Overview

One year after the appearance of the acclaimed first Game Boy Advance title Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, Konami released Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (aka Castlevania: Concerto of the Midnight Sun). Given both featured rather short soundtracks, their soundtracks were released together in the one disc Castlevania Circle of the Moon / Concerto of the Midnight Sun Original Soundtrack. While the first score received positive critics, the second was badly criticised, mainly because of the primitive sound quality. Is it still worth buying? We'll see in this review.

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Most of the tracks from Circle of the Moon are versions from previous Castlevania soundtracks. The first track "Requiem" is taken directly from the female hymn of Rondo of Blood and constitutes a nice opener. "Illusionary Dance", also from that game, is a traditional battle theme. However, instead of orchestrating it, the arranger choses to reanimate this classic with a pop and electronic style; quite refreshing, but not one of the strongest arrangements of this piece. "A Vision of Dark Secrets" and "The Sinking Old Sanctuary", both from Michiru Yamane's Bloodlines, are nice additions as well. While the first one is a bit short, the second is pure beauty with a gorgeous melody. It's sad that the bass line a bit so annoying.

There were tracks taken from several other classic titles too. There is the short "Game Over" jingle and the organ-driven "The Trick Manor" from Super Castlevania IV. Two tracks are even featured from Castlevania 64, namely the dramatic orchestration "Seal of the Lineage" and the rather repetitive sub-boss theme "Shudder". Though it's technically original, "Interversion" sounds like an upbeat mix of "Shudder" and sounds awful. The bulk of the arrangements are from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, though. These include the frenzied and upbeat "Clockwork" and "Aquaris", the classic "Vampire Killer", and the relatively lame "Big Battle" and "Nightmare".

As for the new compositions, they're fairly tolerable. Probably the most enjoyable of them all is the first stage theme "Awake" from Sotaro Tojima. From the acoustic introduction over to the catchy and excellent main melody with its bass line, strings, and flutes, it's a very effective track. The second part features traditional rock elements and incorporates the electric guitar well. "Fate to Despair" is another excellent stage theme with dramatic melodies and nice development. The final battle theme "Proof of Blood" sounds similar, only more fast-paced and engaging thanks to an excellent melody. Hiroshi Mitsuoka's contributions are somewhat weaker, but more or less enjoyable. "Hill of Soul's Repose" may be his strongest theme with a melancholy and harmonious character while the title theme "Circle of the Moon" is another lush if short melody.

Now let's come to the "bad half" of the score: Harmony of Dissonance. I like the title, because it's rather fitting with this score. Tracks are somewhat harmonious, but sound way too dissonant like NES or Game Boy music due to the atrocious sound quality. Even for the Game Boy Advance, the sound quality can be much better, as we have already seen from Circle of the Moon. Koji Igarashi stated that this was the first developement for the Game Boy Advance and that they had no idea of the system's capabilities. That's kinda sad in my opinion.

However, there are two exceptions. "Title Screen" and "Successor of Fate (Juste Theme - Variation)" are the only two themes with enhanced sound quality. They're mostly string-based, but definitely more enjoyable than most of the remaining tracks. Moving to other highlights, "Name Entry 2K2" is an remix from the very first Castlevania with a nice upbeat sound. The short "Game Over" jingle is also taken from an older Castlevania instalment, namely Castlevania: The Adventure for the Game Boy. "Successor of Fate" has a enjoyable melody and "Offense and Defense" features an interesting drum line.

Sadly the rest of the score is rather unteresting and bland. Even Michiru Yamane's appearance doesn't help much; she merely contributed "Pitch-Black Door" and "Night Head", two of many boring and repetitive tracks. Only her mix "VK2K2" is interesting and enjoyable given the inclusion of "Vampire Killer". The soundtrack ends with an arranged track by Suikoden III co-composer Takashi Yoshida. "Chapel of Dissonance" is an orchestral mix of the original piece, but it sadly can't hold up with Michiru Yamane's arranged tracks. While the beginning sounds rather promising, the overall developing chords sounding a bit too chaotic and disordered, especially with the use of brass and snare drums. Another fitting name for a dissonant track.

Summary

In the end, I personally categorise this compilation as one of the weakest Castlevania soundtracks to date next to the Castlevania Chronicles soundtrack. While the first 19 tracks are enjoyable, the last part of the score is simply horrifying and uninteresting. Not only that the sound quality is weak, if there were strong melodies it would be a different piece of cake, but even this is not the case. I can only recommend this to the die-hard Castlevania fans or collectors; for others the soundtrack isn't worth of buying. You can easily listen to the music within the game if you want to so you don't need this soundtrack. It's only worth purchasing for Circle of the Moon.

