He is best known for his work on the Silent Hill series for which he composed all the music and sound effects in all seven current games (excluding Silent Hill Play Novel for Game Boy Advance). Some of the music from the first four games was also remixed and used in the Silent Hill movie. He also played a doubly important role as producer of the third and fourth Silent Hill games (which were available for PlayStation 2/PC and PlayStation 2/Xbox/PC). His music from Silent Hill 2 was performed live in 2005 at the third Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany and at the world-premiere of PLAY! A Video Game Symphony Live! on May 27, 2006 in Chicago, Illinois, where Yamaoka himself accompanied the orchestra with an electric guitar. As well, Yamaoka actively composes music for Konami's Bemani line of games, particularly, the Beatmania IIDX series.
His first original, non-soundtrack album, iFUTURELIST, was released in January 2006.
Career
He joined Konami on September 21, 1993 after previously being a freelance music composer. He is most well known for his work for the Silent Hill series of video games, for which he composed all the music and sound effects in the whole series (excluding Silent Hill Play Novel for the Game Boy Advance and Esperándote in Silent Hill, composed by 村中りか (Rika Muranaka)). Since Silent Hill 3, he is playing a more important role as the series' producer, also continuing with his music composition working.
Yamaoka's sound commonly contains strong melancholy undertones and generally identifies with the dark ambient, industrial, trip-hop and rock genres. Since Silent Hill 3, he also started working in collaboration with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn and Joe Romersa for vocal compositions.
Much of his work from previous titles has been compiled for the 2006 Silent Hill movie adaptation, directed by Christophe Gans.
His music from Silent Hill 2 was performed live in 2005 at the third Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany. Yamaoka also performed music from Silent Hill at the world-premiere of PLAY! A Video Game Symphony Live! on May 27, 2006 in Chicago, Illinois, and accompanied the orchestra with an electric seven-string guitar. He also composed songs for Konami's Bemani series, which has also featured tracks from Silent Hill.
His first original album, iFUTURELIST, was released in January 2006. He also wrote the theme of 101%, the main show of the French TV channel Nolife.
On December 2, 2009, it was announced that Yamaoka was leaving his long term employer Konami.
Personal Life
Before working as a video game composer, Yamaoka initially sought a career as a designer, but instead became a musician after studying product design at Tokyo Art College.
In 1993 he joined Konami to work on the game Rocket Knight Adventures 2. When Konami began searching for a musician to compose Silent Hill's score, Yamaoka volunteered because he thought he was the only one capable of making the soundtrack.
Yamaoka stated in a 2009 interview that his favorite game creator is Suda 51 and his favorite video game is No More Heroes.
Room of Angel
Akira Yamaoka Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
your tears they mean nothing to me
the wind howling at the window
the love you never gave
I give to you
Really don't deserve it
but now there's nothing you can do
my dearest mother
Here's a lullaby to close your eyes (good-bye)
it was always you that I despised
I don't feel enough for you to cry (oh well)
here's a lullaby to close your eyes (good-bye)
(goodbye)
(goodbye)
So insignificant
sleeping dormant deep inside of me
are you hiding away lost
under the sewers
maybe flying high in the clouds
perhaps you're happy without me
so many seeds have been sown in the field
and who could sprout up so blessedly
if I had died
I would have never felt sad at all
you will not hear me say I'm sorry
where is the light
wonder if it's weeping somewhere
Here's a lullaby to close your eyes (good-bye)
it was always you that I despised
I don't feel enough for you to cry (oh well)
here's a lullaby to close your eyes (good-bye)
Here's a lullaby to close your eyes (good-bye)
it was always you that I despised
I don't feel enough for you to cry (oh well)
here's a lullaby to close your eyes (good-bye)
(goodbye)
(goodbye)
(goodbye)
(goodbye)
Here's a lullaby to close your eyes (good-bye)
it was always you that I despised
I don't feel enough for you to cry (oh well)
here's a lullaby to close your eyes (good-bye)
Here's a lullaby to close your eyes (good-bye)
it was always you that I despised
I don't feel enough for you to cry (oh well)
here's a lullaby to close your eyes (good-bye)
(goodbye)
(goodbye)
(goodbye)
(goodbye)
The lyrics to Akira Yamaoka's "Room of Angel," from the soundtrack of the video game Silent Hill 4: The Room, are haunting and filled with multiple interpretations. The song's overall tone is melancholic, and it showcases the pain of an individual whose mother has passed away. In the song's initial lines, we see the singer's lack of remorse for their mother's passing. They feel that their mother never supported them, and as they sing "the love you never gave/ I give to you," they impart guilt and regret on their mother for not loving them enough.
