OCR01014 - Castlevania III "Prelude to Darkness"

[DukeNukem007]

Amazing, best CV3 remix around; as much as I like PowerGoat's collection, most of the game's songs weren't meant for guitar, let alone the long freestyles he goes on; the orchestra style here is perfect.

There are downbeat, upbeat, etc. parts that flow neatly between each other...love it.

Both the plain NES and VRC6 versions were great and this takes both of them to a different level.

[Lucentas]

The brass in itself is my favorite part of this piece, that and the part right after the brass in the beginning where it starts to get tones of the opening theme of FFVII. Overall, it seems like the piece is building up to something that never really manifests, and I'd have loved to have seen some sort of climax to it.

But the brass is still awesome.

[Marmiduke]

Obviously, this is professional sounding and awesome to boot, but there were a few small things that stood out for me. My major concern was that it sounded like it was designed from the ground up to accompany some sort of video. It has a very scored sound, which isn't exactly a rushed sound, but it means it doesn't move between sections at its own time in keeping up with the visual material. Now this probably wasn't a scored mix, but I did get that impression that this would suit an opening introduction to a Soul Calibur game or something, with constantly shifting nature of the mix.

Even in saying that, the intro and certain parts sound very authentic and film-quality. Russel definately has a cinematic flair, and it is really apparent here. The woodwind is used so well, it really shows the emotional range of the instrument off. And of course, the organ. I'm a big fan of the organ/choir section; that made the mix for me.

Despite the busyness of the arrangement, the mix is something to be proud of.

[OceansAndrew]

Damn, I didn't know they made samples this nice in 2003.

Really good stuff, with nice balance and very natural phrasing. The transitions are a bit uneven- some work very well, but others seem forced and abrupt. Besides that though, everything else is quality work. Good textures, good phrasing, nice personalization.

[Liontamer]

On 6/25/2009 at 11:07 AM, OA said:

Damn, I didn't know they made samples this nice in 2003.

Man, tell me about it. Russell Cox is such a legend. My highlights were the delicate harp brought in at :37 & 3:23 -- which sounded incredible -- as well as the original brass flourishes at 2:03 and orchestral swell at 3:02 (which was garbled by the low encoding). Everything holds up pretty well today, and this one's a perfect example of a melodically conservative arrangement that's creatively expanded and given a substantial, personalized interpretation into a new genre. Amazing stuff!