ReMix:Castlevania "Children of the Wicked" 3:30

By BONKERS

Arranging the music of one song...

"Wicked Child (Outdoors BGM)"

Primary Game: Castlevania (Konami , 1986, NES), music by Kinuyo Yamashita, Satoe Terashima

Posted 2012-10-31, evaluated by djpretzel


HAPPY HALLOWEEN! We've got ANOTHER triple-mixpost to celebrate the annual Quest for Cavities - what is this, OverClocked THREEMIX!?! See, 'cause it rhymes w/ "ReMix"...right, up first is BONKERS (Nicholas Steven Perry) who follows up his FF1 debut from back in June with this Vampire Variations metal arrangement of one of the original Castlevania's most notorious source tunes:

"I'll begin with how I got lined up to do this song for Vampire Variations! :p Flash back to Late August of this year. During regular discussions over on the shizz about various general non-spoiler stuff about the project as a whole, Chernabogue (The Project Head and an awesome guy all around) posts about "The Dual Dragons" Having to drop doing Wicked Child due to a busy schedule.(They ended up doing 2 songs, "Heart of Fire" and "Walking on the Edge", I suggest you go check them out!) Me, being the DARING risk taker I am, say "Oh god, I know i'm gonna regret this.But, I'll take it."

Looking back on it, Castlevania is HUGELY important to me. In middle school I would spend hours at the public library browsing sites like "The Castlevania Dungeon" and "Mr.P's Castlevania Realm". And I am absolutely certain that if I had never been introduced to Castlevania back when I was still just a toddler on the NES, that I would not be here writing this today to submit to you guys on OCR. I never would've had the gall to get interested in music in the same way that I am today.(Though many other things play a big part in that role too) I wouldn't be who I am, I would venture that I would probably be incredibly ignorant and immature among other things. Hell i'd probably already have a kid and who knows where i'd be. I owe nearly all of who I am to staying home and playing video games growing up instead of going out and becoming a trouble maker, doing things like smoking pot, going to jail and all that junk like many people I knew growing up did."

If that isn't a ringing endorsement for the profound effect video games, and apparently Castlevania in particular, can have on the youth of today, I don't know what is. It's almost like Konami should have marketed the game to parents with a tagline: "CASTLEVANIA: KEEP YOUR KIDS OUT OF JAIL". But I jest; it's seriously very cool that this game had such an impact on the artist, and it shines through not only in the brute force energy but also the quieter, slower breakdown bits. Things open hard & fast, with some truly wicked (as advertised) slides on the electric guitar lead, until at 0'45" the arrangement pivots unexpectedly into a slower groove, before spiralling back into the stratosphere at 1'03" - it's abrupt, to be sure, but kinda cool how Mr. Perry plays the fast-and-slow game AND the loud-and-quiet game at the same time. This arrangement isn't about your personal comfort, so it more or less tricks you into a false sense of complacency before pouncing on you again... LIKE A VAMPIRE MIGHT!! Okay, had to stretch for that one a tad, but you get the gist. Production is a little raw but the energy is there and control is maintained amidst the tumultous carriage ride. KUDOS to BONKERS for being brave & brazen on tempo changes, packing a ton of ideas & expression into 3'29" AND for putting a distinct spin on a familiar favorite!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 9 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
avatar
Crulex
on 2014-02-13 12:31:22

It's like you took Wicked Child and turned it up to an eleven and going all out on it. Loved how you slowed down a little halfway through the ReMix before going back into the harder edge again. Nice one.

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Necrox
on 2012-11-22 17:28:23

I've never touched Castlevania but this is a solid, very varied song.

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Chernabogue
on 2012-11-02 10:29:19

This is wicked. :lol:

:nicework:

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BONKERS
on 2012-11-02 04:08:17
I always thought this was a solid track and you're definitely right BONKERS. Doing a track that has been covered so much makes it that much harder to appeal and keep fresh. In honesty, this was fantastically done. A lot of interest and creativity are present here with production that is fab. You may feel as though you could do improve on this, but a year down the line its still sounding great.

Its great to see this posted on OCR and look forward to hearing more of your stuff :nicework:

I love this mix, especially the guitars and drums - it's definitely one of the best from Vampire Variations. Excellent work here BONKERS, you've only been shooting up with skills!

Thanks a bunch guys. I'll continue to work hard and improve!:

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Bahamut
on 2012-11-01 17:09:37

I love this mix, especially the guitars and drums - it's definitely one of the best from Vampire Variations. Excellent work here BONKERS, you've only been shooting up with skills!

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Magellanic
on 2012-11-01 13:13:37

I always thought this was a solid track and you're definitely right BONKERS. Doing a track that has been covered so much makes it that much harder to appeal and keep fresh. In honesty, this was fantastically done. A lot of interest and creativity are present here with production that is fab. You may feel as though you could do improve on this, but a year down the line its still sounding great.

Its great to see this posted on OCR and look forward to hearing more of your stuff :nicework:

avatar
BONKERS
on 2012-10-31 19:14:24

This remix may not appeal to everyone, but I hope some of you can enjoy it at least. :

Trying to find a new but faithful way to interpret such an often covered song (that's been done in just about every which way possible) is a tough thing to do. (Even more so, when it's something that means a lot to you personally)

Looking back a year after I finished this song. There are a few things I could've probably improved on. But that's the beauty of time, you learn and grow more as you go on!

Cheers!

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rykerrk
on 2012-10-31 17:03:14

Not really a huge fan of Rock Remixes (Heard 90 thousand of them, they tend to blend together in my head, etc). That said, this was a solid effort. Lots of good memories, and SHITTY memories, I got SO PISSED at this game.

This... is the same as the source, and yet it is different. I like this a lot. Sick guitars, mang.

avatar
djpretzel
on 2012-10-31 16:29:27

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Castlevania (Konami , 1986, NES)
Music by Kinuyo Yamashita,Satoe Terashima
Songs:
"Wicked Child (Outdoors BGM)"

Tags (7)


Genre:
Metal
Mood:
Aggressive,Dark
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar,Harpsichord
Additional:
Time > Tempo: Fast
Time > Tempo: Slow

File Information


Name:
Castlevania_Children_of_the_Wicked_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
6,094,923 bytes
MD5:
de61d3fe5406364582ac600c44603385
Bitrate:
228Kbps
Duration:
3:30

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