One listen.

I rushed this during my lunch break and I don’t think that was a good idea. I feel like I kept trying to find something and moved on instead of exploring each time I was about to go somewhere.

Yasunori Mitsuda’s (光田 康典) “Zeal Palace” (“ジール宮殿”) is from Chrono Trigger‘s soundtrack, Chrono Trigger Original Sound Version.

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Tense strings draw long and keys descend, echoing with drama. Percussion soon comes in, rattles, presses. More strings join and seem to float there with a lofty glance. They seem to look down.

It all shifts into something that feels more industrial. Mechanical, forceful, cold in a way. Brass punctuates at angles and menace fills the air. It comes to a sudden stop as strings strike out end push this sense of inevitability. Of being unable to stop something coming.

It all loops back to the start and that heaviness is there. That advancement, unabated. The continual push for more, whatever that could be. The space is dark and sterile, and brightly light and full of whispers. It’s full of menace, full of ill portent. It lacks a friendliness. It lacks relaxation, and it holds throughout everything fading away at the song’s end.