ReMix:Castlevania "This Wicked Heart of Mine" 4:44

Wickedest.... child.... EVER!!

This absolutely killer rock vocal take on Castlevania from Jorrith, Mario, & Callum fires on all cylinders & puts everything on the table, with searing guitars, soaring vocals, & an arrangement that puts them both to excellent use. Jorito (Jorrith Schaap) has been killing it lately, and he can clearly do super-dramatic butt rock just as well as he does vocoded italo-disco, which is to say: superbly. He writes:

"This track takes place after the events of Castlevania and tells the story of Simon Belmont as a schizophrenic lunatic whose only salvation lies in killing Dracula, the bringer of his curse. So, essentially, the storyline of Castlevania 2 with a twist. :)

Originally, this track started out as an entry for the Castlevania: Cacaphony of Incarnation organised by MindWanderer, but it has seen a lot of revisions since. I went for a rock song and was able to start quickly by reusing an intro I did for another remix that seemed to work well with "Heart of Fire." The 2 sources were intermingled in such an intricate way that it gave MW a hard time to figure out where all the source material was. Of course, a rock track needs guitars, and, fortunately, I was immensely helped by Callum (Tuberz McGee), who was able to record the guitar parts on short notice and brought it to life. Fun fact: the demon voice is actually me. Turns out having a bad cold can be great for such recordings. :)

Fast-forward to 9 months later. I was never fully satisfied with what I finally submitted to the compo, and most of that had to do with the vocals I added at the last moment. Apart from uninspiring lyrics, I also had to sing it myself, which is not a good idea. So I asked around and met Mario (Blake Inc.) on the #ocremix IRC channel by happenstance. Turns out he's a heck of a rock singer and also was happy to collab. Together, we shuffled the arrangement around, wrote the lyrics and Mario belted out a performance that he described as "my personal best vocal performance." I think it shows. :) Very fun collab to do, very happy with how it came out, and I hope you enjoy it!"

• Lyrics: Blake Inc. and Jorito
• Vocals: Blake Inc.
• Guitars: Tuberz McGee
• Everything else: Jorito

Blake Inc. (Mario Dederichs) adds:

"Not much to add that hasn't been said before. Collaborating with Jorito was amazing and I'd love to do it again in the future! He knows exactly where to take a song, doesn't cut corners and holds himself to a high standard. And I think the result shows. I love the arrangement -- not that I expected anything different, knowing his previous remixes -- and I can only hope I was able to contribute with my voice. It was also a great experience to not be the principal arranger of a song for a change and just focus on the vocal performance."

Mario's voice is MADE for epic rock like this, he can bring it vocally in a way that makes everything click, and I'd certainly love to hear more collabs. Last but not least, on guitars is Tuberz McGee (Callum Kennedy):

"Yet another stunning Jorito track for me to put my spin on. I always love working with Jorrith because he gives me cool riffage and awesome leads and countermelodies. He then has the audacity to say I can change stuff if I want! Like I would! Always a major pleasure working with him and this track is no exception. This track is nothing short of Wicked."

We've heard these themes many a time, often in a rock/metal setting since the entire CV series lends itself so well, but the transformation into a full-fledged radio-ready hard rock opus makes this something different & elevates the package into the spotlight-drenched mega-arenas where hair bands once ruled; Gario concurs:

"Holy shit, this is one hell of an update to the track. It was one of my favorite tracks from that compo, and you improved the production across the board and put out some kickass, Iron Maiden style lyrics. Just... damn, this is awesome. Fun fact - in the original version I always heard "This sweet guitar of mine"... which also worked, and you TOTALLY lost in this new version. Ah well, I'll take your vast improvements any day of the week, here. Great stuff!"

There are revisions, and then there are revisions; Jorito took an already-solid rock mix collab with Callum & BAM! upped the ante considerably with a impeccable vocal & lyrical contributions from the third man, Mario. A man might be a miserable pile of secrets, but in this case *three* men form a badass rock/metal triumvirate of win, and have produced a Castlevania ReMix of legend. Highly recommended.