E: Wait wait fuck what. Did they actually put the flipping Opera to music?
I just checked the lyrics. They put the freaking FF6 Opera scene to freaking music. This is gloriously something.
I'm listening through the whole album in order. I'm just starting in on Disc 3. I just finished the Opera Sequence and it was FREAKING AMAZING. They took it in a totally unexpected direction that was rather bold and risky, but I actually like how it turned out. Some sort of bizarre mash-up of westside story/bohemian rhapsody with the opera music/draco-ralse-maria story and... it
works. And the hammyness of it is just glorious. I can tell they had a lot of fun making this, and it's infectious.
And they even managed to make a Chocobo Theme arrangement that I actually enjoyed. I've always found every other version of that song annoying.
Edit: So I've listened to the Strago Theme now. I can sort of see what you're saying. I really like it. I think the genre choice is a natural fit with the stuttery quirkiness of the original. It's definitely not one of the more inspired tracks on the album, though. It kind of took an easy way. And while I think it really works, and I enjoyed listening to it, I can see how you would be really disappointed if it was the most anticipated track on the album for you and electronic noises aren't your thing.
I can kinda relate with my most anticipated, which is The Fierce Battle. My most favorite boss/fight music ever. It's not that I don't like what they did. It's really awesome. I loved it. It's just that I've wanted an intense metal rendition of that song for forever, and I was hoping I would finally get it