The Black Mages

The Black Mages is a Japanese instrumental rock band formed in 2002 by Nobuo Uematsu, Kenichiro Fukui, and Tsuyoshi Sekito, three composers for Square Enix. Uematsu is the composer of the majority of soundtracks in the Final Fantasy video game series. The band arranges Uematsu's compositions in a rock style often similar to progressive metal, achieved with the additional use of synthesizers. Since its inception, the band has expanded to six membe... more

The Black Mages is a Japanese instrumental rock band formed in 2002 by Nobuo Uematsu, Kenichiro Fukui, and Tsuyoshi Sekito, three composers for Square Enix. Uematsu is the composer of the majority of soundtracks in the Final Fantasy video game series. The band arranges Uematsu's compositions in a rock style often similar to progressive metal, achieved with the additional use of synthesizers. Since its inception, the band has expanded to six members with the addition of Keiji Kawamori, Michio Okamiya, and Arata Hanyuda. The band has released three studio albums to date. Their first was released eponymously as The Black Mages in 2003, and contained arrangements of Final Fantasy battle themes. The second album, The Black Mages II: The Skies Above, was released in 2004 and featured additional pieces besides battle themes including the group's first original song, "Blue Blast ~Winning the Rainbow", which was created for Japanese K-1 fighter Takehiro Murahama. The third album, The Black... less