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OCR01317 - Castlevania II "Cursed Bloodline"


djpretzel
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Edited

I like this remix a lot. Especially, the opening riff. Although, I think they bring it back too often, it's definitely a shining example of a good thrash metal riff and it's a fun alternate picking exercise. Actually, this is one of the very first remixes I ever heard from this site, and hopes that there would be more like it is one of the main reasons I stuck around so much. I've been playing this song on my guitar since that time and it's a pretty tough challenge to play it perfectly without letting any noise ring out. Going to a riff that's in 7/4 time made me freaking happy. I love unusual time signatures. In fact, if ANYTHING should become a staple of the metal genre, it ought to be unusual time signatures. That would make metal as a whole more interesting and maybe even attract more of the "big perky music head" types.

METAL!

^________________________^

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Thought I'd post this here instead of the review thread

[the structure of Cursed Bloodline] basically all boils down to: Intro-Verse-Chorus-Intro-Verse-Chorus-Intro-Solo section-Chorus-Intro
That can be said of a great majority of popular songs with lyrics from any genre. Considering this, I don't see how you can consider the song overly repetitive.
THIS SONG IS TOO REPETITIVE and I still can't believe that all the judges praised the structure so much
If your major gripe is that the judge's praise of the structure being "very nice" or "brilliant" is undeserved, I can go along with that. The structure, imo, is exactly what I'd expect for this type of song (regardless of genre). No more, no less.
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There's a difference between repeated use of a single musical phrase and following a form.
Unless following the form calls for repeated use of a musical phrase :)see definitions of chorus and verse
There's a difference between repeated use of a single musical phrase and following a form.
There's also a difference between use and overuse. What I was saying is that I don't think the repetition that exists in this mix has been overused. Esp where the site standards are concerned. see Zircon's post above
There's a difference between repeated use of a single musical phrase and following a form.
True, but is this mix an example of repeating a musical phrase verbatim and to the song’s detriment? No. As Zircon and others have pointed out, there are variations throughout each repetition of the musical sections. This is especially true when considering the vocals/lyrics/whatever which cannot be ignored because, like it or not, they are in the song. Besides, there have been other great remixes which are far closer to being overly repetitive than this one. see all 6:10 min of Dirty Sam
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Dude, CHIPP, how can you consider this song more repetitive than 90% of other non-progressive metal bands you indubitably listen to? Even if you take a look at absolute classics like Slayer's Angel of Death or Metallica's Battery you'll find the song structure is an incredibly simple Verse/Chorus/Bridge build-up.

Just because YOU like to write songs that constantly segue into new sections throughout doesn't mean that anyone who doesn't do so is being exceedingly repetitive. For me, part of a songs inherent 'catchiness' comes from the repetition of certain sections, which gives the listener a chance to 'grasp' the song. The minor variations and instrumental additions/changes during the repeated sections (which Cursed Bloodline makes more than enough use of) can still give enough of a forward drive to the song, without going overboard. Don't tell me Dream Theater is more fun to bang your head to than some dirty old Thrash Metal Classic. =P

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Well, I think Tensei san and Zircon said it the best. Yes, Zircon, I do harshly criticize the amount of repetitions (in general, not compared with OCR standards) that is apparently a standard in popular music. . . Simply because I think it's too much and this is something about popular music that has always bothered me. Hahaha.

And yes, Tensei, you are right that this song is NOT more repetitive than most of the other metal I listen to, but that doesn't mean that I like it. I constantly listen to new metal albums and then when something comes back for the third time, I'm like, "Why did they have to bring that back again?!" Hahaha. But you definitely said it the best when you said that I shouldn't be expecting everyone else to make all their songs have a million parts, just because that's how I like to make music. It's still more repetitive than I'D like but I'm gonna stop knit-picking now.

By the way, I don't think that it shouldn't have been passed. I just don't agree with all the praise thrown at the structure of the piece. Here comes another big fat smiley!

