Gnam

I think the problem is not that the melody itself is not varied enough from the original, it's that the instrumentation of the melody is so similar. The intro is relatively unique, but then once it gets to the melody it sounds like a midi redux with a new drum beat. The semi-industrial/elctronic sound in the intro is nice, but it doesn't follow into the melody, which leaves the main portion of the song sounding a bit generic.

This is yet another excellently executed mix of the zeal theme, but I feel like all the zeal remixes are starting to sound like the exact same thing but with a slightly different string instrument used for the lead melody. Hopefully the next Zeal remix takes a completely different aproach from what we've heard so far. I think it would be possible to retain the "etheriality" of the song without resorting to the same "smooth jazz" style that 8/10 zeal mixes use. Someone please surprise us next time.

This peice deserves notice as I think it's the only true, complete orchestral Castlevania remix on Overclocked so far. All the other orchestral CV remixes so far have had to rely on elements from other styles to seal the deal and make it listenable. While a good blend of styles is always nice, the orchestral Castlevania mix is a vastly untapped well. Ephemeral Evergreen is the first mix to make a commitment to orchestral instead of just dabbling in it. It's also the only Castlevania 3 mix. What's up with that? While I don't really need to hear another remix of Begining (with a remix of it in every new CV game and top notch rock remixes on the Minibosses and Dracula Battle albums) there were many good songs in CV3 (Clockwork comes to mind) that deserve coverage and haven't been overdone. As for the length issue, I don't really mind, it would have become repetative otherwise, but doing a medley of mutliple good CV songs would help next time.

As a blend of electronic and orchestral styles, I don't think it works as well as mp's Midnight Slayer or Digimatic's Simon's Town, but it's quite good in it's own right. It seems to have a stronger orchestral feel than other Castlevania mixes, and the style really makes it sound fresh compaired to, say, Chikusho Sound Team's version of the song.

I love the classical intro, it really brings out the medeival, vampiric feel of the castlevania series out. Then, when it blows out into techno synths, you'd think it would be quit offensive in contrast to the classical stuff, but somehow it works. It gives it a sort of full, echoing, airy quality that's harder to get with classical instruments. Then, the classical stuff comes back in before the techno stuff gets too diluted and boring. Unique in that it's more classical than orchestral, and that it mixes 2 opposite genres together successfully (classical and techno) without feeling too much like a compromise. It's a nice fresh take on the song that's enjoyable even though the Minibosses allready did it.

I don't really recognize the original tune (but then I never played very much CV2, hated that "wander around the towns aimlessly" 8bit RPG format) but this mix rocks anyway. The mood has a lot of range, going from solemn to desperate with the guitars, then the hauntin organs, then the agressive rage of the distorted electric guitars, and back again. Unique, interesting, and rockin.

Awesome, a rock/metal castlevania mix that's not vampire killer or bloody tears. It's a great mix, very solid, and it covers fresh material. I like how straightforward it is. Just guitar and drums, no flimsy synths, no techno/electronica stuff mixed in, not even any unwelcomed variations on the original tune, just a straight conversion from crappy GBA synths to rockin guitars. I wish there were more of these around.

As much as I tire of the over-mixed Vampire Killer theme, this is a damn good remix. Good blend of that sort of late 90's darkwave sound (as seen in the song Clubbed to Death from the Matrix) and classic orchestral. The unique mood of this peice really makes it stand about all the other Vampire Killer remixes. I love rock/metal remixes as much as the next guy, but the Dracula Battle albums and the Minibosses got that covered, and they're tough to top. Therefore, if you're going to do a remix of one of the Castlevania hit songs like Vampire Killer, Bloody Tears, etc. you gotta have a unique take on it, you can't just do another metal mix. That's why I think this particular remix is great, it stands out.

The begining is great. If I were to judge it just based on the acoustic guitar and some of the early organ stuff I would give it a 9/10. When the organ first comes in, it seems to have a little trouble blending with (and not drowning out) the guitar, but it still makes a good addition to the arrangement as the acoustic guitar would have become repetative if used by itself for the whole 3 minutes. The off-key-ness of the organ after 1:38 really drags it down though, and it needs and ending. It sounds like when djpretzel was downloading it the download got cut off toward the end and he forgot to go back to it. Because of the sour ending by the time its over you almost don't remember what it was that made it so great. Fix the organ and give it a proper ending (hopefully doing one final run of the guitar by itself in the process) and I would rate it truly excellent.

This is really frustrating... CV4 has some of the best music in the series (some argue the best) and yet there only 3 remixes for it on OCR... 1 of which is good...this one...but of all the songs it could be it's from one which has apeared in every game in the series since Castlevania one. So while djpretzel decided to tag it a SCV4 mix, it could easily be CV1, 2, 3, Dracula X, XX, or SOTN. Anyway, despite djpretzel's disclaimer this mix actually is pretty good. A couple of those grinding sounds here and there are slightly anoying, but overally it's very catchy and has jazzy feel to it that gives it a sort of unique pizzaz. Great job, just I was expecting an actual Super Castlevania 4 remix. If he has so little faith in this one, I'm eager to hear pretzel's next Castlevania mix, the one he puts "more than 2 hours of effort into".

This 4 minute mix contains about 45 seconds of tunage from the original song (divided into two 22 second segments and dispersed widely and thinly through the length of the remix). The rest is just techno/trance that has nothing to do with the original. It's really more of a Castlevania remix of Mcvaffe's techno/trance song than a techno/trance remix of Konami's Castlevania song. I don't think the McVaffe's beat can really stand alone as it's own song either though. The drums in the intro are kinda nice, as are the background "melodies" accompanying the techno beat through the majority of the mix, but they don't really seem substandtial enough by themselves to make the mix solely. If you're a hardcore trance fan I suppose the beat and other background stuff is enough to satisfy, but it's not enough for my personal tastes. It is fairly listenable and might make good filler on your Castlevania remix cd in between songs, but IMO, nothing more.

I agree, we need more FF5 mixes up here. This one is nice, but I feel it needs a little more punch. The drums and flute are nice, but perhaps some better guitars, and maybe some stronger drums here and there would spice it up a bit.

Excellent. Beautifull. Before I downloaded this mix I was really opposed to hearing anymore remixes of the Chrono Trigger main theme. I love it, but there had allready been so many remixes of it done, I didn't think any new remixes of it, no matter how good, could really do enough new with the exhausted scource material to warrant yet another mix of the same song. Well, this song sure proved me wrong. This song proves, no matter how many different remixes of the same song you allready have, if someone makes another really good one, it will still be a worth the download. By the way, it's nice to see Disco Dan departing from his style a bit, and covering non-megaman stuff. I'm eager to hear more.

I'm not really into COTMM's other stuff, but this thing is excellent. While on one hand it's a great remix of the song musically, it also works excellently as a ambient just sound effects. It doesn't just tell you the emotion of the scene, but give you a vivid picture and feeling of what is physically going on as well. Also, while it's very creative and interpretive, it also works just as well at staying true to the original and just enhancing it.

I'm not really into this one. All it really seems to be is a slightly distorted rythm backing a medley of weakly synthed melodies. The only spot where the distortion is really that impressive is at about 3:12. Other than that it's not very gripping. I liked COTMM's Ruined World a lot, it was very moody, rich, and textural. I can also atleast see the enjoyment in his Magus remixes which are very dark and distorted, and have a lot of beat. But this, I don't really feel anything from it, much like Vampire Killer Deadcorpse, it doesn't sound so much like a long, dark, crazy exercise in distortion as much as just a over-long track of weak, GM-ish synth that drags on.