ReMix: Castlevania 'Grim Reaper'

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Memblers has his own sound, for sure, and I think it's a good one . . . he tends towards minimalist arrangement, with LESS instruments & motion than in the original piece, but that's okay by me, and works especially well with this 'Grim Reaper' theme from Castlevania. It was done in a tracker, but the acoustic guitar sample used is quite decent. This piece has its own unique feel to it, and is quite bit "spookier" IMO than the original. Give it a download and see if you agree.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 13 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.

Starts out pretty weak with a constant and loud hiss. The guitar sample is actually pretty decent, but that bass hiss and the organ are not so good. Pitchbend on the organ is MADNESS, and the part is either way out of tune, or you are writing in 2 different keys.
It needs an ending as well.
Sorry, I don't really like this one.

- OA on December 10, 2007

Well, I honestly thought a fight with the Reaper should have a bit more of a wall-of-sound feel, like many of CotMM's works. Honestly, I don't think "spooky" is quite what you're after when you're fighting the Destroying Angel himself.
On a complete tangent... Why the hell did they make the ANGEL of death a boss in DRACULA'S castle? It just don't make sense. Oh well.

- SixthFlyingMan on May 6, 2005

The guitar was great and so is the whole song it really got me addicted to it i listen to it everyday.

- Super Metal Mario on May 5, 2005

I love the guitar in this track. It sounds almost slightly flamenco. The bass is understated and supplements the track well. I also think that the juxtaposition of the Organ and the Guitar are perfect for the track. My only complaint is the abrupt ending. However, I heard that there is a version with a proper ending which would be great.

- DragonFireKai on August 18, 2004

This was a great track! If only it wasn't for that sudden ending. It soulded like it was cut off.

- CatfishGuru1982 on February 16, 2004

I also really don't like the ending. I thought my download had screwed up, it's completely cut-off. It doesn't sound intentional at all and I don't like it. It's a shame, because other than that, it's a cool mix.
Edit: Just listened to it again. Sure this isn't a mistake? The note it ends on doesn't seem like the right note to end it on, and it seems partially cut off. Was this thing uploaded correctly?
Edit again: Nevermind.

Ahhh, so nice to see new contributions from our 'veteran' ReMixers . . . well, the Site ain't even 1 year old yet . . . but you know what I mean :) Memblers, as I have previously stated, has his own unique thing going on. Many are confused when listening to his ReMixes because they're all short and often cut off abruptly, like this one, but take my word - it's SUPPOSED to be that way. The songs, originally, looped, and instead of a fade Memblers has just opted to truncate at the loop point.

Still think you could come up with a better signature than that though.

- damathacus on December 14, 2003

The begining is great. If I were to judge it just based on the acoustic guitar and some of the early organ stuff I would give it a 9/10. When the organ first comes in, it seems to have a little trouble blending with (and not drowning out) the guitar, but it still makes a good addition to the arrangement as the acoustic guitar would have become repetative if used by itself for the whole 3 minutes. The off-key-ness of the organ after 1:38 really drags it down though, and it needs and ending. It sounds like when djpretzel was downloading it the download got cut off toward the end and he forgot to go back to it. Because of the sour ending by the time its over you almost don't remember what it was that made it so great. Fix the organ and give it a proper ending (hopefully doing one final run of the guitar by itself in the process) and I would rate it truly excellent.

- Gnam on July 24, 2003

I've heard Midi's that sound better and you need to fix that organ..it sounds like its on life support. All though the beginning was a little bit better
4 / 10

- SpikedBladeZero on June 27, 2003

If vgmix ever comes back up, or you want to go to their chatroom on irc.scene.org and use an fserve, get The Grim Reamer by Membler. He actually had an ending on it. Just incase anyone didnt know.

- EdgeCrusher on December 26, 2002

I just listened to the original for the first time a minute ago. I thought the same thing about the organ being out of tune, especially beginning at 1:38--or at least something strange about it. But instead of it being out of tune, I think Memblers is just using different intervals for this part than the original. The resulting dissonances made, to me, a section that's infinitely "spookier" and more unsettling than the original. I can say the same about the rest of the piece. I love it when I can be made unsettled or uncomfortable by a piece. You don't need a lot of instruments or other complexities to have a great piece; this is the proof.
Ending's quite abrupt, but that's tracker music for you.
I'd almost want to try this one myself, but it wouldn't be as good or as original as Memblers'. Very good work.

- MC on December 26, 2002

I thought it was good up unto the organ came in. Is it me or is the organ out of tune?! ( ex. 1:38 ). Sorry to be upset, but Heart of Fire is my FAVORITE CV tune, its rarely remixed/covered, and this one doesnt do HoF justice.

- neostormx on November 12, 2002

One of the first remixes I heard here. Actually, this is how I found OCR back in the day. I search for CV remixes and this one came up. I love this one! The ending is the only part I actually do not like though, as said before, its just too much of a cut off, like membler didnt know where to go with it.

- EdgeCrusher on June 9, 2002

Castlevania 'Grim Reaper'
Definitely sounds like a tracker but that's OK. The guitar actually sounds pretty cool, though at times the bass does overpower it. The song includes some synth in the second half as well as percussion, and the synth gets a little funky and out of place, in my opinion. I'd say this mix is OK at best. The ending is "super-couldn't-be-more-abrupt-if-it-wanted-to", which is bad.

- Joe Redifer on May 13, 2002

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