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Nier Gestalt Mini Album :: Review by Don
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Album Title: | Nier Gestalt Mini Album |
| Record Label: | Square Enix | |
| Catalog No.: | Promotional | |
| Release Date: | April 22, 2010 | |
| Purchase: | Buy at eBay |
Overview
In addition to the release of the Nier Gestalt & Nier Replicant Original Soundtrack, the games themselves came packaged with a bonus album. Those purchasing the Xbox 360 version of the game in Japan received the Nier Gestalt Mini Album. Featuring four themes from the original soundtrack and one theme exclusive to this album, would it be worth picking?
Body
Like the opening to the soundtrack, the opening to this mini album is also "Snow in Summer". The superbly crafted melody is portrayed in an angelic manor by a boys' choir. As the theme progresses, some militaristic percussion and some beautiful strings work is added. It helps bring about an extra touch of atmosphere and harmony and really strengthens an already perfect melody. The piece ends with some electronic elements lending its way into the melody as well, giving it a bit of an ethereal nature as well. "The Lost Forest" is an extremely beautiful action-oriented theme that also employs the melody, but it is much more subtle in approach. The instrumental theme features amazing percussion work, however, the true star here, aside from the superb melody, is the Spanish guitar work.
"Blu-bird" is a composition features a lot of interesting elements. For example, the ominous choral opening by Okabe distorts a bit, giving it a darker tone. When combined with persistent chanting, percussion work, and electronic elements, listeners are offered a particularly intense theme. "Emil / Karma" is one of the more action-oriented vocal themes on the soundtrack. Rhythmic ethnic percussion and piano are the driving forces behind this piece. Featuring the boys' choir heard in "Snow in Summer," their delicate voices really contrast nicely with the instrumentation. In particular, I really enjoy when the strings are introduced to harmonize with the melody.
The exclusive track on this album, entitled "Kaine / Rain of Light" is a blissful electronic rendition of the Kaine theme. Featuring Emi Evans' eminent vocals, as with the original Kaine themes, it really manages to win listener's hearts. I really think that Emi Evans' voice and the bubbly, yet solemn, electronic notes match quite well together.
Summary
In the end, do I enjoy this album? Of course I do, but, at the same time, I feel as though it is a better investment to purchase the original soundtrack because you'll get a lot more quality compositions. The exclusive theme here is enjoyable and accessible, but probably not worth spending a ton of money on.
