ReMix:Final Fantasy "The Beginning of a Legacy" 4:43

Is face-melting a boolean, or an integer? Are there different degrees of face-melting, such that one can walk away from a track with only partial meltage - perhaps a hanging eyelid, seared nose, or lightly singed facial hair? I don't know, I'm (unfortunately) not the decider of such things, but I do know that if there's a spectrum of face meltage, this mix is at or near FULL MELTAGE. No head, no more. Hell, this metal Dual Dragons' collab w/ album director Brandon Strader could probably take off a few necks & torsos at the appropriate decibel levels. The Brothers Johansen write:

"We approached this tune with fresh minds, trying to step away from the cliche take on battle tracks.. leaning more towards eerie prog metal vibes. Building danger throughout the battle instead of introducing a threat as constantly staying on the same level. Here the battle starts off very focused, trying to control everything then every thing goes out of hand (due to party members dying.. Enemies having secret trump cards etc.)"

I totally get - and love - what they were trying to do, and I think they succeeded, since I noticed the ebb & flow before even reading their comments. Brandon, who contributed the bass part, adds:

"The Dual Dragons were the first to turn in a finished song. Later on, they updated their song with more instrumentation, including importing some live bass from me and letting me master the track. They're both pretty cool guys; Dan in particular is quite hilarious. They continue to surprise me with the diversity of their music."

You've probably heard this theme arranged before, and you've probably heard it done metal, so it was imperative that this mix do something to distinguish itself and say something new, while still imparting Uematsu's enduring classic with a metric ton of shreddage. Mission accomplished - there are parts of this arrangement that are absolutely intuitive and deliver on the promise of power chugs and aggression, and there are other structural aspects that are surprising and lend a very distinct character. Vinnie writes:

"I liked the evolution the track had, the proggier elements, while still sounding badass. It's like a math professor you have who is a karate master."

EXACTLY... wait, what?? Okay yeah, I see it, although my relationship with math was always more LIKE karate, in that I flailed aimlessly and shouted foreign words and wore colored belts. Except that last bit. Great track from Final Fantasy: Random Encounter that approaches the source from the perfect angle, in my mind, and delivers a badass result!