Jay-Zig

Wow, at first I was worried that this was gonna be really gimmicky but I stand corrected. This is actually one of the better Zelda remixes out there! Excellent job, oh so very creative.

Wow, I jumped right into this song without reading anything about it and was floored when it shifted gears from going to what seemed like another metal remix to a blazing ska entry. To be honest I thought it sounded a little disjointed at first and maybe in a few other spots but perhaps I have my own aforementioned expectations to blame for feeling that way. Otherwise, this is a fun, inspired, and truly original entry adding some much appreciated diversity to OC. May not be everyone's cup of tea but highly recommended by me anyways.

I am purely a listener and fan of much of the music offered here at OC Remix, so I am not going to act like I knew Reuben Kee or his family. However, I knew his music and I respect what he did in such a short time in this world. I may have had no impact on Reuben's life, but the fact that I frequently listen to his works and take them with me quite often is a testament to what he was able to accomplish and contribute. With all respect to everyone who contributes to OC Remix, truly, one of the best artists has been lost. Know Reuben that your music is still in the hearts and minds of even the most casual fans.

This is pretty ridiculous sounding. I think there are much better choices out there to rap over if you're going to use videogame music as your basis. The track sounds incredibly thin with little to no bass and some of the elements are just bizarre sounding. I would say the vocal style sounds like hardcore more than rap. Kind of like 25 Ta Life or E-Town Concrete meets a midi file. I guess I was irked right off the bat though when this was described as rap and then the vocals didn't kick in for a long time, making things pretty tedious. The rap presentation should be worked on a bit too. There was no swagger coming across in the vocals. They just sounded kind of flimsy and weak. I hate to be so negative but I think laying down beats may be the composer's calling, but he should keep the rapping to himself.

I loved the minibosses work with Super Mario Bros. 2 so was really looking forward to something even more special with what I'd consider superior base music to work with. Sadly, I was disappointed with this medley. While I like the raw sound (someone compared it to Iron Maiden, which is pretty accurate), the pace of all the cues except for "Bloody Tears" is achingly slow adding to what another reviewer summed up as "garage band sounding". Very true yet again. The instrumentation is well done, especially when picking up those difficult notes in the town theme, but it sounds like the band purposely slowed things down to make the first cues easier to manage. Yes, there's nothing neccessarily wrong with that but part of what makes the CastleVania music great is its ability to work in those devilish little overtones while still moving at a brisk pace, implying the impending mood of doom. So slowing down the bpm kind of killed the mood persay of the original cues. Bloody Tears was great however. I was disappointed in my hopes that the band would work in some keyboards but the one guitar did an excellent job of creating a sharp, impactful sound, filling in the place of a cathedral organ that one would expect in CastleVania music. This would've been great if it were sped up a bit. But all in all, a passable effort.

The electric guitar kicking in ruined it for me. I would absolutely love to hear an arranged version of Shadow's theme so I was buzzing when I came across this, and was getting ready to save this file up until about a minute in when the distorted, electric guitar kicked in. I understand that the point of this site is not to copy, and the more remixs I've listened to, the more open my mind has become, but the distorted guitar sounded out of tune and out of place. I say distorted, but I really think the guitar could've used a lot of echo and been played a lot less staccato. The staccato notes sound almost like you're using only one string on the guitar and almost kills the long, brooding mood. I don't want to be too harsh because the first minute or so is stellar stuff and the effort is there. Plus, I like the idea of using guitars for Shadow's theme, but this missed the mark for me.

"Forever Rachel" is one of my favorite tracks from Final Fantasy III/VI so I was overjoyed to find an orchestral interpretation of it and this fit the bill. While I can be very particular, I also liked the inclusion of "Celes's Theme". However, unfourtantly whether it was intentional or not, you missed the accidental in Celes's Theme (aka. Aria Di Mezzo...). I believe the wrong note occurs at like 2:33 in the song. It seems that a lot of remixers miss this as well when they cover Celes's theme and I too realized I was missing the accidental as well for a long period of time when I used to play this on the piano. So yes, it's only one note, but that one accidental magnifies the drama of the Celes/Opera piece so much. Listen for it next time and then listen to a version that misses the note and you'll know what I'm talking about. Well now that that's out of my system, this is still a great piece and the brooding, yet hopeful mood of "Forever Rachel" was perfectly snared. At least an 8 out of 10 for me when "scoring" this piece.

Simply put, this may very well be the best track on this entire site. You can almost see right before your eyes images from a "Final Fantasy VII" movie when listening to this, as Cloud and Barrett run through secluded streets of Midgar heading towards the looming factory. I felt the beginning was a little rushed... as far as complaints go that is all. Absolutely amazing.

Well, I can't say I was that into the intro/outro skits, not really my sense of humor, and the principal at my high school was one of those "Dead Poet Society" kind of guys, who was all down with student activities and the like. I know my viewpoint on the humor in this track seems to be unpopular on the forum, but I found it a bit annoying. However, I definitely respect the effort to try something original and dig the creativeness. And whoever made that "Don Knotts" comparison, to quote "My Cousin Vinny": Dead on balls accurate. All that aside, really enjoyed this piece. A very faithful, yet unique, rendition of the original track. This really captured the breezy feel of the original while still applying an original tone to it. Don't know if that made much sense, but simply put, I liked the song. Know that!

Wow, this one has really grown on me. When it comes to music from a game like the Final Fantasy series I'm usually disappointed if the remix is not orchestral, but this really captivated me. The twinkling piano interlude is priceless and the wind sound effect creates a nice tone and mood instead of coming off as gimmicky. I really dig the inclusion of the beta sounding main riff, which has enough alterations done to it to truly make it this piece's own. This is probably the most unoffensive song I've ever heard off of this site, as I could find myself listening to this on repeat for hours while working and not be hindered by it. Just great stuff all around. An "A" grade for sure.