THE BLACK MAGES II: THE SKIES ABOVE

The Skies Above is a dream come true for every Final Fantasy/ prog metal fan. After a nice eponymous debut, The Black Mages here started some more serious work, switching the electronic/CG guitar parts for real guitar play - the result is two thumbs up. With Nobuo's great tracks arranged in a nice way by Fukui and Sekito, the record weights so much hands down above the first one.

The tracklist is also far better, including a wide range of themes from the games, and even the first real Black Mages song, Blue Blast.

Overall, a very nice experience. My faves are Battle With The Four Fiends and Maybe I'm A Lion, the latter featuring a Rising Force-like guitar/keyboard duet, fast and furious, enlightening an already shining track with technical ability.

You like the Final Fantasy series? You like easy prog metal, simple and clean? Try this one out, you won't be disappointed. 2/5 for the average prog listener, but a big 3/5 for FF fans.

PS: maybe Motoi Sakuraba's works are even more appropriate for such a website... I saw Deja-Vu's album reviewed, but where are the true progressive masterpieces of Sakuraba- sama, like Star Ocean 2 Arrange, Valkyrie Profile OST... A gap to be filled, I hope!

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