ReMix:Chrono Trigger "Sacratus Bellator" 3:54

By GrayLightning

Arranging the music of one song...

"Frog's Theme"

Primary Game: Chrono Trigger (Square , 1995, SNES), music by Nobuo Uematsu, Noriko Matsueda, Yasunori Mitsuda

Posted 2004-12-19, evaluated by djpretzel


Nothing like the massive traffic, brief sales, and last-minute gift shopping preceding Xmas to bring a meaningful holiday cheer to one's spirit. I'm personally just looking forward to the break itself, though food and stuffs will be nice. 2004 marks the first year I didn't send out a Xmas list of any kind. Whether this is because I've matured into a sensible adult who realizes the true gifts come from the heart, or because now that I have a decent job I simply buy everything I want in a blaze of conspicuous consumption would be an interesting debate. But I digress; Mr. Lightning gives us a very unusual take on the theme to everyone's favorite amphibian, the intuitively-named Frog, in his latest opus. He writes:

"The title is in Latin. It means Holy Warrior. It's done in Orchestral with new age and ethnic elements also. There's a lot of arrangement/structural and form changes with new additions and orchestration going on in this mix. There's even a section with the xylophone that is somewhat inspired by Aaron Copland's well known Hoedown piece from his Rodeo suite."

Some might better know Hoedown as "the beef song" :) This is a very elaborate arrangement of the original that really plays with rhythm/progression; the intro alone didn't give it away for me, I clued in at 1'12" where the main melody, albeit altered, first pops up. Strings, bells (this is GL, what'd you expect?), xylophone, lovely orchestral percussion that's spiced up with some latin accoutrements, piano, chimes, choir, flute (with flares that - while cool - may be overused a bit here), and I believe some brass brought in towards the end to help with the ever-heightening volume and oomph that the crescendo/climax called for. The structure of the piece is interesting, because I think of the (very conspicuous) source melody as being something that's more fanfarish, but Gray's successfully turned it instead into a motif that runs throughout a more atmospheric, building composition. It does still have a majestic element to it, but it's also, as the title suggests, more reverential and mystical. Great mix title, great way to handle a well-known theme in a way that no one would have expected, and great execution. At the risk of, after having just used the word 'great' three times in the last sentence and probably over 1,500 times in all write-ups, sounding repetitive, this is a great piece from Gray - just as good as ever with sound quality/production, and an arrangement that really tries some smart, new tricks and gets 'em right.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Jaybell
on 2010-10-24 20:48:11

An excellent mix. Really gets me pumped up, and some neat variations on frog's theme.

Also, the youtube preview doesn't appear to be working? It says the video was removed by the user... Or is that just me?

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OA
on 2010-05-06 12:25:00

A pretty nice march that holds up well even 5 years later; the build early on is excellent, and the backing tracks are great. The rhythmic change to the B section of the song I wasn't completely feeling- it seemed a little rushed and not as dramatic as the original, but it wasn't mangled by any means.

Nice samples, and a perfect length, this is pretty good. :-)

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GSO
on 2009-09-20 20:47:21

ok. first off I'm gonna say this: I LOVED the original Frog's Theme. what you've done here is taken that nostalgic song and gotten it ready for prime time ^0^ can anyone say Chrono Trigger live-action movie? I love it! ^0^ the only gripe I have is that it's so short. other than that I fully give this remix a 10/10 ^0^

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DragonFireKai
on 2007-03-13 16:32:46

I think this is one of Grey's best works. I love the use of the chorus in the back. Good work extending the length of Frog's Theme without seeming repetative.

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maestermatt
on 2006-09-16 17:13:34
Certainly not my best mix, but that wasn't a goal of mine anyway.

Hey, I think it is.

*aurgasm*

grey it's a kick ass song.
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Bummer
on 2005-09-12 13:13:31

Now THIS is a remix worth downloading.

My best part was The walkover to the

foreign music style(or whatever) at 2:04,

and the bells through the whole mix was

great.

This remix is awesome, a-must-download, and

lets not forget HOLY.

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jordex
on 2005-06-27 23:02:06

I just love what GrayLightning's done with Frog's theme here! It's such a complete different style from the original and Gray has my gratitude for that :lol:

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kaiserramsus
on 2005-04-26 14:21:33
This is AMAZING stuff. I'm not familiar with the original, so I can't speak from that respect (it's 'remix' status), but on it's own, this is a very enjoyable piece. Very emotive, inspiring, and original. I 3 the rhythm work here, with the triplets in the opening and everything--very unique and frickin' awesome.

