ReMix:Castlevania: Bloodlines "Prussian Bones" 3:57

Need EVEN MORE Castlevania this Halloween? The Vampire Variations II album comes out TODAY & follows on the success & rockage of the first volume, released two years ago on Halloween of 2011. We've posted several mixes from that first album, and now we're here with our first mixpost off the sequel, courtesy DaMonz, who offers an upbeat electronic groove that integrates supple ensemble strings for an orchestral flair; he writes:

"Alright, so this is basically me not thinking at all. :D When Chernabogue invited me to the Vampire Variations: Volume II projects, I had less than 2 months to get a finished ReMix done, for a source I'd never heard before (and my two last months have been terribly busy). So yeah, I didn't have the time to think about what I was doing, so I kind of told my brain to shut up and just let the mouse have fun! ^_^

This ReMix is the result. I'm really happy with it, and when I listen to it I feel like I'm improving, compared to my earlier work. I hope you'll agree, and I'm looking forward to your feedback to keep improving even more! Thank you very much for your time and energy! :)"

I'm glad Emery's mouse had fun, and I feel like YOU will, too - drums are not as upfront/modern and tend to stay out of the way, here, and let the synths & strings do their thing. The overall arrangement preserves that feeling of movement & momentum that so many Castlevania source tunes capture so well, and I think the strings add a lot - closing the mix with the exposed passage was effective and leaves the listener with an appropriate sense of simultaneous closure & tension. Larry writes:

"Vampire Variations II focuses on the music of Bloodlines and Rondo of Blood, which is a nice change of pace as far as the fan community's Castlevania coverage; Bloodlines in particular has some VERY under-appreciated music, in this case "Iron-Blue Intention." What really struck me about DaMonz's work here were the cool subtle dynamic escalations brought on by the strings and pads; just when you thought the piece was too minimalist, the warmth of the padding would fill the soundscape more. I actually would have loved to hear that addition/subtraction dynamic exaggerated even farther. It would have been very easy for such fast-paced drumwork to become complacent or repetitive, but Emery refused to let that happen. For a piece that he claims was the result of abandoning thinking, this was a thinking man's arrangement for sure. Nice work!"

Well said, & kudos to DaMonz for continuing to improve & expand his sound; be sure to check out the entire Vampire Variations II album - there's a lot more where this came from, and you're virtually guaranteed to see future tracks appear on the OCR homepage in the months to come!