Overview

The Atelier Lilie -Alchemist of Salburg 3- Original Soundtrack is the third soundtrack in the alchemy-based Atelier series. The first thing you might notice on this album is the surprisingly large amount of tracks, though I was probably only surprised as this was the first Atelier soundtrack I ever listened to. Obviously, not one track was forgotten. Miyoko Kobayashi and Akira Tsuchiya were the composers of this album, though the former produces the vast majority of the tracks. Akira Tsuchiya composed the astounding arrange album to Elie, so let's see if this large quantity can live up to the bar he has set.

Body

The soundtrack starts extremely quietly with a piano introduction in "To the Land Beyond". Some sudden low notes over the beautiful melody hint at the energy to come and then comes the blast of orchestration. It all sounds very pleasing. Level themes such as "Mushroom Forest" are also among the best of the soundtrack. One of the best fast-paced Atelier themes I've heard, "Mushroom Forest" gives a good magical feel and uses a pinch of synthesizer as not to sound to contrasting. The same thing goes for "Far Mountain Top". Both tracks make excellent use of percussion as far as fast paced Atelier music.

The slower paced material is mostly good too. The violin in "My Favorite Story" makes a very pretty melody that catches the ear despite being slow. Other pieces such as "Alchemy Master" feature a beautiful blend of Western and Eastern instruments to give a worldly organic flavour. That said, there is an abnormal amount of flute and accordion for an average RPG, which I noticed is a trend in the series. I like how the instruments are used, but it feels like never really take the series anywhere. It's kind of just the same thing again in tracks like "Harvest Crossing".

There's really a track for everything in this game down to every specific shop. I do like it when tracks aren't reused, which is the case in the game. Sadly some of the shop tunes are a bit repetitive and clichéd, such as "The Erratic General Store Clerk". It's not that they cannot be listened to though. One particularly novel feature is the extra xylophone use on the album too and this instrument fits in with the crowd while making the cheery tracks cheerier. Sadly, a lot of the second disc features these sort of pieces and some tracks get a little too short to matter.

There are some nice vocal tracks here too and they are actually some of the best I've heard in the Atelier series. The singer's vibrato in "Footprints" is nicely balanced and fits the Atelier music more than any other vocalist I've heard in the series. It rounds off the album nicely. I'm not as much a fan of the other song "Believe in our Future" though. It's still a worthy addition, though, and does a pleasant job incorporating that accordion and flute. I hope to hear more vocals like in "Footprints", but in a more upbeat style like in "Believe in our Future".

Summary

When an album has as much tracks as this one does, it's hard to not find any real bad pieces. Then again, it makes room for a lot of filler. Luckily there is more good than bad here. I personally would rather listen to refined and selected tunes from the soundtrack presented as an arranged soundtrack. Unlike Atelier Elie, however, the full soundtrack release is all we get. This album still has enough strengths to justify the disappointments.