Darker Than Black 2: Ryuusei no Gemini – Original Soundtrack – Review
| Album Title: | Darker than BLACK: Ryuusei no Gemini Original Soundtrack |
| Anime Title: | Darker than BLACK: Ryuusei no Gemini |
| Artist: | Yasushi Ishii; Stereopony; Abingdon Boys School |
| Catalog Number: | SVWC-7670 |
| Release Type: | Soundtrack |
| Release Date: | December 23, 2009 |
| Purchase at: | CDJapan, Play-Asia |
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Track List: [spoiler]
| Track Title | Artist | Time |
| 1. Dive into the 9 | Yasushi Ishii | 3:56 |
| 2. Savage Dog Cerberus | Yasushi Ishii | 3:45 |
| 3. Galaxy Train | Yasushi Ishii | 4:39 |
| 4. No. 23 | Yasushi Ishii | 3:48 |
| 5. Soul Fusion | Yasushi Ishii | 4:03 |
| 6. Jesus Cloud | Yasushi Ishii | 3:36 |
| 7. Karura’s Flame ~karuraen~ | Yasushi Ishii | 3:17 |
| 8. Suizen Reika ~komusou~ | Yasushi Ishii | 3:55 |
| 9. Psychic Contact | Yasushi Ishii | 3:46 |
| 10. Lighting Flash Poem | Yasushi Ishii | 2:23 |
| 11. Candraprabha’s Tears | Yasushi Ishii | 3:06 |
| 12. Brand New Happiness | Yasushi Ishii | 3:59 |
| 13. Fire ~cause of a fire~ | Yasushi Ishii | 1:39 |
| 14. Laughing Vajra Kumara | Yasushi Ishii | 4:01 |
| 15. Angular Sphere | Yasushi Ishii | 4:19 |
| 16. Yahweh’s Forest | Yasushi Ishii | 3:04 |
| 17. Nyogen’s Midnight Town | Yasushi Ishii | 4:44 |
| 18. Serenade of Nirvana | Yasushi Ishii | 2:06 |
| 19. Moonlight Guidepost ~Opening Edition~ | Stereopony | 1:35 |
| 20. From Dusk Til Dawn [Anime Edit] | Abingdon Boys School | 1:32 |
[/spoiler]
A copout review would simply advise you to get this OST if you like Yasushi Ishii’s Hellsing OST. And since no truer words can be said, I’ll spite the site’s conventional review format and get straight to the heart of why this will rock your world.
Dive into the 9 [audio:01 dtb2.mp3]
Despise synth heavy songs like this one? Then turn up the volume since I swear there’s a classical piece playing underneath it all. Your ears bleeding yet? Good. That’s for being too narrow-minded to explore other musical genres.
“Dive into the 9” is a wet dream for action AMV creators since it starts with a bang and just never relents. It’s a single-barrel shotgun that explodes at the top of the OST and sets the bar sky high. Monocle holding, tea sipping, old people may complain at the massive cacophony of sounds coming out of the less than crystal clear synths. However, all the bells and whistles are far from superfluous and creates a kinetic, living atmosphere. In my eyes, this song is pinnacle of excellence. It’s catchy, creative, cool. The only speck of complaint here is that the whole thing does not end after 90 seconds.
Savage Dog Cerberus [audio:02 dtb2.mp3]
Galaxy Train [audio:03 dtb2.mp3]
Ready the bass amps. Time to up the UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ.
If the pulse of music is the beat, this is Michael Phelp’s heart after warm ups. Rhythmic and assertively pounding, “Savage Dog Cerberus” is Darker than Black 2’s go-to song for fight scenes, and there is no question why. The song provides an energy jolt akin to a Red Bull, or cheaper, a “soft” kick in the pants. Equal in style and effect, though very different in sound, is “Galaxy Train,” which chugs along hard and fast. Normally, I would not a appreciate a piece that so heavily depends on a single catchy beat, but exceptions exist because of stuff like these. Despite some of Ishii’s less than successful experiments in distortion, these are tracks you will not soon forget.
Jesus Cloud [audio:06 dtb2.mp3]
No, despite the title name, this is not a song about marijuana. Ignore the fact that I do not speak or understand Japanese; the deep, profound pain espoused by the vocals compel me to believe that there is something truly deep here. Sure the singing may be – on a relative scale – horrible (ditto to every song in the OST), but this is a common man with a guitar which absolves him from any claims of talent.
If anything, the song is a great mood-setter outside the domain of high octane adrenaline. Along with “Candraprabha’s Tears” and “Brand New Happiness,” this piece shows that Darker than Black is about more than just explosions and death. Ultimately, what makes this all too common combo of the vocals and guitar truly special is how each additional layer of sound to the song builds to something greater. Instead of piling on the sounds into a big brown mesh, Ishii effectively paints an intricately colorful piece.
