ReMix: Final Fantasy X 'Dreams of Death'
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- Game: Final Fantasy X (Square, 2001, PS2)
- ReMixer(s): Brandon Strader
- Composer(s): Junya Nakano, Masashi Hamauzu, Nobuo Uematsu
- Song(s): 'Otherworld'
- Posted: 2012-11-07, evaluated by the judges
- Album: Featured on BadAss: Boss Themes
So if the election DIDN'T go your way, and you're looking for some music to help vent that frustration, well... Brandon likes him some death metal, and the grunting, gravelly, sepulchral vocals he brings to this FFX mix from Badass should help exorcise your demons, electoral or otherwise. He writes:
"I was looking for an excuse to make some death metal, so I hopped on the BadAss Boss themes project and produced Dreams of Death, a heavier remix of 'Otherworld'. Most people recognize it from the beginning of the game during the opening blitzball cinematic, but it is also [ED. used] near the end of the game..."
For his resubmission, he notes the following:
- Fixed guitar EQ -- they are quad-tracked rhythms!
- Fixed solo echo (it was gone lol?)
- Changed intro to source intro
- Redid mastering chain.. should be beefier now for sure
- Inspired by Cannibal Corpse
It's now time for some hot, wet, judgequote action - up first is Larry:
"Totally not my speed, but very well done! Indeed, the source is all over this (:05-1:10, 1:34-2:40.25, 2:52-3:28 on just a cursory listen; way over). Brutal. Almost everyone will hate this. And I love that."
Mattias adds:
"This is really good. Nice resubmission, much better tone. Varied use of the source, even production and good performance. OCR needs this stuff too."
And finally, Palpable:
"A pretty clear improvement over the last version. It's so much easier to hear what the guitars are playing now. This song will have its fans."
Well, actually, while I wouldn't count myself among them for the very first bits, I really liked the vocal oscillation at 0'32" where Brandon's higher, Skesis-voice kicks in and is doubled by the big, bad abobo-voice underneath; nice contrast. It's always difficult to judge mixes like this where the genre is rather polarizing, but Brandon knows his craft and ups the "death" ante on the original metal source. Add to that the aggressive production & performance that anso noted and some truly sinister guitar soloing, and you've got a cathartic release of anger-made-flesh-made-music. Not for children or those with heart conditions!
Discussion: Latest 5 comments/reviews; view the As of now I believe I have 3 versions of the Other World song.
2 by Nobuo Uematsu (OST, and Black Mages II)
Then this one.
Basically this one is like a mirror opposite of the Black Mages version, which is female vocals, and more rock-esque.
Playing them next to each other is kind of interesting.
- Crono3of3time on November 16, 2012
It's perfectly natural and about time that someone made a fully realized death metal version of Otherworld, and I really commend Brandon for going for it. Huge props for the vocals which are the best and most finely tuned feature of this remix. While I very much preferred the spoken version of the bridge, going for the growls and screams is okay as the original track begged for it. Very good stuff.
Things I didn't like about it; the haphazard pacing and the distorted guitars. Yeah, I know that death metal is supposed to sound like this, but man the original had some sweeping and awesome moments that I really wanted to be extended or built upon in the remix. Things like the awesome solo mid-track, how the lead and rhythm guitars follow the "you know" and "fight fight fight" vocal portions in the original track. It's those little things that I just would've loved too see tackled in a different manner in the remix, not eliminated entirely. I may be unfair critiquing the distorted garage sound since it's the basis of some metal sub-genres, but something clean like Metallica for example would've been a better fit in my opinion.
Despite my critiques, this remix will definitely have its fans since it does sound like an authentic death metal take from a bird's eye view. I'm just too attached to the original's style.
- SwordBreaker on November 9, 2012
When I first heard this mix I wasn't expecting something so different from the original, but I'm super glad it is. Somehow the riffs sound completely different without even changing that much.
Brutal!
- Kuolema on November 7, 2012
For anyone who's been around a LONG time, "Otherworld" is the FF10 track that's been commonly attributed to Rammstein, even though it sounds NOTHING like Rammstein. Pure Napster days misattrubution stupidity that's been pervasive like "Rabbit Joint Cover" being credited to System of a Down instead of The Rabbit Joint, just not quite as horribly misrepresented. :lol:
- Liontamer on November 7, 2012
