The Witch and the Hundred Knight Arrange Soundtrack
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Album Title: The Witch and the Hundred Knight Arrange Soundtrack |
| Record Label: MissKissDisc |
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| Catalog No.: MKDS-0001 |
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| Release Date: March 5, 2014 |
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| Purchase: Buy at Amazon Japan |
Overview
Typically, with every Nippon Ichi Software game composed by Tenpei Sato, there is an arrange album released a few months later usually under a bigger label, such as Lantis or Team Entertainment. However, with the release of the original soundtrack in July, no word of an arrange album was mentioned. It wasn’t until early March 2014 that news broke that there would be a The Witch and the Hundred Knight Arrange Soundtrack; however, unlike past arrange albums, this would be self-published under Tenpei Sato’s new label, MissKissDisc, named so after his band. How does this arrange album compare to his past arrange efforts and if you aren’t able to obtain the original soundtrack, is it a suitable substitute to capture the overall feel for the album?
Body
The album opens up with “Dear Metalica Prologue,” a very unique take on the original rock battle theme. Rather than build upon the original, it features the vocal portion of that battle theme and presents it in a distorted way with a solo violin, helping to create a very mysterious soundscape. I was quite shocked to hear something that was an actual reinterpretation on the album. However, the rest of the album follows tradition and features the full versions of the vocal themes presented on the original soundtrack and extended and mild arrangements of the background music featured in the game with live violin in some tracks. Both “Majorelle, Magi Mahato” and “Always” are only slightly longer than the versions presented on the original soundtrack with the latter featuring a nice little piano and guitar solo section.
However, the biggest transformation is the track featuring Emi Evans, “Magiaju.” While the unique blend of freesscape’s triphop and Tenpei Sato’s penchant for charm still remains, this version features live violin and opens up with a very classical and mournful violin solo before moving into the portion of the track heard on the original soundtrack. From there, there’s another romantic violin solo that really fits with the original track, despite the jarring difference in atmosphere, and some quirky instrumentation that leads into additional verses and some additional beautiful vocal work by Emi Evans that isn’t present in the game version. In the end, this is the definitive version and it’s a shame this version didn’t make it into the game.
As for the non-vocal themes, for the most part, they feature live instrumentation where appropriate, and it really helps accentuate them in the end. “Pink,” for example, maintains that Gust-like charm; however, the opening is new and helps give it a bit more of a poignant flair and the added violin solo, while short, helps add to the charm of the original. “Smile Again” takes the very heartfelt and touching original and elevates it with its use of live instrumentation. It may not differ drastically from the original, but the warming performance of the violin really manages to tug at the heartstrings. Other tunes follow suit such as “Sweet Illusion” or “Seven Wonders.” While much of the arrange album is whimsical or poignant in nature, there is the final battle theme, “The Witch and the Hundred Knight,” present on the album as well. This version features a frenetic violin solo that really manages to add to the epic nature of the piece.
Summary
For the most part, the tunes, like other arrange albums by Tenpei Sato, adhere fairly close to the originals, with the benefit of added live instrumentation in some cases. There is a nice blend of styles on the album and it does manage to give some insight into the original soundtrack, however, I would have liked to have heard some arrangements, or extended versions, of some of the rock oriented tunes. However, if you aren’t able to listen to the original soundtrack, this would be a suitable substitute as it does highlight some of the stronger tunes on the original soundtrack.
Do you agree with the review and score? Let us know in the comments below!
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Posted on May 1, 2014 by Don Kotowski. Last modified on May 1, 2014.
About the Author
Don Kotowski Currently residing in Philadelphia. I spend my days working in vaccine characterization and dedicate some of my spare time in the evening to the vast world of video game music, both reviewing soundtracks as well as maintaining relationships with composers overseas in Europe and in Japan.
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