Night of the Hunt - Ourania, the Great Muse

Also available on Loudr, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon and Spotify.

Night of the Hunt is my second original album inspired by Bloodborne. The first album - Borne in Blood, was made before the game came out and was more of an imagining of what the music could be like. Night of the Hunt however is directly inspired by the game itself and its soundtrack. You can almost imagine this as a musical expansion to the game with more bosses and locations. I've tried to make this feel like my own take on the Bloodborne sound but I've also given nods to the original soundtrack to make it feel more connected. I hope this album gets people excited about Bloodborne again as it's really fantastic.

Album artwork by DelinquentMuse:
(She usually streams Friday through Monday playing Dark Souls and Bloodborne challenges, also creative art)

Night of the Hunt logo artwork by Alex Roe

[MirthlessMorrows]

Lore time lol

What is a muse? A muse is a personification of an art or science, often female and put on par with deities.

Ourania is a muse, but of what? And to who? Without a doubt that she is a muse to the people who search the cosmos. Byrgenwerth, the Choir, and the School of Mensis all searched the sky for answers, for understanding.

Muses don't guide, they are something artists reach for and strive to make the perfection of the Muse theirs. Ourania is that light at the end of the dark tunnel, promising ascension to those who reach her.

But alas, she shines too bright, and people fail to see just how harrowing the journey to her really is.

The question of course then remains: Is she aware of the doom caused by her presence?

Perhaps that is a question best left for the ones who reach her to answer.

[Sensorielle]

*LORE THOUGHTS*

Urania in Greco-Roman myth is one of nine muses, daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne. (It's interesting to note that Urania is the first-born of the muses.) She is an inspiration to those who explore the sky, to astronomers, and those who marvel at such things. Placing this within the context of Bloodborne, Ourania would be an entity of much reverence and respect, particularly to those who recognized the existence of Great Ones or knew their cosmic origins.

It has been confirmed by Alex himself that the character on the cover is not only Ourania, but an original concept for a Great One.

Let's first study the image itself. We remember how Micolash requested of Kos (or some say Kosm) to be granted eyes with which to peer into the same plane of consciousness as the Great Ones. One might also remember that Kos, upon further study, had no eyes, and even bore the face of a human woman. In the same vein, Ourania's three heads are blindfolded. This could be for several reasons, all of which are speculation; Ourania might have no eyes, she might've lost whatever eyes she had, or someone might've placed the ribbon to conceal something from her (as in a symbolic action). Whatever theories you have, I'm sure Alex and I would love to know.

More connections to Kos and her orphan are found in Ourania's anatomy. Despite the obvious reference to the stars, Ourania bears wings like that of the Orphan, and the lower regions of her body terminate in fins, above which are decorations of scales. Her varied limb sizes aside, she appears curiously as a mermaid, or at least inspired by one. The hair is wild, free, and all signs seem to point to an aquatic origin. Perhaps Ourania merely resides in water?

[roriksavant]

Spooky track, this is the cover monster right? I imagine her drifting low above a circular boss room, slowly turning, firing different spells from each side, maybe even splitting into three seperate monsters as the fight progresses, each with different styles of attack.

[SuperYuuki]

This whole album makes me think of old carnivals and circuses and operas. I basically think about the flashback part of Phantom of the Opera where Madam Giry goes to that traveling circus and everything is hazy and yellow and red and unknown, slightly deformed just enough to be more than uncanny. Where the world feels wrong and unknown but also raw and sad and beautiful. I see ornate puppets, blood running from their empty sockets. The curtain raises to a barren theater, the Hunter tired and gore-soaked. On the stage rests the Great Muse, her tentacled arms wrapped up in the scaffolds and set, her control of reality condensed into the unseeable darkness above. She smiles. Her mouth does not open because it is not a mouth, only the impression of one. Nevertheless, she begins to sing.
You cry because you have never heard a more angelic sound. Your ears are bleeding. It's becoming difficult to breath. There is pain but you cannot feel it beneath her heavy heaven.

[xshullaw]

Third boss of the DLC *not optional*

Ourania had escaped the beastly scourge by locking herself away in the Archives, determined to ascend. But her isolation did not save her from Volucer's curse, and now she studies endlessly, seeking new secrets wherever she can, yet no longer remembers why.


