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OCR01233 - Shining Force "Armageddon"


djpretzel
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(Thanks to Gray for telling me it was finally up. I've been waiting for this for a while)

A drastic departure from Mr. Lightning's usual style of mixing, Armageddon perhaps the best mix he has created to date. I have listened in on his WIPS recently and noticed his style grow more towards film score orchestral, and if this mix is any indicator of whats to come, then...well, it's a hell of an indicator. Gray has taken this theme and turned it into a dark, evil barrage of terror that builds up to an almost orgasmic peak. His use of Voices of the Apocalypse, as well as his pounding precussion elevate this mix to a professional level; this is the good stuff. DJP was right; you could dub this over Howard Shore's score to LOTR, during the Orc scenes, and it would fit perfectly.

Gray's use of precussion has improved vastly over his previous mix. I really can't find ANYTHING wrong with this. Highly recommended. Excellent work!

Edit: embarrassing edit.

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Upon first listen, i really didn't hear any obvious SF theme in it. But maybe I'll have to play the game again. Most of the mixes that show up on here i download if i've played the game, and most of the mixes i can hear the themes without the game BGMs. This one is a puzzle for me. Apart from that, it sounds incredable! I'm reminded of the boss sequence in Panzer Dragoon : Orta for some reason. Must be the chorus and the dark ominous drums near the end. Great transitions even tho they only last a few seconds. This song should come with a film.

EDIT: The reason i couldn't hear the theme is because you only hear it in SF a single time (assuming you play the last battle once). So I guess it just didn't stick with me as the song i will remember from this game. But yeah. still awesome.

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Once again, I'm late to review.

Sorry 'bout this Gray, but the review was put on the back seat for some site administration stuff... Had to get that out of the way...

Now, it's time for me to review this song. :)

It's been quite a while since this song was finished... You were pumping out remixes every few days (no joke) when this song came out, it's incredible that you were able to make this over 50 midi tracks in only a few days... Almost unbelievable, really. I might not believe it myself if I hadn't gotten to hear a few other versions of this song and how fast you were working. I guess an artist's drive can do some amazing things...

Anyways, I'm gonna search for the track from SF since someone said they could not hear the original in this. I remember listening to the original when you first sent me a WIP...

Okay, Dark Sol's battle song... Hehe, now that I listen to the original, it sounds rather pathetic compared to what Gray has done with this song. You can find a midi of the original here.

Back to the review...

The remix starts out great. It sounds very much like from out of a movie, and there's definitely a lot of tension building in the song. The choral sections are incredible, not just because of great samples, but because someone with experience (GrayLightning) is using them the right way.

Around 0:45, the song takes a break from the high amounts of tension for a bit. The chorus takes the lead for a bit, with some brass, woodwinds, and some strings coming in, not to mention some chromatic percussion. The complexity in this song is insane, making anything that uses 50 midi tracks is time consuming. Making something with 50 tracks that's nearly 4 minutes long, where every second of it sounds incredible is just amazing. I can't believe how short a time this was done in...

Strings pick up where the choral section leaves off, building once again. It then transitions directly into a much calmer and new agish section of the song. As the volume increases though, you know something is going to happen. The intensity picks back up, and and the deeper percussion comes back in with the short choral bits and those amazingly complex string sections...

The percussion to this piece is incredible, and really adds to the feel of the song. Listening to the song is sending chills down my spine. GrayLightning is a master of building, and ends it off perfectly.

There's not a thing that I can think of that I don't like about this song, and it's so far beyond what I ever dream of doing, that I can't find any flaws either. An amazing piece from GrayLightning, a MUST download. Even if you're not a fan or orchestral cinematic stuff, you should take a listen just to try and pick up every single track playing at the same time, it's amazing how everything goes together even with how complex the piece is. Definitely a benchmark in Gray's remixing career, I am excited just thinking of what GrayLightning has in store for all of us.

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I have always loved the music in the Shining Force Series. Every tune I heard in the game I could hum to myself later that day or even several days later. GrayLightning has recreated this experience for me. I think I will be humming this rather than the original now :)

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This is probality one of the best orchestral mixes on the site. Its sounds like a battle song maybe. Anyways the choir ahhhs sound really good. But my favorite part is the miltary style percussion. Great work grey I will be looking out for your stuff in the future.

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WoW just WOW ... GL's most ambitious enterprise undertaken sofar im sure :o

I loved the military drumming mixed with the choir chants , VERY PROFESSIONAL indeed.

Would be quite difficult to bypass this remix ,or top it oneself... GL is known for making magic here after all.

I havent played the game but as usual know a great remix when its heard , and this ROCKS 8)

And it makes me think about the Leoric theme from Diablo II ,because of the evolving military drums.

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Gotta say that this is by far my favorite Orchestrated theme from Graylightning. I love the flow of the entire piece, it starts off great and manages to maintain the momentum till the end, very very smooth. My favorite part of the piece is definitely how he used the choir sounds, WOW! The strings are really good to.

Too bad there weren't any phat tekno beats along with samples like: "You make me feel soo goood, feel sooo good."

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