Note: "Cockpit no Hagane" means "Steel Cockpit," but also refers to the cockpit of one of the main battleships in the SRT series, named the Hagane.

Occasionally, a vocal album for the Super Robot Taisen series gets released. Most of the time, it features vocal versions from various anime themes with spiffy arrangements. Other vocal albums are about the characters and/or their mechs. In 1998, a vocal collection called Hagane No Cockpit was released. They are songs based on characters, none whose themes I am familiar with, along with three drama tracks in the end.

Honestly, I was not into this particular album very much. The songs are good overall, but they weren't too interesting. It starts off promising enough with the exciting "Grungust Slice!!" It's the best song in the album, demonstrating the series' hot-blooded nature with an exciting, rock and roll melody and good vocals. After the charming "Love Story," the fun slowly declines. The vocalists remained good overall, but a lot of the melodies were generic. The vocal portion of the album did end well with the nice and simple "Super Robot Into Eternity," but it was too little, too late.

There were a few songs that did make me cringe a little. I primarily didn't like "Night of the Egoist" mainly because the melody and vocals don't mesh well to my ears. I've noticed this issue in several other SRT vocal albums too. Gritty songs like "Night of the Egoist" are meant to be sung by hot-blooded vocalists, not old men.

Amongst the SRT vocal albums I've head, this one is the weakest. There are many songs here not found elsewhere, but even those songs aren't that great. By now, it's a difficult find like a lot of other SRT albums, but don't push yourself to find it. If you really want your SRT vocal fix, try your luck with any of the Alpha Original Scores or the modern Original Generation ~15th Anniversary Song Collection~. Get it if you find it really cheap, but it's not a wholehearted recommendation.

Reviewed by: Dennis Rubinshteyn