OCR03986 - *YES* Super Metroid "The Loneliest Bounty Hunter in the Universe"

[Gario]

Please find my submission details below.

Contact Information

• Your ReMixer name - Pyrus
• Your real name – Andy Bryer
• Your email address – 
• Your website - https://www.youtube.com/user/pyrusFTSC/videos?shelf_id=0&view=0&sort=dd&view_as=subscriber
• Your user ID - 35471

Submission Information

• Name of game(s) arranged – Super Metroid
• Name of arrangement - The Loneliest Bounty Hunter in the Universe - [Lower Brinstar - Super Metroid Metal Cover]
• My submission YouTube link: 
• Name of individual song(s) arranged – Lower Brinstar theme – Super Metroid
• Link to the original soundtrack -  Super Metroid OST – Lower Brinstar -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj5DWB5a2n8

I never really played Super Metroid as a kid but I recently had a chance to play through it a bit. One of the first things I noticed was how atmospheric it was, and how depressingly lonely and hopeless it would feel to be Samus, on that planet - to be surrounded by nothing but peerless terrain and horrible aliens. I tried to capture some of that feeling in my composition. It is all my original arrangement; I played guitars, synthesized bass, drums, and other effects; and mixed and mastered everything myself. Unfortunately, YouTube has compressed the track slightly, so in some louder parts it is not quite as clear as I would like.

 

I hope you enjoy.

Kind regards,

 

 

[MindWanderer]

Note: I'm evaluating the SoundCloud version of this song instead of the YouTube one (or the one the submitter provided).  The one we got has indeed been compressed, or rather limited.  I'm not sure why we weren't given the superior version.  Worth following up on if we choose to post this.

A lot of it is conservative, and there are a lot of similar arrangements out there, but this does stand out in a few ways.  It does progress through different instrumental styles, and the breakdown in the middle is pretty great.

My big question is, at 9:28 long, does it have enough ideas to sustain it?  IMO, just.  The triplet that drives the backing does wear pretty old, but it comes and goes.  There are some sections that get repeated, but they're long sections repeated only once, so it doesn't feel repetitive to me.

It doesn't tread any new ground but it's a solid arrangement and performance.

YES (assuming access to and permission to use the uncompressed version)

[Liontamer]

Timing was slightly off at :58, but not a huge deal. Not a fan of the drum tone & kicks; there's no synergy there, e.g. 2:38-2:52 when they're even more prominent, but we'll move on. The guitar performance was solid though, as well as the vox accents.

4:04 switched the style up. Again not feeling some of the drums/kicks, which sounded somewhat random at times, but again, we'll live. The arrangement continues to be creative and interpretive, so the overall package has been good from the start.

Nice little piano accents between the melodic phrases first used at 5:56 (and heard more prominently at 6:10). Really good job as well keeping the textures varied (particularly with the verses) from iteration to iteration; it's inherently hard to justify 9 minutes in length, but already 2/3rds of the way in, I know this'll be just fine the whole way through.

While I took issues with some of the drum/percussion production in the first few minutes, the overall arrangement was very nicely personalized and varied, and the production was more than capable. Nice debut, Andy, welcome aboard!

YES

[Rexy]

Yeah, Youtube links aren't a great place to host submissions for us.  I'll give the benefit of the doubt, but please host it in a cloud drive or attach to your email in the future.

Anyway, the source treatment is mostly safe and conservative, but there's plenty of subtractive interpretation that makes it stand out.  And there's so many I'll need to dish out the bullet points again!

* The intro and first run-through use the source's elements straight with the drum and bass grooves controlling the pace, varying slightly as the rack goes on.
* The pitch-bending harmonies during the second run-through (2:52) are expressive and caught me off guard.
 *The slow chugging guitars at 4:18 added a more ominous tone to lead out of the track's first half.
* The section at 4:35 had a cool use of time signatures alternating 2 bars of 4/4 and a single bar of 7/4.
* 5:40 added a dramatic rising choir that gets revisited at 7:49.
* 6:07 has the stereo-shifting guitars on the upbeats forming an effective countermelody against the piano.
* The 7:09 section revisited ideas from the first and second iterations of the source along with the latter's harmonies.
* And 7:49 also had moments where the rhythm guitars would go into triplets and occasionally have an engaging gate effect at the same pace.

As heard, these ideas all come and go with one or two getting revisited.  With the source's familiar framework, it all ties in with enough ideas to fit this track's prog-rock feel.

Even the production doesn't pull any punches.  The instruments are easy to pick out, the guitars had so many tones they didn't outstay their welcome, and the performances are all clean and tight.  I do agree with Larry regarding the lead guitar's sloppy introduction at 0:57, but it corrected itself quickly, so I don't see it as a dealbreaker.  And I do sense inconsistent writing - notably in the first half - with the drums going back and forth between working with the other instruments and working independently.  But at the same time, it doesn't grow stale and adds to the arrangement's engaging nature.

Overall, this track pleasantly surprised me despite its insane length.  The performances are on point, there's plenty of interpretation to justify the framework, and the presentation is both clean and matches this vision of loneliness.  Impressive stuff, Andy!

YES

[Sir_NutS]

Wow, what a ride!.  This starts pretty atmospheric and chill, but evolves into some pretty hard-hitting progressive metal over time.  I could nitpick this track here and there but I think the only valid concern for me is the repetition.  The original isn't that long, and this remix extends for almost 10 minutes, so repetition is bound to happen but I think enough was done on the arrangement's side to keep this from feeling on autopilot.  It's almost 10 minutes but it really didn't feel like that, you took a lot of care in the slow buildup, building the motifs block by block until the (extended) climax at around 4:03.  

Great performances and clean production complete the package.

YES