The Black Mages

Categories: 2000s music groups | Rock music groups | Japanese musical groups | Final Fantasy musicians | Progressive metal

Image:Black Mages Above The Sky AfterShow.jpg
Arata Hanyuda, Kenichiro Fukui, Nobuo Uematsu, Tsuyoshi Sekito, Keiji Kawamori, Michio Okamiya

The Black Mages are a Japanese hard rock/progressive metal band in the charge of composer Nobuo Uematsu. Uematsu revised some of his 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 progressive metal style. The songs are almost only instrumental, even though their second album contains guest vocalists. The Black Mages' second album, entitled The Skies Above, was released in Japan on December 22, 2004.

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Band Members

Image:The Black Mages Live.jpg
The Black Mages Live April 2003 Tokyo, Japan
  • Tsuyoshi Sekito (関戸　剛) -- Guitar
  • Michio Okamiya (岡宮　道生) -- Guitar
  • Nobuo Uematsu (植松　伸夫) -- Organ
  • Kenichiro Fukui (福井　健一郎) -- Keyboard
  • Keiji Kawamori (河盛　慶次) -- Bass
  • Arata Hanyuda (羽入田　新) -- Drum


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Albums by The Black Mages

Main article: The Black Mages (album)
  • The Black Mages (2003)
  1. Battle Scene (Final Fantasy I) sample ▶(?)
  2. Clash On The Big Bridge (Final Fantasy V) sample ▶(?)
  3. Force Your Way (Final Fantasy VIII) sample ▶(?)
  4. Battle, Scene II (Final Fantasy II) sample ▶(?)
  5. The Decisive Battle (Final Fantasy VI) sample ▶(?)
  6. Battle Theme (Final Fantasy VI) sample ▶(?)
  7. J-E-N-O-V-A (Final Fantasy VII) sample ▶(?)
  8. Those Who Fight Further (Final Fantasy VII) sample ▶(?)
  9. Dancing Mad (Final Fantasy VI) sample ▶(?)
  10. Fight With Seymour (Final Fantasy X) sample ▶(?)


Main article: The Black Mages II: The Skies Above
  • The Skies Above (2004)
  1. The Rocking Grounds (Final Fantasy III) sample ▶(?)
  2. Zeromus (Final Fantasy IV) sample ▶(?)
  3. Vamo' Alla Flamenco (Final Fantasy IX) sample ▶(?)
  4. Hunter's Chance (Final Fantasy IX) sample ▶(?)
  5. Otherworld (Final Fantasy X)* sample ▶(?)
  6. Matoya's Cave (Final Fantasy I) sample ▶(?)
  7. The Man With The Machine Gun (Final Fantasy VIII) sample ▶(?)
  8. Maybe I'm A Lion (Final Fantasy VIII) sample ▶(?)
  9. Battle With The Four Fiends (Final Fantasy IV) sample ▶(?)
  10. The Skies Above (Final Fantasy X) sample ▶(?)
  11. Blue Blast - Winning The Rainbow sample ▶(?)

* Note: The songs "Otherworld" and "The Skies Above" feature guest vocalists. This version of "Otherworld" is very different from the original Final Fantasy X version, and seems much more melodic, since it includes much more sounds from the two synthesizers and features a female singer, rather than the death metal-like growling found in the original version.

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External links

fr:The Black Mages pl:The Black Mages