Liontamer Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 Artist Name: Xaleph Arrangement: Main Arranger: Xaleph Co-Arrangement: Zack Parrish (2:43-3:31) Mastering: Zack Parrish Instruments: Electric Guitars (both leads, rhythm) [Non-7/4 parts: Ryan8bit 99%, Xaleph 1%] + 7/4 Electric Guitars Zack Parrish Drums (Paradiddles) Piano + Organ (Xaleph) Acoustic Guitar (Zack Parrish) Banjo (Zack Parrish) Foley -> "There's an encoder" (Zack Parrish) This mix has a bit of a story. So it started off with me wanting to do a mix again with Ryan8bit when I first came back from my long hiatus. I couldn't get a hold of him until like a year later, and one year after that we decided to do a Mega Man mix. We initially were thinking using dueling guitars - Zack joined, and then we wanted Metal drums, and who else is better at that than Josh? With 34 mains / 43 total tracks in DoD, and the quality of some of the tracks, we knew it was going to be a tough competition and were thrilled to get third. The version here is a better master than what we had previously submitted as we had more time to master (I gave Zack like 30 minutes initially). Thank you all who joined this last minute! Games & Sources Mega Man 3 Skull Castle 5 & 6 theme (Zophar -> Dr. Wily's Castle III / Fortress 3) Wily Boss theme (Zophar -> Wily boss / guardian battle) Title/Intro theme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 opens with air sweeps and some creepy piano noodling around the fortress theme. we get some heavy guitars and drums at 0:32 alongside a pretty mean synth bass (what an interesting combination). snare is really bright and cuts through the mix really well in here. there's a shift to a more electronic-focused groove at 1:21 with a ton of space in the drums especially - this sounds so good, the really tight drum mastering makes it absolutely cook. 1:35 is awesome. there's the first break at 1:47 with a bit of a solo break and then we get the guardian progression complete with chromatic scalar runs right after. there's a great drum fill and then 2:30 is a full shift Algorithm-style to four on the floor for a bit before shifting to 7/4 and having some fun with acoustic guitar and a turned-off snare. some signature zack orchestral work and we're in another break at 3:31 with some voice clips. the kick is a touch aggressive here without the guitars, but it sounds great when it switches to doubletime when the guitar comes back in with the backing melody from the guardian theme. 4:43 is another destination point, everything really comes together so well there with the title theme. one last break at 5:10, with...banjo and rocking chairs? and then we get some electrograss for a few beats before the banjo gets chopped up to oblivion and play time is over. is it a xaleph piece if there isn't a section with just a kick, bass, and snaps? so we get that requisite part out of the way and then build back up the energy for one last big blow. drums in this last section are so good. i wish there was just a little bit more prep for the ending, and then it's done. this is outrageously good, such a layup. josh's drum work is superb - this is easily the best i've ever heard of his music, just so technically proficient - and the mastering job done on them to tighten them down so far so as to let the musicality and space shine through is just perfectly done. it's great to hear ryan on an OCR track again too - he's got a great style that meshed so well with the electronic elements to augment and not overtake them. this is a triumph. superb work. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Yeah, Brad was right - this is the easiest vote of all time. Absolute masterclass of execution and ambition. There are times that I've considered Xaleph a "genre specialist" who sticks with his preferred genre (in this case, psytrance) and this doesn't exactly dispel that impression, but it does show just how much room there is to color within those genre lines and bring something truly unique to the table. The shredding lead guitar, Zack's acoustic contributions, the kit drumming all push this beyond the bounds of a traditional psytrance arrangement. That's not saying anything of the full-blown metal breakdown in the middle, either. This is virtuosic levels of vision at work here. If I had one critique, it's that the kick drum doesn't quite feel like it nailed the genre conventions during the heavier metal section - it feels a little too clicky and electronic for me. But if that's the biggest nit I can pick here, we're doing great. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted June 6 Author Share Posted June 6 Literally have to leave to drive somewhere, so I don’t want to text and drive. Strong medley, great production! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 This would be a Direct Post if we were still doing DPs. Fantastic use of the least interesting track on the OST, as a simple foundation to basically do whatever the hell you wanted. And hey, when you give a bunch of geniuses some raw material, turns out they can build something great out of it. Truly stellar metal performances and production. I do have some tiny nitpicks. The drums are a little loud, and them plus the overdriven guitar sometimes drown out some of the accompanying elements, like the guitar at 0:53. The ending is lackluster. The whole thing is just a little disjointed; it's nice that it's so variable and interesting, but I think it pushes past that to get a little schizophrenic. Stiil, as I said, tiny nitpicks and an easy vote, as promised. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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