ReMix:Star Control II "The Path of Now and Never" 5:45

Newcomers salle (Kalle Hölsömäki) & Goathead (Juha Pakalén) send us our first Star Control II mix in 13 years with a heavy, dark, & sinister rock/metal take on the theme of - who else? - the Ur-Quan:

"Composition and mixing by me
Drums, guitar, and the bass by Goathead

This track still gives me the creeps after almost three decades. Even though guitar-heavy arrangements are not my usual thing, I thought this track, the original, consisting of mere 30 seconds, would not deserve anything else.

I've never really listened to metal. But... Star Control 2 has one of the most memorable soundtracks ever, in my opinion. Even though something even close to resembling metal has not exactly been close to my heart, this specific track, for a reason I cannot describe, just... required a more metallic treatment.

I laid out the base for the track and gave my guitar-proficient elementary school buddy the liberty to play the Real(TM) instruments as he saw fit -- this is the outcome. I made most of the track myself, but the guitars didn't sound good, neither did the drums. So an old pal joined to collaborate this and added bass, replayed the guitars, and changed the drums. The biggest challenge was probably turning a 30-second-long track into a full song. Just search for Ur-Quan theme from YouTube. ;)"

Pretty badass - the Ur-Quan AND this mix, which has an epic vibe, layers multiple guitar parts against deep bass & punchy drums, and works in some synth, choir, and talky-bits as well, with a chilling ambient outro as the cherry on top. The initial version we received had some volume issues (wasn't LOUD enough) that were thankfully fixed, and the end result is nearly six minutes of SC2 metal bliss. prophetik music writes:

"this arrangement and realization does a great job of capturing the impending dread from the original game. i liked your choice of instrumentation, and thought the pitch-shifted vocals were great for helping set the mood. it's a longer track as well, but i thought the pacing was great and it didn't feel too long... this is a great track a lot of people will enjoy."

The narration works & and brings you into the atmosphere before the general structure of the arrangement takes over, and again I dig that the outro explores some non-guitar space & contrasts texturally. Very cool that Kalle had a grand vision that his friend Juha could help realize so effectively, and kudos to both of them for bringing Star Control II back to the OCR homepage in style!