Modern soundtrack review (under construction)

Attack on Titan (ətˈæk 0N tάɪtn)

Welcome to Trost! Hiroyuki Sawano begins this masterpiece of an album, and really the whole album is fantastic. He brings electric sounds and a frantic chorus to the forefront. A guitar and drum set kick in with the general orchestra, and you are in battle. Electric sounds do dominate this piece, but not in a bad way. Momentary respites from the noise are only fleeting, and then you are sent back to a screaming singer with the Attack on Titan theme firmly in the background. 5/5

The Reluctant Heroes
A typical rock piece, there’s nothing really memorable about this one. So much more of the album is working, speaking of. 2/5

Eye-Water
Sawano comes back to what he knows best: creating emotions and scenes. In this case, he’s working on sadness among the heroes of Trost, who have lost everything they knew. An emotional piano fills the void with nontraditional drum backings. 4.5/5

Vertical Body Motion Machine/Rittaikidou
A decidedly above-average suspense track, Sawano starts off pretty neutral here, but then things ramp up. Bruising and rapid drums and electric guitars dominate the scene. A sense of hope and wonder fills the air, and you’re looking forward to the next riff. Ramping action and wonderful themes. It works on all levels. In typical Sawano fashion, the 2nd half of the song is completely different from the first, but not in a bad way. You just get a 2-for-1 special. However, the downside is that the 2nd half is decidedly worse than the 1st half. 3.5/5

Counter Attack Mankind
Light electric noises (and notes) start this one off on a positive note, and again you have the makings of an uplifting track. The strings take over, and you’re left with a sense of sweeping hope. A concurrent rising and falling action doesn’t make sense, and yet it does. But then the first half of the song, which is an easy 5/5, fades away into the 2nd part of the song, with a sense of fear and foreboding. The frantic chorus of death returns in fabulous fashion, sharing the limelight with a rock band’s ensemble. Opera would be proud. The 2nd half of the song just isn’t as good, though. It drags this rating down to a 4.5/5.

Army
An almost Irish sound with chorus backings, it’s not one of the best pieces on the album. That being said, it’s still quite good. Energetic and reasonably enjoyable. 3.5/5

Vogel im Käfig
Magic. How do you describe magic in the form of music? It’s Vogel im Käfig. The voice of the vocalist pulls you in and out of a terrible situation, and you marvel at her range. The theme flows beautifully, and the German lyrics invoke senses of heaven. With a range to rival mountains, her highs and lows with the orchestra backing provide a sense of both sorrow and hope at the same time. But the magic really begins in the 2nd part of the song. That’s right, Sawano does it again. You just need to wait and listen. 5/5

DOA
Another rock song, and this one isn’t bad again. However, it’s not as good as most modern rock and lacks the impact that the rest of the album has. It just doesn’t need to be here. 2/5

Projecting
Starting in an almost disjointed way, Sawano is definitely trying to project something. I’m not sure if it’s calm, or reality, or the sense that something isn’t right, but you feel like something is wrong. Or maybe that’s not the correct intention. A jerky sound leads to an orchestral theme of adventure and grandeur. It reminds me of “Reanimated” by Linkin Park. Then it leads to the 2nd part of the track, which is more of the same but finishes with a singer. 2.5/5

E・M・A
It starts immediately with frantic action. If there’s one composer who can do action better than the rest, it’s Sawano. Chants and strings are pulsing in and out, and the brass comes in to pull you towards a word of tomorrow. This continues into a spurious and frantic fight, and you feel there. The 2nd part of the song leads to a more disjointed but still flowing mess of music. As far as battle songs go, it’s almost with the best of them, but it gets betrayed by the 2nd part. 3.5/5

Huge
It starts out cool, à la “Drive.” Very electric but not techno. The coolness quickly gives way to another frantic set of strings. It’s rushed, and it’s hectic. And then it gives way to the second part. The 2nd part of the song starts with a different kind of cool, but it’s back, but this time with some orchestral sounds helping out. 3/5

Bauklötze
If the previous two rock songs were mediocre to below average, this one brings it back home. It sounds like the best of Evanescence. It’s somber, full of sorrow, full of hope, and is expertly sung. It also has more of an orchestra than the previous other songs. It’s not really appropriate to call it a rock song; rather, it’s an orchestral piece with a singer attached. But whatever you call it, be sure that it’s good. 5/5

Chi Castle
An almost Japanese mixed with Irish sound, which is fitting, given it’s a Japanese show. Lots of sounds of nature and light pluckings of stringed instruments. It flows like water sometimes, with literal water flows in the background. Hints of a female vocalist come in and out. But it’s just not that great. 2/5

XL-TT
Every once in a while, there will be a masterpiece of a track that just defies traditional convention. Something that is just so incredible, so majestic that it transcends ordinary perfect reviews. XL-TT, likely standing for “Extra Large Titan,” is one of those tracks. A tale of two parts, it’s an extraordinary battle piece that is likely among the greatest battle tracks ever provided. It’s diverse, it’s energetic, it knows when to give you breaks, how to build tension, and it does it expertly. Finally, to end it, it brings in the most unexpected of instruments, loud and impactful church bells that just steal your breath away. I give it a 7/5 because it just makes the entire album that much better. Utter perfection, you cannot improve this track. 7/5

Call Your Name
An offkey piano starts this one, and something is wrong. Then the male voice comes in, whispering yet singing. Again, it’s not bad, and it’s certainly one of the better rock pieces on the album. It would fit well with a Poets of the Fall album. 3.5/5

Omake-Pfadlib
A soft, beautiful piano piece to end it. Again, heartfelt and full of sorrow. I know what happens to the characters by this point and what they’ve lost, and I can feel the pain of their emotion. You cannot help them, but you can feel for them. The soft piano continues, and it lets you be part of their world. It feels like a perfect Ludovico Einaudi track. 5/5