First, thanks goes to Jessica Stan for sending this in for review!
This is a pretty full soundtrack release for the 1994 video game Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters for the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom. While it’s similar to the Godzilla: Battle Legends Music Collection (COCC-11507) that was released earlier that year, it differs in that it features not just an array of rearrangements based on the game music but also the original game soundtrack as well. While the original game tunes are an acquired taste, the rearrangements here are actually fantastic and quite unique.
So starting off, let’s cover the rearrangements. These are done by the East Treasure Orchestra… which I can find nothing about. Now rearrangements for video game music was commonplace back during the 1990’s. Many of these rearrangers would start to make a mild name for themselves across their various work, but sadly it doesn’t seem that the East Treasure Orchestra ever really broke out amongst this super niche scene in Japan.
Regardless of their lack of reputation, the music they've created here is impressive. It significantly enhances the game’s soundtrack, delivering a series of standout tracks. For example, “The Ancient Roar” sounds majestic, adding complexity that makes the theme not only grand but occasionally soothing. At times, though, it seems the rearrangements may stray from the original intent of the theme. A prime example is Gigan's theme, "The Pulse of Darkness," where the original has a faster tempo, while the rearranged version takes on a much slower, more melancholic tone. While most of the rearranged tracks lean towards a more soothing style—Mechagodzilla’s theme, for instance, adopts a violin-driven approach and Biollante’s features a majestic piano lead—there are a few with a more energetic feel. “Endless Wilderness” is a good example of that, although this theme also feels a bit more like a video game track than some of the others from East Treasure Orchestra. When it comes to the standout track, “Mothra’s Song” is easily the best. The original game music was a synthesized version of Yuji Koseki’s theme from Mothra (1961), and this arrangement adds strings and piano, turning it into something truly majestic. The greatest praise for the rearranged tracks is that they are all solid; even the weakest track, “The Decisive Battle at Sea,” is still well executed.
Moving on to the game’s original soundtrack, this was created by Alfa Systems although the exact composer is not credited here. For Super Nintendo music, the tunes here are okay. There are certainly more memorable and exemplary examples for music created for the system. On the plus side, other than the overly simplistic “Normal Game: Lose”, there is at least some complexity to the tunes for what the video game system was capable of. In fact, both the Mothra Stage and the Godzilla Stage are nice recreations of their respective movie themes. The star track, though, is easily the very energetic “VS Selection” theme, which is actually a reused tune from the Godzilla: Battle Legends game. While it’s interesting to see them reuse the same exact theme, it’s such a fantastic melody that it’s nice to see it get a bit more recognition by being featured in the two games.
Bottom line, this is an excellent release. The rearrangements offer a strong collection of tracks, while the original game soundtrack helps extend what could have been a brief runtime, resulting in a well-rounded album. I only wish this CD were more easily accessible, as it stands out as one of the best Godzilla game soundtracks, likely only surpassed by the exceptional music from Godzilla Unleashed.
As a side note, just like the Godzilla: Battle Legends Music Collection (COCC-11507), the track titles here are very artsy. That makes them a bit hard to translate. In particular I struggled with ones like Gigan’s stage, as “The Heartbeat of Darkness” is probably a more common translation but went with a pulse figuring it fits Gigan better. As a side note, this disc is the second time they’ve included the concept of a “wheel” in Mechagodzilla’s stage title… and still not sure why. Also, track 10 is noted as the “??? Stage” because it belongs to a secret character, which for reference is the Gotengo. |