ReMix:Final Fantasy V "Vessel of the Void" 3:35

By zircon

Arranging the music of one song...

"Supreme Lord Exdeath"

Primary Game: Final Fantasy V (Square , 1992, SNES), music by Nobuo Uematsu

Posted 2010-09-10, evaluated by djpretzel


"Exdeath" sorta sounds like something a bitter ex-girlfriend wishes upon you, or vice-versa, but in this case it's FF5's villain extraordinaire. He's large, he's in charge, and he's got armor with shoulder spikes that could kill a man AND serve as shish-kebab skewers for a subsequent post-mortem BBQ. So who better to channel his vile villainosity than zircon, with some large-scale electronica warfare? Shariq writes:

"zircon really came through for me at the end with Exdeath’s theme. After going through a lot of different artists, I finally asked Andy to give me a hand and knock out a mix for Final Fantasy V’s Big Bad. What I got was nothing short of amazing; a wonderfully frantic, high energy electronic piece with wicked synths and crazy beats that really drives home that sense of looming darkness."

This theme's musical chairs definitely delayed the album's release, but I think Andy's 11th hour addition to the roster was a VERY good thing; at first I remember him compainin' cause he couldn't get into the source material, but somewhere along the line he found his groove and developed a ReMix that breathes inspiration & sweats dedication. He writes:

"Shariq asked me to join the FF5 project at the last minute to cover this track, which was the only one not completed at the time. At first, I wasn't too enthusiastic about the theme, since I never beat FF5 and didn't really spend a lot of time listening to the soundtrack. In fact, for the first week or two I spent working on the remix, I was having a very hard time thinking of anything interesting or exciting to match the ominous source. However, once I found the perfect drums, lead and chord sounds for the 'hook', everything started coming together and I got really pumped about polishing and finishing the mix!

The final sound is very dark, thick and heavy, with a pretty dissonant and distorted intro utilizing lots of FM synths. This might be the heaviest remix I've done yet with some obvious inspiration from the DNB group Pendulum as well as OC ReMixers AE and tefnek. It's so beastly that it takes about 5 full seconds to buffer before playing back the chorus - and that's exactly what a villain as evil as Exdeath deserves.

One last bit of trivia - I originally wanted to name this mix 'Deadwood', but Shariq wouldn't let me :P"

Big beats thunder under the demonic, LFO-induced vibrato of screaming leads as the large, locomotive groove plows ever-forward; it's got the scope, scale, and thrust to conjure an epic endgame quite effectively, so kudos to Andy for coming through and perservering until he found an angle that completely & totally worked.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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timaeus222
on 2013-07-15 19:30:09

Heyheyhey, I didn't say anything about this yet? What?

The bass is amazing in this ReMix. The ever-so-slight muddiness doesn't phase me at all. There's just too much epicness in the perfect sound selection to balance it all out.

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Crulex
on 2012-09-18 09:49:56

Hard, dark, evil, powerful, aggressive.....so many different ways to describe this ReMix of Exdeath. I'm open to lots of genres for ReMixes, but I really love it, especially for villain and battle themes, when the track goes all out in a fierce way, which Zircon pulls off here. Awesome DNB mix and another win for the bad guys.

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Emunator
on 2010-12-11 03:21:52

Pretty much the best thing to come out of The Fabled Warriors, in my opinion. While this isn't necessarily new turf for Andy, I do feel like this is one of the tracks on the album to offer something that sounded totally new in terms of sound design. Shreddage is pushed pretty far here and I think it works perfectly in context, and it works great with those screaming leads.

Gritty, aggressive, fast and hard-hitting, this is what I like to hear from Zircon :-D

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Mirby
on 2010-09-21 02:28:36

I thought the Black Mages only did Neo EXDeath's battle theme... this is a different source track, merodi.

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melody
on 2010-09-17 01:48:22

puts the black mages version to shame

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Nutritious
on 2010-09-14 12:09:57

Great stuff from zirc here. Very agressive and dark - fitting for a final boss theme. Liked the textures used here, especially the ending chord which the hit/organ/guitars/etc. Just has a cool "sound promo" (see: THX) feel to it. Only flaw is it leaves you wanting more.

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Mustin
on 2010-09-14 09:07:22

This mix is amazing! The quality is through the roof. I'm totally impressed. Great work!

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Mirby
on 2010-09-13 02:26:13

Umm... it's drums bass. hence why there's not much other than drums... and bass...

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Master_Yoshi
on 2010-09-13 02:05:12

Wasn't really feeling this mix.

I think the issue is that it feels like it's lacking in the polish department. It feels really dark and oppressive, which is fantastic, but also seems to lack clarity in the sound texturing. At some points I forget about what is happening with the bass as the lead just... leads on. And since there is pretty much just that one synth and some strings to accompany it, there's not really much.

Although, to be honest, this does sound about right for Ex-Death. I mean, the muddy and sometimes chaotic feeling bass representing the void, the strings representing.... yeah, you get the point.

Still, not bad. Good take on the tune, just was expecting more.

*Edit*

I listened to this on some headphones that cost more than 30 bucks... And now I can hear it. So yeah, I pretty much take that back, other than the part where I wasn't really feeling it. Meh, just not my thang, although the quality is awesome and it does exactly what it sets out to do.

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a_d
on 2010-09-13 02:02:27

Zircon? Thanks to Shreddage, Sixto now lives in your computer. Too much powuh, my friend :dstrbd:

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Admiral_C
on 2010-09-11 04:30:39

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exdeath#Exdeath

Deadwood would have made such a great title... (It might have even gotten me to reinstall HoN for a couple more smackdowns with everyone's favorite tree)

Awesome Mix. I've always liked Exdeath's theme and this piece definitely does it justice. Well done.

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Rob C!
on 2010-09-11 01:59:36

SICK synth solo!!!

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Jhawk
on 2010-09-10 23:06:18

This is what im talking about Zircon this awesomeness :-Pgood work son

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OA
on 2010-09-10 15:52:08

The only thing that would make this remix completely perfect is a more climactic ending. It's close, but not completely there. Everything else is absolutely sick. Hard beats that aren't overly busy, and some really subtle details that make the theme sound even more badass.

Really intense songcraft by Zircon; it's awesome.

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Dhsu
on 2010-09-10 15:34:05

ExDeath mid is OP.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Final Fantasy V (Square , 1992, SNES)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu
Songs:
"Supreme Lord Exdeath"

Tags (4)


Genre:
Mood:
Aggressive,Dark
Instrumentation:
Electronic,Synth
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Final_Fantasy_5_Vessel_of_the_Void_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
6,243,797 bytes
MD5:
b9d7e3bfe30ac6ea1c1ca9f79afe3e4d
Bitrate:
228Kbps
Duration:
3:35

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