Overview

The second sound sepher release, Touhou Rebirth, was released at Comic Market 67. This short EP features arrangements by Shoichiro Sakamoto of the earlier Touhou games. How does it compare to the first release?

Body

"Rebirth:introduction..." features some sinister tones and pretty nice rhythmic percussion to set the mood for the lengthier themes on the album. It ends with a haunting music box melody and bell tones before moving into "Sleep Terror." This theme opens up with a playful, yet slightly sinister, music box melody, before moving into an upbeat remix featuring Sakamoto's signature synth. There are some nice elements, in particular the electric guitar riff accompaniment, as it combines quite nicely with the piano accompaniment as well as the synthesizer focused melody. One of my favorite sections is definitely when the instrumental bridge features piano glisses up and down the keyboard. It's a fun theme and definitely shows Sakamoto's potential.

"Reincarnation" is one of my favorite remixes on this mini-album. It features a very jazzy, dreamy atmosphere combined with some slick house beats. The synth melody, at times bouncy and fun, at others, dreamier, really manages to reinforce the tone set forth by the electronic accompaniment. In addition, there are also some more somber tones featured as well. The orchestral tones here that serve as a nice instrumental bridge, although short, manage to serves as a nice break from the jazzy house remix. "Perdition Crisis," on the other hand, features some beautiful piano work that really goes well with the upbeat percussion accompaniment and synthesizer melody. At the same time, while enjoyable, I don't think this remix is as creative as some of the others on the album.

Lastly, "Love-coloured Magic" gets a decent remix as well. There are some intriguing elements that go on with this theme. It has its rock tones, Asian influenced flute work, and some jazz elements that remind me of "Reincarnation." In the end, I find the synthesizer to be a bit weak for this remix, but it does manage to retain that vintage Touhou sound.

Summary

Touhou Rebirth, in my opinion, is the weakest Sound Sepher releases to date. It features a couple solid remixes and a couple of average remixes. I find Shoichiro Sakamoto's work on future albums to be much stronger and enjoyable, especially in terms of synthesizer choice. I'd advise avoiding this album and going for much stronger albums such as Cradle 2 or Excess.