The Black Mages
Encyclopedia
The Black Mages were a Japanese instrumental rock
band formed in 2002 by Nobuo Uematsu
, Kenichiro Fukui
and Tsuyoshi Sekito
- three composers for Square Enix
. The band arranged Uematsu's Final Fantasy video game series
-based compositions in a rock style often similar to progressive metal
, achieved with the additional use of synthesizer
s. Since its inception, the band had expanded to six members with the addition of Keiji Kawamori, Michio Okamiya and Arata Hanyuda. On August 7, 2010, Nobuo Uematsu announced the band had disbanded, but he would continue to perform rock arrangements of his music as a part of another band, the Earthbound Papas.
The band has released three studio albums. Their first was released eponym
ously as The Black Mages in 2003, and contained arrangements of Final Fantasy battle themes. The second album, The Black Mages II: The Skies Above, was released in 2004 and featured additional pieces besides battle themes including the group's first original song, "Blue Blast ~Winning the Rainbow", which was created for Japanese K-1
fighter Takehiro Murahama. The third album, The Black Mages III: Darkness and Starlight, was released on March 19, 2008. Music from the group has also appeared in other albums, including one track in Dark Chronicle Premium Arrange, an album of arranged music from the video game Dark Chronicle
, a piece in the animated film Final Fantasy VII Advent Children and its corresponding soundtrack album, and one track on Final Fantasy III Original Soundtrack, the soundtrack album for the Nintendo DS
version of Final Fantasy III
.
The Black Mages did not tour as a band, but performed several concerts to promote their album releases. For their first album they performed in Shibuya
and Kanagawa
, Japan in 2003 and later released a live video of the first concert on DVD exclusively to Uematsu fanclub members. They repeated this for the release of their second album, performing in Kawasaki
and Osaka
, Japan in 2005 and similarly released on DVD to fanclub members. The third album saw a performance in Yokohama
, Japan in 2008; a DVD of the show was released commercially on March 25, 2009. In addition to these concerts, The Black Mages made live appearances at two Final Fantasy concerts
, More Friends: Music from Final Fantasy and Voices - Music from Final Fantasy, as well as another video game music event, Extra: Hyper Game Music Event 2007.
In 2000, Square Enix employees Kenichiro Fukui
and Tsuyoshi Sekito
formed an experimental partnership to compose music for the video game All Star Pro-Wrestling
in a rock style. After the game's success, the two continued to compose in the same style. In 2002, Fukui and Sekito decided to arrange
some of the compositions of Nobuo Uematsu
, the primary composer for the music of the Final Fantasy series. Uematsu, a fan of rock music, enjoyed these arrangements, and Fukui and Sekito asked him to join them in making a rock band. Declining at first due to feeling too busy with his composing duties and attempts to become a music producer with his Smile Please label, Uematsu agreed to join them in a single live performance as a keyboardist. At the performance, Uematsu felt a "mix of stage fright and excitement, [with] all the crowds cheering, the audience paying full attention", and decided to join the two in making a band; Fukui and Sekito had refused to start one if Uematsu was not involved as one of the musicians.
The group has said they were "nervous" about forming a rock band, as they were all "middle-aged", but decided after the performance it would not be a problem. The name "The Black Mages" was chosen by an employee at Square Enix, Mr. Matsushita, and was decided to be in English because it "wouldn't stand out" in Japanese. Square Enix owns the name "The Black Mages", which means while using that name the band was essentially limited to playing Final Fantasy music and original pieces rather than arranging music from other game series that were not owned by the company.
In 2003, Uematsu decided the band should produce an album of Final Fantasy arrangements. The trio arranged, interpreted, and sequenced
ten battle themes from various Final Fantasy titles, with Uematsu as producer; the album was released eponymously on February 19, 2003. To celebrate the success, Uematsu decided to organize a concert in tribute to the album; Uematsu and Fukui served as the keyboardists, while Sekito was the guitarist. They needed more people to perform the arrangements live, however, and as such, several other members from Square Enix joined. Keiji Kawamori joined to play the bass guitar, Michio Okamiya to play the guitar, and Arata Hanyuda to play the drums. Since then, The Black Mages have released two additional albums, with all six members participating. The group performed concerts to promote both of these albums, and also participated in video game music-themed concerts.
