The Black Mages

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Biography

Japan (2002 – 2010)

THE BLACK MAGES were a Japanese / band. They formed in 2002 when Nobuo Uematsu (植松伸夫) (keyboards, compo) decided, having heard and enjoyed arrangements of some of his Final Fantasy themes by 福井健一郎 (on keyboards and guitar, Kenichiro Fukui) and 関戸剛 (on lead guitar, Tsuyoshi Sekito), to form a band to showcase these arrangements. The other members include 河盛慶次 (on bass, Keiji Kawamori), 羽入田新 (on drums, Arata Hanyuuda), and 岡宮道生 (on guitar, Michio Okamiya).

The band revised some of Uematsu’s most popular fighting themes from the games of the Final Fantasy line in order to publish them in newly-arranged shape on the album The Black Mages: Battle Music of Final Fantasy. The Black Mages’ overall style is a complex hybrid of and . The songs on the first album are all instrumental and all arrangements of battle themes. The Black Mages’ second album, entitled The Skies Above, was released in Japan on December 22, 2004. This album features guest vocalists on two tracks and features arrangements of a few tracks that were not originally battle themes, but the majority of tracks are still instrumental arrangements of battle themes.

The Black Mages performed live at Shibuya-AX, April 26-27, 2003. The performance was released on DVD exclusively to fanclub members residing in Japan. The performance marked the debut of the later released “Matoya’s Cave” and featured additional solos within songs.
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  • UnrealAtrocity

    Check out The Conjuration: (http://www.last.fm/music/The+Conjuration) Progressive/Avant-Garde Death Metal with hints of surrealism, psychedelia, and horror. Free album downloads at http://theconjuration.bandcamp.com/ Nobuo Uematsu is one of our top influences.

    14 Mar 12:17pm Reply

  • mpr1993

    ♥

    8 Feb 5:41pm Reply

  • Gu1lh3rm3-Kun

    Se tornou uma das minhas bandas favoritas imediatamente!

    31 Jan 1:18pm Reply

  • MirrorLink11

    I ♥ this band. It's awesome.

    5 Dec 2012 Reply

  • dangf8

    clash on the big bridge........simply awesome! [3]

    15 Nov 2012 Reply

  • Cassandra-Leo

    "I love how this band finally exposed Nobuo Uematsu's 70s prog rock roots to the world. Those influences were always in his music, but it wasn't until the Mages that we got to hear something akin to Yes or ELP from him. Knowing that, my admiration for Uematsu grew tenfold." Well, I'd say the original Dancing Mad already made his prog rock roots pretty obvious, but yeah, the Black Mages made it even more so. This stuff is for the most part great. I just wish it wasn't mastered so horribly. The third album isn't as bad as the first two but there are all these awesome drums and they're just... ruined with compression.

    19 Sep 2012 Reply

  • Lukas-a7x

    KURAYAMINOKUMO > ALL (2)

    17 Sep 2012 Reply

  • FjordSweetFjord

    bringing these songs to life in a whole new way, love it :)

    2 Sep 2012 Reply

  • VarunDM

    "Opening - Bombing Mission" is just amazing!!!

    21 Aug 2012 Reply

  • liveevents123

    Nobuo Uematsu's Earthbound Papas will be performing live this October 19th in Galveston, TX at Oni-Con and October 21st in Honolulu, HI at HEXXP. Ticket info can be found at www.oni-con.net for Galveston and www.hexxp.com for Hawaii. Hope to see you there rock'n out to some of our favorite Final Fantasy songs!

    11 Aug 2012 Reply

  • headgear56

    I'm in the mood for some epic battle music whilst cleaning. Nobuo Uematsu, my musical hero <3

    24 Jun 2012 Reply

  • Gengar99

    clash on the big bridge........simply awesome! [2]

    21 Apr 2012 Reply

  • gastraube

    KURAYAMINOKUMO > ALL

    10 Apr 2012 Reply

  • Ennish

    I love how this band finally exposed Nobuo Uematsu's 70s prog rock roots to the world. Those influences were always in his music, but it wasn't until the Mages that we got to hear something akin to Yes or ELP from him. Knowing that, my admiration for Uematsu grew tenfold.

    2 Mar 2012 Reply

  • B1azeIchi

    The first metal band I listened to!

    25 Jan 2012 Reply

  • SmokinWickerman

    They may have disbanded but theres a shit load more bands like them, just look deep.

    10 Dec 2011 Reply

  • LakeAndTheRiver

    Is it possible to download VSTs of the sounds Uematsu used in the PS1 FF series? I need to find those sounds!

    17 Jul 2011 Reply

  • willmetalcore

    They are greats, the versions of the final fantasy songs are awesome. I love it.

    9 Jul 2011 Reply

  • Acrophis

    Force Your Way isn't even in the top 5? Wtf am I reading?

    22 Jun 2011 Reply

  • ThePoisonx

    The Skies Above. So damn awesome, the piano part is aa real tearjerker, while the rock parts are very awesome :] Best song by them by far!

    25 May 2011 Reply
    • All 574 shouts

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