ReMix:Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse "Baño de Sangre" 3:12

Weekend mixpost! ThePlasmas debuted on OCR back in November of 2017 with a sweet metal ReMix of Ecco: The Tides of Time, and now return with a second helping, this time focusing on Castlevania 3 for a dark, demonic, & brutal metal take on "Nightmare" - Mauricio Plasma (Mauricio Castro) handled arrangement, performance, and mixing:

"Hi, everyone! It was made specially for Viking Guitar's Danse Macabre 5 album, an album with a dark, spooky, terrorific tone. I love Castlevania 3 and Circle of the Moon, where "Nightmare" appears on both of them in very hard stages. Those ones are my favorites."

So we know from many years of compelling evidence that Castlevania pairs well with metal - the overall evil/vampire vibe, sure, but specifically the music. Beyond being a badass, hard-hitting metal arrangement - which is always enjoyed - this mix does a great job incorporating sound FX & acoustic guitar bits to widen its palette & lend a bit more depth. The group's Ecco ReMix had a similar "Metal+" thing going on, and it also worked extremely well in this regard... the acoustic passages effectively dial it back a bit, temporarily, while adding their own distinct flavor. Waterphone is always spooky & unnerving, and the metallic screetch in the intro sure sounds like one. Larry Oji writes:

"Rocked out, loved the arrangement. Was initially concerned at the theme being quiet and de-emphasized at first when it came in at :20, but it eventually took the forefront at 1:40 for the rest of the arrangement, so no issues there. Great energy and loved the title too! Looking forward to the next one, Mauricio!"

Bloodbath! DarkeSword adds:

"Performances are great, lots of energy and variation. I'm good with this one."

Several other judges did observe some muddiness on production & also had reservations about the more synthetic elements in the instrumentation, but those guitars sure cut through almost anything, and I think the overall unbridled evil & raw terror win the day. Handily :) Fun, energetic, and unquestionably malicious metal from Mauricio & ThePlasmas; as the pale, purple-toga wearing bad guy in Altered Beast likes to say: welcome to your doom!