The Black Mages III site opens - "Darkness and Starlight"

APZonerunner

At last a new Black Mages album is upon us, "Darkness and Starlight".

The Black Mages is Nobuo Uematsu's official Final Fantasy Music Rock Group.

That site has a clip of the track "Bombing Mission" from FF7 up for download right now. Anyone who hasn't heard the band before should really check out their previous albums. You guys might also know the band from Advent Children - they did all the rock stuff, and of course contributed the Advent ~ One Winged Angel track.

I myself am pumped. I can't wait for this, loved the last two albums, and hope that this new album inspires a wider tour (they've only played Japan about 4 times, and the US once.)

I'll update this OP when I find out a tracklist and such. Please have more FF6 and FF9 Tracks..

http://www.dogearrecords.com/tbm3/

EDIT:
Sample Track: http://www.dogearrecords.com/tbm3/opening_bombing_mission_sm1.wma
Album Trailer: http://www.dogearrecords.com/tbm3/TBM3_sp_trailer.wmv

Renzo

The sample track reminds me how much they use keyboard synth in these albums. I understand that Uematsu loves his keyboard, but it sounds so cheesy. It's supposed to be rock, but the guitar is often relegated to the background, this track in particular.

Here's hoping there are at least a few tracks that rock the fuck out.

Italax

Their versions of Battle on the Big Bridge and Maybe I'm a Lion are awesome though. Glad to see they're making a 3rd album.

APZonerunner

Renzo wrote: »

The sample track reminds me how much they use keyboard synth in these albums. I understand that Uematsu loves his keyboard, but it sounds so cheesy. It's supposed to be rock, but the guitar is often relegated to the background, this track in particular.

Here's hoping there are at least a few tracks that rock the fuck out.

Yeah, the track they've posted is rather underwhelming, and probably the first introduction track on the album (being opening/bombing misson it makes sense, I guess) I'm personally hoping for some more rocking old FF tunes.

Renzo

Yeah, Maybe I'm a Lion is probably my favorite track from them.

Italax

I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of FF7s music. It's really cool to hear their versions of the older tracks (I loved Matoya's Cave and Battle with the Four Fiends) and I love 8 and 9s soundtracks anyway. Something about 7s just doesn't sit with me.

APZonerunner

Reviving this thread to tell everyone they've now annonced the official Track Listing for the album:

1) "Opening ~ Bombing Mission" [Final Fantasy VII] (Kenichiro Fukui)
2) "Neo ExDeath" [Final Fantasy V - The Final Battle] (Michiro Okamiya)
3) "The Extreme" [Final Fantasy VIII] (Michio Okamiya)
4) "Assault of the Silver Dragons" [Final Fantasy IX] (Arata Hanyuda)
5) Kuraminokumo [Final Fantasy III - This is the Last Battle] (Kenichiro Fukui)
6) "Distant Worlds" [Final Fantasy XI] (Kenichiro Fukui)
7) "Premonition" [Final Fantasy VIII] (Tsuyoshi Sekito)
8) "Grand Cross" [Final Fantasy IX - "Final Battle"] (Keiji Kawamori)
9) "Darkness and Starlight" [Final Fantasy VI - "Mario and Draco"] (Tsuyoshi Sekito, Kenichiro Fukui, Michio Okamiya)
10) LIFE ~in memory of KEITEN~ (Original Composition by Nobuo Uematsu)

Nobuo says the FF6 Opera TBM version is over 15 minutes long.

Digest movie with song clips etc:
http://www.dogearrecords.com/movies/TBMdigest.wmv

DisruptorX2

ExDeath/X-Death/whatever you want to call him has quite possibly the most awful name in the history of RPG villains.

Anyways, synth aside, I've liked the Black Mages previous two albums. But seriously, more guitar, less synth please.

Italax

They're doing an XI track? That should be interesting, if it's the track I think it is.

Muramasa18

I loved their version of JENOVA from their first album I think, and Dancing Mad too.

APZonerunner

The XI track is I think the only one that Nobuo did for the game. Given it's his band on his record label, they've only done songs he's written. In that 1up interview he didn't seem to agree with the FF series continuing at all without Sakaguchi, so..