What appears to be a woman praying before an altar covered in books and ancient scrolls, and he face is shrouded form you. When you approach, she will rise and turn to you. There is no face, just a mess of tentacles pouring out of her hood. Her hands have only four fingers, each freakishly long and crackling with bolt.

She slashed and has the same flowey movement as the Milkweed, but is much faster. She also has A Call Beyond move, but when preforming it she simply raises one hand above her head.

Second phase she levitates in the air for a moment before sprouting thin, spidery wings like Ebriates's. In this she is faster and is completely immune to fire and blood damage. She can extended her fingers in sudden lunges and swipes. She will sometimes shoot into the air before hurling three balls of bolt energy at you, then dive bombs you with a bolt explosion. Her Call Beyond has much greater speed, but the seekers no longer explode. If you are too far away, she will will learn back, then throw her head forward and unleash a beam of arcane energy at you.

With the exception that attack, she is very mobile and moves all around the room. Despite he numerous bolt attacks she is very weak to bolt and resists Arcane. Killing her will drop an Oath Rune called Stargazer. This turns your face into hundreds of tentacles and causes you skin to turn a silvery-blue color, and boosts arcane and bolt damage/resistance by 15%.

It is paired with a weapon called Eyes of Starlight (which I will cover on another video) to further augment you appearance, giving you the same spindly wings and elongated fingers (warning, this form is also weak to bolt, and it's weaker by 25% negating and surpassing the Stargazer Rune).

Also drops a key that will later lead you deeper into the hidden Healing Church laboratory.

There are two summons available for this fight, but you can only choose one. The first is Dravus, a Cainhurst Knight that you can summon of you have the Corruption Rune equipped. The other is a Choir Hunter named Davis, who is wielding a Church Pick and Church Cannon with 2 shots. He will buff his weapon with Bolt at a maximum of three times, and can use a Choir Bell four times. If he doesn't die, he will give you the male Church bow before walking away and disappearing.

Note: If he was summoned, Davis can be found in Upper Cathedral Ward, dead against the railings opposite the corpse in the Make Contact pose. In his hands in a droplet Blood Gem that offers 15% more damage against Kin, mad gradually restores HP +10.

There is a note in front of him reading, "Perhaps they had to be killed, but there is no atonement for my sins."

[ranger]

Best song of the best album I've heard of a game or game related OST for YEARS.

[Sensorielle]

The music is very grand. One might even call it reflective, until the crescendo ends at 2:28. If that's any indication, I believe the Hunter battles Ourania, though it can't be said why or if one of the combatants mean simply to defend themselves.

I'd also like to remark on how much Greco-Roman mythology influences Night of the Hunt. While the album evokes a feeling akin to Bloodborne, clearly the places and people mentioned here are quite foreign to Yharnam. Well, so it is in my interpretation.

Look at the names of these songs. Lucian ("Light", Latin), Volucer ("Winged", Latin), Urian ("Heaven", a Greek name), Ourania ("Heavenly", Greek version of Latin Urania).

[zchen]

This need to be turned into an official expansion.

[josiahyork]

I fucking love it! It's like a mix of Ebrietas and Orphan of Kos! (The composition, anyway. Ouriana doesn't seem to bear much resemblance to the Orphan :P)

[andrewrosengard]

Great job on the album! If the album was a sequel to Bloodborne, then you have outdone yourself! The final boss of Bloodborne II is a horrific siren-like entity, hovering towards the New Hunter like the Moon Presence. She looks very rapey towards human men and attracts many admirers to sire more children of her own. Ourania could even be related to Kos as either siblings or cousins since they both do not have eyes. Even if the New Hunter kills Ourania, her children will reprise her haunting song to repeat the actions and legacy of the Night.

[AndyHargraveMusic]

Fantastic work! Just curious what libraries do you use and do you master your own songs? Very beautiful and clear mixes.

[Fulgrim]

*Paints Emperor's Children chaos marines to this track*

[TheDevinMT]

What if this boss was the doll or like an impersonator of some kind. Like a winter lantern on roids. Phase 1 it looks like the doll and in phase 2 it pulls a Gundyr and pops open with tentacles and mouths everywhere. I mean the doll is a muse I suppose