I'm going to structure my list a bit different compared to last year.
Top 3:
N/A | Cosmic Star Heroine
Until CSH came around I didn't find
Hyperduck SoundWorks that interesting. Sure, there were some good (isolated) tracks on
Dust or
Penny Arcade, but nothing of consistent quality.
This is different for this album which I fully enjoy from start to finish. It really captures the retro soundscape of the classic era and incorporates a lot of the 80s synthy sound. Also this seems to be now the longest soundtrack that Hyperduck has produced so far.
Last but not least it has an amazing theme for the main heroine and a rocking standard battle theme, which frequently triggered me to prolonge battles while playing the game. Oh yes, the game itself is great as well!
KTGS-40378CD | Blue Reflection Official Soundtrack
The last work by Hayato Asano before departing from Gust Sound Team. A beautiful blend of piano and electronic music. A shame that this one didn't receive a standalone release.
SBPS-0022~3 | Another Eden Original Soundtrack
The debut of
Mariam Abounnasr as composer. She sure knows how to emulate the composition style of her boss (listen in particular to
Baruoki). If there should ever be a new title in the
Chrono universe, than this is how it should sound.
I should also mention that Tsuchiya does a wonderful job on those battle tracks.
The Good: (in no particular order)
GUN-0062 | Flowers Original Soundtrack -Hiver-
The fourth and last volume of the soundtrack to
Flowers by Innocent Grey. Beautiful and relaxing album, which draws a lot from the live performance of its tracks.
INCD-002 | Unchained. Noriyuki Iwadare's works library Vol. 01
Some tracks could come straight from the Grandia universe. Curious what could be next in the series.
KDSD-01000~1 | Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology Original Soundtrack
Well, this is not exactly new, except for the new tracks of the remake. But just
Breeze Over the Ocean warrants a mention here.
SQEX-10629~30 | Lost Sphear Original Soundtrack
Not as strong as
Setsuna from last year, but still highly enjoyable. Still driven mostly by piano, it now also makes heavy use of violin and choir (
The end of myth, which I guess is the final battle track) elements. Looking forward to see how Miyoshi's style is going to evolve from here on.
SBPS-0020~1 | Valkyria: Azure Revolution Original Soundtrack
The comeback album by Mitsuda after nearly five years. Also it's the first time for his new arranger/orchestrator
Mariam Abounnasr, who I already mentioned above. What can I say? She's good!
But it's also the non-orchestral and quiet tracks where the album shines. A favorite track of mine is
Romance of Two, which is just piano.
N/A | Link-a-Nation Original Soundtrack
First videogame soundtrack by (should I say newcomer?) composer MICHIRU. Very different from her work for
Izetta, but a very fun album to listen to. Not sure what game this is -- looks like some mobile otome/VN title from the cover artwork.
MNMK-011 | The Alliance Alive Original Soundtrack -Buryoku Choutei-
It's the trademark piano/violin sound of Hamauzu, sometimes with less, sometimes with more electronic influence. I also want to point out the contribution by his daughter, which sound _very_ promising.
REC-541 | Black Wolves Saga "Anesthesia"
A very short (18 minutes if we don't factor in the vocal disc) soundtrack by the (now freelance) Natsumi Kameoka for the BWS Vita port.
The OK:
TRCD-10361 | Reco Love Original Soundtrack
I guess this here is quantity over quality. Also I get the impression that I've heard most tracks already somewhere else (Photokano, kimikiss, etc.)
CDST-10050 | Magicians Dead NEXT Blazing Original Soundtrack
I have mixed feelings here. The main problem I see is that Kouda's tracks don't really work in conjunction with Shimomura's music. Might've been a better idea to not put multiple composers on this project.
The Bad:
LNCM-1175~7 | Persona5 Original Soundtrack
I'm really picky when it comes to Persona music. I can't really do much with the first two games. The third installment gets better, but is still just okayish. It's P4 where it really begins to shine, and I mean both the main game and the spin-offs (listen e.g. to
Like a Dragon from
The Ultimate in Mayonaka) as well.
With this development in mind I had high hopes for P5, especially after the critics for the game were all very positive. Sadly the music reverts back to P1/P2 levels. No personality of the BGM, and even the few vocal tracks fall flat. The worst thing is that Atlus used Kitajoh mainly for these jingle-type tracks, which are usually 30 seconds or so. Lots of wasted potential here.
SQEX-10589~91 | NieR:Automata Original Soundtrack
Rating of the soundtrack here at VGMdb are highly biased by the game itself, which I guess is probably a masterpiece. But the soundtrack itself is definitely on the weak side. Too much trying to recreate what we already heard in the original NieR, without adding anything new to the mix. Adding to vocals to every track doesn't make the music automatacally (*hrhr*) better.
Still need to listen to these:
KICA-2524~5 | Touken Ranbu -Online- Kinji Music Collection Vol. 1
Not entirely sure what to expect here, since the combination (
Shikata +
Elements Garden) is a first.
HIMJ-0014 | Egglia Original Soundtrack
I look forward to hear something reminiscent of
LoM.
KECH-8059~62 | Atelier Lydie & Suelle Original Soundtrack
Would've loved to see Asano on this one. What frightens me a bit is the growth of soundtrack length for the Atelier games. Now we're at fours discs already.
And probably a lot more albums.