ReMix:Final Fantasy IV "Treason" 5:08

By Kidd Cabbage

Arranging the music of 3 songs...

"Battle with the Four Fiends", "Castle Damcyan", "Epilogue"

Primary Game: Final Fantasy IV (Square , 1991, SNES), music by Nobuo Uematsu

Posted 2010-11-23, evaluated by djpretzel


Yeah, if you've listened to Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption, you've already heard this (badass, hyper-aggressive) ReMix from Kidd Cabbage, but you HAVEN'T seen the submission email below (oooOOOooo) and you haven't posted on the review thread about how badly your face was melted, and you probably also haven't seen this Rock Band custom playthrough of the mix, either.

So there.

Jonathan writes:

"Haha, soooo... I kind of dropped the gun on this mix. I did this mix for the FFIV project on this site, but the thing is that I didn't really know how things worked at the time, and didn't realize the difference of quality control between projects and site-posted songs, so I just never really sent this mix through you guys. Whoopsie-daises.

So, anyway, Cannibal Corpse called me about this song. They want their music back. I'm in the middle of a lawsuit right now and George "Corpsegrinder" Fischer has sent me videos telling me that he was going to be eating cereal from the top of my skull. The song, despite being listed under a mix of Dreadful Fight is actually a medley of three songs, and is kind of more based on Epilogue #3. I mean, I said that during the production, but they're all "Eh, whatevs."

This was my first recording that I had to use direct-in guitar instead of a miked amp, which pissed me off. After this song, I didn't record any metal for over a year solely due to the reason that I wasn't satisfied with my direct tone (after a year of tone-tweaking, I made the Touhou mix posted on here, and that's my 'satisfied enough' tone). The difference of guitar tone affected the mix as a whole, as does the lack of synths, and makes this more of a straight-forward face-smashing mix than the bouncier, snythier metal I've done. This is a mix that you can sacrifice goats to.

On another note, I broke my arm during the FFIV project. This song was my arm therapy."

That, good sir, is some pretty sadomasochistic therapy. At any rate, goat sacrificers and metal lovers alike should be all about this song, as it's just plain evil. Crunchy, heavy, chunky, galvanized metal. It's also a solid arrangement that works in several themes effectively, but you could be forgiven for not fully appreciating that on first listen, as your cheeks (both sets) are torn off and musical skull dentistry performed on your noggin. It's H-E-A-V-Y, mmkay? Director Andrew Luers writes:

"When I got the finished track, I was a little concerned, because the song itself was so relentless compared to the rest of the album. Thankfully I was albe to fit it in next to some other hard-hitting tracks for the album flow to be solid. The playing is incredibly precise, and the rhythm section is punishing. Definitely the heaviest track on the album. Though the main theme in the mix is one of the battle themes, there are some cameos of other themes as well, most notably the most brutal rendition of Castle Damcyan I've heard. Soo metal :D"

Awesome, completely brutal work from Kidd.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
avatar
Black_Doom
on 2015-05-17 07:20:10

Oh, this shit is damn tight!

and the one little nitpick I the drums sounded off or something during the Fiends theme. Not sure if it was me, the headphones I'm using or the actual song, but that part didn't gel with me.

Seconded. I find this part quite weird too. But yeah, all-in-all, it's a very good track.

avatar
Crulex
on 2012-09-24 11:12:31

This ReMix is certainly aggressive as all hell and it just screams brutal things. The playing and the rage coming off of it was certainly one of the best parts of this song, and the Castle Damcyan part was the one I thought was pulled off the best. The transistions were pretty good, and the one little nitpick I the drums sounded off or something during the Fiends theme. Not sure if it was me, the headphones I'm using or the actual song, but that part didn't gel with me. Other than that, pretty good ReMix.

avatar
Rexy
on 2011-12-29 19:18:02

Well I'm listening with proper headphones right now, and I'll see if I can let loose my anger on something quite brutal. I admit he's come a long way since some of his more overdrawn submissions to the Dwelling of Duels years back.

It starts first of all with this very brutal adaptation of Epilogue 3 before seiguing quite well into Battle with the Four Fiends, then into Castle Damcyan and back to Epilogue 3; the way of handling the sources and the transitions was absolutely no problem, as is the sheer amount of skill brought in, most notably with the heavy 16th note strumming from the 2 minute mark onwards - a heavily insane transition into the Castle Damcyan section for sure. It may be a very straightforward way of adapting the sources, but it's got this brutal way of fitting into the scope of the story's progression in order to capture its relevance.

Here's one criticism I have here; while the writing does indeed manage to face this angry and "traitor-ish" approach given towards it, some clarity could've been done towards the drum pieces to get them to stand out significantly more, as for me it seemed as if the rhythm guitars ended up clashing a bit too much with the cymbals in terms of equalisation for some reason, making it not as sharp as I would've wanted it to be.

