ReMix: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest 'Cursed Bloodline'
Download MP3
Play Preview
- Game: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (Konami, 1988, NES)
- ReMixer(s): Dennis Mott
- Composer(s): Kenichi Matsubara, S. Terashima
- Song(s): 'Bloody Tears'
- Posted: 2005-02-22, evaluated by the judges
We encourage listeners to check out every mix, regardless of the game it came from, the ReMixer who made it, or the genre it's in, but newcomer Dennis Mott presents a ReMix that may challenge some who aren't huge fans of metal - specifically death metal - to broaden their horizons a bit and embrace this ideology. Honestly, I went through a phase where I mostly listened to NIN, KMFDM, and Front 242's harder, later stuff, but nowadays the more aggressive genres aren't what I go to first for general listening - big into Keane lately, for example. If you're not into death metal, and simply dismiss anything with screamed lyrics or walls of shredded guitar outright, perhaps the fact that this is from Castlevania 2 won't be enough for you to appreciate it, I'll just offer that lil proviso up front. If, however, you're all about unbounding energy and shouting lyrics like you're trying to communicate to someone from hell through the peripheral din of tortured souls' lamentations, well then, your ship has come in. Dennis achieves near-clipdom levels of volume and velocity but stays within the realm of listenability with this very quick, very distorted, very primal metal construction of the familiar "Bloody Tears" theme. I shall now quote the entirety of Gray's decision, because I am a lazy bastard, but also because it most closely resembles my own two cents:
"Though this is not my cup of tea genre, I can easily appreciate quality work. The way Dennis puts together this mix in concept and execution is just impressive. The arrangement, production is all there. While it may be acceptable for this genre, I feel the rhythm distortion at times overpowers the vocals too much. I'd personally prefer the vocals have more presence in the mix. Minor complaint though. I personally liked the guitar sections the best where the distortion wasn't overpowering the rest of the mix. Quality work that shines through regardless of whether or not one likes the genre. "
Like I said initially, I'm not expecting throngs of conversions from people who previously disliked death metal over this ReMix, but I do think if you give it a try you'll hear some of what Gray's talking about; it's a different take not only on the theme in question, but on game mixing in general, and while not necessarily as accessible as electronica or orchestral, it still manages to amply display the basic ingredients of production and arrangement.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the Just fired this one up again to listen to the lyrics. So awesome.
Hahaha!
- Liontamer on May 24, 2009
- Liontamer on May 24, 2009
Club Kukeiha is Club Kukeiha. Death metal or no, its going to have
that Castlevania backbone that should make lovers of metal very
satisfied and those who hate it mildly tolerant of it. And if you
aren't a fan of Club... why?
I wouldn't class myself as a death metal fan, although I do like some of those heavy folk metal bands. People have said that this isn't melodic enough, but truly, I thought there was more than enough to carry the song. Having too complex a melody or introducing new variations too consistently combined with the surging power of the mix would be total overload and would be a mess of noise. As this stands, its just enough energy when those big wall of sound events happen, I think "Nice!" rather than "Ouch."
I mean, I couldn't listen to a 70 minute album of this stuff, but I do think that its a very welcome addition, and a benchmark for the encouraged diversity of the site. Great track, Dennis.
- Marmiduke on February 11, 2009
I wouldn't class myself as a death metal fan, although I do like some of those heavy folk metal bands. People have said that this isn't melodic enough, but truly, I thought there was more than enough to carry the song. Having too complex a melody or introducing new variations too consistently combined with the surging power of the mix would be total overload and would be a mess of noise. As this stands, its just enough energy when those big wall of sound events happen, I think "Nice!" rather than "Ouch."
I mean, I couldn't listen to a 70 minute album of this stuff, but I do think that its a very welcome addition, and a benchmark for the encouraged diversity of the site. Great track, Dennis.
- Marmiduke on February 11, 2009
So I finally decided to listen to this. I used to be that when the
shuffle landed on that song, I would press next. I realized I
wasn't being fair.
So I listened to it once. I rated it 3 stars on my ipod (which puts it in an occasionally listened to playlist). During the next song, I was kinda missing the energy. So I hit back.
I liked it more the second time around, because I could pick out elements more, and stop seeing the song as a whole.
So I listened to it a third time. And a fourth.
That was yesterday.
Today, I start up my ipod, it's this song again. I simply put it on repeat. I have been listening to it in a loop for about an hour now. Still not bored of it. I uped its rating to 5 stars.
I think the energy in this remix is what makes it a song I can listen to in a loop. The technical aspect is great, but where it shines is in the performance. And it is rare to see a performance oriented mix, most songs here are technical oriented songs.
All in all, I just have to say: I love this song.
