Toby Fox – Undertale

Very odd release, with some strange exclusions (why aren't Ghost Fight and Bergentrückung on here, but Premonition and the Temmie themes are?), and the quality of the discs themselves is very hit or miss. The inclusion of the word search and the photo from the end of Pacifist/Souless Pacifist is a nice touch though. Just buy the Fangamer release

Edit 01/24/2024:

After 3 years of not listening to this thing because of the superior box set, my ears have really opened up to how strange this release is. The volume between songs is jarring; Heartache is very quiet and then as soon as sans. plays, it suddenly boosts up several decibels. Quiet Water plays (with a lot of crackling) at a calm volume, then Memory busts in being louder than everything else for some reason. Dummy! plays immediately after at a strangely subdued volume, then the Temmie songs play so loud, that they cause audible distortion in the sound, even more than the intentional distortion that's in the songs. This happens throughout the record; more busy songs are toned down, while gag songs or very simplistic songs are, for some reason, extremely loud. I don't know why they did this. The mastering on the tracks is also quite poor. Tracks with pianos such as Snowy and Snowdin Town clip constantly; they sound like they're being played off of a shitty CRT. Dummy!'s vocal samples are buried almost completely under the rest of the song, making it a much less exciting listen. The busier tracks also suffer with instrument separation. The Fangamer release would fix all of these things, so I'm led to believe whoever mastered this was just being lazy. For some reason, the 8-bit tracks sound the best here. The art is also strange; Gaster was originally present on the cover and inside gatefold with the Amalgamates, but all were eventually replaced with the Save Point... Even though the Amalgamates still show up on the front? And other FUN event related things are also still on the front? Really bizarre decisions all around.

I would agree mostly with leonthepro on this release. I own many Iam8bit records though, and I can't say I noticed any noise or pops outside a normal (very infrequent, with clean equipment) range. This release sounds good to my ears and arrived spotless, lest for minor ring wear on the jacket.

Some tracks are quieter than others, so you gotta constantly be adjusting the volume. Annoying.

Another Iam8bit release to review and just in case you are not familiar I and many others generally do not recommend this company for your vinyl listening. As the two worst sounding records I have are both from them my expectations were set low for this release but without too much bias I started with appreciating the cover. It really looks great on all s with the texts shiny finish. A perfect reflection of the game itself, unlike Journey and The last guardian, the other 2 in my collection. The vinyl too is gorgeous in its simplicity. On top of it you get some great extras like inserts and a poster, generous and rare indeed for this company.
Moving on to the music itself which of course is the critical part, but also a hard area to judge. I never truly heard these songs on a high quality setup and source before so what I judge it on is mostly my understanding of the music and as I have heard it before. In the beginning I was pleasently surprised at how good it actually was. My expectations might not have been sky high but the surface noise was kept low and music high. I do believe this is the loudest Iam8bit release and mostly so in a good way. Loudness can be a sign of compression and distortion but here it more so serves to cover the surface noise which already is at an all time low. Its not until you get further in on the record where it starts to increase and the trademark Iam8bit pops and noise kicks in (Mostly on side A and C for my copy, the rest are fine). Still not terribly bad but enough as a complaint for the quieter songs. I believe the mastering handles high end sounds really well, like many modern day issues. But it lacks a little once you get to the lower end, especially on the more complex orchestrations. Its taken back a bit, in dynamics and volume and doesnt sound as sharp as the simpler tracks where the high end and bass really shine. With some exceptions like "ASGORE" and "Your best nightmare" which have great sound separation and dynamics despite using a lot of instruments. As a tendency the 8bit songs, not talking about the company but the music style, tend to have a more well mastered sound. All in all its the best I have heard from them so far despite having to raise the volume for some busier tracks. If all complex songs were more vibrant and dynamic Id be more than happy to give this a 4 star rating but that coupled with the inner groove noise level just makes it too hard to justify. Its a 3.5 star rating for sure though. As a package its not bad, well worth it for a fan to get.

Equipment used:
Rega RP1 with Nagaoka MP-110 cartridge
Cyrus 2 Amplifier
System Fidelity SF-3050 tower speakers
Custom made HQ speaker cables