I’ve listend to a lot of Emil Chronicle Online music over the years. Composer group ACE (known for their work on both Xenoblade Chronicles and Code of Princess) have written a massive score for the game over the close to a decade that its been around. What drew my attention to this album, however, was the involvement of G-Shine, GungHo’s internal band that originally formed to perform music from Ragnarok Online.

There are also arrangements and performances contributed by band Red Soul, which has been providing some music to the game as well, including the track “Arise” which appears on this album. With a track selection picked by fans of the game, is the album worth your time?

Read our review of the album below.

Metal fans rejoice. This is a perfect hybrid between the whimsical fantasy setting of Emil Chronicle Online and heavy metal. The two bands perform wonderfully, injecting lightning-fast guitar solos and thundering percussion in typical metal fashion across both upbeat and more serious tracks.

The album opens on a more serious note with the heavy metal “Song for Battle Field” by Red Soul. The dueling electric guitars perform some beautiful harmonies throughout the explosive track. This carries through into “Arise,” which is a new Emil Chronicle Online track composed by Red Soul. Chugging bass gives way to a majestic piano section before dueling guitar solos come in.

“Lands for Groundbreaker” by G-SHINE is much more upbeat, opting for a slower and more thoughtful approach. I particularly enjoy the poppy synth portions. The catchy “The world of curiosity” continues this trend with a blazing-fast metal spin on the infectious melody. It’s certainly an interesting blend of styles with the instrumentation saying hardcore metal and the melody saying upbeat fantasy.

The last track, “Maximum Attack!” comes as a collaboration between the two bands, and the track title is a perfect description for the powerful remix that follows. It successfully combines synth elements and metal into a stellar performance that acts as a climactic closer to the album, but will leave you wanting more of this kind of collaboration in the future.

While Ecometa! is only 23 minute in length, it’s a riveting listening experience. Fans of metal will want to check it out. It’s available from Enterbrain’s ebten shopping site, with samples available on the official album website, and is certainly worthy of your attention.

[Special thanks to Scott Blow at GungHo for translating the album’s booklet materials for use in this review]