If you follow us, you’ll notice that every once in a while, we throw some love out to the psych scene. Among the most interesting local ambient psychedelic music we’ve come across in recent years in Finland was the group FROM GROTTO, who have been consistently releasing spectacular albums for the Finnish rogue-lite video game, Noita [witch]. We’ve already looked at the “Noita (Official Soundtrack) vol. 1“ and “Noita (Official Soundtrack) vol. 2,” so naturally, we had to come back and check out the “Noita (Official Soundtrack) vol. 3,” which was released on March 31st, 2022!
The album follows the same suit as its predecessors, more or less, with twenty tracks and a 1 hour 8 minute runtime, with ambient psychedelic tracks ranging from 2-minute interludes to 4+minute mood movers.
Immediately starting with “Modern Times,” this album continues to invoke a sense of “WHY ISN’T THIS OUT ON CONSOLE YET”… for indeed, I am a Playstation gamer and I don’t think my laptop is ready for the switch to PC gaming. If Noita is half as good a game as its music (and word on the street is that it is), the fact that I haven’t played it yet is very disappointing. Right from the beginning, there’s a sense of darkness and urgency, paired with all of the psychedelic atmospheric trappings that we’ve come to know and love from the first two parts of the soundtrack. Even the names of the tracks sound so interesting… how did they get their names? What is this game like!? All of the small details in the music, little twists here, beeps there, a weird wavering wail in the background… all of it comes together spectacularly to create this incredible OST.
Ultimately, it’s a bit impossible to go song-by-song with music like this. The entire album is atmospheric, mystical, and heavily creates that spectacular soundscape of mystery and urgency that works so well in a game about casting spells and meeting creatures from Finnish mythology. If this sort of atmospheric and psychedelic music appeals to you, you should be sure to check out this third installment into the psychedelic soundtrack to Noita!
Written by Bear Wiseman
Tracklist
- Modern Times
- Timing Chain
- Needs Maintenance
- Out-take I (Pyramidista kuuluu kummia)
- Noises All Around Us
- Mindless Machine
- Out-take II (Vaarallisen yön lumo)
- Out-take III (Eikö ole letkeetä)
- Looting the Rainforest
- Happy Nature Boy
- Marchin’ with the Swamp Spiders
- Intriguing Fruit
- Out-take IV (Torni)
- Old Magician’s Last Wish
- Haunted Palace
- You Have Angered the Gods
- Apparition
- Triangular Structure
- Temptation
- Kolmisilmä
Lineup
From Grotto – instruments
Niilo Takalainen – instruments
Label
Independent / Nolla Games
