Posted 2024-05-12, evaluated by the judges panel


For every man and woman and child, Happy Mother's Day! We try to never let a good holiday occasion go to waste, so we've got an absolutely perfect ReMix to celebrate the mommies today... Castlevania?!? But "It's a trap!" you yell! OK, it's actually trap MUSIC, as newcomer Blujak arrives with BARS in his rap tribute to Alucard's mother, Lisa. Blujak walks us through how he wound up arranging Castlevania II, paying homage to Warren Ellis's Castlevania animated series:

"I would like to submit my song, a cover/remix of the theme "Bloody Tears" from Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest, to OC ReMix. [...] My ReMixer name is Blujak. So far, this is actually the first VG theme remix I've done. I plan on doing more in the future... The name of my remix is "In My Mother's Name". I wrote, recorded, mixed, and mastered this track.

I've been a HUGE fan of the Castlevania franchise since I was a kid. Grew up playing the series, and decided to put together my own interpretation of the classic "Bloody Tears" theme from Simon's Quest after I watched the Netflix anime for the umpteenth time. In my own version and spin, however, I wanted to add a few more elements to the mix such as vocals/lyrics I wrote - I basically wanted to tell the story of Alucard from his perspective; delving into the duality of his persona of being the son of Dracula, who wished vengeance on humanity, but also being the son of Lisa, who wished for him to protect humanity (as in SotN), as he wrestles with his own identity. I imagine he'd wrestle with the duality of honoring his mother's dying words of being peaceful towards the humans/protecting them as seen in Danesti at Dracula's castle vs. avenging her death à la his father. I've always thought his story arc is fascinating, which is essentially the nexus of my remix; in the animated series, Greta beseeches him to protect the people of Danesti in his "father's house", hence one of the lines in the song and, as he swears to his father at the final confrontation at the end of SotN, he will protect them "in his mother's name."

Let me know what you think! CANNOT wait for the new Richter season..."

After a classy extended intro, we transition into the clap beats at :42, DAT BASS at :56, plus those lil' hat ticks... we're getting ALLLLL the trap trappings. :-) Judge prophetik music doesn't know much about trap (hey, we can't know *every* genre well), yet he knows quality when he hears it:

"i am 37 years old and i just realized today that alucard is dracula backwards. i always thought the name was just dumb-sounding.

intro has the iconic arpeggio and lead melodic content in piano initially, then layers in orchestral elements and vocals. this does some stuff until we get some trap snares and it gets cooking. 0:56 is where the vocals really come in. i think this sounds pretty good here honestly, but this is easily the genre i know the least about. the flow sounds good and the chorus being doubled up an octave is a great idea. i particularly liked the constant vox sfx were a positive. 2:25 was pretty impressive as well.

3:02 is the start of the outro. the final beat drops out at 3:17, and there's some piano and strings to ride to the finish. final sustain was a touch short.

this was not what i expected based on the writeup or intro, but it honestly sounds awesome. the beat is solid and i really liked the technical ability showcased both in your vocals and in the sfx applied to vocal clips throughout."

Thanks to prophetik for effectively itemizing several great traits found in our ReMixes, especially helpful in a case like Blujak's where we don't have much trap. It's such a little detail, so the insight pales in comparison to proph's notes, but the vox line at :41 that padded the intro was SUCH a nice piece of business, a subtle element that separates a dry track from one that's properly filled out. On the vocal side too, Blujak's delivery was massively on point. Eminem's already proven you don't need multitudes of melanin to skillfully drop verses, so Blujak earned a jewel-encrusted accolade from judge Emunator:

"This is a banger. Your voice and flow reminds me a LOT of El-P. From a pure technical perspective, this is some of the best rapping I've heard in a hot minute on the panel. The pop-punk vocals add a very fresh, modern flair, I really wasn't expecting that but especially on repeat listens, I enjoyed it. There's a lot to love about this arrangement, and there was a lot of care put into making sure that both the beat and the vocal performance is dynamic and cohesive, never feeling like you just dropped some unrelated bars over a beat that happened to sample Castlevania. The extra effort goes a long way. [...] Good stuff!!"

