Goddammit, I didn't knock on wood when I said that. "Mr. goo" will indeed be "singing" on this particular track, according to new information. This will send extremely bad karma all over the album and its release. A black dawn is rising and the apocalypse is nowish. Everything we love will die a painful death. Thank you, mr. goo.

It really is that bad news. I don't know if I'll be able to listen to the cd even once. He could lurk on any of the other tracks too... OH GOD. =(

Well, maybe you've all had wrong expectations for this album. I've never seen so many negative previews of a CD just based on tracklist speculations. And it's not only at this place.
Oh.. your favorite track didn't make it again? Well be glad that way it can't be performed by mr.goo.

What I've heard so far is awesome, even though some tracks are lacking too many guitars for a Black Mages album (The Extreme is just synth, isn't it). The tracklist completely satisfies me by taking the (STILL) underrated tracks like Assault of the Silver Dragons and Neo Exdeath and giving them some fresh taste.

I think this turns out a lot better than Black Mages II.

The tracklist makes me sad . . . I was hoping and wishing for an awesome Organ + Guitar Birth of a God.



Dammit, Motoi, just cover the damn song already. You'd actually do it justice (if it was live instruments)

We've published an interview with Uematsu-san to go along with the album release:

Darkness and Starlight Interview.

Some interesting bits of info here, especially the fact that he used to perform in a band 20 years ago. Maybe that's old news, but I don't seem to recall hearing that before.

Now that I've listened through the album, I can say that my expectations were at least met: I found a few tracks I enjoy. The Extreme wasn't raped completely, to my surprise, in fact it was quite enjoyable even though the guitar solo in the middle was embarassing. And the gem on this album is Grand Cross, fricking vicious, but could've been a bit faster to lose the 60's rock vibe.

The Black Mages seems to be hoarding a double-edged sword when it comes to making their rock tracks. While they almost always keep the arrangements very close to the original songs, and while this sometimes works out really well (twice on this album), sometimes the tracks turn out relatively uninteresting, boring or even downright tasteless and horrible (like Assault of the Silver Dragons or Darkness and Starlight, for example).

Anyway, I listened to it, will be keeping a few of the tracks on my computer, but this is not material I would buy, not in a million years.

Our full impressions just went live:

Darkness and Starlight Review.

I think it's a great album, but if you're not into rock, then it's probably not for you, obviously. I really enjoy what they did with Distant Worlds.

is it our now??? ill have to check where i can find this album, i love rock so i would probably ejoy the album

This album is okay...I'm listening to it right now. Will post my reviews on it later

It came out on the 19th in Japan. So yesterday. I doubt it's arrived to anyone outside of Japan at this point, so it's likely whatever it is people are saying about the album is from ripped MP3s that somehow got leaked. The review I linked to lists two stores that you can purchase it from, including Amazon and Play-Asia.

Not to sound like an asshole or anything but you're on GFF...

HOME OF THE TORRENT and HOME OF THE FTP!

Seriously...here...if you know the right people...you can get anything.

Yeah, I know. I'm not saying that it's bad or horrible or anything. I was just letting him know that it wasn't technically "out."

I find this to be the BEST album by the Black Mages yet. The only track I don't particularly care for is Darkness and Starlight. I'd much rather have had another One Winged Angel rehash than that. Besides that track, the rest of the album exceeded my expectations. Distant Worlds, Assault of the Silver Dragons, The Extreme, Neo Exdeath, and Grand Cross are quite entertaining and are the among the most solid of Black Mages arrangements. I hope that Uematsu continues to make BLM albums, especially if the quality gets better than this!

Contrarily, I am actually quite disappointed by this album in comparison, and my expectations were shattered in a bad way :( It's probably just me, but the style of rock this time around was far too synthy, and the electric guitars weren't as prominent or deep as I would have come to expect and love. all the tracks were "good, but not fantastic". Probably the one that stands out the most to me is Grand Cross, not having heard many other remixes for stuff from IX, although 2, 3 and 7 are also nice to hear. Kurayaminokumo could do without the nostalgia throwback with the starting instrument, while Assault of the Silver Dragons had so much potential but didn't utilize it fully.

Despite what I just said, I liked every single track, but I was expecting at least one of them to stay on my list for a long time, but this is now flavour of the week material to me unfortunately, coming off as more generic rock, instead of blowing me away like the first two albums. I'm hoping this is simply a taste of acquired taste.

Grand Cross was one of the least impressive pieces in my opinion. It was too straightforward. There wasn't much interpretation by the band. Distant Worlds is the standout for me, although I enjoyed Darkness and Starlight as well.

Anyway, a lot of people are saying it's too "synthy," but that's what Fukui is there for. He did a great job, even reminding me of Sakuraba at points.

This is my favourite of the Black Mages albums, but I'm still not completely blown away by this. Not a huge fan of the new synthesis-orientated arrangements, but most of the arrangements themselves are pretty solid with this cleaner, clearer sound. "Distant World", "Grand Cross" and "Premonition" are absolute winners in my book.

Arcuablis,

I was also reminded of Sakuraba. The one track that is quite evident of this is Opening~Bombing Mission. It's very much like his concert version of Dawn of Wisdom.

It's a good album, but i thought it was a bit soft, i don't like how the guitars don't really stand out like they did on the previous albums. There was some sick guitar solos, but it didn't sound that much more pronounced as they did before. I gotta say Distant Worlds surprised me, i never heard that song before and right now it's probably my favorite track.

I just wished the guitars were louder and stood out more, they were blended in with everything else, and it kinda took away from the sweetness of the solos.

It's not that good.

I think I and II were way better. I'm pretty glad I bought II, probably one of the sweetest purchases I've ever made. The cover is sweet as hell too.

I thought the first two were already too synthy and now they're even more? Oh geez.. One thing that's funny about Black Mages is that the idea is just brilliant but the execution is most of the time very subpar or even downright ridiculous (mr. goo what the f). Guess I'll have to check out this one too :P

Seems like theres a SQL error on Gamemp3s. Can anyone here upload the torrent or the album itself? Seems like this is an album I have to hear it for myself, since reactions seem to be mixed.

I was disappointed on my first few listens too, but then I listened more and more to the album for site review purposes. It really grew on me and, in the end, I gave it a 10/10. Only three albums in in the past have received such a score (Motoi Sakuraba Live Concert 2003, Final Fantasy VI Original Sound Version, and, when I finally get round to releasing it, Gradius Arcade Soundtrack). That's out of over 100 detailed reviews.

I myself do also wish that they dont rely on synth too much, since they're suppose to be a band. But damn, I love Distant Worlds, cannot stop listening to it over and over. Grand Cross is also awesome.

Synth based? What the hell album did you listen to? Their lousy guitar player got more airtime than ever.

Album is awful, by the way. Just... terrible.

Wow, this thread was started late 2006. It's early 2008, and this is the result of the album? What were they doing the whole time? I never did like these Black Mages albums, and this one is garbage just like the rest. Horrible remixes, save one or two every album, which marginally miss horrible and skid into the listenable range.

I thought the album was just okay, which is a disappointment. It could have been much, MUCH better. Only a few of the tracks were enjoyable. Best song on the album was probably Distant World in my opinion. Opening - Bomb Mission and Premonition aren't too bad either. 5/10