ReMix:Menace "Insidious Hazard" 3:48

Danger... Danger... It's OC ReMix's 32nd creative drop of an Amiga game arrangement, aka an Amiga CD³². ;-D (Yep, I won't quit my day job...) We've got Gaspode going extra retro with David Whittaker's music from Psygnosis's Amiga schmup, Menace! Much like another Amiga release he played as a kid, Marble Madness, Gaspode channeled those warm, childhood fuzzies into tackling multiple themes:

"One of the first games I played on the Amiga was Menace, a side-scrolling shooter with a great soundtrack. The main theme in the game is only about 2:45 min. long, but it contains a lot of energy, melodies, and changes to play with. The title theme is a little bit slower. And between the main and the boss theme there's the iconic "Danger" sample which sets the mood for the boss. I tried to integrate all three themes in my remix."

Given what I've heard from 90s-era computer game soundtracks, I love the angle judge Hemophiliac came from, likening this to what a souped up Amiga version of the themes would end up as:

"This is a total throwback. Almost feels like it would be what we would call a "sound upgrade" for the time period the game came out in. [...] There's still things Gaspode did to liven up the synth choices. There are multiple filter sweeps that are either programed to hit the top or bottom of their peaks and valleys right on the beat. They are either automated by hand to do that or tempo-sync'd. That tells me there was at least some thought and care put into those decisions rather then presets chosen. [...] The sources are well adapted and the book-ending with the "danger" sample is a great choice to start and wrap up the piece."

Much like trying to navigate those insidious schumps, judge prophetik music experienced some twists and turns, albeit at a slower, more deliberate pace compared to the original tunes:

"beat hits at 0:10 and is particularly dank. lots of darker, detuned tones used. it's an interesting palette [...] i like the switch to the double-time beat at 0:43 [...] there's a shift at 1:40 to the next theme, and it functions as a nice break. the arp section at 2:06 was straight out of 1997 and i liked that. the beat picked up at 2:25 amidst a flurry of key changes and trucked through some more melodic material before we get a recap and then an outro. the outro coming from the half-time beat is a little low-energy, but it's still doing a fine job settling the track. [...]

i actually think this is really fun. the detuning throughout is a stylistic choice and really fits the vibe you're going for here. nice work."

For a "menacing" track, this is actually more fun than scary, and maybe this would click more as "demo" music rather than stressful, although when the texture changes at 1:40 for the latter section of the in-game theme, we're getting more of the dark imagery that vibes with the game and ReMix titles, for sure. :-) Love to see David Whittaker have his sixth game and ninth ReMix represented here Gaspode's rendition is all about leaning into the melodies that made this soundtrack special! And we're not done yet with Gaspode...