That said, this is some really TIGHT guitar playing here, and to see the sources intertwined in such a way that might make Children of Bodom more like the White Stripes (!!), it's a clear sign showing that Kidd Cabbage has really been pushing himself to become a well identifiable face in regards to the remix community. Here's to hoping he'd surface again in another site project after his recent BadAss contribution too :)

avatar
Marmiduke
on 2011-10-01 23:21:20

Well, this has given me my prescripted amount of complex riffage for the day, thank you. I believe the lead and backing could have been a lot richer, but I'm really loving the thematic approach nevertheless. It's a bit of a slow-burner in terms of metal mixes, but eventually the tempo, the structure and the arrangement align and I get a much clearer idea of where this mix is coming from. At the beginning, I am merely an admirer of the craft, but by the end I'm a total fan of the mix. It may be a hard sell to some, and it's a mix I would greatly prefer to listen to with proper headphones, but there's a lot to love tucked within the chaos if you award it a little patience.

avatar
Transmogrificational Tune
on 2010-12-11 01:25:02

Make more of these! Tis Awesome! Well blended and good use of themes+ yay for drums with metal, turn up the bass on ye speakers for this one!

avatar
Emunator
on 2010-12-09 11:54:05

Can't say I'm too much of a fan of this genre, but I can certainly see a lot of merit in this track. The lead guitar work is pretty great and captures a pretty intense mood. As Brandon pointed out, the mechanical drums seem like a bit of a weak point.

Overall, this is a pretty crunchy, distorted, vicious track that does a pretty good job with the genre it tackled, even if it's not necessarily my cup of tea, I can see why a lot of people like this one.

avatar
Bahamut
on 2010-12-06 19:53:25

I actually am not too much of a fan of this particular take, sorry IBBIAZ. :(

It does feature some frenetic riffing and drumming, but I felt like there was too much of a thin sound in some areas. I also probably wanted more of the Battle with the Four Fiends in it.

avatar
EmpyClaw
on 2010-12-05 15:34:03

This song is so amazingly kickass. I don't know what else to say. God that's good.

avatar
Mirby
on 2010-12-04 12:41:17

Loved this track on the album; as one of my favorite all-time source tracks, I'm so glad you did this much metal justice to it. Great work, IBBIAZ.

avatar
cryox2l
on 2010-12-04 10:51:22

Holy crap! For a second I thought I was listening to "Hammer-Smashed Face". I'm already loving this!

avatar
luhny
on 2010-11-29 06:07:32

Four Fiends and Metal is such a beautiful marriage \m/

avatar
OA
on 2010-11-26 11:53:41

Super awesome, I love this track, dude :-)

avatar
eilios
on 2010-11-23 22:33:56

Wow, haha! This track is GOING somewhere! The snare, as has been said before, is definitely a bit off-sounding, but this ReMix has a very nice "urgent" feel to it - a little atmospheric thing, but it's very nice. Delicious track, and a joy to hear! Great work, KC! Really digging this!

avatar
Inimitable
on 2010-11-23 21:43:14

Awesome, my custom gets an official plug (and I knew keeping videos of old versions of customs would come back to bite me someday). :) The poor audio quality on Youtube is partly my fault (I compressed the hell out of it accidentally using the wrong settings, haha) and part Youtube's general dickishness about audio.

KC did an awesome job on this track and he's pretty cool people overall. Good stuff!

avatar
Brandon Strader
on 2010-11-23 21:03:44
What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

I was hearing a lot of extra "noise" in the youtube preview, so I turned on the mp3.. Wow, Youtube really did a number on this one. I hear a big difference between the two -- the song sounded a lot weaker on the preview. Anyway, the MP3 version that came with the album is great. The drums do seem pretty mechanical at times and I'm not really digging that snare, but as a whole, it's pretty good. Not the most ideal guitar tone, but it's not bad. The bass guitar is also inaudible but I heard that bass audibleness is optional in extruum metal. :o

Sources Arranged (3 Songs)


Primary Game:
Final Fantasy IV (Square , 1991, SNES)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu
Songs:
"Battle with the Four Fiends"
"Castle Damcyan"
"Epilogue"

Tags (4)


Genre:
Metal,Rock
Mood:
Aggressive
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Final_Fantasy_4_Treason_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
9,267,512 bytes
MD5:
8bed972e4502c0f080c99993a98c0ac7
Bitrate:
238Kbps
Duration:
5:08

Promotion

8-bit Jazz Heroes - Press Start
View All

Latest Albums

View All

Latest ReMixes