Information

Vandal Hearts was developed and published by Konami in October 1996 in Japan and released in America and Europe in 1997. A Sega Saturn port was released exclusively in Japan in '97. The game was scored by a team consisting of Hiroshi Tamawari, who wrote a majority of the score, under the guidance of his superiors Miki Higashino, who wrote a handful of tracks, Kosuke Soeda, whose sole track was arranged by Tamawari. Also contributing was Masahiro Yamauchi, who contributed a vocal track.

In the interests of full disclosure, I have never played Vandal Hearts.

Overview

The score to Vandal Hearts is, to put it simply, excellent. In an unusual choice, most of the game is scored for the concert band ensemble. For those who do not know, the concert band - sometimes called a wind symphony, symphonic band, or wind ensemble - is an orchestral ensemble which consists of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion families, and is named as such because it lacks a string section. However, on occasion, a double bass is added to that ensemble, or other, non-traditional instruments such as the piano or harp.

The sounds, it must be noted, are not exceptional. However, when listening to the score, it will strike the intelligent listener, or a listener familiar with orchestration, that - please forgive the odd turn of phrase here - though the sounds may not be believable, you can believe that there are real people playing those sounds. That's a round-about way of saying that it's excellently orchestrated.

This is to be expected. Hiroshi Tamawari, in an interview with VGMOnline, said that, as a student, he played trombone and directed his school's wind instrument and orchestra clubs. As he became a teenager he gained an interest in composition and arrangement and picked up music theory books. In the interview he specifically notes one of the books he picked up as Orchestration by Akira Ifukube. Clearly, arrangement is important to Tamawari, and that shows in both this game's soundtrack and the score to Vandal Hearts II, which Tamawari scored himself.

Review

The original soundtrack release was roughly structured to line up to the game's chapters. As such, this review will go in chronological order according to the chapters, looking at the soundtrack as a whole, glancing at the Sega Saturn port, and then give my final thoughts and score.

Each track is named according to what I can only assume to be primary function followed by - again, what I can only assume is - primary scenes in which the track appeared. For example, "Capital City Shumeria (Triumphal Return ~ War Situation Report)" or "Tension (The Torture Device Turns; Reen's Crisis)". For the review I will be shortening track titles to remove the articles in parentheticals.

Additionally, unless mentioned otherwise, the track is composed by Hiroshi Tamawari.

So, let's get straight to it.

Burning Sorrow

But before getting straight to it, let's take a quick look at Masahiro Yamauchi's sole contribution to the score, a vocal piece called "Burning Sorrow", which is performed by the uniquely beautiful voice of Yugoslav singer-songwriter Jadranka Stojaković. The development staff must've liked her voice as the track appears in three different forms across the score: "Burning Sorrow (Title Screen)", "Burning Sorrow (Ending)", and "Burning Sorrow (Bonus Track)".

And they're beautiful tracks, ethereal, angelic, almost otherworldly. "Burning Sorrow (Title Screen)" is short, but instantly catches your attention - this otherworldly, beautiful voice, entirely without accompaniment. Having listened to the full score, hearing this track may set the player's expectations in a wholly different direction, as the soundtrack is entirely without vocals of any kind aside from the "Burning Sorrow" tracks.

"Burning Sorrow (Ending)" is another beautiful track lasting a minute and a half, and even so it's too short. It opens with the solo voice of Jadranka singing with emotion - and perfect pitch, I must note - before being joined a third through by strings, guitar, and percussion. It's a gorgeous backing for Jadranka's vocals. At the 2/3rds mark she takes a break for the solo flute, but Jadranka soon returns. For a short phrase her voice is even doubled up on itself, adding to the otherworldly effect, before she sings solo once more, and, suddenly, it's all finished.

"Burning Sorrow (Bonus Track)" is more along the lines of the title screen version, without the humming at the beginning. Another beautiful track. It's difficult to describe the voice of Jadranka - it's astonishing, otherworldly and ethereal, and yet very real.

Chapter 1: Premonition of Upheaval

Chapter One opens with "Sword of Destruction", a short piece which features a variation on the main theme, which appears to be a variation on the hero's theme.

From there we get two short battle themes. "Mountains" is a cheerful piece, perfect for early-game battles and striking for its occasional dissonances. That said, it doesn't really compare to other battle themes in the game. The next one is "Enemy Turn" a swift, fluttering piece largely for woodwinds. It's powerful and reasonably effective, but as it moves through its sections one hopes for more. That said, its short length is understandable since enemy turns are played by the CPU and, correspondingly, don't take as much time. In that respect, "Enemy Turn" successfully keeps things interesting throughout its runtime.

"Victory" is suitably effective, making use of that same motif first heard in "Sword of Destruction". It's magnificently effective, but it may take getting used to thanks to its occasional dissonances in the trombone section.

