Saturday, August 14, 2010

081410

What's It Called?

What's The Story?
The Black Mages are a sort of progressive metal group from Japan dedicated entirely to covering tracks from the Final Fantasy series of video games. Added spice: the composer of the music, Nobuo Uematsu, plays keyboards. Battle With The Four Fiends is from their second compilation album, and originally appeared in Final Fantasy IV.

Who's To Blame?
Certainly not a white mage.

Why ♥ It?
I promise, I have an answer that isn't just campy nostalgia.
I feel context will help though; this music plays during the game when fighting major villains at plot apexes. Knowing that, consider the song sort of like a story.
The organ riff that plays 0:13-0:30 feels like an oppressive tyranny. The section that answers post transition (0:35-1:09) feels like a new hope; a heroic tale of saving the day. The next slow transition (1:11-1:20) feels like the calm before the storm, and the organ riff following conveys a sinister plot of Snidely Whiplash (1:23-1:52). THEN the transition there with the quick chords and energetic drums (1:53-2:04) feels like a back-and-forth battle between these heroic and sinister movements that bridge the gap and tell both sides of the story. Once the process is started, every section expands upon these themes somehow; I could detail the whole song like this, but I'll hold it here. Just know that this track is wonderful mood music and conjures a battle of good and evil without any visual required.
And hey, if that doesn't work for you, go for the campy nostalgia, that probably works better anyways.

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