^__________________________________________________________^

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Hmmmmm. Waaaaa. やっぱり。 The fact that this thread has been on my mind the entire time I was taking the dog for a walk means that I have, indeed made a mistake. So I guess it's time to apologize. There was no reason for me to say what I disagreed with in the way that I did. Instead of making that big long explanation, I should have just done one of those quick, one-liners that JJT and Vig often do. Then, maybe I wouldn't have been referred to as "busting someone's chops." And perhaps I wouldn't FEEL like I've been "busting someone's chops." That feels crappy for everyone probably. And actually, after Tensei's idea of "repetition of certain sections, which gives the listener a chance to 'grasp' the song." I'm starting to see a good thing in the way it comes back.

So, to Dennis Mott...

I'm sorry for tearing your remix up to shreds over just one negative aspect, especially when I love ALL the other aspects of it. What kind of review is that?!

And to Zircon and the judges...

I'm sorry for getting on your cases about giving praise where you did, just cause I thought it wasn't deserved.

I think I'll go and edit the previous posts later to reflect the "one-liner" philosophy because I think if Dennis Mott saw that, it'd only bum him out, which is not what I really want.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 5 months later...

So I finally decided to listen to this. I used to be that when the shuffle landed on that song, I would press next. I realized I wasn't being fair.

So I listened to it once. I rated it 3 stars on my ipod (which puts it in an occasionally listened to playlist). During the next song, I was kinda missing the energy. So I hit back.

I liked it more the second time around, because I could pick out elements more, and stop seeing the song as a whole.

So I listened to it a third time. And a fourth.

That was yesterday.

Today, I start up my ipod, it's this song again. I simply put it on repeat. I have been listening to it in a loop for about an hour now. Still not bored of it. I uped its rating to 5 stars.

I think the energy in this remix is what makes it a song I can listen to in a loop. The technical aspect is great, but where it shines is in the performance. And it is rare to see a performance oriented mix, most songs here are technical oriented songs.

All in all, I just have to say: I love this song.

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  • 8 months later...

Club Kukeiha is Club Kukeiha. Death metal or no, its going to have that Castlevania backbone that should make lovers of metal very satisfied and those who hate it mildly tolerant of it. And if you aren't a fan of Club... why?

I wouldn't class myself as a death metal fan, although I do like some of those heavy folk metal bands. People have said that this isn't melodic enough, but truly, I thought there was more than enough to carry the song. Having too complex a melody or introducing new variations too consistently combined with the surging power of the mix would be total overload and would be a mess of noise. As this stands, its just enough energy when those big wall of sound events happen, I think "Nice!" rather than "Ouch."

I mean, I couldn't listen to a 70 minute album of this stuff, but I do think that its a very welcome addition, and a benchmark for the encouraged diversity of the site. Great track, Dennis.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 6 months later...

I've been listening to a whole bunch of new remixes lately from games I've gotten into, and I've heard so many weird and interesting remixes, and this is one of them. I'm not a fan of death metal, but this was just so impressive. At first when I listened to it, I thought it was alright, but felt like I had missed something, so I listened to it again, then again, and I've been listening to it non-stop now. This is just incredible, I liked the 2nd verse the most though, I thought the verses were the best part of this song.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...

Now this has bloody written all over it, as in bloody fingers from rocking out so much, I can see skeletons in the mansions just falling to pieces from this hardcore version. Perhaps you could try Dwelling of Doom next? The change from 2:14 or so onward gives a legendary rock feeling, while the drums add the spikes to the morning star flavor. I agree that the lyrics are somewhat lost, they are fitting lyrics, maybe you could strengthen the vocals a tad or reduce the rest while they are going? Other then that, I'm happy to see this type of remix, CV was always metal to me, from the whip to the final stake in the coffin. Nice job Dennis Mott, you have a great direction with this type of music.

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I... completely missed this one for years. Being a heavy metal fan, myself, it's a damn shame I missed it.

You basically turned Castlevania into Death Metal. On here it's rock, perhaps; hell, even thrash, but death metal? It always surprises me how accepting OCR is to other genres. Great live performance, too - love to see the footage of the moshers kicking the crap outta each other in there, since I can assure you there were moshers to a song like this :twisted:.

It's good death metal - there's a lot of crap death metal out there (I mean a lot of crap death metal - in New Mexico, crap death metal is all the rave :x), but this is certainly one of the gems from the genre. Great work with this one!

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  • Liontamer changed the title to OCR01317 - Castlevania II "Cursed Bloodline"

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