OCR04821 - *YES* Bloodborne "Fight or Flight"

[Liontamer]

Artist Name: TheManPF
Additional artists: Zach Chapman, Shea's Violin

Coming in hot from DoD's alien month, did you know there are aliens in Bloodborne? Apparently a lot of people didn't. Anyway, I've been wanting to cover this game for a long time, and Amygdala has always had one of the most badass themes in my opinion, and had it stuck in my head pretty much all year, so when this month came I went aaahhh screw it I'm just gonna do it and see what comes out.

I'm going a bit back to my roots with this one, this is straight up symphonic metal, it's the genre I've done the most and I feel most comfortable in, and it's from a Fromsoft game also, of which I have had toooons of covers done in this same style for youtube a few years ago, it's been a while since I've done one of these and I think I improved my sound a lot since then, so I was interested in seeing how one of these would come out now.

Zach is bringing in the fat end as always, you know he has to be here, he just has to, he's pretty much my other half now, he's also another massive sucker for Bloodborne and everything Fromsoft.

Shea helped me in this one ripping some SUPERFAST violin and cello lines, this is a very orchestral and horrory track that needs those Psycho-strings to really work, so I'm glad she managed to pull it off.

I did guitars and etc.

Happy Halloween 2025 if this passes

Lyrics:

None, wtf? ):

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Games & Sources

Game: Bloodborne
Songs arranged: Amygdala (https://youtu.be/BihcP_GduOk)
Original composer: Cris Velasco
System: PS4
Year: 2015

[prophetik music]

opens with some big stabs and a bit orchestral crescendo. lots of shea right off the bat. i really like the more traditional-sounding tone that shea takes in here, lots of bow noise and portamento. 0:32 is where it takes off with the whole band sound. this sounds a little over-scooped and there's a few EQ spikes that are a little weird in here, but admittedly there's a lot going on! i appreciate that this is symphonic metal and not symphonic rock - there's some pretty intense drum work and rhythmic orchestral/guitar elements. the riff at 0:47 is great.

there's a few stabs at 1:22 and a short flourish in the keys, and then we get into mixed meter time as only TheManPF does regularly. i think the mixed meter really helps keep it feeling like it's a shanty or something, there's a lot of added intensity just by making it not quite what you expect. theme's back at 2:07 with some crushing guitar work to help support it. 2:26's melodic representation in the bass instruments is a nice change too, and makes the subsequent guitar lead much more heroic. would have loved some supporting brass in there as well. a big sfx hit and a few more orchestral stabs, and it's done.

overall the sound is slammed, but i honestly found the noisy, aggressive, brash mastering to be fitting given the approach. there's a lot down low and it does sound a bit muddy in some places where the orchestra, guitar chugs, bass, and kick are all fighting for screen time, but for the most part TheManPF does a great job keeping this listenable while still maintaining a raw edge to the track. excellent work. this is a ton of fun to listen to.

 

 

YES

Edited November 4, 2024 by prophetik music
formatting

[Liontamer]

Opening sounded a little odd with the higher strings feeling out of place, but it was brief; the tremolo later was a nice bit of tension. Oh shit, rocking it out at :31, OK.

Didn't like the guitar being so much in my right headphone. I'll live, but the panning doesn't need to be this wide. Wish the mixing had more high-end clarity, but not a big deal by any means.

Lots of darkness with the 1:28-1:44 section, though the brass arguably shouldn't have been so subdued; it's fine serving as something to pad the background at times, and it stands out more in other segments.

Love the overall forcefulness here. Aside from wanting more high-end clarity, this sounds like an epic arranged version for a New Game+ battle for where the difficulty's been ramped WAY up! Great pressure-cookin', tension-ridden energy from TheMan, Zach & Shea!

YES

[Flexstyle]

Not a lot to add to the above. This hits all the right notes. Plenty-serviceable mix, great instrumentation, good rhythm section, metal horns for days. 

 

YES