ReMix:Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time "Rock the Plank" 4:37

COWABUNGA!!

I'm proud to announce the release of OCR's 47th FREE community arrangement album, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shell Shocked!! Check it out, grab the torrent, watch the trailer, and PLEASE help us spread the news! Album director Kyle "KyleJCrb" Crouse of KNGI writes:

"Shell Shocked is a tribute to the Super NES classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time and its Sega Genesis equivalent, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist. Turtles in Time in particular is a special game for me, serving as my introduction to the Turtles as well as the awesome beat-'em-up game genre. When conceptualizing Shell Shocked, I wanted to capture what I had imagined as a hard rock sound in the music of the original game. The Turtles themselves have always been steeped in the culture of the 80's and early 90's and have a bit of that era's playful cheesiness, so I wanted to reflect that in an album that had a hard edge but didn't take itself too seriously.

For the remixer lineup, I reached out to artists who I felt would best capture my vision. I recruited from the talent pools of OverClocked ReMix and the Dwelling of Duels remix competition, as well as newcomers and veterans alike from outside of those communities. Despite having a heavy rock and metal influence, the album is packed with variety, with arrangement styles ranging from power metal, punk, progressive synth, glam metal, jazz fusion, blues rock, funk, and even some Vanilla Ice-inspired rap rock.

I want to thank the remixers for exceding my expectations and contributing to what I consider to be the finest album I have directed, as well as Nate "FoxxDragon" Horsfall for the spectacular album art. As for the album itself, I hope you're ready: it's time to get SHELL SHOCKED!"

It is indeed; I grew up on the original animated TMNT series, and later read the decidedly darker original series of graphic novels by Eastman & Laird. And yes, I'm putting my integrity as a human being out there on a limb a bit here, but I confess that I actually WAITED IN LINE at the cinematic debut of none other than The Secret of the Ooze, featuring Vanilla Ice. Go ninja, go ninja... go. I would have been... ten years old, at the time. Old enough to know better, but too young to care, clearly. But I digress; short story shorter, Kyle has rounded up a badass crew of arrangers and musicians and put together a rousing, aggressive rock/metal tribute to some of the best 16-bit VGM ever.

Up first with our introductory flood are Stemage and Viking Guitar with a rocking & rolling take on "Skull & Crossbones" - back in 2004, SnappleMan thrashed the plank, and now Grant & VG have rocked it. Hard. Moral of the story? Don't be a plank. Stemage writes:

"It doesn't take much to make TMNT rock any more than it already does. The original idea was to go more "pirate" with this track, but I have no idea what that even means. Regardless, it did not pan out. Skull & Crossbones just rocks too hard.

The eventual goal was to adhere to a standard "pop" structure and leave room for a fun Rush-like solo as a bridge. There were many more arrangement ideas that were purged to keep the song short and rockin'. Viking Guitar and I have been trading leads for years, so it seemed appropriate to bring him on for a guitar paddle battle. He played all lead guitar except for our back-and-forth solo bit and some harmonies. Slide in a few modulations, tack on a heavy outro, throw in some extra penicillin, and we have our poop deck pizza party theme song."

With all the AC4 and Black Sails pirate-buzz about lately, a more "pirate" approach could have been fun, but we've got the legendary "Pirate Shout" for that (thanks, Jay), and I'm definitely feeling this more traditional but facemeltingly fun approach. I'm reminded of the time Grant, Dom, Larry, Kroze, Dan & I all posed with a life-size turtle bus at PAX - see "BTMNTBAMLOL" for more. With running, Barracuda-style rhythm guitar chugs, soaring leads, powerchords, divebombs, and all manner of fretted heroism, this is definitely a guitar-lover's dream, more hard-rock than metal, with some VERY meaty drums. Overall, a brilliant gate-opener into the world of Shell Shocked, with energy, craftsmanship, and mojo that well represents the larger effort. Pizza time? Hell yes... order a pie, grab a slice, and let Kyle & co. introduce you to TMNT like you've never heard it before!