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The music for the ''Drakengard'' series, known as in Japan, has been handled by multiple composers since the release of the original game in 2004. ''Drakengard''s composers were Nobuyoshi Sano and Takayuki Aihara, ''Drakengard 2'' was handled by Ryoki Matsumoto and Aoi Yoshiki, and ''Drakengard 3'' was composed for by Keiichi Okabe, the composer for series spin-off ''Nier''. Sano remained as a sound director for the second game, and his music was used as a reference for the third. Multiple albums have been released for the music of the series: ''Drag-On Dragoon Original Soundtrack Vol.1'' and ''Vol.2'' were released on October and November 2004, while a two-disc re-release titled ''Drag-On Dragoon Original Soundtrack'' was released in April 2011. The ''Drag-On Dragoon 2 Original Soundtrack'' was released on July 20, 2005. A promotional disc with two tracks from the soundtrack was released in the same year. The official soundtrack for the third game, ''Drag-On Dragoon 3 Original Soundtrack'', was released January 21, 2014. An compilation of chiptune remixes of the previous games and ''Nier'', ''Drag-On Dragoon Chips Music'', was released on December 19, 2013 as part of the ''Drag-On Dragoon 10 Anniversary Box''. The series has also received theme songs from multiple Japanese pop artists, all of which have been released as singles. A re-orchestration of Mika Nakashima's single "Hitori" was used as the theme for ''Drakengard 2'', incorporating elements from the game. Two theme songs were written for ''Drakengard 3'': "Kuroi Uta" and "This Silence is Mine". The former was sung by Eir Aoi, a fan of the series, and written by ''Nier'' writer Kikuchi Hana. The latter was specially written and sung by Onitsuka Chihiro, who created the song around the themes and characters of the game. Both songs were composed by Okabe. All three singles have been in the top 40 best-selling singles in the Japanese Oricon music charts. The soundtracks have received mixed to positive reviews from both dedicated video game music outlets and video game critics. The first game was noted for its disturbing style, which both drew criticism for repetitiveness and praise for suiting the game's atmosphere. It has been generally cited as an experimental soundtrack. The second game's soundtrack received a more positive reception, with the general opinion being that it was a more traditional and consequently more comfortable soundtrack. The third game's soundtrack also received fairly positive comments, mainly praising its quality, although critiques were made concerning its variety. The chiptune compilation was generally liked, except for its exclusivity to the special release. The singles have also received praise. ==Creation and influence== The music of the first game in the ''Drakengard'' series was composed by Nobuyoshi Sano and Takayuki Aihara. In creating the score, they sampled excerpts from pieces of classical music (selected by Aihara), then rearranged, remixed and layered them in various ways. Their main objective was to create music that emulated the game's hack-and-slash gameplay, as well as the dark story and general narrative theme of "madness". The music was intended to be "experimental" and "expressionistic" rather than "commercial". After being composed, all the tracks were performed by a full orchestra. The team who worked on the music also worked on the ''Tekken'' series, and they sought to emulate the music of Northern Europe. One of the soundtracks that inspired Sano and Aihara in their work was the score for ''The Exorcist''. The theme song, , was composed by Sano, written by the game's scenario writer Sawako Natori and sung by Eriko Hatsune. ''Drakengard 2''s soundtrack was composed by Ryoki Matsumoto and Aoi Yoshiki, with supervision by Sano, who acted as sound director.〔 Due to widespread criticisms of his work on the first game, Sano was asked by the game's producer, Takamasa Shiba, to bring in outside help for the second game's soundtrack, which upset Sano to a degree. Shiba wanted a composer less linked to video games to compose the music: Matsumoto was brought in because of his work on the non-video-game J-pop songs "Yuki no Hana" and "Tsuki no Shizuku". Because of the size of the project, Matsumoto in turn brought in his friend Yoshiki to help.〔 The soundtrack was designed a fusion of J-pop and video game music, and to evoke the emotions of the various characters and the feeling of battle. The theme song for the game's English release was "Growing Wings", a localized version of the first game's theme song sung by Kari Wahlgren. The third game's music was composed by Keiichi Okabe, who also created the score for ''Nier'', a spin-off game of the series. While writing the music, Okabe felt he needed to match Sano's work on ''Drakengard'', rather than copy it, and so felt that there was no need to "rehash" the original music despite the potential merits. He commented that the musical creation was "a tough production, but for this game, there's part of it I'm doing that I've never experienced before." At director Taro Yoko's request, Okabe worked on separating the style of the music from that of ''Nier'': he did this by including both soft, gentle tunes similar to ''Nier'' and more intense tracks. The two styles were also inspired by the game's world theme of "the sense of contrast". One musical piece, "Exhausted 3", is a re-orchestration of ''Drakengard''s theme song, intended by Okabe as a nod to earlier installments while staying true to Yoko's wishes.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Music of the Drakengard series」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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