Darker than BLACK: Ryuusei no Gemini - Original Soundtrack

Compared to the joys of Yoko Kanno on the soundtrack for the original series of Darker than BLACK (which featured at least a couple of stand-out tracks on an OST which never really grabbed me to be honest), Ryuusei no Gemini was always going to struggle to make quite the same impact shorn of her not inconsiderable influence. However, regardless of this there were a few occasions where I found myself enjoying the background music to this new series, which left me at least somewhat anticipating the release of its soundtrack.

Of course, it probably goes without saying that Ryuusei no Gemini's official soundtrack features TV sized versions of both the show's opening and closing themes - I'm not a huge fan of either track to be honest (although I realise I'm probably in something of a minority on that front), but of course if you do love those tracks you probably already have their respective singles anyway.

That leaves the rest of the album free to showcase the rest of the soundtrack, and to be honest it's actually a bit of a curiosity - The snippets of music you'll recognise from the series are all present and correct, but they're occasionally encased in what can only be described as different tunes entirely. This makes for a rather odd listening experience that almost descends into a game of "guess the tune", as some seemingly random dance number churns along for a minute or two before transforming into one of the hefty beats that you'll remember from the series.

To be honest this isn't a bad thing to my ear at all - I'm all for some thumping dance music at times and this soundtrack delivers in an oddly satisfying way at times while also making room for some slower electronic numbers where required (with track nine a particular favourite of mine). If pounding bass isn't your thing however, there are still some other more guitar-centric tracks on offer here, although again I have to admit they don't do much for me personally but they seem polished enough. The good old piano also gets an outing for the haunting (and rather excellent) track eleven to round things off from the point of view of creating a more eclectic soundtrack.

Some odd compositions aside then, I actually found myself enjoying most of the Darker than BLACK: Ryuusei no Gemini OST, with its heavy beats and electronic musings fitting the series pretty well in my opinion. It's certainly not a classic soundtrack that will be enjoyed and talked about for many years to come; rather, it's a solid effort that's certainly worth enjoying in the moment while the series itself is still fresh in your mind. Is this the kind of soundtrack you'll come back to and enjoy again in a year or two however? Probably not, truth be told.