OCR01492 - Final Fantasy VII 'The Twelfth Commandment'

[djpretzel]

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

[PlastikBag]

I heard this a long time ago. It's still awesome, good work.

[sheamistheninja]

I love the other version of this song on this site, but this song blows it away. I love the guitar and the violin its all put together so nicely. It just melds perfectly. This song is definitly going into my normal rotation of songs. Thanks for the great song guys you did an awsome job.

[ChloroPhil]

I'm lovin' it. Not that its similar musically but the old-rock sounding-ness of it reminded me of "kashmir". This is a very "ideal" adaptation of the theme. All nice and grandiose. Thank you sirs.

[jessthemullet]

Holy Crap. This is an awesome song. It's very, very well done and the quality of it is amazing.

[MagiNinjA]

This is awesome. No doubt. The apocalypse-ness of it certainly emanates from that e. guitar. All quality and arrangement is brilliant. The guitar is one of the best I've heard. This is one of the few mixes that actually have a live violin without using crappy soundfonts for solo violins.

Midee + Prozax? Oh, I know those guys.

[Binarynova]

Excellent mix. I'm lovin' every bit of it. Being the huge fan of the Beatles that I am, I am really into that bit at 2:32. Not only is it reminiscent of the band, but it gives this mix a good change of pace and keeps it from ever getting stale.

The guitar, the violin, nothing much to say there other than "Wow." Both sound out of this world and the mixing of the two comes out great.

Bravo to all who were involved.

[Darangen]

Loved it in Dwelling of Duels, still love it!

Awesome work.

[Infinity's End]

Apocalypse Please!!!! EPIC. This excels on all levels. Wonderful job all around guys!

[Master_Yoshi]

First time listening to it I didnt like it... at all. But I gave it a second listen and I started picking up stuff about it that I really do like, the sort of old-rock-ish feel, the laid-back ness of it... it all combines very nicely. After that, I started to appreciate what was going on with the rest of the mix, and now I absolutely love it. Good work!

[watkinzez]

Considering this came sixth, and is awesome, it's safe to say that June 2005 was a good month for DoD. Loved it then, love it now. Nice to see it over here; Midee and Prozax are close to the best collaborators in the community.

[Bummerdude]

Oh man oh man oh man oh man I know this song, FINALLY someone made a remix of "Judgement Day". Elements such as electric guitar, strings and a dark piano to begin with really makes this arrangement worth listening, downloading and then have as repeat for the next 5 hours. It fills me with respect, awe, but also sickness since I think I've been banging my head for too long now.

Excellent, I'm loving it, I'm taking this. :D X 999998

[Barnsalot]

I've been wanting this mix for my I-pod ever since VGMix went down. Hooray. :)

[Cactuar]

Pretty cool, It gives a great tune that little bit more punch, I also like the variation between chaotic and more ordered parts of the song... gave it a nice tension and release aspect.

[Steele]

Hmm..

I'm kinda mixed on this... mix. See, one of the things I look for in a remix is whether or not it would sound good in the game, and this Mix really wouldn't. It changes it's mood too many times, and in fact the song seems more like an experiment, where the artists were trying to see how many different ways they could play the same part over and over. I really couldn't see raiding the northern cave with this playing, particularily when the "beatles-like" part comes on.

However, as a stand-alone song, i really, really like it =) It's interesting and varied, and masterfully crafted. So it's not like a song HAS to be "game-pluggable" to be good in my book, no-no, it's just something I look for. Not all OCremixes are like that, and perhaps they shouldn't be.

Ah well, 9/10

[Adam_Slight]

I'm a fan of the few mixes Midee is involved with and he works well with Prozax too, so, yeah.

Kick my Axe is still my favourite though.

[apoc]

This mix seemed to get a lot of positive reviews, but I'm not sure I dig it so much. I love the Judgement Day theme of FF7 (I sometimes use it to help motivate me to study for my finals), but I feel this rendition was missing something. For one, the violins sound too midi to me - a more natural/realistic sound would have made a huge improvement IMO. I also think the drums could have been a bit louder too and perhaps a bit more improv overall would have gave it a more emotional feeling.

