Where do I BEGIN? This is probably the ONE CD I suggest pushing on everyone, Utena fan or no, ESPECIALLY those who claim J.A. Seazar isn't a 'real' musician. This CD blew me away the first time I heard it and it just gets better and better with each new listening. Not every track is perfect, of course, but the depth and scope of this CD, both in sound production and instrumentation is devastating. Huge, sweeping songs that span every kind of influence from sinuous Middle Eastern world beat to Pink Floyd, to backward masking, ocean sound effects, Dead Can Dance....wow. "Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku Adolescence Cover" from the previous album was just a small TEASE of a taste of the fulfillment in this album. Wow. :)

EOI's favorite songs from OST7 (and why):

Track 1 (title not yet translated) - If "Overture" defined the mood of the television series version of Utena, this track defines the Adolescence Mokushiroku mood- driving staccato drumbursts reeling off like gunfire, desperate, breathless flute, irresistable synthtracks rising in a spiral, a crazed calliope set in mystic distant lands... you can smell the exotic spice of it as the flute-dancer whirls madly to death, compelled to move ever faster, ever quicker, trying to avoid the end... Ironically, this track reminds me a lot of an old Dead Can Dance song...

Track 2 (title not yet translated) - "Sophia" from CD 6 was the instrumental version of this track- and it's not COMPLETE without the chorus... This is the powerhouse centerpiece of the album, the song that sets up the new Utena-as-Sophia analogy and makes it real. This piece possesses true power almost unmatched by ANY of the other pieces save two or three in the previous CD's- perhaps "Tainei Tokei Oruroi" itself.. As 'Sophia' now seems to be a pivotal concept in the 'new' Utena world,it's worth taking a moment to sidetrack and note the term's origins and some of its correlations to the Utena storyline...

Quoting several passages from an extremely rare book called "The History of Magic" by Kurt Seligmann:

"The soul, this book (the "Pistus Sophia") says, must traverse aeons, circles of celestial powers and virtues. When Christ ascended to heaven again, he found at the thirteenth aeon the forlorn and weeping Pistus Sophia who, having glimpsed the highest light, had an irresistable desire to reach it and flew to its source. Adamas, ruler of her circle, punished her for her rebellion by making a false light shine upon the waters, so that Sophia was led astray by it and plunged into the abyss. (ed: I think the Utena parallels here are obvious...)

"By the Saviour's interventions she was rescued and together with Christ she ascended the aeons, singing confession at each step. According to Valentinus,the most prominent of the Gnostic leaders, matter is not seperated from the spiritual and celestial world. Thus, Sophia's temporary fall from grace is accomplished within the world of heaven... (cut) ... The chief sacrament of the Valentinians was that of the bridal chamber, where the pious were to witness the celestial marriage of Sophia and the Redeemer. A formula was used at this sacrament: "I will confer my favor upon thee, for the father of all sees thine angel before his face... we must now become as one; receive now this grace through me and from me; deck thyself as a bride who awaits her bridegroom that thou mayest become as I am, and as thou art; let the seed of light descend into thy bridal chamber, receive the bridegroom and give place to him, and open thine arms to embrace him. Behold, grace has descended upon thee." (ed: Dios, anyone?)

Sophia's counterpart in alchemical lore is Soter, the male element to Sophia's female. Together combined, the two are 'wed' (an alchemical term meaning to join elements) and become the androgynous angel, the prima materia, the philosopher's stone or Unity... and at this point,I think the meaning of the Unity in Utena is quite apparent...

Getting back on track ... the resounding message is that Utena has BECOME Sophia, fallen and been burned, and is rising again to reunite with Dios, to become the ultimate Unity... Sophia is Utena's 'true' form as suggested by the movie...