ReMix:Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals "The Shrine of Twisted Shadows" 4:38

Newcomer Docjekyll takes down a drifting, winding path with his spacious, mysterious trance trip through Lufia II's "Last Duel", the final battle theme for an RPG that's indeed earned lots of tributes in the scene (including a pair from djpretzel)! Doc managed to mash up two things that have brought him joy and sparked his creativity:

"Lufia 2 is an RPG that was originally released in 1996 for SNES. This is a trance remix of "Final Battle", the final dungeon BGM, one of the most moody tracks from the venerable Lufia 2 OST. I'm sure this OST requires no introduction as it has inspired numerous remixes on OC ReMix and elsewhere.

For this remix, I wanted to combine my favorite SNES game with the music genre that first got me interested in digital music production. The remix title is a reference to "Twisted" by Svenson & Gielen, which long ago lodged itself in my brain as a quintessential trance track.

This remix uses many specific phrases from the source material, but also injects plenty of interpretation and atmospheric elements. This remix is not subtle in its use of the source material, both in terms of structure and phrasing. There are variations on note patterns throughout (most obviously at 3:08) in order to better build and release tension in a manner appropriate to the trance genre.

Thank you for your time and feedback! I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed creating it!"

Doc originally subbed it a ways back, but recently upgraded his already approved piece, which is all the better for we listeners, as he explains:

"Since my previous submission ~2 years ago, I have been working on improving my mixing skills in particular and I don't believe my previous submission is still a good representation of my best effort. So I'm resubmitting the same remix with generally the same arrangement, but with better mixing, smoother transitions, and additional atmospheric elements.

Originally, this remix was a much slower and lengthier progressive trance mix, but I decided to shorten it in order to better reflect the source material. A lot shorter than a typical trance track, hopefully, the result is a fun, compact trance experience for fans of Lufia 2 that doesn't overstay its welcome.

In a few places, I changed things in order to emphasize my favorite ideas from the source track. For example:

• detuned synth pluck pattern starting at 0:28, keeping the listener somewhat off-balance like the pulsing, dissonant string chords from the source's opening
• a swelling synth sound that emphasizes the release of tension at 1:23, mimicking the way the source melody's 16th-note run pulls up for a moment before releasing its tension (0:33 from the OST)
• vibrato sine wave at 1:28 to emphasize the uplifting 4th/5th leap that the opening trumpet melody in the original uses to release a bit of tension right before the buildup to its big moments.

I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out; it's the first time I've worked on a trance track and felt like all the instruments and structure came together the way I wanted them to. For as long as I have done music production as a hobby, I have repeatedly come back to the Lufia 2 soundtrack, and I feel like with this remix I may have finally done it justice."

I've been a fan of this theme since hearing Arkimedes (of Leitbur fame) arrange "Ticking Clocks" ages ago on VGMix, and it's wonderful for this version join alongside Nekofrog's rock take on the source (which had its own mellow intro, BTW). Here Docjekyll established an enveloping aura that you can sit in and veg out to, a true trance track if we've ever heard one. The subtle but noticeable textural shift at 2:12 was a nice break before rebuilding and reestablishing :28's mood at 2:54. The source melody's never sounded so chill, and Docjekyll included strong original countermelodic writing to add another dimension to its presentation, along with effectively chosen higher synth lines in spots that added urgency without needing to make grandiose changes. A supremely loopable & enjoyable adaptation of an already moody piece, and a nice scene-setting debut by Docjekyll! :-)