
Originally Posted by
T.G. Oskar
Is it me, or am I the only one who feels that the battle theme is somber and devoid of action?
I'll be frank, at least; although I do have some of the old Hamazuzu work, I find him to be a dull composer at best (I'd dare to say mediocre). He tries to do much on mixing various instruments (piano and violin are some of the usual suspects), but it's far too conservative for me.
But, I'll work from it. The base battle themes for SaGa Frontier II and Unlimited Saga are a bit more active than this theme, and show a bit more of his talent. Compare the first Feldschlacht (as all battle themes from SFII are called), or the first battle theme of USaga for examples. His later themes are a bit more active, but not exactly exciting to me (to add some saving grace to him: listen to SFII's final boss themes and then tell me if he could have done better)
The second video isn't very surprising, either; it's still dull, but attempting to fix with a slight addition of electronic music. In fact, it feels out of sync with the action provided, even though it fits better with the video. It's attempting to pass background music as battle music, which isn't a very good option IMO.
The Boss song remains a bit dull, compared with his earlier bits of work (again, I'd advise going with the Saga interpretations, and it's from them that I define him as a dull composer), barely impressive when compared to the larger work of art and despite some rise in tension and a shift into wide-scale battle (which is a bit silly since it's a battle in a very short scale, almost guerrilla-like).
All in all, I find the bits I've heard lacking the oomph I expect in battle themes. Blame it on bias, perhaps, but I'm not particularly surprised on the work. I'm no composer or critic, so I can't say how melodic or complete or harmonic it may be; I'm talking as a VG music fan, and what I've heard so far is dull and somewhat unimaginative.
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