FF Music Black Mages

The black mages are a brilliant symphonic rock band, the way they mix rock with the classical final fantasy songs, its unbelievable. I think the black mages are one of the best bands to come out of japan for a very long time. Just one thing that's bad they should not mess with a metal song, their version of other world was very bad
 
I wasn't sure about the 3rd album on first listen, but after listening to it a couple of times through I began to appreciate it more.

I love Distant Worlds, Darkness and Starlight, and Grand Cross.
 
Also.. Forgot to add. I love the speed on KURAYAMINOKUMO!!! It is immense!

But I also love Life -in memory of Keiten-. Which is a beautiful piece of piano even if it doesnt seem very Black Magey. The emotion behind the piece is felt.
 
Yeah i'm been listening to the darkness and starlight album too...i think its great! I dont like the singers of "darkness and starlight" though. Not my type.

I love listening to Assault of the Silver Dragons and Distant Worlds. They're AWESOME!
 
Maybe i'm a lion was the shit, so was their one-winged angel remake. Nobuo really outdid himself with this musical project. Though I admit it's mostly for the orchestra and less for the vocals.
 
I saw a video of the Black Mages on YouTube or something... they have WONDERFUL music, but they lack the WONDERFUL stage presence... They just kind of bob around... Energy = Lacking.

i.e. http://youtube.com/watch?v=fk_6B4XCmqA (This isn't the same video I remember from before... but it's an okay example...)
 
Kaibi Tsukushino said:
I saw a video of the Black Mages on YouTube or something... they have WONDERFUL music, but they lack the WONDERFUL stage presence... They just kind of bob around... Energy = Lacking.
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Well they're not exactly starting out as a band in their youth. You have to remember that.
But I felt the opposite, i thoguht they're performances were great. The lighting is a bit bizzare, but I can realy see, when the camera zoomed on the band members, a sense of real love for the music.

I suggest you search for the Skies Above live, with Mr. Goo in it. That performance is pretty amazing. Also look for Blue Blast - Winning the Rainbow or Vamo' Alla Flamenco to see how much emotion they realy put into their instruments.

In fact the Black Mages are one of the main bands I realy want to see live at the moment.

About the singing in Darkness and Starlight... I like the opera the song was a remix of, and love what they did with it, but I agree in soem parts the singing was a bit overdone. I think it was the female vocalist that overstepped it a bit, as the two male singers were great, and the bit when the band members themselves sing was fantastic!
 
Maximillian said:
Maybe i'm a lion was the shit, so was their one-winged angel remake. Nobuo really outdid himself with this musical project. Though I admit it's mostly for the orchestra and less for the vocals.
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are u mad!!! maybe im a lion is one of my fav songs ever so many different riffs, the bass is brilliant and the guitar solo like omg its mind blowing.
 
I love the Black Mages. It's decent rock with a FF history. You can listen to it in public and no one knows it's "geeky" origins... it's just pure fucking awesome. I honestly didn't realize they released another set of songs in March though. I'm going to have to listen to their third set soon. :)
 
I love The Black Mages! I have their first two albums, and I'll buy the recent one as soon as I'm able to order it! The music translates so well, Nobuo is fantastic!
 
I didn't really know much about them until several months ago,
but i like what they do
i have a couple of there songs on my computer,
i hope the next one is just as good as the others or better.
 
I have the three albums of them. But I gotta say that the third isn't that good as the first too, Premonition is a blast, Neo Exdeath isn't much different from the original one, but there are a couple of nice themes.

I personally start to love the black mages when I heard the theme "Those who fight further" made them. They make simple FF themes look like some godly rock themes.

Can't wait for more releases.
 
Yea, I've been thinking the same about their 3rd album. It's a little weak. Assault of the Silver Dragons is good, as is Premonition. Grand Cross is great if you cut out the first minute and 20 seconds of the song. The rest though are quite lacking...
 
I have all three albums but I would have to agree with Ruka about the 3rd one. I thought it was a big disappointment. Most of the tracks that were chosen for that album were from the least popular Final Fantasy games. I would've love Darkness and Starlight more without the annoying opera vocals they added to it.

I do enjoy Battle with the Four Fiend, Zeromus, and Maybe I'm a Lion from the 2nd album. From the first album, I love Dancing Mad and Fight With Seymour.
 
I suppose it lies with personal taste in regards to the 3rd album. I liked it. It's not their best, but I really liked the tracks on that and had been following the development of hat album for about 4 months before its release.

I think the female vocals on Darkness and Starlight ruined it. The male vocals were fine, but I disliked the female vocals as she sounded in pain, and it was a bit too forced. I think the narration over the top would have been good for the japanese (as they can understand it), but to us it didn't do anything except get in the way of the music behind it. If it were in english then we would probably be sucked into the story the narrator was describing a lot more.

But theres other good songs.. Distant Worlds is fantastic, though not heavy, but more progressive. Beautiful melody, followed by an awesome guitar solo. It would have been made better if they'd kept the vocals for that track though, but I think it was still really good.

As for Grand Cross.. I personally liked the moaning / screaming / agony noises at the begining. It's what built the atmosphere up for the song, and made the heavy music that was to follow make a much bigger impact that it would have if it merely started the track.
 
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kazxjun said:
I would've love Darkness and Starlight more without the annoying opera vocals they added to it.
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That's two songs now: Darkness and Starlight and The Skies Above. Why do they keep doing that. It's just annoying. I was listening to The Skies Above the other day in public and I'd forgotten that damn singing section was in there... so I had to turn the song as soon as it started. It's just fucking weird.
 
Bare in mind though that Darkness and Starlight is the opera. It is Draco and Maria. So it's not like the vocals were added for a laugh, they were there for a reason! Would be a bit pointless without them in for that song.

I like The Skies Above. It's not too over the top really. Mr. Goo added a good touch to it, in my opinion. Though I respect peoples tastes and what they like about things are all different.
 
Argor251 said:
Bare in mind though that Darkness and Starlight is the opera. It is Draco and Maria. So it's not like the vocals were added for a laugh, they were there for a reason! Would be a bit pointless without them in for that song.
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Yes, I am aware of that since I have heard the original track to the song. I can understand why it was used for that but I am just not a big fan of opera music especially when it's mix with rock. It just seems too weird for me when it's put together like that.

As for The Skies Above, they should've used a female vocalist which would have made it sound less dramatic and a bit more to my liking. I did actually enjoy the remix of Otherworld though. Male or female, that song is great either way in my opinion.
 
I've never heard of them until now but I'll look into them because I love the FF songs.

I just listened to a couple of their songs, Force Your Way (VIII Batte Theme) remake is really good! I'm not too keen on the singing though I like to be able to understand the lyrics but it isn't that bad. :)
 
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But theres other good songs.. Distant Worlds is fantastic, though not heavy, but more progressive. Beautiful melody, followed by an awesome guitar solo. It would have been made better if they'd kept the vocals for that track though, but I think it was still really good.
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Agreed, Distant worlds is perhaps my favourite. It really showcases what they are capable of and that they can pull off different songs.
 
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