But maybe my concern is based on bad expectations. When I think of a quality hard-rock remix, I think of remixes like Zyko & Destiny's Dragon's Prayer: The Blackened Desire (http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01145/) (CC) or (one of my favorites) Christian Pacaud's Battle on a New Continent (http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01304/) (FF6)...and it's hard to see the positives in something when doing a lot of comparison.

To be fair and balanced, though, I loved how the transitions were done - they sounded very cool! Good job overall, I think I was just expecting something a bit more natural sounding. Don't let my opinions keep you from making great remixes though.

[Midee]

Eyoo

For one, the violins sound too midi to me - a more natural/realistic sound would have made a huge improvement IMO.
Eh, too midi? You do know they're real violins performed by me mixed in with samples, right? I haven't gotten much negative comments about the violins, so I hope you'll be a little more descriptive. Do you mean they're too simple sounding, or out of place? Or do you honestly think they sound fake? Granted, I'm not the world's most amazing player, but I think this is one of the better string jobs I've done.


I also think the drums could have been a bit louder too and perhaps a bit more improv overall would have gave it a more emotional feeling.
While the kick could have used more punch, I think the rest of the kit was at a good volume. I kept the groove simple and slightly laid back. (In fact I think the hi-hat could've been even more simple overall)


I think you were disappointed because you were expecting to hear a more traditional rock version of your favorite tune, but instead what you have here is a more quirky British-flavored tune. That's understandable, as brit-pop styled remixes are pretty much absent from the community, and I've gotten similar comments last year. For this one, I concentrated more on tone and voicings and eased off on complex melodies and rhythms. I kept it much simpler than my older remix, Tactile Freefall (http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01192/), in which Dan and I are all over the place in prog-wank heaven.

Also, if you'll notice, I based this heavily on MUSE's Apocolypse Please. Very, very heavily. Not to the point of plagiarism mind you, but similar rhythms, chords, the piano, the guitar tone, mix-wise, etc. So I think it's safe to say that if you didn't like this track much, then you may not their track much, either. Not everyone digs their whole angsty goth brit pop vibe, but it's one of my guilty pleasures :)

I appreciate the comments though.

[Hyouryu]

As I listened, my very first impression is this should be accompanying a credit roll. It has that slow, deliberate pace, changing the style but not the theme. It works very well, reminding me slightly of “Homeworld (The Ladder)” by Yes, and for the same reasons. As stated by Steele, it changes mood too much to be set to a scene, but for credit rolls, it gives a very good ambience.

[auronapern]

I like this version, personally. It takes a song that is supposed to have a set way of being (faster and electric, in this case) and turns it into something unexpected. And, unless I am mistaken, isn't that the point of a remix? :) To breath new life into a song?
I love the mood changes, also. Maybe that's because I change moods just as fast. I know that at 2:31 where it gets a little funky is my favorite part of the song.
Cudoes to you, Midee & Prozax, for your fine work!

[Amayirot Akago]

Fantastically epic. Great job! :D

[apoc]

Eh, too midi? You do know they're real violins performed by me mixed in with samples, right? I haven't gotten much negative comments about the violins, so I hope you'll be a little more descriptive. Do you mean they're too simple sounding, or out of place? Or do you honestly think they sound fake? Granted, I'm not the world's most amazing player, but I think this is one of the better string jobs I've done.
Being a novice musician, it's hard for me to really identify what about the violins caught me off guard. I don't think they necessarily sound fake, but they don't sound natural to me for some reason. Perhaps it's because I'm used to hearing more vibration and volume fade when listening to violins. It might also be because they're all playing the exact same note simultaneously. Had you ever thought about harmonizing them to see what that sounded like? It might also simply be that they get a very loud and prominant role in this mix (1:33 caught me off guard when they seemed to overpower to electric guitar) - just something I wasn't expecting.

