ReMix: The Legend of the Mystical Ninja 'From Ghosts Emerge Beasts'

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The first of May, 2004, will not be known as a day of subtlety for OCR :) Both this mix and the next that will be posted are in genres that aren't about subtlety; in fact, they eschew subtlety. They mock it. They'll have no part in it. Which can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the mood you're in. I've always found that any sort of speed metal/hard industrial works better when you've got a lot of energy and/or angst to release. That doesn't describe my own circumstances too often these days, I s'pose, but I can still dig something rudely aggressive every once in awhile. And rudely aggressive would, I would say, accurately describe this speed metal mix from newcomer Eradicate from Legend of the Mystical Ninja. The ReMixer writes:

"It is a thrash/black metal remix of the "Cat Kurobei" theme from Legend of the Mystical Ninja, on the Super Nintendo. I have titled it "From Ghosts Emerge Beasts." The thrash metal elements from the piece stem from how the guitar parts are executed, including the drumming. The soloing is also "thrashy," and the distortion used on the guitars (ran through a Laney amplifier) was created to mimic the sound of 80's metal thrash groups. The black metal parts of the piece come out in execution as well, with lots of tremelo picking, double-bass, keyboard parts, and also the way the melody is presented throughout the piece. The final, acoustic closing section is also based on black metal ideas (jazz guitar over acoustics, for example), though I took creative liberties in making it sound more Japanese-like at that part, for a little added texture."

First off, let me applaud the artist for a very strong mix title. If you spend time on a piece of music, visual art, writing, what have you, it seems to me effort should also be directed towards its christening. To paraphrase The Princess Bride: "We are men of action. Bad mix titles do not become us." Now, this mix won't be to everyone's liking. More specifically, if you're not a fan of thrash metal/death metal or things that are very loud, distorted, and fast in general, this may not be your cup of tea. BUT, but, there is definitely craft here. As with most any genre outside of "70's television theme covers using only kazoo and bongo," there is always room for creativity and talent to set certain works apart. To that end, Eradicate has taken the original melody and certainly turned it into breakneck, shredding metal, but there's some cool transitions, the mixing involves a calibrated chaos and never gets truly sloppy, timing is improved from the initial version the ReMixer sent us, and the rapid-fire drum blasts and grating, swift guitar arpeggios do have form and substance to them. As Israfel is leaving our judges panel due to time constraints and moving more into other arenas, I'll give him the last word:

"Nice Euro-speed metal thing going on here. Production is a bit lacking, but overall it's a fun mix in a style that we really don't see here often. Not perfect, but good enough - and besides, I'm partial to the genre."

― djpretzel