Do Video Games Djent?

The short answer is yes, but you probably have no idea what I’m talking about.

Now, you may be wondering “what is djent?” Well, let me break it down for you. Djent is a style of metal music pioneered by bands like Meshuggah and Periphery and the word itself is actually an onomatopoeia for the high-gain, palm muted, low-pitch guitar sound those bands and their contemporaries employ, typically using seven, eight, or even nine string guitars.

Getting to the point, there’s a running joke in the djent community where people ask “does it djent?” of everything from guitars to cellos to anything really, even if it isn’t even an instrument. So, your next question is probably “what the heck does this have to do with video games?” Well, video games have music, don’t they? So, today I ask the question of video games. Like I said, video games do, in fact, djent.

In recent memory, a few games stick out for having some djent tunes on their soundtracks. Most prominent, of course, is Id Software’s 2016 entry in the DOOM series. Composer Mick Gordon threw together some tasty eight string djenty guitar riffs with all kinds of electronic synths to produce the heaviest, and arguably best, video game soundtrack of the year. With crushing tunes like “Rip & Tear” and “BFG Division,” this soundtrack perfectly scores players’ one-man assault on the forces of hell.

Then we have Halo 2 Anniversary, which was part of the 2014 Master Chief Collection. The original Halo 2 soundtrack featured the songs “Follow” and “Blow Me Away,” by Incubus and Breaking Benjamin respectively, written by the bands specifically for the game, but for the HD remaster, which featured a completely redone soundtrack, they were replaced with the super-heavy djent jams “Follow in Flight” and “Breaking the Covenant,” composed by Periphery guitarist Misha Mansoor. While I’d argue that neither song fits as well as the tunes they replaced in the parts of the game where they are featured, both of them stand strong on their own.

Speaking of Misha Mansoor, the Periphery axeman also recorded a cover of the Sepiks Prime theme from Destiny in 2015, which was originally just a fan cover. However, his cover is now an official part of the soundtrack as it is now included in the game’s Rise of Iron expansion. It’s not as djenty as a lot of his other works, but I still thought it was worth a mention.

That’s a good place to transition to some other fantastic djent covers of video game music out there, since djenty video game soundtracks are few and far between. My favorite has to be this cover of the Regi battle theme from Pokemon RSE by vgm cover artist SixteenInMono.

Then there’s this awesome Ocarina of Time battle theme by CSGuitar89.

And this cover of “Heartache” from Undertale by LittleVMills.

Moving on from vgm cover artists, here’s a djent medley of some Super Mario Bros. songs from YouTube guitarist/comedian SteveTerreberry.

There are probably many more out there since there are tons of vgm cover artists on the Internet, but these are a few of my favorites. Hopefully you enjoyed some of these tunes, and maybe even discovered a new genre of music you enjoy! If you didn’t, that’s okay too. If there is some video game djent you think I missed by sure to share in the comments!

DisturbedShadow is a fan of video games and heavy metal music. You can follow him on Twitter @DisturbedShad0w.