#TEKKEN 5 SPARKING FULL#

Some will sound familiar, like DJ MOTIVE's faithful rendition of Toyama's 'Formless Like Water', but others are quite different, like how Hiroshi Watanabe takes Toyama's 'Gold Rush' and transforms it into the gorgeous pseudo-New Age techno of 'Tiamat'. On the kind-of bright side, Dark Resurrection fares better than Tekken 5's soundtrack thanks to some new themes and some solid arrangements of the mostly mediocre (or worse) stage themes from Tekken 5. It's just too bad that more of the other composers couldn't follow suit. Tetsukazu Nakanishi's 'Mode Select' sounds like a remix of one of Ace Combat's Hangar themes (that's a good thing) while the lively trance of Okubo's 'Poolside' brings the album some much needed - and not forced - positive energy.

Akitaka Toyama single-handedly gives the disc solid ground to stand on with his rhythmic and developed 'Formless Like Water', as well as the aggressive but beautiful techno of 'Gold Rush'. Luckily, the entire disc isn't a total wash. That leaves about twenty five themes that will clutter up your MP3 library like you would not believe. The ending collection for Tekken 5 is almost entirely superfluous, barring a few knockouts like Hiroshi Okubo's 'Paul', Miyake's invigorating and fresh techno piece 'Raven', and both of Xiaoyu's ending themes. It's times like this when 'complete' doesn't necessarily mean 'better'. It's a shame that 33 of the album's 59 tracks are dedicated to the character's ending themes. Even Yu Miyake seems bored, bringing the lifeless 'Red Hot Fist' and the repetitive (even by his standards) 'Orbital Move'. But that's not all! The lack of inspiration flows into other genres, as shown in the boring electronica of 'Unforgiven' or how 'Antares' sounds like a watered-down Castlevania arrangement, complete with a techno beat and organ accompaniment. The mood continues through the disc with themes like the forced 'Crimson Sunset', the misleading 'Ground Zero Funk' (more like 'Inspiration Zero Rock'), and the dingy club, throw-your-hands-in-the-air anthem of 'Give Me Your Name'. 'Dragon's Nest ~To Those Who Go to Heaven~' follows suit and has some unfortunate similarities to 'Sparking'.

#TEKKEN 5 SPARKING FULL#

The premonitory vocal theme, 'Sparking', sets the tone for the direction of a good portion of the album: songs full of generic guitar licks and a somewhat gritty vibe influenced by the mediocre dirge of America's rock and nu-metal scene. I enjoyed Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken 4 a whole lot, so I was expecting Tekken 5 to hold its own as both a stand-alone album and as a continuation of the series' great music, especially since most of the same composers were involved man, was I wrong. If I sound a little bitter it's because I am. In theory, that's pretty awesome, but the finished product falls way shy of what it could (and should) have been. In an admittedly cool move on Namco's behalf, Tekken 5 and DR are basically two halves of the same album most of Tekken 5's stage themes are arranged for Dark Resurrection's soundtrack, which makes the double-disc package both an original soundtrack and an arrange album. An unprecedented seventeen composers, all from Namco's sound team, are credited for the work it's just a shame that these great musicians somehow came together to put out what I'd consider to be their most disappointing collective work to date. After the steady Tekken Tag Tournament and the stellar Tekken 4, the Tekken 5 & Dark Resurrection Original Soundtrack stops short of its full potential, leaving two very full discs sounding very empty. Or, should I say, 'Oh, how the mighty have tripped, sprained an ankle, and limped along for the duration of two 74 minute long compact discs'.

Tekken 5 sparking