I think you were disappointed because you were expecting to hear a more traditional rock version of your favorite tune, but instead what you have here is a more quirky British-flavored tune. That's understandable, as brit-pop styled remixes are pretty much absent from the community, and I've gotten similar comments last year. For this one, I concentrated more on tone and voicings and eased off on complex melodies and rhythms
Yeah, I think you're definitely right here. I'm not used to British style of music. Keeping that in mind and listening to this remix a few more times, I changed my mind about the drums - I think they work great for the genre you were targeting. This is one reason I appreciate sites like ocremix, I get a good dose of different music styles :D.

One thing I forgot to mention is that I love the guitar and piano work you did in this (especially with me being a piano player). I'm not familiar with MUSE or Apololypse Please but I'll have to check it out sometime. And don't get me wrong, I really liked this remix - I mostly just found the violins hard to swallow at parts. Great remix though.

[The Xyco]

Wow. This is very impressive. You've really captured a cinematic, epic feel from the source. In particular, I really like the piano coming in around 2:35.

Well done.

EDIT: To those confused, I'm pretty sure the 11th Commandment is "Thou shalt rock!" which makes this ReMix title very fitting.

[artemisjaeger]

This got off to a GREAT start. Dramatic, original, interesting. Sadly, that didn't hold up. After about twenty five seconds, it started sounding like everything else. Generic. The ending is great, just like the beginning, but... wow. The middle is just such a waste of time. I don't mean to be a stick in the mud (which I always am), but some skillful guitar playing, high production values, and good samples do not good music make. I listened to it twice and I won't ever listen to it again. It actually sounded like I was listening to a Final Fantasy Mystic Quest style arrangement of the song, and that is not a compliment. I'm sure this has a lot to offer for fans of FF7 and for people who like people playing guitar, but that's all it is in my opinion. An arrangement of FF7 that has a guitar. It's also what is known as, in my opinion, everything that's wrong with OCR. Not that it's a song from FF7 - that's fine, it's legitimate video game music even if it's ReMixed really often, and OCR is very good about posting music from all sorts of games - but the fact that this is going to get worship because it has good samples and guitar playing.

No offense, though. It really isn't a bad piece, it's just unbearably generic in my opinion. Good generic music, but generic music nonetheless.

[jorgandar]

I agree with artemisjaeger. I may get flamed for it, but i cant seem to bring myself to care about the opinion of idiots.

This song has little artistic value other than competent guitar playing. So why did it get approved? It uses guitar! OMG! Lets face it..there are certain "forumlas" on this site that will always get an approval from DJJudges. it's getting old.

-jorg

[Mr. Fox]

This got off to a GREAT start. Dramatic, original, interesting. Sadly, that didn't hold up. After about twenty five seconds, it started sounding like everything else. Generic. The ending is great, just like the beginning, but... wow. The middle is just such a waste of time. I don't mean to be a stick in the mud (which I always am), but some skillful guitar playing, high production values, and good samples do not good music make. I listened to it twice and I won't ever listen to it again. It actually sounded like I was listening to a Final Fantasy Mystic Quest style arrangement of the song, and that is not a compliment. I'm sure this has a lot to offer for fans of FF7 and for people who like people playing guitar, but that's all it is in my opinion. An arrangement of FF7 that has a guitar. It's also what is known as, in my opinion, everything that's wrong with OCR. Not that it's a song from FF7 - that's fine, it's legitimate video game music even if it's ReMixed really often, and OCR is very good about posting music from all sorts of games - but the fact that this is going to get worship because it has good samples and guitar playing.

No offense, though. It really isn't a bad piece, it's just unbearably generic in my opinion. Good generic music, but generic music nonetheless.

If its generic, then theres a similar piece in the site, I can't really find any.

[Liontamer]

I agree with artemisjaeger. I may get flamed for it, but i cant seem to bring myself to care about the opinion of idiots.

This song has little artistic value other than competent guitar playing. So why did it get approved? It uses guitar! OMG! Lets face it..there are certain "forumlas" on this site that will always get an approval from DJJudges. it's getting old.

