Today the first of a new, short two-part series looking at lesser-known games (and their soundtracks) developed by Neverland on the SNES, and released in 1996, namely, Chaos Seed and Energy Breaker. This first part of the series will look at the score of Chaos Seed.
Chaos Seed was one of two videogames developed by Neverland (and published by Taito) and released in 1996. (The other, Energy Breaker, is the subject of the second part of this short series.) The game was scored by the team of Yasunori Shiono, Neverland's talented in-house composer, and Katsuhiro Hayashi, a Sega alumni who was, at that time, working freelance for various companies. A single track was also composed by Yukio Nakajima, another of Neverland's in-house sound team.
Once again Yasunori Shiono takes the lead on a Neverland RPG, and you will observe that it is far, far superior to his work on Lufia & the Fortress of Doom, a score which (excepting tracks which returned in Lufia II) is almost wholly unrepresentative of the remainder of his music. He is joined by a Sega alumni - surely one of the oddest composer team-ups in the history of videogame music.
For the score, the duo effectively blend traditional JRPG music stylings with the sounds and stylings of traditional Japanese music. To the credit of the SNES, it pulls this off very well: it's strikingly listenable, hardly the ear-grating barrage one might expect. It's very much a JRPG score, but the phrasing of melodies and harmonies and usage of pentatonic scale gives it a very distinctively Japanese vibe. If you were to argue that it's just a "JRPG score with different instruments", well - I'd like to repudiate you, but I know almost nothing of Japanese music.
If you do, please leave a comment. The topic is a fascinating one and I would love to know more.
It is not part of the "A-tier" of SNES JRPG soundtracks. But it comes close.
I'm going to divide this review, similar to Terranigma, according to the function of the tracks. Let's begin with the character themes, and there are many of them. (The various "Dousen's Theme", or "Enchanted Cave", tracks have been excluded.) With the exception of "Alex's Theme", all the character themes were written by Yasunori Shiono.
All of these tracks share the Japanese stylings, with such instruments often taking the lead role. All are well-written, with strong, if not always memorable melodies. Rather than try and break-down each one, I'll highlight my own favorites.
"Soujin's Theme" goes for a darker vibe, the opening strikingly reminiscent of the opening to "Hyrule Castle" from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. There's really two melodies here. The second one is much brighter, but strings in the second reprise grant it a darker tone. The two melodies are reprised in various ways across the plucked-string and strings. Though darker, it's still a fun track.
"Shasta's Theme" is undeniably the best of the character themes - opening with a fun slap bassline, with a swift harp arpeggio added on top before the melody begins - and it's a great melody, not merely fantastic but memorable. The second melody on the saw wave is excellent, too, the harp flying from ear to ear adding a lot of character. The third melody, strings this time, is another great one. It's a series of fantastic tunes, the accompaniment perfect. It worms its way into your head.
Naturally, as one of the leitmotifs of the game, "The Heroine's Theme" is very good too, with its catchy, rhythmic melody. It's a little on the cute end of things, but in a good way. It's bright and cheerful, bringing to mind someone innocent and happy with themselves and with life.
"Kevress' Theme" is a heroic theme which will undoubtedly remind many listeners of Lufia with its heroic beat and classically Shiono melody. This impression is further reinforced by the lack of Japanese instruments which have otherwise been so ever-present.
Yukio Nakajima's sole contribution is "Alex's Theme", and what a contribution! Great melodies (we'll be meeting more of those with his work on Energy Breaker) and an upbeat, cheerful nature - without ever losing its certain measure of intensity - make this a fun listen. May I say, also, that it is two minutes long before looping? Surely just that much, in a game of this vintage, is worthy of some praise on its own.
Shiono contributed to the game all of its battle themes - or, at least, that's the theory. A 1996 album release of the score only included 34 of the 53 tracks in-game (along with four "3D Arrange" tracks). Ten years later, a new release compiled not merely all of the tracks from the game but all the tracks from the Sega Saturn version (along with the "3D Arrange" tracks, two new arrangements, and four arrangements from the "SS Chaos Seed Bonus Disc"). However, where the 1996 release included individual credits, the 2006 set did not.
This means that three of the "Phantom Beast" themes' composer is unknown, likewise, so to is the composer of "Battle 2" (in my opinion, it sounds like Shiono). However, I'd say that it's almost certainly Shiono: "Phantom Beast 1", "3", and "4" (along with 2) share a rhythmic motif with "Battle 3" (credited to Shiono). So, with no evidence to the contrary, and much implicit musical evidence in favor, Shiono it is.