Strifer

The second album had those two vocal tracks that made the first album win out in my mind. A shame, since it cancelled out the Zeromus arrangement, which is one of my favourites.

It seems that they are going for the record with this one. Let's see how it turns out.

MinionOfCthulhu

Italax wrote: »

They're doing an XI track? That should be interesting, if it's the track I think it is.

It's this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyYI9FhXXug
Damn good track.

I'm looking forward for the third Black Mages album, but only just to see if they correct what I think is wrong with them: Not enough ROCK. Too much synthy keyboard crap, you know? Listen to Guilty Gear XX Sound Alive and then listen to a Black Mages song. You can hear the difference.

Sorenson

To be honest, outside of a few outliers I've never really noticed much of a synth problem with their songs, and most everything feels like it's in its proper place, synth and guitar swapping out lead at just the right time (Maybe I'm A Lion in particular).

As far as the sample track goes, I think it's more that it's just a crappy track to try and work with for what they do as opposed to any of their own quality.

Baka_Shade

Hm...yeah, Bombing Mission would seem to be a poor choice of a track. At least the way they sound like they're handling it, it comes out like just a better produced version of the original. Their synth stuff has never really bothered me, but here it seems like layered keys are doing pretty much everything. The guitar bits at the end of the sample sound interesting, though.

I'm definitely psyched for this, though, the FFIX tracks in particular. I mean, the original Grand Cross was pretty brutal to begin with...(but then again, so was Otherworld. XD)

Chen

I love synths mixed with guitars when used in moderation, and I think it fits the series, but their second album had some of the worst keyboard solos I have ever heard, most notably Matoya's Cave. As for their latest album, I think they covered pretty much everything I wanted to hear, except maybe Those Who Fight and Don't Be Afraid.

Narian

I don't know why but I just couldn't get into their second album as much as their first - which I LOVE.

Delzhand

DisruptorX2 wrote: »

ExDeath/X-Death/whatever you want to call him has quite possibly the most awful name in the history of RPG villains.

Anyways, synth aside, I've liked the Black Mages previous two albums. But seriously, more guitar, less synth please.

Back in the day, things got translated wrong a lot. Exodus? Man, X-death is... close... I guess... but yeah.

0blique

Wow, another black mages album? Sounds pretty interesting, especially with yet another version of the FF6 opera scene. I'll have to buy a copy when it's released.

agoaj

So are they immune to being broken up by a Japanese chick or extra vulnerable?

Tonberry King

DisruptorX2 wrote: »

ExDeath/X-Death/whatever you want to call him has quite possibly the most awful name in the history of RPG villains.

Anyways, synth aside, I've liked the Black Mages previous two albums. But seriously, more guitar, less synth please.

But he also has one of the best final battle themes in the series. It's not One Winged Angel but it's up there.

I'm looking forward to that track as well as this album.

EvilBadman

agoaj wrote: »

So are they immune to being broken up by a Japanese chick or extra vulnerable?

Obviously, they'll be broken up by a British chick.

Italax

Tonberry King wrote: »

DisruptorX2 wrote: »

ExDeath/X-Death/whatever you want to call him has quite possibly the most awful name in the history of RPG villains.

Anyways, synth aside, I've liked the Black Mages previous two albums. But seriously, more guitar, less synth please.

But he also has one of the best final battle themes in the series. It's not One Winged Angel but it's up there.

I'm looking forward to that track as well as this album.

Personally, I think that One-Winged Angel is the single most over-rated Final Fantasy song. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it's no where near being the best Final Fantasy track like people claim it is.

Fencingsax

Italax wrote: »

Tonberry King wrote: »

DisruptorX2 wrote: »

ExDeath/X-Death/whatever you want to call him has quite possibly the most awful name in the history of RPG villains.

Anyways, synth aside, I've liked the Black Mages previous two albums. But seriously, more guitar, less synth please.

But he also has one of the best final battle themes in the series. It's not One Winged Angel but it's up there.

I'm looking forward to that track as well as this album.

Personally, I think that One-Winged Angel is the single most over-rated Final Fantasy song. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it's no where near being the best Final Fantasy track like people claim it is.

Well, I didn't want to be the one to say it.

