[H] First Round #13 (Desperate Fight vs. South Shrine)

Listen to both songs and select the one you prefer.

Download Links:

Valkyria of the Battlefield - Desperate Fight
Shining the Holy Ark - South Shrine

Streaming:

Desperate Fight: Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:
South Shrine: Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:

I don't know why this was translated as Desperate Fight. Brave Fight seems more accurate. "South Shrine" sounds like Sakuraba and it's nice, but I do feel the endless metallic percussions aren't really melded with the rest of the track.

Valkyria of the Battlefield - Desperate Fight
Sakimoto and militarism go together like ice cream and fudge. This song certainly isn't going to convert anyone who doesn't like Sakimoto's style, but I love it. The bright melody is a great counterpart to the darker percussion, and the percussion itself is nicely propulsive with a sort of "train" sound in the snares. Probably my favorite from the album, come to think of it.

Shining the Holy Ark - South Shrine
Not really your garden-variety Sakuraba, that's for sure. The melody is nice and has a slight far-east flair, but I think Taisai hit the nail on the head about the mix--all those cymbal hits kind of wash out the meat of the song.

Sakimoto and Sakuraba tend to arouse strong pro or con feelings in people, so it'll be interesting to see how this pairing plays out.

I'm certain that the drumming in South Shrine killed a country. I lol'd pretty hard at the bass line changing for a single second at the loop.

This might just be a guess, but I think the "Wall of sound" that's often used to describe Sakimoto's orchestral works is less a result of him doing too much at once, and more a result of poor mastering. I really think that it's possible for the tune to sound a lot clearer without sacrificing any of the parts. It's extremely noticeable in Desperate Fight, which is very muddy, even by his standards. Shame, since there's a really good song under there.

This bracket really sucks ass. I don't know this Sakuraba guy that well, but if this is what he does, he needs to pack up his shit pronto. The drums are fucked up, and everything else is monumentally boring.

Desperate flight is sort of okay as a song, it's not AS lazy as Sakimoto's usual stuff, but Goddamn, somebody take away his 1980s reverb machine. Buy the man some Altiverb. Stab him in the throat. Do something to make him stop coating his music in a layer of diarrhea.

Having said that, it's better than South Shrine.

Blech. Another abstain.

This is Sakimoto near his orchestral best, with uplifting horns and a clear sound that feels full of honor, hope and duty. Very near to some of his FFXII work.

This Sakuraba tune has its moments but also feels muddy and dull.

I think this is our second or third Sakimoto-Sakuraba pairing already. Funny how that happens.

'Desperate Fight' - Not much about this sounds desperate in any way. It actually sounds gleefully triumphant, sort of like some of the FFXII themes that were used for running around on the steppe or the desert. The title of this instantly brings to mind several 'desperate battle' themes from other RPGs, all of which make this seem all the more flimsy. On the plus side, it's well-constructed and decently arranged/produced. On the downside, however, it is just incredibly unmemorable.

'South Shrine' - Buried under some of the worst-sounding drums I've ever heard is a pretty decent tune, I'm sure of it. The chords played on the organ/whatever are really nice in this and the melodic arrangements atop of that are very well done. The drums remind me of countless assholes who drop into the keyboard/pro-audio section of a music store and randomly start messing around with drum patches on a keyboard they can't afford. As damaging as the drums are to this piece, I'm still going to favor this one over the not-so-desperate battle theme because it drips with more emotion and holds fast to the strong chord progression.

I know "Desperate Fight" is listed as one possible translation in some dictionaries, but "Brave Fight" is much more proper for 勇戦, methinks. I don't think any of you votes against it because of an inappropriate fan translation, but for whatever it's worth.

Bleh, in case you're not aware I dislike Hitoshi Sakimoto's music. I'll admit "Desperate Flight is decent; it sounds like "The Phon Coast" at points which is a very, very good thing. However the orchestral-militaristic approach is far too mundane for me to enjoy in this one and leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth as does the tedious, long-winded lead-up, even if the accompanying melody and arrangement is slightly above-par. Good attempt, but something about it irks me. Just call me the leader of the "I hate Sakimoto...sometimes for no justifiable reason" club.

"South Shrine" was also pretty standard, but the woodwinds were at least a bit interesting. The percussion in this one sucks, but thankfully doesn't detract too much from the overall listening experience. Having said that, the listening experience here is still pretty mediocre. Ultra-weak paring, but I'll give this one a nod. Nothing about it really offended me.

"Desperate Fight" - 4/10
"South Shrine" - 4.5/10

I hope Sakuraba was going for the extreme comedy feel here, because this percussion in South Shrine is so hilariously bad. In fact, the whole song is. He must have intentionally tried to butcher this song, there's no other explanation.

Sakimoto didn't make me laugh with his song, but then, he also didn't charge at my ear canal with razor blades. So I guess he gets my vote in this pair.

: Valkyria of the Battlefield - Desperate Fight
: Shining the Holy Ark - South Shrine

The cymbals of South Shrine are the best part of the entire contest.

Desperate Fight is pretty damn rousing. Nice melody and good build to the climax. Also the drums are mixed better.

Haha, what the heck @ South Shrine's cymbal hits. Kind of exhausting after awhile.

Desperate Fight is good enough to get the nod even though I'm not a big fan of this kind of music (though I did grow to enjoy Dalmasca Easterlands from last year's BSC).