Black Mages III!
Mar. 20th, 2008 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elwenThe Black Mages III: Darkness and Starlight
is out! (You can find the songs on YouTube.)
Like past Black Mages albums, it's a bit hit or miss, though the songs I've listened to so far are all more or less acceptable. The most notable thing for most people will be that it includes the full opera from Final Fantasy VI, which is its namesake track, "Darkness and Starlight". Personally, I was more excited that it had the final battle theme from Final Fantasy IX, a track I rediscovered when I started working through the Piano Collection for that game. It really doesn't get the attention it deserves, from the utterly chilling start (I always picture moaning souls swirling into the darkness) to the rock-ish main section, it's just a neat song. And the piano adaptation, like all of the best Piano Collection pieces, so perfectly captures the original while adding a whole new layer of interpretation.
Going back to "Darkness and Starlight": the track is undeniably neat. It's really weird but enlightening to hear the opera actually sung, in Japanese, where the syllables match the notes. (Whenever I play that scene in the game, I always try to squish the English lyrics into the melody, which works pretty well in some places but not so well in others.) The voices are jarring, though, both in narration and singing, maybe because I'm so used to the nonvocal version. The other thing I thought was kind of weird was that they didn't try to cut the song into the opera-only parts and they include, for example, the interlude where you have to walk as Locke over to see Celes. It works, just like it did in the game, but you'd think since they're redoing the song anyway, they'd give us the opportunity to hear one seamless opera, without the Ultros-chasing and all.
Right now, I'm listening to "Distant Worlds", which is from Final Fantasy XI, so I know nothing about it, but it's really beautiful. It's slow, with a Celtic flavor, and very unlike the rock songs that make up most of Black Mages' repertoire.
So, overall, definitely a winner. (Not that any of the Black Mages albums weren't.)
Here's a tracklist, FYI:
1. Opening - Bombing Mission (FFVI)
2. Neo EXDEATH (FFV: "Last Battle")
3. The Extreme (FFVIII)
4. Assault of the Silver Dragons (FFIX)
5. KURAYAMINOKUMO (FFIII: "Last Battle")
6. Distant Worlds (FFXI)
7. Premonition (FFVIII)
8. Grand Cross (FFIX: "Final Battle")
9. Darkness and Starlight (FFVI: "Opera ~Maria & Draco~")
10. LIVE ~in memory of KEITEN~
You think they've learned their lesson yet, to stop calling things "Final/Last Battle"? 9_9
ETA: Listening to "Darkness and Starlight" again, I realize that one of the reasons the vocals are so jarring is because the narrator's delivery is way overdramatic. "And then! A lone... wounded... HERO!!!!!!" Man. Oh, but I like the background chorus when Draco and Ralse fight. Also, I never realized it's ドラクゥ (comes out as something like "drakoo"). Sounds awkward even in Japanese. Also, I didn't notice they had the real ending (without Ultros and Setzer screwing things up), where Ralse loses. It makes it sound like Ralse really did love Maria and wanted her to be happy, which doesn't seem quite consistent with the game version where it seemed like Ralse just wanted a marriage of political convenience. Not that I'm going to overanalyze this, and I don't even remember the opera scene that well at the moment, but I thought that was interesting to note. I love that part in the melody, where they're singing "Oh Maria, beloved. Oh Maria, love me." <3
is out! (You can find the songs on YouTube.)Like past Black Mages albums, it's a bit hit or miss, though the songs I've listened to so far are all more or less acceptable. The most notable thing for most people will be that it includes the full opera from Final Fantasy VI, which is its namesake track, "Darkness and Starlight". Personally, I was more excited that it had the final battle theme from Final Fantasy IX, a track I rediscovered when I started working through the Piano Collection for that game. It really doesn't get the attention it deserves, from the utterly chilling start (I always picture moaning souls swirling into the darkness) to the rock-ish main section, it's just a neat song. And the piano adaptation, like all of the best Piano Collection pieces, so perfectly captures the original while adding a whole new layer of interpretation.
Going back to "Darkness and Starlight": the track is undeniably neat. It's really weird but enlightening to hear the opera actually sung, in Japanese, where the syllables match the notes. (Whenever I play that scene in the game, I always try to squish the English lyrics into the melody, which works pretty well in some places but not so well in others.) The voices are jarring, though, both in narration and singing, maybe because I'm so used to the nonvocal version. The other thing I thought was kind of weird was that they didn't try to cut the song into the opera-only parts and they include, for example, the interlude where you have to walk as Locke over to see Celes. It works, just like it did in the game, but you'd think since they're redoing the song anyway, they'd give us the opportunity to hear one seamless opera, without the Ultros-chasing and all.
Right now, I'm listening to "Distant Worlds", which is from Final Fantasy XI, so I know nothing about it, but it's really beautiful. It's slow, with a Celtic flavor, and very unlike the rock songs that make up most of Black Mages' repertoire.
So, overall, definitely a winner. (Not that any of the Black Mages albums weren't.)
Here's a tracklist, FYI:
1. Opening - Bombing Mission (FFVI)
2. Neo EXDEATH (FFV: "Last Battle")
3. The Extreme (FFVIII)
4. Assault of the Silver Dragons (FFIX)
5. KURAYAMINOKUMO (FFIII: "Last Battle")
6. Distant Worlds (FFXI)
7. Premonition (FFVIII)
8. Grand Cross (FFIX: "Final Battle")
9. Darkness and Starlight (FFVI: "Opera ~Maria & Draco~")
10. LIVE ~in memory of KEITEN~
You think they've learned their lesson yet, to stop calling things "Final/Last Battle"? 9_9
ETA: Listening to "Darkness and Starlight" again, I realize that one of the reasons the vocals are so jarring is because the narrator's delivery is way overdramatic. "And then! A lone... wounded... HERO!!!!!!" Man. Oh, but I like the background chorus when Draco and Ralse fight. Also, I never realized it's ドラクゥ (comes out as something like "drakoo"). Sounds awkward even in Japanese. Also, I didn't notice they had the real ending (without Ultros and Setzer screwing things up), where Ralse loses. It makes it sound like Ralse really did love Maria and wanted her to be happy, which doesn't seem quite consistent with the game version where it seemed like Ralse just wanted a marriage of political convenience. Not that I'm going to overanalyze this, and I don't even remember the opera scene that well at the moment, but I thought that was interesting to note. I love that part in the melody, where they're singing "Oh Maria, beloved. Oh Maria, love me." <3
no subject
Date: 2008-04-09 05:59 am (UTC)(Okay more info: it's from an Orchestral Game Concert CD and obviously it's performed orchestrally instead of ...metal...ly.)
And I'm not entirely sure what interlude part you're talking about but wasn't the opera music playing in the background even when you weren't there "watching" it?
no subject
Date: 2008-04-09 06:44 am (UTC)