Materia Collectiveis staying busy. They recently released the excellentCeleste: Farewellsoundtrack, and since then they’ve released the soundtracks of a couple of other indie games too. Today they give us a massive tribute album for the music ofChrono Trigger.EPOCH: A Tribute to Chrono Triggeris available now on all major music streaming platforms. 60 tracks of gloriousChrono Triggermelodies and music.
To be clear–this isnota release of the game’s original soundtrack. Rather, it is a re-imagining of it. The artists have reproduced iconicChrono Triggersongs in various genres. While all of the songs work to maintain the original “mood,” there are some interesting new takes in the mix.
When we set out to produce EPOCH, we wanted to honor this spirit of teamwork by encouraging musicians of different backgrounds and skill sets to band together to make each track truly special and unique. Just as Crono and his friends had myriad ways to combine their individual skills into dual techs and triple techs, so too did our Materia Collective friends come together to bring you unique performances in Latin jazz, orchestra, musical theater, progressive metal with horns, and many other genre combinations.
I’m mostly just thrilled that theChrono Triggersoundtrack is still alive in 2019. I loved this soundtrack as a kid, and it continues to mean a lot to me now. And while some of these renditions don’t really grab me, personally, I appreciate the effort and love that went into them. So many artists assisted in making this thing happen.
And that being said, some of these tracks are just plain awesome. There are two variations of “Secret in the Forest,” and they are both great. There are also two versions of “Frog’s Theme”. One of these features a soaring electric guitar, which suits the theme so well. Deep, resonant strings flesh out the haunting yet alluring melody of “Schala’s Theme,” and “Gato’s Theme” also gets an upgrade–“Gato’s Symphony” features a fun rap and diverse instrumentation, among which some big brass accompaniment stands out. Fantastic.
Square is finally giving us a properFinal Fantasy 7remake, so perhaps now the campaign for aChrono Triggerremake can begin in earnest. It’s one of my favorite games, and I think it could translate well to a next-gen environment. Here’s to hoping.
