ReMix:Seiken Densetsu 3 "Mother of Turmoil" 4:03

Back to Seiken Densetsu 3: Songs of Light and Darkness because it's a massive, amazing album and we've got more to spotlight; namely, this magnificent, soaring symphonic march from newcomer Jeffrey Hayat:

"I was contacted by Meteo Xavier, and was asked to do a remix. He then pointed me to the OC ReMix page, and suggested that I submit the track for inclusion on your main page."

Indeed. While that doesn't tell us much about the actual arrangement, well, you can listen for yourself... Mr. Hayat turns in a grandiose, unapologetically intense piece that channels Williams; it's a hell of a debut, pulls no punches, and while there's some repetition, it's consistently broken right before it would surface as an issue, and measures are taken. Album director Rozovian writes:

"This remix emphasizes the march rhythm and brings some epic, bombastic orchestra to the source. The ending is big and strong, but I found the use of the C part of the source at around 3:12 to be my personal highlight. This track is badass. The source is for a kingdom of Amazons in the tall mountains. It's very appropriate."

I'd like to concur with Ad's assessment that this track is badass; imperious & threatening, or righteous & powerful? Yes; co-director Meteo Xavier concurs:

"This song exudes strength, confidence, and dominion. Were it just a little darker, you'd be forgiven for imagining a female Darth Vader arriving at a Death Star with this neutral but super-sharp fanfare blasting around her.

What a mix. I didn't think a song could be this wet, heavy, and hard. The reverb is dense but never muddy. The drums and strings rock the foundation while mallets bounce on top of them like superballs on a melodically tuned trampoline. I hear this and see a long, flooded series of hallways constructed by Roman elite, water knee-high and pouring down from the cracks 100 feet above, while a phalanx of gold helmet soldiers beat fast triplets into their instruments.

How Jeffrey got this incredible sound to balance like it did is sorcery."

The phrase "wet, heavy, and hard" doesn't get swung around in VGM fandom all that often, so that gets bolded, yes. Very poetic imagery in Jeff's description; credit where credit is due, it's vivid, creative, and well-written. So's this arrangement, which was evaluated by the judges panel all the way back in June... of 2011 :) While all were impressed, the arrangement is borderline conservative, which required consideration - Fishy writes:

"Structurally yes this is very conservative but there's a lot to be said for the detail going on here. Combined with the dynamics and build ups that were absent from the original and I think you have a worthwhile arrangement that is produced very well. Maybe too much reverb as there is a bit of mud going on but it's not a huge issue.

Imma pass this, but try and branch out a bit more in your arrangements in the future. You clearly have an orchestration talent, use it!"

It'd be truly wonderful to hear something else from Mr. Hayat; this is an absolute highlight on Songs of Light and Darkness and works its transformative magic through embellishment & augmentation very effectively. It's also just a fun, awe-inspiring listen, conjuring epic conflict on nothing less than a vast scale. Superb example of playing things very close to the source but doing enough work "in between and within the notes" & with instrumentation/dynamics to change the overall presentation. Highly recommended, as is the entire album!