Fire Emblem: Awakening "Never Forget Her Name" 6:00

It's jnWake, it's Fire Emblem: Awakening... Wake up! But be careful, don't speak her name! jnWake explains:

"My entry from Dwelling of Duels' DS/3DS Month in June 2025, where it placed 6th of 22 entries. An orchestral metal/prog. metal cover of "Don't Speak Her Name!" from Fire Emblem: Awakening. Somehow, Fire Emblem: Awakening was a fresh game on DoD (and here too?! insanity), so as soon as the theme was announced, I knew I had to cover it. Choosing a track to cover was tough but I eventually settled for "Don't Speak Her Name!", one of the most dramatic tunes from the game. Without spoiling much, it deals with the anger and grief of the main character after a big event, so the original song moves a lot between heroic and sad moods. For my cover, I wanted to heighten this duality and expand that feel by doing a "dramatic metal" take. I think my cover is more straightforward than my usual stuff, since I went for a different approach this time.

Before the source breakdown, I wanted to thank my collabers! As usual, minusworld absolutely crushes it on guitar, especially on leads. Jabo does an awesome job on bass. Ronin [violin] and TSori [trumpet] both bring the arrangement to life with their performances, much better than using orchestral VSTs!"

We're thankful there were no spoilers, but if you know, you know. :'-( It took me two listens to the source to be able to focus on the melodic leads and not get distracted by the interplay of the supporting writing, but it's a fun theme. While this arrangement kicks off with an immediate impact, the piano and guitar here are gorgeous, so the hook is gonna reel you in! As always, Wake gave credit where credit was due for his collaborators AND thoroughly breaks down the arrangement:

"0:00-0:40: Based on the source's intro, I went for a heavy mood right away to represent the "anger". The part at 0:21 introduces melodies that will appear many times during the track.

0:42-1:24: Slow section based on 0:25-0:54 from the source, attempts to represent "grief" with the calmer mood. I added some small SFX for the transitions. The piano line is loosely based on the melody that the acoustic guitar plays.

1:25-1:59: We return to metal after a guitar transition. This is based on 0:54-1:34 from the source, same key changes and all.

2:00-2:15: Based on 1:34-1:54, this is kind of a heroic theme, even in a moment of grief they must keep fighting! I inserted some funny guitar riffs so that minus and Jabo couldn't relax.

2:15-2:57: Based on 1:57-2:42, just like the original, I do a calm take and then an upbeat one, but I added an extra key change because why not.

2:57-3:12: A big build-up, this part and the release are from my favorite from the original (build-up is 2:42-2:59).

3:12-3:38: Maybe the climax of the track for me, the chord at 3:00 on the source I've always felt is extremely powerful and every cover I found online plays it as just another chord, so on my take I wanted to really highlight, hence the silence and minus's clean run on the lead. He really nailed the emotion on this section. Based on 3:00-3:12.

3:38-4:06: There's a brief calm after the climax and the theme from 3:22 plays on piano and then on guitar. Then the strings play the line from 3:28 (beautiful chord progression in the original here).

4:07-4:40: However, war continues! This section is based on 3:48-4:07 from the source. I tried expanding it and making it more dramatic and tense. There's cameos of previous melodies on guitar and trumpet. minus and Jabo "loved" playing some of the riffs.

4:41-4:56: Repeat of the heroic theme from 2:00-2:15.

4:46-5:30: Based on the melody from 3:38-3:47. First on piano and then on guitar with an ascending chord progression for extra drama.

5:30-end: Repeat of the intro.

Hope you enjoy! This was a very hard track to balance..."

You can read prophetik music's full vote for his stream-of-consciousness thoughts, but since Wake expounded on the structure so extensively, we can stick to proph's 30,000-ft. plaudits:

"excited about this one, it's a great concept and a great list of musicians, and an outrageous track. [...]

this is a real whirlwind. [...] the storytelling and direction of this is fantastic. it sounds excellent and it's a tight mix overall for a variety of instruments."

Rocked out with a tender undercurrent, these are indeed great performances throughout from Wake, minus, Jabo, Ronin & TSori for a very strong presentation, with just as much going on dynamically as the original! :-)