Echoing Emu's approval for Blujak, there was LOTS of excellent variation in the cadence, flow, and effects with his vocal delivery. Sometimes the lyrics followed the source and would double the instrumentation, oftentimes it was doing it's own thing; you can never peg what role the vocals would fill in the texture, which keeps things interesting as the track unfolds. The arrangement as a whole does a tremendous job of adapting the source to this genre; this has strong textural variations, creative & fitting lyrics, and BIG energy throughout. Great debut, Blujak, and I love that you have more VGM arrangements planned for the future; definitely keep 'em coming! :-)

Liontamer

Discussion

Latest 4 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
avatar
Duan
on 2024-05-13 18:41:04

This is a masterpiece my friends!! definitely captured the hearts of every mother on the planet with this trap beat !!

avatar
CJthemusicdude
on 2024-05-13 10:55:22

The beat is ? for sure. I was tapping my foot along the whole time. The vocals were clear and easy to understand which is a huge plus for me when it comes to rap. I liked this arrangement of Bloody Tears, great remix!

avatar
Ronald Poe
on 2024-05-12 23:49:24

Happy Mother's Day (I hope everyone had a good one). Despite having some plans on incorporating "Bloody Tears" (I consider it a VGM classic with a great melody) into one of my own remixes, I decided to listen to this track after Larry posted about it. I feel the Rap portion covers Alucard's story well and is a nice gift for the occasion. While I've never been a fan of Trap music personally (especially when done by amateurs), I found the arrangement strong and distinct for a source that's been remixed plenty (not saying that's a bad thing, especially in this case). Over all, good job.

avatar
Liontamer
on 2024-05-12 01:20:47
What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (Konami , 1988, NES)
Music by Kenichi Matsubara,Satoe Terashima
Songs:
"Bloody Tears (Street-day time-Stage BGM)"

Tags (12)


Genre:
Hip Hop,Rap
Mood:
Aggressive,Angry
Instrumentation:
Piano,Sound FX,Synth,Vocals: Male,Vocals: Rapping
Additional:
Lyrics > Language: English
Lyrics > Lyrics: Original
Time > 4/4 Time Signature

File Information


Name:
Castlevania_2_In_My_Mother's_Name_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
6,758,225 bytes
MD5:
d848bb9133f2a6fb8916e65be654d3d6
Bitrate:
237Kbps
Duration:
3:44

Aye, aye
Safe in my father's house, I'll defend you in my mother's name
Blujack music
Let's get it now

When you run up my place like this
I will defend everything (everything)
When you try to take my people, I will defend everything (e-e-everything)
And every man and woman and child, them I will protect the same (all the same)
Safe in my father's house, I'll defend you in my mother's name (mother's name)

Aye, aye
Aye, let's get it now
Aye, aye
Safe in my father's house, I'll defend you in my mother's name

Uh, from first to last
I never made it out Wallachia, bring 'em all to my home fast
And I will serve the people like my mother wished last
With my father's vengeance, nobody gets past me

I'll set my people all free
And I'll defend the kingdom, let us all be
Inherited castle, evil will not be
No beasts of the night will infiltrate our peace

Lead to safety, the pure and the broken, it's all them
Find my faith in the cause I believe and
Hold my sword to the evil forgotten, another
You will not have died in vain (aye)

When you run up my place like this
I will defend everything (everything)
When you try to take my people, I will defend everything (e-e-everything)
And every man and woman and child, them I will protect the same (all the same)
Safe in my father's house, I'll defend you in my mother's name (mother's name)

There is magic and wisdom
Hidden so deep in the Belmont hold (Belmont hold)
I can find my purpose
If there's still light to be found in the world (found in the world) (aye)

I'll avenge my mother
It'll be a race against death and time (death and time)
There's hope for us all
If I can be the hero in your eyes (aye)

And everyone that doubted me
When father wasn't proud of me
I thrive on being prodigy
I'm gonna claim my destiny
And every time I wasn't me
I still believe in prophecy
A moment in adversity
Another night in history

So when I hear you calling my name
'Cause I'm always gonna be there too (hoo)
And when I see you trying run and hide away I'll have your back too (hoo)
And all the many wicked things, don't be scared, I'll be there, I'll fight them off for you
Awaken me from another slumber, I'll rise to protect every one of you

When you run up my place like this
I will defend everything (everything)
When you try to take my people, I will defend everything (e-e-everything)
And every man and woman and child, them I will protect the same (all the same)
Safe in my father's house, I'll defend you in my mother's name (mother's name)

Aye, aye, aye, aye
You already know Death's Scythe
Aye, safe in my father's house, aye, aye, I'll defend you in my mother's name

My mother's name
Aye
My mother's name

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