Liontamer Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 Partners in crime: * AarekMG - https://ocremix.org/artist/18738/aarekmg - Tenor saxophones * DakotaCityRag - https://ocremix.org/artist/18730/dakotacityrag - Alto saxophone * minusworld - guitars, bass, VSTs, arrangement, production The remix no one asked for of a song no one heard in a game no one played! I present to you my arrangement of "Decisive Battle! Demon's Arena" from "Aa Harimanada" on the Sega Mega Drive: "Sumo Swagger". Dwelling of Duels just ran a competition in April 2024 for Sega Genesis and Mega Drive games. I never owned one. I remember playing Sonic 1 and Golden Axe 2? Maybe 3? I remember playing nothing else from that console. It's been a long time since I didn't know what I wanted to do when the DoD theme was announced, so I thought it would be fun to go hunting for tracks that grabbed my attention. The long story short: I was looking through Japan-only releases when the music of Aa Harimanada, a mediocre sumo wrestling fighting game, jumped out at me as being particularly interesting. I settled on "Decisive Battle! Demon's Arena" because the track already has a huge amount of swagger to it and I thought it would be fun to lean into that. AarekMG and DakotaCityRag joined me to make the awesome saxophone chorus. There's 3 tenor parts by AarekMG and 1 alto part by DakotaCityRag. The source track has a funny drum intro because it's played during a cutscene, but it doesn't flow very well musically. I decided to nod to it with two drum-heavy sections: the taiko drums underneath the bass solo and the Aja-like drum break following the guitar solo. Otherwise, I think the rest of the arrangement is pretty straightforward. I hope you enjoy this DEEP cut! Games & Sources Aa Harimanada - 08. Decisive Battle! Demon's Arena (https://fi.zophar.net/soundfiles/sega-mega-drive-genesis/aa-harimanada/08 - Decisive Battle! Demon's Arena.mp3) (YT: https://youtu.be/vT6Vw5bugIQ?feature=shared&t=331 Composer: Hirofumi Murasaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 (edited) weird original! it's got a lot of swagger, you're right. speaking of swagger, there's a ton right off the bat on this one. the initial melodic presentation is right away and it's appropriately balls to the wall and full of saxophones. there's some wicky-wah guitar in there too and that's such a funny transposition compared to the heavy backing elements and wailing horns. there's a break at 1:01 and some ensemble stuff which is super fun to hear. then we hear a bass solo/drum break - excellent bass playing in here! really fun - and a solo that's all angles and hard turns. i love it, it's very weird. the drum interlude after it is wild too - just really out there, and not what i expected at all but clearly inspired by the opening. there's another run through the verse with some wild hardpanned guitar silliness - great way to keep it moving and new - and a bit of ensemble blow to take us out. my main nitpick in this would be that the taiko under the bass solo are so boomy i can hardly tell what they're doing. i like the idea but that needed to have most of the bottom taken out, because it's a mudslide with the bass down there. overall though the band sound is superb - i can always hear what is going on - and the arrangement is great! such a fun approach to an original i've never heard before. excellent work. YES Edited August 26 by prophetik music font size Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 I have no idea how you found this original but here we are! Honestly though, the translation to sax-infused heavy metal works pretty damn well, and the source connection was instantly apparent. 1:16 is indeed boomy as hell, but it's about the only issue I can find with this piece - everything else is mixed super tight, the performances are on-point, the transitions are well-executed but certainly not stock or phoned in, the saxophones are mixed and recorded perfectly. No reason to hold this one back! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted August 23 Author Share Posted August 23 Soundscape was cramped, but not a problem to listen to. GREAT theme choice; I'd never heard of this game. The focus on the bass at 1:14 was so good, and the drumming in tandem with it had an amazing rumbling feel to it that surrounded you on headphones. Spirited, expansionist cover approach to the theme with a squishy belly (read: more interpretive) for the middle section. Dosu-koi! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemophiliac Posted August 31 Share Posted August 31 This one got me boppin' my head along with the beat, swagger like you said. That source was definitely worth tackling. It's got something neat about it, but you improved on it. My two main criticisms are the lack of space between some of the notes during faster repeated ones in the saxes felt like they weren't really being articulated sometimes. Solo'd they probably stand out better, but in context they feel glossed over. The other is the big boomy bass during it's spotlight solo 1:14-1:33. It's played very well and the solo is cool; it's just too big for the brief moment. I really like the full band sound you get with everything playing at the same time. It's BIG, heavy and full of machismo. Arrangement is great and has plenty of the original with your own spices injected throughout. People will dig this even without knowing the source. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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