Tag Archives: S.F.A

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Review: Tree of Savior – Vocal Songs of Masters from Ep.13

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This is the last collection of music we’ll be writing about from Tree of Savior for now. There were some additional releases in 2021 that we may get to at some point. This vocal collection features only five tracks by S.F.A and Initium, and as the title suggests, they are all vocal tracks. You can catch up on our series of Tree of Savior soundtrack reviews here.

The album opens with “Killer Jesters (Clown Theme),” coming as a chugging metal track with electronic guitar and deep operatic male vocals that becomes a duet with female vocalist as the track progresses. “Aoba (Sadhu Theme)” is a sweet and swaying vocal pop song, while “Escarcero onda (Cryomancer Theme)” is a hip Korean ballad with spacey electronics and wailing electric guitar in the background. “Rondo Miserabile (Psychokino Theme)” is a fun swinging jazz cafe theme with sultry vocals and accordion, and “Lyudmila (Arquebusier Theme)” sports operatic vocals on top of an epic electronic backing, slowly building into something quite powerful.

The vocal collection is available on Steam.

Reviews

Review: Oriental OST Collection 2020 (Tree of Savior)

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Nearing the end of our journey through all of the additional digital Tree of Savior soundtrack albums, Oriental OST Collection 2020, while not identified as music from Tree of Savior on the album cover, is definitely from Tree of Savior featuring mostly S.F.A but also a few tracks from soundTeMP and Cinenote. As the title suggests, this is largely music featuring ethnic instruments from the region, and is contemplative and soothing in its presentation. If you want to get caught up on our reviews, they can be found here.

The album opens with “Absolution” with droning bass pads with strings and zither over the top, coming off as foreboding and resolute. It’s then on to the contemplative and sweeping “Bamboo Grove,” the seeping and somber “Farewell,” the driving “Heartstrings” with its rolling percussion, and the airy and floaty “Juvenile Xanadu.” “One Eyes Swordsman” is a change of pace with chugging bass and buzzing saw pad, whereas “Reincarnation” is a bumping electronic track. It’s back to sweet and emotional with “Slower Whisper,” grandiose with “Southwest,” and beautiful piano and bells in “The Sword of Tears.” The album closes out with the dreamy electronics of “A Tale of Wind and Cloud” and the bustling “Tyro Emperor.”

As always, you can find the Oriental OST Collection 2020 release on YouTube and Steam.

Reviews

Review: Tree of Savior – Splash August 2020 OST Collection

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We’re nearing the end of our journey through the Tree of Savior add-on digital soundtracks. “Splash August 2020” is appropriately upbeat and poppy, making for great summer vibes. Catch the rest of our Tree of Savior reviews here.

This collection features almost exclusively S.F.A minus two tracks, and the total run-time is about an hour. The album opens with party-like “Samba de Seoul” with the sound of ocean waves kicking things off, followed by the entrancing and dreamy vocals of “Pristine EDM mixed,” the uplifting funk rock in “Vent,” and the emotional and contemplative “Pintura Cueva.” “Fiesta Bloom” offers uplifting and pop-infused trance, “The Wisdom of Crowds” goes disco, and “Sweet Poison” (by soundTemP) is a pumping electronic track. There’s electronic chip orchestra with Baroque harpsichord and strings with “Homage to Zborovye,” decisive and epic orchestral with “Avoidance,” Hollywood western in “In My Dreams,” and the sound of birds and waves in the island-flavored “Summer Breeze” to close things out.

This is a nice assortment of tunes that can be heard on YouTube and Steam.

Reviews

Review: Tree of Savior – Silent JULY 2020 OST Collection

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This time we take a look at the “Silent” July 2020 soundtrack release for Tree of Savior. Fortunately it’s not silent, although it is a lot more mellow than other releases. You can catch up with all the Tree of Savior reviews here.

