ReMix:God of War "War Never Changes" 3:31

Newcomer Aesaire debuts with a really cool, "synthetic orchestra" industrial/cinematic take on God of War, our first featured arrangement of Bear McCreary's score:

"My primary goal was to create a God of War theme distorted by the influences of modern electronic music. The secondary goal of this remix was to create an orchestra of digital synths that would emulate some of the characteristics of the physical instruments in an orchestra. Envelopes were shaped to mimic the build up of tension and release when played by real musicians. All instruments and sounds, except the drum samples and some of the sound effects, were digitally synthesized. The ending was rewritten as I wanted the track to act more as a standalone piece of music rather than a part of the soundtrack. It's more directed, with a better sense of purpose that ultimately leads to solid resolution.

Thanks for the feedback, was helpful. The first version included layers of dubstep growls to replace the choir from the original. This version was rejected as the layers of white noise were quite overwhelming. Removed the layers of white noise that were obscuring the mix. Quite a few of the harsher dubstep growls were removed in the process as they were the main contributors to the white noise. Redesigned some of the synths with vocal filters as replacements to mimic the choir, though they're a lot more subtle. Ended up veering more towards the synthesizer orchestra in the end. Arrangement is mostly the same, there are some minor changes to fill up some extra space in the mix. Hope you guys like it."

First off: very compelling concept, methodology, & incorporation of judge feedback to improve the overall piece! Second: Bear McCreary!!! Aside from just having a wonderful, enjoyable name, his music for BSG & Black Sails is indelibly etched upon my mind, in the best of ways. Very cool to be posting an arrangement of his VGM work! This mix ends up having a vast, dystopian vibe which borders on synthwave at points, but ultimately strikes a balance between darker cinematic & industrial textures. Deckard could fly over a smoggy future-LA to this, and it would work. Aesaire clearly paid a lot of attention to individual components, down to envelope-tweaking & sticking with purely synthesized tones, and the end result has a cohesive aesthetic that does justice to the concept. Judges' comments were almost as interesting as the mix itself, as different perspectives emerged - prophetik music writes:

"what an interesting take on it. it actually sounds pretty good right off the bat too. it's definitely immediately recognizable and the synthesis done shows a ton of patience and care taken to simulate traditional dynamics. the section breaks between the throbbing bass and the smoother orchestral parts are great as well and really mix it up. the ending - simulating open strings on a cello - is a real cool stylistic adaptation and does a good job as punctuation at the end."

Others noted that the arrangement could have been more interpretive, and that the different layers of distorted/bitcrushed sound sometimes interfered with one another, but Emunator corroborated the majority approval:

"The fusion of organic instrumentation, aggressive synths, and even some instruments that toe the line between the two make for a one-of-a-kind sound palette that fits perfectly with this less-structured, brooding arrangement. I could see being thrown off by the apparent lack of defined structure with discrete buildups and drop-offs, and I understand how other judges thought the mixing may have contributed to this effect, but it felt nuanced and ultimately made this feel far more cinematic. It felt nebulous to a certain extent, but that came across as a feature, not a bug."

Nice :) At any rate, this is a memorable, genuinely interesting debut from Aesaire, one that got the judges panel thinking a bit & differentiating their respective opinions, and I love the textural emphasis/approach and - of course - the source material & its composer. Excellent work, looking forward to hearing more!