The Mad Gear is an instrumental rock band that is largely known for creating songs done in the vein of videogame music. Their last full-length record, Super Mad Gear: Symphony of the Fight dove into familiar works from Megaman X, Super Metroid, Bad Dudes, Donkey Kong Country and the less familiar Gremlins 2 and Sonic Spinball. If you follow them on any social network, their passion for these songs clearly comes from a non-kitschy place.
That being said, they do create their own original music. 2017’s Go Right and Fight OST was all original compositions that served as the actual soundtrack to a beat-em-up game of the same name. 2014’s The Mad Gear Must Pay was also original composition, recorded live with very few edits. All that is to give context to the fact that “Nebuli” is an original composition that feels like live videogame music but it’s not chiptune and it’s much better produced than their previous live offering.
The shredding guitar, the prominent bass, the big drum fills and the swirling keyboards all feel like familiar videogame elements but it’s the saxophone that really sets The Mad Gear apart. At first glance you’d assume it would stick out like a sore thumb in this environment but it gives the music a noir vibe that would be harder to come by otherwise. It instantly feels like there’s a story of some sort unfolding because of that wailing. Maybe I’m just being overly partial to usage of the instrument but it works and it works well.
All and all, it’s great to see the band dipping back into the world of originals as that usually means there’s some impressive project that goes to accompany it.