On August 7, 2010, Uematsu announced the band had formally disbanded. He did not directly state the reason for the decision, though in previous interviews he had noted the band was increasingly finding it difficult to find time to rehearse together. In an April 2011 interview he said the main reason was because The Black Mages had been formed as a "Square Enix" band, they were unable to perform arrangements of work he had composed after leaving Square Enix or to focus on original pieces. Uematsu continues to play rock arrangements of his music as a part of the band the Earthbound Papas, which performed at the Distant Worlds II concert in 2010. He has been joined by fellow Black Mages band-mates Michio Okamiya and Arata Hanyuda, both continuing on guitar and drums, respectively. They had also left Square Enix; Uematsu built the new band to not include any current Square Enix employees so as to avoid the trademark and licensing problems of The Black Mages.
and progressive metal
by The Black Mages. All the selected tracks are "battle" music from the games. The pieces have been described as "hard-rock" with "blazing synthesizer
s and guitars". It was first released on February 19, 2003, by DigiCube
, and subsequently re-released on May 10, 2004, by Square Enix
. It spans ten tracks and covers a duration of 51:29.
The album reached #43 on the Japan Oricon
charts. It was well-received by critics like Andy Byus of RPGFan, who termed it "addicting" and "powerful". He criticized the overuse of synthesizer as opposed to live instruments in some tracks, and that some of the arrangements stayed too close to the original tracks, especially "Dancing Mad". Tetra of Square Enix Music Online also enjoyed the album, saying "all of the members are strong musicians, and Sekito and Fukui were equally strong arrangers". His primary complaint with the album was he felt many of the songs followed the same general pattern in their arrangements.
, credited as "KAZCO", and Tomoaki Watanabe, or "Mr. Goo". It also includes a non-Final Fantasy track, "Blue Blast — Winning the Rainbow", an original piece that was created for Japanese K-1
fighter Takehiro Murahama. The Skies Above, as opposed to the first album, features real drums rather than sequenced drums, as the band had expanded from its original three members, none of whom played drums. The line "Maybe I'm a Lion" in the track of the same name was spoken by Alexander O. Smith
, a translator for Square Enix and close friend of Okamiya, one of the new members. It was released on December 22, 2004, by Universal Music Group
. The album spans eleven tracks, and covers a duration of 50:56.
The album received mixed reviews from critics; Jesse Jones of RPGFan said that he was "simply amazed" by the album, though it was not without flaws. While terming the music overall as "excellent", he disliked the vocal arrangements in "Otherworld" and "The Skies Above", finding that the voices of the singers did not match with the songs' instrumentals. Zane of Square Enix Music Online was less approving of the album, calling it "passable" and saying that the new arrangements gave "mixed results". He blamed the "intolerable vocals" and occasional poor choices in instruments as the problems with the album, concluding that the second Black Mages album was inferior to the first.
, spanning ten tracks and a duration of 60:40. The Black Mages sing the chorus for the song "Darkness and Starlight", the only vocal track on the album. The album has been described as being composed of a mix of "intense" symphonic metal
pieces and rock opera
. Like the previous album, Darkness and Starlight features an original piece, "Life ~ in memory of KEITEN ~", which was composed by Uematsu for Yoshitaka Tagawa, a boy he had met who died of leukemia
.
The album was well-received by websites like RPGFan, which said the album was "very much worth the over three year wait" and described the tracks as "enjoyable" and "inspiring". He had few complaints with the album, only describing "Opening ~ Bombing Mission" and "Assault of the Silver Dragons" as "bland", but still worth listening to. Square Enix Music Online was even more positive in its review of the album, calling it "a masterpiece" and "The Black Mages' finest effort to date", wishing only the album had been longer.