- The Author on May 16, 2008
So I listened to it once. I rated it 3 stars on my ipod (which puts it in an occasionally listened to playlist). During the next song, I was kinda missing the energy. So I hit back.
I liked it more the second time around, because I could pick out elements more, and stop seeing the song as a whole.
So I listened to it a third time. And a fourth.
That was yesterday.
Today, I start up my ipod, it's this song again. I simply put it on repeat. I have been listening to it in a loop for about an hour now. Still not bored of it. I uped its rating to 5 stars.
I think the energy in this remix is what makes it a song I can listen to in a loop. The technical aspect is great, but where it shines is in the performance. And it is rare to see a performance oriented mix, most songs here are technical oriented songs.
All in all, I just have to say: I love this song.
- The Author on May 16, 2008
Had to play this five times in a row. Can't say I usually like the
genre, but this track is great and I can't resist a good track. The
7/8 part is tres cool.
--Eino
- evktalo on December 11, 2007
--Eino
- evktalo on December 11, 2007
Hmmmmm. Waaaaa.
やっぱり。　The
fact that this thread has been on my mind the entire time I was
taking the dog for a walk means that I have, indeed made a mistake.
So I guess it's time to apologize. There was no reason for me to
say what I disagreed with in the way that I did. Instead of making
that big long explanation, I should have just done one of those
quick, one-liners that JJT and Vig often do. Then, maybe I wouldn't
have been referred to as "busting someone's chops." And perhaps I
wouldn't FEEL like I've been "busting someone's chops." That feels
crappy for everyone probably. And actually, after Tensei's idea of
"repetition of certain sections, which gives the listener a chance
to 'grasp' the song." I'm starting to see a good thing in the way
it comes back.
So, to Dennis Mott...
I'm sorry for tearing your remix up to shreds over just one negative aspect, especially when I love ALL the other aspects of it. What kind of review is that?!
And to Zircon and the judges...
I'm sorry for getting on your cases about giving praise where you did, just cause I thought it wasn't deserved.
I think I'll go and edit the previous posts later to reflect the "one-liner" philosophy because I think if Dennis Mott saw that, it'd only bum him out, which is not what I really want.
- CHIPP Damage on November 3, 2007
So, to Dennis Mott...
I'm sorry for tearing your remix up to shreds over just one negative aspect, especially when I love ALL the other aspects of it. What kind of review is that?!
And to Zircon and the judges...
I'm sorry for getting on your cases about giving praise where you did, just cause I thought it wasn't deserved.
I think I'll go and edit the previous posts later to reflect the "one-liner" philosophy because I think if Dennis Mott saw that, it'd only bum him out, which is not what I really want.
- CHIPP Damage on November 3, 2007
Well, I think Tensei san and Zircon said it the best. Yes, Zircon,
I do harshly criticize the amount of repetitions (in general, not
compared with OCR standards) that is apparently a standard in
popular music. . . Simply because I think it's too much
and this is something about popular music that has always bothered
me. Hahaha.
And yes, Tensei, you are right that this song is NOT more repetitive than most of the other metal I listen to, but that doesn't mean that I like it. I constantly listen to new metal albums and then when something comes back for the third time, I'm like, "Why did they have to bring that back again?!" Hahaha. But you definitely said it the best when you said that I shouldn't be expecting everyone else to make all their songs have a million parts, just because that's how I like to make music. It's still more repetitive than I'D like but I'm gonna stop knit-picking now.
By the way, I don't think that it shouldn't have been passed. I just don't agree with all the praise thrown at the structure of the piece. Here comes another big fat smiley!
^__________________________________________________________^
- CHIPP Damage on November 3, 2007
And yes, Tensei, you are right that this song is NOT more repetitive than most of the other metal I listen to, but that doesn't mean that I like it. I constantly listen to new metal albums and then when something comes back for the third time, I'm like, "Why did they have to bring that back again?!" Hahaha. But you definitely said it the best when you said that I shouldn't be expecting everyone else to make all their songs have a million parts, just because that's how I like to make music. It's still more repetitive than I'D like but I'm gonna stop knit-picking now.
By the way, I don't think that it shouldn't have been passed. I just don't agree with all the praise thrown at the structure of the piece. Here comes another big fat smiley!
^__________________________________________________________^
- CHIPP Damage on November 3, 2007
Dude, CHIPP, how can you consider this song more repetitive than
90% of other non-progressive metal bands you indubitably listen to?
Even if you take a look at absolute classics like Slayer's Angel of
Death or Metallica's Battery you'll find the song structure is an
incredibly simple Verse/Chorus/Bridge build-up.
