I thought it was pretty good… 8-(
I thought the Battle on the Big Bridge was okay, but I’d like to hear more variety, as well.
I can’t stand their digressions with the pointless synth.
I liked them once, but since then, I’ve got to agree. But then, I also hate music defined entirely by super-fast electric guitars, drums, and synths. it all sounds so lifeless.
The Black Mages haven’t been among my favorites either. I wonder, though, are the doing the entire opera sequence from FF6, or just a portion? I happen to think that one of the greatest things about the existence of videogames is that they enabled the not even two minute long orchestral version of the waltz from the opera sequence to be done on one of the OGC albums in a most decadent manner. I can’t really imagine anything approaching it on a Black Mages set.
I’ve downloaded it just now. Haven’t listened to it all the way through, but at least it’s out there for people to find.
The Dark Cloud remix is identical to the one that was on the FFIIIDS OST, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s a freebie track for the CD.
I will say the remix of the FF6 Opera is pretty neat. It’s not spectacular, but it IS a different sort of remix than we’re used to hearing. A rock opera, instead of yet another orchestration. I give it points for that.
Grand Cross is so-so. It’s nice to finally hear a remix of that track, and most of it is done well. But… a few parts make me cringe a bit.
I thought the second album blew away the first one. My only gripe was Otherworld. The point is to do heavy versions of FF music, rigiht? They did that one bass ackwards. The original was pretty heavy to begin with, then they turn it into a fucking Thundercats song. As for them versus other people, Powerglove and Ailsean do it so much better. Powerglove’s version of Those who fight further is how the fucking thing should sound.
I quite liked the BM remix of that.
Yuck. To each their own, I guess.
I second DR’s points. Speaking of Powerglove and FF music, their remix of Bizaro Sephiroth’s theme, a song I didn’t really like to start with, was GENIUS.
I’m surprised they’re doing the last boss music from FFV. That’s probably what I’ll be looking forward to the most. Same with the track from FFVII… I was actually wondering what that would be like with a band playing it. The others I’m not too impressed with but I’m sure they’ll pull them off fine.
I think I’m looking more forward to the second disc if they’re still doing one based on Japanese myths.
It’s 15 minutes long, “Darkness and Starlight”. Some of it decent, most of it painful. I don’t care for the opera singers or the narrator too much. I’d like to be able to picture Celes singing, not some 300 pound opera singer who sounds like she just finished eating the set.
As far as the other stuff, I like Distant Worlds from FFXI, it’s a great tune if you haven’t heard the original. I’ve listened to some of the other songs but not enough to comment. Worth the download.
I didnt realize this was 2 years old. I said the same thing then as I did now. Hahahahahahahahahahaaaahhhhhh…
Listening to some of it, it’s more synthier then ever. They might as well just leave the originals on there.
Ok, I listened to all of it a few times. Yeah, there are so many missed oppurtunities. Less synth and more guitar would’ve helped a lot. This is a frikin Manheim Steamroller album.
dod.vgmix.com - Dwelling of Duels. It’s a monthly competiton based on a chosen theme (unless it’s Free month). Lots of good stuff, especially the alt/joke tunes. There’s TON’s of music to discover if you’ve never heard of it before.
I thought the FF6 Opera ‘remake’ was pretty nifty. Nothing I’m going to whore out to my ears over and over again, but nifty nonetheless.
Hi, first time poster here.
In my opinion, the first BM album had the better tracks but the second one had a live-r feel (after all the first one was only two guys, no live drums, etc.)
At Square Enix Music Online people are quite impressed with the third album.
BTW; it appears that people in the game music world use “remix” as a fancy term for “version”, doesn’t the word remix actually imply working with the original tracks? (and in the day before dance ‘remixes’ even ONLY with the original tracks…)
Jaime
Not for a very very long time. Back when the FF Mystic Quest soundtrack came out, it had two bonus tracks called “Re-Mixtic Quest”. Both were entirely new covers of several themes from the game (and both of them rocked). This was in the early '90s.
Actually, I seem to recall there being three tracks, but one of them was terrible.
Hell yes. The ones which rocked were the “MYSTIC RE-QUEST” tracks and the bad one was “RE-MIXTIC QUEST” (that one did feature some tiny bit of the original sound but not much - it was the one with the obnoxious voice saying “MYS-TIC-QUEST” every now and then).
But yes, now that you mention, it’s true that by the mid-90s the word “remix” had lost all of its original meaning.
Oh jesus christ, I hated that third track. That was the only time I actually deleted a track from the OST. it was a waste of space.
Finally got around to listening to it. Definitely the weakest of the three. The only two tracks that I really enjoyed were Grand Cross (FF9 final battle) and Neo Exdeath. The Extreme was okay, but totally pointless. They murdered Assault of the Silver Dragons. The opera was… very very strange. I seriously burst out laughing at the end of it.
I hope they give it up. They’ve mined all the best stuff in the first two albums (mostly in the first one)… give it a rest.
On the other hand, they are a very good prog rock band. I’d like to hear more original stuff. I would probably get into it more.