Blood The Last Vampire

17 tracks 70 minutes

Released at the very beginning of 2001, Yuki Kaijura's (Noir) electronic score to the PSX2 game based on the anime Blood: The Last Vampire is simultaneously beautiful, haunting, hypnotic, thrilling and most important of all fantastic. While some people may think this disc contains reused music from the anime, this soundtrack is not a rehash of the anime's music. I think on many levels Ms.Kaijura's music surpasses the music used in the original animation.

Utilizing several styles of music (including techno, dance, ambient and sad piano melodies) that at first seem to fit clumsily together, the work quickly evolves in to a complex weaving of ethnic instrumentations, electronics and vocals. The whole atmosphere is similar to Ms. Kaijura's more famous score for the anime Noir.

The music here is rich, complex, but emotionally is simple. Your thoughts and reactions to the music will be straightforward. The music will pull you in one direction then push you in a totally different direction while (successfully I might add) getting you to relate to the characters and actions of the game.

While this game will never see the light of day outside of Japan, game music fans should seek out this disc to experience deep, dark and complex soundscapes. Over the last couple years, Ms. Kaijura has become a force to be reckoned with in the world of video game and especially anime music. This is definitely a hidden treasure that needs to be experienced by more people. Brava.