anybody else listening to Nobuo Uematsu’s band, The Black Mages’ second album entitled The Skies Above? well, i saw a torrent of it available at boxtorrents and downloaded that one.

i totally love the first The Black Mages album. it’s one of those albums that i can place in my playlist and have it loop over and over again. if you haven’t heard of them or any of their music, think of the best soundtracks in all of the Final Fantasy albums and give it a some electric guitars, drums, and more organ and you have one of the best music ever.

now on to the second album, the great guitars and drums and organ’s still there but for two of tracks in it, Otherworld (that’s blitzball rock theme) and The Skies Above (the title screen theme), why should there be vocals? yeah, the original Otherworld from FFX has vocals in it but the vocals in this one’s done by some gal who i think just doesn’t suit the mood and feel of the track. it’s just way too off. as for The Skies Above, it fairly started okay. fairly like the original. but when the vocal parts entered, damn, it destroyed the track again! this time the track was sung by a guy who just sounds sooo…. operatic. >.> damn. but aside from those two tracks, this album is worth it. i wonder if ever they’ll start releasing this one and the first album internationally. because, i, for one, will definitely grab it.