ReMix:Diablo "Diablo Has to Synth" 6:11

Ya know, Cuphead sagely advised us *not* to deal with the devil, but did we listen? Hell no! In fact, I think the Ds in Greek newcomer 7DD9's handle stand for "Deal with the Devil", because for the first time in nearly 23 years, we've got a Diablo arrangement for you! 7DD9 channels depraved synth design with some Blade Runner inspiration (plus a helping o' chips) in his devilish deviation of Diablo's most famous track! Let's have 7DD9 set the scene:

"I made this cover on the "Tristram" theme by Matt Uelmen, with synthesizers... hope you like it.

...Welcome to my future...

Deckard Cain meets Rick Deckard

...stay a while and listen...

In an alternate world, Tristram is a cyberpunk town. Matt Uelmen wrote this magnificent music for Diablo (video game) using his guitars (mostly). Synthesizers took over Tristram and Diablo opened a portal to a cyberpunk world called the "80's"."

Hey, I'm from the '80s! It's a wonderful musical decade, and much of today's music stands on the shoulders of 1980s creations, so judges warmly welcome 7DD9's honorific techniques applied to Diablo, including musical hellion Emunator:

"The analog wobble is real! There's certainly a great deal of resonance in the filter envelopes on these synths, but overall I found this to be a smooth set of sounds - because the overall mixdown was balanced with a hefty bass synth that filled out the frequency spectrum, the overall feel of the mix was totally sufficient for me. I'm seeing mud called out in other votes, but again, it feels more like deliberate warmth and less like a mixing-level oversight.

[...] In my book, the arrangement approach is fine. The expansion in sound design keeps the first half of the track engaging so that even though it's compositionally conservative, there's something new being offered from the jump, and then you get into more engaging territory with the arrangement as well to round things out. It's a bit unconventional but I don't see any problem with it, and I personally enjoyed listening to this quite a bit! There's a lot to get lost in."

Unconventional's always welcome! :-) Opens up feeling like a close cover, and even though it's melodically note for note with the original, the spacey, synthy tones & presentation ultimately (and easily) stand apart from the original. And, hey hey, we're proud to also highlight our first judge exerpt from our newly minted judge, Hemophiliac, who caught onto the Blade Runner vibes and stayed open-minded on & receptive to 7DD9's unique mixing choices:

"I've played more Diablo II then I care to admit, and because of that I'm excited to see what this has in store.

This reminds me of the opening intro to A Clockwork Orange by Wendy Carlos or even some of the work of Vangelis. I wonder if the subtle filter sweeps were performed live because they have a very nuanced artistic quality to them. Each time I listen to this, I pick up on an interesting different element that I didn't catch on previous loops.

The opening chords hit and the detuning is very apparent, a choice to emulate a throwback feel akin to analog synthesizers. While it is almost over the top with the amount of detuning used, I enjoy it.

In terms of arrangement this is highly conservative and remains very close to the source in both structure and melody for the first half. In the last section before the ending (5:07-6:08) is when we get the most new material added in the rhythm/chords. [...]

Many of the decisions you made feel very intentional despite them causing muddiness, but are textural and add to the progression of the piece. These don't come off to me as violations, but as artistic decisions.

This will not be everyone's cup of tea, but I can get behind the synthesized "analog" warmth."

Hemo also told me today that this ReMix "has a strange meditative quality to it", which coincidentally clicks quite nicely with "Tristram's" opening chords. :-) 3:05 gets more active with chiptune-style original writing accompanying the source arrangement, and going more liberal and "inspired by" for the second half didn't bother the Js due to the first half invoking the source tune so extensively.

Nice work by 7DD9 in setting a deliberate pace and keeping things engaging, all while authentically embracing some '80s production excesses! Will you be dragged into the dark vortex of Diablo? Well, whether you like it or not, Diablo HAS to synth, so you might as well see if you can take the heat!