ReMix: Shining in the Darkness 'Down in the Dungeon Just Creatures and Me'

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Well, it seems to be the season for inspired guitar mixes from first-time ReMixers, as now we've got yet another, again from previously un-ReMixed territory. Oh yeah, before I forget, Jared Hudson recently did a really cool interview with indianapolismusic.net - definitely worth checking out, very interesting read. Right then - many great things have come from Finland, and this mix from newcomer Taika, who hails from its northern reaches, is no exception. The ReMixer writes:

"Shining In The Darkness is a very nostalgic game for me, one of the first Sega games I had. Not the best game ever but when you're 10 years old anything goes. I decided to go for the dungeon theme, which gets looped well, around 100 000 times during the game. Instead of marching in the darkness, like the original, my version is more like trampling, leaping and bleeding in and out of the endless corridors of the dungeon (inspired by the near death freezing temperatures here in the northern Finland)."

Having briefly played this initial entry into the Shining Universe, I have to say that I do think they greatly refined and improved the series with the first Shining Force game, but nevertheless, this was one of the earlier 16-bit RPGs gamers had available to them, and a decent one at that. I remember finding the box art a bit goofy, because it tried to cram an insane number of characters and action into a small amount of space, in an endearing but ultimately cheese-o-rama cartoon style that I'm sure represented some unspeakable butchery of the original Japanese box art. Taika starts off with a soft filtered guitar riff with a radio effect to it that's replaced by the beefed up real deal at 0'10" in a cool transition. Cool break at 0'22" and then an electric lead comes in on the catchy, memorable melody which has a nice, adventurous, RPG feel to it. Performance on the lead is spot-on, and only gets better as the mix progresses, with a solo-of-death-and-destruction at 1'19" that's mean in all the right ways and probably kills a soft, fuzzy kitten somewhere every time it's listened to. An almost serene organ break follows, showing great variety for a guitar-driven mix, and the build and pinnacle at 2'28" are a perfect conclusion, including one of the most tasteful instances of the cut-to-original homage fadeout ending that comes to mind. zyko leverages his guitar background:

"the guitar playing is very nice - the performance is loose and yet accurate... a sign of good things as far as i'm concerned. the intensity is great. when you play the phrases like around the 1 minute mark, the intensity speaks for itself. your style is very reminiscent of dave mustaine - i'm almost willing to bet you listen to a sizeable amount of megadeth because its all over this arrangement. the lead is very early-thrash and the rhythm playing is totally megadeth"

I'm just as stoked on this one as the panel, perhaps moreso, as I think the length, production, instrumentation, concept, arrangement, and performance are all impressive, for a total package that takes a great (Sega!) source melody that really deserved some attention and sheds some light on it, so to speak.

― djpretzel