ReMix: Super Metroid 'The Galaxy Awaits'
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- Game: Super Metroid (Nintendo, 1994, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Nutritious
- Composer(s): Kenji Yamamoto (I), Minako Hamano
- Song(s): 'Brinstar', 'Item Acquisition Fanfare', 'Item Room', 'Norfair - Ancient Ruins Area', 'Samus Aran's Appearance Fanfare'
- Posted: 2009-02-01, evaluated by the judges
- Album: Featured on Super Metroid ~Reserve Tank: VARIAtions~
As a general rule, I usually don't enjoy things that are nutritious, but Justin Medford made the capitalized, proper-noun version rather palatable with his 2008 Squaresound-entry FF5 debut mix and continues the trend with this latest cut from Metroid and Super Metroid. Nutritious writes:
"This remix was created for Blind's get well album. (Hope you get well soon and are back to mixing in no time, man!). Anyway, this mix was started on the Wednesday before the deadline and finished it two days later, on Friday. It's by far the quickest I've put together a full mix. This is also the most OST tunes I've used in one mix, however, I think they all incorporated well, while avoiding medley problems - mainly because 3 of the 5 mixes are either really short or just fanfares. Hope you guys enjoy."
I can confirm firsthand that Jordan's doing better since Anna and I hung out with him and Jade in Vegas a couple weeks ago, catching Blue Man Group at the Venetian and dinner at Postrio afterwards. I can also confirm that Mr. Medford avoided medleyitis rather handily and incorporated these awesome themes into a cohesive whole. Larry writes:
"Got some good mileage out of the various jingles to open things up. Meanwhile the rest of the arrangement was spot on. Cool take on Norfair that felt a bit more militaristic thanks to the drums but also had some grandiose writing. Would love to hear a live orchestra perform it. Cool original writing, with Metroid material occasionally woven in, from 2:26 until the finish. Strong close. Not realistic sounding, but it uses the samples fairly cohesively and the arrangement was solid."
While sample quality certainly won't be mistaken for a default GM soundset, it's also not going to be mistaken for Vienna Instruments, but the dramatic, flowing arrangement does compensate quite a bit. There are moments that are so well-crafted, built up so effectively, that it hardly matters - the resounding, triumphant chords in the intro and the initial push into a bombastic, military cadence, with booming LoTR-style percussion come to mind. At 3'25" this is a compressed, overture-style arrangement, which always risk the pitfall of rushed transitions or that feeling of partial, incomplete coverage of any given incorporated theme. Justin's avoided that by focusing primarily on just a couple themes and using the others as bridging/intro material - a good strategy that serves him well. All in all, a rock-solid arrangement that flows very naturally; Vinnie said it well, so I'll leave you with his take:
"This was excellent, one of the best I've heard from you. Great use of the soundscape, and the writing weaving these disparate themes together was practically seamless. Transition to the heavy Norfair beats in particular was masterful."
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the I love the way this opens up at 1:59, definitely reminds me of playing through Tallon Overworld in Metroid Prime. Also pretty decent work with the time signature, keeps it interesting.
- OutSpoken on July 5, 2011
- Samildanach Emrys on June 19, 2011
I think a lot of this comes down to the emotions of the people who write these arrangements. They have in their heads the grandiose adventures of a butt-kicking superchick who can totally destroy you in more ways than are comfortable, and that's before she puts on her gear. Add in the fact that people who write orchestral arrangements tend to gravitate towards the more well-known tracks, and it's a recipe for samey-ness.
As far as individual efforts go, this is a good one. Fantastic merger of themes, all of it is well done with an ear for detail and is subtle and nuanced with just enough love to make it enjoyable, and not be overbearing.
The problem is, it doesn't really push any boundaries, or take any chances. There's nothing here that I haven't heard. Granted, this isn't a case where I have heard a lot that was also better, but it's still not the most original concept.
Still, I give it a passing grade, if I handed out grades that is. As a tribute, it works, as a ReMix when compared to the source, it works. Everything else is subjective, I guess.
- Master_Yoshi on August 13, 2010
...what makes you think it's not Vienna Instruments? I thought the sound was great.
- The Icarus Kid on August 13, 2010
Nutritious piece transports you to an epic journey full of space jumping & metroid busting...
But don't forget to freeze 'em with the ice beam before you shoot missiles! ;-)
Transition at 1:02 is smooth, with the overwhelming sense of menace.
At 1:50 the classic melody rolls in and the heroic feeling takes over.
The rest is simply beautiful to hear.
Overall, great direction & ace composition skills.
I know little about technique, so I'll abstain from commenting on that.
But in terms of production, Galaxy Awaits sounds way better than any recent official Metroid soundtrack.
- Dj Mokram on April 26, 2009
- Mtlbro on April 13, 2009
Nice work dude, this is excellent.
- OA on March 23, 2009
- Flare4War on February 23, 2009
- Martin Penwald on February 19, 2009
Dafydd;505041 wrote: The inverse? You mean you recognized all of the source tunes but the remix did not remind you of them? :|
Lol let me clarify: inverse what was in the parenthesis. On first listen, I didn't hear the item room and acquisition fanfare, but I knew i was supposed to hear them from the writeup and stuff... so i sort of heard them. kind of. But I heard the Brinstar (ok, I'm not too familiar with the super metroid OST, but it was Brinstar in Metroid) section at the end very clearly. I had to listen to it a couple times to really hear the fanfare and item room.
And in some ways, i guess, this piece doesn't remind me too much of the original. It's way more grandiose... and cool.
- SoulinEther on February 11, 2009
[b]Edit:[/b]
I cannot stop the music player! it must continue!
[b]Edit:[/b]
You know whose work this reminds me of? [i]Gustav Holst's[/i].
- atomicthumbs on February 10, 2009
SoulinEther;504436 wrote: The inverse was true for me, on first listen.
The inverse? You mean you recognized all of the source tunes but the remix did not remind you of them? :|
- Dafydd on February 9, 2009
Dafydd;504278 wrote: I actually agree with Hoboka. This remix reminds me of the original music, but I can't really hear it in there (except the item room and acquisition fanfare in the beginning).
What, you too? And I thought _I_ was source-deaf. Then again, this is one soundtrack I know real well, and I love what you've done with it, Nutri.
I really feel the scope of the remix, the word epic certainly describes it well. The name describes it well, too. The arrangement is pwnsome. It's all pwnsome.
- Rozovian on February 9, 2009
- gandalf0987 on February 9, 2009
