Valerie's Writings

Tsuyoshi Sekito, Kenichiro Fukui

This review will be a little difficult to compose, as honestly the rank of the arrangements often depends on the quality of the original composition. Keeping this in mind, let’s see how each of these tracks stands with me….

01 – Battle Scene (FFI)

Definitely a heart-pumping opening to this piece. Tension is introduced immediately by the disruptive percussive hits that cut through the early melancholic synth notes. The gritty electric guitar and new rhythm is very enticing.

The strange-sounding synth solo immediately following, however, is not quite as attractive. The weird string-like high notes also sound a bit off. Fortunately, this unusual section is broken off by the more appropriate, lovely electric guitar; you will almost feel relief upon hearing its snarly solo. The organ/synth after this is acceptable to the musical palate—but honestly, even the slap bass in the background is much more appealing to me.

The very tired organ and synth sounds in this piece will wear you out, but aside from that “Battle Scene” does not do anything particularly wrong. It left me feeling uncertain and unaffected, but at least not offended. (6/10)

02 – Clash on the Big Bridge

The soft, melancholic openings followed by all-out rockin’ chaos will almost become a cliché for this album. However the effect is, as always, perfectly achieved. The electric guitar at the beginning isn’t quite as “in-your-face” as perhaps it should have been, but other than that, the first minute or so of this piece will leave you begging for more.

Quite honestly, the best moments of this piece—and virtually any other piece on this album—occur when the electric guitar is the most prominent instrument to be heard. The player is just so stylish and creative with his solos, and the quality of the recording is absolutely superb. The focus on the organ in the middle section is pretty effective, but sticks too much to the original composition. Also, a bit of dynamic contrast would probably have fared well in this section.

The following synth solo is not very appealing to me, personally. It sounds weak and artificial compared to the wonderful live instruments in the recording. It is not terrible—but not extremely appealing or imaginative. I much prefer hearing the electric guitar. (8/10)

03 – Force your Way

This one is quite similar to the original from FFVIII: both feature organ, electric guitar, wild drum set, and synths, making the arrangement an easy and natural one. Still, I feel the arrangers have done an admirable job here. The arrangement is heavier, more urgent and compelling than the original, with electric guitar used far more prominently in melody, rather than the tamer organ sound.

The piece opens with choir synths that evolve progressively into sounding electronic: while original and effective, it’s a bit annoying and, like most of their arrangements, takes too long to get into the meat of the piece. Once the rhythm is established and all three prominent instruments have entered, we have the urgent string synths from the original, and then electric guitar on the melody. For much of this piece’s body, the guitar and organ will take turns “jamming,” up until “Force Your Way” reaches its highly pleasurable climax. Here, toward the piece’s end, the arrangers stuck closer with the original, but I can only say the effect is augmented.

I love how the instruments alternate and answer each other—a feature unseen in the original. The only instrument that could have perhaps stuck out more is the drum set, in my opinion; it has no solos and stays too much in the background playing a rather standard, unchanging beat that won’t pique your interest. (8/10)

04 – Battle Scene 2

Strangely, while the melody is emphasized in this piece, it is the background—the bass line and rhythm section—which really shines. The electric bass provides a nice balance and countermelody to everything that is going on above, while the organ gives the piece its needed sense of forward motion. The melody in my opinion is usually too straightforward and uninteresting; even the harmony often loses its effect due to its redundancy. A strange solo with electric guitar, synthed violin and what sounds like harpsichord, marks the beginning of the new section which, if anything, is even more boring than the original melody.

The tempo is slow enough to almost feel laid-back and relaxing, as if we were cruising along in a car rather than warriors tearing into feared enemies. While giving relief from the comparable “chaos” of the previous themes, “Battle Scene 2” becomes rather sluggish standing alone. This is one of the less attractive pieces in my opinion. (6/10)

05 – Decisive Battle

Again the piece begins with a quiet, reflective introduction. This one is more effective than its predecessors, treating us to a soloistic clean guitar instead of unmelodic rhythm patterns. The chaotic “full throttle” afterwards is rather unseemly, however, offering little points of interests in its long introductory passage.

The electric guitar duo works brilliantly here with the melody. The result is pure entertainment; the raging, non-stop-action style manages to almost give a sense of danger, while delivering all the exhilarated excitement we expect from heavy metal. The percussion too is effective—more cymbal crashes than should be possible in a single arrangement. Due to the activity of all parts (especially compared to the languidity of the previous piece), this piece succeeds in giving what its audience asks for.