-jorg
ROFL. Why I would listen to a troll like you after all your negative reviews, I wouldn't know.

Frankly, I thought some of the string parts, starting at 1:16, did indeed sound too rigidly sequenced. Perhaps they were too dry, or it might have been a consequence of giving the synth strings more volume over the one's Jason was playing, I couldn't say for sure.

Nonetheless, to say that the arrangement was generic, when when we have nothing like it on OCR or in the community-at-large fusing rock elements with strings and piano specifically in a British rock style, is stupid. There's not a song or artist's arrangement approach in this community that sounds like this genre of music. No one's required to like it, but when you start leaping towards baseless, flippant comments like "generic", you just look close-minded.

God forbid "DJJudges" accept creative stuff on the site like this. Let's go back to the 2/3rds-techno days.

[The Orichalcon]

I agree with artemisjaeger. I may get flamed for it, but i cant seem to bring myself to care about the opinion of idiots.

This song has little artistic value other than competent guitar playing. So why did it get approved? It uses guitar! OMG! Lets face it..there are certain "forumlas" on this site that will always get an approval from DJJudges. it's getting old.

-jorg

Do you people even listen to other remixes before making these comments.

"there are certain "forumlas" on this site that will always get an approval from DJJudges"

Like you'd even know, all you hear is what gets passed. We get more than enough crappy guitar mixes that are rejected. We get the same amount of ignorance from both sides. People who say judges only accept techno, people who say judges only accept guitar mixes.

How about you listen to every mix on the front page, then point out how they're all "formulaic"? Until then, you'll remain an ignorant prick.


As for this mix, I love it. It's less grungey than I personally would've liked, and the violin did nothing for me. But otherwise it's a decent arrangement of the Judgement Day music.

[Rellik]

I wasn't going to comment on this, but...

I'm just enjoying it too much not to! I just keep LISTENING to it, sometimes playing along with the melody and the riffs, sometimes just letting it play alone...

I like it. A lot. Fun music indeed :D! At first the strings kind of bothered me, but then I realized I was just projecting what I expected onto it, and I realized there was nothing wrong with them as they were (i.e. significantly dry). And I love the phrasing and articulation of the strings during the aptly-described "Beatles" section.

Normally I comment only on mixes that "stand out" to me for some reason (although by no means have I commented on every mix I love greatly), but really I just came to give thanks for such an enjoyable piece of music! I don't really remember the source material, but it's got a fantastic melody, and the chord progression is wonderful - really fun to play along with, because it's very easily disectable, not only instrumentation-wise, but arrangement-wise (i.e. it's an excellent piece to study for "How to fill 4 minutes on the strength of a good melody")

Maybe it's just me but I found the little F#major chord at 2:29 stood out as being really irksome - what are you, Midee+Prozax, a pair of music theory majors with Post-Traumatic Stress syndrome? Stupid comment, since obviously you didn't use it the first time you made that transition (and since I'd make a fool of myself trying to talk theory), but I just kind of cringe at that spot, since it annoys me every time I listen to it, for no real reason :( maybe you can release a version without it? :mrgreen:

[Midee]

I agree with artemisjaeger. I may get flamed for it, but i cant seem to bring myself to care about the opinion of idiots.

This song has little artistic value other than competent guitar playing. So why did it get approved? It uses guitar! OMG! Lets face it..there are certain "forumlas" on this site that will always get an approval from DJJudges. it's getting old.

-jorg
Well I was going to team up with THE RZA and do a Kill Bill-style spaghetti western version of it with a splash of Russian disco, but for some reason rock just seemed to work better. I dunno... :?

-Midee

Maybe it's just me but I found the little F#major chord at 2:29 stood out as being really irksome - what are you, Midee+Prozax, a pair of music theory majors with Post-Traumatic Stress syndrome?

It wasn't prozax's idea YOU LEAVE HIM OUT OF IT!!!

