The King
Ishiwatari’s work are centered around the Rock and Heavy Metal genre, though the latter tracks created by him are comparatively less aggressive than western styled heavy metal. Such composition philosophy is very much understandable due to the fact that he is responsible for creating a hot-blooded fighting game, and it is clear and obvious that the music he had created fulfilled their very purpose with additional merits to boot.
Starred as the vocalist in his own work most of the times,Ishiwatari often delivers a soul-battering performance with each recording of his tracks, and this is perfectly reflected with both the regular soundtracks presented in the game, and the tracks that are created specifically for all of the characters, There is a liberating feeling that can be associated with the tracks that really gets my blood pumping and dopamine running, especially in a setting where I have to be physically active, or more often than not, mentally active when playing a fighting game.
Not to mention the Character Tracks are a major highlight of his work. As tracks that reflect characters, they are exceptionally good at their designed purpose. Most of the tracks share the same genre, but each track not only tells a distinct story, they also share a distinct style that is exclusive to that character only. The hopeless abandon of Faust’s track, the cheerful melodies of Axl’s theme, and the spunky bravado of May’s theme all have merits that can only be found within their distinct personality, and these tracks speak a lot about them as characters.
Even listening to these tracks out of the occasion for action would be perfectly fine! They all perfectly sound like the tracks that one would seek when they want to thoroughly vent their feelings through the hot blooded performances in Metal music. With a combination of electric guitar, bass, drums and vocals, Ishiwatari can make metal music that makes a statement, and that’s something that is incredibly admirable.
I’m not a huge fan of heavy metal to begin with, since I have a built-in bias for instantly disregarding heavy metal as just glorified noise most of the time. However, it’s always surprising at the things I can receive from such music when I genuinely open my mind to it, and listen to them as a music enthusiast. Ishiwatari gave me a good insight into the possibilities for Metal music, and I’ll continue to try and find merit in such music in the future.
Guilty Gear is one of ‘those series’ that you don’t (more like can’t) recommend to others for its story or lore, it’s one of those games where you can only recommend it to others for its (I hate to use this word unironically) memeyness, gameplay, or music alone. As for me, the lyrics of Guilty Gear Strive soundtracks alone are enough for me to recommend this series to others. To call it deep would be a lapse in judgement on my part, the best word to describe it, is the sense of perplexity you will get after listening to one or two of it.
Guilty Gear has always been a serialised fighting game, it is known for its characters and their quirks, to that end the soundtracks of said games have always been there to make their characters pop off more. It is evident in Guilty Gear X2, with the tracks like “Liquor bar and drunkard” and “Bloodstained lineage”. Liquor bar the soundtrack itself is not too intruding, all while making Johnny’s character shine through. Then comes XRD’s soundtrack, the entry in which most characters have almost a similar motif with their character theme, all while sounding different enough for you to differentiate between them, and it is also the one that sounds JRPG-ish the most.
Now, Guilty Gear Strive soundtrack, before anything, I would like to say that Daisuke-san is a great artist, his composing skills has really shined in GGS, all of Strive’s tracks sound distinct from one another with its instrumentals and vocal works, it is impressive how he made so many catchy yet fitting themes for each character in the game, they say a fighting game’s main focus is their characters and combos, but without the tracks it wouldn’t have the same feel as it does right now, (for project wingman fans out there) fighting games without good ost is like project wingman mission 11 without the soundtrack.
Now for the creme de la crop, the lyrics of GGS songs, this is what sold me on the game. You don’t and I quote, you don’t get this kind of songs for games anymore, right now as of 2021 we have already gotten past the era which japanese games or shows uses english for its songs and it make barely any sense, we should have been out of that era for at least a few years now. Do I miss that era? Somewhat. So with that being said, GGS hit something in me, when I hear lines such as [ “All this bullshit blazing, Still my heart is blazing” Smell of the game, which is the main theme ], [ “It will be reborn as something new, the full moon, bright balloons” Disaster of Passion, May’s ( the dolphin summoning underage girl ) theme ], [ “fight like a tiger, walk in the park, play the hero,till I die” Play the hero, Chipp’s theme]. With lyrics like those, I can’t help but bring myself to question everything about him all while enjoying every second of it, sometimes the lyrics make sense and it hits, it really does; but other times, when you get stuff like “the Bee’s Knee”, I don’t know what to make of it, besides knowing that it reminds me of a simpler time, a time where I don’t need to have a driving license… Putting my driving license aside, Daisuke’s is what you can consider as a one man army, he is at the same time, writer, designer and composer for the guilty gear franchise, you should really look at his works.