OCR03955 - *YES* Chrono Trigger "Monstrosity/Abhorrence"

[Gario]

Contact Information

• Your ReMixer name: Magnetic Ether
• Your real name: Karlyn Singh
• Your email address: 
• Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile: 22769

Submission Information

• Name of game(s) arranged: Chrono Trigger
• Name of arrangement: Monstrosity/Abhorrence
• Name of individual song(s) arranged: Magus Confronted
• Link to the original soundtrack: https://youtu.be/zVvTCIOyVik

 

I thought Magus' theme would lend itself well to doom metal and I was right. As always Electric Wizard, Blood Ceremony and many other doom bands are big inspirations for my work. I actually first started working on this several years ago and gave up on it a few times when things weren't going as I hoped. I'm just really glad that I was finally able to finish it!

 

The source usage in the arrangement is pretty straightforward - the only thing to note is that I used the first few notes of Lavos' Theme in a couple of places in addition to the main source material. And lyrically the song is about Magus' struggles with his hatred for Lavos as he prepares to confront and kill it. 

 

Lyrics:

 

Anathema upon our world

A quiet apathy deep within

Thy destorted mind sees beyond

Our fragile lives of porcelain

 

I feel the wind blowing through eternity

Its cold breath on my anxious soul

 

Come from

Beyond

Anything

We've known

Its coming

I feel it

Awaken

The black wind howls

 

There's no escape from time and space

There's no escape from your own hate

 

Breathing...

Coming

It's coming

I feel it

It's coming

 

[Liontamer]

Great job keeping the Magus theme in play (along with the Lavos cameos) for practically all of the arrangement.

From a production standpoint, I would have liked this to sound less lossy and lacking in high end. To me, it muds together to some extent, but it's grungy and potentially more of a personal taste thing; it's certainly nothing meaningfully dinging this on a production level, and the intensity's there while the instruments & part-writing remain distinct enough.

Cool, dark stuff, and we definitely don't have anything like this style of rock on the site yet. Nice work, Karlyn!

YES

[MindWanderer]

Very nice doom metal, indeed.  It doesn't try to do as much as your Cat Lady arrangement, and as a result it's cleaner and more coherent.  You continue to improve, and this is well worth a post.

YES

[Sir_NutS]

First off: thank you for reminding me of Blood Ceremony.  I used to listen to them for a while quite a few years ago and somehow completely forgot they existed.  They're pretty awesome.  Your mix here is pretty awesome too.  The arrangement is not that transformative but there's more than enough personalization of the themes and through your excellent adaptation I think you managed to turn it into something else, somethng a bit more evil sounding even.  The performances are good so no issues from me on that front.

So i don't have many qualms about the arrangement, but on the production side I think some more polish would've been welcomed.  The track is drowning in the lows a bit, could use some air and brightness.  And I know this sounds counter to something in the style of doom metal, but I don't think a bit more clarity and brightness in the high frequencies would've taken out from the experience.  The vocals are also pretty low and lack clarity and a bit of power.  Production is the weak point of this track but it doesn't detract from it too much.

Nice Work.

YES

[Rexy]

I definitely can't fault the arrangement either.  It's evident and present for the entire track, whether it be:

• The source's chord progression used in multiple ways - modification into a key groove (0:00-1:24), done straight during the first breakdown (1:34-2:15) and the climax before the second  (3:06-3:27)
• Playing the melody straight on top of the transformed chord sequences, sometimes accompanying the vocals and sometimes as its own guitar solo
• The acoustic breakdown at 3:27 which covers melody B then builds into a heavier variant immediately after
• And of course the pair of Lavos cameos as mentioned in the write-up.

Interestingly, the estimated tempo of 95 BPM makes me see it more as a groove metal arrangement rather than doom metal, and even then the genre's conventions served as a robust framework for all of these interpretive ideas and solid performances.

Part of the production did leave me feeling confused, however.  I can hear your non-vocal instruments just fine despite the muddy overlap, yet the vocals themselves feel quiet in the mix.  I get it - part of the appeal behind growled metal vocals is that the casual listener can't figure out what they're saying, but its position in the mix took that note a little bit too far for my taste.  When approaching similar works for the future, it'll be a good idea to push them up further and let others feel what you're growling out.

Nevertheless, it's a raw performance with a transformative arrangement, and the production values aren't as strong but still satisfactory in my book.  It won't be a popular mixpost based on the vocal style, but it'll be representative for a genre less explored.  Nice going!

YES

Edited July 6 by Rexy