ReMix: Final Fantasy V 'Twisted Devil, Grinding Soul'
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- Game: Final Fantasy V (Square, 1992, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Meteo Xavier
- Composer(s): Nobuo Uematsu
- Song(s): 'A New World', 'Supreme Lord Exdeath'
- Posted: 2011-04-25, evaluated by the judges
While Meteo's take on 'Exdeath' was originally created for Shariq's FF5 album, the timing didn't work out, more or less, so Andy's far more electronic arrangement ended up taking its place. While Andy eventually came around to digging the theme a bit more after struggling with it, it sounds like MX was still on the fence:
"This track was mostly done as a favor to Darkesword and I admit this thing was fraught with peril from day one, since I personally find Exdeath's track pretty ugly and not ripe with material to remix. I found the best way to do this track was to do like my Yggdrasil remix and make it a dark, foreboding, orchestrally inclined mix, taking particular inspiration from Motoi Sakuraba's much angrier orchestral mixes in Baten Kaitos and Infinite Undiscovery.
My goal here was to try and sonically illustrate what was going on under Exdeath's armor, since I can't possibly imagine anything but dark matter and lost souls under that helmet, and the void ripping open one of the many towns in FFV. So that's kinda what's going on here. Little visions of Exdeath marching down like Darth Vader came to mind, as well as bits of the void itself swallowing things whole."
I really like that mental image, and I think it comes through in Meteo's dark, disturbed arrangement. The mix title definitely conveys the contents; this isn't catchy, toe-tapping stuff, it's a cauldron of swirling, abstract menace. Deia writes:
"I feel that the arrangement has a good connection with the source, while adding a little more 'eerie gloominess' into it, which was a cool direction to go. The cameos are a nice touch, and a nice break in the action."
It's not something you're likely to catch yourself humming in the shower, but it's not supposed to be, either; regardless of whether he gained more of an appreciation for the source or not, I think the artist did a good job exploring it, really taking the narrative & character and visualizing them in sound quite viscerally.
Discussion: Latest 11 comments/reviews; view the The track definitely does come off as a dark, slow march early on, although that changes as the song goes on. There are a few moments where the choir sounds strange, but not a huge dealbreaker. I do like the touch of The Land Unknown used in the song, I think it adds some contrast to the main Exdeath source with its more dainty & sad reality.
I think what's here is not bad, although I think the shifting in the last minute or so of the song from the different sources isn't executed well from a wholesome arrangement perspective, and weakens the cohesion of the song.
- Bahamut on July 16, 2012
The proposed situation just makes the mix all the more haunting.
I truly believe that this captures the utter dissonance of being an evil entity like Ex-Death.
I often listen to this mix, not sure entirely why it didn't make it onto Dawn... but oh well.
- Tuberz McGee on December 25, 2011
- Crulex on December 12, 2011
- Kenogu Labz on December 11, 2011
Arrangement-wise it starts out sounding as if it would be more of a straight-cover, but then with the sweeping strings and pads it starts to add more to the direction taken. And when elements of "A New World" start pushing in, it starts to add more to the chaotic atmosphere towards it if only for a brief while. I can certainly feel this large plateau of emptiness that's been emphasized with the soundscape here :)
The production still worked out for most of the way, though I can't help but think there were a little too much high-pushing frequencies on one of the pads for a fair chunk of the track. It may differ depending on one's headphones that may be used, but to be fair my bigger beef was with the sudden ending; we had this nice harpsichord solo building up atmosphere, and all of a sudden... fadeout. So I got to say I was slightly disappointed in regards to the structure.
So, all in all, a difficult source to work with and you managed to work well with what you got - an intriguing idea had been set there, and all the more to see what kind of developments would come in future works. Go for it Meteo :)
- Rexy on December 1, 2011
- Red88Rex on August 6, 2011
Thanks for the reviews guys. I'm not sure why this track didn't get many reviews or comments compared to Youtube (youtube exceeded my expectations for it), but its probably because its an ugly track to start with and there were issues along the way with most of my stuff from last year to two years ago. I kinda wish I could've gone back and fixed errors and problems in the mixing and production.
Nevertheless, I'm glad to see people enjoying it and I hope for more. Thanks again!
- Meteo Xavier on July 4, 2011
I'm a sucker for choirs in pieces like this, so that aspect is right up my alley. Bells (?) around 2:40 are a nice touch.
While I do like the overall sound of this orchestral piece, it does come off a bit BGM-ish. There's a ridiculous amount of awesome stuff in it, but I kinda miss a clear melody bringing the parts together.
- Martin Penwald on July 1, 2011
I also think that the atmosphere is very nice. It's definitely one of the darker tracks on the site. Good job!
- Kuolema on June 28, 2011
- Arrow on April 26, 2011
