“Smell of the Game” is the opening theme for the fighting game Guilty Gear -Strive-, with Daisuke Ishiwatari being the producer of the game and the composer of the song, and Naoki Hashimoto of the band Outrage as the vocalist. The song is a mix of hard rock and heavy metal and was fully released to promote the game on November 5th, 2019. The Guilty Gear games, like the music, contain many rock and metal elements that are seen in the sharp UI, elaborate character design, and even the gameplay with its massively over-the-top attacks.
By their nature, the dual genres of “Smell of the Game” already make the song wild, under my definition of wild things being exciting or exhilarating. Death metal growls accompany guitars and drums, creating a sense of thrilling energy as the song progresses. Delving deeper by examining the lyrics, the song first talks about the speaker’s bestial nature with “long fangs” & “nails sharper than ice” This and a later lyric which speaks of being “trapped in a dark cell created by this world” conjures the definition of wild as the savage beast who must be contained as well as an acceptance of the speaker’s own status as the beast. The speaker is repetitively told to acknowledge “that is who you are”, and that “norms, standards, rules, and guidelines must be kept” but ultimately rejects these statements by calling them “bullshit.” Though still a beast, the speaker breaks their chains and fights back against the “new world order”. Even if they are beaten down, their “heart is still blazing” and pushes them to continue fighting against the lies set by the rules of their world. This act exemplifies wildness, continuing their unrestrained rebellion and repeating that their heart won’t burn out even in death, claiming no one could break them. Overall, wildness is the core identity of the song. From the explosive instrumental to the themes of being a beast and rebelling against society, I see “Smell of the Game” as an embodiment of many aspects of “wild.”
– Kenny Ly
I think this is a really good example of a song that is very unambiguously, unequivocally “wild.” Thank you for sharing. I like that you dove into the many different layers of this song that make it “wild”. From the genre-mixing to the intense instrumentals and the lyrics, every element of this song is focused on expressing and embracing wildness. I also appreciated you providing some context as to what settings this song is usually used or heard, good work!
I like your definition of wild and it fits nicely in the song. I also loved the fact that you wrote about a song from a video game and not from a western artist or record label. A lot of video game soundtracks get overlooked by mainstream media and so we tend to lose tracks like these. I’m glad we can extract the wildness in songs from different media.