The album opens with acoustic guitar and male operatic vocals in “Deives Velliava” before moving on to the aptly titled “Sad feelings” with somber strings and piano, the powerful and moving “Snow Hill,” and the reflective “Beautiful Than Flowers.” There’s a lovely music box track with “DayDream,” the contemplative and frosty “Consistency,” the somber-yet-hip “Eclipsed Road,” the sweeping “Orsha,” and the more pop-flavored “Amaranto.” “Milden Miles” adds dancy piano to melancholy strings, “Journey in Heaven” sports angelic choir and funky bass, “November Rain” comes as a relaxing flamenco style track, and “Tiger Cherish” is a powerful and lovely English ballad.

In all, the “Silent” collection differentiates itself quite nicely and is available on YouTube and Steam.

Reviews

Review: Tree of Savior – Nostalgic September 2020 OST Collection

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Onward to the “Nostalgic” September 2020 music collection from Tree of Savior. This volume features S.F.A artists, Initium, and more soundTemP. You can catch up on all the Tree of Savior soundtrack reviews here.

Perhaps the “nostalgia” in this collections’ title comes from the sort of classic South Korean MMORPG soundtrack that hearkens back to the Vol.1 release, replete with vocals throughout, opening with the amazing opener, “iKURU,” a lovely and warm J-rock track. It’s then onto more grandiose orchestral rock with “Dienos Advento,” the decisive vocal ballad “Through the Forest,” and the beautiful and dark “Guillotina Tristeza,” all with female vocals. There’s the desperate “La Patria,” the funky “The Dignity of Wrath” and “Bodacious definition,” and the sweeping and emotional “Massivity.” The team goes huge with “Vaste Terre,” an orchestral rock track, while “Signs of Penance” goes full electronic, “Even Horizon” gets an adventurous orchestral sound, and “Uno Impetus” is a catchy Megadeth-like tune. SoundTeMP’s lone contribution, “World is Missing You,” is soothing and beautiful with sweetly strummed acoustic guitar and, let’s say, nostalgic woodwinds. The album closes with “Deives Veliava,” a big female vocal performance over piano and strings.

The Nostalgic September 2020 collection is available on Steam.

Reviews

Review: Tree of Savior – May 2020 OST Collection

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We look back to the Tree of Savior May 2020 music collection featuring S.F.A and Initium. It proves to be another eclectic collection of music that spans romantic orchestral, metal, western, electronic, and vocal music. Check out our past reviews of Tree of Savior releases here.

The May collection opens with the romantic adventure, “Alma Generosa,” and is followed by the cool and dangerous “Beyond the Fashion,” the bombastic “Chance to Catch,” and the vocal pop tune, “Decide my Way.” There’s comical metal with gritty male vocals in English with “Exorcism,” smooth funk in “Groove of the Sea,” and a beautiful piano and vocal ballad in “Immortal.” “Nueve” goes for a more tragic sound, while “Open Po10” and “Ra Reina” both get a Hollywood western sound. “TOS Colony” pairs shredding guitars with violin, while “UNITogether” is a special J-pop theme featuring vocals by Tsukasa Uchiyama.

You can check out the May 2020 soundtrack collection on YouTube and Steam.

Reviews

Review: Tree of Savior – Luna in October 2020 OST Collection

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We continue on in our look at all the digital collections of music from Tree of Savior, this time into the similarly eclectic but also perhaps more moodier “Halloween” themed tunes with the October 2020 collection. For reference, you can read our review of the Tree of Savior Original Soundtrack Vol.1 here.

This collection opens with the sleek electronic “Luna Whispering” by S.F.A, sporting electric piano and Korean pop vocals. It’s then on to the somber “Whisper of Moment,” the dreamy “Where is the silence,” the powerful vocal ballad “Oath of the Crusader,” and the adventurous orchestral tune “Initium.” “Armageddon” is appropriately explosive with “Paragras Eina” sports male choir on metal and “Valodoras” closes us out with beautiful strings and piano.

I imagine many listeners will be interested in soundTeMP’s contributions, and they do not disappoint. The cool-yet-melancholy “Sirius” is their first contribution, followed by the trance-infused “Boy’s Anthem,” and the TeMPtastic “Exotica,” a catchy theme that is moody and groovy right out of the desert.

