VGBA 2 - The Fall of Bahamut

The Fall of Bahamut

A Final Fantasy Rock Opera

Band - Those Who Fight
Links - Band's Site. Facebook. Bandcamp.
Type of Album - Final Fantasy remix album for a Final Fantasy rock opera!
Genre - Rock, Rock Opera.
Favorite Song - The Madness of Science.

Review - I'm back today, and I'm here to say... That I like this album. I really, really do. /end review


. . .I kid!  The Fall of Bahamut is one of the more interesting video game albums out there. The group behind this album, Those Who Fight, is made up of a cadre of members from various other bands. They come together along with code names, (Leviathan, Doomtrain, Phoenix, Diablos, and you get the idea here...) and that's pretty cool if you ask me. I haven't ever seen them live yet, but I bet they'd put on a heck of a show! ...Back to the album at hand.

The idea behind "Those Who Fight" is basically "What if Final Fantasy.... were a Rock Opera!?" For their first album (EP might be more appropriate term here), they have brought along four classic Final Fantasy songs from FFVI and FFVII. It's not a very long album, but it makes up for the lack of songs with a big pile of quality. I can understand the dislike towards a price of four songs for $5, but I'd say it is definitely worth it. Personally, I went ahead and spent a bit extra on shipping to get a physical CD. (Pictured below.)

My copy of The Fall of Bahamut

Each song has been carefully rock-ified, and three of the four songs feature lyrics even! Their covering/remixing of the songs is very well done here. I clearly hear the old song, but at the same time, I feel like they've taken the song and made it their own. The lyrics are very well done as far as timing and sound go. The vocals sound nice, and it has a nice mixture of voices from the multiple members of the band. I'm shorthanding it here, due to my lack of musical descriptiveness, but the basic thought here is that it's a good album. Good listen for many moons!

Before I forget though, there's a third point to this CD... It's supposed to be a Final Fantasy Rock Opera! That I know of, the band is currently working on the overall story of what's going on, but the basic idea is that there are two factions taking place in their story: The Empire of Malacia and The Resistance. What's the deal with the two factions? They're fighting. (Come on, you can figure that out. It's an Empire and a Resistance.)

They reflect the idea of this story in a few of their current songs, but I don't think you can really tell much until it's fully constructed. There's not a whole lot more to go on beyond what's told in the songs on the CD. In "The Madness of Science" they seem to talk about a Professor character, but there aren't enough details to form anything beyond that. I definitely feel a story among the songs, but you'd definitely need more to have the complete story. (I looked around their Facebook a little bit, and I believe they have more songs available. Unfortunately, these aren't available for download or purchase that I can tell... Bummer.)

 Anyways, I loved the album at first listen, but I could easily see where someone might not like it. The biggest turn off here is if you didn't like having vocals in your video game music. I don't know who exist in this group, but I could see where this prejudice exists. I'd like to assure you that these are above average vocals though! They've done a great job at keeping the vocals both pleasing to the ear and relevant to their song and story. Don't give up on the album because of the lyrics! Now, it's about time that I wrap this review up.

In my heart, I can't give this album a perfect score, but it's so close! There's a lot to love in these four short songs, but at the same time, I certainly wish there was more to it. That's not necessarily a flaw of the album though... So maybe I'm just being mean? It's really good stuff at hand, but if you put a gun to my head and asked me to choose, I'd probably pick Gaia's Bane over this. (I'm sorry Those Who Fight! I still love you very much!)

No point drawing this on, so let's get to the Pros and Cons plus my rating.

Pros - Final Fantasy Rock Opera! Woo!, good music, great vocals, fun and interesting listen, more to it than there seems (aka the Rock Opera part)
Cons - It's an EP and thus it is kinda short, the cost seems a bit, vocals added to video game music without vocals normally, and I want more! (Not a true con to the album, but yeah!)
Rating - 4 out of 5.


~May the Crystals Guide Me~