originally composed by Tomohito Nishiura
. The album was released on April 21, 2004, by Team Entertainment
. Their next appearance was in the animated film Final Fantasy VII Advent Children and its corresponding soundtrack album, where they played—together with orchestration conducted by Koji Haijima—"Advent: One-Winged Angel", an arrangement of "One-Winged Angel" from Final Fantasy VII
originally composed by Uematsu and arranged by Shirō Hamaguchi
. Their third appearance was on the soundtrack album for the Nintendo DS
version of Final Fantasy III
, entitled Final Fantasy III Original Soundtrack, with one track then titled "Last Battle -THE BLACK MAGES Ver.-", but later re-titled "KURAYAMINOKUMO" on the Darkness and Starlight album.
concert hall in Shibuya
, Tokyo, Japan. This overnight concert featured the full setlist from the album, and introduced the track "Matoya's Cave", which would be featured in their next album. While the band members were being introduced, Okamiya performed the Chocobo
theme and Uematsu performed the intro to Deep Purple
's "Smoke on the Water
." A DVD recording of the show was made and given to Uematsu fanclub members that year. The concert was repeated on November 3, 2003, at Kanagawa University
in Kanagawa
, Japan. This free concert was part of the Kanagawa Jindai Festa. As Uematsu graduated from Kanagawa University, The Black Mages all wore the school's student uniform.
For their second album, The Black Mages performed two promotional concerts. They performed all the songs from their second album, along with "The Decisive Battle", "Those Who Fight Further" and "Clash on the Big Bridge" from their first album. These concerts featured Kenji Ito
, who performed piano renditions of pieces from the SaGa series. Also featured were muZik, a group who performed seven techno
and pop
-style Final Fantasy arrangements. The first concert set was at Club Citta in Kawasaki
, Japan on January 22 and January 23, 2005, and the second one at Namba Hatch in Osaka
, Japan on January 28, 2005. A DVD recording of the Kawasaki show was made and given to Uematsu fanclub members on February 1, 2006.
A live concert was performed for the release of The Black Mages' third album as for their previous albums. Performed at the Yokohama Blitz in Yokohama
, Japan, on August 9, 2008, the concert featured all the pieces from the album with the exception of "Life ~ in memory of KEITEN ~" and with the addition of "Maybe I'm a Lion" and "Clash on the Big Bridge". A DVD recording of the show was made and released commercially in 2009, a first for the band.
. The first of these was the More Friends: Music from Final Fantasy event, held in the Gibson Amphitheatre
in Los Angeles, California, on May 16, 2005; the concert was The Black Mages' first appearance in North America. The band performed "The Rocking Grounds" and "Maybe I'm a Lion" from their second album, and joined with the orchestra for "Advent: One-Winged Angel" as an encore to the concert. A recorded album was released on February 15, 2006, by Square Enix, and included the pieces by The Black Mages.
The second Final Fantasy concert The Black Mages performed at was the Voices - Music from Final Fantasy concert held in Yokohama, Japan on February 18, 2006. This concert featured performances of various Final Fantasy songs. The Black Mages played "Advent: One-Winged Angel" at the end of the concert along with the Prima Vista Philharmonic Orchestra; the song was played a second time as an encore. A DVD of the concert was released on June 21, 2006, and included an interview with Uematsu.
On July 7, 2007, The Black Mages appeared at the Extra: Hyper Game Music Event at Shinkiba Studio Coast
in Tokyo. They were the last of thirteen artists and groups to play at the six-hour event, and performed "Last Battle", "Those Who Fight Further", "Maybe I'm a Lion" and "Clash on the Big Bridge". The music performed by The Black Mages did not appear on the official album for the concert.
Instrumental rock
Instrumental rock is a type of rock music which emphasizes musical instruments, and which features very little or no singing.Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style, most notably Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Link...
band formed in 2002 by Nobuo Uematsu
Nobuo Uematsu
is a Japanese video game composer, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series. He is considered as one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community...
, Kenichiro Fukui
Kenichiro Fukui
is a Japanese video game composer and musician. Before working at Square Enix, he was employed at Konami. He is an arranger and a keyboardist in the band The Black Mages, formed in 2003. Additionally, Fukui arranged Angela Aki's "Kiss Me Good-Bye" from Final Fantasy XII. In October 2007, he left...
and Tsuyoshi Sekito
Tsuyoshi Sekito
is a Japanese video game composer, arranger, and musician who has been employed at Square Enix since 1995. As a composer, he is best known for scoring the video games Brave Fencer Musashi and The Last Remnant...
