ReMix: Doom 'Ghosts of Mars'
Not to be confused with John Carpenter's rather lackluster film of the same name (John, what happened to the days of Big Trouble in Little China and They Live??), Mythril Nazgul, coordinator of the DooM Remix Project, The Dark Side of Phobos, sends in his own contribution to the dual-albumed opus. You know how sometimes, on cheesy songs about caring, sharing, and world peace, they bring in a children's choir to we-are-the-world the point home in true saccharin style? Here Navid uses one to add evil staccato punctuationstuffs to a bed of percussion, mixed strings, myriad atmospheric fx, and a nice breakout section with dramatically panned, liquid chromatic bells that embue the arrangement with a whole nudda mood; it's hectic, and tense, and then becomes rather pensive and exploratory. Not unlike a colonoscopy. Or so I've heard. Moving on, Sam mentioned beautiful virgin sacrifices in HIS decision, and so gets the instant CTRL+C/CTRL+V nod:
"Smooth death-ridden intro. As much as I hate similes, the fast percussion in here sounds like some sort of large one-eyed beast slamming it's hands down on a giant demonic snare drum. Every beat appears to come from the same warped instrument, yet the tone varies enough that it feels as though it's actually being played. Meanwhile, all the virgin sacrifices are dancing around him, singing on occasion. Not sure why they're so enthusiastic about there impending demise, but they help the song, so I wont bother them.
The low pitched vocals and high strings complete things, driving the masterful acceleration into 2:17. Well suited bit of peace and quiet following that frenzied pagan worship section. The entire chorale and strings lead us into one more percussive crescendo where the virgins stop singing in order to prepare themselves for the slaughter. At 4:32, the rite has been concluded and the beautiful virgins are no more. The coroner then shows up with his vinyl meat-wagon to take the corpses away. In other words, I loved it!"
I don't know about all that, but it sure sounded colorful and descriptive to me. If there's one detriment to this very soundtrackish work, it's that it wouldn't be suitable for all contexts - you really have to be in the mood for something dark and tumultuous, otherwise the repeated choral stabs risk becoming a little irritating. But if you're all about the dark descent into the id of id, or simply appreciate a broad, well-wielded percussive palette, then invite the Ghosts of Mars in for a stay and enjoy.
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