of being trapped in a tiny arena with repeating waves of enemies.
- "On The Coast" plays after defeating Hades and finally arriving in Greece after many, many attempts and deaths. It begins slowly, building to a dramatic climax, then descends until the last thirty-five seconds, where the song takes on an immensely bittersweet tone, coinciding with Zagreus dying in front of his mother, slowly collapsing to his knees before the Styx takes him again, all while this pleasant, verdant music plays. It truly encapsulates feelings of hope and sadness, perfectly reflecting how short Zageus' time with Persephone on the surface is and the lengths he will go to see her. It also includes the first wind instruments heard on the game soundtrack, subtly underscoring the difference between the dead and the living: Shades do not breathe, and so cannot play instruments requiring breath.
Hades II
In grand Supergiant tradition, the soundtrack for Hades II has its fair share of absolute bangers.- Scylla and her Sirens treat us to "Coral Crown", an up-tempo rock tune in the vein of the Hex Girls, during their boss battle at the end of Oceanus. Getting your ass kicked all the way back to the Crossroads has never sounded so good.
- After you beat Scylla and the Sirens for the first time, they replace their song with "I Am Gonna Claw (Out Your Eyes Then Drown You To Death)", a high-intensity Diss Track for Melinoë listing all the ways Scylla will kill her brutally.
- "Song of the Sirens" from Oceanus is just as haunting and seductive as the title suggests: an ethereal lullabay calling the listener to be at peace and rest... on the ocean floor along with the singer. It's the main background track of the area, slowly getting louder as you get closer to the boss, and, in an accidental case of The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You, it's perfectly capable of distracting the player to a lethal effect.
- "Death to Chronos", the main theme, takes the original game's main theme and remixes it in 7/4. The result is an opening theme that captures how strange trying to fight Time itself is.
- "The Titan of Time" is the final battle theme of - you guessed it - Chronos himself, and is as catchy as it is empowering. The track follows both phases of the fight, and all throughout, the melody that plays at every loss is used. The first phase incorporates breakcore and ticking clocks into an electronic and pulse-pounding rendition of the main theme that jumps between time signatures with gratuitous abandon - quite fitting for the Titan. The second phase is slower but no less blood-pumping as Chronos begins to take Melinoë more seriously, with powerful Diablo-esque drums bringing a more menacing twist on the main theme than before - even including hints of the Egyptian inspirations for his design in the tune while still keeping those electronic undertones.
- "Sightless Shepherd", theme of the City of Ephyra, is nothing special, until you get to the boss fight (starts at 3:28 in the linked upload), where it picks up with a combination of intense rock and a pounding electronic beat. Things only get better when the boss' health gets low and Sam Gendel's saxophone jams join the mix.
- "The Risen Fleet", one of the themes of the Rift of Thessaly, begins as a slow piece with pounding marching drums and tense Mediterranean strings mixing with eerie electronic instrumentation to set the tone for the level as Melinoë fights her way through gloomy haunted ships crossing a dark sea. Once it reaches the boss however (5:27 in the linked video), it picks up the pace and adds shredding electric guitars to create an intense, heart-pounding beat perfect for the chaotic battle with Eris.
