I'm not totally familiar with all of the tracks on this album, as it's not exactly a “Nobuo Greatest Hits” track listing. Therefore, some tracks will have more in depth analysis' than others and most won't be compared to their original versions.
The album opens in a similar fashion to the last album, with ambient synths and slow guitars fading in with the track
The Rocking Grounds. The rest of the band enter with a slow groove, and then do the usual BM thang and speed the drums up. It has a decent solo from about 2:14 in, and I can tell you the guitar solos have definitely gone up a notch from the previous album. Whereas the best solo on TBM1 was obviously Dancing Mad, there are plenty of great sounding ones here. The rest of the song is pretty much typical BM, with the usual development of the main theme, and the sudden stop from out of nowhere.
Now apparently
Zeromus was a fan favourite to be put onto this album. I wouldn't know, I've not been bothered to play FFIV that much. But the track here is great. Starting of with a slow groove, again the tempo goes up with the inclusion of the main theme. A cool guitar melody and a very Dream Theater like section lead the way into a section that's very reminiscent of Force Your Way from the previous album. Then a small break into a mamma-whamma of a duel solo. The way the guitar and the keys unison when the keys come in is a touch of genius, I think. Then the guitar melody and a final solo before the classic STOP..
OH. MY. GOD. From the intro classical guitar to the acoustic solo halfway through to the Jordan Rudess-esque Hammond Organ solo,
Vamo' Alla Flamenco is probably the best track on here, joint with maybe The Skies Above (read on to find out more). Even with distortion and all the keys, it still retains the feel from the original. But the acoustic solo, ohmigodohmigodohmigodohmigod it's absolutely fantastic. It's perfectly placed, and leads perfectly into the section before the organ solo, which is almost as good as the acoustic one. An electric solo after the organ, and then into the intro reprised. Now, for a change, there's a proper ending to the song!
Hunter's Chance is a straight through rocker, with a solo chucked in for good measure. The main melody is darn good, but the song comes into it's own when the guitars drop out and the synth and piano take over. Oh wow, possibly the second best section on the album (the final solo of The Skies Above takes the top honour). The transition between the piano riff and the main riff is extremely good, but unfortunately the song ends ever so abruptly, which is probably the biggest drawback of this track.
Everyone knows
Otherworld, the metal song from the Final Fantasy X intro, but it's a pretty big shock to hear that the growled vocals and C# tuned guitar have been changed to FEMALE vocals and standard tuning. It does detract from the heaviness of the original, but it makes the tune sound a lot faster and more direct than it's darker precursor. And even though KAZCO (the female vocalist) has a strange accent, she does have a decent range and good tone. A weird sampled section then enters into an amazing guitar solo. Think of the one from the original, but a little shorter and you've got it. I do suppose that they sort of cheated with this track, as it was already a hard rock, guitar based tune anyway. But the changes they've made are pretty drastic, but are definitely not a bad thing.
Ai ai ai, the intro to
Matoya's Cave is amazing. I love the guitar tone. It reminds me of (don't kill me for the third mention of this band, there's just a lot of similarity between the two) John Petrucci's acoustic tone on A Change Of Seasons. The piece actually sounds like it wouldn't be out of place on the Final Fantasy IV Celtic Moon album (FFIV pieces done with a folk styling and instruments), just with electric guitars and drums instead of violins. That is, until the Hammond organ comes in with it's rocking backing. Very boogie based, sorta like the one from Shuffle and Boogie from the FFVIII soundtrack. Then the main theme comes back in with two decent solos and a couple of cool melody lines. And once again, a proper ending!!!
The Man With The Machine Gun is very reminiscent of the first track from the last album, with the staccato riff into a faster riff. Even though this track is instantly recognisable, it still reminds me of Battle Scene. The second melody is well executed here. The staccato riff returns just before a very Satch style solo which then goes into a proper 80's style shred solo (with all the tapping and such). The staccato riff is then turned into a very headbangable (new word!! w00t) riff and then goes back into the main theme has changed key by this time. This continues and finally ends with the staccato riff and yet ANOTHER proper ending! I'm impressed!
