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Dirge of Cerberus Final Fantasy VII: Redemption - Gackt :: Review by Totz
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Album Title: | Dirge of Cerberus Final Fantasy VII: Redemption - Gackt |
| Record Label: | Nippon Crown | |
| Catalog No.: | CRCP-10130 | |
| Release Date: | January 25, 2006 | |
| Purchase: | Buy at CDJapan |
Overview
Pretty much every big Square Enix game of the past few years has had a theme song. Final Fantasy VIII had Faye Wong's "Eyes on Me," Final Fantasy IX had Emiko Shiratori's "Melodies of Life," Final Fantasy X had Rikki's "Suteki da ne," and so on, so forth with the Kingdom Hearts series, Grandia III, and much more all following the trend. It would have been near impossible for Dirge of Cerberus Final Fantasy VII, perhaps the biggest game in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series, not to have some sort of theme song. In fact, not only does it have one, but it has TWO, although since the single is named after one of them, that should be the important one.
Anyway, the artist chosen for the job was Gackt, Japan's favourite almost 500-year old vampire. He has had a somewhat long history of rock songs, so it's no wonder both are written in that style.
Body
I'll review the other way around because that's just who I am. Crazy like a vampire like a fox.
Track two, "Longing," is the strangest of the two, with the use of weird electronic noises to accompany the band's playing. Gackt's vocal are superb as usual, and, speaking of which, his singing sounds like it's being muffled by something, except on the chorus. But if you thought that was as odd as it gets, you're wrong. Towards the 2:25 mark, all the rocking takes a backseat to an organ, some strings, and even female chants! Creativity ran rampant on this one, it seems. In my 20 years of existence, never have I thought an organ would come to mind when I think about a longing feeling. Never ever... Also, I thought the guitar riffs were awesome, so kudos to his band as well.
"Redemption," however, is more my kind of music. It's, well, more normal than "Longing," but that's what not makes the song better in my opinion. It's a very good example of how less is more; instead of having crazy sections like the ones in the previous composition, it sticks to being a regular rock track, which is not a bad thing at all. It's straight up J-Rock, which could be what you were expecting from Gackt. That's what I had in mind, and my expectations were fulfilled, that's for sure.
The other two tracks of the album are simply karaoke versions of "Redemption" and "Longing," so you can faux-sing or try to imitate Gackt or whatever. Some people like it, some don't. I don't, but that's because singing isn't really my forte, so to speak. To be honest, speaking isn't that a strong trait of mine, because people are always complaining Ispeaktoofast and they can't understand me. Crazy, eh?
Summary
Vampire boy did a wonderful job with both songs, each exploring a different side (maybe even feeling) of Vincent's quest to redeem himself after what happened to his love, Lucrecia, way back when, even before the happenings of Final Fantasy VII.
Still, I wish I was a bit more familiarized with his works (both his Malice Mizer and GacktJOB eras) as to compare them with these two songs. Nevertheless, this single is fantastic, but it's VERY short. With only two original tracks, I'm not sure I could recommend this as a purchase for the casual fan. But chances are if you were mildly interested in this album, you're not Joe VGM Buyer.
