20. Demon's Crest - Beyond the Colosseum
Nominated by: Ed Bellis
Beyond the Colosseum is a song I've known about, and liked, for a number of years, and for whatever reason it's the only song I've ever seen anyone mention from this game. Not sure what's up with that.
In any case, it's indeed really good. It kind of reminds me of Castlevania music, and you know what, that is all right with me. I'm actually a big fan of organs in VG music, and Beyond the Colosseum manages to fake one exceptionally well for an SNES game.
19. Muv-Luv Alternative - Seimei no Honou
Nominated by: Phase
As is perhaps predictable of me at this point, I like the instrument choice here! Seimei no Honou sounds somewhat militaristic, but it also definitely plays up a tragic angle, especially at the beginning of the piece. It's sort of a neat combination that doesn't get used very much. I also really like the way it progresses. The beginning and ending are quite different, but it transitions between the two so seamlessly and gradually that I didn't even notice until I had listened to it a couple times through.
18. Tales of Symphonia (JP) - Starry Heavens
Nominated by: tazzyboyishere
Not my favorite song with vocals from Tales (that would be Karma), but it is really good. Has some cool instrumentation, though I do think that short instrumental section at about three minutes in is the weakest part of the whole thing. AS ONE MIGHT EXPECT from a song like this, the vocals are the main draw here, and I really like the singer's voice, so it's hopefully not hard to see why I'd rate this fairly highly. I also think the lyrics (working off a translation) are surprisingly not awful, though that could just be because I don't mind pure saccharine in my lyrics.
17. King of Fighters XIII - Diabolosis
Nominated by: NioraptH
Whew. After that last one being all hopeful, we get something a little darker. I really need to look into King of Fighters' music in greater detail, because I've heard basically nothing except this and Mutually Exclusive Dichotomy from KoF 2002 Unlimited March, both of which are really damn good. Diabolosis is a tiny bit repetitive but that's about the only criticism I can find with it. It strikes a really good balance of being intense without having too much going on at any one point. Also fun fact: I found myself absentmindedly whistling this today (today being the day I'm writing this writeup, not today the day I'm posting it, for the record), so it must've made a rather big impression on me, considering I can basically never remember what any piece of vgmusic actually sounds like.
16. Klonoa 2 - Ark Ver. 1
Nominated by: MycroProcessor
This song is bizarre as hell and I'm not sure why I like it. Mycro, you should do a post about this song because I'm definitely not going to be able to do it justice. >_> Uh... let's see. The melody seems... strange and off somehow to me, but in a good way. I've really never heard anything quite like this. It sort of makes me think of a shimmering reflection in a pool of water that keeps getting broken up by the ripples. Like trying to listen to the musical version of that. ...I'm bad at this. someone help me.
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"The courtroom is the garden of holy judgment. Those with lechery in their hearts should leave this sanctuary at once!" ~Franziska von Karma