Tonberry King

Fencingsax wrote: »

Italax wrote: »

Tonberry King wrote: »

DisruptorX2 wrote: »

ExDeath/X-Death/whatever you want to call him has quite possibly the most awful name in the history of RPG villains.

Anyways, synth aside, I've liked the Black Mages previous two albums. But seriously, more guitar, less synth please.

But he also has one of the best final battle themes in the series. It's not One Winged Angel but it's up there.

I'm looking forward to that track as well as this album.

Personally, I think that One-Winged Angel is the single most over-rated Final Fantasy song. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it's no where near being the best Final Fantasy track like people claim it is.

Well, I didn't want to be the one to say it.

Pshhh. Another victim of "Final Fantasy 7 is overrated lol."

Italax

Tonberry King wrote: »

Fencingsax wrote: »

Italax wrote: »

Tonberry King wrote: »

DisruptorX2 wrote: »

ExDeath/X-Death/whatever you want to call him has quite possibly the most awful name in the history of RPG villains.

Anyways, synth aside, I've liked the Black Mages previous two albums. But seriously, more guitar, less synth please.

But he also has one of the best final battle themes in the series. It's not One Winged Angel but it's up there.

I'm looking forward to that track as well as this album.

Personally, I think that One-Winged Angel is the single most over-rated Final Fantasy song. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it's no where near being the best Final Fantasy track like people claim it is.

Well, I didn't want to be the one to say it.

Pshhh. Another victim of "Final Fantasy 7 is overrated lol."

I just like Battle on Big Bridge more.

Strifer

Singling out the best track in all the series is hard, but there's a lot of solid contenders. I'd personally go for The Extreme.

APZonerunner

..Which is on this album.

Nobuo himself actually said how surprised he was with One Winged Angel's popularity. He doesn't think it's the best song, but he thinks it was just the right type of track at the right time in the right game. Which is pretty much right.

First Epic 'Experimental' Choir track + Last Boss + first worldwide FF + huge success of a game + Great villain = great memories.

Anyway... not long now. I'm really excited for The Extreme, Distant Worlds, Assault of the Silver Dragons and the Opera. I'm excited for it all but those in particular.

My preorder is down already.. hope it ships early. Already hearing this Album I hope it isn't the end, and I hope they extend out of FF into some of Nobuo's other stuff (Lost Odyssey in particular) seeing as Square owns the songs but not the band, and all TBM does is pay royalties to cover the songs.

Henroid

I'm kinda disappointed with the Bombing Mission mix sample. At about 40 seconds they bring in a terrible sounding guitar. And everything before that just kinda sounds like an update on the original track, if not almost identical.

The Black Mages are kinda hit and miss for me. Clash on the Big Bridge is the most awesome track they've done, not only because it rocks out, but it keeps the same pace of the original music. The FF6 battle music mix they did slowed it down, and would've sounded better a bit faster.

Chen

Force Your Way and Maybe I'm a Lion are my favorite tracks of each album. FF8 has a pretty underrated soundtrack overall.

APZonerunner

While the FF6 battle theme can be done at it's base speed, with that many live intsruments I think it would've been a clusterfuck, which is why they slowed it down.

Bombing Mission I'm pretty meh over. It's not like the guitar can do anything interesting until it hits the actual bombing part, and even there that's a mostly bass driven track in the orignal game so eh. I'll be interesting to hear but the track on the album I'm least excited for.

And reposting for new page:


1) "Opening ~ Bombing Mission" [Final Fantasy VII] (Kenichiro Fukui)
2) "Neo ExDeath" [Final Fantasy V - The Final Battle] (Michiro Okamiya)
3) "The Extreme" [Final Fantasy VIII] (Michio Okamiya)
4) "Assault of the Silver Dragons" [Final Fantasy IX] (Arata Hanyuda)
5) Kuraminokumo [Final Fantasy III - This is the Last Battle] (Kenichiro Fukui)
6) "Distant Worlds" [Final Fantasy XI] (Kenichiro Fukui)
7) "Premonition" [Final Fantasy VIII] (Tsuyoshi Sekito)
8) "Grand Cross" [Final Fantasy IX - "Final Battle"] (Keiji Kawamori)
9) "Darkness and Starlight" [Final Fantasy VI - "Mario and Draco"] (Tsuyoshi Sekito, Kenichiro Fukui, Michio Okamiya)
10) LIFE ~in memory of KEITEN~ (Original Composition by Nobuo Uematsu)

Nobuo says the FF6 Opera TBM version is over 15 minutes long.

