Jobie Reviews Music 139: ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 黄金の風 O.S.T vol.3 Finale (album) by 菅野祐悟. Requested by a friend.

ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 黄金の風 (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind) O.S.T vol.3 Finale is a 2019 soundtrack album by 菅野祐悟 (Yugo Kanno). It is 28 tracks long, totaling 1 hour and 10 minutes of music. Much like its predecessor, ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 黄金の風 O.S.T vol.2 Intermezzo, it undertakes a much darker tone than volume one of the soundtrack. This is even more true in this volume of the soundtrack, with around 95% of the tracks contained on the album having a dark, villainous, or dramatic sound. This coincides with the 3rd arch of the anime the soundtrack was created for, which is by far the most intense and dark arch of the entire anime. It is also the last of 3 volumes containing the soundtrack to the anime.

That being said, the album, much like the previous 2 albums, Kanno delivers some interesting instrumentation, orchestration, and sound to the table. The dramatic, dark sound that’s showcased throughout the album’s runtime is crafted in a clever, well thought out manner. This is achieved using a variety of methods, including using guitars, orchestrated melodies, electronic elements, and a variety of other types of musical elements. This also leads to a greatly varied soundtrack, for example, the track “figlia” versus the track “magnetica”.

The best part of the album is the improvement of the elements that made the last two volumes of this soundtrack great. Kanno delivers some of his best material on this album, with the aforementioned orchestrated efforts, and electronic/industrial hybrids, being present on the album. Everything here is well made, with no particular flaws being apparent in the instrumentation or general composition of the tracks.

Much like the previous two volumes, some tracks manage to stand out from the others, offering up some more variety to the already great soundtrack. The track “figlia”, for example, delivers a dance/electronic sound which is found nowhere else on the entire album. On the other hand, the track “ascensione” is the most solemn, but also uplifting, track in the entire album. To put it briefly, Kanno delivers a lot of variable material in the album’s runtime, making the album more interesting to listen to.

But by far the best part of the entire album comes from the two tracks “Uragirimonono Requiem - Diavolo Ver.” and “Uragirimonono - Giorno Ver.” These are the two best tracks in the entire album, with fantastic vocals and instrumentation present in both tracks. In the context of the anime, these two tracks serve as the opening songs for the last arch of the anime. Perhaps this is why Kanno delivers what I believe is some of his best material yet, nailing the sound and energy of the track perfectly. The two tracks are also the most popular tracks on the entire album, so I’m certainly not alone in my judgement.

My favorite tracks from the album are “Uragirimonono Requiem - Diavolo Ver.”, “profezia”, “figlia”, “la strada giusta”, “cavaliere”, “fine della vento aureo”, and “Uragirimonono Requiem - Giorno Ver.”.

Overall, ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 黄金の風 O.S.T vol.3 Finale is a great way to wrap up the soundtrack to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind. Much like its predecessors, it contains great instrumentation, composition, and in general, has well produced sound. Kanno continues his trend of delivering high quality tracks, with the atmospheres and tones expressed being delivered perfectly. It improves upon the sound delivered in the second volume of the soundtrack, being the best out of the 3 volumes of the soundtrack.

Overall rating:

9.4/10

LINK TO ALBUM:

https://open.spotify.com/album/3MYc7n3EUljB6Qq2pwzECI