ReMix: Doom II: Hell on Earth 'Oldskool Demon'

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Mazedude is playing to the id crowd of late, with this Doom 2 ReMix hot(ish) on the heels of his previous, Wolfenstein 3D mix. This arrangement forgoes the hybrid orchestral/electro style for a slightly older-fashioned industrial. Not sure if the word 'oldskool' comes to mind, but something close to it perhaps. This ReMix centers around a synthetic, heavy electric guitar patch that is intentionally bent and manipulated in ways that betray its artificial nature, but still sound dern cool. There's more of the same dynamically panned, intricate electro-percussion Chris seems to be favoring more and more, on top of a heavy industrial downbeat. There's a fake ending around the second minute, where things drop out quick, then go into a robotic funk with a screetching synth solo, very cool electric piano chord hits, and a more demonic (hence the name, yo) intensity. Do be warned that some of the soloing gets downright mean, soaring into the upper register with reckless abandon and no mercy. The only element that lacked punch was the fadeout ending - I don't have the same hangup with these that others do, when used in the right context, but in this case something with very punctuated closure would have been more appropriate. Other than that lil aspect, this is some atmospherically evil Doom 2 mixage that lives up to its mix title and delivers an id-sized wallop. Should help tide you over till Doom 3 goes gold :)

djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
some nice personalization, but it's not as deep as a lot of the mazedude tracks i'm used to. :-)
I thought the intro personalization was great, but i didn't fell that it branched out much further. It was a fun listen, but not a classic.

- OA on March 19, 2010
Oh yeah, this is oldskool all right. And it really does remind of an 80's B Horror movie (I don't know why, it just does), mixed in with the usual Mazedude flavouring. Didn't like the fakeout ending though, nearly stopped listening till I heard the beat come back, but that's my only beef with this great mix. :nicework:

- Sir_Downunder on December 12, 2009
Well I for one love what is done here. To make a mix that is as potentially repetitive as this one so sustained and interesting for five minutes is incredible. The signature Mazedude quirkiness is still thrown in, with some strange chirps, boings and such behind the prominence of the main bass and melody so it doesn't take anything away from the apocalyptic vibe. But it is there, which is what is important.
Bobby Prince's work continues to win my attention and admiration, and Mazedude is a huge part of that. His attention to detail in turning deceptively simple synth-gothic ambience into window rattling power trips is something to cherish.
By the way, that premature fade out fools me every time.
Every. Damn. Time.

- Marmiduke on March 23, 2009
The beginning and parts of the ending are great, but it's mostly just "okay".

- Mr Azar on January 26, 2009
It's decidedly techno-industrial, but I'm just not getting a "fear for the safety of my soul" vibe here.
In the end, its an average, o.k mix.

- 42 on January 23, 2009
What can I do, I'm biased towards ReMixeRs who use a tracker, and Mazedude is certainly one of the best I've ever seen. How he can manage to achieve such good - I mean, AWESOME - results is a mistery to me.
This song, while not in my favorite genre, is really interesting. And, if you are a Doom fan, you should get this now.
Only weak point of this, the low bitrate of the MP3, that hurts the sound quality a lot, but it was needed to shrink down the filesize. Oh well, still a masterpiece.

- Nineko on December 19, 2006
Wow. Goddam, pretty mean sounding track! In a sense, it retains the horror inducing sounds of Doom 2, and yet feels slightly campy with the shamelessly 80's techno sounds.
Pretty good. If I never heard of the game's track before, I would have thought it came from the 80's. Nice.

- I-n-j-i-n on July 30, 2004
Thankyou Mazedude. This might be able to help me understand how you make your music so damn good. ;)
/suckup

- The Orichalcon on February 25, 2004
For any trackers who are curious to see how this was constructed, I have posted the original IT file on www.mazedude.com. Considering the samples, it's not as huge as most of my files, and it's kinda a fun one to watch, hehe.
-Mazedude

- Mazedude on February 24, 2004
Yet another favorite of mines here.
I specially like the FX percs with the bass pluncks,
and the synth solo @02:30

- Coucou on October 30, 2003
Great, great stuff!!! Although it doesn't quite have the same feel to it as the original Midi, which seemed to be slower and darker and had a segment which isn't here at all, the rest of the song more than makes up for it. Tons of creativity, awesome instrument choice, etc. I especially like how the song "shuts down" then "restarts" around 2:09
Instruments A
Creativity A
Pacing A
Original song quality A
Remixing quality, soundness A-
Replay value A-
Overall 94% A

- DukeNukem007 on September 10, 2003
I agree. Can we, like, nominate Mazedude for some kind of non-existant prestegious award or something?
Cheers.
J. :twisted:

- FenianMasochist on July 10, 2003
I love this remix. I love all of Mazedude's id remixes. I love industrial effects/music/drums/everything. Feel the love. [u]Awesome[/u] remix. :D

- 5hfifty on July 9, 2003
really good remix, i love all doom remix and this is no exception, rock on man =D

- ZtanZ on June 18, 2003
LOL! This is REALLY good! From the review I didn't think I'd like it much but it's fantastic! Never heard anything quite like it.

- rikfuzz on June 18, 2003