ReMix:Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy "N•E•O" 4:30

As we approach OCR #4700, I can't think of a better active ReMixer to ring it in than Argentinian contributor TheManPF, who's made such a strong impact since his first mixpost last year. While he's proficient on his own, he's also a beast when it comes to collaborations, this time around working in concert with Zach Chapman & Nemo Fairlight. It's about time for TheManPF's nu metal medley of N. Cortex themes from the Crash Bandicoot trilogy! We especially need some Crash love, since word came out that -- even though N. Sane Trilogy sold 20MM units -- Crash Bandicoot 5's development was canceled. (/shakes fist) The arranger stretched his abilities to channel Japanese metal act Maximum the Hormone:

"This arrangement was done for December's theme in Dwelling of Duels, 32-bit Era. It placed 17th out of 23 tracks, so, not so hot, LOL, but I believe the quality for this track is definitely there, and the divisiveness comes from the nature of the style/genre of the arrangement.

I arranged all versions of Dr. Neo Cortex's theme from the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy into a tight nu metal/hardcore punk structure, mainly inspired by the music of Maximum the Hormone (who you might know from making music for Death Note and Chainsaw Man, among others). It's very aggressive and heavy, particularly with extensive use of harsh vocals. This is my first time doing screams and growls, and, while it took a lot of practice, I think they came out pretty decently. I also incorporate female clean vocals in certain sections to give contrast, and also because it's part of the style that Maximum the Hormone has, which is an extensive vocal variety.

I basically took almost all of the motifs from each version of Cortex's theme and organized them in a way that I thought would fit best as a rock/metal structure. Originally, I was only going to do Crash 2's version, but I found that 3's version had a lot of very interesting sections that I could also exploit. I end up crediting Crash 1 as well because some of the motifs originate from there, even if they're repeated in the other 2 versions. There's also a riff in the intro with 8th notes followed by triplets that is only present in 1's version, which I also used in my arrangement.

The lyrics are very simple and goofy, mostly referring to Cortex in the first person and how he tries very hard to deal with Crash but is seemingly always unable to, and throws tantrums as a result. I also threw in the Aku Aku invincibility jingle in the middle of the song for good measure, mostly just because I thought it would sound cool. Since this arrangement incorporates motifs from all 3 games, you could also say this is an arrangement from Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. The soundtrack is almost the exact same, and I do take some variations from the remaster into this arrangement as well. The name of the arrangement comes from Cortex's full name (Dr. Neo Cortex) and is also a reference to another song by Maximum the Hormone, called "A"L"I"E"N".

I don't have much else to say about the arrangement without letting the music speak for itself, but I'll once again credit my good friend Zach on bass, who is always by my side, come hell or high water, and Nemo for providing me her awesome melodic vocals.

One last thing: I don't know if requests for specific judges is a thing that OCR does, but, if possible, I would love it if Rexy was able to vote in this one. (:"

I just celebrated 20 years on the judges panel myself (still fun!), and though I've run into lots of different judging scenarios, it's super-rare for an artist to ask for a specific judge's input. This passed unanimously, yet Rexy's the scene's Crash Bandicoot champion & ambassador, so it made sense for TheManPF to appeal to her franchise love (even if Bev's British invasion wasn't needed to game our system :-D):

"I remember this from the DoD event! From what I saw when going around the DoD Discord, the reasons for the low placement sounded like a mixture of source choice and vocal hate, which sounds par the course, but that's something that can easily get thrown out of the window over here.

So, arrangement. We got apparent use of the three variants throughout - the intro from the Crash 3 variant, before going into the Crash 2 variant at 0:19, the Crash 1 variant intro for the break at 1:01, then going right into the second half of the Crash 3 variant at 1:13, through to the second half of the Crash 2 variant at 1:58, back to the Crash 3 variant at 2:54 that echoed the usage at 1:13 as a chorus hook, then into turning the second half of the Crash 1 variant in a doom metal approach, complete with thinning textures before getting back into cranking up the anger of the Crash 2 variant at 3:46 with the last bits of the Crash 3 variant for closure.

That was honestly a very long run-on-sentence, but source use is extremely evident, transformed to fit the genre, chopped into pieces to befit the structure, with a variety of different vocal deliveries - and as echoed, the Dethklok-esque "d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-die" bits were awesome to me. The invincibility part was a great way to calm things down at 2:22, as did the usage of the dialog in the normal ending of Crash 3 at 3:33 before suddenly cranking up the tempo at the last stretch. And yes, I echo your decision on the lyric writing - this is Cortex at his angriest. :D [...]

I don't see anything here that can hold it back from a mixpost perspective on OCR. You have a very creative vocal metal mix, which I felt put my own take on this source to shame. Great going!"

Interpretive arrangements come in all shapes and sizes, so creating new lyrics is a strong item in the toolbox to leave one's creative stamp on things. In this particular case, while we know Dr. Neo Cortex is evil, he's also a geek and a doofus, so this lyrical approach (growls and all) works perfectly for an irreverent series like Crash! Props to TheManPF, Nemo Fairlight & Zach Chapman for a thorough, hard-hitting, not-too-serious sendup to the big-headed mastermind of a franchise that, fingers crossed, will eventually earn another mainline entry!