The moody October collection is available on Steam.

Reviews

Review: Tree of Savior – June 2020 OST Collection

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As a huge fan of game music out of South Korea, Tree of Savior has always been on my radar. I loved the Tree of Savior Original Soundtrack Vol.1 release from years ago (wow, 2016!), and had wondered if Vol.2 would ever see the light of day. It seems in line with the times that the team decided to make small digital releases available over the course of 2020 and 2021, and we’re going to dig into these in no particular order. As mentioned in the review of Vol.1, the music is headed up by soundTeMP alum Sevin (S.F.A), with contributions from soundTeMP themselves and several other artists out of South Korea. The result is all around as fantastic as the original soundtrack release.

This volume opens with “Opening Po10 EDM mix,” a cool EDM vocal track by S.F.A with English vocals. This is followed by the rocking’ Hollywood western-flavored “Badge and Gun,” some serious shredding in “Striker,” and powerful choir and piano in “The Sacred Kind.” You get the sense here that these collections are somewhat eclectic in their presentation, just as Vol. 1 was, but the theme this time around is definitely a cool spin on the classic Hollywood western sound. S.F.A gets spooky with “Draconis Bellum” and goes goth rock in “Man Rapido,” while Questrosound serves up the uplifting and triumphant “End of the World.” There’s dark ambiance in “End of the Day,” some more “western” twang in “Sand in the Wind” with ethereal female vocals, Korean rap in “Somebody call me an outlaw,” English rap in “We are outlaw,” and a beautiful vocal ballad closer in “Heaven on Earth.”

In all, the June 2020 collections serves up 16 excellent tracks around this western theme that I think is a lot of fun to explore. Enjoy the album on YouTube and Steam!

Reviews

Review: TREE of SAVIOR ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK Vol.1

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As a huge fan of SoundTeMP’s work on Ragnarok Online and the varied contributors to Granado Espada, I’ve had my eye on Tree of Savior for a long time. From IMC Games, it’s been touted as the spiritual successor to Ragnarok Onliine, which is apparent in the visual presentation and the musical talent assembled for the game. It features audio lead Sevin (S.F.A) along with new contributions from SoundTeMP and Questrosound (aka Nikacha, formerly of SoundTeMP), and artist Kevin. In all, the music is amazingly well-produced, and I’d describe it as a happy medium between the poppy sound of Ragnarok Online and the classical/trance sounds of Granado Espada. There are many great moments throughout, and I’m definitely curious to hear this music in the context of the game.

It all starts with the Celtic-inspired main theme, “Tree of Savior,” which also gets a piano and live version on the album. Some of my favorite contributions include S.F.A’s “Due Solo” which combines orchestral and electronic elements into a classy and somewhat desperate soundscape, Questrosound’s “Forest of Shadows” with its dangerously dark strings and funky bass line, and SoundTeMP’s “Red and the Sun” with its gothic rock elements that makes it feel like a poppy version of Castlevania. There’s also Questrosound’s “Moonlight Walk” with its huge strings and brass that make it epic yet cool, SoundTeMP’s “Topaz” with its slow somber take on trance (one of my favorites on the album), and S.F.A’s “Pristinee” that stands out for its melancholy female vocals added to an electronic backing. SoundTeMP’s interestingly-named “Woman Peeling Potatoes” is the most metal of the tracks, with a great galloping rhythm, and their nine-minute-long “Angelus” features spooky electronics and piano. Finally, S.F.A’s grungy rock “Tori March” closes out with attitude.

Many of the other tracks here are equally brilliant, but I don’t want to spoil all of it. The set spans two discs, containing 33 tracks, and comes housed in a nice DVD-sized package with a magnetic latch to keep it closed. Unfortunately it’s only been distributed as a promotional item at events in Korea, but I imagine the music will make its way out into the world someday, and given that this is Volume 1, I’m sure there will be more. In the meantime, head over to the SoundCloud channels for both DESTRUCTOID and GamesRadar for some exclusive samples.