ReMix:Final Fantasy VII "Let the Decisive Battle on the Big Bridge Begin!" 4:13

Big Battles. Big Bridges. I love it! Ivan Hakštok teams up with Sixto Sounds as they treat us to a badass rock arrangement of decisive big bridge/battle themes from FF5, FF6, & FF7! Nothing small or indecisive about this mix; each artist gets a guitar solo, the themes are woven together into a pretty seamless jam, and the overall mix is chock full of what we'll call BBE; Ivan writes:

"This song was an entry for the April 2020 Free Month on Dwelling of Duels where it placed 4th among some pretty tough competition.

After getting stuck for way too long on the pull-up minigame in the FF7 remake and hearing "Let the Battles Begin" over and over and finally beating it at like 1am, this arrangement came to me in a dream. So, as soon as I woke up in the morning, I recorded a rough sketch of the first 2 and a half minutes before I went to work. During the next few days, I recorded the rest of my stuff and recruited Juan to do the "Decisive Battle" leads and the guitar solo at 3:07.

I think the sources are well known and easy to spot, also there's lot of intermingling going on, so I'm gonna give just a rough source breakdown:

• 0:00-0:51 = intro based on several section from the FF7 and FF5 sources
• 0:52-1:27 = FF5 with a few bars of FF7 in the middle and at the end
• 1:28-2:36 = FF7 + FF6 going into straightforward FF6, closing it with FF7 again
• 2:37-3:06 = my guitar solo, background is FF7
• 3:07-3:46 = Juan's guitar solo, background is FF7 going into FF5 intro chords with some FF7 phrases
• 3:47-3:59 = based on FF7
• 4:00-4:14 = FF5 into FF7 with some guitar wanking on top"

Breakdown appreciated, but yes, VGM/FF fans should have no trouble spotting these iconic themes, and while the overall treatment isn't wildly transformative, it's the "intermingling"/weaving of the different bits that really sells it.... plus the shreddage, of course ;) Judges were rather decisive themselves, with unanimous enthusiasm; Emunator's praise struck a chord with me:

"This track met my (admittedly high, given the artists involved) expectations on all fronts. This is a balls-to-the-wall arrangement that seamlessly fuses three thematically-related sources into a totally cohesive end result! The guitar performances - obviously the focal point of the arrangement - were quite strong across the board. By now, I can spot a Sixto guitar solo from a mile away and it will NEVER get old for me. Overall, I'm loving what you guys did here!

I will admit, I was a little bit scared by the waveform but was pleasantly surprised to find that everything was cleanly mixed, none of the leads were buried, and the overall master was pristine and punchy without hurting my ears. Ending was pretty abrupt, and the synth patches did feel somewhat lifeless compared to the really strong guitar tones, but nothing that's a dealbreaker by any stretch.

Nice work gents!"

Agreed. I think the synths actually serve as a textural palate-cleanser/foil for the copious amounts of electric guitar Ivan & Juan have packed into this puppy, so in that context it makes sense that they would be relatively unobtrusive. Rexy adds:

"Everything adds up to a cool mixpost that ties three themes into a cohesive whole, has an energetic presentation, plus some fun performances to secure everything together. Ivan, you and Juan did great - excellent job!"

I think this is one of Ivan's best mixes, in good company coming off our previous posting of a highlight from Rebecca, & Juan's contribution only seals the deal further... plus the title is a fun little mashup of its own. Superb, dare I say iconic work - highly recommended!