The developed section of this piece is a little weaker, but still a thrill to listen to. Losing the last threads of the melody, the organ pumps out a squealing solo that seems to complement the background rather than truly standing out on its own. The original melodic section in “Decisive Battle” is probably the main attraction, here. (9/10)

06 – Battle Theme (FFVI)

Exciting opening—the rest of the piece has a pace just a little too slow. The oft-heard, repetitive electric guitar in the melody doesn’t really help matters. A little bit of variation in leading instrument would have been greatly appreciated here. The rhymthic mixing-up later on, as well as the more creative guitar solo, adds a touch of interest to this otherwise impersonal-sounding piece, but still there is nothing particularly special about the performance or arrangement. I would’ve recommended more prominence in the drum set or bass here, if only for variation.

While the theme itself is certainly quite an exciting, blood-pumping composition, this piece lacks the necessary vigour and variation to sustain its momentum for very long. The main problem of this piece is its lack of “adding” or “subtracting” elements as it progresses, to create tension or forward movement. An average arrangement. (6/10)

07 – J-E-N-O-V-A

I don’t really know what happened here in the arrangers’ minds. First, an exciting, promising opening featuring screaming guitar, the original theme’s motif, a really effective bass part, and probably best of all, a percussion rhythm that fits remarkably well with the other parts.

Then, suddenly, we arrive at the bulk of the piece, and it all fades into disappointing mediocrity. While the rhythm section continues churning out addictiveness, we expect to be surprised with something a little deviant from the original melody here—sadly, all we get is the rather starchy, stiff tune stuck in a non-descript synth part, doing its duty solemnly. The rest of the piece follows this exact fashion with very few changes, including the bass part that, while refreshing originally, will really start to sound like a broken record by the three minute mark (it does not change whatsoever from the very beginning).

The notable violin solo is nice but falls short of being truly effective: not only is it not entirely appropriate in this synthesized, rock setting, but its melody is awkward and never quite develops into the right climax. It carries a feeling of uncertain purpose, probably due to the repetiveness of the rhythm section; the accompaniment should have changed to complement the unexpectedness of the violin.

Though this piece is lengthy, it fails to use much of its air-time effectively. The result is lots of repetitive drivel, awkward unexplained developments, and overall tedium in listening more than once or twice. To obtain maximum economy, they should have cut out about 50% of the length (six minutes with almost no development is a very long time!) and showed variation in the rhythm section. The ending was sort of disappointing and unnotable as well: the piece fades away on a low point rather than ending near the climax (if there were one). (5/10)

08 – Those who Fight Further

Not a whole lot of variation here, but that is actually a good thing. This piece is much more compact, packing more punch for its buck, and hardly ever suffers from totally languid immobility, unlike the previous track. Non-stop action from the electric guitars, which comes across as neither surprising nor poorly done. In the percussion, I particularly enjoy the cowbell—it has so much more bite than the weak, pale drum part in the original. The organ in this piece actually feels refreshing, rather than slow and lacking like in previous attempts. Altogether, not a particularly experimental or stand-out track, but a naturally effective theme to set in the heavy rock idiom. (9/10)

09 – Dancing Mad

Omitted from this review.

10 – Fight With Seymour

Like many of the pieces in The Black Mages, track 10 is slow-moving and repetitive. However, despite the many bars with little change, it is not a bad arrangement. The beginning of this piece is attention-grabbing—languid and peaceful synth strings with the electronic pattern in the background hinting of the impending action. After this introduction, the preparation for the main theme is no less exciting; the wide effect of the crash cymbal is very pleasant to the ear, and the rhythmic groove being established does everything right.

The piece moves smoothly into rhythmic section after rhythmic section, mixing it up all the time with new solos or percussion. Once the expected synth solo comes in, the excited energy of the piece begins to cool down, as the following two or three minutes of barely broken-up soloing is rather tiring to the ear. However, there are just about enough rhymthic variations to keep up the interest, especially for those who have never heard the original composition.

All-in-all, an overly long and unexperimental endeavour, but a well-arranged one nonetheless. The ending is spectacular, particularly when the much-awaited electric guitar can be heard. This last solo is the highlight of the entire piece. (7/10)