Mr Satan: When it comes to me and remixes I don't mix very well. I do though agree that The Extreme needs a remix, it was impressive the PS1 FFVIII and definately needs a remix. In my opinion some tracks should be remixed and some shouldn't. I prefer Maybe I'm a Lion in the original soundtrack. But like you say

you are right magus, at least we agre in The Extreme!!
i remember that after i heard about of the first black mages album, i really wanted it to be in the album, but it didnt make it, not even in the second.
now is the change Mr. UEMATSU PLEASE DO THE EXTREME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel alienated by not knowing all the old battle themes... I'm largely a VII/VIII kid. I think the first album was more to my liking than the second - just something about it was in a way, less polished - but at the same time made it better, y'know?

The only song I can think of that I want to see remixed that hasn't been done... hmm... Birth Of A God would be cool, I'll admit. I also really liked the WEAPON music, even though it was relatively simple. Chocobo themes would also rock hardcore.

Hi All! Sorry for bad English ^_-
I am from Russia ^_^
TBM is my favourite group, and i want to know where i can find (download) 1st album in good quality (bit rate 240+).
And what about 3rd album, are there any news?

well try browsing my stuff forum there should be some people sharing it on their ftps, if you cant find it, send me a PM and ill upload it and send it to you.

heh different tastes indeed, the version of the Maybe I'm a Lion on BM2 is hands down my favorite Black Mages song... followed by Zeromus and Matoya's Cave.

Regarding BM3, I wouldn't be surprised if we see some more from FFVI as it was passed over in BM2. I also wouldn't expect to see much from VIII or IX as they both had 2 tracks on BM2. I do like the idea of "The Extreme" being black-mageifyed, it is one of the odder final battle songs and I really think they could do something special with the slow guitar intro.

If it were up to me, a few of my requests would be "The Fierce Battle" (AtmaWeapon fight) from FFVI, "Last Battle" from FFV, "Messenger of Darkness" from FFIX, and some variety of Chocobo theme. I'm a pretty big fan of FFVIII's (Mods de Chocobo), but hey, it's hard to go wrong with the choco tunes.

i agree with you maybe im a a lion and zeromus, are my favs!!
I can remember when i was a kind loving the song and beating the ff2 snes game over and over to listen to the song.

regarding BM3, well i agree, songs from FFVI and FFV, and i really hope that i can hear the extreme, i always liked the song.

Any news on when this (double) album might be released? I've been looking, and all I can find is that they will begin working on it in the "near future" (from the Wikipedia entry on them).

Nothing seems to have been announced yet - the album was supposedly due for last autumn, but it hasn't appeared on any release calanders... :(

Hi dudes,

As I know, The Black Mages visited Extra ~Hyper Game Music Event 2007 Live~. But there is no info - what tracks are played, few words from the band?..

Fuck... I mean, someone must put review about this event or so. Maybe it's only on jap. blogs? What happened?..

It seems that many people forgot this great band. It makes me very sad :(

D!zzy, there was plenty of Japanese magazine & JP blog coverage about the EXTRA live 2007 event...

To answer your immediate questions, the Black Mages performed 4 songs: 　

　　最後の死闘 (FF3)
　　Those Who Fight Further (FF7)
　　Maybe I'm a Lion (FF8)
　　Clash on the Big Bridge (FF5)

At this event, Nobuo said that the Black Mages III Album should be done around early 2008.

For photos and tracklists for all the performers, here's one of the better website writeup coverage of the live shows:

Part 1 http://www.microgroup.co.jp/gs/ex-report/ex-report.htm
Part 2 http://www.microgroup.co.jp/gs/ex-report/ex-report2.htm

Aw, Carl is my hero again! Thank you!! Do you know, any plans to made video?
*damn, why i don't know japanese already?* =)

Well, nice to see that they are actually continuing with working on new material, the planned second disc fusing Traditional Japanese Folk Music with Modern J-Rock should be an unusual and interesting listening experience, that is... if that part is still planned.

As further confirmation, Uematsu was questioned by a fan at the recent concert in Stockholm about the album's release, and promised it would be out in March of 2008. Here's hoping it'll be worth the wait.

I think this is a good time to bump this old thread.
The album is due to release on March 19th and plenty of info is available now.

Track list:

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

Official Site
The Blog Mages 2008

Unfortunately, it will be a one disc album after all. :(
At the official site you can watch a few promotional videos/interviews. Samples of all the tracks (except track 10) can be heard in background during those.
Track 5 isn't new, it's "This is the Last Battle", the bonus track from FF III DS OST. :(

About track 10:

I think the title track, "Darkness and Starlight" is going to be really special.

Yeah, the mages themselves sing the chorus, and in the last video Uematsu says the opera singers from the previous orchestral concerts (which means mr. goo as well :tpg:) return. Semi-humorous, semi-epic, just like "The Skies Above", but bigger and better! (I hope) :)

So, what're everybody's expectations?

Darkness and Starlight is going to be the most awful thing ever. Well, except for a version which would be presented by mr. goo's horrible wailing.

Hopefully there will be 1-2 decent tracks on this one too, like on the previous albums.

Track 1 will hopefully rock my socks, since that's one of my favorite video game tunes ever. Though, the most likely event is that they will butcher it and ruin it forever :(

I'm expecting some seriously great things from this album. The tracklist seems very good! I'm very interested in #10, though; the story's sad. :(

I'm honestly expecting about a 50/50 split with this album in terms of the successfulness of the arrangements. From what I've heard of the samples, this doesn't sound too bad after all. I'm still a sucker for rock arrangements of classic FF tunes, so I'm pretty sure I'll like this even if there are quite a few stinkers.

I'm about the hugest fan of "Premonition" you'll find anywhere, by the way.

4, 6, 9, and 10 would be the only tracks I wouldn't have too good of an idea for. I've only heard a long vocal version of 9 on Distant Worlds. The rest seems to be gold, and my wish for them to finally cover the Extreme has come true! I think that if Serenade and others can successfully combine two songs like Premonition and The Extreme, then the Black Mages should be able to come out with something even more amazing just focusing on remixing single songs.

No Dark Messenger AGAIN, however Premonition and The Extreme from VIII and the Final Battle from IX will definitely be something to look forward to. Honestly, I was about to go back to this thread and bump it up, asking when/if there was a release date.

I guess that question's been answered. ^_^

yeah the extreme made it!!!
at last im lloking forward to it!!!

For somebody who's getting a bit sick of FF music, hopefully this will lighten my spirits, though I don't want anymore vocal tragedy like in the last album. UGH!

Sekito seems to do a really good job when arranging, so I have some good expecations.

THE BLACK MAGES -Darkness and Starlight-

Here's samples of every track except the last one, which is a new composition by Uematsu.

A sample of the last track can be heard in their final video.