Overview

Motoi Sakuraba was welcomed back with open arms for a return to the epic tale of Valhallan intrigue. Expectations were high, and understandably so, considering his absolutely solid work on the previous Valkyrie Profile. Being a fan of the man's work myself, I was doing a good deal of looking forward to getting my hands on this soundtrack. To the heart of the matter, though. Did Sakuraba stand tall enough to fill the shadow of his earlier success?

The answer is a definitive no. Many seemed to fear that Sakuraba would be left behind by the swiftly changing demands of video game music, but he makes it very clear that he can roll with the tide on this soundtrack. Gone is the synthesizer and organ of old, replaced with a complete orchestra and choir. Unfortunately, that serves as a disappointment to some, including myself, whom had become accustomed to furious organ work and pounding progressive rock. The entire soundtrack takes on a very cinematic flair, which often serves only to bore the casual listener.

Looking at the silver lining of what may be a grey and stormy cloud, Motoi takes his skills in new directions with this album, which have both positive and negative effects on the soundtrack, as a whole.

Body

Valkyrie Profile 2 Silmeria's opening theme is surprisingly boring. After enjoying the epic introduction to the game's first iteration, I was more than moderately disconcerted to find that "Overture to the Destiny" is a giant sleeper, consisting of simple music box twinkling. By the end, I half-expected a sweet and moving piano to take over, but such splendor was not meant to be, and Sakuraba is off to a rough start. The next few pieces are also remarkably unmoving, with what I can only guess are town themes cluttering up the soundscape with wholly unattractive instrumentation and arrangement. "Alms for The Small One" is somewhat reminiscent of Sakimoto's "Karavaia" from Legaia Duel Saga, but without any of the pizzazz. "Divine View" and "To The Eternal Land" are both slow-paced tracks that attempt to be moving, but only tire. The compositions are spot-on, and seem to be masterfully crafted, but their themes fail to grab your attention. "To The Eternal Land" has a few strong points with the use of some very sweeping string work, but it, overall, comes off as just another track that is trying to be epic.

The fun begins with "Sank Memories." Contrabass strings bring you in with swift and spicatto hits while woodwind and higher-register strings weave an interesting atmosphere soon after. However, the track fails to remain interesting for its nearly four-minute duration, a problem which is endemic on this soundtrack. By the time it loops, you are certainly ready for something different.

In general, Sakuraba makes a very poor showing with the slower-paced pieces on this album, almost never managing to maintain attention for the entire track. The album's darker tracks are also quite bad, often entirely too dissonant and/or ambient to be anything more than just a vague and hazy look at evil. One of the notable exceptions is "Purse the Awful Mystery," an intriguing and tense track filled with quick strings and imposing timpani. However, tracks of interest are far and in between.

For touching themes, the harp is gratuitously used, and I must say that it is definitely not one of Sakuraba's stronger instruments, especially considering that a harp solo is decidedly difficult to make entertaining to the casual ear. As such, songs with a harp as the lead instrument, such as "At Peace with Extinction," fall flat on their faces, despite feeble attempts to spice things up with woodwinds or harpsichord.

Of course, one must always bow to a Sakuraba battle theme, and "Motion of a Finishing Blow" reasserts that you better keep that head low. The first truly enjoyable track on the first disc, "Motion..." is some of that progressive rock action that we all know and love Sakuraba for, but with a definite twist. Giving up the organ and electric guitars, Sakuraba instead wows with a brass and strings. The brass section alternates leading the melody with the strings, leading to a very good balance between the grating sound of horns and the smooth flow of violins. The drums keep the rhythm top-notch, switching up its snare and bass drum use accordingly to accent whatever the track may be trying to accomplish at any given moment. Everything is excellent, from the bass guitar plucks to the sweet synth that drops in near one of the many crescendos that takes the song to another level. "Motion of a Finishing Blow" does take you though every motion of battle, including the finishing blow. The victory theme that follows is not all that victorious sounding, but we can let that slide after what has just been experienced.

