Shin Megami Tensei -Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha VS The Army of Ultimate Power- Complete Music Works

	Album Title: Shin Megami Tensei -Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha VS The Army of Ultimate Power- Complete Music Works
	Record Label: Five Records
	Catalog No.: VGCD-0022
	Release Date: April 7, 2006
	Purchase: Buy at CDJapan

Overview

Devil Summoner Kuzunoha Raidou VS The Army of Ultimate Power Complete Music Works is definitely a mouthful of an album name. It’s mostly the full soundtrack from the game and, though it’s missing a few tracks, I believe they kept the best tracks. Longtime series composer, Shoji Meguro, composed this album but added a bit of a new jazzy style to the series this time around. It’s hard to tell exactly if a jazzy touch is the right direction for spicing up the series, so read more to find out.

Body

My first impression is that this album definitely keeps a Shoji Meguro kind of style, though there are definitely many horns involved. It has a fast paced jazz/techno feel to it with some solid hard rock guitar thrown in. A lot of the music is pretty weighty despite having a jazzy feel and it’s nice that Meguro deviates from most RPG norms. You’ll here the prominent style right away with “Theme”. It’s jazzy and filled with trumpets and saxophones, but it definitely takes itself more seriously than you’d expect jazzy RPG music to. “Formidable Foe” is another good example of the fusion style — with electric guitar shining along with an interesting piano line — and is one of my favorite tracks on the album. You’ll hear this battle track a lot during the game obviously, so it’s good to know it’s a solid track.

Some themes definitely get repetitive whether they are good or not. “Break Through the Wall” is one of those tracks that has great potential but kind of loops most of the time. There are some good mood setters like “What Was Taken by the People” and “The Army of Ultimate Power’s Imminent Arrival”. They do set a certain mood, but I think it’s a bit hard to set a mood when you throw horns into every piece! If I had to pick only one good thing to say about the album, it would be that it got the upbeat music right for once. “Fated Showdown” incorporates the horns and is fast paced, but sticks with the right feel. “Shock! The Final Battle” is also an example of the battle tunes getting an upgrade.

I really wonder how the album producers can cut tracks from the soundtrack, but then have short micro tracks such as “Cutting off the Evil Future” on the album. It’s not like they ran out of room, and I’m pretty sure most people don’t want to listen to these micro tracks. The people who do are the people who actually want the COMPLETE works. I don’t understand this at all and I think it brings the album down a bit. I really don’t like deceiving titles.

Summary

This isn’t Shoji Meguro doing what he does best, but it is him doing something he is know for, which is twisting what he does do best! Some of these tracks are twisted in a good way while some are just… twisted. You’ll still hear some of that chill Meguro music, but a lot is also upbeat. I don’t know if the new jazzy style fits the game as well, but it isn’t the worst complement out there. The music can be a bit repetitive and admittedly this is a small annoyance, but there’s still some good stuff going on and it fits the series’ style. It’s great to hear new material like this, but the bottom line is that it doesn’t live up to previous albums like Soul Hackers, so is probably more suited for hardcore Megaten fans.

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