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Soma Bringer Premium Soundtrack :: Review by Don
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Album Title: | Soma Bringer Premium Soundtrack | Record Label: | Nintendo |
| Catalog No.: | Promotional | |
| Release Date: | February 28, 2008 | |
| Purchase: | Buy at eBay |
Overview
Due to be released in early April, Soma Bringer will mark the first soundtrack composed solely by Yasunori Mitsuda since Armodyne last year. Those who purchased the game in Japan were treated with the Soma Bringer Premium Soundtrack, offering an early glimpse into the full soundtrack.
Body
Although short, the Soma Bringer Premium Soundtrack is all quality. The soundtrack opens up with the main theme, Soma Bringer. Reminiscent of KiRite's "Circle of Eternity," this short piano-based theme boasts a powerful melody and is quite charming to hear.
The second track, "Schildkrote", is an interesting fusion of sounds for Mitsuda. Borrowing partly from Armodyne, Xenogears, Hako no Niwa, and perhaps a bit of Hitoshi Sakimoto, this theme offers a very playful militaristic theme that is quite mesmerizing. There is another strong melody. "Green Wind" is perhaps the most Celtic of all the samples on the soundtrack. The development of this piece is what impresses me the most. In addition to another stellar melody, the combination of strings, acoustic guitar, and piano really help to create another magical piece of music.
I am hoping that "Assault" is either a normal battle theme or a boss battle theme of sorts; if so, this is his best battle theme in a long, long time. Implementing crisis strings may be a bit clichéd, but you can easily forgive that once you hear everything else going on. Strong militaristic percussion, choral accents, Arabian instrumentation, and a touch of brass makes this one of the most exhilarating themes on the sampler and I assume the original soundtrack. If only Armodyne was of this caliber!
The soundtrack ends with "Ring." Another KiRite reminiscent performance, it resembles "Upon the Melodies of the Moon". The vocals, presumably by Eri Kawai or Koko Komine, the two vocalists for the album, reprise the melody introduced in "Soma Bringer".
Summary
A glimpse of the future can be good or bad. In this case, I think we are in for a treat. While his last release, Armodyne, wasn't a huge success, it offered many enjoyable pieces of music. Soma Bringer, created by the man behind Xenogears and Xenosaga, looks to offer music of that caliber to the table. Here's looking forward to an awesome April. I only hope I can also give the original soundtrack the score I'm giving this. You won't be able to find this one in stores unless you purchase the game from Japan, but the music previewed is of the utmost quality.
