💿 Across The Worlds – Chrono Cross Wayo Piano Collection | Wayo Records 💿 @WayoRecords #Vinyl #VideoGameVinyl @WayRecordsJP

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“Created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Chrono Cross in November 1999 (Japan) and August 2000 (USA), Across the Worlds is an arrangement album licensed by the Japanese music right-holders Septima Ley and Procyon Studio (Yasunori Mitsuda’s company). This album is the concretization of a long time dream to create a high-class piano solo album featuring the music from the legendary game, arranged, designed and produced with veteran Japanese video game artists.

As a first-class role-playing game released on PlayStation in 1999, Chrono Cross is the follow-up to the highly-acclaimed Chrono Trigger, released in 1995 on SNES. The story takes players on a magnificent journey through different worlds and eras, featuring a large and colourful cast of characters. Its music, entirely composed and arranged by Yasunori Mitsuda, is widely regarded as one the best video game soundtracks of all time. We hope you will have a pleasant journey with this piano album!”

Having covered some of Wayo Records’ previous releases such as Mr Nutz and Actraiser, my expectations were lofty for this release. As with Actraiser, Chrono Cross is held in extremely high regard in terms of the soundtrack and so feels a great choice to re-imagine in a selection of solo piano pieces, especially when they are performed and captured as well as they are here.

Presented in a double gatefold sleeve, the cover of Across the Worlds captures the essence of duality and travel that is present in the 1999 game, with a deep blue ocean lapping at a shoreline, turning an almost Mediterranean green as it does so. A large volcano at the centre of the island is surrounded by dense foliage under reddening skies – making your mind make the sweep from calming relaxation to a dangerous threat as your eyes take in the image from left to right. The rear of the album is minimalist and elegant, with simple credits and the tracklisting surrounding the image of an hourglass filled with a draining, ominous red liquid, insinuating that time is life blood.

Opening up the gatefold expands on the cover image, with the illustration (courtesy of Kiyoshi Arai) now revealing that the cool blue expanse of the ocean leads towards a neighbouring island consisting of more alien vegetation, ensconced in cloud and fog, a cooler climate than the opposing isle. These illustrations are framed by a tribal, metallic scene, which includes the cogs and wheels of time in their art style.

Each individual record sleeve is mostly white, with the hourglass motif repeated on one side – including the credits, as the opposing side features cogs and clockwork along with the tracklisting from that particular record. Also included is a signed, hardback image of the cooler island, signed by the artist, as well as a full-size booklet containing information about the initial concept, history and creation of the album. These booklets have been a mainstay of Wayo Records’ releases and I have to say that I always enjoy them, as the wording inside really does put you in the right mood for the album, giving context to musical and stylistic choices, as well as giving character and personality to those involved, making the actual listening a more personal and rich experience.

Onto the record itself, the music was recorded at The Riverside Studios in Cologne, Germany and whilst the piano arrangements are by Mariam Abounnasr, Akio Noguchi and Masashi Hamauzu, the recorded performances on the piano that make up the record are all from Benyamin Nuss. Each side of the record contain four songs:

Side A:

Chrono Cross – Scars of Time -

Home World Medley

Battle Medley

Shadow Forest

Side B:

Reminisce – Enduring Thoughts -

Fleeting Thoughts

Fossil Valley

The Departed Ones

Side C:

Chronomantic

Another World Medley

The Dead Sea – Tower of Geddon -

Fates – Divine Destiny -

Side D:

The Girl Who Stole the Stars

Dragon Prayers

The Frozen Flame

Radical Dreamers – Le Tresor Interdit –

When the album first started playing, I was struck by the relative quietness of the recording – or so I thought – it was only after a couple of minutes that it dawned on me that the reason for not mastering the album in a louder fashion was due to the natural dynamic in the performance. The album is very organic and acoustic sounding as if the piano is in the room with you, and every facet of Nuss’ performance is captured in real clarity. Some parts will naturally be more delicate and nuanced, but others are quite pounding, bone-shaking and startlingly effective in their bombast, as the track calls for it. There’s no over-compression here or a fixed volume that gives you aural exhaustion, the approach to recording and subsequent mastering is very natural – letting the performance breathe - and so the full expanse of volume is utilised. You’ll find yourself turning this up a notch more so than your other records, but rest assured, it’s so that the record can be enjoyed at the fullest experience. I was quite surprised at the emotional ground covered in the record, considering it’s all from a single piano. From the earlier tracks, some of which are quite explosive and experimental - almost avant-garde in some moments - to the more delicate, fragile sections as well as others which are more filmic in their tone and style. Yet, all tracks sit together and take the listener on a journey that holds together thematically. Whilst there are heavier and lighter moods, nothing feels out of place, it’s a very carefully crafted and curated album.

Even a glance at Yasunori Mitsuda’s compositional history is overwhelming, he has been working in the industry for decades and has worked on some of the most celebrated titles in video game history – and continues to do so. Hearing one of his most celebrated compositions re-worked for solo piano performance here, performed as brilliantly and expressively as it is by Benyamin Nuss just highlights the depths and quality of the work and capabilities of all involved. The quality of the materials used in production as well as the content such as the card illustration and information booklet also makes this feel like a pretty plush package.

Whenever I listen to this album, I feel the full sonic expanse of the music filling the room and gives an almost regal quality to my mindset and thus day. It’s clearly been created by a group of people with a serious passion for the music and, luckily for us, the listeners – the ability to bring it to life.