The Black Mages III: Darkness and Starlight Catalog # DERP-10002 Composer(s) Nobuo Uematsu Arranger(s) Tsuyoshi Sekito, Kenichiro Fukui, Michio Okamiya Producer(s) Nobuo Uematsu Publisher Sony Music Distribution CD Info 1 CD - 10 tracks Length 60:40 Release date March 19, 2008

The Black Mages III: Darkness and Starlight is the third album of The Black Mages. It was released on March 19, 2008.

The only vocal arrangement in the album is the operatic feature of Darkness and Starlight, which is a rock arrangement of the opera Maria and Draco, from Final Fantasy VI. The Black Mages themselves perform the backing vocals on the track.

The last track was written by Nobuo Uematsu as a tribute to a fan of his who died of leukemia in 2008.

Track ListEdit

1. "Opening ~ Bombing Mission" from Final Fantasy VII
2. "Neo EXDEATH" - "The Final Battle" from Final Fantasy V
3. "The Extreme" from Final Fantasy VIII
4. "Assault of the Silver Dragons" from Final Fantasy IX
5. "KURAYAMINOKUMO" - "Battle to the Death" from Final Fantasy III
6. "Distant Worlds" from Final Fantasy XI
7. "Premonition" from Final Fantasy VIII
8. "Grand Cross" - "The Final Battle" from Final Fantasy IX
9. "Darkness and Starlight" from Final Fantasy VI
10. "LIFE ~ In memory of KEITEN ~" (original composition)

"LIFE ~ In memory of KEITEN ~"Edit

"Thank you, Yoshitaka. Rest in peace. I will always remember you with your wonderful smile."

—Nobuo Uematsu

"LIFE ~ In memory of KEITEN ~" is the tenth track in this album. It was written by Nobuo Uematsu and dedicated to Yoshitaka Tagawa, a fifteen-year-old fan of the series who suffered from acute myeloid leukemia. After Uematsu presented him with the song, he became an active attendant to many of the famed composer's performances, while seemingly indicating that he was overcoming the disease. Tagawa passed away suddenly on January 25th, 2008, at age 22, two months before the release of Darkness and Starlight. As a tribute to him, the Mages decided to include the track as the closing act of their album.

"LIFE" is a simple and mellow piano composition, as opposed to the relatively complex and heavy arrangements of the other tracks on the album. It is the second original piece performed by the Mages not to appear in any entry of the series, the first being "Blue Blast - Winning the Rainbow".

See AlsoEdit

• The Black Mages, the eponymous first album
• The Black Mages II: The Skies Above

External LinksEdit

• Dog Ear Records' page on The Black Mages III: Darkness and Starlight. Contains a statement written by Uematsu himself regarding "LIFE ~ In memory of KEITEN ~"
• Official Square Enix page
• VGMdb - The Black Mages III: Darkness and Starlight