[Album] DIRGE of CERBERUS -FINAL FANTASY VII- Original Soundtrack (CRCP-40137~38)

This album was flat-out terrible. Certainly Hamauzu's worst...Compared to SaGa Frontier 2 and Unlimited Saga, it doesn't even come close.

It's too orchestral. It's as if Hamauzu forgot what made him such a hit in VGM to begin with. His famous chords and his ingenuity are completely absent, and the result is generic sounding, orchestral garbage. Not to mention that even after repeated listens, most of the songs sound the same.

There are a few good tracks, such as "Ninja Girl" and "Proposal," but in general, this album was a major let down.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

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Maybe he was forced into this format instead of his usual one.

I imagine that was the scenario, myself. For a game so widely anticipated, being able to say that "this game has an orchestral soundtrack" is a major bonus during PR. However, look at UNLIMITED SaGa: Hamauzu experimented with live players and ensembles and succeeded in mixing live instruments with synth. Heck, the whole first half of the soundtrack was (kinda) orchestral.

And I agree with some people that it's a bit unfair to judge this soundtrack against Hamauzu's previous works, however, when you have a composer who raises the bar 10 stories with each new outing (even Musashiden 2 was unique), you can't help but compare it to what he's done in the past. His jazzy, catchy, and unique trademark is what we've come to expect from him...and it's pretty jarring to see that trademark absent from this OST.

I pray that Hamauzu's next album is NOTHING like this one.

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Techno is too broad a term to describe Hamauzu's music. It has a lot of jazz, classical, and ethnic influences, too, moreso than techno.

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