Crystal Flash EP & Harmony of a Hunter: Metroid 25th Anniversary Albums

Nintendo may not have done anything about Metroid's 25th anniversary, but that certainly didn't stop the fans from celebrating. From video tributes, artwork to arrange albums, fans were busy showing their love and appreciation for Samus and pals throughout 2011. I'm late, but I'm finally doing my part. I just heard about these two albums so that's why I'm posting about them now.

Crystal Flash EP, is a six track digital album arranged by Theopany. The album contains arrangements from Super Metroid, Metroid Prime and Metroid: Other M. This album marked the first time I'd ever been exposed to Theopany's work and I must say, it's very impressive. Despite containing only six tracks, Crystal Flash EP has high production values. It echos the spirit of Metroid music and if you're looking for something that's on par with Stemage's extraordinary Metal Metal albums minus the metal, Crystal Flash EP is outstanding. It's short, but very, very sweet. And unlike Metroid Metal, it won't cost you a dime to listen to as Theopany is giving it away for free. It's a great addition for any Metroid fan and a splendid way to celebrate the series 25th anniversary.

But wait, there's more!

Similar to Crystal Flash EP, Harmony of a Hunter is also a digital album, but much larger in size, spanning two discs with a total of 36 tracks. This 25th anniversary Metroid album covers music from nearly every game in the Metroid saga (Metroid Prime Pinball didn't get any love), which is quite an achievement in and of itself.


"Harmony of a Hunter is an album created to mark the twenty fifth anniversary of the Metroid franchise. A vast number of people contributed to this project to celebrate and mark this historic franchise, which includes music from the original NES Metroid through Metroid: Other M for the Nintendo Wii. The album features a diverse range of talented individuals covering a variety of genres which we hope will appeal to many musical tastes."

"We hope that Harmony of a Hunter will be a fitting tribute to this wonderful series."

And a fitting tribute it is. No matter your proffered style of music, I'm positive that there's something for you in this incredible album. From rock, jazz, chiptune, this baby has it all. As someone who has logged only a few hours into the first Metroid Prime, I was pleased to find that I could recognize some of the songs presented here. Although I haven't played through the Prime Trilogy or Metroid: Other M, I still greatly enjoyed the arranged music from those games in this album.

The amount of talent that hoped on board this project to help celebrate Samus' 25th birthday is staggering. Regular remixers from the OverClocked Remix community have contributed like zicron with the excellent Ashes to Ashes along with C-GPO on Solitude. Sam Dillard who did The Crimson Depths, and Mission Complete: Ending Suite. Stemage chipped in as well with as Theopany. The Video Game Music Choir even gave us a superb a Capella medley with Phazon Corruption. Harmony of a Hunter is another fine entry in what is shaping up to be an impressive line of Metroid fan albums.

Metroid hit the Famicom Disk System in Japan on August 6, 1986. Both Harmony of a Hunter and Crystal Flash EP released on August 7, 2011, one day after the series 25th anniversary. When Nintendo did absolutely nothing to celebrate, fans stepped in, releasing two outstanding albums. I'd like to thank them for making the 25th anniversary of Metroid one to remember.

Crystal Flash EP

Harmony of a Hunter