SVWC-7278: ARMORED CORE LAST RAVEN ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

[Another Soundscape]

A funny note is that '5 point Five' is actually in 11/8 or 5.5/4 time signature. Made me giggle at least.

[Mortavia]

I love this soundtrack, it's my favorite Armored Core soundtrack! When I first heard it, it's so mechanical, it was borderline infuriating. I thought "This isn't even music!" And sometimes, when I come across some of my favorites, like Pause Mind, I still think that! Hahaa. But the maniacal repetitiveness of it, and the random little noises thrown around the channels, and the way the beats pulsate and get my blood moving, is undeniably addicting. I realized that I'm only holding myself back by being so critical of the melodic quality, and that I do in fact enjoy this and maybe just don't want to admit it. And as I allowed myself to listen to it more, I had less and less trouble admitting that I just really like this soundtrack. The strange time signatures, like 5 point Five, and the polyrhythms, like in Hype.Charles, really make this soundtrack interesting to listen to, aside from its hardcore techno/DnB nature.

This soundtrack is a lot of fun, I wonder how many other people really like this one compared to other Armored Core soundtracks. Armored Core is a great series of music, a favorite of mine, and as much as I love Kota Hoshino I have to admit that the soundtrack he is absent from is the one my heart goes to most strongly (but it has nothing to do with him).

[MiLO]

"5 point Five" was great I do remember that but I never listened to the whole soundtrack.
After reading what you had to say this seems like my cup of tea so will def check out the rest of it.

I agree that Armored Core is a great music series, not every album is amazing of course but there are always at least several tracks on each disc that stand out and are memorable.

My favorite soundtrack in the series happens to be AC V. Main theme "Lithium" is very pleasing to the ears.

[Mortavia]

Hmm, actually, I haven't listened to Armored Core V, that must be the newest installment. That's good to know, I'll have to check it out. And you're right, even if the soundtracks aren't stellar as a whole, Armored Core always delivers at least a few excellent tracks. I agree.

[doppel9014]

Armored Core is a great music series indeed, personally I like AC4 soundtrack, I think it is the best among the series.

And yes, you can always find one or two good track in a soundtrack, even though the whole soundtrack doesnt sound promising.

These are my favourite tracks
"Integrity" from ARMORED CORE ORIGINAL MUSIC FILES
"Ambiguity" , "9" from ARMORED CORE ORIGINAL BEST TRACK
"Artifical Sky" from ARMORED CORE 3 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
"Silent Line" from ARMORED CORE 3 SILENT LINE SOUNDTRACK
"Fall" , "Thinker" from ARMORED CORE 4 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
"Remember" from ARMORED CORE for Answer ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
"Autobahn" from ARMORED CORE NEXUS ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
"Lament Over the Howling Age" from ARMROED CORE Ⅴ ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

Kota Hoshino personally made an arrangement for "Thinker", it's called "Thinker (altering edition) and it's a really good track too.

[Mortavia]

That's neat! Ambiguity and Autobahn are two awesome songs, really hard to leave these off a favorites list. Some of my favorite Armored Core songs include:

Junk Mail (and the remix) from Armored Core Original Best Track/Music Files
Firework from Armored Core 2
Rain from Armored Core 4
Cicada from Armored Core For Answer
Red Butterfly from Armored Core Nexus
The Game from Armored Core Last Raven

I think I need to listen to Armored Core 3 and Silent Line more, I don't really remember anything from those that I can name off the top of my head. I don't know why either, I think I remember Silent Line being really awesome, like very orchestral in nature.

Ah, Armored Core~

[Raziel]

It's awesome to see Armored Core fans here! I really like it too. I'm only familiar with the soundtracks of AC1, AC2, AC4, ACfa and AC5 though. I'm not going to listen to the music of the AC3 series before I play the games, and I actually started playing AC games from the ground up 2 years ago, right now I'm on Armored Core 2: Another Age.

Anyway, some of my favourite tracks are

"Integrity" from ARMORED CORE ORIGINAL MUSIC FILES
"Fall Pipe" from ARMORED CORE ORIGINAL MUSIC FILES
"Apex in the Circle" from ARMORED CORE ORIGINAL BEST TRACK
"Ambiguity" from ARMORED CORE ORIGINAL BEST TRACK
"Circulation" from ARMORED CORE ORIGINAL BEST TRACK
"Atom Smasher" from ARMORED CORE 2 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
"Magnetism" from ARMORED CORE 2 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK (I always think of it as a "sequel" to Fall Pipe since both of them are played when you fight the biological targets, can't remember the name, sort of alien things)
"Panther" - Armored Core 4 Original Soundtrack
"Sand Blues" - Armored Core 4 Original Soundtrack
"Agitator" - Armored Core 4 Original Soundtrack
"Rain" - Armored Core 4 Original Soundtrack
"Fall" - Armored Core 4 Original Soundtrack
"Thinker" - Armored Core 4 soundtrack

And well, with ACfa pretty much the whole of it. I think it's absolutely stunning and one of the very few 10/10 albums for me. It's sort of funny since I remember listening to the first time (without having any background in AC music or game wise) and absolutely hating it. Fast-forward about 2 years when I found out about AC4's music and loved it, then decided to give ACfa another chance and believe it or not, I was blown away. "Someone is always moving on the surface" just sends shivers down my spire!

