Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 20! Amazon/Pygmalion, Dungeon/Last Specter, Between Worlds/Apollo

(+) Yeah! (+)

The Amazon
The Last Specter's Theme
Apollo

The Amazon
The Last Specter's Theme
Between Two Worlds (Realm of Darkness)

The Amazon
The Last Specter's Theme
Apollo

Jake Kaufman is definitely bringing it today! The Amazon is a real nice groove.

I can't remember if I heard Alice Schach in a contest setting yet, so this might be my first time experience with these vocals. They're fine, but for the style they're going for I think I definitely prefer Mili vocals. Rest of the song is pretty fine though.

I was not expecting Dungeon to be this level of old-school groovy, like damn. It sounds like it's an high-energy drum and synth away from being a TMNT song!

It's hard to not enjoy Layton whenever his music comes on, it's just that blend of instruments with a slight jazz rhythm to it that does it every time for me. I wouldn't pick this over Theme of the Last Time Travel, but I'd say this is a pretty fair second.

I think this Limbus Company song is perfectly serviceable, but I definitely don't prefer it over In Hell We Live from last year. I think it also needs another 30-40 seconds to do something really memorable than what it currently has.

sasakure is back! I really liked that track from last year, and as it turns out I really like this one too! Pretty fun breakbeat song, real good synths and nice little piano addition.

The Amazon
The Last Specter's Theme
Between Two Worlds (Realm of Darkness)

The Amazon
The Last Specter's Theme
Between Two Worlds (Realm of Darkness)

CHUNITHM NEW - Hex of Pygmalion
Professor Layton and the Last Specter - The Last Specter's Theme
Limbus Company - Between Two Worlds (Realm of Darkness)

First two matches were incredibly easy, in part due to them being two songs I already know and really love. But also just kinda in general. Apollo was getting kinda good and I was unsure what I'd vote there for a bit, but taking the Alice and Mili for today.

The Amazon: Fun song. It's kinda not mixed very well though. Too much emphasis on the percussion and other background elements that it drowns out the main instruments. The melody is still nice regardless.

Hex of Pygmalion: Not sure how I feel on these vocals. They don't feel strong enough for this type of instrumental and the breathiness doesn't really fit it either. The instrumental is interesting at times though. Mixed bag of a song.

Dungeon: Not really feeling this one either. It just kinda exists for 2 minutes. Almost like a bootleg EarthBound song, but with a non-memorable melody and not as interesting soundscape.

The Last Specter's Theme: Definitely my favorite of the day. Love the piano, violin, and accordion more than anything. The shredding over the second half is super cool. Finally, the acoustic guitar solo at the 3 minute mark is just awesome. Great song.

Between Two Worlds: The breathy vocals in this one definitely fit the instrumental better. Nice piano and buildup in the first half. The strings and vocals at 2:03 are the coolest part of this one. Love the rhythms there. Good song.

Apollo: Big fan of the synths in this one. They create a pretty unique soundscape, and the inclusion of breakbeat rhythms from time to time is pretty intriguing. Another good song.

First half was meh, second half was a lot better.

Votes:
The Amazon
The Last Specter's Theme
Apollo

The Amazon
The Last Specter's Theme
abstain

Specter is so good what the hell

DuckTales: Remastered - The Amazon
Professor Layton and the Last Specter - The Last Specter's Theme
ONGEKI R.E.D. PLUS - Apollo

MATCH 1

The Amazon is really bright and upbeat. I always enjoy the level of depth that Jake Kaufman puts into his songs. I think that's the reason why I always tend to like the songs that he writes. Anyway, that holds true here as well. For some reason, I really like that repeating melody at 2:33, and that part as a whole is my favorite part of the song.

Alice Schach is typically good as well. This is a close match, but I think The Amazon is a little more consistently good. I really like 1:00-1:21, especially 1:18, as well as of course when it repeats in a higher key. Though, I don't really feel myself getting into the melody starting at 0:10 prior to that chorus, which brings down my enjoyment a little bit and ultimately leads me to place Hex of Pygmalion just a little bit below The Amazon.

MATCH 2

Dungeon is pretty decent. Not something I'd rave about, but it's good enough for what it is. Nothing really to complain about. 0:34-0:51 kind of reminds me of TMNT IV: Turtles in Time with that lead instrument. I guess you could even say it has the grooviness of it as well, though I'd take my favorites from that game over this song without question.

As much as I talk about my enjoyment of violins in VGM, I really like The Last Specter's Theme for its accordion more. I don't talk about it as much, but I do really like the sound of the accordion. That part at 0:41 where the accordion notes descend is really cool. For some reason, I don't like the violin's sound as much here. But I do really like it from 1:01-1:40. And that part as a whole is really good with the harmonic depth to it from all the combined instruments. I feel similarly about how this song gets towards the end where more instruments gradually come in.

MATCH 3

Don't really care all that much for Between Two Worlds. The first 27 or so seconds of the song is decent, but I'm not really a fan of anything after that. The overall style and the way the vocals are for the most part aren't my thing.

I feel like I enjoy sasakure's music more outside of rhythm games than his rhythm game works, but Apollo's still a pretty decent song. I like the melody in the synths and the piano. Though, I find the ryhthm in the odd time portions to be a bit too...choppy? Not sure what the right word here would be, but it feels like triplets that don't sound like they fit to my ears in this context. After listening to his rhythm game songs here and in last year's contest with LIN NE KRO NE, I find it a little amusing to hear that sample at 0:14 used in multiple songs. I don't mean this in a bad way at all, just that it trips that pattern recognition of "oh, there it is again!" Favorite part is probably 1:32-1:46.

The Amazon > Hex of Pygmalion = The Last Specter's Theme > Apollo > Dungeon > Between Two Worlds (Realm of Darkness)

Amazon
Abstain
Apollo

The Amazon
The Last Specter's Theme
Between Two Worlds (Realm of Darkness)

Last Specter going into my favorite discoveries list for almost making an 8/10 on a first listen. Pretty impressive!

Mili feels very hit or miss. Here it feels like more of a miss, but that splendid instrumentation caries the song for me. If this was instrumental, it would be like my favorite discovery from the entire contest so far. Oh well. Still voting the Mili song anyways since its opponent doesn't appeal to me much. Sorry to the God of music himself Apollo for voting against him.