Chudah's Corner

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View Back Cover	Front Mission 4 Plus 1st Original Soundtrack
	Composed by: Hidenori Iwasaki, Ryo Yamazaki, Yoko Shimomura, Noriko Matsueda
	Arranged by: N/A
	Publisher: Square Enix
	Catalog Number: SQEX-10021~4
	CD Info: 4 CD - 97 Tracks
	Released: May 4, 2004

Review by: Jormungand

Since its inception, Square's Front Mission series has surreptitiously avoided making any notable blips on the gaming radar yet still must have a place somewhere on the sales charts to explain its immunity to complete disappearance. As of this writing, it most recently reached its fifth iteration as well as occupying a (dubious) foothold in the online world. And while the Front Mission name has a diverse history of composers, its musical history seems anything but: from game one, a firm martial atmosphere would be served with orchestral and electronica fusions which each successive installment has upheld (the sole exception being the derivative Front Mission Alternative). Front Mission 1 and 2 remain the series' musical peaks, especially the latter handled entirely by Noriko Matsueda (who gave Front Mission its last big aural breath); Gun Hazard, switching gameplay style, delivered a strange soundtrack of militaristic storytelling but played it safe all the same; Front Mission 3 had promising moments offered by Hayato Matsuo, but overall suffered from too many instances of sedate composition; and Front Mission Alternative, though a welcome and fresh stylistic change, was ultimately dry, repetitive, and lacking in the depth previous scores had.

And with Front Mission 4, it seems the downhill inertia was too much for Hidenori Iwasaki to handle. His rote adherence to martial protocol was ill-advised, dooming his score to fall in with the same banal orchestral rut so many game scores are filled with these days. In fact, the soundtrack seems to grind to a halt before it barely even starts, leaving nothing to build up to the few and far between tracks that actually are agreeable pieces of music (and of which subsequently save the score from being completely worthless). Yet nearly everything else is void of character and direction, leaving little worth discovering.

From the predictable orchestral pounding of "Assault" to the half-witted and dull "Credits", it's pretty clear how desperately Iwasaki was clinging to a very specific and predefined sound: with Zimmerisms aplenty riding atop tired rhythmic passages and stale percussive lines, you really come to appreciate the few breaks there are. "Clear Skies Over Europe" is a surprisingly effective piece, at once tense and calm through the dissonances of string bass under synth harmonies and unintrusive percussion; the modest and low-key "Whispers" is an excellent practice in atmospheric writing with its parallel synthpad chords and light percussion; and "Lock & Load", a fair electronica venture, is focused and active as industrial effects fire off over an agreeable groove of bass and drums. But aside from just breaks in the monotony, there's also some genuinely good material: the waveform soundscapes of "Intermission" are brief but pleasant; the stealthy "Harbor Town", graced with jazzy piano lines and a wide array of synth effects, harkens back to Matsueda's city compositions from Front Mission 2; and the jazz piece "Grapevine" is perhaps Iwasaki's best work on the album, an airy piano melody accompanied by string bass and acoustic drum set―again reminiscent of Matsueda. Other pieces like "Free Spirit" and "Southern Breeze" take a more naturalistic approach, emphasizing tranquil atmospheres with the aid of pan flute, guitar, and exotic percussion along with clear, easily-understood melodies. And "Leaden Sky", despite its minimalistic design of piano, synth and flute, is amazingly delicate, opening with chords so tentative they seem to melt into the surrounding silence like a breeze in the night.

But the rest is just mind-numbingly unoriginal, and there's too much to mention by name. Although one particularly troublesome piece I must point out is "Knights of Steel" which almost directly quotes Zimmer's "Barabarian Horde" from Gladiator; at least Iwasaki chose Zimmer's best score, but that hardly makes the track any more digestible.

Ryo Yamazaki, responsible for the excellent synth programming, steps in for a few musical contributions. While his orchestral tracks seem to fall in line with Iwasaki's trite style, his two later electronica selections (though bitterly short) add some promise: the flickering "Battle Plans" and the jazzy, pulsing "Voice of Reason" help to alleviate some of the tension brought on by the surrounding mire of lackluster compositions.

Fortunately, this 4-disc set isn't a total loss: those other 2 cds contain the reprogrammed tracks for the PSX remake of Front Mission 1st, so if you missed the original OST print, this might be worth picking up. Iwasaki retains all of the original arrangements by Yoko Shimomura and Noriko Matsueda (with a few instrument patch changes here and there), so it's really only a matter of different synth. And as a bonus (?) there are an additional 5 compositions by Iwasaki for the remake, although they all have about as much merit as his FM4 work. Fortunately, the romantic and beautifully self-assured compositions by Matsueda act as the light at the end of the tunnel and we are given a strange side-by-side comparison of old and new: the first steps of promise with Front Mission 1st, and then the failure that eventually consumed the series' name come FM4. Tragic, but at least we've got proof that it once had a chance.

Bottom Line: C