Chromelodeon are an 8-piece

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

band from

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. They are known for their live shows (which have been described as "visceral") as well as their unique instrumental sound. Their music is achieved by utilizing a combination of synthesizers and traditional instruments from guitars to accordions. Additionally, the band's body of work consists both of original songs and

instrumental rock Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes musical instruments and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style. Instr ...

covers of

video game music Video game music (or VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led t ...

History

The band was formed by eight friends from high school in 2000. The following year, their first full-length album was released, ''In the Year 20XX'', which opens with a cover of "Wily's Castle" from the Nintendo game ''

Mega Man 3 ''Mega Man 3'' (stylized as ''Mega Man III'') is an action- platform video game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the third game of the original ''Mega Man'' series and was originally released in ...

'', and is followed by 3 originals; the last track, "Eloquence is Dead," spans 13+ minutes. Two other albums came out in 2005. The band's second release was made up solely from covers of the background music themes from the video game ''

Ninja Gaiden II is a 2008 action adventure hack and slash game developed by Team Ninja and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. It is the sequel to the 2004 title '' Ninja Gaiden'', making it the second 3D title in the series of the same nam ...

''. This was followed by the completely original ''Heart of Sawdust'' album which consisted of six untitled tracks.

Sprite Slowdown

Sprite Slowdown was established in 2005 as a side project to allow Chromelodeon to differentiate between their original work and their video game covers. It is a band consisting of the same members as Chromelodeon, but whose repertoire consists only of video game covers. Sprite Slowdown released a full length in 2005, and a 5-song EP in 2007.

The end of Chromelodeon

The band held their final performance on April 27, 2007, at the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with other Philadelphia bands Hail Social and The Private Sea. At the show, they released a limited run of 100 copies of their final album, which consisted of all the previously unreleased original material that Chromelodeon performed live since the summer of 2005. The album has since been made available to download for free. The band played a reunion show at MAGFest 2019.

Releases

As Chromelodeon

* ''Adventures in a Haunted House EP'' (2001) * ''In the Year 20XX'' (2003) * ''Ninja Gaiden 2: The Dark Sword of Chaos'' (Bloodlink Records, 2005) * ''Heart of Sawdust'' (Bloodlink Records, 2005) * ''The Final Recordings'' (2007)

As Sprite Slowdown

* ''Sprite Slowdown'' (2005) * Untitled Second Sprite Slowdown EP (2007)

Notes

{{Authority control Indie rock musical groups from Pennsylvania Musical groups from Philadelphia Video game music cover bands