The Black Mages debut with their much anticipated self titled album, playing what I would describe as progressive metal interpretations of Final Fantasy battle themes.  Uematsu has assembled a fine group of musicians for this effort, as the musicianship level throughout the entire album is fantastic.  The main thing that I would comment on for this album is that it's very, very keyboard dominated.  Some people might be turned off by this, but I personally don't mind, as it really shows off Uematsu's skill on the instrument.

Now, on to the review!  The album begins with the regular battle theme from the very first Final Fantasy, and it's very synth dominated.  The guitar is really there for rhythmic momentum in this piece, although there is a dual guitar and synth solo later on in the end.  This is actually not one of the better pieces on the album, not because of arrangement, but because the original battle theme wasn't really that good to begin with.

Clash On The Big Bridge, however, is fantastic, with both guitar and keyboards switching back and forth on the main melody.  Much of the energy of the original is preserved in this rendition.

I would probably say Force Your Way is the best song on this entire album, as it maintains all of the groove of the original, with some truly awe-inspiring keyboard and guitar soloing in the middle of the song.  There's also a very effective buildup to the final section of the song with the intensity of the song, and the delay of the final section.

Battle, Scene II actually employs part of an orchestra for it, and uses that and the guitar to switch back and forth off the melody.  There are some great bass lines in this, but this is one of those songs where the pacing is totally off, and feels more like a random jam rather than a battle song, but it's a nice change of pace, I guess.

The Decisive Battle is probably the most guitar dominated piece on the album, as a fairly straightforward rendition of the original, except with the melodic progression played backwards.

Battle Theme of FFVI is way too slow-paced, and definitely not one of the more exciting pieces, although I like the personal touches that the drummer adds on the transitions.

The Jenova theme gets a really muddy mix on the album, either that or my copy is bad.  This is kind of a disappointing rendition, as it definitely runs too long, but at least it sorta gives the feel of fighting an alien being utilizing the sound effects and instrument choice.

Those Who Fight Further, the boss battle theme of FFVII, gets a great rendition on this album, actually a pretty straightforward one, but with more amplification on the guitar.  But I have a complaint, and you know, I just gotta have more cowbell.

Dancing Mad was one of the most anticipated pieces, and it turns out to be a fairly big disappointment.  It's not necessarily bad, but there's just a lot expected for the progressive rock epic that is the original Dancing Mad, and the band just really falls below expectations.  It also doesn't help that they still use synthesized vocals for it.  There's even a fan-made remix of Dancing Mad that's much better than this one, made by virt of vgmix.

The final track, Fight With Seymour, is another fairly straightforward rendition, actually not sounding too different than the original.

So all in all, this is a fairly uneven album, with some gems, but with an equal amount of disappointments.