07th Expansion Music Discussion

07th Discussion
#1

Ushiromiya.Jessica.full.801015.jpg1920x1080 323 KB

They may not have their own sound label, but 07th Expansion’s games feature some really exceptional soundtracks with more than a few amazing pieces of music. Let’s discuss them! You can talk about which games soundtracks you enjoyed the most, who your favourite artists are, or you can choose to talk about a specific song and analyse its usage in the game. Have fun!

For fan music, please visit our Fan Music Topic.

Please, keep any spoilers beyond the current episode covered in the Tea Party appropriately tagged in this topic.

4 Likes
Introduce Yourself!
#2

There’s a reason why Umineko and Higurashi are considered “sound novels”: the BGMs are absolutely excellent. If there’s anything that Umineko does for me is it has shown me a VN that used BGMs in an impressive enough way to get you absorbed into the game, and not many other VNs do that.

Of all the composers who have contributed to the series, my favorite would be ZTS (who doesn’t seem that active now). I’ve known him before I read Umineko but hearing his stuff there just made me a bigger fan :stuck_out_tongue: Here’s a nice medley so you guys can appreciate his stuff:
Spoilers in the images used here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d86DhNofuLc

2 Likes
#3

I’m 2 chapters through Higurashi and I played Umineko in its entiriety. My favorites from Umineko so far aren’t cacaphonies or climactic tracks like dreamenddischarger, but mostly heartwarming (Hope, Thanks For Being Born) and moody (Fortitude, Voiceless, Rain) tracks.

Also, the openings.

This just melts me inside. :’)

edit: OMG I love the default goat avatar

1 Like
#4

I’ve played through Umnieko twice, and the music is one of the main reasons why it is fantastic. There are tracks which are just catchy as hell and set the tone for their big scenes, like dreamendischarger, Infant queen bee and the Excutioner, and I’m a fan of anything that dai did in this game, but I have to say that Prison Strip was what got me into this games soundtrack.

When this was playing as Battler first challenged Beatrice… still gives me chills. Imma link that song and Ricordando il passato, cause the (EP8)boat scene made me cry hard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFyzTtKNzYI&ab_channel=Angelofzero01

3 Likes
#5

Umineko has some of the best music I’ve ever listened to, the tracks I think are what make Umineko as amazing as it is, they’re all timed perfectly for the setting and moments in the VN.
While I don’t have a favorite composer, I do have a favorite song from Umineko, which is:
Fishy Aroma
I loved many of the songs, but this one stood out to me as being a very ‘Umineko’ feeling song.

2 Likes
#6

I would like to correct you about the ‘sound novel’ term. You’re not completely off track by mentioning the soundtrack but the reason for that term isn’t something as subjective as the quality of the BGMs (even though the BGMs are stunning).

For example: the original Umineko is a sound novel but the PS3 version is a Visual Novel. The Sound Novel term (which, I think, was created by Ryuukishi) qualifies a novel(-software) with a minimal graphic support (basic sprites, no CGs,no detailed backgrounds and, of course, no voice acting) but with a large variety of BGMs to add an atmosphere to the game, and by ‘a large variety’ I mean: A LOT MORE tracks than an ‘average’ Visual Novel. Umineko (not Chiru) has 97 tracks alone. On the other hand, Iwaihime (which has a lot of BGMs for a ‘simple’ Visual Novel) has only 37 BGMs, Rewrite which is as long as the first Umineko and which capitalises a lot on his sound-design has ‘only’ 62 tracks with every ending and alternative versions included.

The lack of graphical support was on purpose (and not only because Ryuukishi wanted to do ABSOLUTELY everything in his When They Cry series) because it adds more freedom to the imagination of the reader.

#7

I LOVED the Italian. The PS version had this Italian/Japanese opening, as well, which was incredibly hype.
(Episode 1-4 Spoilers)

1 Like
#8

I’m gonna agree with all the sentiments here. The music for Umineko is absolutely fantastic. I think it’s garnered a life-long appreciation for the merging of story and music for me (which Final Fantasy initially seeded). Now ‘video game music’ is a huge part of my life and my appreciation for multimedia formats. The use of music here is masterful and I particularly enjoy how different composers are used for different ‘parts’ or ‘sides’ of the story. (General Spoiler for first half)Examples of this how generallly pre-holder does ‘meta’ music (see Observer -Witch Who Lives), zts has music connected to Beatrice (see Musicbox Reds) or how dai does music connected to Battler/humans (see Musicbox Blue).

Altogether, this leads to something I love about Umineko in particular and something that I’ve found fairly influential for reading music in general. This is muusic’s use for original storytelling. There are a number of album releases for Umineko that I personally read as adding to the main narrative rather then just supplementing it.

(There’s gonna be spoilers for Umineko from here on out).

[spoiler]The best example of what I’m talking about is Red Soul by M.Zakky. http://vgmdb.net/album/25909

Based on the cover art (Erika with her pirate hat), songs that are used in the narrative along with their placement in the timeline of the main plot (Love Examination) and the title of various side tracks (Paradise of Exile, Mirage Fragments), I read this whole album as telling the story of what happens to Erika during her time in the Sea of Oblivion between EP6 and EP8. And I think that’s a really interesting window into parts of the narrative that the original story doesn’t have time to touch on. It really gives the composers time to shine and chime in on the story themselves.

