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Tales of Eternia Original Soundtrack :: Review by Dave
OverviewThe Tales series is renowned for its music, but for all the wrong reasons. Sakuraba's train of thought gets clearly wiped out when he composes for this series, and this is because of two reasons; Sakuraba goes to sleep at an ungodly hour in the morning, and secondly, the sheer amount of tracks that he has to compose would be a strain on anyone's brain. Indeed, this doesn't necessarily excuse Shinji Tamura's contributions. The Tales of Eternia Original Soundtrack has over one hundred tracks, but with a majority of them falling short of the two minute mark, they aren't exactly excellent ones. The main worry lies on the second disc. There is of course, the odd sophisticated track on the second disc, but with these acting like honey in a bee's nest, the other one minute nasties swarm around them, making them very hard to find. With there being so many tracks with little purpose to them, I hope that you won't mind this prose review, since it would turn me insane if I were to comment on each of them. The album starts off with some themes that are enjoyable to listen to, as with a majority of the themes having a catchy melody there isn't much that will deter the casual listener. The critical listener, however, will notice that Sakuraba and Tamura generally fail to develop half of the themes to any great length, and so, each of these tracks ends with a heap of undiscovered potential left behind. The first track on this disc is "Main Title," and even this ends without a climax. The majority of the track is grand and it even rivals some of Sakuraba's title themes for the Star Ocean series, but with the track disappearing into thin air, it becomes a mystery to find out what was running through his head on that day. Soon enough, Sakuraba introduces us to another grand and awe-inspiring track. "Ship" has a pretty blunt name, but I can assure you that the intertwining melodies that the track offers are far from dull. With the theme lasting for a mere minute and a third, it isn't a track that I would choose to listen to over and again, which is unfortunate, seeing as though this is the main ship theme. "Airial Board" has much the same effect, and so, Sakuraba's themes here seem to run dry.
Nonetheless, they soon pick up the pace with "Mintche," a refreshing and simple theme that will leave many fans with a warm heart. The accordion is a key instrument in this track, and with an arpeggio running in the background of the track, too, the variation that the accordion offers is nicely complimented. Sakuraba and Tamura attempt to utilise this light-hearted effect elsewhere on the disc, and they hits the spot with "Morle," which comes just four tracks later. "Morle" starts off with a quaint chime melody, but when an orchestra is added to the background of the track, whole new emotions are produced. I would certainly class this track as being one of the best on the disc as it just grows in such an unexpected way. The next tracks, "Undine Stream" and "Royal Observatory" are much the same as "Morle" in that they start off simply and then go into an orchestrated section. Even so, they show some variation in that the orchestration is only really added to produce a sense of mysticalness. This is very much the case for most of the initially simple tracks that follow this track, with "Celestia Map," and "Luishka" being prime examples of this.
The dominating features of this disc are the ominous themes, battle themes, and militaristic themes. They then develop these themes far better than any other track on the disc, and thus they become an asset to the album. The first battle theme, namely "Ability Test," is filled with tension enhancing instruments that are adrenalin pumping as well as melodic. The main instrument that is used here is the organ, and with Sakuraba giving it a nice solo section too, the track gains a sense of originality from it. The next battle theme that we hear is "Efreet Gorge," and once again, an organ is used in the track. This track isn't as effective as the likes of "Ability Test," but with a sense of action and fear being brought about by the quick tempo, it is still a good track. "Railroad" is another track that sounds battle-like, as with a drum kit giving off a frantic set of beats and the melody on top oozing with action, that 'let's kill all the enemies' feeling is certainly brought about. This theme is very different to the two previous themes in that it is more upbeat as well. Overall, we are given a nice selection of themes here. "Forest of Temptation" is the first dark theme on the disc. Although the track is only one and a half minutes long, the effect that it creates is inspiring and as good as any. The timbre of this track is especially creative, as with a flute melody playing against some atonal synth, a warped sense of purity is given off. This track doesn't really have any melodic goodness, so it is solely atmospheric and creative rather than melodic and harmonic. "Below Regulus Knoll" is similar in nature, and with sound effects being added on top, a sense of tension is created as the mind links this to a dungeon-like area. Each theme features a slow moving bass that gives the image of a foe getting increasingly closer, but it is only in "Below Regulus Knoll" that dynamic variation is used to clarify this image. They are both successful in this area, and then, by grouping the effects that were utilised within the battle themes and these eerie themes, they creates a selection of perfect militaristic themes. I won't go into to all of them due to the sheer amount of them, but there is one that stands out above the others. "Farah," an arrangement of "Farah Theme," is definitely the best track on this disc. The power of the bass and the strength of the melody are profound, and with Sakuraba and Shinji Tamura combining a sense of mysticalness with a sense of grandeur, too, a great militaristic image is produced. From hereon, everything takes a turn for the worst when the second disc starts off with nonsensical tracks that last for just over thirty seconds. I won't describe these themes, as most of them don't even serve any purpose to the album, other than to point out to the listener that they were used in the game. I can only describe this disc as being totally substandard, and although you may not want to believe it, even a majority of the battle themes are cheesy. The first battle theme that we hear is an exception to this, but it creates another problem in that it is entitled "Final Battle" yet it is only 0:47 long. The atmosphere created in this battle theme is short-lived, and with the instrumentation proving to be completely ineffective, it is also the worst battle theme on the album. So, we now move on to "Mid Boss 1" and "Mid Boss 2," the former is an unworthy ominous theme and the latter is a cheesy theme that relies far too much on its synth bass. After listening to Sakuraba's work on Disc One, hearing battle tracks that have as much power as a broken motor is disappointing. Some fans may like the cheesy style of battle tracks such as "Strange Battle," "Celestia Battle," and "Inferia Battle," but otherwise, these themes aren't worth listening to. As ever, Sakuraba offers us some ominous exceptions, but these tracks, namely "Time Battle," and "Great Battle 2," are totally wrecked by the madness that surrounds them.
