Awesome Music / Shadow Hearts

The Shadow Hearts series has incredible music. It might be best described as the result of putting the emotive and situationally-iconic music of traditional JRPG soundtracks into a blender along with the hellish noise horror of Silent Hill, turning it to "Liquify," and pushing the "On" button.

• ICARO, a recurring leitmotif of the series that's given its own unique interpretation with every game:
  • ICARO ~ Song of Spirits, the main theme of the first game, is a chilling vocal piece that sets the tone of the game quite well.
  • The first game also has a “Beated” version, which ditches the vocals in favor of flutes, electronic and acoustics, and it works surprisingly well.
  • ICARO Again, the opening of Covenant, remixes the original theme into a much heavier rock track, closing with some beautifully airy strings and light percussion.
  • Covenant also has a wonderful piano arrangement.
  • From the New World, the opening of the titular game, once again remixes ICARO into a heavier rock song, but with more of an almost old-west flair.
  • Et Unam -Chant of ICARO-, the title theme of From the New World, is a more tribal version, starting softly before ramping up in intensity.
  • From the New World also has an acoustic version, blending it with some excellent string work.

• Imbroglio. Not only is it one of the best final boss themes ever, but one of the greatest battle themes period.
• The Three Karma. A strange song (even more so than Ladder to Heaven, which is already pretty strange), but nonetheless intimidating, dramatic, and glorious. The arrangetracks version also qualifies.
• Final Battle (Lady Tears II) is nothing short of brilliant, mainly due to the initially chaotic and fast-paced tune soon becoming more sombre and melancholic, highlighting the turbulent rage and sorrow the final boss experiences.

• Every game has equally kickass "normal" battle themes:
  • "Brain Hopper" and "Near Death Experience" (First game).
  • "Vicious 1915" and "Deep in Coma" (Covenant).
  • "Dead Fingers Talk" and "Mauve" (From the New World).
• The themes when a character goes berserk certainly show the feeling of madness:
  • "Ghosts Jogging" and "Special Short Cuts" (First game).
  • "Swoop!" and "Concon Ticktin Con Ticktin" (Covenant).
  • "Gestalt Collapse" and "Bailar" (From the New World).
• In addition to the battle themes, they each have amazing boss themes:
  • "China Ogre" and "Demon's Jig" (First game).
  • "Glint of Light", "Hardcore to the Brain" and "Battle with the Fallen Angel" (Covenant).
  • "Le Gran Luxe" and "Electric Hallucinations" (From the New World).
• Like the battle themes, they have their own berserk tracks:
  • "Melt Down" and "Sicking Fucking" (First game).
  • "Crack Your Body" and "Getting Nasty" (Covenant).
  • "A Silver Smile" and "Auditory Hallucinations" (From the New World).
• The World Map themes are calm, and soothing, and amazing:
  • "Blow Up" and "Atmosphere - Blow Up" (First game).
  • "Old Smudged Map" and "Grey Memories" (Covenant).
  • "The Mother Earth" (From the New World).
• Every game has a signature town theme for their continent:
  • "Heaven - Kunyang Kunyang (Fengtian)", "Sea- Highnoon Fish (Dalian)", "Swindler - Shanghai Mood (Shanghai)" and "C-I-T-Y (Prauge)", "But-Dad-Dead-Bed (Rouen)", "Vitamin Metropolis (London)" (First game).
  • "Town of Twilight" and "Rising Sun" (Covenant).
  • "Moon Shine" and "Rum and Tequila" (From the New World).
• The first dungeon in Covenant, Apoina Tower, has a tune that gives a sense of mystery and intrigue as Nicolai and Karin delve into the story. Death is the Great Leveller is remarkably chilling and creepy.
• As a counterpoint, the scene when Covenant's final dungeon becomes available is accompanied by the beautiful "~The Fate~ Cluster Amaryllis," a tune that starts out tranquil and then grows in power as Yuri calmly confronts the game's final boss. After Yuri is filled in on the Evil Plan, the boss then summons the dungeon and serenely tells Yuri that they will be waiting at the end.
• Not to be outdone by its more famous descendants, Koudelka had some very atmospheric tracks.
  • "Requiem", which opens the game, is a lonely a cappella hymn which is a good parallel to Koudelka's own isolated existence.
  • A live version of "Incantation", in contrast to its grossly ill-fitting game version, truly sounds like the boss theme it's supposed to be. It really underscores how much vocals can add to a song.
  • There's also the "Demo Mix" of Incantation, which is a slightly remixed version of the Live version with different vocals and slightly different instrumentation, and it's just as good, if not better.
  • While the battle themes may be hit-and-misses, "Kiss Twice", the final boss theme, is both sombre and beautiful, especially when considering that it represents how James being forced to destroy the unholy body that once belonged to Elaine, the love of his life, and finally put her soul to rest.
  • Dead is a beautifully somber strings piece that sets the mood well as Koudelka drunkenly recounts her tragic past to Edward.
• Alice's theme, especially its piano version, is remarkably melancholy and speaks to her character.

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