Voices of the Lifestream given 5 stars in top Finnish gaming mag, Pelit
The November 2007 edition of Pelit, Finland’s top gaming magazine recently reviewed OverClocked ReMix’s Final Fantasy VII arrangement album Voices of the Lifestream. Translated from Finnish by fan Joonas Lehmusjoki, the 5-star review from Pelit’s Juho Penttilä is presented in full:
MUSIC FOR THE ANNIVERSARY
What happens, when fourty-two musicians remixes the soundtrack to a classic videogame? Even though the project is done by OverClocked ReMix, known for its quality remixes, my mind just kept telling me it’s not going to be good. But what does my mind know.
Voices of the Lifestream has been released just in time to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Final Fantasy 7. The album had been in the works for over one and a half years, including 45 remixed FF7 songs divided into four discs. The total running time for the album is massive three and a half hours. And all of this is downloadable for free from their website, including the cover and disc art.
There are almost as many music styles on Voices of the Lifestream as there are musicians who have been making it. The album is opened by the ethereal “Deliverance of the Heart,” where bright female voice is combined perfectly with Nobuo Uematsu’s beautiful melodies. After this you’ll be hearing all from techno and rock to classical music styles. The highlights of the first disc are the wonderful “Lunatic Moon,” strongly electric guitar based “Full Frontal Assault” and slow and atmospheric “Materia Junkie.”
The quality stays as strong with all the other discs. You’ll be hearing the majestic “Jenova Returns” and “Beginning of the End,” and beautiful, fully piano arranged songs “A Life Without Parole” and “Stone Eyes.” “Midnight at Club Corel” and many other great songs give their parts to the whole experience, before the album is ended successfully with “Golden Ivories of Gaia” potpourri.
The length of the album is also its weakest link. When you combine this many different styles and musicians there is bound to be few ugly ducklings. Thankfully there aren’t many of them. Unnecessary songs, like the million times heard Chocobo theme and “Golden Feathers” should’ve been left out of the album.
Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream is the most interesting event on the Internet music scene in a long time. Although there are a few flaws, the album surprises one song after another and stays interesting throughout its whole length - as long as you don’t listen to it in one go.
Voices of the Lifestream is a must-listen for all fans of Nobuo Uematsu’s music, but the music on the album works even for people who have never played any of the Final Fantasy games.
Juho Penttilä
Well, if you’ve ever considered yourself an artist, you know just how to deal with criticism: roll with the good, and utterly and totally disregard the bad. Don’t include the Chocobo themes? I can’t imagine how much bad press Voices of the Lifestream would have gotten had the team NOT included those themes.
As for the overwhelming positive, you don’t take our word for it of course. Page 19 of Pelit’s November 2007 issue is right here at VGF if you wanna check it out. For more information on OverClocked ReMix’s media coverage over the years, visit their Press page.