My music terms vocabulary is not as extensive as IC but this describes a lot of what I feel I want to say. Everytime I listen to this I hear a new dimension I have not heard before. Very original.

Ram

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Akaroo
on 2005-04-26 12:14:03

Overall a good remix, but for the first half of the song it sounded like the remixer was forcefully keeping the song at a boring march-type tempo. Little to no variance till the end, and then still the whole song still suffered a little from this mechanical tempo, which really conflicted the natural theme.

But I'm just making myself clear about one small little problem. I'm being picky.

[Edit: I posted that without reading other reviews, then went back to read the ones that were similar to mine. noticing that so many people agreed that it's melody suffered, i went back and checked out some of his other music...

I’ll just say this... it sounds like he takes the song, and normalizes the entire thing to a 4/4 march and then makes up for this weird fetish by having great samples, smooth transitions, and all that other jazz. Almost all of his peices suffer from this, but for some it works, but not this one.

I'm not saying it's bad, but i just can't stand Grey's taste for rhythm. It's still a decent song, overall]

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IC
on 2005-04-26 04:46:07

This is AMAZING stuff. I'm not familiar with the original, so I can't speak from that respect (it's 'remix' status), but on it's own, this is a very enjoyable piece. Very emotive, inspiring, and original. I 3 the rhythm work here, with the triplets in the opening and everything--very unique and frickin' awesome.

As for the 'climax' (or lack of one, as people have complained), I feel like this song is more of an adventure, with all the variations bringing a new experience to the table, and if any section was outright blaring and in your face, it would dominate the other sections. Rather I like the rise and fall between the section--keeps it spicy.

I've had this on repeat for about a half an hour now, and it's only getting better. This is actually the first GrayLightning song I've really listened to, and I'm thoroughly impressed. I'm gonna have to go listen to all of them now.

GL, you have a new fan!

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Freemind
on 2005-02-05 06:20:43

I know that this an old remix in the remix reviews list, but I am happy to be back and see that Gray has another great remix on the site...I think that this is the third time that I am hearing this remix...Great job Gray..as always... :wink:

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Squall379
on 2005-01-22 17:15:03

I really like this song because it gives a different feel to the song. It gave it a more sad feeling. and makes you think of Frog's origins. The remix touched on both the heroic knight that Frog is and also the amount of tragedy he has seen in his life like the death of Cyrus his friend and mentor, his own transformation and the descending of his beloved Guardia into war with Magus. I may be overanalyzing but I don't care I love the song.

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UnforgivingEdges
on 2005-01-12 23:50:15
Certainly not my best mix, but that wasn't a goal of mine anyway.

Hey, I think it is.

*aurgasm*

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Ticadrius
on 2005-01-12 17:04:55

All in all, I don't think it's entirely fair to judge this one as harshly as many have. When you take this much liberty with such a popular song, there are only two schools of thought: those who praise its originality and those who frown upon its unorthodoxy.

The mix is very well done and has obviously had a good deal of thought put into it. The sampling is very clear and the arrangement is great.

Personally, I belong to the school that was looking forward to another Frog Remix, and was a bit disappointed at this mix. However, that does not mean I don't like it. I thought it was very well done and I praise it very wholeheartedly, but it is not my particular cup of tea.

GrayLightning gets my thumbs up for his creativity and execution. Well done man.

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mrjag
on 2005-01-09 06:04:16
Gray, you always have a place in my Sunday morning playlist.

So I guess that's a good thing. ^_^

It's the "only" hours of my week that I can sit and watch things carrefully, tasting every moment and trying to see things that passed by my lightspeed week.

It's 9am here and I'm listen you right now.

By the way, the flute is saying something important. It is saying that it wants to go to a new place, a place that it never was before. I can't figure out where it want to go, but since you have better ears than mine, you problably already listen.

My kudos Gray.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Chrono Trigger (Square , 1995, SNES)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu,Noriko Matsueda,Yasunori Mitsuda
Songs:
"Frog's Theme"

Tags (2)


Genre:
Cinematic
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Orchestral
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Chrono_Trigger_Sacratus_Bellator_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,715,335 bytes
MD5:
7c607f52e5a132814466d77eda2c1c19
Bitrate:
192Kbps
Duration:
3:54

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