Heh, it's just a simple segue chord I came up with quick. It's not my favorite, but it never really bugged me. Anyway, this is the only Final Fantasy 7 (and beyond) track I will ever arrange. If I do anything else from the FF world, it will be from 1-6. I really don't like the rest of the music from 7 that much, but for some reason I just had to arrange this one.

(No I'm not making a version without the chord.)

[GregCaldwell]

I have been waiting for a really amazing remix of this song for a long time. At last! The waiting is over. Seriously this is cool, sounds like nothing I've heard before on this site. I hope to see more like it!

[artemisjaeger]

... Umm, I just want to be clear that I don't think this piece is actually bad. It just isn't of any interest to me. Jorg's comments are not mine. Please don't kill me. =)

And for the guy that said there isn't another piece like it on the site, I would spend the time to link a bunch of 'em, but I am really tired. It's not that it sounds identical, it's just that it shares a lot of traits with other songs that I don't like. Like I originally said, it's good generic music, but it's generic. Some people like generic music and I don't think there's anything wrong with that - hell, I listen to different kinds of generic music myself, I just don't like this kind of generic music. Or something, I dunno. I'm really tired and I'm probably making an idiot of myself. Scratch that, I'm definitely making an idiot of myself. Someone brought up a point (sorry for not quoting you whoever you are) that there isn't rock arrangements that use strings and piano in a British rock style. I kind of disagree. Maybe I'm letting the music from VGMix polute my impression of what's on OCR, but guitar+symphonic elements... yeah, that's been done a bunch of times. The only good one I've heard is from Xenosaga.

As for the British rock aspect, let's not split hairs. It's really not THAT different from normal rock. I don't want to start an argument on this subject, though, so... fine, it's the first song to really emphasize British rock elements. I don't think that's enough to make it good, though maybe a little original. Maybe I'm being a bit flippant with the "generic" word. I mean to say that it doesn't have anything really NEW to add. Not that it didn't do something different or anything, but it's just small things. Nothing really new. I don't like 95% of the stuff on this site for the same reason. It's not that anyone's bad at music here (though some are), it's just that I have stupid high standards and want someone to be the next Bach. Sorry.

Oh, whatever. Have I sufficiently made an ass of myself for you guys? I'm gonna get some sleep. Midee and Prozax, I like a lot of your stuff and I don't mean to be insulting (even though I probably have been). I look forward to hearing music from the both of you because I think that you guys are progressing in a good direction. Keep at it and I'm sure you'll only be hearing praise from me soon. =)

[danny B]

Well, as a massive Muse fan, I had to see what this was about. He ain't kidding about the Apocalypse Please bit. I've heard that song hundreds of times. Obviously it isn't identical, but both stylistically and production-wise, it's very similar to the Muse track. Overall, i'd say there's pretty good production all around. There are some trouble spots, in my opinion, but they certainly don't impact the majority of the piece. Some of the string lines are a bit dry and lacking in dynamics, in need of crescendo/decrescendo and the like. Also, the strings are mixed a bit hot, often becoming the forerunner when it seems they should be supporting. It isn't always the case, though. The actual sound quality of the strings is top-notch, however. Nice work!

The "beatles" part or whatever hits me like a ton of bricks. It goes from the angsty brit pop/rock to the happy fun time 60's vibe like THAT. Maybe it was intentional, and I can hear the effect intended. But personally, it gets me out of the trance that the earlier sections set up.

The arrangement/combination of the styles/tracks is very impressive. The Muse -> FF7 transitions are mostly very well done and don't sound contrived or forced. The guitar work as a whole is consistently superb. While I wished the guitars would be more out-front-wall-of-sound on some parts (mostly because it's more Muse-ish ;)), they adeptly represent the angst-ridden guitar riffage of the source band.

