Sawano Hiroyuki - X.U (Seraph of the End OP)

This guy just keeps knocking it out of the park, doesn't he? Fresh from his mindblowingly good soundtrack for glossy mecha action show Aldnoah Zero, Sawano Hiroyuki has come up with the goods once again for Studio Wit's vampire thriller Seraph of the End.

I was a fan of the original manga version of Seraph from the start - following it chapter by chapter in the digital version of Shonen Jump, and so far the anime adaption is exceeding my expectations with its gorgeous, painterly backdrops and surprisingly fluid animation for what could have easily been another lazy Shonen workout.

I've always admired Hiroyuki-san's ability to not only pen fantastic, tension-raising traditional soundtrack moments, but actual 'songs' - the kind of stuff that actually helm up a show itself and become a trailblazer for its themes and tone. While you could argue that elements of his composition have a tendency to become quite samey (X.U certainly shares considerable DNA with Aldnoah Zero track No Differences) in many ways it suceeds precisely because of that. Like the best pop music, Hiroyuki's most memorable moments are the ones that offer up the cleanest, loudest choruses - those nuggets of melody that have you reaching to up the volume each time the theme plays out.

Elsewhere in the Seraph soundtrack, we hear more of Hiroyuki's usual playbook - the grandoise strings and horns put to such good use in Attack on Titan and Kill La Kill. But, for me, most interestingly, we also get new elements - dissonant post-punk chords, and reverb-heavy guitar lines reminiscent of The Cure. Deliciously apt, given the show's gothic aesthetic.

Suffice to say, I'd bend over backward for a proper UK release of both the Seraph and Aldnoah Zero soundtracks in the UK. Anime Ltd's did a fantastic job on Hiroyuki's Attack on Titan soundtrack - securing both a digital and physical edition.

With Anime Ltd also responsible for bringing Seraph to streaming service Viewster this season, I've certainly got all my fingers crossed that they can somehow do something with the soundtrack too...