ReMix:Secret of Mana "From the Edge of Defeat" 6:03

Didn't we JUST post these folks? So we recently featured minusworld's Inscryption ReMix involving the same trio; now it's jnWake in the prog rock driver's seat, joined by minusworld & Shea's Violin, turning Secret of Mana's bombastic boss battle music ALLLLL the way up! jnWake explains how he mustered the courage to finally face "Danger":

"Progressive metal cover of "Danger", the boss theme from Secret of Mana. Even more entries from DoD! This one was my submission for the recent Free Month in February 2024, where it got 3rd place out of 35 entries. "Danger" from Secret of Mana is a track I've wanted to cover for years, as it's absolutely wild and chaotic. In fact, at some point I thought about claiming it for OCR's Mana album years back, but I could never figure out how to approach remixing it then. If you've listened to the track before, you know it's a pretty tricky one... Anyway, the years passed and I finally felt confident enough to tackle it, going with my somewhat usual metal approach. I looked online at the existing covers of the track and didn't find a metal cover that really impressed me and that gave me the drive to really go with it... I later learned that DoD's norg had done an awesome cover of it for the Spectrum of Mana album though, luckily after I had already submitted to DoD, so it couldn't hurt my confidence, hehe.

K, so the concept behind the remix is an interpretation of the source I once read online. For the first minute or so, the source is a very chaotic track, full of chromatic runs, diminished chords, and no catchy melodies. Then, there's a small break and a high-energy melody comes in and the second minute is much more uplifting and less chaotic. Some people say this is meant to represent how, when the boss battle starts, you're lost, but then, as it progresses, you understand what to do and eventually win. I liked this interpretation and decided to extend it for my remix.

Features my usual and awesome collaborator minusworld on guitars and bass and new but also awesome collaborator Shea's Violin on the violin section at 5:00.

As small piece of trivia, I think the MIDI I used as base to learn the source was made by Rexy, so... thanks! [...] Hope you enjoy!"

Fun theme choice, and I can understand being intimidated by it or at least needing to take time to figure out a creative approach; going prog rock worked pretty nicely here. For those that need a source usage breakdown, check out the judging thread or the MP3's comments field; it's only one source tune, but (as you can quickly hear) it has a lot of moving parts! As well-known as Hiroki Kikuta's Secret of Mana score generally is, judge prophetik music was actually introduced to the theme by this ReMix, and the Dream Theater (!) comparisons were immediate:

"serious DT vibes right off the bat, this sounds straight off of one of the instrumentals in Metropolis, right down to rudess playing some silly instrument on the keyboards in random breaks. the original's influence is immediately audible in the opening section. a functional melody line entering at 1:01 was a good choice - we needed something to grab onto as listeners by that point. there's a ton of great chromaticism and time changes in the next few sections but it doesn't mess with the narrative elements so that's well done.

there's a huge break at 2:41 and it suddenly is far quieter and calmer. i was running out of hair to have on fire at this point so the break was welcome. 3:33's rhythmic elements and then the solo after 3:44 are just great, the solo especially has such a great shape and turn at the end. overlapping the more tonal elements of this section with some bits of the chromatic runs at the beginning is a good transitional element as well.

4:20 is just beautiful. this whole section is so good, it's a really singing line that you've written out there. having the transition be just a guitar pattern in a new tempo is again very DT, and having that lead into 5:18's distinct but angular melodic line is great. it blows through some material there until the end and ends on a high point. [...]

from an arrangement perspective, this is incredible. i don't remember the last time i heard such a transformational take on such a weird, complex original. there's all the beats you'd want in an intense track like this, both highs and lows, and it's honestly astonishing the variety that we get overall. [...] overall this is absolutely way above the bar. excellent work."

Lots of "WHOA!" moments throughout, and it's a sight to behold, seeing such an already heavy-hitting theme given extra heft. That drop-off at 2:46 majorly grabbed my attention, and I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE with just a hint of another classic theme at 3:22. The guitars at 2:46 and 3:44 sound amazing, and the chugs underneath 3:44's electric guitar filled the soundscape out well. Right at 4:07, we move back to the more straightforward melodic structure and it was back to the well with more awesome coverage. Just as proph praised the highs and lows, I'm digging the regular textural changes, which were a feature of the original, of course, but it carries over well here with the souped up instrumentation Wake, minus, and later Shea brought to the picture. Fellow judge MindWanderer's familiar with the original song, which let him appreciate the group's expansive approach all the more:

"Such a crazy source. I could never make up my mind whether I loved it or hated it while playing the game. It's so schizophrenic, but the main hooks are so catchy. And your take on it is much the same, alternating between frenetic riffs and catchy tunes. I honestly don't know how you could have done this arrangement more justice. You took everything iconic about Danger and dialed it up to 11. [...]

I know this track well, so there's no trouble at all figuring out the connections; nearly the whole thing is lifted from the original, if somewhat macerated before you put it into your remix. [...]

Fantastic job by everyone involved."

Absolutely love the powerful yet varied approach, and I know Kikuta (a "Dragon Song" fan - he told Harmony in person) would also dig this too, how could he not? :-) You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts!