Chrono Trigger "Manoria Cathedral: Corruption" 3:40

Who among us can resist the siren song of the Chrono Trigger OST? Certainly not me, and not ReMixer H36T! Having already done his own evocative take on the iconic "Corridors of Time theme, H36T turns his attention to a certain corrupted Cathedral. From the ReMixer:

"Well, after a long while on the bench, it's back to making some music. Hey, guys, another sub by me, back with another attempt at Chrono Trigger. This time with a tiiiiny tiny source of just about 14 seconds or so. Still, I wanted to challenge myself to take something that small and try and make it my own or at least create something expansive off of it. Something a bit... adventurous given the source material, but the source is so short that you gotta take some risks! Definitely had to go deep to try and make it something new!

To be honest, the arrangement wasn't that tough this time. A lot of it came in a few days. It was... everything else that pushed me and my skills to their limits. I think it is just outside of or the edge of my skill level to try and tackle a sound palette like this and make it sound good. Some aspects I'm quite confident with still much to learn, and others... I still have a long ways to go, haha.

Also, usually, I come at composing and the like with a story first and then the music goes from there. Here, it was the opposite. The story came along as I was writing and I might try more of that. I'm interested in how others approach writing in this regard.

Welp, that's it for me. I wonder how you will feel about it? Too much? Too little? I hope you and others can enjoy "Manoria Cathedral: Corruption"!

P.S. Them demons was wiln' in that cathedral."

Anyone who has played Chrono Trigger will be familiar with the Manoria Cathedral theme, but the problem with ReMixing it is how incredibly short it is. As someone who has attempted to arrange very short themes, let me assure you, this is no easy feat! You can't just rely on the natural structure of a short song to pad the runtime and carry you, and you have no choice but to get creative. Thankfully H36T proves to be up to the challenge, deploying his usual cinematic style to tackle it. The arrangement starts with a piano and, yes, some classic H36T-style cinematic vocals. What, did you think you weren't going to get cinematic vocals? What I like is how for the first 45 seconds of the song there's no real usage of the Manoria theme, instead some vague hints that serve to build your anticipation. And when it does first make an appearance it's as a rather simple and sedate piano and cello combo, again increasing the anticipation for the coming build. From there on out the piece shifts through a number of gears, each of them bringing something new but still feeling connected.

From judge prophetik music:

"i liked the intentional effort to not focus on just hammering through the melody repeatedly, since the short track already has a fairly repetitive structure anyways. there's a lot of variety here and the time you spent making it unique shows through clearly."

I agree with this. The track never really settles on one specific vibe, instead keeping you surprised with its changes. Meanwhile, judge Liontamer praised H36T's usage of simple elements in a well-executed manner:

"The textures were relatively simple yet effective, and every part registered while meaningfully contributing to the overall sound; this is a strong example to point to of something with only a few elements going on that nonetheless sounds spacious."

From judge Hemophiliac:

"People will dig this and it's nice to see an underappreciated source from CT being turned into a whole new thing."

Co-signed! While playing the hits is always fun and will please the crowd, taking a small and overlooked theme that could potentially be difficult to arrange, and really putting your own stamp on it, that is an admirable goal. Embrace the sweet corruption with this latest offering from H36T.