I love soundtracks. I have various soundtracks ranging from the aggressive soundtrack of
Dracula 2000 to the zany wailing of
Spongebob Squarepants . It was with this great appreciation for music and the collection of music one can get from a single soundtrack, that made me excited to review
Onimusha . I put
Onimusha in the car CD player (that I installed myself) and smiled a smug smile as the soothing, ambient orchestral sounds lulled me into believing I was an ancient Japanese swordsman! Brought to us by
Tokyopop ,
Onimusha boasts 30 tracks that take up a whopping 71 minutes. For those of you unfamiliar with CD time, the only thing else you can put on a 71-minute CD is a dab of butter and a splinter before it's full. The great thing is, while the tracks are short by song standards of today, they brilliantly flow into each other like you're listening to a novel. All in all, it's a wonderful soundtrack that is rich with musical color and symphonically beautiful.
The score for Onimusha was written by Mamoru Samurogoch , as evidenced by an informative story written about him. This story can be found nestling between the first few pages of the CD's insert. It is very captivating to know that Mr. Samurogoch was partially deaf while writing most of the composition, and finally fully deaf as this masterpiece came to an end. Several orchestras and solo instrumentalists were used in making this diverse, powerful collection of songs. The only thing that's really hard to get used to is how one song will start so mellow to where you have to crank your stereo to even hear it. Follow this with a suddenly riveting part, or something that just blares with enormity, then you've got yourself a little earache. Also in my case, I had to replace my right rear 6' X 9'. I really haven't been much into jaunts through symphonic music, but I've found myself popping this CD in more often than others for its ability to soothe after a rough day. Onimusha is almost like a musical I.V. It also can put the entire 'samurai feel' around you, or at least that's my impression. I can't say enough what an immensely magnificent soundtrack Onimusha is. Producer Keiji Inafune should be highly commended for his wonderful insight and producing a captivating musical disc.
