ReMix: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest 'MiniMayhem'

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Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

OKAY PEOPLE - this has been a long time coming!! I've received numerous emails informing me about the talent and quality of a little band called 'The Minibosses' (great name). I've known about them since their inception and original slashdot coverage, and have been a fan. And people have emailed them mentioning a little site called OverClocked ReMix and suggesting they submit for awhile too. So why has it taken this long? Logistics, communication, etc. Let's just say the time was finally right and thus I give you The MB's fantastic Castlevania 2 medley, which cycles through most of the games' more memorable melodies and does so with grit, panache, and a whole bunch of guitars. Yes, guitars, guitars, guitars - if you like guitars, you're gonna dig this. I make that point because their style revolves not around excessive instrumentation but around kickass playing and some very well done transitions. They remain tight as they segueway through the different sections, with some awesome riffage (on the drums as well!). Note that this is not the live version but the studio track off their cd - you of course must download this and check their site out if you haven't already. And in the meantime, I'm hoping for an original OC ReMix exclusive from one of the most visible and energetic acts in the ReMix business. Very saucy.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 13 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
I actually like their dirty, live sound, it's such relief compared to all the studio rock you hear (and that I also like). And, as I've said countless times, the fact it doesn't stray far from the original doesn't bother me at all. It feels like this is what the original creator wanted it to sound like.

- Dafydd on August 13, 2009
Straight up medley, but you have to give respect to what the Minibosses have done for the scene. I've never been huge on their production, but they definitely keep it real; no studio smoke and mirrors for these guys!
A classic in it's own way. :-)

- OA on December 7, 2007
For some reason I love the daytime town music, and at 1:17 they do a great job of rocking it out here. I love it.

HOWEVER, as usual with Minibosses Castlevania material (if you've heard their CV III Medley then you know), it's just toooo slow!! The music loses a lot of its edge and often ferocity when played too slow. Maybe I'll just speed it up in an audio editing program...
Otherwise, a practically flawless mix. Not so much a remix as a re-play though.

- RePENT on April 2, 2007
I loved the minibosses work with Super Mario Bros. 2 so was really looking forward to something even more special with what I'd consider superior base music to work with.
Sadly, I was disappointed with this medley. While I like the raw sound (someone compared it to Iron Maiden, which is pretty accurate), the pace of all the cues except for "Bloody Tears" is achingly slow adding to what another reviewer summed up as "garage band sounding". Very true yet again.
The instrumentation is well done, especially when picking up those difficult notes in the town theme, but it sounds like the band purposely slowed things down to make the first cues easier to manage.
Yes, there's nothing neccessarily wrong with that but part of what makes the CastleVania music great is its ability to work in those devilish little overtones while still moving at a brisk pace, implying the impending mood of doom. So slowing down the bpm kind of killed the mood persay of the original cues.
Bloody Tears was great however. I was disappointed in my hopes that the band would work in some keyboards but the one guitar did an excellent job of creating a sharp, impactful sound, filling in the place of a cathedral organ that one would expect in CastleVania music.
This would've been great if it were sped up a bit. But all in all, a passable effort.

- Jay-Zig on October 19, 2006
You inspire me to make music...*GLOMPS*

- Soapy on June 30, 2006
This remix is perfect except for the fact that there is no Dwelling of Doom (Mansion) remix. At least goat has done one which rocks hard (No Flesh Allowed).

- Trentdaddy on November 16, 2005
Seriously, this track is well played, but when the song hit the "Bloody Tears" theme at 2:36 I couldn't stop playing the air guitar. "Bloody Tears" has always been my favorite [i]Simon's Quest[/i] theme ever since I first played the game in the late 80's. Kudos to the Minibosses, and I would love to hear more.

- wolfdude359 on November 16, 2005
Great song. I love this piece. It reminds me alot of Iron Maiden in some of the guitar harmonies. I think this is my favorite piece in the Castelvania category.

- IcedDevil on June 26, 2005
Yum. Generally not my preferred type of music (because too often people who are guitar nuts have this nagging tendency to pollute their beautiful music with their voices...), but still extremely nice. Ironically enough, this would make a great general combat song for Castlevania -- minibosses or otherwise. :D I'm quite fond of what they've done with the wilderness - daytime and town - daytime original tunes. And the ending is just great.
... though that's the one problem: this song needs to be 10 times longer. :)

- apeiron on May 4, 2004
Whee, Castlevania music is simply awesome in normal form, and then when someone remixes it beutifully, it just gets all the better. I loved this peice and the only injustice it puts on us is the lack of stronger drums in places that could use it.

- Mario Buu on April 2, 2003
Although at times it seems a little too "garage band" it still keeps me comming back time and time again. I do like the jam that it gets into near 1:15. Something that's very nice to play in a car I think.

- BigDRS on June 19, 2002
To me, it sounds like in the mix down of this, they didnt transition the second guitar in well after the intro. It just comes in, and cuts right out way too fast. But other than that, its great, cause its the bosses. I guess Im just use to the live one more though.

- EdgeCrusher on June 9, 2002
Castlevania 2 'MiniMayhem'
Although I'm not particularly fond of this style of music, I must say this is incredibly well done. It’s really interesting to hear a piece of music produced electronically and then here the same thing reproduced completely with live instruments. One also must applaud the talent that must have gone into producing a mix like this. I can’t say that this would ever be at the top of my favourites list, but there is no doubt in my mind that it’s at the top of somebody’s.

- Ginnsu on May 20, 2002

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