So, what next? Do they redeem themeselves like they normally do? Not yet. Instead of taking a similar route to his works earlier in the album, Sakuraba carries on with his newfound style and creates a number of cheesy, yet inappropriate, tracks. The first of these is "Jini," a jazzy track that is extremely feeble. The start of the track is effective enough, but when the brass synth is introduced in a totally uncoordinated style, everything goes kaput. The next track that we are introduced to is "Celestia Ground," which would have been a nice and jolly theme without any annoying additions, but when Sakuraba directs the track into a chromatic glockenspiel section, it becomes just as annoying as "Jini." Sakuraba and Tamura dish out plenty of these themes, with "Chat Theme," "Dance Music," and "Minigame 1" being amongst the endless examples. There isn't anything that I can compare to these tracks, but think of it as a Hanjuku Hero Original Soundtrack and Mario Tennis 64 Original Soundtrack blend, which, may I add, is a fatal concoction, despite the fact that the albums aren't bad on a stand alone basis. In all honesty, I pressed the stop button at this point, but I soon realised that I was wrong to do so.
With all of these tracks being the relentless bees that strive to protect the honey, the listener is finally offered some good tracks when they retreat. Most of these themes are incomparable to the tracks on the first disc, but on a disc that is full of preposterous themes, they come as a blessing. The first of such themes, "Aibird" is an airy gem that is a pleasure to listen to. A synth instrument and a clarinet are used in this track, and although this may seem like an odd combination, it really works. "Seyfert Shrine" is similar in style, but this time, we are introduced to a lovely developed section in which the main instrument is given a solo line. The slow pace and perfect instrumentation in this track does it a great deal of justice, and so it excels in comparison to "Aibird." "Seyfert Observatory" shares the same melody, and although it isn't as good, it still rates as one of the finest on this disc. The major difference in this track is the instrumentation, which is now music box orientated. Soon enough, they leave the styles that they had produced in "Aibird" and "Seyfert Shrine" behind him and moves on to explore the deep depths of darkness. "Strange Labyrinth" is the first of these, and it is truly tension enhancing in nature. An increasing tempo, gradually increasing dynamics, and a repeated motif make this piece a fantastic and eerie track to listen to. "Bad Memories" is very similar in style, but with a dominance of strings, the timbre created is very different. The difference in instrumentation is very significant here, as it just goes to show what different timbres can do. The instrumentation in "Bad Memories" is undoubtedly the best choice as the atmosphere is even more menacing. Last but not least, the "...Theme" series that features on Disc Two is another asset to the album. Some of the tracks here are poor, but with there being three tracks that especially stand out, it is a successful collection of tracks overall. The best of these themes is "Aifread Theme," a pride filled and well developed track. Sadly, it is rather short, but with there being so much development within this time, it is a heart-warming experience. SummaryThis album does have two immediate downfalls. First of all, the structure of the second disc makes it hard to understand the storyline of the game. "Final Battle" appears before "Mid Battle 1," and the opening and ending vocal themes are split on another split album. The second downfall is that the album features over one hundred tracks and at least sixty of these are totally uninspiring. The odd gem does pop up, however, and when it does, you'll be glad that you bought the album. It is slightly painful skipping through tracks just to get to a good one, but with dazzling themes such as "Ability Test," "Farah," and "Aifread Theme" being amongst the pleasures that you receive, your efforts won't go unnoticed. It takes a lot of guts to listen to this album all the way through, and if you must, be wary of the second disc. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this album to any casual listeners, but rather to album collectors and dedicated Sakuraba and Shinji Tamura fans. Percentage Overall Score: 70% |
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