SHINING THE HOLY ARK (ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK)

From the early-90's and on Sakuraba's obligations on video soundtracks took much of his time and he reasonably focused on composing music for the countless games of his company.He even helped Masaaki Uno, a former member of the Wolf Team, who had a contract with Camelot Software Planning, in numerous soundtracks, but he actually never abandoned his progressive roots.One of the best examples is the soundtrack of the game ''Shining the holy ark'', released in 1996 on Oo Records, featuring again Takeo Shimoda (of White Fang) on drums and violin player Kishi Linnko.

I remember back in the 90's, when I was hooked up by many video games on various consoles, and most of the music sounded quite intricate and unique.''Shining the holy ark'' was an unknown role-playing game to me, but maybe I would have discovered Prog Rock much earlier, if had played the game.And that's because this sounds as a complete Progressive/Symphonic Rock experience, the music is extremely bombastic like a more symphonic-oriented GERARD with Sakuraba shining with his work on organ and synthesizers.Entirely instrumental, this one is split between majestic Classical inspirations on piano and organ with plenty of romantic segments and mainly some powerful Symphonic Rock in the vein of E.L.P., with very good drumming by Shimoda.The occasional violin drives of Linnko add the sound an aura close to compatriots OUTER LIMITS or MIDAS, creating an even more complete sound.It's not that Sakuraba was in the need of these violin parts, the man is an absolute magician of keyboards, his Baroque influences come often in evidence and his prog past is on full display on the impressive keyboard pyrotechnics and endless solos.Quite often the material seems to pass in a more Electronic/Symphonic vein with drums or bass being absent and Sakuraba becoming the ultimate centerpiece with his atmospheric soundscapes and superb symphonic orchestrations, which come closer to cinematic music at this point.

Convincing, grandiose and dynamic Symphonic Rock in the vein of E.L.P., RICK WAKEMAN and even VANGELIS.An absolute must-have for all lovers of the style as well as the majority of Prog fans, who do not mind keyboards becoming the leading instruments.Highly recommended overall.