- three composers for Square Enix
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
. The band arranged Uematsu's Final Fantasy video game series
Final Fantasy
is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
-based compositions in a rock style often similar to progressive metal
Progressive metal
Progressive metal is a subgenre of heavy metal originating in the United Kingdom and North America in the late 1980s...
, achieved with the additional use of synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s. Since its inception, the band had expanded to six members with the addition of Keiji Kawamori, Michio Okamiya and Arata Hanyuda. On August 7, 2010, Nobuo Uematsu announced the band had disbanded, but he would continue to perform rock arrangements of his music as a part of another band, the Earthbound Papas.
The band has released three studio albums. Their first was released eponym
Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
ously as The Black Mages in 2003, and contained arrangements of Final Fantasy battle themes. The second album, The Black Mages II: The Skies Above, was released in 2004 and featured additional pieces besides battle themes including the group's first original song, "Blue Blast ~Winning the Rainbow", which was created for Japanese K-1
K-1
K-1 is a defunct world-wide kickboxing promotion based in Tokyo, Japan founded by Kazuyoshi Ishii, a formerKyokushin karate practitioner. K-1 combines stand up techniques from Muay Thai, Karate, Taekwondo, Savate, San Shou, kickboxing, western-style boxing, and other martial arts...
fighter Takehiro Murahama. The third album, The Black Mages III: Darkness and Starlight, was released on March 19, 2008. Music from the group has also appeared in other albums, including one track in Dark Chronicle Premium Arrange, an album of arranged music from the video game Dark Chronicle
Dark Chronicle
Dark Chronicle , released as Dark Cloud 2 in North America, is a role-playing video game for the PlayStation 2 video game console...
, a piece in the animated film Final Fantasy VII Advent Children and its corresponding soundtrack album, and one track on Final Fantasy III Original Soundtrack, the soundtrack album for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
version of Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy III
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square in for the Family Computer as the third installment in the Final Fantasy series. It is the first numbered Final Fantasy game to feature the job-change system....
.
The Black Mages did not tour as a band, but performed several concerts to promote their album releases. For their first album they performed in Shibuya
Shibuya, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 208,371 and a population density of 13,540 persons per km². The total area is 15.11 km²....
and Kanagawa
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
, Japan in 2003 and later released a live video of the first concert on DVD exclusively to Uematsu fanclub members. They repeated this for the release of their second album, performing in Kawasaki
Kawasaki, Kanagawa
is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, between Tokyo and Yokohama. It is the 9th most populated city in Japan and one of the main cities forming the Greater Tokyo Area and Keihin Industrial Area....
and Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, Japan in 2005 and similarly released on DVD to fanclub members. The third album saw a performance in Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
, Japan in 2008; a DVD of the show was released commercially on March 25, 2009. In addition to these concerts, The Black Mages made live appearances at two Final Fantasy concerts
Final Fantasy concerts
Final Fantasy is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and owned by Square Enix that includes video games, motion pictures, and other merchandise. The series began in 1987 as an eponymous console role-playing game developed by Square, spawning a video game series that became the central...
, More Friends: Music from Final Fantasy and Voices - Music from Final Fantasy, as well as another video game music event, Extra: Hyper Game Music Event 2007.
History
Kenichiro Fukui
is a Japanese video game composer and musician. Before working at Square Enix, he was employed at Konami. He is an arranger and a keyboardist in the band The Black Mages, formed in 2003. Additionally, Fukui arranged Angela Aki's "Kiss Me Good-Bye" from Final Fantasy XII. In October 2007, he left...
and Tsuyoshi Sekito
Tsuyoshi Sekito
is a Japanese video game composer, arranger, and musician who has been employed at Square Enix since 1995. As a composer, he is best known for scoring the video games Brave Fencer Musashi and The Last Remnant...
formed an experimental partnership to compose music for the video game All Star Pro-Wrestling
All Star Pro-Wrestling
is a Japan-exclusive professional wrestling video game developed and published by Square on June 8, 2000 for the PlayStation 2. It was the first wrestling game published on this platform....
in a rock style. After the game's success, the two continued to compose in the same style. In 2002, Fukui and Sekito decided to arrange
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
some of the compositions of Nobuo Uematsu
Nobuo Uematsu
is a Japanese video game composer, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series. He is considered as one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community...
