This CD is not what I expected. Actually, it's what I half-expected but had hoped wouldn't be true. Parasite Eve had amazing music, thanks to Yoko Shimomura's brilliant compositions, but unfortunately that's not the case with its sequel.

First of all, Yoko Shimomura didn't compose Parasite Eve II OST. Second, almost all of the music is ambient. Since the sequel is more of a Resident Evil game than an Action/RPG like its predecessor, the music would (and should) be more ambient, to set a mood. But that's not good for listening outside of the game in my opinion.

In fact, some of these tracks are even *more* ambient than the music found in the Resident Evil games, if you can believe it. In the RE games for example, there are deep, menacing strings, creepy piano, etc. Here we have wind blowing effects, subtle creaking and cracking, and anything else that you can hear when you step outside at night. Of course it's not all like that, but that's the initial impression you get and it is disappointing. I would have been a little happier with RE-style ambience but, alas...

As for the good points of the CD, a few original tunes from the first game are reprised/remixed. "Forbidden Power [Theme for Aya]" is a remix of Aya's Theme. "MIST" is a remix of "Out of Phase" and is a slow, moody track. My personal favorite on the CD is "Tower Rendezvous". It's a slow piano song that sounds like lounge music from the '20s. It's very well composed I think, but I do like jazz piano music so I'm a little biased.

The sound programming on this CD is average at best. It is of good quality, but nothing really jumps out at you (especially since only a handful of tracks have noticeable music in them).

If you're a big fan of ambient music then you'll probably enjoy this CD, but all others should think twice about getting it, even fans of the original Parasite Eve OST. Also keep in mind that you won't get ambient *music* like in the Resident Evil soundtracks... you're getting mostly justambience.

But it's still good.

Parasite Eve 2 OST is mostly ambience... and not Resident Evil-esque ambience either. It's more original than that... a lot of it is backed up by very alien-sounding processed wind sounds and heavily reverbed cracking sounds (that's the main Silent Hill connection), but there is a lot of music on the album too. There are very few tracks that are *only* sound effects. It's all musical. And *very* stylish.

It's also very repetitive. A good example of this are the songs "Douglas' Blues" and "Hiding Place." They are just waaaay too similar (both start with the exact same bassline and drumbeat), and there's just one track separating them. You've got to get into a certain frame of mind if you are to accept this, and it takes a few listens of the album to achieve this.

Also, a lot of the songs have as a background a couple of different synthy sounds that keep occuring through the album. They get a bit annoying, and it gives the feeling that the musician has sort of 'cheated'. Once again, you get into a right frame of mind to listen to the album, and this sorta thing fades into the background.

There are 'normal' songs on the album, too. Highlights are "MIST" (an awesome ambient mix of PE1's "Out of Phase", which is great even though it uses the drumloop that everyone who's installed any incarnation of Cool Edit will recognise), "Tower Rendezvous" (a really smooth jazzy lounge song) and "The Depth of Aya's Memory" (a very tense yet mellow remix of Aya's theme that reminds me of FF7 for some reason). "Vagrants" also deserves a mention; it's a 60s style rock song that sounds like it's being played on an old dusty LP... it's done very stylishly.

Now, I'll admit this: I've never properly played the game (I played about one minute of it in a shop before realising it was just trash and a RE rip-off), and I haven't listened to the soundtrack heaps.

I first received it as a gift about a year ago. I listened to disc one a couple of times, and then something happened that made me just shun the CD as a crappy Autechre wannabe. I have no idea what that was. Recently I started listening to it again, and realised that it's very good. Though I've only really been listening to disc one. I've heard it about six times, and disc two only once or twice. I still think you can trust my judgement.

I can remember some of the 'highlights' of disc two, though. It's a lot like disc one, only it has a more 'military' theme for some reason (this is probably explained in the game).

One song, "Distorted Evolution" sounds like a blatant rip-off of the Prophecy theme from the Dune soundtrack. The "delete-core" mix of "Weird Man" is awful. The "comfortable mix" of "Hiding Place" is quite cool, but should have been left off the soundtrack anyhow. "OMAKE" is funny. That's where my memories of disc two end.

To conclude: I'm fairly confident that if you liked the more ambient tunes on the Silent Hill soundtrack, you'll like most of this. If you're a fan of Autechre, you'll also find stuff on this that you like. Just so long as you know not to expect Parasite Eve soundtrack part two.

Oh, I think some of the song titles deserve honourable mention too. Just look at them. Some of them purely ooze class.

And the sound programming is great, in my opinion. Perfect for the style of music. Very professional sounding.