Song of the Week - WEEK 70 Voting/WEEK 71 Nominating

Week 70 Voting is closed.
Week 71 Nominating is restricted.

Week 70 Voting
The rules for voting can be found here.

Tracks:
Anno 1602 (Game Rip) - Ballad of Hope
Lost Files - Mysterious Story of the Island of Souls Part 4
Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos (Game Rip) - Main Theme
Symphonic Suite Dragon Quest Complete CD-Box - Satan (V)
The Legend of Kyrandia (PC Game Rip) - Outside Brandon's Home
The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang (Game Rip) - Batland Castle
ToBi D+VINE Complete Sound Track - Fly! (arranged by Norihiro Furukawa)
WindAge - Oriental Dark Flight

Extras:
An .ogg version and a secret version of the Legend of Kyrandia track are available in the Extras folder this week.

Notes:
If you are a member at more than one of the forums which this event is being held at, please nominate and vote in only ONE of the forums. You may, however, comment in the threads at any of the other forums.

Week 71 Nominating
The Nominations Queue can be found here.
The rules for nominating can be found here.

Here are the links to the corresponding threads at the other forums:
- Chudah's Corner
- Soundtrack Central

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Anno 1602 (Game Rip) - Ballad of Hope A nice tender, relaxing piece with some oddly militaristic moments. The melody is a little underwhelming at times, but it’s presented attractively, and the synth instrumentation works well, since it’s a poppish-style ballad in the first place.

Lost Files - Mysterious Story of the Island of Souls Part 4 My nomination. Hiroki Kikuta is great at melding pop and more traditional genres, and this track from his “Lost Files” compilation does just that. It combines an excellent, addictive piano part with atmospheric synths, drum kit, and even a little saxophone during the bridge. The result is a potent cocktail of melody and rhythm that’s suffused with Kikuta’s trademark quirkiness.

Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos (Game Rip) - Main Theme This tune is really let down by its synth, especially the triangle part that sounds very close to a pure sine wave. It’s not too interesting and rather simplistinc at the beginning, but there are some more complex parts later on. An arragned version would be a force to be reckoned with.

Symphonic Suite Dragon Quest Complete CD-Box - Satan (V) I can see why this box was never released in the USA, with a track title like “Satan” in there. While I normally warm to orchestral stuff, the arrangement here is very...stodgy, and kind of dull. Technically it’s fine, but I found myself tuning out even when I was trying to pay attention.

The Legend of Kyrandia (PC Game Rip) - Outside Brandon's Home Decent enough synth woodwind melody, but it didn’t really intrigue me. The later sections are a bit more interesting, though still kind of standard as far as this sort of thing goes.

The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang (Game Rip) - Batland Castle Bouncy little SNESin’ tune that mixes melody, jazz. Not exactly a standout, but pleasant enough.

ToBi D+VINE Complete Sound Track - Fly! (arranged by Norihiro Furukawa) Impressively eclectic track with some nifty synth effects and a nicely synthy main melody. I was impressed with the buildup to the first melodic expression, and the synthiness kept me there for more. It drags a little bit in the middle, but remains interesting throughout.

WindAge - Oriental Dark Flight This starts out pretty much as trance, before developing more and becoming much more interesting as it progresses.

Nice week, with several tunes that were hovering on the edge of points.

The Point Spread
Lost Files - 3 pts.
ToBi D+VINE - 1 pt.
Ballad of Hope - 1 pt.
Outside Brandon’s - 1 pt.
Just Missed - WindAge

There's nowhere I can't reach.