OCR04791 - *YES* Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow & Metroid Fusion "The Heart of Atlantis"

[Liontamer]

Artist Name: Lucas Guimaraes ft. Ridleysnipes, Zack Parrish & JSABlixer

Lucas Guimaraes - Arrangement, Chiptune sounds
Ridleysnipes - Drums, Keys, Mix
Zack Parrish - Guitars, Bass
JSABlixer - Chiptune sounds

I've blocked this track from my memory because of COVID and my dislike for Metroid Fusion and Aria of Sorrow's soundtrack, so I can't even do a source breakdown unless you all really need it. Rest assured, there is a ton of Sector 4 and Heart of Fire in there.

Ever heard of the phrase "A monkey could write Shakespeare?" Well, what if your arrangement happened midway through by throwing water at your keyboard? Or accidentally setting your computer on fire before saving your next version? So, uh, funny story about this one.

I joined GSM2 as an endeavor to practice my strong and weak points with music making and hoh golly. The first week of doing this I got COVID with coming back from MAGFest. So, that wasn't a great start. To make things worse, Matt (Xaleph) and Wes (Emunator) hopped on the tracks they wanted QUICKLY. So I got stuck with these... sources. I was swapping out a lot of different arrangements. At some point, Trevor (Ridleysnipes) suggested lowering the tempo and Zack Parrish agreed. I gave it a shot but wanted to leave the MIDI around for everyone to fudge with so they could see what sections they had an issue with it. I sent out two MIDI versions, one at 190 BPM and an updated one at 170 BPM.

...and then it happened. The first time ever in one of my arrangements.

Zack already started recording at 190 BPM. I didn't realize he'd opened the older MIDI until it was too late. We were on limited time, so we stuck to that.  So yeah, that's how my keyboard got water thrown at it midway. And what we ended up with was an absolute assault on the ears. Complete (controlled) chaos just ensued past that point. This arrangement goes balls to the walls all over the place. Taking influence from Yes, Tool, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Avenged Sevenfold and Deep Purple. Hoh my god. But that's part of what's been making VGM so much fun for me; taking music I love listening to and mashing it up with the games I love. Learning from my favorite artists on both aisles.

I'll be sure to kill Zack's fingers again another time - Just not on accident. Haha.

P.S. hey Shariq (DarkeSword)? I still hate Metroid Fusion. there ain't even a Kraid theme in there. Like what? Get outta here!

Games & Sources

Castlevania Aria of Sorrow - Heart of Fire

Metroid Fusion - Sector 4

[prophetik music]

starts out with octave riffs. 0:20's addition of the upper octave sounds great with the arps under it, and then it really hits at 0:29. total band sound is great. 0:50's back and forth conversational lead work was a good idea to keep it moving and not be solely guitar-dominated. 1:10 shows it's not a castlevania remix without some descending arpeggiated elements played by an organ, and that section serves as a bit of a break. it navigates some solo work and then has the conversational section again.

2:13's half-time section is again well-timed to provide a bit of a break from the faster, heavier first two minutes. this goes back into a third conversational section, which is probably too many times to go back to the well for the same thing. around here i noticed that the drums overall are pretty consistently the same and outside of fills were not really doing a lot of unique stuff. the switch to double-time at 2:51 though was a nice change though and then the subsequent double pedal stuff was also fun. the track changes yet again at 3:23 and it noodles a bit until it's done.

great playing by zach on this one for sure. lots of fun back and forth. i think it ran out of ideas a bit near the end with the third back-and-forth and the end being so different from the rest, but overall it's a fun romp between the two themes. nice work.

 

 

YES

[Liontamer]

Cool opening; you just know this is gonna rock. Pretty good for the lead arranger hating the source games, Lucas. :-D

YES

[Hemophiliac]

Arrangement is solid, production is ace, guitar is great, and the drum writing is impressive (especially the double pedaling towards the end of track).

I really like the inclusion of the organ as well. The only thing I didn't like about that was the for the dropping into another lower octave such as 1:05-1:08.  It's in that crunchy/low contributes to an unclear mix range. I get the idea of changing octaves as a means to change up the melody (which is good), but it's just the range it goes to is not as nice.  Though, in the end it doesn't affect my vote as it's a minor gripe.

YES

[Chimpazilla]

Guitars sound awesome right out of the gate.  Drums are excellent when they enter.  Everything sounds clear to me, mixing is working well.  The halftime section is a perfect break from the action, then the doubletime section really rocks!.  Great arrangement, lots of great writing and drum variation, great performances, really solid mix.  Easy vote!

YES