ReMix:Chrono Cross "Magma Bomb" 3:04

prophetik music (Bradley Burr) teams up with his friend & newcomer Tacorina of Time (Ryan Krebs) - gotta love the pseudonym - for this dark, percolating fusion/industrial take on "Deathfire Mountain," off of Chronopolis: Music Inspired by Chrono Cross:

• arrangement - prophetik music
• arrangement - Tacorina of Time
• mastering - timaeus222

"My collaborator is an IRL friend who is just as passionate about game music as I am, and one of the guys that has helped me out as a sounding board throughout this project. Although a talented drummer, he'd never have attempted a remix on his own since he doesn't have the theory/ear training for it. I encouraged him to record himself singing/playing some of the ideas he had for this track, and then realized his mixed-meter beat ideas into this remix."

Ryan adds:

"When I was asked by Brad to create an idea for an OCR of my favorite video game soundtrack of all time, I was pretty ecstatic. I chose "Death Volcano" because it is such a unique song on a soundtrack entirely comprised of unique songs. I love how the nuanced melodies and instrumentation coalesce to create the atmosphere of Mt. Pyre. Having no actual experience in composing all aspects of a song, I started with two things I know: mixed meter and drum beats. I wanted to create an electronic OCR, but still capture the uniqueness of the composition and instrumentation. I figured mixed meter would be a great way to translate this. I also wanted the drum beats to frame the song to make the melodies easier to place in the new meter. Brad did an excellent job with keeping rich, atmospheric texture as the core of the song, and to me evokes imagery of fire and the inside of a cave."

Drums/percussion are definitely the highlight here, with a crisp, syncopated groove that gives the piece a kinda fusion/prog vibe. I love that Ryan was able to capture an idea & enough of his vision that Brad could step in and tie everything together; this has the organic/electronic hybrid aesthetic that permeates through the album, while still representing a unique take on a unique theme, as Ryan mentions. Larry Oji writes:

"Since I set the posting order, and I'm continually proud of our newest judges, I thought I'd stage another double-up! :-)

Brad teamed up with Ryan to bring Ryan's track concept to life for Chronopolis. Rhythmic changes are such an effective way to bring a unique sound to an arrangement, and that's done in an exemplary way here. The original theme's so contemplative, whereas this take was darker yet more enegetic; the subtle low synths here add a lot to that darker mood without standing out too much. Nice work as well with the lead synth line at 2:14 providing a otherworldly variation on the main melody to stand apart from presentation of the first verse at :41. I thought the beats could have sounded more impactful (or more humanized via a sample with round-robin), but something to be said about sticking with a more subdued, low-key presentation; there's something sinister beneath the surface here, and that doesn't have to be played up. I'm a big fan of this theme, especially since Sibling's take on it, and Ryan & Brad's fresh interpretation is another smart example of the many directions the source tune can go!"

Ditto all that; a novel, alley-oop creation process led to one of the more unusual, subdued, yet still evocative & transporting tracks on the album - enjoy!