The second half of the song becomes more surreal and introspective as the singer begins to question their existence in the world. They seem to suggest that the memory of their mother is the only thing that matters to them. The singer wonders if their mother is somewhere in the afterlife, and if she can hear their lullaby. The song's lyrics suggest that the singer has repressed feelings of guilt and resentment that have only risen to the surface as a result of their mother's death. It's a complicated mix of emotions that complicates the listener's understanding of the song in a fascinating way.
Line by Line Meaning
You lie silent there before me
You are lying quietly in front of me
your tears they mean nothing to me
Your crying does not affect me emotionally
the wind howling at the window
The sound, resembling that of a wolf or dog, created by the flow of air against an opening in the wall, through which one might look to see what is happening outside
the love you never gave
The affection you never demonstrated
I give to you
I am fulfilling your unmet needs
Really don't deserve it
At this point, I don't deserve to be receiving anything from you
but now there's nothing you can do
However, there is nothing you can do to stop me
so sleep in your only memory of me
Go to sleep while thinking of our time together that you will never forget
my dearest mother
My most beloved family member
Here's a lullaby to close your eyes (good-bye)
I will sing this song to help you fall asleep (and also to say goodbye)
it was always you that I despised
I have always had negative feelings towards you
I don't feel enough for you to cry (oh well)
I don't have enough emotions towards you to be sad or cry
(goodbye)
In a fare-thee-well/paying respects context
So insignificant
Not significant enough to have a noticeable impact
sleeping dormant deep inside of me
Hibernating within my being
are you hiding away lost
Did you retreat from public view and become lost
under the sewers
Perhaps hidden in the harsh and grimy tunnels under the city
maybe flying high in the clouds
Or maybe soaring and thriving in the sky
perhaps you're happy without me
Maybe you are feeling joyful even in my absence
so many seeds have been sown in the field and who could sprout up so blessedly
A large number of figurative seeds have been sown in an open space, but who can grow so extravagantly
if I had died I would have never felt sad at all
If I had passed away, I would not have ever experienced emotions of despair
you will not hear me say I'm sorry
I must acknowledge that I am at fault and apologize
where is the light
Where the beacon of hope and new beginnings at
wonder if it's weeping somewhere
Is it possible that the same light is mourning somewhere out there
Contributed by Ella N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@ryanfreebody6881
@@Laney.R00 I disagree, the 1st and 2nd are the best ones created.
The only thing that let's the first one down is the fact it has aged badly.
Both SH1 and SH2 have great stories and great music to back it up, what makes me laugh about SH4 is the fact they reused a massive key piece of story telling which we get in SH1.
Lisa story is so tragic and heart breaking, it actually sucks they tried reusing it in SH4.
That crucial BS move and the fact the controls were terrible is why SH4 was such a bad game.
Which I hate to say being such a SH fan.
It annoys me we had such great games with 1 and 2, that we have failed to reach the same level with later games.
They feel so off, reusing material is such a shame too.
I don't know how it went so badly, it's like they peaked too soon.
@slusheewolf2143
My dearest friend.
Goodbye.
This song is extremely relatable when someone has abused you in the past.
It's not sad, as the singer expresses.
It's solemn and it shows that it's over.
In this case, it could be death.
In my case, it isn't death, but a send-off of a spirit who hurt me.
The best friendship we had is severed and unrepairable.
@casper4ever373
you lie
silent there before me
your tears
they mean nothing to me
the wind
howling at the window
the love
you never gave
I give to you
really don't deserve it
but now
there's nothing you can do
so sleep
in your only memory
of me, my, dearest mother
here's a lullaby to close your eyes
goodbye
it was always you that I despised
I don't feel enough for you to cry
oh well
here's a lullaby to close your eyes
goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
@gavincarothers595
Which is are nothing but Pathetic Desperate last ditch effort attempts at Gaslighting Tactics any horrible parents in general
could easily pull off making it the biggest of excuses towards everything they'd done both in the Past and Currently in the Present or hopefully not in the Future.
