If you’d been keeping track of the teasers and trailers for the long-awaited release of the Chrono Trigger mega arrangement album “Chronicles of Time“, then your wait is over. The five-disc behemoth project has finally been released to Loudr and iTunes in all its 75-track glory. (we originally counted 60, but we can’t numbers good)
Clocking in at just under six full hours of music, the album is packed to the gills with talent across the entire VGM spectrum. Directed by Spectrum of Mana’s Nate “FoxxDragon” Horsfall and co-directed by Kurt Horsfall, Chronicles features musicians, arrangers, artists and bands from Overclocked Remix, Dwelling of Duels, TheShizz.org, MAGFest bands and several other talents from across the world.
Wayo Records, which is a company based in France is offering some excellent CD Bundles which appear to be in limited quantities, but just in time for the holidays. I currently own their phenomenal 2 CD release of Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch by Joe Hisaishi. The bundles include:
The Yasunori Mitsuda Collection, which currently has a message of very limited. For 104 Euro (about $110 USD), you’ll be getting six Yasunori Mitsuda CDs: To Far Away Times: Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross Arrangement Album, ISON Comet, Hako No Niwa, Kirite, Sailing to the World and Moonlit Shadow. If you’ve always wanted to beef up your Yasunori Mitsuda library I don’t think you’ll find a better deal for these physical releases, so grab the bundle while you can!Sebastian Urrea recently reviewed Masashi Hamauzu’s The Legend of Legacy Original Soundtrack, this bundle includes that Two disc release and three additional releases by the composer for 54.4 Euro (about $57 USD). The bundle includes: The Legend of Legacy Original Soundtrack, M. Hamauza Piano Works, M. Hamauza Opus 4, and Black Ocean IMERUAT.The last bundle includes Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch by Joe Hisaishi, Of Orcs and Men by Olivier Deriviere, and The Legend of Legacy Original Soundtrack and Black Ocean/IMERUAT by Masashi Hamauzu for 50 Euro (about $53 USD).
Wayo Records accepts PayPal and ships Worldwide. You can purchase all of the bundles on their website right here.
This week I thought we’d take a break from the electronic dance remixes and listen to something a little more relaxing. The Chrono Trigger soundtrack has a number of memorable and distinct pieces that help make it a favorite of many game music fans. One of the more relaxing tracks from the game is “Secret of the Forest” by composer Yasunori Mitsuda.
Today’s Arrangement of the Week is an ambient electronic remix of the piece, titled “The Depetrification of the Submerged Forest,” by artist Zisotto.
Right from the start the remix sets up a wonderfully tranquil atmosphere. Plenty of resonant and slow building synth effects are present to build a relaxing and otherworldly sound. The piece also takes its time building up. It’s not until the 1’25” mark that we even hear the recognizable arpeggios from the original track.
The remix is also fairly long, lasting almost 10 minutes. Part of this is a result of how long Zisotto waits and builds up the synth instruments and atmosphere. It’s not until around 2’42” that the main melody gains some prominence over the rest of the instruments. However, there’s plenty of movement and consistently fresh elements being added to the remix to maintain the listener’s interest. Most of the ambient tones remain present throughout the whole remix, providing a consistently chill vibe all the way through.
Have any favorite ambient remixes, arrangements, or covers of game music? Share them with us in the comments below. You can check out Zisotto’s “The Depetrification of the Submerged Forest” on OC ReMix.
On October 14, 2015, Square Enix Music released the long awaited To Far Away Times: Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross Arrangement Album and after listening to it I’m sharing with you my thoughts on the album. All of the album details have now been added to the Video Game Music Database including the English tracks names and details for each track. The album has been a long time coming for fans of Yasunori Mitsuda and the Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross series.
Read on for my track by track review of the album, and if the links are still up – listen to the tracks and make your own decision on whether you want to add this album to your collection. (more…)
Samples from the upcoming Harukanaru Toki no Kanata e: Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross Arrangement Album have been posted by Square Enix Music. You can find the samples and listen to them here.
There are currently five samples and to be honest they are not what I expected, but they sound incredible. The five tracks include:
“Corridors of Time” arranged by Yasunori Mitsuda and English vocals written and performed by Laura Shigihara.
“To Far Away Times” arranged by Sachiko Miyano and English vocals written and performed by Sarah Alainn.
“Time’s Scar” arranged by Tomohiko Kira and Japanese vocals written and performed by Koko Komine.
“Radical Dreamers” arranged by Sachiko Miyano and English vocals written and performed by Sarah Alainn.
“Marbule” arranged by Yasunori Mitsuda – no vocals.
The final tracklist has not been announced but you can pre-order the album at the retailers listed at Square Enix Music. What do you think about the addition of vocals to the above tracks?
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Chrono Trigger, and thus some announcements of arrangement music projects have surfaced. One is from the same people who created the Secret of Mana arrangement album back in 2013, Spectrum of Mana. This project, called Chronicles of Time, will feature an obscene amount of tracks from some of the biggest names in the video game music arrangement community, much like Spectrum. Said to be spanning five disks, a 13-track preview for the project has just dropped, “A Premonition”.
We’re still hard at work, but you can expect even more diversity than what Spectrum of Mana offered at the same level of quality. In celebration of Chrono Trigger’s 20th anniversary in North America, we submit to you…a full 13-track preview of what’s to come!
Join us as we wish a Happy Anniversary to one of the greatest videogames ever created and celebrate one of gaming’s greatest composers, Yasunori Mitsuda!
Chronicles of Time is currently slated for a December release, with the preview being free to download (or throw some coin at, if you wish). We’ll keep you posted as news of the album is released.
The album was revealed in the program for Yasunori Mitsuda’s Anniversary Concert being held this weekend in Japan. Twitter user @tomatogumi2 tweeted their photo of the advertisement in the program. This looks like it is the album we have all been waiting for and speculating about for several years!
All we know at this time is that the album will retail for 3000 yen. Keep checking back with OSV for further details on the album. Did you attend the concert this weekend, or know anyone that did? We would love to hear about it!
