Born in 1968 in Niigata, Japan, Akira Yamaoka attended Tokyo Art College where he studied product and interior design before dedicating himself to music. After graduation, he sought a career as a product designer for a short time before joining Konami in 1993, finally giving a push to his musical talent.
His first official release didn't happen until 1999, when he composed the original soundtrack for the video game "Silent Hill," the first of a game series that would help spread his unique musical essence across the world. This was only the first step, since he continued with an even more melancholic atmosphere in 2001, with the release of the "Silent Hill 2" original soundtrack. This specific soundtrack earned him a great amount of fame amongst and was performed live, in 2005, at the third Symphonic Game music concert in Leipzig, Germany.
Evolving his sound even further, he composed the soundtrack for "Silent Hill 3" in 2003, followed by the release of a limited edition and the soundtrack for "Silent Hill 4: The Room" the next year. With each new composition he managed to add to an ideal atmosphere that perfectly matched the game's setting, bringing about deep emotions and explosions of adrenaline from the audience.
In January 2006, he took a step further and released his first personal album entitled FUTURELIST. Including seventeen tracks that feature a rather electronic style that tends to sound more like his past contributions to earlier Benami video game series, FUTURELIST also contains an outstanding ballad. On May 27th, he joined the orchestra at the world premiere of PLAY! A Video Game Symphony with an electric seven-string guitar, in Chicago, Illinois. That same year, the soundtrack for the movie "Silent Hill" was released with Yamaoka being the composer and executive producer. The music included in the movie consists mostly of remixed versions of music from the game series.
Two years later he returned to the video game stage of "Silent Hill" and composed the original soundtrack for "Silent Hill : Origins," revealing a more aggressive side of his sound. His next work will be the composition of the "Silent Hill 5: Homecoming," original soundtrack, furthering his connection to the game's title. It is expected to reveal some of his new musical innovations and promises to deliver the same unique musical creations of Akira Yamaoka.
