ReMix:Final Fantasy IX "Viking Funeral for the Damned" 6:49

Vikings don't mess around. No trigger warnings, no safe spaces, and if you're not careful, they might kill you & take your stuff, then write a song about it. Thus the obvious & celebrated connection with metal, even spawning a dedicated subgenre. This br00tl arrangement of "Assault of the Silver Dragons" from Knight of the Round, off Final Fantasy IX: Worlds Apart, ravages your ears & pillages your... face?... with a macro-aggressive blend of metal & orchestral, culminating in a mellow acoustic folk outro. Justin Taylor writes:

"I joined Fishy's FFIX project pretty late, with only a handful of songs to choose from. One of the first songs I checked out was "Assault of the White Dragons." After about 30 seconds in, I decided that this was the track I would remix, and that I was going to be making an epic symphonic black metal remix!

I got a hold of my old bandmate, Adam Higgins (ex-Iscariot), and we decided to collaborate on this track, marking the first time we have worked on a song together in almost 4 years. We wanted to utilize as much of the source as possible while creating some original bits here and there, as well as taking the listener on what I like to refer to as a "sonic roller-coaster."

Using influences from bands like Emperor and Dimmu Borgir, as well as composers such as Clint Mansell and John Williams, we were able to create a fairly distinctive remix while using 100% of the source material. We worked extremely hard on this mix and we hope you all enjoy it!

I used Sony Acid Pro 7 to track/mix everything. iZotope Ozone was used to master the track (also done in Acid 7). All of the orchestra bits were added through MIDI via Symphonic Orchestra Gold, Symphonic Choirs, and Stormdrum. Guitars were recorded with an Agile Intrepid 8-string w/EMG 808 pickups through an ENGL Fireball head, then re-amped through Line 6 POD Farm. Bass was recorded direct in, then re-amped through POD Farm. Drums were programmed through Superior Drummer 2.0, then the snare and kick were sound replaced with the Steven Slate Trigger."

That intro melts your face right out of the gate, so you'll need to enjoy the rest of the mix with a partially-melted face; prepare to get your Sandor Clegane on. Symphonic components are mixed well, the entire piece hits with a resounding oomph, and I dig that the ending is more relaxing bard-style denouement than epic bombast, though the final fade curve is abrupt & could have used a longer/exponential tail. That's my only salient nitpick for a ReMix that's aggressive & chock full of epic, offering up a delicious assault for metal fans and adding formidable shreddage to Worlds Apart!