Digest movie with song clips etc:
http://www.dogearrecords.com/movies/TBMdigest.wmv

Henroid

Grand Cross better have the potential I'm assuming it to.

Hylianbunny

I've got high, high hopes for the track Darkness and Starlight.

APZonerunner

If you watch the video it sounds pretty good. Problem is it's the synthy bit of the song, the second the lead (guitar) kicks in the preview fades out.

Darkness and Starlight is in the video too, and has 3 clips. Two very short (basically just FF6 bits with TBM sound) and then one long, which is the section the guys themselves sing in. They're doing backing singing behind the two opera singers in what I think is the 'duel' section of the song, just extended.

Strifer

I do not vividly remember the Neo ExDeath track, but I certainly do remember that awesome ExDeath fight one where it faked out a wind down with drums. Oh God, it was like the game was giving me an aural blowjob right there, coupled with an all-out pivotal fight of the game.

cheez

Italax wrote: »

Personally, I think that One-Winged Angel is the single most over-rated Final Fantasy song. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it's no where near being the best Final Fantasy track like people claim it is.

Agreed. Hell, I don't even think it's the best FFVII song.

Xenogears of Bore

FF VII has a solid soundtrack. The main theme is really good at getting me motivated.
FF VIII has an amazing soundtrack. Very interesting musically.
FF IX is a very love/hate soundtrack. It tries its hardest to set a certain mood, but maybe it fails.

I'm excited for this CD at any rate.

Not Black Mages related but the best, most underrated FF soundtrack is the one from FF:CC. So...many...great...tracks.

MechMantis

Xenogears of Bore wrote: »

FF VII has a solid soundtrack. The main theme is really good at getting me motivated.
FF VIII has an amazing soundtrack. Very interesting musically.
FF IX is a very love/hate soundtrack. It tries its hardest to set a certain mood, but maybe it fails.

I'm excited for this CD at any rate.

Not Black Mages related but the best, most underrated FF soundtrack is the one from FF:CC. So...many...great...tracks.

Seconded. Very seconded. The only problem was that...

The Raem track wasn't the music for the final form of the last boss.

Arcibi

APZonerunner wrote: »

Nobuo says the FF6 Opera TBM version is over 15 minutes long.

If it ends up sounding anything like what it sounds like in my imagination it's going to be epic

Sorenson

I ain't linkin' to shit for obvious reasons, but after reading those posts about the synth problems I started looking for the songs I hadn't ripped to see if that was because of the synth or because the songs in general didn't do anything for me, and apparently one or more of the new tracks got leaked, and fuck if I wasn't curious about that FF3 one.

Spoiled for...well, I guess the reason can apply to music as well:

Overall it's a pretty good track, and I'll stick by my opinion that they generally manage to maintain a decent balance between synth and guitar lead. Starts out a little synth-heavy, but I think that's more to sort of tie in with how the song initially sort of sounded with ye olde NES soundboard before they go off on their thing than a genuine problem, and from there it plays out really well.

There are a few things that bugger me a bit, though:

A) The second half of the guitar solo during the middle just seems kind of wierd to me, it sounds like the guy got a little too carried away with freestyling and it didn't seem to mesh with the stuff before or after very well, certainely not in the way that that one solo from Maybe I'm A Lion that initially sounded random really ended up tying in with the rest of the song.
The way it gets back onto the main pattern after they're done with their original part, about four minutes in, is strangely minimalist and makes me feel like I've run into a brick wall with a tiny chute at head-height and my cranium's still rolling along on momentum. A door with a ramp would have been much appreciated, so to say.

While the first two albums I'm pretty satisfied with, that clip video's making me think #3's gonna' be a lot more hit-or-miss. Guess it's time to start usin Itunes or something.

forty

The Black Mages give me infinity boners. I could do without the awkward vocal tracks, though.