ReMix:Castlevania "Children of the Wicked" 3:30

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! We've got ANOTHER triple-mixpost to celebrate the annual Quest for Cavities - what is this, OverClocked THREEMIX!?! See, 'cause it rhymes w/ "ReMix"...right, up first is BONKERS (Nicholas Steven Perry) who follows up his FF1 debut from back in June with this Vampire Variations metal arrangement of one of the original Castlevania's most notorious source tunes:

"I'll begin with how I got lined up to do this song for Vampire Variations! :p Flash back to Late August of this year. During regular discussions over on the shizz about various general non-spoiler stuff about the project as a whole, Chernabogue (The Project Head and an awesome guy all around) posts about "The Dual Dragons" Having to drop doing Wicked Child due to a busy schedule.(They ended up doing 2 songs, "Heart of Fire" and "Walking on the Edge", I suggest you go check them out!) Me, being the DARING risk taker I am, say "Oh god, I know i'm gonna regret this.But, I'll take it."

Looking back on it, Castlevania is HUGELY important to me. In middle school I would spend hours at the public library browsing sites like "The Castlevania Dungeon" and "Mr.P's Castlevania Realm". And I am absolutely certain that if I had never been introduced to Castlevania back when I was still just a toddler on the NES, that I would not be here writing this today to submit to you guys on OCR. I never would've had the gall to get interested in music in the same way that I am today.(Though many other things play a big part in that role too) I wouldn't be who I am, I would venture that I would probably be incredibly ignorant and immature among other things. Hell i'd probably already have a kid and who knows where i'd be. I owe nearly all of who I am to staying home and playing video games growing up instead of going out and becoming a trouble maker, doing things like smoking pot, going to jail and all that junk like many people I knew growing up did."

If that isn't a ringing endorsement for the profound effect video games, and apparently Castlevania in particular, can have on the youth of today, I don't know what is. It's almost like Konami should have marketed the game to parents with a tagline: "CASTLEVANIA: KEEP YOUR KIDS OUT OF JAIL". But I jest; it's seriously very cool that this game had such an impact on the artist, and it shines through not only in the brute force energy but also the quieter, slower breakdown bits. Things open hard & fast, with some truly wicked (as advertised) slides on the electric guitar lead, until at 0'45" the arrangement pivots unexpectedly into a slower groove, before spiralling back into the stratosphere at 1'03" - it's abrupt, to be sure, but kinda cool how Mr. Perry plays the fast-and-slow game AND the loud-and-quiet game at the same time. This arrangement isn't about your personal comfort, so it more or less tricks you into a false sense of complacency before pouncing on you again... LIKE A VAMPIRE MIGHT!! Okay, had to stretch for that one a tad, but you get the gist. Production is a little raw but the energy is there and control is maintained amidst the tumultous carriage ride. KUDOS to BONKERS for being brave & brazen on tempo changes, packing a ton of ideas & expression into 3'29" AND for putting a distinct spin on a familiar favorite!