Hi,

so first all, Happy New Year!

I'm currently staying a my parent place, doing a bit of vacation. Looking at the VGMdb calender, 2014 seems to start with some really good releases. Not so many, but a bunch which I consider essential.

Preorders:
REC-092 | Ken ga Kimi Original Soundtrack plus Drama (ex-Procyon Natsumi Kameoka continues to create excellent music)
VTCL-60361 | elemental / FictionJunction (so no FICTION III this time, eh?)

Interesting:
SQEX-10414~5 | DRAG-ON DRAGOON 3 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK (I really hope to hear a second NieR, especially with Evans on board)
UMCK-1472 | Chiisai Ouchi Original Soundtrack (new year, new Hisaishi!)

Rest:
PCXG-50257-2 | Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge Original Soundtrack (stupid enclosure bonuses...)
LACA-9324~5 | Beyond the Melodies (I really liked the animation, but I usually don't get much from Nanase...)

My personal highlight in January is the Ken ga Kimi album, composed by Kameoka. After Black Wolves Saga, this is her second visual novel score. The samples from the Rejet homepage sound absolutely beautiful. Looking forward to hear a lot more from her.

My other preorders are comprised of a new (full-length) FictionJunction album, similar in composition to the FICTION series. Last but not least, I've ordered what would be the Hymmnos albums of Ar tonelico. Seems like Gust now goes with the name from Ciel nosurge, and calls them Genometric Concert. The core formation is the standard one: Shimotsuki, Mitose and Shikata. Also, this time they're joined by ORIGA and Yoshino Nanjo (who I don't know -- would have preferred to hear Minami Kizuki again).

Greets,
liquid

EDIT: I removed the Ar nosurge Genometric Concert sides, therefore the text doesn't make a lot of sense now...

Also spotted a new one by TENMON:
SW-073EXCD | 12 no Tsuki no Eve Soundtrack CD

nothing for me for game music til the new Re:Birth II/Romancing SaGa Battle Arrange album in Feb.  December was an expensive month. 

God damn stupid enclosures

Indeed.

I'm going to be placing my preorder for Drakengard 3 OST next week. Fingers crossed, REALLY HOPING it stands up to NieR!

I know this is a bit off topic but wow... it took them a while to get to Drakengard 3 didn't it? Aren't the first two on the PS2?

Drakengard (PS2), 2003
Drakengard 2 (PS2), 2005
NieR (PS3), 2010
Drakengard 3 (PS3), 2013

I think the 5 year gap is normal, taking into consideration that development was for a new console (and the PS3 isn't exactly easy to develop on).

Wait... NieR is part of the series? Sorry... I did not know that.

Kinda sorta.  It's set in the same universe as one of the possible endings to the first Drakengard.

Removed, since the release date shifted to March.

Does the Super Mario 3D World soundtrack count?  Because that's easily the best thing I've picked up this month.  Or in the last year, for that matter.

Drag-on Dragoon 3 OST is the only release of the month that stands out to me.  Wasn't a huge fan of Nier OST but still I'm curious to hear what they do this time around.  If anyone has impressions please post a thread.

I've given the Drakengard album an initial listen, but I'm not really impressed. Not even remotely. I'm still going to give it another chance, like I did with NieR, where I first had to get "accustomed" to the sound (I like it quite a lot, especially due to its use of vocals and chorus).

Apart from that, I haven't heard any January album yet. My preorders are not shipped yet, since I added some other stuff to my CDJ order. But I'm pretty sure that my favorite album is going to be Kameoka's one anyway. May someone hire her to score a big RPG project

It's SO GOOD.  I really hope I can snag a copy of it from Super Potato or the like when I'm in Japan this summer, because the ebay prices are way, WAY too high for a standard Club Nintendo prize. 

So what you're saying is that I should pick up a whole bunch of these and sell them on eBay?