ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick of the Week

This isn't anime, but if I put up A Brand New World God Only Knows, it would seem like there is a TWGOK bias.

And there is. But I wanna keep it secret. Shhhh...(I'll do it next week)

The Tower of Eternity (Aion: The Tower of Eternity OST BGM)
Yang Bang-Ean

So many wings

To be quite honest, I truly think that if given a chance and enough time, Korean composers would be able to outshine Japanese composers in the realm of entertainment-media music. Perhaps overwhelmed by the competition and the time constraints within which the anime/VN/game production has to get going, the OPs, EDs, and inserts flying out nowadays seem much too shallow, too conventional, too brash, too nondescript (the most criminal of those that immediately come to mind being the Mayo Chiki OP, Be Starters!). However, from the likes of MapleStory (and its cohorts from both Wizet and Nexon, the gaming companies), Pangya, and now Aion, we have seen a quality of work that is not only highly complex, but nearly unmatched from that of Japanese counterparts. And The Tower of Eternity continues this trend.

Starting off with a triplet fanfare in five and turning to a moving main theme by the strings in 4/4, it has enough brass and percussion to serve as a battle theme, but also enough string soli parts to counterbalance it half the time and create a fitting world theme for the piece known as The Tower of Eternity. It is slightly repetitive, but for a BGM it tends to stay surprisingly creative throughout. Fans of epic pieces, especially akin to those from the later Zelda or Final Fantasy games, will greatly enjoy this. Try this piece out - you won't regret it.