Moonlight Guidepost ~Opening Edition~ [audio:19 dtb2.mp3]
I put the opening song above many of the other great tracks in this OST not because it’s superior, but because I happen to disagree with Jen’s opinion, and the favorites section of my mp3 player won’t let her have the last say. It’s not that the finer details of my opinion is different from hers, it’s just that the opening is such a solid generic, throwaway pop piece that it deserves its place in the sun before it’s forever forgotten.
At the end of the day, there’s a reason why despite all the crap Darker than BLACK 2 gets absolutely no one complaining about the music. Epic tirades against the show come to a dead stop when it arrives at the issue of music, bringing with it a quiet, unstated appreciation… even reverence.
Often, people who deserve no claim in the world of art call their pieces “experimental” or if arrogant enough, “the next Picasso”, but Yasushi Ishii does not fit this mold. His tinkering crops up an incredible amount of creativity and variety. Though there may not be a jazzy undertone like in Hellsing’s OST, the music is hip, energetic and will set your playlist on fire for weeks to come.
UNTZ on.
Rating: Excellent
As a trance lover, this OST was instantly added to my trance/techno playlists 😀 Galaxy Train, No. 23, and Karura’s Flame are my favorites :3 I’ve been waiting so long for Galaxy Train ever since I heard it in episode… 9 I think it was (at the airport). Epic song~
I had a lot of complaints about DtB2. The music was not one of them. Savage Dog Cerberus was my favorite track. UNTZ = no fucking around.
I quite liked the techno feel to this OST. I’m definitely getting my hands on a copy.
By the way, I enjoy your writing style, it makes for an easy read while still bringing your opinion to the reader in an effective manner.
Do you really think that the first 90 seconds of Dive into the 9 is synth heavy? I didn’t really think it got synth heavy until round 1:30. Unless my ears are failing me the first 90seconds is some savage bass/guitar/drums/a really quiet underlying synth/and distorted vocals. I’d have to get my hands on the scans (and figure out how to read them) to really say for sure. Galaxy Train or No. 23 are probably the most synth heavy of all the songs. Galaxy Train my favorite song of the album. I like the hard trance sound that instantly grabs me and has such a heavy sound. I feel like my head is under water at the beginning of the song.
I have a lot of complaints about techno and trance music. DtB2’s would not even touch off any of the complaints since the music exhibits enough style for this to be excellent, nay awesome listening indeed. I’d hate to be echoing other opinions, but “Galaxy Train” really is the best of the lot since the synth-y beginning grabs your attention from the get-go and never lets go by delivering a good amount of action and intensity that ebbs and flows well.
Hell, there’s even “Candraprabha’s Tears” if anyone wants a variation on Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” :p
@Nazarielle
Galaxy Train was indeed one of the jewels of this OST. I considered also putting up Karura’s Flame in my review, but I suppose leaving viewers a few great songs can’t be a bad thing.
@Baka-Raptor
Indeed.
@Burning Lizard
Thanks. I’m always trying to spice up my writing, and I’m glad that I’m starting to succeed.
@taka
I admit that Dive into the 9 was extremely tame with the synths until a bit in. My initial comment about synths was more an introduction to how synth heavy the rest of the OST would be.
@zzeroparticle
I feel that most of the songs in the OST deserved a word or two, but that would have been overkill. Candraprabha’s Tears was also high on my list to be reviewed, along with the remix of the Ohio Players’ Fire
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I’m loving the techno feel as well. Putting this OST on during a coding session would fit perfectly.
As a side note, too bad the cover doesn’t have the clean shaven Hei. Still in drunken mode. =/
@Reltair
I don’t know. I kind of like the look of drunken Hei. He has a feral image which aligns well with the OST.
“If the pulse of music is the beat, this is Michael Phelp’s heart after warm ups.”
That’s a clever line. ^ ^
Anyway, I liked the score. The hard rock track (Dive into the 9) was not so much my thing, but I really enjoyed Galaxy Train and the OP.
Wow, the opening very effectively got me interested in this album!! I like how they started the song, I like the clean sound of the vocal’s voice!
@Yi
Thanks.
Though I enjoyed Dive into the 9, I knew that if any track would get under people’s skin it would this one since it lays everything down so heavy. This is probably why I used it as something of a border guard track for anyone who truly hates this kind of music.
@cj
I really liked the OP as well. I was looping constantly at one point until I got my fill of it. It’s still buried in one of my playlists though.
Where can I buy the OST?
@Lauren
Try either Play-Asia or CDJapan if you’re looking to take the plunge on this OST.
Hi!
I wanna know what artist of each music.
Stereopony and Abingdon Boys School are only for opening/ending themes and Yasushi Ishii do others?
@Dimas
Yes, Yasushi Ishii did all the songs not used in the OP/ED.
Ok, thank you for the answer.