ReMix: Final Doom 'River Styx'

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Following Redlight's diversion from FD, TO (a.k.a "The Other Final Doom ReMixer") gets back on message with a nice, piano-driven piece that sounds sorta like the backing track from a Fiona Apple song - and I mean that in a good way, in case there's any ambiguity. You've got the heavy, full, verbed piano and layered hip-hop style breaks - just add Fiona, singing unhappily about something Final Doom-related (the Hell Knight that did her wrong, etc.), and you're there. When the breaks get more layered, there's a snare or something that sounds almost exactly like the default Windows XP sound effect for clicking a folder or hyperlink, so things were a little confusing on my end for a bit. Figured it out and moved on - this is actually less electronic than much of TO's work, and also strikes me as more melodic/instrumental than groove-oriented or pattern-based. The ReMixer writes:

"This isn't a remix of the music in the level "River Styx" in Final Doom, but I liked the name of that level anyway. I actually remixed two scarcer sounding pieces together into one. Level 6 and level 17 in final doom. Mainly piano and glockenspiel, with acoustic guitar coming in later. Strings, Bass Synth, a little bit of mandolin plucking and some rhodes as backing."

Gray and Larry worked together a bit in looking at the arrangement; Oji writes:

"Thanks a lot to Lee for providing the sources and spelling things out on the arrangement side, along with Gray for helping as well. This was a tricky one to get a grasp on, and won't please anyone looking for a conservative sounding take on the theme. Nonetheless, the "message" theme was indeed worked into a swing time form and used as the melodic base of the mix, so the crux of the arrangement was covered right there. Good stuff using the piano at :17-:24 to do the same, before moving onto some more liberal but noticeable arrangement, basing things off of the chords you mentioned."

With Gray adding:

"Larry asked for my help and opinion on this mix as he had trouble picking it out at first. I think the problem with a lot of Doom type source materials is how minimal there is a material to work with, so anything that expands on it has a great danger of sounding very liberal. In this case, I think this bears repeated listenings for some people, because there's a lot of subtlety and lack of overtness that might not make itself apparent at first. Some people will get this, some won't. In this case I think it's a very nicely combined mix of two materials into one cohesive arrangement."

I digged it regardless, not being overly intimate with the source material; in particular, the glock and really the mandolin strike me as creative instrumentation decisions. As an instrumental, it doesn't always have as much going on in the foreground as I'd like, which probably prompted my comment about a vocal - I'd love to see this type of effort paired up with an appropriate original lyric + vocalist, as it seems very open and uncluttered. Ms. Apple probably isn't available, but there are others who'd most likely be up to the task. Even without a vocal, however, due largely to the significant melodic yardage gained by the tasteful acoustic guitar, this is good stuff. I'll end this already quote-heavy writeup with Sir John of Burnett:

"I really like this. It feels like really odd dark new-age genre, which I find intriguing. Production is solid, reverb debates notwithstanding. There's development, dynamics, even a quick little soliloqy [sic] for a guitar solo of sorts. I applaud you on making a Doom remix that, while dark, isn't garishly gothic."

― djpretzel