ReMix: Final Fantasy VII 'Harmony of Destruction'

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With an FF7/Super Metroid combo ReMix that's titled like an entry into the Castlevania franchise comes Ellywu2, aka Chris Elliott. Chris has been around a good while and put out some good stuff during that while, but this is the first submission (actually resubbed after panel feedback) that's made it past those pesky purveyors of production & arrangement, our very own judges panel :) Perhaps Larry can chime in with some background on the review thread, but for whatever reason, this one has has an above-average gestation period before being posted, so apologies there. I know we did want a louder version at one point, and we got one, but it's all so... 2007... and thus rather fuzzy in my head.

Whatever; we're here now, and so's the mix, and it's good. In his original submission email way back when, Chris wrote:

"This is an orchestral remix of the two themes, done in the style of Hans Zimmer (a thousand composers and remixers just cried out in terror!), which means brass, drums etc. Basically these two themes are by far the most badass evil themes in videogame history, and i wanted to combine them."

The film composer influence should be obvious from the very first seconds of the piece; whether you attribute influence to Zimmer, Goldsmith, or even Shore could depend on which bits you're listening to, but it's definitely got that big-budget Hollywood bombast going on, as well as menacing builds and nice breaks. Dig the solo xylophone ending, too - good call, in my opinion, and memorable. You've also got brass that, while at times bordering on blatty, carries a lot of oomph and power. Judges all agreed on the volume issue, which I believe has now been adressed, but some were split on the development of the piece and the nature of film score style submissions. zyko didn't waiver in his stance that the arrangement was fine, but did - without shame - pull a WoW geekout on us, right in his decision:

"really, really dig it still. funny thing: while we're all mentioning how much it is reminiscent of zimmer's work, nobody brought up that this is basically Orc Music from World of Warcraft. hahaha. i can totally picture myself running through ogrimaar right now. with an axe"

Your mileage may of course vary in terms of experiencing similar visions, but if you're into cinematic style arrangements, in this case of two great themes, then you should definitely hear for yourself. Solid stuff from Ellywu2, who after several iterations and a considerable delay on our side finally has something on the site. Be sure to also check out his "Sexy Boy" mix from Radical Dreamers: Thieves of Fate, which is a totally different vibe, but also quite good.

― djpretzel