Another big jam is "Indescribable Grief." I am not quite sure what constitutes sad, but if this is it, then I can definitely go for more depression on this album. The bass drum's rhythm is heavenly nectar, and the brass and strings pair up to make a very moving track. Its upbeat pacing and sense of movement is the perfect medicine for a boss battle, or perhaps a powerful scene of angrily sworn revenge against a foe. The only kink in this track's armor is the rather abrupt looping point. The piece quite suddenly starts again, and how it gets there is something of a mystery.

"Disturb the Doubtful Sleep" reintroduces us to some of that delicious organ I am sure many of us have been craving. With a pounding rhythm, heavy electric guitar soloing, and a wild synth, this theme is very nostalgic of a dungeon theme from the first Valkyrie Profile. The orchestra is still very present, throwing in its two cents with very commanding swells of supporting chords. Alas, if only such style could have been visited for many of the soundtrack's other pieces. "Celestial Troupe" takes a stab at imitating the success of "Disturb" but only ends up being uninteresting guitar shredding over only slightly less uninteresting organ.

The piece that closes the soundtrack, "Endless High-Speed Running," is simply bad. Almost every aspect of the song is uninspired and random. The entire piece feels like the band decided to get together and jam for a few minutes. Mind you, when I say, "a few minutes," I mean five and a half minutes, which feels quite endless. Every instrument seems to be doing its high-speed running in a different direction. The track lacks a single unifying element and is reduced to five or six instruments soloing by themselves and being thrown together to be called a piece of music. Nice try, Sakuraba. No, not really.

Summary

Valkyrie Profile Silmeria Original Soundtrack Vol. 1 - Alicia's Side serves as an example of maximizing on one's strengths at the cost of forgetting weaknesses even exist. The battle themes on this soundtrack are beyond excellent, but they come so far and in between that you tend to forget they are there. Sakuraba's instrumentation often feels cluttered, and the grand majority of Volume 1 is chock full of utterly lackluster pieces. The effect upon extended listening is something akin to being slowly suffocated. I found listening to the entire soundtrack in one sitting a practice in self-flagellation.

It may sound like exaggeration, but the ambience is completely stifling at times, and it seems endless as track after track drones on with no end in sight. It got to the point where I hardly noticed track changes. That may be why the instances of enjoyable music were so very refreshing. Regardless, Alicia's Side is all about finding the diamonds in the rough. However, it was a bit too much rough and not enough diamond.

Overview

The soundtracks to tri-Ace's latest RPG, Valkyrie Profile 2 Silmeria, were split into two largely continuous volumes to help listeners to digest them. Like Valkyrie Profile Lenneth before it, Motoi Sakuraba crafts the score, but largely heads in a new direction. The soundtrack is emotional, serious, and epic, featuring mostly orchestral tracks. Fortunately, though, Sakuraba's rocking battle themes making a return in an often twisted format. Alicia's Side is the lighter of the two and includes the exposition of the main themes and several curious town themes. The continuous Silmeria's Side is the darker of the two and has a distinctly different tone.

Body

The opener "Overture to the Destiny" iis a curious twist on the old RPG cliché of creating tracks near-enough entirely dedicated to tuned percussion. Instead of expressing sentimentality, it creates considerable eeriness within the game. Chimes resonate and echo through what is otherwise complete silence and obsessively revolve around the sinister main theme of Valkyrie Profile 2 Silmeria. The melody is explored further in the subsequent orchestration "To the Eternal Land". Here Sakuraba's development as a symphonist is clear, as the track captures the tragic, mystical, and epic feel in a much deeper way than his previous works. The sudden shifts in the texture and dynamic just prior to the conclusion are especially dramatic and filmic. Even more dramatic is "Moment of Distorted Casualty" at the start of the second volume. Shifting from eerie silence through spell-binding choral passages up to a glorious tutti, the quality of the orchestration matches the stellar production values.

