As you probably already know, Saitama Saishu Heiki has released rock arrange albums for the past two Atelier Iris games.

Is there any news of him making an arrange album for Atelier Iris ~ Grand Fantasm, as well?

For that matter, would you like it if there was an arrange album for Grand Fantasm?

Lastly, do you think S.S.H.'s arrange versions are pretty much better than the original in-game versions, and outright negate them? They really should just let him make the battle music for the games, don't you think?

No, not yet. I'd like to believe it's in the works, but it's been out for close to a year and a half now and nothing. That said, "Deceitful Wings" and "Red Lucifer Rising" were released a year apart from each other and the time period for Grand Fantasm would be October/November. My prediction is it will be a combination of Grand Fantasm and Ar Tonelico (which has many "Mana" style rock tracks for him to arrange)

GF was a great soundtrack. Of course I'd like an arranged soundtrack. The final battle themes on the last disc would make great arranges.

I really don't care if they're better or not. I probably enjoy the Atelier battle themes as much as the Lost Child CD's...It's all good (I'm frankly just happy the Atelier composers chose to use rock in their battle themes...It lends itself so damn well to battle music and works nice when mixed in with the more traditional RPG music the series does). Good rock music is hard enough to find in modern day game music, I'm not going to stress over what's better or not. The arranged albums, though, are a nice expansion of the original ideas present in the OST's and feature either SSH's synth-rock set-up or Hiramatsu's overdubs, both of which of are easily more powerful than the synth-guitars in the Atelier games.

On that note, Hiramatsu did some overdubbing for the battle tracks in the recent Mana-Khemia OST, much like the AI arranged CD's. I really like SSH (much moreso now than I did even a couple months ago), but I've always been big on Hiramatsu's arranges in the doujin scene and I want to see him move beyond overdubbing.

Hmm, I thought you didn't like the AI rock arranges?

Deceitful Wings is good, though only something I listen to when generally wanting to listen to something that's rock n' roll. "Alchemic Blast" is the only track of it that I find the melody memorable and engaging, and I like those chimes that are laced throughout it. Otherwise, I find it very similar to, say, F-Zero, Black Mages, or Megaman.

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Now, Red Lucifer Rising ROCKS OUT. The citar on "Imperial Fangs" and the shakuhachi on "Legacy" are both nice touchs, I find the entire album melodically pleasing, and there's something in each piece that helps me easily differentiate it from the others. This's probably my second favorite album out of my entire collection!

I only find minor faults with it, as the arrange of "Shining Sword" is much faster than the original version; the arrange version is just kind of like, "Killitkillitkillitkillitnow!" I liked the slower pace of the original better, but the arrange is still good.

Also, I liked the original of "Slasher Blue" better, as it sounds more so out of Megaman; again, I like the chimes they have at the beginning, but I like how they're already rocking out at the beginning, rather than using the chimes to build up to the rocking out part like they do in the arrange. I actually liked the synthesized chimes they used in the original.

My only real disappointment with Red Lucifer Rising was this: "Mandibles of the Abyss" wasn't arranged. I could've sworn it was supposed to be on this album!

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For Grand Fantasm, I've found that I really like the primal beat in "Dance of the Spirits," and "Rain of Blossoms" has a really good intro, with the shuffling sounds, the melodic lines played by the strings, and the sort of "wa" sound they have going on there.

Come to think of it, the opening, "Schwarzweiß," could be considered rock too, couldn't it? I  rather like this piece, between the chants, the guitars, and the soft J-Pop vocal. The percussion was also pretty good, too.

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As for Ar-Tonelico, I like the percussion and melody in "Sleipnir," and "Courageous Beat" is really dramatic, between the rhythm, strings, chants, and percussion.