, the primary composer for the music of the Final Fantasy series. Uematsu, a fan of rock music, enjoyed these arrangements, and Fukui and Sekito asked him to join them in making a rock band. Declining at first due to feeling too busy with his composing duties and attempts to become a music producer with his Smile Please label, Uematsu agreed to join them in a single live performance as a keyboardist. At the performance, Uematsu felt a "mix of stage fright and excitement, [with] all the crowds cheering, the audience paying full attention", and decided to join the two in making a band; Fukui and Sekito had refused to start one if Uematsu was not involved as one of the musicians.
The group has said they were "nervous" about forming a rock band, as they were all "middle-aged", but decided after the performance it would not be a problem. The name "The Black Mages" was chosen by an employee at Square Enix, Mr. Matsushita, and was decided to be in English because it "wouldn't stand out" in Japanese. Square Enix owns the name "The Black Mages", which means while using that name the band was essentially limited to playing Final Fantasy music and original pieces rather than arranging music from other game series that were not owned by the company.
In 2003, Uematsu decided the band should produce an album of Final Fantasy arrangements. The trio arranged, interpreted, and sequenced
Music sequencer
The music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...
ten battle themes from various Final Fantasy titles, with Uematsu as producer; the album was released eponymously on February 19, 2003. To celebrate the success, Uematsu decided to organize a concert in tribute to the album; Uematsu and Fukui served as the keyboardists, while Sekito was the guitarist. They needed more people to perform the arrangements live, however, and as such, several other members from Square Enix joined. Keiji Kawamori joined to play the bass guitar, Michio Okamiya to play the guitar, and Arata Hanyuda to play the drums. Since then, The Black Mages have released two additional albums, with all six members participating. The group performed concerts to promote both of these albums, and also participated in video game music-themed concerts.
On August 7, 2010, Uematsu announced the band had formally disbanded. He did not directly state the reason for the decision, though in previous interviews he had noted the band was increasingly finding it difficult to find time to rehearse together. In an April 2011 interview he said the main reason was because The Black Mages had been formed as a "Square Enix" band, they were unable to perform arrangements of work he had composed after leaving Square Enix or to focus on original pieces. Uematsu continues to play rock arrangements of his music as a part of the band the Earthbound Papas, which performed at the Distant Worlds II concert in 2010. He has been joined by fellow Black Mages band-mates Michio Okamiya and Arata Hanyuda, both continuing on guitar and drums, respectively. They had also left Square Enix; Uematsu built the new band to not include any current Square Enix employees so as to avoid the trademark and licensing problems of The Black Mages.
The Black Mages
The Black Mages is an arranged soundtrack album of video game music from the Final Fantasy series of role-playing video games. The album contains a selection of musical tracks from the games, arranged and performed in a hybrid of power metalPower metal
Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...
and progressive metal
Progressive metal
Progressive metal is a subgenre of heavy metal originating in the United Kingdom and North America in the late 1980s...
by The Black Mages. All the selected tracks are "battle" music from the games. The pieces have been described as "hard-rock" with "blazing synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s and guitars". It was first released on February 19, 2003, by DigiCube
DigiCube
DigiCube Co., Ltd. was a Japanese company established as a subsidiary of software developer Square on February 6, 1996 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The primary purpose of DigiCube was to market and distribute Square products, most notably video games and related merchandise, including toys,...
, and subsequently re-released on May 10, 2004, by Square Enix
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
. It spans ten tracks and covers a duration of 51:29.
The album reached #43 on the Japan Oricon
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...
charts. It was well-received by critics like Andy Byus of RPGFan, who termed it "addicting" and "powerful". He criticized the overuse of synthesizer as opposed to live instruments in some tracks, and that some of the arrangements stayed too close to the original tracks, especially "Dancing Mad". Tetra of Square Enix Music Online also enjoyed the album, saying "all of the members are strong musicians, and Sekito and Fukui were equally strong arrangers". His primary complaint with the album was he felt many of the songs followed the same general pattern in their arrangements.