Just because YOU like to write songs that constantly segue into new sections throughout doesn't mean that anyone who doesn't do so is being exceedingly repetitive. For me, part of a songs inherent 'catchiness' comes from the repetition of certain sections, which gives the listener a chance to 'grasp' the song. The minor variations and instrumental additions/changes during the repeated sections (which Cursed Bloodline makes more than enough use of) can still give enough of a forward drive to the song, without going overboard. Don't tell me Dream Theater is more fun to bang your head to than some dirty old Thrash Metal Classic. =P
- Tensei-San on November 2, 2007
Just because YOU like to write songs that constantly segue into new sections throughout doesn't mean that anyone who doesn't do so is being exceedingly repetitive. For me, part of a songs inherent 'catchiness' comes from the repetition of certain sections, which gives the listener a chance to 'grasp' the song. The minor variations and instrumental additions/changes during the repeated sections (which Cursed Bloodline makes more than enough use of) can still give enough of a forward drive to the song, without going overboard. Don't tell me Dream Theater is more fun to bang your head to than some dirty old Thrash Metal Classic. =P
- Tensei-San on November 2, 2007
Listening to this song today made me want to listen to the whole
Carcass discography (and yeah, I did it)
kudos
- BrainCells on November 2, 2007
kudos
- BrainCells on November 2, 2007
Radiowar;338575 wrote: There's a difference between repeated use of a single musical phrase and following a form.Unless following the form calls for repeated use of a musical phrase :) see definitions of chorus and verse
Radiowar;338575 wrote: There's a difference between repeated use of a single musical phrase and following a form.There's also a difference between use and overuse. What I was saying is that I don't think the repetition that exists in this mix has been overused. Esp where the site standards are concerned. see Zircon's post above
Radiowar;338575 wrote: There's a difference between repeated use of a single musical phrase and following a form.True, but is this mix an example of repeating a musical phrase verbatim and to the song’s detriment? No. As Zircon and others have pointed out, there are variations throughout each repetition of the musical sections. This is especially true when considering the vocals/lyrics/whatever which cannot be ignored because, like it or not, they are in the song. Besides, there have been other great remixes which are far closer to being overly repetitive than this one. see all 6:10 min of [URL="http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01305/"]Dirty Sam[/URL]
- Harmony on November 2, 2007
If you're gonna bust someone's chops about repeating a ~9-10 second
phrase that is pretty cool to begin with, you're being too harsh
with regards to our standards, and you're just not correct. Period.
This mix was a pretty easy pass.
- zircon on November 2, 2007
- zircon on November 2, 2007
There's a difference between repeated use of a single musical
phrase and following a form.
- Radiowar on November 2, 2007
- Radiowar on November 2, 2007
Thought I'd post this here instead of the review thread
- Harmony on November 2, 2007
CHIPP Damage from review thread wrote: [the structure of Cursed Bloodline] basically all boils down to: Intro-Verse-Chorus-Intro-Verse-Chorus-Intro-Solo section-Chorus-IntroThat can be said of a great majority of popular songs with lyrics from any genre. Considering this, I don't see how you can consider the song overly repetitive.
CHIPP Damage from review thread wrote: THIS SONG IS TOO REPETITIVE and I still can't believe that all the judges praised the structure so muchIf your major gripe is that the judge's praise of the structure being "very nice" or "brilliant" is undeserved, I can go along with that. The structure, imo, is exactly what I'd expect for this type of song (regardless of genre). No more, no less.
- Harmony on November 2, 2007
Edited
I like this remix a lot. Especially, the opening riff. Although, I think they bring it back too often, it's definitely a shining example of a good thrash metal riff and it's a fun alternate picking exercise. Actually, this is one of the very first remixes I ever heard from this site, and hopes that there would be more like it is one of the main reasons I stuck around so much. I've been playing this song on my guitar since that time and it's a pretty tough challenge to play it perfectly without letting any noise ring out. Going to a riff that's in 7/4 time made me freaking happy. I love unusual time signatures. In fact, if ANYTHING should become a staple of the metal genre, it ought to be unusual time signatures. That would make metal as a whole more interesting and maybe even attract more of the "big perky music head" types.
METAL!
^________________________^
- CHIPP Damage on November 2, 2007
I like this remix a lot. Especially, the opening riff. Although, I think they bring it back too often, it's definitely a shining example of a good thrash metal riff and it's a fun alternate picking exercise. Actually, this is one of the very first remixes I ever heard from this site, and hopes that there would be more like it is one of the main reasons I stuck around so much. I've been playing this song on my guitar since that time and it's a pretty tough challenge to play it perfectly without letting any noise ring out. Going to a riff that's in 7/4 time made me freaking happy. I love unusual time signatures. In fact, if ANYTHING should become a staple of the metal genre, it ought to be unusual time signatures. That would make metal as a whole more interesting and maybe even attract more of the "big perky music head" types.
