Kenji Kaneko has held out for over a decade now as the chief composer over at Idea Factory. And, for the second game in the Neptune (Hyperdimension Neptunia) series, he's not holding anything back. Just from the sheer number of layers of audio found in each track, it's clear that time and attention was put into the main tracks for this score.

I say "main tracks" because, let's face it, 13 tracks is not a complete OST. But these are the chief tunes -- the most noteworthy of the bunch, and the ones that are not at all recycled from the first game. And, honestly? I'm pretty impressed. I'm also kind of surprised that the soundtrack wasn't published on, say, Team Entertainment's record label, when games like Trinity Universe and Cross Edge did get their soundtracks published.

The disc opens with "Field of View," an in-your-face electro-rock track with lots of pitch-bending in the synth lead-guitar melody line. I like this one for its catchy beat as well; it also works the modal shifts quite well.

My favorite track on the album, however, comes in the number two spot. "The Aegean" is tranquil, yet also bright. The guitar work is great, and the melody is soothing. It reminds me of some of Yoko Kanno's tracks on the ridiculously awesome album "Uncharted Waters II: Special Edition." I never thought I'd be giving that kind of praise to Kaneko-san.

The two tracks that follow "The Aegean" pack a similar "bright yet tranquil" vibe. "Breeze Time" is very electronic, but there is a sax performing the melody; it's sort of a straight-rhythm jazz track. The same might be said of "Aqua Walking." Just the track names, referring to the sky and the sea, resonate with all sorts of good and wonderful things. But then you get that gleefully retro sound of the synths, especially the occasional square wave (hearkening back to the days of the NES), and it's just a melting pot of joy and victory.

Then there's this super-catchy dance-rock track, similar to the style of Ryo Yonemitsu and Yuzo Koshiro in the early Falcom years. It's called "Solid Park," and it's a winner. The chord progression may be traditional, but the high level of audio production and the fantastic rhythms and arpeggiations decorating the piece are what sell it.

Unfortunately, after that foursome of amazingness (tracks 2 through 5), we do hit some weaker tracks. For me, tracks 6 through 8 are skippable. The Yonemitsu/Koshiro dance-rock goodness comes back on track 9, "100S," which I believe is a shopping theme. For those of you who remember "The Syonin" from Ys -- yeah, this is basically that same sort of thing. Good stuff!

The rest of the tracks, all the way to the end, fall somewhere between the awesomeness of the front-end and the weakness of the middle.

The bonus soundtrack isn't reason enough to hunt down the full LE package of the game. That cost should really be saved for people who might enjoy the game itself. All I'm trying to say here is that, surprisingly enough, this music can easily be appreciated without having much prior experience with either Neptune title. Cheers to Kaneko for continuing to mature as a composer. I think I said that before, but I have to repeat myself, because he is only getting better with age.

Reviewed by: Patrick Gann