Blue Dragon's new boss battle theme came in the form of a pretty unlikely alliance: Nobuo Uematsu (the Final Fantasy guy) and Ian Gillian (the vocalist of the band Deep Purple). When the song first got out (in a trailer from TGS), people were saying "hey, that sounds like Deep Purple." They were right to make such a conjecture.

It's funny, though, that Ian's performance seems half-hearted, with syllables left poorly pronounced, as though we were listening to a Japanese Gillian-wannabe with Engrish problems. Fortunately, even if you don't care for the voice, the music is pretty energetic and fun. As an RPG, Blue Dragon seems to be more about a light-hearted fun adventure rather than anything remotely "epic." The song fits the game's feel quite well, and I was pleased to hear it.

Esashika-san's remix, however, butchers the song. Adding a house/techno beat to mix a rock song sounds like the sort of crappy stuff that happens to well-known pop songs on the radio during those all-night Saturday night jams. Really, the remix is just gross.

I won't speak about the full soundtrack that Uematsu wrote, but if songs like Eternity are any indication of Uematsu's future works, it's safe to say that the "glory days" are over, but what comes next may or may not be considered a "failing" on Uematsu's part. I myself enjoyed the single, though I wouldn't recommend paying retail price for it.

Reviewed by: Patrick Gann