I haven’t heard the track in-game yet, but I think it would be very misplaced if it was mixed in with all the other tracks.įrom the moment the Nether was introduced to Minecraft a few years back, I have felt the dark fortresses and lakes of lava deserved a more sinister sound-scape. By the half-way point, the music takes a huge departure from what I generally considered to be Minecraft music, by becoming almost epic in style. As is the style of C418, the track changes pace at 3:05 with a more upbeat yet still film-like quality. Fragments from the Volume Alpha album (hence the name) come in and out, and the track as a whole climaxes in a very cinematic way. It starts out as very Minecraftian, with a simple piano melody that echoes in from the distance before slowly being fleshed out. Having played the game with the new music, and listening to the new soundtrack, I’m not convinced that Minecraft – Volume Beta is a worthy addition. True, the game is constantly updated and changed, but the visual essence and play style still remains. Adding new tracks, in my mind, runs the risk of changing the style of the game, a game I have come to love as it is. This time around I had difficulty accepting a new soundtrack into a game whose music made up such an integral part of my playing experience. With my last review I had difficulty separating my affection for the game from the music. Minecraft has had the same music for most of the game’s lifespan, and only recently has C418 (Daniel Rosenfeld) added more music to the game, to flesh out the somewhat limited array of tracks used before. It’s an unusual soundtrack filled with quirky instrumentation, melodies, and harmonies that, I felt, was instrumental to the unique style of the game.

If you have read my review of Minecraft – Volume Alpha, click here if you haven’t, then you will know that I liked it a lot.

Minecraft volume beta