Final Fantasy - Battle Arrange: The Black Mages: Various Artists: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Better known as "The Black Mages", this album takes 10 battle musics from various Final Fantasy games and using a rock band, transforms them into a cross between good old 1970's classic rock and some excellent guitar workings much like Steve Vai.

Each song is very recognisable from the start and each has its own strong melody. Prehaps my favourite J-E-N-O-V-A is the most unconvential arrangement with a techno beat and some keyboard workings making it sound quite unique. Also a stand out is the 12 minute Dancing Mad, that never lets up.

Hard rock fans will enjoy this CD thoroughly, as will of course people who enjoy Game Music arrangements in general - this is one of the best examples of it around.

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0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars good but not good enough, 27 Jan 2007

By

T. Zhang (uk) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Final Fantasy - Battle Arrange: The Black Mages (Audio CD)

in short: after being treated by 20020220 and the other orchestrial/live performances this album is rather disappointing.

let me start by saying: i'm not a big fan of OSVs - if i was i wouldnt be spending big bucks on cds when i can tape/extract them myself from the game. for the asking price of this album i expected a live performance - not just a sterile synth recording straight from audition (or the likes). YES the stuff on this cd are original arrangements (and good one at that), but imho it sounds too much like a OSV.

for anyone who disagrees with me, check out "project magestic mix" to see my point - imho what the black mages should have been.

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Amazon.com: 4.3 out of 5 stars (24 customer reviews)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Metal With a Nostalgic Flare, 2 May 2004

By arucard107 - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Final Fantasy - Battle Arrange: The Black Mages (Audio CD)

Nobuo has put together an ansemble of some of Japan's finest rock instumentalists to play selected battle music from Final Fantasy games. The music is so good that it would fare well with any metal fan, not just Final Fantasy fans. I was surprised by two things with this CD. One, three of the ten tracks on this CD are from Final Fantasy 6(Number 3 in America), which is personally my favorite. Secondly, it lacks any music from Final Fantasy 9, which disappoints me. However, that is not enough to bring down the score as all of the tracks are of high quality. Bottom line is that this is a fantastic CD that will bring back memories of staying up all night and battling hordes of monsters in an effort to save the world.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some background., 23 Feb 2004

By "captain_crunch" - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Final Fantasy - Battle Arrange: The Black Mages (Audio CD)

This isn't some band that Uematsu hired to do his music; this is HIS band. He organized the Black Mages, and the keyboard parts you hear are him playing.

This is extremely good music, as progressive rock goes. Not being much of a fan of the genre myself, I can't give an opinion from a critical standpoint, but I must say that I quite enjoyed this CD. This is the sort of music that your idiot friends won't believe is from a game.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing..., 24 Jan 2005

By Aaron D. Ames "shootski" - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Final Fantasy - Battle Arrange: The Black Mages (Audio CD)

It was all I expected it to be . . . and so much more!

The arrangements were very well done, and the guitar-playing was superb. Not to mention Uematsu-san himself on keyboards. For the most part, the songs held to the originals, but tracks 3 and 8 sounded as if the had been pulled right out of the original soundtrack and recorded verbatim!

I highly recommend this album.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 24 reviews 4.3 out of 5 stars

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