Tracklist:
Arrange Version
01 - Deja Vu
02 - A.D. 1995 Story
03 - Heaven
04 - Sourpuss
05 - Song of Recollection
06 - Theme of Endless
Original Version
07 - The Place
08 - Uncountable Digitalist
09 - Deja Vu
10 - Going Our Way
11 - A.D. 1995 Story
12 - Spank
13 - In the Shop
14 - Scoop-up Sand
15 - Assault
16 - Ogiwara
17 - My Pretty Sister
18 - Devil Dancer
19 - Dr. and Mind
20 - Smash Up
21 - Karen
22 - Outtalk
23 - Chaser
24 - Song of Recollection
25 - Desolate City
26 - If We Believe
27 - Friday
28 - Evolution
29 - Eurythmic Battle
30 - Heaven
31 - Love Song
32 - A Manii Foreigner
33 - Sourpuss
34 - Smaze
35 - Flame Up Fragment
36 - Bicarbonate of Fate
37 - Theme of Endless
38 - Parting.exe
39 - Sayonara
40 - Special Thanks for... you
Total Time:
76'42''
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As an exercise in the use of hard hitting and rather complex synth beats to capture the feel of a full blown electronic album, the Majin Tensei 2 soundtrack is rather good. Not being a huge fan of excessive use of synth, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the normally dull beats as they wrapped themselves around a central tune or theme in varying ways throughout a single song. That's not to say there aren't tracks (Special Thanks For ... You, A Manii Foreigner, My Pretty Sister, and so on) that will try as hard as they can to make it obvious to you that this soundtrack is destined for midis. Nevertheless, one will still find dozens of graceful melodies and heart-pumping beats. A piano track is often used in the songs, as well, which adds a graceful compliment to electronic beats and noises.
The lengths of the songs are generally excessively short (forty eight seconds for "Desolate City" is nowhere near enough...) but considering that it is essentially the same 2-3 second rhythm, it may have been best in the end to keep them short, lest it be looped to the point of tediousness. You will see a more respectable three to four minutes plus on a quarter or so of the tracks, although those aren't necessarily the tracks that should be four minutes long. Still, with forty songs you get a decent sized album. The packaging isn't spectacular, but contains a fair amount of text in the liner notes on the composers, a paragraph or so on each of the songs, and a few photos and artwork (by Kagami, not Kaneko, unfortunately).
Anyone looking for a excellent example of the use of techno soundtracks in the pre-32 bit era, I highly suggest you look into this one (this collection stands as a pinnacle of sorts for SNES-era Megami Tensei music as Majin Tensei II was the second to last MegaTen game released on the system, with the lower-profile Last Bible 3 following half a month later).
Reviewed by: Hyral
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