What are you listening to right now? Write a single-track mini-review. (Version 2.0)

This has been a standard of General Game Music for quite awhile, and with another board wipe comes the latest incarnation of this thread.

Simply post what musical track you are listening to at the moment along with one or two sentences (or more) describing why you like or dislike the song in question.

I will get things started:

Kouchi Sugiyama - Dragon Quest VI Symphonic Suite - At the Palace

Among the castle themes that Mr. Sugiyama has composed, this is arguably one of the most questionable in terms of quality. The piece is arranged as a rondo, and has a dark almost somber tone that can get a bit repetitive after awhile (and has put off many listeners, from my experience). None the less, I find it to be one of his more interesting offerings, primarily because of Sugiyama’s approach, which is much darker the majority of the castle themes. Had the melody in the arrangement been fleshed out a bit more, I really think it could have turned out to be the best of the eight DQ castle themes.

Rating 3.5/5

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Monsters in the Dungeon~Tower of Death~Dark World~Monsters in the Dungeon

This is a medley three pieces from Dragon Quest V. The first part consists of the dungeon/cave theme which features a really neat string section that serves to give the melody an air of mystery and uneasiness. In my opinion the composition is the most original and well executed in the series. The second theme in the track is the tower theme, which features a clarinet as the lead for this almost sad, melancholic melody. One would think this would be strangely inappropriate for such an area, but it really shines in game, providing the backdrop to several key plot events. The final theme presented in this piece is the dark, or evil world theme, which is a staple the "Heaven" trilogy (DQ IV-VI). This short piece is lovely in small doses, but isn't nearly as good as the rest of the track.

As a whole, this easily stands as Koichi Sugiyama's best work (as far as cave/tower themes go) for the Dragon Quest series of games.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Kow Otani - [Wander and the Colossus ~Roar of the Earth~ Original Soundtrack #25] A Despair-filled Farewell ~Battle With the Colossus~

Having thoroughly listened to this album since I first gave it a listen on Friday (through Song of the Week), this has become one of my favorite tracks. As the title suggests, the piece has quite a bit of sad undertones, while the he many orchestral hits that are present throughout the piece give it a big, epic feel that makes quite an impression. The booming choir in particular provides the orchestra with a tremendous amount of presence when it joins in during the last minute of the piece.

Had the overall composition been a bit more cohesive though, this would have easily blown away the rest of the battle tracks from this album (yes, even "Revived Power").


Rating: 4.7/5

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.