The Black Mages III: Darkness and Starlight is the third album of The Black Mages. It was released on March 19, 2008.
The only vocal arrangement in the album is the operatic feature of Darkness and Starlight, which is a rock arrangement of the opera Maria and Draco, from Final Fantasy VI. The Black Mages themselves perform the backing vocals on the track.
The last track was written by Nobuo Uematsu as a tribute to a fan of his who died of leukemia in 2008.
Track list[]
- Opening - Bombing Mission from Final Fantasy VII — 4:39
(Opening - Bombing Mission / from FINAL FANTASY VII ”オープニング~爆破ミッション”, Ōpuningu ~ Bakuha Misshon?) - Neo EXDEATH from Final Fantasy V — 4:39
(Neo EXDEATH / from FINAL FANTASY V ”最後の闘い”, Saigo no Tatakai?, lit. The Final Battle) - The Extreme from Final Fantasy VIII — 5:51
(The Extreme / from FINAL FANTASY VIII ”The Extreme”?) - Assault of the Silver Dragons from Final Fantasy IX — 5:01
(Assault of the Silver Dragons / from FINAL FANTASY IX ”銀竜戦”, Ginryūsen?) - KURAYAMINOKUMO from Final Fantasy III — 4:56
(KURAYAMINOKUMO / from FINAL FANTASY III ”最後の死闘”, Saigo no Shitō?, lit. Final Struggle to the Death) - Distant Worlds from Final Fantasy XI — 7:32
(Distant Worlds / from FINAL FANTASY XI ”Distant Worlds”?) - Premonition from Final Fantasy VIII — 5:23
(Premonition / from FINAL FANTASY VIII ”Premonition”?) - Grand Cross from Final Fantasy IX — 5:34
(Grand Cross / from FINAL FANTASY IX ”最後の闘い”, Saigo no Tatakai?, lit. The Final Battle) - Darkness and Starlight from Final Fantasy VI — 15:32
(Darkness and Starlight / from FINAL FANTASY VI ”オペラ ~マリアとドラクゥ”, [missing rōmaji]?) - LIFE ~ In memory of KEITEN ~ (original composition) — 1:38
"LIFE ~ In memory of KEITEN ~"[]
Thank you, Yoshitaka. Rest in peace. I will always remember you with your wonderful smile.
Nobuo Uematsu
"LIFE ~ In memory of KEITEN ~" is the tenth track on the album. It was written by Nobuo Uematsu and dedicated to Yoshitaka Tagawa, a fifteen-year-old fan of the Final Fantasy series who suffered from acute myeloid leukemia. After Uematsu presented him with the song, he became an active attendant to many of the famed composer's performances, while seemingly indicating that he was overcoming the disease. Tagawa passed away on January 25, 2008 at age 22, two months before the release of Darkness and Starlight. As a tribute to him, the band included the song as the closing track for their album.
"LIFE" is a simple and mellow piano composition, as opposed to the relatively complex and heavy arrangements of the other tracks on the album. It is the second original piece performed by the band to not appear in any entry of the series, the first being "Blue Blast - Winning the Rainbow".
See also[]
- The Black Mages, the eponymous first album
- The Black Mages II: The Skies Above
External links[]
- THE BLACK MAGES -Darkness and Starlight- (dead) (Accessed: January 28, 2008) at 植松伸夫 Nobuo Uematsu Official Website Contains a statement written by Uematsu himself regarding "LIFE ~ In memory of KEITEN ~"
- Piano transcription of Life ~ In memory of Keiten
- 植松伸夫です。THE BLACK MAGES III (dead) (Accessed: April 21, 2008) at Square Enix Music
- VGMdb - The Black Mages III: Darkness and Starlight