ReMix:Sword of Vermilion "Fight for Excalabria" 6:41

"Vermilion" is such a cool word. If a million vermin got together and formed a single, sentient hive mind, and then started attacking humanity and launching plots and what not, it would be a really top-tier naming option. Instead it means "bright red," basically, but we can dream. I actually played & beat this game back in the day, which I am obliged to point out for the few occasions it is true, and this marks our third featured arrangement on the site, as jmabate (Jean Marc Abate) collabs with Capt'n Shred (Gus) for an extended rock/metal take on several of the game's themes; Jean Marc writes:

"Songs covered:

• "Statts"
• "Last City"
• "Dungeon"
• "Title"

All songs composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi.

Last guita solo by Capt'n Shred. Thank you for your epic solo. \m/ It was a pleasure and hope we'll shred together again. ^^

I played all games I covered from the Sega Genesis games between 1990 and 1994. And I'm pleased to remake some of them and new ones.

Hope you will enjoy. Cheers."

I certainly did, and speaking of names, "Capt'n Shred" is pretty hot as well, although he could have gone with "Cap'n" instead and joined the esteemed ranks of breakfast cereal nobility. At any rate, it's not false advertising, at least the "shred" part, as Gus's solo towards the end is a highlight. He adds:

"Thanks for having me on this track, it was a pleasure shredding alongside you!"

Things intro hard and then take a step back, as rhythm guitar crunches over milky sustained organ chords. 1'28" has some hits with a repeated descending riff that takes us into heavier, darker territory. 1'51" isn't the best transition, perhaps, but it moves things in a more rock'n'roll direction for another theme. 2'51" did give me some pause... none of the judges seemed as bothered by this, but to me it starts teetering a bit off the rails rhythmically, with some misalignment/looseness to the timing. Never falls off, though, and things DO get back into the pocket eventually. If there's a nit to be picked, though, for me it would be tightening things up here & there, when it slips. I liked Emunator's take:

"Just a quick cosign here - the proggy guitar and organ tones are tasty, and lay a solid foundation for quite the sprawling arrangement. The tonal cohesion helps glue together an arrangement that is marked by some awkward transitions, so even though some of the individual links between sections are sloppy, the overall piece still feels cohesive enough! The changeup at 3:55 was a breath of fresh air before getting back into some heavier guitar chugs and eventually Capt'n Shred's badass guitar solo."

S'good stuff. I think a couple transitions could have been bridged differently, and the aforementioned looseness hits me wrong a couple times, but this is still almost seven minutes of powerful rock/metal Sword of Vermilion goodness, covering a satisfying chunk of the game's OST. Great job from Jean Marc & Gus in shredding up some Vermilion!