Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon "Who Needs Allies When You Have a Demon Sword?" 5:29

More Pixel Mixers POWAR courtesy thebitterroost, who blazes forth with a blistering metal version of the first stage of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, part of PM's Great Tale of the Little Ones: Vol. 3! TBR briefly explained his approach and helpfully shared some gear insights:

"Featured on this awesome Pixel Mixers LP! Go check it out >.< ~~~

First two playthroughs are pretty 1:1 but adding some guitarmony and such, then I take components of the song (some cool arpeggios and such) and doomify them one by one until they have been reforged with the power of *mehtuhl*. ╰(°ㅂ°)╯

Let this song hopefully stand as proof that a fingerpicked acoustic guitar + proximity effect = passable bass.

Drums/acoustic gtrs/workhorse mics/stock Reaper plugs, guitars through Audio Assault's (free!) Blacksun amp sim, bass through the free BOD VST, background MIDI arp twinklies courtesy of AIR Xpand! 2."

The Bloodstained source sounds like a more militarized run-and-gun version of Castlevania, so it was interesting to see how the game itself was influenced by Castlevania III. Speaking of CV3, TBR's ReMix actually feels like the result if you'd asked goat to arrange this, which means it rocks, make no mistake about that. Once it gets going at :37, experienced OCR listeners will know exactly what I mean when I say this reminds me heavily -- in the best ways possible -- of "Stained Glass Filth".

For judge prophetik music, thebitterroost was a standout among standouts here, with lots of attention paid to the details:

"this original is outrageous! how have i never heard this before? what a bop. [...]

there's some fun stuff going on in the far outsides of the ears here - lot of panned content. [...] the track picks up and gets to the meat and potatoes at 0:27. the lead part is performed great - love all the detail on the lead, tons of vibrato and accoutrement going on. i also appreciate how much the backing parts aren't just on autopilot - there's tons of fills in the drums and in the rhythm guitar, the amount of stuff that's coordinated is great, and it doesn't sit on the same patterns for any length of time.

there's a half-time drop at 2:31 which is appropriately evil-sounding. the big fat stacks playing tritone patterns and the chugs at 3:08 sound like something off of DT's Systematic Chaos album. there's a big screaming solo and then some drum work at 3:54 before the requisite acoustic guitar break at 4:05. we get one last big blow at 4:31, and it's worth the wait with the intensity being cranked up to 11. a few last chords and it's done. [...]

the writing is great, the performance is superb - one of the better guitar performances i've heard this year in judging, and the drum writing is excellent as well - and the mix is clean. excellent work, really enjoyable track."

Meanwhile, fellow judge Hemophiliac also praised TBR's titanic textures, as well as him knowing when to switch things up at precisely the right moment:

"Whoa whoa whoa, who let the crazy CV clone out into the wild? This source is awesome, and this arrangement is equally awesome.

It was not hard to imagine it in this rock/metal style at all, and you pulled it off very well.

Some of the part writing does get pretty close and dense, but the mix managed to keep them separate enough to still be clear. Tip-toe that fine line of heavy without being muddy.

The drums sound great. [...] The drop at 4:05 was excellent. Perfect time to bring the energy down and provided a much needed contrast to the frenetic pace we were on thus far.

I'll take my demons shredded with a side of drums, thank you for serving it up."

Count me in as well for lauding & applauding the brilliant changeup at 4:05 with the acoustic-led section; I would have loved to have heard more like this just because of how stylish it was, which is certainly not a material criticism that this style wasn't present enough. What a smart bit of contrast! This one's amazing stuff as usual from thebitterroost, who shouldn't be slept on as top-tier metal artist in this scene. Hopefully this isn't his last time arranging an Igavania soundtrack, who's with me? Build some good karma and share this with your favorite game dev. :-) I'd 1000% love to hear thebitterroost on some game scores, this is dense and intense!