Final Fantasy, Vol. 7

AMG Review of Final Fantasy, Vol. 7

Ben Davies
All Music Guide

From the early days of the series through to the latest incarnation, Final Fantasy soundtracks have always been highly acclaimed. Readers familiar with the video game series will well remember the dizzying heights that Uematsu-san pushed the SNES' musical ability with Final Fantasy, Vol. 6. Final Fantasy, Vol. 7 also seriously pushed its platform's sound capabilities on its release in 1996, but this time the game's media was CD, enabling a much higher sound quality and more instrumental freedom for the composer. As this is the entire collection of music from Final Fantasy, Vol. 7, a huge array of styles are present. Rock-tinged instrumentals, including the pace-building battle music, make up only a small portion of the entire catalog. This is probably for the better as the finer moments mostly come from the classical-style tracks. Many of these are very touching, particularly for those who have played through the hugely successful game, "Aerith's Death" being a particularly fine case to highlight. Indeed, from the opening track with its haunting arpeggios to the captivating end-scene music, this four-disc soundtrack is teeming with astonishing compositions of the highest quality. Final Fantasy, Vol. 7 is one of Uematsu's finest works to date. It changed the video game music scene when it was released, and still today it sounds as inspired as ever.