Overview

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon and Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance were two new entries in Konami's long-running Castlevania series for the Game Boy Advance. While both games were highly acclaimed, their soundtracks were among the shortest and weakest of the series. Konami eventually decided to release the soundtracks together as a one disc compilation in 2002.

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The first Game Boy Advance score in the series, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (aka Akumajo Dracula: Circle of the Moon), mostly features arrangements of past favourites. The classics range from a jubilant light-hearted arrangement of Castlevania's "Vampire Killer", to an ethereal reminiscence of one of Michiru Yamane's earliest "The Sinking Old Sanctuary", to a catchy pop arrangement of Dracula: Rondo of Blood's "Illusionary Dance". There are also some less well-known tracks, such as Castlevania 64's "Shudder" and Castlevania III's "Nightmare", which create a suitably ominous mood without standing out much. Overall, it's hardly a selection of the series' best tracks, but the blend of classics and hidden gems is still likely to keep most listeners nostalgic and entertained.

While it was a lazy decision to base most of the score on past themes, some effort has gone into ensuring the arrangements are suitable for the in-game context. For example, Rondo of Blood's "Requiem" and Bloodlines' "A Vision of Dark Secrets" sounds more dramatic than before with their epic orchestrations and rich synthesis. Meanwhile Castlevania III's "Aquarius" and "Clockwork" preserve the upbeat anthemic quality of the originals to provide a fun accompaniment to the stages. However, the arrangements are too straightforward and underdeveloped to particularly enhance the tracks for the purpose of stand-alone listening. In the current era, with numerous arranged albums, tribute scores, and fan remixes, such treatments just don't cut it and most consumers can find much better renditions.

There are a handful of original compositions on the score. Sotaro Tojima made the effort to produce a solid original composition for the game's first stage, "Awake". It opens with a catchy and bouncy melody that, in many ways, provides a homage to the series' scores of old. The development thereafter adds to the anthemic sound with its light rock influences. "Fate to Despair" and "Proof of Despair" are slightly more serious compositions. The former is a lavishly decorated march piece that takes gamers through one of the most challenging and atmospheric stages, while the latter is a fast-paced action-packed orchestration suitable for the final boss. In contrast, Hirofumi Matsuoka's "Inversion" is a repetitive and generic filler track that isn't worth its thankfully short playtime, while the title track isn't particularly impressive either.

On the second half of the disc, the score for Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (aka Akumajo Dracula: Concerto of the Midnight Sun) is probably the least impressive in the series. The score has a rather dissonant sound throughout, though this is largely due to amateurish composition and atrocious synthesis. For example, Soshiro Hokkai attempted to create a dark ambient soundscape on "Prologue", but only alienates rather than immerses listeners. In line with some of Michiru Yamane's best, he constructed the composition in a polyphonic manner using three interweaving lines, yet the lines are completely unrelated harmonically and sound like random snippets taken from different compositions. What's more, any intended subtleties is lost by the absolutely blaring synthesis on the Game Boy Advance.

Even those themes that were intended to sound desirable fall flat on Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. Juste Belmont's "Successor of Fate" is presented as a bold anthem, along the lines of "Simon's Theme", yet the melody sounds more nonsensical than heroic. "Decisive Battle" meanwhile was apparently composed with no regard for hardware limitations and the final result is downright ugly. "Old Enemy" likewise is one of the most intense battle themes of the series, yet lacks any intricacies or charm. Others such as "Approach to Despair", "Aqueduct of Dragons", and "Den of Skeletons" have a rambling and repetitious sound throughout that is entirely unwelcome in the game. They're a disgrace to the series' musical legacy.

A couple of favourites from the series' original trilogy nevertheless receive serviceable arrangements on Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. The longest of these, "VK2K2" used during a secret boss stage, is a particular highlight since it skilfully integrates Castlevania's "Vampire Killer" and Castlevania III's "Clockwork" into one. In addition to this arrangement, Michiru Yamane contributed two original compositions to the score, "Pitch-Black Door" and "Night Head"; both are short and generic to compare with her greats in other scores, though do demonstrate a better grasp of musicality and are at least functionally effective. There is also a bonus arranged track by Takashi Yoshida at the end of the release. It initially transforms an adequate yet unremarkable original piece, "Chapel in the Sky", with impressionistic orchestration and piano work before taking a more mature dissonant direction.

Summary

Overall, the scores for Castlevania's first two Game Boy Advance titles are hugely disappointing. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is mostly competent in its musicianship and synthesis, but is brought down by its lazy use of past themes from the series. Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance meanwhile is completely crippled by its sloppy composition and synthesis, standing as the worst score in the franchise. Konami made the right decision by presenting these two lacklustre scores on the same disc, but even together, the scores probably don't have enough highlights to be worth your money.