[Liontamer]

This is a cover of "Dead Beat" from the Castlevania 3 project I'm working on. It's the first song I've done in awhile that's short enough to submit!

Thanks,
Chris

[zircon]

Source is track 7:
http://www.ocremix.org/songs/original/Castlevania%203%20(1989)(Konami)(28%20Songs).nsf

Fun little source tune. I love CV3's music. :)

Anyway, this is the kind of quality I've come to expect from goat. Great performance + production values across the board. The arrangement did tread the line between being coverish and interpretive, but there's clearly variation present and original material added. The stylistic change up at 2:08 was unexpected but very cool. On the other hand, the brief bridge at 2:32 was probably the weakest part of the whole arrangement, if I had to pick one - something about the sounds used just didn't sound right. Luckily it went right back into the full rock setup and resolved nicely. Nice job!

YES

[Vig]

This is recognizable goat. usual strengths, usual weaknesses. Strong performance, really weak samples. Solid if conservative arrangement, occasionally sparse soundfield. This may be stronger than some of his other outings, and it's fair to assume that if you like goat, you'll like this.

YES

[JJT]

Nice work, goat.

yeah, i'm not really feeling the drum samples, and it sounds to me like the organ sample could have been tweaked to blend with the rhythm section a little better.

a moot point though, the performance is killer.

YES

[Liontamer]

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/castlev3.zip - Track 7 ("Dead Beat")

Might as well post the Zophar's link, since our hosted link looks all funky and won't link properly. Ironically enough, as much as I like the CV3 soundtrack, this source tune is not one of my favorites from the game. There's much better stuff out there for my personal taste like "Rising", "Stream" or especially "Demon Seed".

Damn, that's some loud stuff to start off with; pretty intense rendition of the source. Didn't like whatever e-piano-ish dealie squeaked in the left channel from :20-:26, but it was brief. Swanky changeup in the rhythm from :33-:36 & :39-:42; very smoothly done, I'm jealous. Little plainer stuff from :46-:58 that felt a little aimless, but got back to speed afterward.

Weird synth-driven segue from 1:04-1:08 that didn't flow right into the more interpretive/embellished playthrough of the source by Chris. I can see what he was trying to do, but felt like the timing should have been different. Oh man, 1:32 is pure rock. Absolutely sweet solo on top of the supporting chords of the original from 1:46-1:59.

Wow, beautiful concept at 2:05; had me screaming out "OH SHIT!". Loving these glassy, delayed chords, and the drumwork was well-written. Brief piano solo from 2:31-2:43 sounded really, really rigidly sequenced; I agreed with zircon that this was the weakest point of the whole thing, but we all feel it was really minor in the face of the overall execution.

Loved all the tangents you went off on with the arrangement. 2:44-onward kept things strong for the rest of the track. Nice subtle speeding up of the tempo for the end, including some nice shredding seguing into the organ-driven finish. Organ was a little too rigidly sequenced as well, but again the overall skill is just too strong. Chris had several unique variations on the source and so many adept transitions where nearly everything flowed well from one concept to the next.

I hate to say this is better than the original, as it might offend goat's own reasons for tributing the soundtrack. But on an individual level, I didn't care for the source tune, yet the arrangement generated an interest and respect for what could be done with it. Around here, that's when you know it's a job well done. Keep 'em coming, Chris.

YES