METAL!
^________________________^
- CHIPP Damage on November 2, 2007
shadowolf86;337954 wrote: Before going any farther, keep in mind that this is coming from the perspective of a listener who doesn't know much about music. I almost never care for metal in any form, but this is probably my favorite Bloody Tears mix. First off, the repetition you referred to is part and parcel of the metal genre. Metal is about presence, force and power, and not so much development of melodies and the like. So it's not uncommon to hear one kickass melody carried through a whole song from beginning to end. Thats not across the board, but if you listen to Dragonforce, for example, you'll hear the same set of riffs repeated several times, up to 8 and 9 minutes.
Finally, the lyrics. Metal without screaming is not metal. I have never ever heard metal without screaming. I hate screaming. Except in this song, ....
No. Hell, do you even hear screaming in Dragonforce, the only band you mentioned? While occasionally what you said might be true, the majority of the time you're way off.
- danimal cannon on November 1, 2007
Harmony, Another Soundscape, I gotta turn around and disagree
AGAIN. Hahaha. Of course lyrics make us like the music and the
human voice IS definitely an instrument used for producing sound
and music, but my statement about "lyrics" not being music is all
about being able to separate the "lyrics" from the "vocals." Most
people don't think about it that way because they do go extremely
hand in hand. So yeah, the vocal melody, the timbre of the voice,
and even the sound that results from the different mouth shapes
that happen to form words all definitely count as lyrics. HOWEVER!
(LOL) the fact that those vocals create words which have meaning
isn't music. He could have sung completely different lyrics in the
same way and aside from the difference in the sound resulting from
different mouth shapes, we could say that it's otherwise exactly
the same thing. Of course if he WERE saying something about pink
bunnies and cotton candy, we'd all think it was stupid and
unrelated to the music because it would be. Hahaha. But that's just
verbal communication which is a completely different thing from
music. I doubt I'm ever gonna get anyone who's not linguistics
teacher to agree with me on this, ESPECIALLY musicians, but there's
my argument anyway. ^_^
As for Shadowwolf and anyone else who says that repetition is a staple of the Metal genre, I'm gonna say that just because 1000 people jump off a building, it doesn't mean they're all correct. Yeah lots of famous and popular bands have tons of repetition in their songs, but that doesn't mean they're doing something that's good. If it really has become considered a staple of the genre, then I don't think it's a very good one, and it should be replaced. I've written a ton of metal songs and I don't think even the VERY first one that I wrote was A B C A B C Solo C. I can't get into that kind of thing. I'm in an Arch Enemy cover band and we're playing Ravenous this Saturday and the same riff keeps coming back over and over, and while it's freaking fun to PLAY it's so boring to listen to, for me. I recommend Blind Guardian's newer stuff if you want to hear songs with good structure. I think that has just the right amount of repetition. There is a lack of smiley faces in this post which might lead some to believe that I'm an angry person. To dispel that, here's a big fat smiley just to say, "I ain't mad at ya."
^____________________________________________________________^
- CHIPP Damage on October 31, 2007
As for Shadowwolf and anyone else who says that repetition is a staple of the Metal genre, I'm gonna say that just because 1000 people jump off a building, it doesn't mean they're all correct. Yeah lots of famous and popular bands have tons of repetition in their songs, but that doesn't mean they're doing something that's good. If it really has become considered a staple of the genre, then I don't think it's a very good one, and it should be replaced. I've written a ton of metal songs and I don't think even the VERY first one that I wrote was A B C A B C Solo C. I can't get into that kind of thing. I'm in an Arch Enemy cover band and we're playing Ravenous this Saturday and the same riff keeps coming back over and over, and while it's freaking fun to PLAY it's so boring to listen to, for me. I recommend Blind Guardian's newer stuff if you want to hear songs with good structure. I think that has just the right amount of repetition. There is a lack of smiley faces in this post which might lead some to believe that I'm an angry person. To dispel that, here's a big fat smiley just to say, "I ain't mad at ya."
^____________________________________________________________^
- CHIPP Damage on October 31, 2007
Content Policy
(Submission
Agreement and Terms of Use)
Page generated Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:44:55 -0500 in 0.0971 seconds
All compositions, arrangements, images, and trademarks are copyright their respective owners. Original content is
copyright OverClocked ReMix, LLC. For information on RSS and JavaScript news feeds, linking to us, etc. please refer to resources for webmasters. Please refer to the Info section of
the site and the FAQ available there for information about the site's
history, features, and policies. Contact David W. Lloyd (djpretzel), webmaster, with
feedback or questions not answered there.