The Black Mages II: The Skies Above
The Black Mages II: The Skies Above is an arranged soundtrack album of video game music from the Final Fantasy series of role-playing video games. Like the previous album, it contains a selection of musical tracks from the games, arranged and performed in a hybrid of power metal and progressive metal by The Black Mages. Unlike their first album, The Skies Above includes other pieces besides battle themes; the album also features songs, which were performed by Kazco HamanoKazco Hamano
Hamano Kazuko is a singer and member of the GREAT TOUR BAND. Hamano sings the chorus, supporting Van Tomiko. Her popularity, due to her lively and energetic live performances, has led her to release two solo CDs...
, credited as "KAZCO", and Tomoaki Watanabe, or "Mr. Goo". It also includes a non-Final Fantasy track, "Blue Blast — Winning the Rainbow", an original piece that was created for Japanese K-1
K-1
K-1 is a defunct world-wide kickboxing promotion based in Tokyo, Japan founded by Kazuyoshi Ishii, a formerKyokushin karate practitioner. K-1 combines stand up techniques from Muay Thai, Karate, Taekwondo, Savate, San Shou, kickboxing, western-style boxing, and other martial arts...
fighter Takehiro Murahama. The Skies Above, as opposed to the first album, features real drums rather than sequenced drums, as the band had expanded from its original three members, none of whom played drums. The line "Maybe I'm a Lion" in the track of the same name was spoken by Alexander O. Smith
Alexander O. Smith
Alexander O. Smith is a professional English/Japanese translator and author. While his output covers many areas such as adaptation of Japanese novels, manga, song lyrics, anime scripts and various academic works, he is best known for his software localizations of Japanese video games...
, a translator for Square Enix and close friend of Okamiya, one of the new members. It was released on December 22, 2004, by Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
. The album spans eleven tracks, and covers a duration of 50:56.
The album received mixed reviews from critics; Jesse Jones of RPGFan said that he was "simply amazed" by the album, though it was not without flaws. While terming the music overall as "excellent", he disliked the vocal arrangements in "Otherworld" and "The Skies Above", finding that the voices of the singers did not match with the songs' instrumentals. Zane of Square Enix Music Online was less approving of the album, calling it "passable" and saying that the new arrangements gave "mixed results". He blamed the "intolerable vocals" and occasional poor choices in instruments as the problems with the album, concluding that the second Black Mages album was inferior to the first.
The Black Mages III: Darkness and Starlight
The Black Mages III: Darkness and Starlight is the third arranged soundtrack album of video game music from the Final Fantasy series of role-playing video games. The album contains a selection of musical tracks from the games, arranged and performed in a hybrid of power metal and progressive metal by The Black Mages in a similar manner to their previous albums. It was released on March 19, 2008, by Uematsu's Dog Ear RecordsDog Ear Records
Dog Ear Records is a music production company founded by video game composer Nobuo Uematsu in November 2006. The company publishes video game soundtracks and original albums on disc and digitally through iTunes...
, spanning ten tracks and a duration of 60:40. The Black Mages sing the chorus for the song "Darkness and Starlight", the only vocal track on the album. The album has been described as being composed of a mix of "intense" symphonic metal
Symphonic metal
Symphonic metal is a term used to describe heavy metal music that has symphonic elements; that is, elements that are either borrowed from classical music or, as with progressive rock music, create a style reminiscent of it, e.g...
pieces and rock opera
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...
. Like the previous album, Darkness and Starlight features an original piece, "Life ~ in memory of KEITEN ~", which was composed by Uematsu for Yoshitaka Tagawa, a boy he had met who died of leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
.
The album was well-received by websites like RPGFan, which said the album was "very much worth the over three year wait" and described the tracks as "enjoyable" and "inspiring". He had few complaints with the album, only describing "Opening ~ Bombing Mission" and "Assault of the Silver Dragons" as "bland", but still worth listening to. Square Enix Music Online was even more positive in its review of the album, calling it "a masterpiece" and "The Black Mages' finest effort to date", wishing only the album had been longer.
