#37: One Winged Angel, part 1 – Final Fantasy VII

Hi guys! Today we begin a weeklong project that I’ve been wanting to do since the inception of this blog, and I figured this week is a great time to try out this kind of format. What we’ll be doing this week is looking at minute-long segments of an incredibly complex piece of music (which is on the longer side, time-wise) in order to give the piece its due diligence.

For many of you I won’t have to introduce this wonderful piece of music so I’ll keep this brief. This track comes from the boss fight with Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII, one of the most well-remembered boss fights in gaming history. In addition, this track is one of the most well-remembered pieces of gaming music to come from the last twenty years in gaming, often pointed to as a prime example of the merits of video game music. This week we will be examining the legendary One Winged Angel from Final Fantasy VII.

The track opens with a violent diminished chord, and to the surprise of all of us, the diminished chord is sustained for quite some time. Considered by many to be the most dissonant sound in Classical-era repertoire, the diminished chord consists of two minor 3rds on top of each other, which adds up to a tritone. Hearing this kind of prolonged dissonance is something foreign to the Classical genre, however, which gives the piece a very dark and edgy tone whilst building tension with melodies mainly on additional tritones and minor seconds.

As the intro continues we see another minor second-based run in the upper strings in bars 7-8, propelling the music into the next melody. It feels like we have these distinct, disjointed melodies that link together haphazardly, united by the underlying, almost pedal-like dissonance beneath them. The melodies continue to highlight the tritone and minor second intervals until we reach the B section, where the diminished pedal fades out for a new, thinner texture.

The melody presented at B sounds incredibly tonal in E minor when compared to the melodic material heard before it, despite the continued presence of neighboring tone minor seconds. Really this whole section is building up to the 7/8 metric modulation, and the ensuing chaos that leads to an eventual modulation from E minor to D minor. The strength of the modulation comes from the melodic rising/falling pattern cadencing at a high C#, allowing us to transition relatively smoothly to the new key.

Once we’re in D minor we see the pedal point become much more active, with a flurry of sixteenth-note triplets in the upper strings giving the track a feeling of urgency. Over this pedal, we see a very hip technique of stacking triads on top of our constant bass, creating a great level of excitement and tension. Of particular note is my favorite of the chord/bass pairings: B major over D. The highlight of the pairing is the minor ninth between D and D#, giving the final cadence a great deal of weight and tension.

That’s it for today’s post, hope you guys enjoyed it and I’ll see you tomorrow with part two!

In lieu of a bonus track this week I will link to the 2002 Final Fantasy concert performance of One Winged Angel. In addition, the PDF file will be made available at the end of the week :)

Click here for part 2 and here for part 3.