ReMix:Super Castlevania IV "Whipped into Shape" 3:37

Sbeast (Scott Houghton) makes his OCR debut with this aggressive metal contribution to Vampire Variations: Volume III:

"When I first heard about Vampire Variations: Volume III, I immediately wanted to be involved with it, because I'm a big fan of the music from the Castlevania series. After listening to the Castlevania 4 soundtrack, I ended up choosing "Clockwork Mansion" because I thought I could come up with a good arrangement for it... oh, and Simon's theme was already taken. I came up with a heavy metal arrangement featuring some slap bass, a guitar solo, and syncopated, groovin' riffs. Due to the project requirements, I also made use of some orchestral instruments including strings, horns, piano, organ, and a choir to fill out and add interest to the song. Additional thanks goes to Chernabogue for some useful feedback which allowed me to improve the song even further."

Album director Chernabogue writes:

"Sbeast made it straight and simple: heavy metal, and light touch of orchestra - it works pretty well, plus the source is asking to be arranged in this way. Scott's remix sounds pretty massive and some variations in his arrangement were nice additions, like the little breakdown near the end. Excellent playing and spot-on production for a very aggressive remix."

Since Super Castlevania IV was an early SNES game and the first Castlevania on the platform, it was of course obligated to show off the hardware a bit, and this particular level made flagrant, arguably gratuitous (but still nifty at the time!) use of Mode 7 for the background. The music echoed this room-spinning, vertigo-inducing effect with an eerie, rising motif, which Scott employs in the brief intro before the aforementioned slap bass & rock/metal outfit enters and doubled electric guitar lead takes on the melody. He kicks it into double-time for reprising that intro motif, then pulls back into a funky, syncopated groove at 1'23" that captures the madness of the source & amplifies its attitude and presence. Some weird transitions on the SCIV OST, and I consider many of the pieces quite challenging for arrangers to grapple with; this ReMix does an excellent job of sticking fairly close but creatively adapting for genre & bringing some edge and oomph to the party. Great contribution to VV3 and great OCR debut from Sbeast - looking forward to hearing more!!