@ And about Lithium being the main theme for ACV, isn't it that militaristic tune playing at the middle of "Begin in your Coming" that is supposed to be the overarching theme on the album? Haven't given it much of a listen to formulate my opinion, but that's what I definitely remember.

[Mortavia]

Another person that likes Rain! Oh and Circulation and Magnetism are two terrific tracks, I actually considered naming them both but I was only choosing one for each game and so I went with some other ones. Those two are some my favorite Armored Core songs, I can name so many songs but don't just want to list everything. But honestly, I never played one Armored Core game, I just listened to the soundtracks and was always pleasantly surprised.

Armored Core for Answer has a lot of great tracks, one of the stronger albums on a whole. I also love Great Wall - don't you feel something immense just coming, just building up? And World Is Down is a neat counterpart to Cicada, one of my favorites. Oh, and then Water Down, I completely forgot about that one. Yeah, you're right, I need to recount my favorites and then give For Answer a suitable rating here!

[MiLO]

I'm not much of a veteran of Armored Core games either, only played Armored Core: Silent Line Portable and Armored Core V. The main reason why I never got into them is because AC never really has been story driven. While the customization of mechs and futuristic dystopian world had been realised fairly well, the lack of a comprehensive story line makes the games kinda dry. AC: Silent Line was an exception here which at least had some mystery had interesting plot twists.

Then I was really fond of art direction and visual style chosen for AC V.
E3 2011 Trailer was absolutely awesome and gives that feeling of Black Hawk Down movie with its grungy war settings but this time the giant mechas are at the center of it. Main theme "Lithium" also plays during the trailer by the way.

Originally Posted by Raziel

@ And about Lithium being the main theme for ACV, isn't it that militaristic tune playing at the middle of "Begin in your Coming" that is supposed to be the overarching theme on the album? Haven't given it much of a listen to formulate my opinion, but that's what I definitely remember.

I don't think Lithium is present in any part of "Begin in your Coming" but you're right - the track is sort of a dominating tune of the album which can be heard in different variations throughout multiple tracks. It makes the 1st appearance in "V" which I'd say is just a shorter version of "Lithium", and then in "V Computers Are Talking", "Mercenaries", "Private Machine", and "Made in Heaven".

[Raziel]

Originally Posted by Mortavia

Another person that likes Rain! Oh and Circulation and Magnetism are two terrific tracks, I actually considered naming them both but I was only choosing one for each game and so I went with some other ones. Those two are some my favorite Armored Core songs, I can name so many songs but don't just want to list everything. But honestly, I never played one Armored Core game, I just listened to the soundtracks and was always pleasantly surprised.

Armored Core for Answer has a lot of great tracks, one of the stronger albums on a whole. I also love Great Wall - don't you feel something immense just coming, just building up? And World Is Down is a neat counterpart to Cicada, one of my favorites. Oh, and then Water Down, I completely forgot about that one. Yeah, you're right, I need to recount my favorites and then give For Answer a suitable rating here!

That's so awesome to hear! "Rain" is actually my favourite track from the album. Oh, and Great Wall is definitely majestic in terms of build-up.

Actually, my first introduction to the series was the track "Ambiguity" from the first game. Never heard that in-game, though (I didn't really finish Masters of Arena per se, I always liked the mission-based entries more).

It's true that the games don't have that much of an engaging storyline in comparison with something like Zone of the Enders, but I personally really like the lonely atmosphere. It's sort of lacking in the 2nd game, but some of the environment in the first game and its expansion Project Phantasma offer a nice dose of PSX era atmospheric moments.

Whatever the case, spread the AC love, be it the music or games themselves!

[Mortavia]

I don't have any objections to trying the games, maybe someday I will. I like storyline, but really it's not ever the reason why I play a game, to me that would be a reason to read a book. I like games because they challenge me and entertain my creative side, and it sounds like Armored Core's customization engine can do both those things so maybe one day I'll try the games out. The sure thing is that Armored Core music really is fantastic, it's so worth checking out!

[JumboMaverick]

Looking through some old, old notes I found a composer breakdown for this.

Yuki Ichiki (1, 7, 8, 12)
Hideyuki Eto (2~6, 9~11, 13~20, 22, 24, 25)
Ayako Minami (21, 23, 26)

I don't remember where it came from, and I can't seem to find anything online to validate it. Does anyone know anything more? Does the game have a sound test?