Sakuraba often deviates from the symphonic pomp to explore the environments of the game. For instance, he captures a lovely and uncertain mood throughout "Divine View" with some ambient soundscapes. The minimal piano lines, soft string suspensions, and excessive reverb aren't impressive on their own, but come together to produce an absolutely beautiful timbre. Another artistic piano-based soundscape, "A Stable Float" is enchanting but agonising to listen to due to its intensely human construction. Some parts will inspire goosebumps, particularly the chords around the 2:00 mark. "The Meditation of Many Years" is a more extensive piece used to explore the facets of a lakeside temple. There is an engaging contrast created between the icy string melodies and the tribal percussion polyrhythms, allowing the piece to balance stillness with activity throughout. "The Wavering of Another Age" captures the colours and echoes of a forest with its subtle worldly instrumentation and surprising wandering development.

This is a Sakuraba score nonetheless and listeners should expect plenty of rocking action themes to pepper the experience. The normal battle theme "Motion of a Finishing Blow" sets the bar high, featuring some of Sakuraba's most memorable melodies and compelling rhythms ever. Following the rock band approach of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, Sakuraba focuses on blending rock and orchestral instrumentation here, giving a rich and dense sound. One of Sakuraba's exuberant keyboard solos provides a particular highlight at the centre of the track. He further elaborates on this fusion sound to delightful results on "Indescribable Grief", pumped throughout with syncopated string riffs, and "Celestial Troupe", an unashamed display of electric guitar supremacy. "In Order to Acquire the Light in That Hand" is also quite entertaining despite its long-winded name, thrusting the experience towards the conclusion with its irregular rhythms in quintuple time.

A few of the action themes really complement the dark and intense style Sakuraba conceived for the score, and the result is often delicious. "Junk Modulation", for instance, plunges listeners into darkness with its intimidating overdriven guitar riffs and killer drum kit. The atmosphere increases with each repetition of the riff and the mad piano improvisations around the 1:50 mark provide no relief. "Dancing Without Malice or Mercy" is also distinctive thanks to Atsushi Hasegawa's grisly stabbing bass guitar riff that opens the track and dominates it throughout. Hard drum lines, an overdriven electric guitar, and endless keyboard discords reinforce the meaty feel. For those that enjoy Sakuraba's more chaotic side, there are also jam sessions to conclude each volume. "Endless High-Speed Running" is a compelling but unfocused jazz improvisation, while "An Improvisation with 'Confidence in the Domination'" sound diverges from its jagged source material to showcase Sakuraba and band's technical skills.

There are some more subtle entries on the soundtrack to break up the mood. "One Error Begets Another" is strong evidence to counteract the theory that Sakuraba is, in fact, a robot. One of his most tear jerking pieces, the melancholy cello line and passionate violin line makes the biggest impression while the other forces contribute to a wandering or static feeling. Who would have thought this would be hybridised with "Junk Modulation" on the arranged album? "Straying Truth" uses the cello as its solo instrument. Sakuraba exploits its unique timbral qualities by excellently offering a sorrowful melody that reminds me of a Jewish lament. Double-crossing is used to enhance the texture and, in places, create severe but delicious dissonance. With his simple yet personal approach, Sakuraba also crafts "Reminiscence Which Swallows Everything" to be one of the most touching in the soundtrack. The contemplative string-based chord progressions engulf listeners in emotion, while the detached woodwind and chorus chords create a sense of the heavens singing.

The village themes for the game are surprising deviations from the main sound of the soundtrack. "The Chosen Confusion" and "Aims for the Small One" are both folksy pieces, featuring rustic reedy instrumentation and upbeat modal melodies. They create an authentic backdrop to exploring the game's Germanic towns and are also quite enjoyable on the stand-alone basis, despite their slightly bland melodies. This style also forms the basis of the slightly more expressive "Blossom Out for You". Sakuraba explores the music of the Middle East in "Vagrancy". Unlike many game music themes, this track isn't offensively derivative since Sakuraba isn't hesistant to express individuality. The instrumentation is just spectacular here, particularly the guitar and percussion use that create a sense of rhythmical relentlessness. The piece remains unpredictable and emotional throughout thanks to various nuances, most obviously created by some sporadic soprano voices.

