ReMix:Doom II: Hell on Earth "No Man Is an Island" 3:48

So, I've been waiting to officially announce this long enough; many of you have already noticed, but we've got two new judges on board, plus Shariq's back on the panel as well. Vinnie Prabhu, aka Palpable, already has a few great mixes on the site, including a take on Legend of Mystical Ninja that's more addictive than crack cocaine. He also happens to live like two miles away from me, which we discovered by sheer chance when karaokeing with our significant others at a nearby bar. True story! He'll be performing with Amy at Anime USA this Saturday as part of our panel - very cool. Caleb Ka'iliahimakamae Butterfield, who goes by an extraordinarily truncated version of his middle name - "'Ili" - is "a pal of a gal who knows a thing about swing"... JJT told me to write that, I don't know why. You've probably seen him on our forums or on #ocremix; he knows much about game music and should be a valuable asset to the panel when it comes to hunting down esoteric source material. Both judges were selected by the rest of the panel, and I'm confident both will do an excellent job as we work to get back on top of the judging queue. Games like BioShock and Super Mario Galaxy make it damn easy to get distracted, but with great queue comes... great responsibility. Please join me in welcoming them to the panel!

Speaking of judges, BGC was involved in this DooM II mix, along with LuIzA and The Joker. It was originally made for TO's upcoming project, but it didn't seem to fit with the overall feel of the album, so it's being subbed separately. Jimmy actually jumped on this one later in the game - The Joker (David L. Puga) started the whole thing off, with the intention of it being a collab with Luiza:

"I started this song with the intention of getting Luiza to sign on. She was my first and only choice for the track. I sent her the old beta I made, she signed on, and long story short, we made this awesomeness! Long story kinda long, I did the Synth/orchestral/drumworks, while Luiza did the Guitar/Electric Bass/Guitar FX, each of us having input on the others work (I was pretty much happy from the get go with Lu's work). Anyway, I've taken up enough time. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy the mix! P.S. The name as well as the tone of the mix was inspired by the John Donne's poem of the same name!"

I don't know about you, but I find that mixes inspired by Jacobean metaphysical poets are always tops... this one's certainly no exception. BGC mainly joined in following some EQ comments from the judges panel; he made some minor tweaks, but it's mostly David and Luiza's baby. Still, cool of him to throw in an assist - definitely an activist role as judge - and for them to be okay with that as well. Even after bringing the bass up, this is still a pretty mid/top-heavy mix, due mostly to the unorthodox drum track; the rest of the elements are pretty heavy metal, or at least heavy, but the drums are really unobtrusive and more electronica, the toms being one obvious (and nice) exception. It's an interesting juxtaposition; it feels very strange, on one hand, but on the other, it lets a lot of the lower midrange detail come through, as it doesn't have to compete. The attention to detail in the stereo field, with numerous panning FX very adeptly applied, is particularly worth noting - fantastic work here. Luiza's guitars are all over this puppy - leads and rhythm and backwards fx, she does it all - and it sounds great. weed mentioned some of the EQ issues - a couple of which probably remain unaddressed - but YES'd this baby anyways:

"the actual writing of it is fantastic... there is all sorts of emotive dynamic even despite it being essentially one gear through out once it gets going. the intro was badass. the guitar playing is off the charts cool... you rock, girl. the stuff behind her guitar is magnificent, joker - great writing and instrumental balance. i cannot ramp up any more than this without having a conniption"

I'll leave it at that - two new judges, Vinnie and 'Ili, and one great DooM II mix from David and Luiza, with an alley-oop assist from Jimmy. Perhaps no man is an island, or even an isthmus, but if one was stranded ON an island, or just thinking about Jacobean metaphysical poetry, one could certainly do worse for theme music. Rockin'.