ReMix:Final Fantasy VIII "The Sorceress's Knight" 4:54

Marc Papeghin & LadyReemz undeniably showcased the warmth of Final Fantasy VIII's music, yet we couldn't celebrate the 25th anniversary of FF8's American release without also including something impactful from our community's recent album, Final Fantasy VIII: SeeDs of Pandora! And, holy crow, what an epic piece of business we've got for you with Deedubs' BIG orchestral battle theme treatment! M'dubs had to overcome a limited window of availability to make this bad boy happen:

"Once again, an opportunity to remix a favorite track of mine for another album project arose, this time with "Force Your Way" from Final Fantasy VIII. When thinking how how to approach this remix, my thought process was, "What would this theme sound like if it was given the FF7 Remake treatment?" In no way do I feel like my remix is up to par with the incredible FF7 Remake OST, but it was a lot of fun to see what I could do!

It's not often I write anything with a full symphony orchestra in mind nowadays, let alone combine it with choir and drums. Last time I wrote such a track was when I remixed "Eschebone" from Jet Force Gemini for the Mizar Attacks! OCR album a few years ago. That particular track took me several months to finish. For this remix, I only had a little more than a month available, so some initial doubts were there, but I felt like I was up to the challenge. Of course, I went through the inevitable creative brick wall and "I don't think this is going to work" phase, but despite that as well as getting over some poorly timed sickness, I pushed through as best as I could and was able to finish the remix in good time. Huge thanks to Darkflamewolf and Jorito for their valuable feedback and support throughout this process!"

SeeDs of Pandora co-director Darkflamewolf's extensive working relationship with Deedubs kicked off with the Skies of Arcadia album (Happy 25th U.S. anniversary today to the Sega Dreamcast as well - 9.9.99... it's thinking!), a relationship likely to continue down who knows how many future projects:

"Deedubs work is always wonderful and he went back to his roots of the first remix he had ever done for one of my directed albums: Arcadia Legends. His first track there was a solid orchestral epic as well. Covering the primary boss theme was just icing on the cake for this track, making it my favorite."

In contrast with the track DFW invoked, which was among the first completed for Arcadia Legends, this piece was among the last for SeeDs of Pandora's initial four discs, according to album co-director Jorito:

"This was a very late entry on the album, and Deedubs had to put in some overtime to make it happen before the deadline. And boy, I'm glad he did, because it turned out wonderful. It's one of those big, epic orchestra battle tracks driven by a drumkit, a sound I really enjoy but could never really pull off myself. I may or may not also have begged him to teach me his orchestration skills... When I told Deedubs his WIP reminded me of the music of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, he told me "Jenova Dreamweaver" was a big inspiration for him. Could definitely do a lot worse than take the FF7R OST as a guideline! Anyway, another great track from Mike, and another worthy remix of the main battle theme."

When a big concept talent like Jorito wants pointers from you, that's a true feather in Deedubs' cap, yet it all makes sense when hearing what he put down. At :48, the texture peaks in a way to let you know the battle's indeed on, and the buildup continues with a rock-inspired feel, even though it all remains orchestration, a solid meshing of styles. Deedubs later drops the drumming at 2:57 and distinctly resets the mood with an absolutely intimidating rise to the crescendo at 3:25 and further brass-centered blaring. He then revived the drums at 3:50 for the final blows of battle to emphatically close things out. The mixing floods the zone some, yet what an overall strong use of orchestral string, brass, and vox samples to take on this already grandiose theme! If you haven't yet already, "Force Your Way" to checking out all of the excellence Final Fantasy VIII: SeeDs of Pandora has in store!