That’s the clearest example, but another one that I love is Umineko no Naku Koro ni Episode 1 OST -Essence-.
http://vgmdb.net/album/14590

To me, this is the skeleton of the mystery that Beatrice planned. The ‘essence’ of her murder mystery game. In this respect, the album really covers a lot of ground, telling the prototypical plan for how the two days were intended to go down. There’d be some time to play around and catchup (HANE, Hope), there’d be blossoms of love (Path), there’d be talk of Beatrice and intiruge (Praise, witch in gold, The Witch of the Portrait), there’d be suspicion and fear (nighteyes, STRIP), there’d be ‘murders’ (golderslaughterer, requiem) and hopefully there’d be mystery solving (mind). It’s all there, and once you know the look for it, the album itself adds a lot of depth to Beatrice and her plan.

Beyond these two albums, I think you can do a similar reading for other releases, such as musicbox blue, musicbox red and you certainly could for Millenary or Colors. My personal favorite, which I haven’t done in any detail, is looking into Xwerk (by xaki) as telling Yasu’s story (in contrast to Beatrice’s story). This mostly stems from the placement of some of the songs in the main story (7-weights, reflection-call, l&d-circulation) and the generally somber tone of a lot of the side songs (1000-tours, nosta-logica).[/spoiler]

Using album releases to add to the story rather then just retell it is something that I find absolutely fascinating about Umineko and I use more stories did this.

Has anyone else thought about things along this line before?

3 Likes
#9

So I know there’s way too many good songs, but could you pick out your top ten? (To make it a little easier, let’s just focus on the original VNs.)

Here’s mine for Higurashi (in no particular order):

You
Over the sky
Sorayume
Thanks
Sora no Mukou
Cradle song
Birth and Death
Confession
Mienai Nanika ni Obieru Yoru
Orange-colored Time

And Umineko (also not in order):

Hope
Umineko no Naku Koro ni
Worldenddominator
haze
dead angle
Byakumu no Mayu - Ricordando il Passato
apathy
Thank You For Being Born
Haruka
Usan no Kaori

Edit: Forgot Thank You For Being Born… I knew that was going to happen!

2 Likes
#10

I honestly would posit that Umineko has the best soundtrack in all of gaming. (fite me)

My favorites are Worldend Dominator, hope, discolor, far, Dread of the Grave, and lastend conductor, but there are too many amazing songs to list.

Related, this is a really interesting systematic analysis of the Umineko soundtrack:

1 Like
#11

I guess I’ll continue the top10 suggestion…

Umineko:
Hope, White shadow, System0, Birth of new witch (both vers.), Happiness of a marionette, Fishy aroma, Ricordando il passato, Chikai hibiki no igureja, Golden slaghterer, Worldend dominator.

I tried to choose a variety of different style tracks. I probably picked the most memorable ones rather than the best 10 though. I can’t believe I had to leave Dead angle, Miragecoordinator, Battlefield and Life out.

Higurashi:
Soul scour, Festivals, Being, Birth and death, Confession, White mist peak -pure white-, R of can, Feel, Shadow, You.

Higurashi BGMs are all pleasant but unlike Umineko the standouts aren’t as obvious.

1 Like
#12

Havent looked up most of the Umineko OST track names yet, since Ive been trying my hardest to stay away from google searches that could spoil me in any way, but Hope stood out to me so much that I had to ask someone about it.

My favorite aspect of that track is just how much emotion you can hear was put into playing it. Like the section a little more than halfway through when the “chorus” comes in for the second time: the piano is being played so ferverantly that you can actually hear the sound of the pedals going up and down. Its so emotionally charging.

1 Like
#13

Hope is really, really, really good. It’s the kind of song that brings to mind all of the nicer emotions that come with Umineko. And considering how tragic a story it can be after the fact, listening to a song like that can be incredibly emotional for me. It brings to mind an ephemeral tranquility, but arguably, it’s a feeling which is much more important than anything else in the series.

After all, we mustn’t forget that shimmering fragment of hope.

For Episode 2, my favourite track (that isn’t worldenddominator) is defnitely 「旋律～シラベ～」[Melody]. The track comes up numerous times in the episode, particularly with scenes involving Beatrice, and I don’t know what about it resonates with me so well, but… That track is fucking powerful. It conjures powerful emotions in me that the rest of the Beatrice-oriented tracks fail to inspire. What’s really great though, is this track returns with a vocal version for the ED, and even has a particularly impressive rearrangement released in its own album.

Listening to the lyrics, it’s definitely not a happy song, nor does it contain the usual malice we see in Beatrice’s character, so I wonder if this is truly Beatrice’s song. The different verses resemble each other, but some key words change. The first verse mentions ‘if I close my eyes, I can see the light’ while the second version changes this to ‘If I open my eyes, I can see the light’. Listening closely becomes covering ears, confusion becomes anxiety. If this transcription is correct, there’s even some very interesting play going on with the kanji.

