Wednesday, January 3, 2018

MIDI Week Singles: "Chaos' Temple" - Final Fantasy (NES)


"Chaos' Temple" from Final Fantasy on the Nintendo Entertainment System, & Nearly Everything Else (1987)
Composer: Nobuo Uematsu
Developer: Square


I had first considered doing the "Menu Screen" music because of the memories that song brings back, but then I thought, "No!  This is the first MIDI Week Single of the year and I want to do something that I love!  A song that has five stars on my iTunes!"  So "Chaos' Temple" was the next logical choice as I was already mentally Hell bent on using a song from the first Final Fantasy game.

What I love about "Chaos' Temple" requires a bit of explanation and does kind of contain spoilers if you have not delved into this game yet.  You first hear this song on your first mission when you go to rescue Princess Sarah from Garland who has taken her to the Temple of Fiends.  This is even before the player becomes aware of Chaos as the main antagonist, and before they discover the possibility of the whole time paradox loop.  "Chaos' Temple" sounds like a very heroic piece of music to be given to a seemingly benign princess-napper.  Maybe my brain has become biased over the years, but I am actually unable to hear anything close to a hint that this music is trying to relate to Garland being more evil than his first encounter portends.

This song is made even better by its arrangement that was included in the Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite that was released on CD back in 1989.  As the penultimate finale for the fifth movement, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra just. . ., I mean. . ., holy Hel, it is just bloody damn amazing.  Seriously give it a listen and just wait for that french horn glissando.  Tell me this is the villain's theme after listening to that beautiful work of heroic art.  The chills.  The chills.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

1 comment: