Metroid "Inimical Planets" 4:00

In terms of OCR mixposts, Gaspode's hit the motherlode! Let's celebrate his 20th featured ReMix in grand fashion with Gaspode's electro-vision for a legendary 8-bit composition, Hip Tanaka's Metroid title music! As Gaspode explains, there's also a smattering of Metroid Prime for added inimicalnessness [sic]:

"I always wanted to remix the classic title theme from »Metroid« in all its glory.

As with many of my remixes, I incorporated another theme to keep things interesting, and, after I realized that the title screen from »Metroid« shows a planet surface, I chose the main melody from the »Tallon Overworld« theme from »Metroid Prime«, because that's another planet overworld theme. And it fitted the style very well."

That introductory pulse has all the stressful nostalgia we oldheads crave, and I dig the original countermelodic line Gaspode wrote alongside it, which had just as much synergy as :34's synth line underneath the main melody there. The textures aren't overly complicated, yet they're spacious and cohesive, so we're chillin' in space, come join us! What a lush-sounding transition to Metroid Prime's "Tallon Overworld" at 1:44, for a briefly serene bit of contrast before shifting the energy back up into a beat-driven take on this second source tune. Judge prophetik music led the panel's feedback with his customarily galaxy-brained play-by-play:

"opens with some super chippy arpeggios and some broad bass elements. the iconic metroid motif comes in pretty quickly as does some really spacey drums. there's a shift from minor to major at 0:52 as the melodic material changes over to the B section of the original (really the actual melody of the title theme). this is surprisingly uplifting in scope and scoring.

there's a break at 1:28 that starts to feel more foreboding as it goes along. this shifts to the Tallon overworld theme at 1:44. this section is way more atmospheric and focused on feel, but it quickly transitions back to a more intense electro feel at 2:03, and then further at 2:14. there's some interesting expansion of the concept by overlaying the earlier arpeggiated elements from the intro in new chords over the Tallon theme.

the B theme of the title theme music comes back at 2:55. this is similar scoring to the earlier section at 0:52 but with a new lead for at least part of it. 3:29 brings back the original metroid motif for a bit as falling action, and hits a final big chord to finish it off.

from a technical perspective, i found that the instruments all spoke clearly and weren't covered up. the drums and bass felt meaningful and weren't lacking power, and the leads were well-chosen. [...]

the arrangement's solid and the mix is good. this is an easy one. nice work."

One thing this could have used more of: just a little more "Just a Little More" vox. ;-) Seriously though, everything with the arrangement and production has all the bread and butter fundamentals, but it's fancy artisinal bread and special compound butter, you get what I mean? :-D Thanks to the tasty musical choices here, fellow judge pixelseph really enjoyed the optomistic outlook of Gaspode's presentation:

"I'm really impressed by how uplifting and majestic this piece is, considering how much of Metroid's OSTs are typically spooky and unsettling. And I really appreciate a song title that is exactly what it says on the tin - this is definitely a galactic, cosmic synth track!

Great dynamic contour across the track, especially the build-ups and build-downs. Using the bass AND the drums to communicate the section switches is something I appreciate - long bass hits @ :09 - :34 under the Metroid title theme that sidechain under the drums when they enter; switching to a more energetic 8th-note sidechained pulse @ :52; to a quarter-note pulse that drops beat 1 when Tallon Overworld gets introduced, back to long bass hits to communicate the build, back to that 8th-note sidechain pulse. It stays well inside of "repetition legitimizes" rather than "sounds copy-pasted".

The choir pad [...] thankfully doesn't bury the leads or the bass - more like a warm blanket of mids.

I think this one is comfortably above the bar - arrangement ties the two tracks together without sounding stapled on, mixing is handled well, and there's plenty of personalization."

Beyond the comfy theme combinations you'll experience, fellow Metroid mixing maven Chimpazilla also took up for the "excellent synthwave soundscape" here, so touch down with Gaspode on Zebes and Tallon IV, and take a chance on surviving these "Inimical Planets"! They can't be THAT bad if they sound this good! ;-D