The best part is the way these two styles mesh together on the CD and complement each other, making for an enjoyable and fun experience from start to finish. The epic-sounding pieces that rely on mood are given the chance to do their business, while pieces that need to rock-out are given the chance they need to make themselves shine, with the occasional orchestral element spilling into them. It's somewhat predictable, though never to a fault, but it's still the best way to present music such as this. It's very easy to match where each track originates from, due to the arrangement style. Instead of opting for strictly metal arrangements (the Konami Battle series) or something outrageous (like Nazo Nazo's Dracula rapping), we are presented with a mock orchestral and light rock combination to enhance the originally great melodies. The track selection is comprised of many of the themes that even casual Gradius fans will instantly recognize (though it is slanted more towards the music from Gradius III moreso than Gradius and Gradius II). What makes this album so great is that it recognizes these traits and works to enhance them. Think Star Wars music combined with Mega Man music and you've got the basics for the Gradius scores that this album encompasses. Much the way Mega Man music has always had much of an 80's pop/rock sound, Gradius music (even in its 8-bit incarnations) has largely relied on an epic, melodic sound. The thing that this album does very well is that it succeeds in working within a theme from beginning to end. Perfect Selection Gradius is one of my favorite arranged albums of all-time and one that I would recommend any fan of melodic game music to hunt down without regard to life or finances. I was rewarded with an exceptionally elaborate and well-executed treatment to some of the best game melodies this side of the Mega Man series. Since many of the other Gradius arranged albums were of the orchestrated variety and had little appeal to me (plus the fact that I've always loved the artwork for this particular album), I finally decided to look into Nazo Nazo's handiwork. On the other hand, there was the chance I could very well end up with a Gradius Rap Album. I was a giant fan of the Gradius scores and the potential for some top notch arrangements of the classic tunes was too good to pass up. This CD in particular was one that had my curious side breaking out in an indecisive sweat. Because of this, I became a little apprehensive about the remaining Perfect Selection discs that the Dracula Perfect Selection arrangers, the Nazo Nazo Project, had done. Unfortunately, this CD was pretty much cursed with a negative image from the start due to three of the songs on it featuring two guys rapping (in English) to some of the more familiar Castlevania pieces. Much like the metal-laden Dracula Battle Perfect Selections, this CD was an arrangement of many familiar tunes from the original Castlevania series, though unlike the Battle albums it focused more on a variety of music styles. Perfect Selection Gradius :: Review by GoldfishXīack when I first discovered game music, one of the first albums to become a hot topic of conversation was Perfect Selection Dracula.
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