Music Monday: Black Magic and Poisoned Soup

Three weeks ago, I wrote an article for the “I’ll Bet You’ve Never Played This!” Weekly Nuke. Since then, I’ve been listening to the soundtracks on my iPod during my work commute, and thought I’d spread the love. This week: Koudelka, the game that began what would become the Shadow Hearts series.

As I mentioned in my article, Koudelka‘s music was composed by Square veteran Hiroki Kikuta, best known for composing the music for Secret of Mana. Overall, the soundtrack has some Celtic folk influence, with a lot of emphasis on flute and strings. The majority of the soundtrack is incidental ambient music for skulking around the dark abbey, but the battle tracks and a few of the extended background music really stick out.

The soundtrack received mixed reviews from critics, but the general consensus seems to be: you love it or you hate it. Me, I love it. I hope you all do, too.

Incantation Again

Dead

Waterfall (in an 8 minute loop on the official soundtrack, because the battles take forever)