The opening of "Battle 1" with its dramatic string chords sounds a lot like the opening of an Ace Attorney track - some five years before the first game of that series came out, I'll note. If you've heard music from the first Lufia, it's immediately clear that Shiono has become a great deal better at writing battle themes. There's a lot more going on here, musically, it's much more of a fuller sound, a richer sound. The melodies are stronger, the bass section is no longer so slapdash, and Shiono has a much better hold of where to bring in and drop aspects. The dramatic peaks of this track are, firstly, a solo ethnic string phrase (I'm not going to be making guesses as to what it's meant to be) while the timpani joins in. It's a moment of greater drama, with the added percussion, but it also keeps the relatively laidback nature of this track: the drumset percussion doesn't change, nor do the string accompaniment, and the bass drops out entirely. Immediately following is a greater peak of high, dramatic chords with low strings almost snarling at you.
As a lovely bonus, it's over a minute long before it loops. A far cry from the sad, thirty-second loop of "Battle 1" from Lufia & the Fortress of Doom.
"Battle 2" is a rather more unusual piece, its greater intensity created with a lower-key nature and much different, much more percussive instrumentation. The plucked string melody is accompanied by what could be either a tuba or a funny-looking saw wave - I'm leaning towards the former - and it's reprised on the strings. The low electric guitar adds a lot of rhythmic intensity, and it's a dramatic moment when higher strings accompany with chords before dropping everything right into the loop.
"Battle 3" on the other hand is properly epic with the string-filled arpeggiated opening and crashing intensity familiar to the Lufia listener (I reckon it closest to "Battle 1" and "Battle 3" from Lufia II). In its accompaniment that rhythmic motif I mentioned earlier - four dotted eighth notes followed by two normal eighth notes. And it is suitably dramatic: percussion, electric guitar, bass, strings, timpani. Above all this is a brighter melody - a way, I imagine, to highlight the heroism of the heroes by contrasting it to the darkness of whatever it is they're fighting. The string melody is even more heroic - but it's all cut short, everything descends and we're right back at the beginning.
That rhythmic motif I mentioned must be a miniature light motif for the Phantom Beasts (whatever those are) because it's present in "Phantom Beast 1" (and the other three, too), which is intense in an entirely different way from the other battle themes. The glissing strings, barely a melody (though we do shake hands with one in the second half and climax), the low electric guitar, the idiophones occasionally popping by? As for the transition to loop, I'll say only that it's awkward.
"Phantom Beast 2" ups the electric guitar count by one (at the intro the second one there's even a rising sine wave - borrowings from something, I just don't know what) and confines the melody to synths. It continues the lower-key intensity on the first track (and, I'd extend it to "Battle 2, too). A favorite moment is when everything drops out for a rhythmic motif and rising string & sine chords.
"Phantom Beast 3" moves away from the ethnic instruments entirely. It's undoubtedly the shortest of the tracks: nary :41 seconds before loop. The snare puts on a dramatic march-like rhythm, and for the most part the theme is entirely rhythmic.
With "Phantom Beast 4" we see a blending of the previous two, arguably - the dramatic strings of "3", the guitar and synthetic melody of "2", etc. It, too, is strong, though the melody is, again, not particularly memorable. (Shiono writes strong, solid, but not always memorable, melodies.)
And, saved for the last out of a psychotic necessity to create at least some form of tension-and-release, "The Last Battle", which opens complete with thudding toms and string chords and then, practically grabbed straight from Lufia II's "Battle 2", the string chord pile-up - the sole difference is that the volume fades out, rather than the strings descending in a mass glissando. Here we have a classic Shiono battle theme, really - whatever the intensity of the opening (and the second half/quarter before loop), it's ultimately heroic in nature. There's even the arpeggiated up-and-down chord in the bass. There's a moment of dark strings, and then string arpeggios before loop, but these are short, and we ultimately find ourselves right back with that heroic melody - the best and most memorable of all the battle themes, I might add.
Oh yes - and the one oddity: "Heroes' Attack", another Shiono battle theme even more in keeping with the Lufia II style - straight down to the oboe melody in the second half and string chord pile-up opening! Another solid battle melody, and at the end before loop there's even a guest appearance of the 'Phantom Beast rhythm'.
With the character themes and battle themes done, now to the more miscellaneous scene themes, area themes, and dungeon themes. (The "Enchanted Cave" and "Friends" tracks by Katsuhiro Hayashi I shall talk about later.)