And now we have possibly the most requested track for this album,
Maybe I'm A Lion and it's the rockiest one so far. A cool riff continually repeated then goes into a harmonised break, which the leaves the way for a faster beat and the solo section. A Hammond solo first off which sounds darn cool then enters into a guitar solo which is the best electric solo here. It's a proper flashy shredder solo, with some fantastic sweeps here. It comes back into the rocking riff. Third time lucky, we've got yet another decent ending here. The guys have certainly found better ways to finish their songs this time.
I don't know why, but every time I hear
Battle With The Four Fiends I think of Dynasty Warriors 4 with the real cheesy neo-classical melodies. Lots of start-stop riffs lead into a piece which leads into a cool riff with a rocking bassline and some odd sounding organ over top of it. More start-stop riffs enter a keyboard riff which slams into the dueling solo section. Nothing too spectacular on the keyboard front but the guitars impress me yet again. Back into the main melody riff with a few more start-stop sections and a finished with a relatively good ending. It's more decisive than the others, but it still feels like they tried to find a way to finish the song and chucked it together at the last minute.
Anyone who has played Final Fantasy X will recognise the next intro - it's To Zanarkand, the piano piece from the intro. The song is actually called
The Skies Above, but it's still To Zanarkand to me. The riff that enters after this part though is really rocking, in fact the whole song is a proper rocker. But, and this is a BIG but, there is one MAJOR drawback to this song - the vocals. Mr. Goo (I kid you not) who is singing it obviously hasn't sung English lyrics before, and it shows. Luckily he ain't singing for long, and we enter a fantastic solo section, with a kick arse dueling solo piece, with I think the guitar coming out on top. A riff later brings the vocal melody back, but played on a flute over the top of clean guitar and synths. The song slows down completely and Goo enters again. It's a shame, because he actually has a decent range and tone, it's just there really needed to be Japanese lyrics for him to flaunt his skills. But the next section MORE than makes up for the vocals - the final solo has so much emotion poured into it it's unbelievable. It actually made my spine shiver, and not many songs do that. The main piano theme comes in after the final solo and we round up the Final Fantasy tracks on a perfect note.
Hmmm. I was tempted to not review this next track, as it's not Final Fantasy related at all, but as it's on the album I'll do it. The track is
Blue Blast - Winning The Rainbow and it's actually the entrance theme to Japanese K-1 Pro-Wrestler Murahama Takehiro. As all Japanese wrestling themes go, it's immensely cheesy and sounds like it should be a theme to a Gundam-style anime or something. It's got all the ingredients for a regular Black Mages track, with the big solo section about half way through, and a section that slows the track down and gives you a breather. It's not actually half bad considering what it's written for, but I don't think it really fits the rest of the album.
Album Negatives
Right, I'll get the bad things out of the way first. There's not exactly a lot of variety in this album. The structures are all similar, and the keyboard patches are all the same pretty much in all the tracks.
Also, the vocals by Mr. Goo in The Skies Above are absolutely atrocious, which is a massive shame considering how great the rest of the track is. In fact, with singing like Otherworld on this track, it would easily be the best song on here.
Album Positives
The guitars. Oh my the guitars. They were pretty good on the first album, but we're playing a whole new game here. Incredible technique, gut wrenching emotion and tons of amazing riffs just make this album, really. A lot of the melodies are very good, too. Very catchy and highly melodic.
Also, the unsung hero of the band is Arata Hanyuda on the drums. He plays with such accuracy and style that it's very hard not to notice him during the tracks. He doesn't show off, but he is obviously a highly technical drummer and it shows.
Final Rating
If you enjoy Final Fantasy music, or video game music, or progressive rock in the vein of DT or such bands, this deserves a 4.5/5. This is mainly because NO album is perfect, no matter what, and this one has a few minor flaws that have already been mentioned.
If not, then it's definitely a straight 4. The vocal tracks will put people off if they're the first tracks they hear (as The Skies Above is one of the sample tracks on the website) and some people may not get over the cheesiness and the premise of the band.
I'm still at a bind to whether this album is as good or better than the first one. The first one has a greater standard of tracks, but this one has better singular songs in comparison. I'd say they're both as good as each other, but don't hold me to that in a few weeks time when I've re-listened to both album.