The drums are easily the least impressive part of the track. They really aren't mixed very well. The kick has no body, and the snare has that very "triggered" feel to it. The hi-hat suffers greatly from machine-gun syndrome. More velocity adjustment there would make it sound far more natural. The arrangement of the drums fares a bit better, but it doesn't sound very....human. Could be my comparison to Muse's drummer, who has a VERY tight feel, which I don't think could be replicated verbatim. But that's not a necessity :). Also, as long as there's the comparisons to the production being as similar as possible to the Muse, this track certainly lacks the crazy-compression-slammed sound of the Muse. When I listen to Absolution, it's absolutely floored with compression and maximization and the like. It greatly enhances their stylistic expression, in my opinion, and I felt that particular production aspect was missing. So it didn't hit me as hard as the Muse does. That's what multi-million dollar recording and mastering facilities are for! :)

Overall, one of the most intriguing OCRemixes i've heard in quite some time. Some of the transition areas are a little rough and jarring, and it seems to be much more a Muse song than a Final Fantasy 7 Song. It's certainly enjoyable, and a more than worthy OCRemix. Good show, sirs.

-dB

[Taural]

Absolutely fantasic mix on all levels!
This is the first mix I have heard from either of these two (to my knowledge anyhow) and I will certainly be looking for more.
Brings back many great memories of my party being showered in pandora's box and shadow flares!

EDIT: Actually I have found a colaboration done by prozax, ailsean and jaxx within my library so I hae heard from one of them at least! That track (from Uniracers) was great too.

[Dhsu]

Great mix, but save for the direct references, I find it hard to imagine this on an actual Muse album. Partly just because the source tune lacks the rich progressions of the typical Muse song, and partly because it could never be the same without Bellamy's whiny vocals. ;)

[Navi]

Epic feel. Digging this a lot. Good to see some more midee and prozax here.

[JimSelve]

Nice, finally a remix of Judgement Day. I like it a lot... especially the part from 2:30 - 3:15. Great Job!

[auronapern]

Wow, all of the angst in this forum. It's a remix, people. It is not going to appeal to everyone. That is the law of music, and the reason there are so many genres. But the least we can do is treat each other's opinions with a bit of respect. Love the mix, hate it, express your opinions, whatever, but please respect each other. Otherwise what's the point of sharing?

I still love this mix, BTW. Very powerful!

[igy]

F a n t a s t i c

make more plzplz
guitar add is awesome

[paperCrane]

The first thing I thought of when I started listening to this mix was "Wow, this sounds like Dream Theater!" Quite quickly, though, I realized that the inspiration was MUSE and just kept on listening. This is a great remix in the style of the best Progressive Rock around. Great job. :-)

[Kakutama]

I'm kinda mixed on this one as well. Pretty much, as we all know, there are two versions of this song on the site. I have and like them both. This one is a little more softspoken and gives like... an optimistic feel to the song, and the other one is grungy and crunchy. So I'm like... I can't decide?!?!?

Both of those mixes, I'm guessing would sound AWESOME together. You have a crapload of good elements in each one, so I was trying to think of how it would sound if they were put together. Of course I suck at making music, but I do like listening.

It's an awesome and easy listen. Uber good job! ^.^;;

[Fozzybear]

I don't think anyone asked, but, does anyone know where I can find the old version? I really loved this mix and kinda wanted to see how it evolved...

[watkinzez]

I don't think anyone asked, but, does anyone know where I can find the old version? I really loved this mix and kinda wanted to see how it evolved...

This (http://dod.vgmix.com/past/jun05/) one? Entered in the Dwelling of Duels competition, came 6th.. if there is any difference at all, it's miniscule (mastering, sample changes).

[anclunn]

I don't think anyone asked, but, does anyone know where I can find the old version? I really loved this mix and kinda wanted to see how it evolved...
This (http://dod.vgmix.com/past/jun05/) one? Entered in the Dwelling of Duels competition, came 6th.. if there is any difference at all, it's miniscule (mastering, sample changes).

Dwelling Duels weights big vibrato and long mixes too much. The Twelfth Commandment is awesome. Also the name of the mix is great.

[maniater]

probably one of my favorites good work ^^

[housethegrate]

I still think this song should have won in DoD that month. One of my favorite arrangements.