I know that well from experience because one of mine hiding behind a 🎭 that
happens to be Pretending like she love & cares when she just sees treating & mistreating me like I'm just one of her friends instead of an actual Son, none of mine and Older Brothers Siblings aren't safe from it either as they're also aren't fine dandy from neither it gets worse when she behaves Demandive, Narcissistic, Insulting, Hypocritical, Condescending, Hurtful, Destructive and so Selfish the only she only cares about me is her intentions Planning my life shaped into her image something I definitely see immediate 🟥🏳️s
I either would rather runaway on 🦶 across anywhere that's not with her the rest of my life in this 🌎 to another before one like ours even if it kills me on the outside world,
Or better I am srsly do no want to plan on living that long anymore
Yet despite all of this how bad I wanna see her get her comeuppance after everything she just put me through under her unconscionable neglect, Physical Emotional Mental and Verbal forms of abuse, and no regards for anyone else just to make herself feel like she's becoming better when she's only much more of a worst person than she was before.
She does this behavior every passing ☀️ & 🌙 for oftentimes it makes me 🤢 to my stomach
that I don't know how or why I was born under her to begin with it never should have happened and I'm embarrassed to ever have been born under an absolute Loser like her she's well..a Spoiled Possessive Seedy Woman-Child,
I could understand why it's not wonder why my late 2nd Grandmother treated her like 💩 because she clearly regretted what she spawned what she saw something in her
for who knows how long She's been like this since 4 in a Half Decades long before she passed on too 🔜, and my First Grandmother she's quite observant knewing full well aware about this before she met her eversince before/after I was born.
Out of all the Parents & Families I could've supposed to have been better born with,
The ones I know are already gone stolen from me the day I was unfairly brought forced on this sad bleak excuse of a world and the Family I have now got landed in is not even never were real beginning means for an 🔚, and they're not only happen to be real Dysfunctional the worst kind of family you could ever be unlucky sharing 🩸 with,
but they're just such an absolute complete utter joke.
@BettyBoop201910
As a victim of child abuse and having a mother who never cared about me... this song touches my soul so deeply. I used to be so obsessed with it when I was a teenager. Me and my mother still don't talk but now... I really don't care, I have ny own family now and I'm happy.
@marcm.5562
Mami y Mamu ,bless you
@undertheivorymoon
You are a survivor not a victim. Claim your strength for we made it through alive.
@S.Ashina
Sad...
You have your family, and I stand alone for the eternity...
It's like a never-ending loop... like the key in Silent Hill.
"He who holds this key shall wander for eternity".
I have this key. And i'm a wanderer. Only to stay in solitude... forever.
@andrewfrank1119
Mami, I'm happy for you, in how you've been able to pull through. You know what isn't a mum, and you know what is. Take pride in that.
@thanotron1222
growing up my mother was schizophrenic and very emotionally manipulative. she systematically dismantled my father psychologically after he was left mildly brain damaged. after countless episodes and hospitalizations, she tore my family to the ground and isolated us from everyone. diabetes and agoraphobia eventually entered the mix and it was adding gasoline to a campfire. her body fell apart, she lost her eyesight, use of her hands, became addicted to pain killers and benzos, and eventually, her leg auto-amputated at home and a stroke brought on by a fit of rage ruined alot of what was left of her. i help my father take care of her now. its like i live with ghosts. ill never be a thing like them. i have no idea where to vent this kinda thing.
@thethethe814
I think Silent Hill is one of the saddest franchises of all time.. and it gets even more with the heartbreaking cancellation of Silent Hills...
@rafikbouaouni1880
I think project zero
@saltyshapeervessel2.062
The Tunisian Sonic Fan it is a sad series... Fuck silent hills no offense to anyone... looked like a great game but not a silent hill game.. n yes there r others that were made that are not Silent Hill games
@henrys2526
VERY