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Daisuke Ishiwatari can't be called the biggest player in the video game music arena, but his soundtrack to Guilty Gear XX is pretty gifted work, more often than not. It's primarily composed of wicked, awesome heavy metal full of guitars howling like ferocious wolves with occasional orchestral, jazz and even traditional Japanese and Chinese sounds here and there. Besides the metal tracks there are also some "lighter" rock, jazz, blues and piano ballads. The guitars, bass guitars and drums on the CD are all live. It's all made even better by the tracks being not too short, and when they loop there's often some kind of twist present to provide a little variation.

"Noontide" is one of my several favorites, bringing my thoughts to German metal bands with its epic sound. Another favorite, "Holy Orders (Be Just or Be Dead)" goes even further taking that epic sound, speeding it up and throwing in some organs and a lavish chorus resulting in a memorable song. Further favorites continuing on the theme of speed are "Suck A Sage" and "Elegance". "Suck A Sage" has a powerful opening riff reminiscent of the one from Metallica's song "Hit The Lights" and "Elegance" has some more cool riffing throughout and a catchy chorus giving the feeling of freedom, with what I think is a shamisen in the background, one of the manifestations of traditional Japanese musical influences. "Momentary Life" has Japanese influences made even more prominent, opening with a shamisen intro and having a flute in the chorus. The song gives a feeling of being a ronin, wandering the roads of the world, seeking vengeance.

"Make Oneself" and "Haven't You Got Eyes In Your Head" combine hard rock with some jazz. Sandwiched in between the heavy riffing on "Make Oneself" is a laidback part with jazz guitar and cymbals, and "Haven't You Got Eyes In Your Head" has a saxophone that gives a feeling of mysteriousness. "Meet Again" starts semi orchestral before going heavy, and even has some techno sounds throughout. The frantic organs on "Writhe In Pain" gives an even more classical feel. "Awe Of She" sounds like it could have been the final boss BGM of a fantasy RPG. Though it is only the character select BGM, I'd really have wanted "D.O.A." to be much longer than it is. It's quite rocking and has a memorable solo, actually.

"Blue Water Blue Sky" and "Simple Life" give a break from the heavy tracks by being cheerful and innocent while still not fully letting go of that guitar sound. The staff roll song "Boom Town Blues" is, as evident by its name, blues oriented. Also blues is the faster "Pride And Glory". It has a good riff that makes me think of blues musicians dressed totally in black with sunglasses, traveling from town to town. Some of the other staff roll tracks stick out from the rest by being piano ballads. "Missing..." is probably the best of them, like "Awe of She", it might have been able to be used in an RPG. Perhaps during the ending credits again, or as some kind of "sadness theme"?

The booklet following the CD is a bit disappointing. Three pages are used for pictures of the characters, and further three are used for track listing, only a few comments, and credits. Couldn't there have been more comments, preferably from the composer himself or the arranger Koh-Ichi Seiyama, with pictures of the musicians during the recording sessions?

The booklet is of course not an integral part, and Guilty Gear XX Original Soundtrack is still a formidable creation and highly recommendable to those of you who like your video game music rocking. If you like Guilty Gear you probably already have this one, but if you don't, why not give the potentially unsung hero of a composer that is Daisuke Ishiwatari a chance?