[Martin Penwald]

I'm not that much into FF remixes, but I like this one. It starts powerful, and continues like that up until the Beatles part. Latter is also done very well (I often find myself noddin' my head to it), but I still prefer the first part. Diggin' the violin.

[Fishy]

I absolutely love everything about this remix, i had a go at this track once, and it was no where near as creative as this one. Those key changes are fantastic, excellent string work. Guitar tone was not my obvious choice, but worked exetremely well, sounded great. The beatles section blew me away first time i heard it. You two should definately work together lots, this was really refreshing.

[cloudkitt]

This track is amazing. I've always liked Judgement Day, I had hoped for a remix, and this is better than the original by a fair amount.

The string-work contains a fantastic arrangement and harmony. The key and stylized changes make this my favorite remix yet.

[Blake]

I didn't know this song was OCR. Just stumbled upon it. I encourage anybody who hasn't heard this to listen, because it is the awesomes.

[Audity]

I agree with artemisjaeger. I may get flamed for it, but i cant seem to bring myself to care about the opinion of idiots.

This song has little artistic value other than competent guitar playing. So why did it get approved? It uses guitar! OMG! Lets face it..there are certain "forumlas" on this site that will always get an approval from DJJudges. it's getting old.

-jorg

As others have said...completely baseless.
I even agree with artemisjaeger. I really liked the chord progressions in the beginning, and my expectations for the rest were crushed. Plus that I didn't like the violins. I think...I just don't like violins...at all. I like many other string instruments. They're really loud and dry to boot. I need to find a song where I actually like violins. Perhaps even 50000 songs I would like that have them, but I can't recall their sound being good. I just don't know!™

With the other judgement day mix on this site, it's sort of the same. Somehow in the past it was one of my favorite songs, but recently I couldn't stand it, and got rid of it. I guess the source tune just got repetitive.

[cloudkitt]

You mean with all the songs that have been remixed dozens of times - this one gets remixed twice and you get sick of it? And if you dislike violins - which must exclude you from a LOT of songs not only on this site but in the world of music - that's hardly a strike against the song.

I don't see how the song has little artistic value, the arrangment is expertly done. From the melody interplay between the guitar and orchestra, as well as the change. This remains one of, if not my flat-out favorite song on the site.

[EgoDeusEst]

Really, it is.
As you mentioned yourself, it is a bit a la Muse. And I dig Muse.
The only thing I'm a bit "unhappy" about, are the violins. They end too sudden and don't fade out at certain places.

Good job.

[leofungo]

I never get tired of this song. I've listened to it consistently since the day I discovered it over two years ago and it is still fantastic. The imagery, energy, and power of it never cease to affect me.

Bravo.

[Marmiduke]

Apocalypse Now is my favourite Muse song, so I was destined to love this mix. I don't think it is overly Muse-ish, however. The beginning and end are unapologetically Muse-ish, but the real meat of the mix is a definite straying from the path.
While I liked the strings overall, I did note they sounded different. But then, I'm a string freak and always notice them above all other sections of a song/piece.
The impression of the mix is just awesome. It's muscled, powerful stuff that isn't afraid to be quirky. Great characteristics for a mix that might have otherwise suffered from homage-itis or pretentiousness.
I'm kind of a noob when it comes to FF7 music, but I'm quickly learning why its so heralded. Certainly some of the strongest additions to OCR have come from FF7 source material, this one included. Nice job.

[Darth Magus]

This remix sounds a lot like what you would hear during an opening montage to a James Bond movie. I can see Cloud, Sephiroth and the Turks running around in well pressed suits and silhouettes of the Aeris, Tifa and the other ladies in the background, as Bond films are notorious for. Very well done.

[OA]

Great room sound on the production, everything feels really solid, and the string articulations are good. Nice pacing and a good soundscape makes it good throughout. Transitions are awesome, and the pace is great. A very good remix. :-)

[Crulex]

Pretty sweet guitar and drum playing here. The breakdown and piano bits made for a good break in between the sections, and I'm really fond of the ending.