Other appearances
In addition to their own albums, pieces from The Black Mages have appeared on several other albums. The first of these was "Flame Demon Monster Gaspard" on Dark Chronicle Premium Arrange, an album of arranged music from the video game Dark ChronicleDark Chronicle
Dark Chronicle , released as Dark Cloud 2 in North America, is a role-playing video game for the PlayStation 2 video game console...
originally composed by Tomohito Nishiura
Tomohito Nishiura
Tomohito Nishiura is a Japanese video game music composer. He works primarily on games developed by Level-5.-Works:*Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva *Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box...
. The album was released on April 21, 2004, by Team Entertainment
TEAM Entertainment
TEAM entertainment is a musical hobby group that publishes music that is licensed to them. Motoi Sakuraba's game compositions are best known in this group. The issue with Sakuraba's music is that the games are copyrighted by the companies that own it, many of which have the practice of not...
. Their next appearance was in the animated film Final Fantasy VII Advent Children and its corresponding soundtrack album, where they played—together with orchestration conducted by Koji Haijima—"Advent: One-Winged Angel", an arrangement of "One-Winged Angel" from Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII
is a role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was originally released in 1997 for the Sony PlayStation and was re-released in 1998 for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers and in 2009...
originally composed by Uematsu and arranged by Shirō Hamaguchi
Shiro Hamaguchi
is a Japanese anime composer, arranger and orchestrator. He is best known for composing music to the anime franchises One Piece and Oh My Goddess! and arranging/orchestrating music in the Final Fantasy series...
. Their third appearance was on the soundtrack album for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
version of Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy III
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square in for the Family Computer as the third installment in the Final Fantasy series. It is the first numbered Final Fantasy game to feature the job-change system....
, entitled Final Fantasy III Original Soundtrack, with one track then titled "Last Battle -THE BLACK MAGES Ver.-", but later re-titled "KURAYAMINOKUMO" on the Darkness and Starlight album.
Concerts
While The Black Mages never toured as a band, they participated in several concert events. These include promotional concerts for the release of their three albums and appearances at orchestral concerts devoted to Final Fantasy music.Promotional concerts
The Black Mages held a concert to promote their first album on April 26, 2003, in the Shibuya-AXShibuya-AX
Shibuya-AX is a concert hall in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, near the Yoyogi National Gymnasium.It is the only purpose-built concert hall or "live house" in the Tokyo metropolitan area that can accommodate 1,500 people...
concert hall in Shibuya
Shibuya, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 208,371 and a population density of 13,540 persons per km². The total area is 15.11 km²....
, Tokyo, Japan. This overnight concert featured the full setlist from the album, and introduced the track "Matoya's Cave", which would be featured in their next album. While the band members were being introduced, Okamiya performed the Chocobo
Chocobo
A is a fictional creature from the Final Fantasy video game series. The creature is a large and normally flightless galliforme/ratite bird capable of being ridden and otherwise used by player characters during gameplay...
theme and Uematsu performed the intro to Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
's "Smoke on the Water
Smoke on the Water
"Smoke on the Water" is a song by the British hard rock band Deep Purple. It was first released on their 1972 album Machine Head. In 2004, the song was ranked number 426 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, and in March 2005, Q magazine placed "Smoke on the Water"...
." A DVD recording of the show was made and given to Uematsu fanclub members that year. The concert was repeated on November 3, 2003, at Kanagawa University
Kanagawa University
, abbreviated to is a private university in Japan. The main campus is located in Rokkakubashi, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture.- History :The university was founded in 1928 by as . It was an evening school for the working youth...
in Kanagawa
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
, Japan. This free concert was part of the Kanagawa Jindai Festa. As Uematsu graduated from Kanagawa University, The Black Mages all wore the school's student uniform.
For their second album, The Black Mages performed two promotional concerts. They performed all the songs from their second album, along with "The Decisive Battle", "Those Who Fight Further" and "Clash on the Big Bridge" from their first album. These concerts featured Kenji Ito
Kenji Ito
, also known by the nickname , is a Japanese video game composer and musician. He is best known for his work on the Mana and SaGa series, though he has worked on over 30 video games throughout his career as well as composed or arranged music for over 15 other albums, concerts, and plays...
