I decided to familiarize myself with the music of Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final (known as SMTIV: Apocalypse outside Japan) after listening to the expansion content for SMTV: Vengeance. One thing Final and Vengeance have in common is the singular focus of one composer: Ryota Kozuka. The base soundtracks for IV and V feature Kozuka prominently, yes, but not exclusively. I like that these added content editions allow Kozuka to showcase his style well.
Writing this review in 2025, I have the benefit of hindsight, including Kozuka’s recent work on SMTV and Vengeance. When comparing Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final to those titles, I feel what Final offers is just a teaser, a hint at what Kozuka can be without limitations. Without that hindsight, I think I’d have even more praise to offer Kozuka’s work here.
Let’s start by jumping into the most celebrated tracks from this game, and much of the SMT series overall: battle themes. The eight battle themes in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final are clearly demarcated as “Battle-F1,” “Battle-F2,” etc. in the tracklist. Can we start by both acknowledging and admiring that the expansion to an already impressive OST added eight new battle themes? That is totally bananas, and I am here for it.
Among the battle themes in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final, my favorite is the first one up to bat, “Regular Battle,” a driving rock piece with lead melody trading between guitar and organ. Fans of Motoi Sakuraba’s work may dig this one a lot, though it doesn’t delve much into progressive rock. Structurally, it feels like Sakuraba joined with a punk rock band that refused to change tempo or time signature. I think this was a smart choice on Kozuka’s part: something fun, but not demanding too much of your attention, is good for a battle theme you’ll hear many times.
Honorable mention goes to the fast-paced, ultra-creepy “Battle-F4 Divine Powers Battle.” Much of this piece couches itself not just in minor chords, but diminished chords. It’s almost too much to bear, but the saving grace comes with the clever percussion and bright guitar melodies in the song’s B section.
I must also call attention to Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final‘s post-victory music “Level Up.” This fun piece utilizes one of the game’s central melodic themes, played on a marimba and backed by a rock band. Rock band with marimba lead? That’s fantastic. Though the track is appropriately short given its use in-game, I can listen to this one on loop for a while.
Speaking of key melodic themes, I adore the flexibility of the motif utilized first in “Hunter Theme.” In its original form, this theme presents itself with formidable stature and an air of coolness thanks to that reverb-heavy piano part. This theme evolves in “Hunter Association,” putting aside the formality of the former theme and leaning heavily into the coolness factor. Everything about this track suggests that the hunters are a funky crew!
However, this same motif arrives with an air of foreboding alongside the stature of its base form in “The Third Option.” The percussion is gone entirely, replaced by synthesized wind and string instruments. Things have gotten deadly serious at this point. Then, as an absolute surprise, we have a fully chiptuned demake version of “The Third Option” as the last of three bonus tracks at the album’s end. “TE02 8bit” shocked me. Sometimes, a piece of chiptune music is so good that it nearly reaches a kind of sacredness, transcending any expectations we could have. This is one of those times.
I will give the caveat that not every one of the 37 tracks for Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final are among Kozuka’s best. Again, I argue that Vengeance is largely an improvement over Final. But for what we have here, there is plenty to celebrate. From funky and groovy environment pieces for chilling out, to wild and intense battle themes, all the way to the surprisingly spiritual chiptune music, there is plenty to love here. Finally, I will note that while the physical print of this soundtrack (2 CDs from Mastard Records) can be challenging to find, Atlus has made this soundtrack (and many others in the SMT franchise) easy to purchase digitally and stream!
