ReMix:Final Fantasy II "Imperial Rapture" 6:14

Another new face on Rebellion is IanFitC (Ian Fraser), who contributed a hulking behemoth of a metal arrangement that opens with a sick drum cadence & grows from there:

"This track is a culmination of a huge melting pot of influences. Because it's due to appear on a predominantly metal album, I wanted a sludgy and powerful vibe akin to Alice in Chains and Gojira, but with the production sensibilities of someone like Dimmu Borgir or Devin Townsend and a little of Finntroll/Moonsorrow's arranging flair.

I also wanted to explore and develop the source to see if I could take it to some weird places, initially notating themes and chord patterns to look at the relationships and arcs within melodies. This is almost a response to the verbatim metal mixes that crop up all over the place. As such, I've treated the themes in a similar context as to which a classical arranger might, but fitting it into a heavy metal context. To this extent, I have focused on a theme in the source moreso than others, purely because of the relationship between the first few notes really opened up loads of possibilities for me in this mix, with regards to brewing a stormy disposition and creating almost a mantric tension. I also wanted to explore using some different time signatures in this piece to see if I could create a constant flow that didn't present itself as disjointed or fractured.

I realise that I might have taken too many liberties with my developments of the source material, and I made a point to add some more recognisable parts to combat this, allowing each theme and section in the source to make an appearance in the piece. I often doubled important themes and gestures with synths and orchestral instruments in an attempt to bring them to prominence.

I really enjoyed working on this mix. It allowed me to work in some areas I don't normally get the chance to in my band, and to try out some things I would normally discount. With help from Brandon and BONKERS, I managed to clear up a lot of gloop that was really holding this mix back initially, and ultimately learned a lot about EQ balances between instruments. At the very least, I hope you enjoy it!"

First off, I'd like to give Ian some serious props just for thinking about his arrangement and the line between liberal/conservative interpretation as much as he did; this is exactly the type of conversation I think arrangers should be having with themselves. For every last mix? Maybe not... but I don't think it can hurt too much to consider where your piece falls on the spectrum of deviation/interpretation and whether it's where YOU think it should be. OCR does have its own ideas on this topic - basically, we reject both extremes ("near verbatim" and "unrecognizable") - but the artist's own compass should always come first. Right then... this mix has a dark dread to it that's very sinister, and Ian's been very creative in incorporating the source in some unorthodox ways and building original material in & around it. Larry disagreed with the amount of source usage and did not approve:

"I caught whiffs here and there, but what's there ultimately felt too liberal and overly simplified to the point of not enough overt recognizability compared to the source. Palpable mentioned something I also heard, which were a lot of instances of using, say, the first two notes of a pattern, then drastically altering what came after it. Just a lot of liberal, seemingly original writing that had vague similarities to the source, but that was it."

So it didn't pass Larry's stopwatch-based sniff test, but I think Emunator accurately conveyed the majority sentiment:

"Man, this caught me by surprise. It's rare that we hear from a newcomer with this solid production/arrangement chops, but you've definitely got them. This mix features a very unique flavor of metal that I haven't really heard before... the clean guitar breakdowns, the unique drum tone, and scattered orchestral elements demonstrate a lot of creativity in pushing your arrangement beyond the typical metal template that gets used so much. This track was extremely refreshing to me as a listener.

Source usage is tricky here, but the liberal approach seems to be very deliberate, and not simply the result of negligent arranging. It toes the line, but after many side-by-side comparisons I feel comfortable signing off on this. Great track!!"

Enjoyment of this track as a creative, brootal, and interesting piece of music is basically a no-brainer, but whether you enjoy it as an arrangement of the source is going to hinge on how you feel about liberal arrangements and "connecting the dots" - as Wes says, it's clear that the artist has considered this, and he could certainly make the judges' lives a bit easier with future submissions (which we'd love to see!), but he's also not under any obligation to do so. This is a major part of WHY we have a judges panel - to look at arrangements that operate on the far ends of the spectrum and see what we think. Kudos to Ian for making the cut & for putting together a hell of a debut - great stuff!