Moving to some relative disappointments, Sakuraba channels influences from horror composers when offering the darkest themes in the game. For instance, "The Shadow That Speaks to the Darkness" threatens and disorientates listeners with its malevolent groans, sound effects, and pizzicati strings. He builds on these ideas further in "A Possession Within the Mist" and "From Diffusion to Induction". While not really intended for stand-alone listening, they do create a major impression within the game. That said, their construction actually tends to be more superficial than creative, with the individual elements coming across gimmicky and the pizzicato strings being used particularly in excess. "The Death of an Idea" and "The Infinite Abyss" meanwhile are also disappointing ambient tracks. Presented chiefly on piano, they are built upon deep suspended chords and fragmented treble motifs. They certainly lack the personality and elegance of Sakuraba's equivalents on Eternal Sonata.

Sakuraba's biggest missteps are the more agitating orchestral cues. "Sank Memories" has plenty of texture, thanks to the contrast of paced legato woodwind melodies with irrhythmic piccato double bass riffs. However, it lacks variety during its development and soon becomes rhythmically sterile. Despite Sakuraba's vallant attempts to create a foreboding sound, the boss encounter theme "The Rebellious Spirit of a Serene Mind" sounds ridiculously overblown. The clichéd crisis chord progression and dark bombastic instrumentation will turn off most. "Presumption of a Shallow Person" is also difficult to take seriously in context and is pretty overbearing for home listening. The inclusion of some especially persistent and bombastic timpani is particularly unwelcome. Equally unpleasant tension builders include "A Huge Eliminator", with its predictable rockestral developments, and "Terrible Assault", with its drab approach to orchestration.

After a string of inconsistency, "How Wicked Ruler" provides an entertaining villain's relief. It's not the most melodically satisfying villain's theme — with the violin crisis motif weakened by a hilarious interrupted cadence over a root arpeggio — though it makes up for it with its compelling development filled with techno influences and extended interludes. "Ascend into The True Faith" is a multifaceted theme to represent the feeling of the party prior to the final showdown. The main passages convey the mystical setting with heavenly vocals and percussive techniques, though the importance of the impending encounter is affirmed by a sombre brass melody. Finally, "Unstruggled Struggle" blends Sakuraba's edgy rhythmic approach of earlier battle themes with the deep dramatic orchestration of the score's masterpieces. It is once again multifaceted in the events and moods it conveys, contrasting the heroes' determined string melody with the antagonist's malevolent chorals. It reaffirms the maturity of the score after some struggles.

"Circumstances Leading to the Conclusion" portrays the final scenes of the game in a dramatic way. With a defining passage at 2:37, it is amazing how the track evolves from complete silence into a full-throttle tutti for orchestra and chorus. "Each Lullaby" thereafter resolves the score thematically. The motif from "Overture to the Destiny" is fully reprised and, this time, the chime melody becomes supported by a piano and dabs of choral forces to add a feeling of resolution. "To the Eternal Land" is also gorgeously revisited, but, instead of the theme being shockingly suspended, violins radiantly continue the theme's progression and extravagant piano arpeggios adding to the romantic feel. While subsequent sections of the track are turbulent, Sakuraba gratifyingly puts us out of a mystery with a progression starting at 5:16. There is an overriding ascending chord progression, the timbres become exceptionally thick, and the dynamic level rises to its highest on the soundtrack. The final piece, "Time Brings About Retrospective", indicates the Valkyrie Profile saga may not be over with a series of retrospective murmurings.

Summary

The Valkyrie Profile 2 Silmeria soundtrack is a parodox to me. The majority of the composition is really accomplished and about half the themes here are really enjoyable, demonstrating a new depth and maturity to Sakuraba's sound. However, the soundtracks can be a tiring experience on a collective experience due to its serious, long-winded, and inconsistent approach. The score is therefore better to enjoy in small quantities — disc by disc, volume by volume — or perhaps through the arranged album. Nevertheless, much effort has been put into many parts of this score and the effect is often phenomenal emotionally and musically. It is one of Sakuraba's most defining and impressive accomplishments.