I've done a couple of blogs on Zelda music, but I feel this is my favorite.
I love tonalities like this, just in this one piece alone, we have G Phrygian, G Phrygian Dominant, G Double Harmonic Major. If you ever wondered why in my modes series on my blog I didn't include this one in with the Phrygian mode, it's because it's not really a pure example of the mode, it strays outside of it quite a lot.
So many things going on here that make the musical nerd side of me so happy. Double chromatic enclosures? Yep! Harmonies? We got all sorts of crazy chords! Melodic? We got a ton of singable melodies!
As if this wasn't enough, each part foreshadows another part, all meticulously placed, almost like this is Hyrule's Sonata. I don't use Sonata lightly, as this almost exactly follows the Sonata/Allegro Form.
I love Sidon's Theme as well. Mostly because despite it being in a minor key, it exudes confidence and charm, much like Prince Sidon himself. And it being in the key of Metallica, that is, E Minor, there's a certain air of badassery, hinting at his fighting prowess, and since we have a true Dominant chord, which in the key of E Minor is a B7 chord, this gives it an air of sophistication. It sounds more like Bach if he could fight.
And the melodies are catchy, and the chords that accompany them are why I love it, the chord progression is just as catchy as the main melody.
Mixed meter for days! Koji Kondo often uses odd meters in boss battles, because they are inherently disorienting, and he also changes time signatures frequently (called mixed meter if it happens in the same song or composition) in boss battles to further enhance the unsettling feeling a boss battle is supposed to give you.
It starts out in 5/4, moves to 7/4, moves to 6/4, then moves to 4/4, then finally moves to 11/8 until it loops again.
All of those changes means big moments, when we have mixed meter like this, trying to follow along rhythmically becomes really difficult. Which, of course, is the entire point. In this case, the music is reinforcing the idea of unease, as odd time signatures like this create this feeling of unease because there's no constant beat that you're used to. If you've ever tried tapping your foot or bopping your head along with this theme, you likely only could because of the constant pedal tones and the snare drum that are keeping the rhythm.