ReMix:Chrono Trigger "Black Wind Rising" 4:52

By Star Salzman

electric-guitar orchestral synth

Arranging the music of one song...

"Magus Confronted"

Primary Game: Chrono Trigger (Square , 1995, SNES), music by Nobuo Uematsu, Noriko Matsueda, Yasunori Mitsuda

Posted 2006-02-11, evaluated by djpretzel

Back-to-back Chrono Trigger akshunz!!1! What can you do?...it's a great soundtrack that's gonna keep inspiring people forever, and fortunately has quite a bit of variety intrinsicially, and yields even more through reinterpretation. The Duke of Salzbury lends his talents to the Magus theme in a piece that blends not one but several genre lines; alls I know is that there's orchestral in here, industrial, rock, electronica, and an ending that almost starts sounding like the Mission Impossible theme. It's almost five minutes long, but for the places it goes and the suits it puts on, you'd think it longer. Star's last mix, his sole piece for 2005, indicated he was moving in an orchestral direction, or at least gaining a footing there, but now he's gone back and, over a year later, taken that experience and paired it back up with his more traditional non-traditional electronica roots, throwing in other stuffs to sweeten the pot as well. Ensemble French horns intro, with a deep, resonant cello entering soon after, as violin and flute build in a sort of trio. The horns flare and timpanis roll at 0'37" as an exciting, Duel of Fates ensemble string pattern takes up. There's some Elfman-esque trumpets at 0'48" that introduce choral work, further completing the Duel/Carl Orff vibe, but then expectations are shifted at 1'10", where, after coming out of an orchestral build, a shredded, distorted guitar enters. Bass and an acoustic kit that stays at lower, prog-rock volume levels also come along for the ride, and strings stick around in more of a quick, stab-oriented role. That gets us towards the end of... the second minute. Doing a play-by-play on Star or Protricity's longer, more varied work is invariably too taxing, as I'm forced to resort to thesarui for new adjectives for "varied" and "excellent"... this piece reminds me of KRool Intentions in that sense, as it too segued non-stop from musical idea to musical idea without losing any intensity or cohesion. You can hear a number of influences, especially in the introduction to the piece, but the result is pure Star, and stands as a monumental vision of the Magus theme and a kickass mix.

― djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Saunders
on 2019-04-26 04:15:21

Listening again 13 years later. This song is still awesome. :pretzel::ocrgreen:

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TillyFun
on 2013-05-04 15:25:47

How did I miss this one? :o

KICK. ASS. ^__^

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bluelighter
on 2013-04-26 09:56:04

Certainly the mix that has the most leaved a mark on me in OCR story! It deal with different styles of music, each with an impressive virtuosity! Despite of this eclecticism, Star Salzman manage to get a coherent wholepiece. I’ll never get tired to take a listen on this from time to time, a real masterpiece! Great job!

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Argle
on 2012-06-21 09:06:49

I love everything about this remix, but my favorite part has to be when it transitions into the guitar strumming bit. For some reason that sounds unbelievably badass.

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DusK
on 2011-12-27 11:19:38

I love the feel of this entire mix. It really feels like so much wrapped into one piece. I actually considered using this piece for a Halo montage a few years back when I was still playing HPC competitively. I can't really say that for any remix on the site; This piece really has a cinematic feel that grips you and doesn't let up.

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OA
on 2010-08-16 12:04:15

Pretty good stuff, I like Star Salz. Great synth writing. :-)

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WillRock
on 2009-11-02 09:31:46

There are too many chrono trigger mixes on ocremix :tomatoface:

That said, if I liked them all as much as this, I would be a VERY happy person.

In other words... this mix kicks some serious ass :D

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Catharsis
on 2009-09-30 20:09:23

I haven't posted in a while, but I had to get on to say this is great. I'm not sure how I never noticed this one before.

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WesternZypher
on 2008-12-16 17:22:48

Listening to this makes me grin like a fool. I think I'm distracting other people in class.

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Harpsikord
on 2007-04-09 10:22:48

:mrgreen: Love it when the drums finally get into it at 3:33 with that amazing little melodic riff going on over it. Having listened to a lot of what this site has to offer, this piece ends up near the top for creativity and craftsmanship. Excellent job, Star Salzman, whoever you are!

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DragonFireKai
on 2007-02-27 00:26:31

Star Salzman put together one of the most impressive mixes on this site in "Pillar of Salt" That said, this is almost as good, it defies conventional genres in so many ways, and really conveys the darkness of the Battle with Magus.

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ph0sphorousgobu
on 2006-12-25 12:30:45

Bah, he does it again! Star Salzman rocks my socks off. This is a pretty hard core piece. Orchestra part is good, the rock/percussion parts lend nicely to the overall feel of the piece, and the vocals drive it all home.

I still think I like "Pillar of Salt" better, but these are both top-notch remixes. Lovely work!

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DrNeedlove
on 2006-09-28 17:37:43

The intro's strings are a great touch. :37 the tempo change reminded me of a Matrix song. The voices in the backgroung work well with the Magus feel. 1:10 the guitar and bass are perfect. They mix well with the strings. 1:34, not sure what the sound you used there but the mix of new with an old 8-bitesque sound rock!!! Magus's theme flows throughout this piece. The solo at 2:02 gave me goosebumps. Amazing! At 2:22 was not know where you were going untill the strings came back in, worked well. One of the best mixes on the site hands down. Continue to rock the OCR world and I can only expect the best.

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gregfrost
on 2006-09-19 02:09:18

With this one, I really appreciate the attention given to the transitions--each section seems to grow out of the one before it, while at the same time changing the rules of the game. It's the kind of music that doesn't fit in a box, which makes it very powerful and interesting. The same could be said of Magus, I think. Except for the part about him being music. I'm not that kind of fangirl.

Now that we have traveled the landscape of broad platitudes, I'd like to throw in one specific comment. I appreciate the scrupulously detailed samples for the orchestra instruments. They're not as convincing as the ones in Jared Hudson's insane experiment ("The Frontier") from a while back, but they're better than average. I think they will be sufficient until that day when I get off my lazy ass and make a billion dollars in the stock market, for the sole purpose of hiring my own orchestra and lending it to hopeful ReMixers.

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ShrikeArghast
on 2006-07-27 12:38:04

Part of the problem with a lot of Magus remixes is that they lose a lot of the underlying 'heavy on the brass licks' sound of the original.

This one doesn't.

That alone is enough to set it apart. My only real complaint is the slow pacing of the song, which - I think - somewhat detracts from the rushing, desperate movement of the original.

Top notch otherwise, and clearly the best of the Magus remixes by leaps and bounds. Everything from 3:00 on is just gold.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Chrono Trigger (Square , 1995, SNES)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu,Noriko Matsueda,Yasunori Mitsuda
Songs:
"Magus Confronted"

Tags (3)


Genre:
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar,Orchestral,Synth
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Chrono_Trigger_Black_Wind_Rising_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,925,302 bytes
MD5:
16d302c444af1458cdde56b1bc71f6aa
Bitrate:
160Kbps
Duration:
4:52

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