Touhou Discussion Thread - Page 66

Track Listing:

• 1) Mystic Dream ~ Snow or Cherry Petal
  
• 2) Paradise ~ Deep Mountain
  
• 3) Crystallized Silver
  
• 4) The Fantastic Legend of Tohno
  
• 5) The Doll Maker of Bucuresti
  
• 6) The Capital City of Flowers in the Sky
  
• 7) Ghostly Band ~ Phantom Ensemble
  
• 8) Mystic Oriental Dream ~ Ancient Temple
  
• 9) Ultimate Truth
  
• 10) Bloom Nobly, Cherry Blossoms of Sumizome ~ Border of Life
  
• 11) Sakura, Sakura ~ Japanize Dream...

First off, I gotta say I was a touch disappointed with the track listing. I've said before that Hiroari Shoots a Strange Bird ~ Till When? was one of my least favorite tracks... but you know, it's growing on me, and I'm a bit bummed that Ultimate Truth shunted it aside. Also, I don't believe I've heard an acoustic Necrofantasia arrangement before, so the lack of Yukari's theme there was also kinda bleh. I don't like Border of Life all too much, but it's a really popular song, so I suppose it's unrealistic to hope for its absence in a PCB dedication.

Anyway, the songs. First up is Mystic Dream ~ Snow or Cherry Petal, a nice short arrange to start the album off. Being an acoustic album, there aren't really that many things to pick apart in terms of melody, like guitar solos and stuff. Mystic Dream is also a very calm song in and of itself, so the subdued nature of the arrange isn't surprising. It's short and unremarkable, but still nice to listen to.

Also, lol i maek good pun.

Paradise ~ Deep Mountain is far more jaunty than the first track, though I don't really care for the intro too much. It seems... off-key, and lasts a bit too long. It's not exactly something you can relax to, since there's quite a bit of energy in the song, but it's not energetic enough to headbob to. It's in some sort of limbo that I can't place. Not a very standout song, but again, it's not a bad song either. Also, there's a looot of cymbal action goin' on here. They seem to drown out the guitar at times, which is a bit of a minus. Or maybe my hearing sucks.

Crystallized Silver is an interesting one. I've never heard it in the BPM chosen in this track, and it makes for a song I actually CAN relax to. It's very short, almost as short as Mystic Dream, but it's great while it lasts.

I loooove The Fantastic Legend of Tohno. Pretty much any arrange of it makes me wiggle around like Artosis, and I'm glad to say I wiggled a lot here. :D The lead guitar takes a weird tempo for the main rhythm, though the percussion line, accordion, and organ seem to lag behind just a tad. The combination isn't one I've heard before, and it's pretty nifty. There are piano solos that appear intermittently throughout the track that help to spice things up. A great track, as I expected.

The Doll Maker of Bucuresti is another great song. The intro lasts for about a minute and seems repetitive, but I love the transition. There's like sixty seconds with no snare, and when the main melody kicks in, it comes out in spades (along with a chorus of other beautiful instruments), and then it recedes for a while again. There's a lot of variety in this track in terms of instruments: piano, guitar, accordion, violin, chimes, organ, and a few others. I'm typing up this review as I listen to each track, and so far, Doll Maker is the best song I've listened to.

Capital City of Flowers in the Sky is a good deal more subdued than Doll Maker... for like the first twenty seconds. After that, the drums take command. Generally, I find Capital City to be a boring song to arrange; I'm not entirely sure why, but the melody seems monotonous after a while. Fortunately, this tune seems to be made for acoustic arrangements. Nothing much to say, other than that it's a good song.

The slowest Ghostly Band I've ever heard. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but it's a bit difficult to recognize the base song at times. It might just be me, but I'm not too big a fan of this one, because UI-70 strays a bit too far from the main song and does his own thing. That might just be personal preference, since I listen to Touhou arrangements because of the Touhou songs; if it's cutting away from the theme, I lose interest a little bit. Of course, I could just be weird. And in any case, it's not so bad with acoustic tracks since the lack of frenetic solos and such makes even off-the-beaten-path sections of the song calming and enjoyable to listen to.

Ancient Temple has a really strange drum line that doesn't seem to match the usual subdued feel of the song; this is especially notable in the intro, where it's all over the damn place. Not that I mind, though, because it helps break the mold. As such, this track is a good deal more upbeat than any of the other songs on the album so far, but not because of the drums so much as the rhythm guitar. Whoever's playing rhythm kicks ass here, because if it weren't for the rhythm guitarist's quicker pace, this song would be pretty droll. I like this one a lot. Prolly tied with Doll Maker.

Fuck Ultimate Truth. It's such a boring stage theme, but that's probably because, as a final boss stage theme, it's shorter and a bit more ominous than other stages. Still, that doesn't mean I like it. The drum line really kills it in ZUN's version, and I don't really think UI-70 did much to improve it. The lack of a DADADADADADADADA drum line helps, but then they went and introduced that accordion which didn't do too much. I didn't care for this one, but maybe it's because I'm biased.

And speaking of bias, look at Border of Life! My least favorite final boss theme. However, it helps that UI-70 kicks metric tons of ass; they took a very peppy, Latin-esque approach here, to the point where the song wouldn't feel out of place being performed by a mariachi troupe in Guadalajara or something. I can really feel the exotic vibe here. This song is very, very good. The best of the album.

And we end off with Sakura, Sakura. I would have expected a far more subdued arrangement, considering the melancholy of the original piece (and since we just finished a high-energy song), but no, UI-70 surprises us again. Well, at the end, it's very calm, but the majority of the song is fairly quickly paced, and again in a rhythm that I've never heard the song in before. A great finish to the album.

Overall, I really enjoyed whatever the fuck this album is called. UI-70 and the gang are great for releasing aggression with powerful metal arrangements, but it's nice to sit back and unleash your inner NonY sometimes. Just relax... and chill with some outstanding acoustic pieces.

Oh, and by the way, I hate not having enough synonyms for "song". I feel like I'm abusing the words "track" and "arrangement" in these album reviews. ._.