There’s the contradictory idea of seeing by closing your eyes / hearing by covering your ears. It sounds like a story of someone who is unsure whether to accept reality or fantasy. But especially interesting are comments like “The wind tears me apart”, “The flowers fall apart on their own, so evanescent”, like watching everything (or oneself) fall apart. It’s a song filled with this overwhelming despair, but it’s somehow beautiful and awe-inspiring.

Maybe I’m looking too deep into this, but even the lyrics aside, this song is goddamn beautiful to listen to, vocals or not. The fact that it’s in such blatant contrast to all the other tracks starring Beatrice is super fascinating to me.

6 Likes
#14

As much as I adore Umineko’s soundtrack, I feel like Higurashi needs a little more love in this topic.

Higurashi has a lot of incredible music, and there are many tracks that have stuck with me through the years. You, along with its many variants, is often mentioned - and for good reason. I still remember how much it stood out to me when I was first reading through Kai, and I never tire of hearing yet another arrangement or vocal version of it. Confession and Birth and Death are particularly good versions.
That being said, there’s a lot of other tracks in the Higurashi visual novels worth mentioning.

I’m actually really fond of some of the early tracks from the question arcs in Higurashi, such as Hello!, Orenji-iro no Toki, and Paris no Gogo.

And while I tend to associate more high-energy tracks with Umineko, Higurashi has its fair share as well.

One of my favorites is Frightened by Something Invisible at Night, and dai’s Being is another good one too.

–

What I really love about When They Cry is the wide range of emotions its capable of evoking, and I feel like the music goes a long way towards that. Whether it’s heart-crushing despair, carefree summer days, or intense battles of wit, every feeling is powerfully felt in the writing and music. Whenever I hear these songs it always reminds me of the those scenes.

3 Likes
#15

since i started reading this glorious sound novel i was haunted (obsessed) with it’s amazing BGM, ohh God every track is an explosion of epic music no matter how much i listen to them i never get tired, due to the variety and well made compositions, each track represents what umineko is as a whole.

umineko’s bgm is in my opinion one of the best things humanity has ever made, my favorite one is the most epic one, the most delightful, the one that express what umineko really is in such a complex rhythm , the one that accomplish it’s main goal which is to describe such a good characcter an by that i mean this masterpiece, now praise the greatness of the flat chested girls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tYWHU5BZH8 come on you gotta love this

okay no just kidding, now serious the one that meant was this glorious track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE7Qvi2V-8o Erika best character praise her

oh that track for me it’s greatest one well that it’s my opinion, obiously there are a bucnh full of epic ones like The Executioner, Mirage coordinator or worldend dominator what a good one, i would like to mention that the openings the original one and the one from rondo of the witch and reasoning and the ones from nocturne of truth and illusions also there is this one Smile-less soiree a really beautiful track it sounds so good it fits umineko perfectly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZB7aTrX2bE one of the best underrated bgm, i love the way it starts and ends

personally i like to play the original umineko with the original sprites and the voiceless characters because you can read feel and hear the novel in a different way where you can appreciate every little detail of the soundtracks , i found that the best way to experience umineko as well as higurashi

PS:remember, … oyashiro-sama is stalking :goat::goat::goat:

#16

I actually have a question for everyone regarding Higurashi’s soundtrack.

Many years ago, I picked up the Sonozaki Futago fan TL of Onikakushi, which served as my introduction to the series. Most of the songs, as I remember, where royalty-free songs Ryukishi pulled off of free music sites for use in the game. Since then, I heard that remakes have removed those songs and replaced with new original tracks.

Does anybody have a short history of how the music changed over the years? When 07th Expansion was really doujin, they relied heavily on those free songs, but somewhere along the line those were replaced. I hear there was a big issue with that when MangaGamer first licensed it, but what about before then?

#17

My favorite BGM of Umineko honestly is Nighteyes.
I don’t know when it first plays, but I first really noticed it during EP4, when (EP4 character) Gaap was made known.

I also really like…anything of Dai’s, honestly. I love the soundtrack as a whomw though!

1 Like
#18

Hey, One of my favorite soundtracks is Z・E・R・O. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OncQlCnuv8o

The song reminds me some feelings from the ending of Tsumihoroboshi, It represents perfectly the hope and the impact of this moment.
But there is so much amazing music like “Night When the Invisible Scares You” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR0SvgLy_D8 ) , " Wandering Words Lead to Heaven " ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdEwKBM7jsw )

But I think my favorite music is Birth of the New witch, this song is really perfect it represents ( again…) incredibly well the atmosphere of Umineko. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JBKyLZd6GA Especially the instrumental version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAkvF7HkFEY

Even if in the end I cannot choose only one, Alive, Life, Engage of marionette, Kina no Kaori, WorldEndDominator, Ridicule, All of this and more, I love them too much.

2 Likes
#19

The music is great in Umineko, most of the zts tracks are great, but I think “End of the World” (instrumental, though I like the vocal version too) and “Dread of the Grave More fear” are my highlights.

1 Like
#20

This


I honestly get shivers everytime I listen to it.
And also
1 Like