PC-98 FM synth doing things it absolutely should not be able to do. ZUN's Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream is 1997 Touhou at its most compositionally ambitious, squeezing wild melodic ideas through that crunchy YM2608 sound chip.
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"Strawberry Crisis!!" is the one everyone talks about and rightfully so, those FM leads scream with an urgency that modern remasters still chase. "Tabula rasa ~ The Empty Girl" has this eerie descending melody that gets stuck in your skull.
And then "Reincarnation" just... exists on another level, cycling through motifs like ZUN couldn't stop the ideas from pouring out. The whole OST has that raw, slightly unhinged quality where you can feel one person composing at full speed.
Essential listening for anyone who wants to hear where the entire Touhou sound started.