Afterwards comes one of the stranger pieces of music in game. "Whole Preservation" is Kosuke Soeda's sole contribution, and, without knowledge of Soeda's style, it's impossible to tell how much of it is Soeda's writing or Tamawari's arrangement. It's effective, I suppose, but it never seems to stay in one place.

"Capital City Shumeria" isn't so difficult. It's magnificently listenable and relaxing. The same can not be said for "Defiance", a dark piece marked by clarinet trills, staccato trumpets, and a malicious bassline that, at the same time, seems to spring straight out of carnival music due to its bouncy nature. It had a single interruption to this, a 'moment of realization' as it were, the climax of the piece, and then loops straight back to the beginning. "Defiance" also has a very interesting effect with the snares as it cuts the last note off so it doesn't resonate. It's an utterly fascinating effect. It's one of Higashino's pieces, but it melds well with Tamawari's pieces.

"Harbor City Ports" takes an even slower tempo then "Capital City Shumeria". It's another Higashino work, and again it melds well with Tamawari's music, even if it doesn't have the contrapuntal intricacy of many of Tamawari's pieces. It, too, is very relaxing and peaceful.

"Comrade" is a short jingle along the lines of "Sword of Destruction" and is more then adequate. "Ocean" is an interesting piece, starting out almost pompously before the trombone melody comes in, wandering around, almost like a drunken sailor. The piece develops very well, and a reprise of the melody is joined with trumpets and horns. It's effective, but doesn't conjure an ocean so much as a pirate ship in its tone.

Chapter 2: Island of Ambition and Madness

The first track of chapter two is "Shoutarou and the Bass Blue". It's an extraordinarily simple piece, just a drone alongside snares. Totally unmemorable. "Genesis" is much better - a simple piece by Tamawari which receives two variations further in the soundtrack. It's just a chord progression, relying on the movement of the trumpet to create variety. I assume it serves as a leitmotif for something.

On the other hand, with "Warlock" we get our first truly standout piece of music and one of my own favorites from the soundtrack. It's a stunning battle theme, fantastic at creating tension, lacking both the slower pace of "Mountains" and the lack of clarity in contrapuntal lines of "Enemy Turn". "Warlock" does this by carefully relegating each instrument to a part within the overall track, often ostinato-based or harmonic in nature. From its tense opening it moves onto a less melodic section before reprising the opening bars. It's tremendously effective, showcasing Tamawari's ability to create tension at its max, to say nothing of its astonishing climax.

Afterwards we have another reed-driven Higashino piece called "Conspiracy". It's effective, even if the crash cymbals seem out of place, and the melody is more striking as it gets doubled by flute.

Finally, "Defeat", using only a little bit of the leitmotif before moving to slowly marching chords looping ad infinitum.

Chapter 3: Escape to Tomorrow

"Wilderness" is rooted by a constantly repeating horn ostinato. It's no wonder the parentheses for this track say "Plateau of Lamentation" - this truly isn't a happy piece of music, with only the slightest hints of hope. "Karma" is yet another slow-paced piece. It's a marvelously simple piece, a duet between the horn and flute. It's effective, but not very special. Certainly not in comparison to the track immediately succeeding it, "The Town on the Edge of the World", a piece initially for flute and oboe with timpani accompaniment before 16th runs on the flute bring in the clarinet alongside the oboe. The high range of this piece and the simple nature of the counterpoint works wonders. It's one of my favorites.

After that it's another simple town piece, "Village of Testha", this time a duet for bassoon and flute with tambourine accompaniment. As before it's simple, but effective, and a neat counterpart to "Karma".

"Military Tactics" is another ostinato-driven track. It vaguely resembles "Wilderness" in its construct, but it's a far brighter piece. Tamawari again showcases his contrapuntal skill by playing the main melody in a canon-like form. It's effective, even if the martial snare beat becomes repetitive. Just before the loop is something of an oddity, a lilting, arrogant, bouncy tune. It's odd. The track that follows it, "Shivers", isn't. With "Shivers (Prison Escape)" we have another track by Miki Higashino, and unlike her previous tracks, this isn't one which is merely average. It's tremendously effective at conjuring a tense atmosphere even if it isn't particularly original.

"Fortress" isn't a very melodic track at all. It's just the same ostinato playing again and again, and Tamawari relies on chord changes for interest. The exception is a section before the loop which changes things up, but, even so, there's no melody here. The next track is lighter in nature, "First Threat", but the opening with its calm staccatos and quick sax phrases doesn't sound very threatening. It's just a cheerful march without any brass in it. It doesn't much grow in intensity either as its melody, once again using the main theme. "Steady Reform", the level up jingle, is suitably joyful, and, unlike "Comrade", doesn't end on a dissonant chord.

Next Time

Please join me again on Monday for the second and final part of my Vandal Hearts soundtrack review. Part Two will look at Chapters Four-Six and contain my concluding thoughts on the soundtrack as a whole and my final score. Thank you for reading!