ReMix:Dark Souls "Knight and Executioner" 4:15

I've been a huge fan of EVERY SINGLE MIX we've seen from RoeTaKa (Alex Roe) since he resurfaced, and this latest epic hybrid/orchestral Dark Souls arrangement is no exception:

"I get requests to remix certain Dark Souls songs; "Ornstein & Smough" is the most popular one. It's a song that I would avoid, because it was just a big intense orchestral piece... and that's what I usually make. With "E.S. Gwyn," I could avoid it sounding like a cover 'cause the original was for piano and I had a strong idea to push it. Here, I just thought, well, I've been listening to Lords of Shadow 2's music quite a bit recently, let's try doing something like that then!

I had to take liberties by moving the arrangement around to fit the ideas I was going for. There's a section at 1:40, for example, which was just this small organ part in the original and I liked the movement of it, so I gave it its own moment (and even used some organ so people might recognize it from that). It was a lot of fun to make after the dread settled."

This one builds & builds & builds... in a word: intense! I could describe it in broad strokes, but I'd rather talk about a specific little detail that I absolutely loved: the synths blend RIGHT in. For example, the running bass synth pattern at 1'40" actually sounds like the rasp from fortissimo low brass; the way that the electronic elements sit right in the mix and almost pass as symphonic struck me as novel. The overall arrangement is basically one long build, but there's contrast & development along the way - Sir_NutS says:

"Your arrangement is original, full of detail and emotion. This really evokes feelings of impending doom, anxiety, and near the end, realization. You managed to make the arrangement much more robust, full and detailed but managed with the proper care as not to make it feel overly crowded. Performances feel natural and oozing intensity. You've managed to surpass the original in my opinion."

Fellow appointee DaMonz concurs:

"I concur! It's an awesome feat to expand the original in a very similar genre and successfully push it even further like you did. The highs and lows in the structure are extremely tasty, and the sound quality is excellent. Lots of expressivity all along, lots of personalization, with the source still very recognizable."

Exciting, dark, cinematic stuff... one of Alex's most taut & tense ReMixes yet, with a very organic approach to integrating key synthetic components into a Gothic, symphonic atmosphere!