Chrono Trigger "Five More, Nevermore" 5:00

It's ZackParrish's birthday, but the gift's from him to us via Parrish's timebound take on "Corridor of Time" and "Schala's Theme" from Chrono Trigger! You have a few minutes for Zack, right? He's got a few minutes for you:

"Synonymous with the theme of time, this track is exactly 5 minutes long, and each tick is exactly one second apart. It has been a while since I've done a theme purely for myself with no destination in mind. It's not an entry for a contest, it's just 5 minutes of raw emotion. In the turbulent times we live in, sometimes we just need to take 5 minutes to close our eyes, and let our minds wander off and forget the world. Drift away for 300 seconds and let your mind be at peace."

Fellow "Corridor" resident prophetik music had a superlative time listening to this one:

"sometimes it's nice to just listen to classic tracks. schala is so simple and beautiful.

opens with some ticking (thought you meant tick like beat, but it's literally ticking like from a clock) and a big swell before we get some heavily effected piano alongside a pretty heavy beat from the clicking and some new percussion. corridors of time is a beautiful melody line, and the representation here with some fun countermelodic echoes is nice and simple and doesn't try to do too much.

1:21 gives us a few beats of break before some tasteful burbling synths are added in under a soaring string line. there's a lot of little ear candy bits in here that are really appropriate alongside a melody line with as many sustains as this has to keep it moving. string work is good. another shift in feel at 2:28, and we get another representation of the CoT melody line. supporting strings are beautifully reserved and full-sounding.

3:00 brings in schala. [...] there's some more dynamic strings in here, and then the melody shifts to the lower strings at 3:28 while doubled by a few other elements. the intensification here is nice and subtle and isn't overdone.

4:04's a big dropoff and clearly the start of the end. the bridge material from CoT comes back for a bit, and the lingering strings eventually drop out, leaving us with just arpeggiated piano and eventually just the ticks to finish it off. i like the incomplete melody line at the end - really great way to leave the listener wanting more.

zack's a superb musician and this is a great arrangement. i love the push and pull emotionally throughout the piece, as well as the use of clock ticks/sfx to help ground the direction and where we're going. if this is what we get from you when you take time for yourself, let me be the first to encourage you to engage in more self-care! very enjoyable."

I liked the ominousness of the lightly warbling bassline, which subtly added a feel to this that I've never heard in a "Corridor of Time" arrangement until now. Judge Hemophiliac cited that among many other features that made the minutes melt away:

"Zack's characteristic low-end supplemented with a driving synth bass with cinematic gestures above it are perfect in this soon to be classic take on Corridors of Time and Schala's theme. The mood is both dark and foreboding, but elegant and introspective at the same time. The major highlight for me is the subtleness in the part-writing. The source themes are always present, but if you listen closely to the parts that surround them you will find something new on each listening. The final minute in particular brings the close harmony in the strings, which I'm a huge sucker for. I know I've told you this before, but those sweet color-tensions once again remind me of how much your part writing and orchestration is like James Horner, but also your own at the same time.

This is a slam dunk."

Zack's instrumentation choices are intricate, lush, and precise, particularly the sustained strings (which would be awesome to hear done live). There's lots of subtle textural trickery going on that fans of this theme will absolutely love. For me personally, the string writing's my 1A feature, but the whole thing is a restrained yet dynamic treat. Great ingredients, but also cooked up by a great chef. ... Time* chef! ... THYME** CHEF! (As you see, the gears were turning. ;-D)