ReMix:Ys: The Oath in Felghana "Solace, Within & Aethernium" 5:41

If you're wondering where the oath is, well, it's in Felghana, as HeavenWraith (Antanas Palaitis) delivers a powerful, brutal, & epic symphonic metal take on "Beat of Destruction":

"My submission to the 30 years of Ys fan album, MelodYs and HarmonYs. It's a sort of spiritual sequel to my previous remix, "Anathema, Quietus & Apotheosis."

Due to time constraints of the project and personal life, I had to approach this remix differently -- after envisioning the concept, I laid out the the rhythm and harmony (mostly just drums, bass, and a few orchestral elements) of the whole song beforehand and, without making any changes to it, built everything else on top, mixing coming last. During the process, I was afraid of it being an endeavor too ambitious, but it turned out alright (although, with more time, I would have considered more complex harmony) and produced results before the project deadline.

The song was mostly and probably most obviously inspired by "Hellfire" from FFXV, which made me inclined to spend hours tweaking EQs and compressors to achieve the epic drum banging, among other things. Another influence, to a lesser extent, was Demetori - "星条旗のピエロ ～ The MadPiero Laughs," mostly for guitar writing/technique."

This is a tough genre to produce, and adding gigantic choral elements only adds to the challenge, but Antanas delivers: this arrangement is a juggernaut, with apocalyptic choir, searing guitar solos, BIG orchestral elements, and chugs/shreds aplenty. The EQ tweaking panned out, as even though there are multiple larger-than-life elements sharing the stage, it all clicks & never gets unintelligibly cluttered. Judges were unanimous; Sir_NutS writes:

"I haven't played any of the Y's games but for some reason I know this song by heart. Maybe it's because my little brother is a huge Ys fan and we used to live together so he was always playing Y's games at FULL VOLUME :D. Enough about that. This mix brings this song to another level. The word epic is often misused but I think calling this epic is proper since that's the vibe it's trying to achieve. The performances are solid and the backing instrumentation is suitable and well sequenced."

And I'd say it succeeds, although as an American I am probably guilty of superlative dilution-through-overuse, myself. Rexy's British, though, and she dropped an "epic" in there as well:

"Add all the original guitar solos, orchestral breakdowns and crazy tempo changes throughout and it just geared itself to such an epic arrangement... Even the production values sound tight. The orchestra sounds clean, the big rock sound is well defined, and the guitar performance is exceptionally expressive."

That last bit's important, because in the larger context of a badass arrangement & grandiose bombardment of shapes, sounds, & colors, there's also HW's superb guitar performance, which deserves its own separate ovation/props for Raiders of the Lost Ark-level facemelting. Welding masks or equivalent protection wear is advised. Add it all up, and you've got a humdinger of a tribute to some of the best VGM the Ys series has to offer - highly recommended!