foxfactory is an orchestral circle that consists of Yukkie Mizuhashi and his illustrator, amato (sweet tooth?). Although Yukkie is mostly known for arranging orchestral albums, once in a while he produces instrumental/easy listening arrangements. Released in Reitaisai 10, Touhou Gensoukai -Fuujinroku no Oto- is a touhou orchestral arrangement album featuring themes from Mountain of Faith. This album is truly one of Yukkie Mizuhashi's best works, bringing forth a variety of arrangements and styles that represent the eastern sounds from Touhou. 1. Sealed Gods - Fuujinroku no Oto starts off with an arrangement of the title theme, and wow, what a grand opening! The arrangement opens up lightly but then it quickly builds up and ends in an epic crescendo. 2. Road of the Misfortune God ~ Dark Road - A mysterious and ominous arrangement. Yukkie does a great job at building tension in this track with the strings and bells before finally closing out with some powerful brass lines. 3. The Gensokyo the Gods Loved - Oh man the opening... glorious! No wonder the gods love Gensokyo so much! In this arrangement, we get the sense that Gensokyo is such a peaceful and relaxing place to live in. Once again, Yukkie does such a fantastic job in building up the theme for another epic ending. 4. Akutagawa Ryuunosuke's Kappa ~ Candid Friend - A fun and adventurous theme, fitting for our little kappa friend, Nitori Kawashiro. This is a re-arrangement of Yukkie's previous track from -Waltz no Oto-. This time around, Yukkie has chosen to use different instruments for some parts of the track, most notably the accordion during the bridge segment and ending 5. Fall of Fall ~ Autumnal Waterfall - After four upbeat and exciting tracks, the album slows down with an arrangement of Fall of Fall. The piano arrangement is very smooth and relaxing to listen to; It almost feels a little wistful.. 6. The Youkai Mountain ~ Mysterious Mountain - Yet another adventurous theme, but a bit more mysterious than Candid Friend. 7. Faith is for the Transient People - Wow! Such a powerful arrangement fitting for Sanae Kochiya, the shrine maiden of Moriya Shrine. Though she may be a shrine maiden, her heritage stems for the gods and this track does a fantastic job in depicting her divinity. 8. Cemetery of Onbashira ~ Grave of Being - Coming from the previous slower tracks, we have a more face paced and exciting arrangement. I really like how Yukkie allows multiple instruments to take the spotlight in this track. 9. The Venerable Ancient Battlefield ~ Suwa Foughten Field - I apologize, I think I'm running out of things to say... Yet another exciting track with great build up. Epic and fitting 10. Tomorrow will be Special, Yesterday was Not - The album changes into a different direction as it nears its end. This time we have a sad sounding theme from Yukkie yet it manages to be cheerful throughout some parts. 11. Shrine at the Foot of the Mountain - An arrangement of the ending theme of Mountain of faith. Like the previous track, it is slow paced but sounds quite mystical and forlorn. A nice way to end the album. Like I said at the start, this is really one of Yukkie Mizuhashi's best works. To me, it is my favorite, as the MoF soundtrack happens to be my favorite out of the touhou OSTs as well. All the arrangements in this album are just so fitting for their character or stage, and quite true to the original themes as well. The choice of instruments used in this album is superb, never feeling out of place or awkward. And although this album was created using synthesizers, everything sounds fantastic! Of course it doesn't sound nearly as good as an actual orchestral but that's asking too much for a doujin circle. That being said... highly recommended for any fans of orchestral music or Mountain of Faith! Rating - 5/5 Download Link - Provided by Moriya Shrine. Really wonderful album artwork. Further listening and similar circles - For those who like foxfactory, I'd highly recommend checking out these two albums arranged by ARA. ARA is an arranger who has made a few orchestral albums in the style of an adventure game/rpg. Link 1, Link 2 Oriens and Tutti Sound are also alternative orchestral circles, but in general arrange in the style of movie soundtracks. Lastly if you've made it all the way down here... thank you for reading my review! If you liked it, please support me by posting comments or linking this review/thread to your friends who may be interested in my content. As for the next album review... I'm not really sure yet but it'll probably be something with vocals in it.
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Welcome to The Emotional Skyscraper, a blog for touhou/doujin music recommendations, games, visual novels, and other otaku related oddities.
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Games: Atelier Escha & Logy Anime: None Emoskyis a full time otaku & audiophile who enjoys listening to Touhou music, playing doujin games, and reading visual novels. For more information, visit the About page. Categories
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