, who performed piano renditions of pieces from the SaGa series. Also featured were muZik, a group who performed seven techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
-style Final Fantasy arrangements. The first concert set was at Club Citta in Kawasaki
Kawasaki, Kanagawa
is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, between Tokyo and Yokohama. It is the 9th most populated city in Japan and one of the main cities forming the Greater Tokyo Area and Keihin Industrial Area....
, Japan on January 22 and January 23, 2005, and the second one at Namba Hatch in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, Japan on January 28, 2005. A DVD recording of the Kawasaki show was made and given to Uematsu fanclub members on February 1, 2006.
A live concert was performed for the release of The Black Mages' third album as for their previous albums. Performed at the Yokohama Blitz in Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
, Japan, on August 9, 2008, the concert featured all the pieces from the album with the exception of "Life ~ in memory of KEITEN ~" and with the addition of "Maybe I'm a Lion" and "Clash on the Big Bridge". A DVD recording of the show was made and released commercially in 2009, a first for the band.
Other concerts
In addition to their own concerts, The Black Mages made appearances at official Final Fantasy concertsFinal Fantasy concerts
Final Fantasy is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and owned by Square Enix that includes video games, motion pictures, and other merchandise. The series began in 1987 as an eponymous console role-playing game developed by Square, spawning a video game series that became the central...
. The first of these was the More Friends: Music from Final Fantasy event, held in the Gibson Amphitheatre
Gibson Amphitheatre
The Gibson Amphitheatre is a theatre located in Universal City, California, USA. It seats up to 6,189 for concerts, including 6,089 chairback seats...
in Los Angeles, California, on May 16, 2005; the concert was The Black Mages' first appearance in North America. The band performed "The Rocking Grounds" and "Maybe I'm a Lion" from their second album, and joined with the orchestra for "Advent: One-Winged Angel" as an encore to the concert. A recorded album was released on February 15, 2006, by Square Enix, and included the pieces by The Black Mages.
The second Final Fantasy concert The Black Mages performed at was the Voices - Music from Final Fantasy concert held in Yokohama, Japan on February 18, 2006. This concert featured performances of various Final Fantasy songs. The Black Mages played "Advent: One-Winged Angel" at the end of the concert along with the Prima Vista Philharmonic Orchestra; the song was played a second time as an encore. A DVD of the concert was released on June 21, 2006, and included an interview with Uematsu.
On July 7, 2007, The Black Mages appeared at the Extra: Hyper Game Music Event at Shinkiba Studio Coast
Ageha
ageHa is a nightclub and event space in Shin-Kiba, Kōtō, Tokyo, Japan. The club opened in December, 2003. The venue is also known as Studio Coast. The word Ageha is Japanese for 'Swallowtail butterfly'. The club's name has recently been presented in the 3-letter-version 'AGH' in capital letters,...
in Tokyo. They were the last of thirteen artists and groups to play at the six-hour event, and performed "Last Battle", "Those Who Fight Further", "Maybe I'm a Lion" and "Clash on the Big Bridge". The music performed by The Black Mages did not appear on the official album for the concert.
Band members
- Nobuo UematsuNobuo Uematsuis a Japanese video game composer, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series. He is considered as one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community...
– keyboardsElectronic keyboardAn electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
(2002–2010) - Kenichiro FukuiKenichiro Fukuiis a Japanese video game composer and musician. Before working at Square Enix, he was employed at Konami. He is an arranger and a keyboardist in the band The Black Mages, formed in 2003. Additionally, Fukui arranged Angela Aki's "Kiss Me Good-Bye" from Final Fantasy XII. In October 2007, he left...
– keyboards (2002–2010) - Tsuyoshi SekitoTsuyoshi Sekitois a Japanese video game composer, arranger, and musician who has been employed at Square Enix since 1995. As a composer, he is best known for scoring the video games Brave Fencer Musashi and The Last Remnant...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
(2002–2010) - Keiji Kawamori – bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
(2003–2010) - Arata Hanyuda – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
(2003–2010) - Michio Okamiya – guitar (2003–2010)