ReMix: Metroid 'To Brinstar'

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I think the best adjective to describe what I like about this Brinstar Metroid ReMix from Avien (Chris Powell) is "open" - the whole arrangement feels very clear, spacious, and defined - not muddy, murky, overly layered, or excessively ornate. It's a symphonic arrangement but on a smaller scale, never reaching the full-on lushness of combined ensemble sections, instead sounding like a concert band that happened to invite some strings along for the ride - but this is an advantage, in that each instrument has presence and character and doesn't get lost in too many intertwined counter-harmonies or noodling - a rolling snare keeps tempo as mixed brass, a cornucopia of woodwinds, strings, cymbals, and a few other players form what sounds, as one judge noted, like a competent high school concert band playing an arrangement highly optimized for such a context. Hopefully, you won't have a knee-jerk reaction to the phrase "high-school concert band", because believe me, having been in one myself, the level of quality at the highest tier at large, competitve schools can be very impressive (memories of blasting - tastefully - the end of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture come to mind ^^). Pragmatic Protricity did note that substantial pieces follow the original verbatim, with band instruments where once were the NES' saw and square waves, but I think enough's been added and the overall tone enhanced / altered that Avien can call this an interpretation, and a good one at that. Check it out for a different twist on Brinstar, especially if you were ever a band geek . . err . . member.

― djpretzel