ReMix: Sonic the Hedgehog 'Metamorphic Rock'

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Epic Sonic Metal Mayhem! Juan writes:

"This all started when Shariq sent me an MP3 of a Marble Zone remix he had started on long ago and asked me to turn it into a rock remix. I thought it had tons of potential and pretty much agreed to do it right away. He sent me a MIDI file of his song and I went straight to work. What he had done was already a pretty solid rock tune so it was easy to add in my samples and guitar recordings without much adjustment to the MIDI tracks. But...

After listening to a lot of old power metal music from the 80's and 90's for days and days, I decided I had to redo the entire song in that style. I told Shariq about it and he was cool with the idea. So back to work I go. To add more body to the track I tossed in a few more source tracks, which were Green Hill Zone (song intro), Final Zone (section after 2nd Marble Zone part), and finally the Boss theme. Countless hours and 62 audio tracks later, this song is finally done. Rock out accordingly."

Sixto can collab with just about anyone and always brings something to the table; in this case you've got a mix that intros hard outta the gate with a really cool rendition of the 'Green Hill' theme - recognizable, but who would have thought to use it as an intro? Juan, that's who. And it works quite well. This is definitely guitar hero style, electric-guit led awesomeness - Juan's taken Shariq's arrangement and used it as an engine for metric tons of lead in a style that's metal, but more of the polished chrome variety than, say, raw iron or steel. Meaning that there's plenty of shreddage, but it's more virtuoso, produced, exhibitionist style stuff than anything too dark or overly aggressive. Which is fine by me: sounds absolutely fantastic.

The arrangement here is also superb - the incorporation of multiple, familiar Sonic themes could have seemed either medleyish or schizophrenic, but they fit right in very naturally in the context of a metal instrumental track with a badass lead guitarist who's got a lot to say and a little over four minutes to say it in. I didn't get a chance to hear Shariq's original, but it does sound like Juan took the ball and ran with it. This isn't just a "... and Sixto on guitar!" collab, in other words, but something Juan had a lot of influence over from an arrangement perspective. I love how at 3'48" it just busts back into the fast chorus bit from 'Marble Zone,' as if it had never left that source material, and how it sounds completely in character. The title may be 'Metamorphic,' (very punny, guys!) and indeed the arrangement changes its various sources considerably, but within the arrangement itself, there's a lot of consistency and cohesion. You don't need to be a geologist to appreciate the quality of this rock's arrangement and production values; fantastic, absolute must-download material from Darkesword and Sixto Sounds.

― djpretzel