Firstly, the simply titled "Cave", which is already one of my favorite cave themes of any videogame score ever. The combination of light percussion with an ostinato on an earthy-sounding instrument with various string harmonies (plus the tubular bells, a staple in Lufia II) is a winning combination. It becomes melodic after a minute in , but this isn't a tune meant to stick in the head, more to create interest.
This - arguably ambient - approach is maintained in "Dungeon", a slower tempo which ever so fascinatingly contrasts its first string melody later on by doing a straight reprise alongside a new melody before modulating downwards and repeating it.
Let's reverse to the beginning with the "Opening Theme" which opens with arpeggios and strings - I can't identify the first instrument - and it's not until :45 or so we get anything melodic. It's not a particularly memorable melody, overwhelmed and surrounded by accompaniment far louder than necessary. But at :57 we get a recurring leitmotif of the game, the function of which I can not yet determine.
"Tranquility" is as the name suggests - peaceful, harp arpeggios and a slow, winding melody echoing through each ear. This melody will reappear and so we can perhaps think of it as the 'tranquility theme'. A variation pops up in "Furnace of Ryuuketsu".
There are, of course, Hayashi's tracks. Many of these are unusual (and not outside-the-normal the way the entire score arguably is with its ethnic instruments) with a blend of instruments are unusual themselves within in Chaos Seed. Take, for example, "Dousen's Theme", aka "Main Theme 1", which adopts a jazzy (funky? poppy?) tone when it adds piano and synth bass.
"Main Theme 2" reprises the melody (and the string trills and glissando make me think that "Opening Theme" might be Hayashi's) and this time it's much more orchestral, strings and solo string, snare and synth bass. Or, at least, that's what I was thinking a minute in before a new synth organ soloist appeared.
"Main Theme 3" goes for a slower tempo and different instrumentation for the main theme itself. It's overall a much darker track, with a fantastic second section, dropping - for better or for worse - the unusual sounds that marked out the previous renditions.
As for the "Enchanted Cave" tracks, these generally double down on the odd instrumentation ("Fiendish Enchanted Cave" excepted) and "Last Enchanted Cave" is especially odd in a way reminiscent of EarthBound without the same consummate craftmanship and skill Tanaka and Suzuki brought to it.
The "Friends" tracks continue this vibe, though they are, in my opinion, far superior, often being fun to listen to.
There's just a few more tracks I'd like to highlight before wrapping up. Chaos Seed is a big soundtrack and going through each track would be quite ridiculous.
"Betrayal" is a fantastic variation on the 'tranquility' theme, transforming it from a motif of peace to one of tension. "Sadness of the Heroine" is a beautiful variation on the heroine's theme. And, again, "Shasta's Theme" and "Kevress' Theme" are fantastic.
I said before that it isn't part of the "A-tier" of SNES soundtracks, and to some extent I still hold that opinion. But I said that it comes close, and it does. It's good. It's very good. Memorable melodies like "Shasta's Theme" and "Kevress' Theme" imprint themselves into your head, while the duo of ambient tracks have quickly become favorites of mine. The battle themes are intense and pump the player up, while the diverse and fascinating instrumentation the entire score uses ensures that they never sound too much the same.
It is, more than that, a great leap forward for Yasunori Shiono's SNES work, of whom we last saw in Lufia & the Fortress of Doom and skipped over Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals. In the former, he is clearly getting to grips with the hardware, while in the latter, he provides us with what basically ends up as a Generic JRPG score done with extraordinary talent, if still simple. But here Shiono better layers many musical parts.
Just listen, for example, to "Battle 1" - the contrapuntal string line against the plucked melody is new. It's not merely a superior musical effort to Lufia II, it's tangibly a step forward for the composer. Between this and Lufia II - which, while simpler, and 'generic JRPG score', was excellent in its own way - I'm left stunned that Shiono dropped out of the industry in the mid-2000s, that besides Lufia: The Legend Returns he has nothing of genuine note from the period.
Recently, he has been getting back into the industry, composing for the Red Spider series, three visual novel games, the last two of which he collaborated with fellow Neverland alumni Yukio Nakajima with. One can only hope that Shiono will be picked up for a major RPG project and take his rightful place alongside the other JRPG music greats.
My final score is 8.7 out of 10.
And a request for my readers, if I have any. I would appreciate requests on videogame scores to review, as, while I have plenty of ideas, I want also to be exposed to music I haven't heard before. JRPGs, particularly little-known ones, will be given preferential treatment.
Please expect part two, about the soundtrack of Energy Breaker, soon.