Border Down Image Soundtracks

	Album Title: Border Down Image Soundtracks
	Record Label: Sweep Record
	Catalog No.: SRIN-1007
	Release Date: December 28, 2002
	Purchase: Buy at Sweep Record

Overview

The release of G.rev’s Border Down was eagerly anticipated by a small, but passionate, community of shooter fanatics out there. Its soundtrack, created by Yasuhisa ‘Yack’ Watanabe, would be one of its highlight features. Several months before the game’s release, SuperSweep released the Border Down Image Soundtracks — a four track preview of the soundtrack featuring some exclusive tracks and cuts. It gave a good taste of what to expect from the full release, but does it hold up today?

Body

While there are only four tracks on Border Down Image Soundtracks, they capture the game’s sound well. The first stage theme “Upon the New Raid” shifts away from the shooter convention of a hyperactive techno-ish melody in favour of Yack’s own “electro-jazz” style. He mixes slick jazz elements with other styles, including rocking guitar riffs and synthy chillout lines. It’s quite a refreshing deviation from shooter convention and is certain to stimulate the senses. The composer builds on these elements further with the softer, synthier “Bye-bye Mars”.

With the boss theme, “Prot #11 ‘Cage'”, Yack takes an ambient approach mixing various electronic beats and synth overlays. It doesn’t sound epic in the slightest and is quite misleading for a boss theme. Nevertheless, it has an atmospheric effect in context, much like Darius’ boss themes do. An exclusive piece, the fourth “Vane” is a bouncy and frolicsome synth piece reminiscent of those on dating sims. Yack still asserts some of his eccentricities, though the track feels a little out-of-place here.

Most of the other tracks here stay close to those featured in the Border Down Soundtracks. The vast majority of “Upon the New Raid” and “Prot #11 ‘Cage'”, for instance, are note-for-note translations of the originals. The only change is an extended synth improvisation prior to the loop on the former. The rendition of “Bye-bye Mars” featured here is substantially different than the version on the soundtrack, though. That said, it simply isn’t as mature or edgy as the music for the second take.

Summary

The Border Down Image Soundtracks is short, but gives a taste of the unique and mature sounds featured on the full soundtrack. It does feature exclusive content: the extended segment of “Upon the New Raid”, the first take of “Bye-bye Mars”, and the new track “Vane”. However, none of these are particularly worth your money and it’s better to stick to the full soundtrack instead.

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