Okay, so this week I'm redoing one of Met's previous SotW's, and this one in particular is Song of the Week 7. The song is entitled Every Story Begins With a Name, and it's a remix from Final Fantasy VII. Now this is going to be the first review in a long week of posts (see the latest post from Met). So if you want to directly listen to the track, click here. Redoing this SotW will make this longer, and I mean a lot longer. Met wrote a pretty short Song of the Week at the time, so I shall provide pretty much all of the details about what's in the song, just like I normally do.
Okay, so the beginning starts off rather quiet, but eventually gets louder and clearer at about 0:08. The entire thing starts out so eerie. By the time 0:14 comes, there's so many effects being heard, yet it sounds insanely awesome. Strings start playing at 0:16, which really adds more to the song. At 0:22 everything starts to crescendo until it reaches 0:32, where at this point the strings are the main focus of the song. At 0:35 there's some high notes by the bells which create a simple melody that completely stands out volume wise. At 0:41 the strings start to die down a little bit, and then at 0:48 low strings begin to act more as a bass, and a melody starts to play. The melody consists of high notes being played in a semi-major key, which clashes with the somewhat minor strings quite nicely. At 0:55 a lot of percussion is being played, which really adds more visuals and effects into the song. At 1:04 more of the strings take over, although with more of a medium pitch than the low strings which was the bass. The amount of instruments here is awesome; there's everything from wind chimes to strings. More of a beat comes in at about 1:11, which adds yet even more to the track. So far this song has a great introduction, and yet I haven't even been through a minute and a half of it yet. At 1:17 the strings gradually increase in volume, and then at 1:19 most of the sounds heard dropped. This leads to a transition into the most the song has shown us thus far at 1:23. The components in this song are numerous, and there's an excellent mix of orchestral and electronic music here. There's piano supporting the melody, a wide variety of percussion instruments to provide for the beat, and the electronic melody stands out above all the rest. At 1:34 though, the melody switches from electronic to orchestral without any transition required. I didn't even notice the change until I heard brass instruments playing the melody at 1:41. The entire section is very theatrical and epic overall. When it does make the switch, there's a soft pattern of high notes being played to create a minor tone with the mainly major melody. This pattern could have been louder though. The melody does switch to minor at around 1:44, so that pattern makes everything sound even better. Strings dominate everything at 1:47, which makes the song sound all the more awesome. At 1:57 though, there's another transition in which the majority of the instruments drop out. At 2:00 that has to be the strangest transition I've ever heard. It gives off a high pitched screech, eventually transitioning into a new section at 2:08. This section has a lot of unique sounds, mainly an alarm going off throughout. This new section sounds even more theatrical than the last. Consisting of piano controlling the melody, driving percussion to add some intensity, and the alarm for an awesome effect, this section has greatly impressed me. The piano also acts a bass with the melody, and at 2:17 even more intense percussion is added in to create a more rock-like beat. At 2:26 there's a soft electronic effect added in the background. This entire sequence continues, giving off great visuals and outstanding effects. At 2:45 there's even more added, and this time it's something we haven't heard so far: a choir. The choir really makes the song more dramatic, and works well with the driving piano and percussion. Despite the fact that the piano and the percussion mainly just repeat themselves, it's still interesting to listen to. At 3:04 the choir gets faster, creating even more intensity. Mainly around 3:12 there's a good electronic bass that is easily heard to help support and boost the melody created by the choir. At 3:21 there's another transition created by a percussion solo. At 3:23 it changes into yet another new section with more insane percussion for a beat and also strings taking control of the melody. The beat is especially intense at around 3:30, which is of course awesome. At 3:39 there is a slight transition, but it stays at the same section. Like Met said in his brief overview of the song back when his was posted, this part of the song is great when everything expands and comes together into one epic and incredible section. At 4:00 the song becomes a little more electronic, which really adds more variety to this section (although a lot of the stuff being played had dropped here). This entire part from 4:00 to 4:18 is all out electronic music that sounds amazing. At 4:19 there's a small and quiet transition into a much calmer section with guitar (or harpsichord) playing the melody role. The strings and the percussion do a great job supporting the guitar, and it really gives off an exotic feeling. This sequence continues until it gets louder at 4:45. At 4:46 there's even more added to this section: bass which does an excellent job at supporting the melody, strings that create both the melody along with some harmonies, and some percussion that keep things moving along. At 5:04 there was a pretty cool sequence from woodwind instruments that really give off an eerie mood to the section (this same pattern appears again at 5:13). There's another transition at 5:21, and at 5:21 the guitar/harpsichord is played again. This new section is great in terms of melody, backup, and percussion which has been excellent all throughout this piece. This continues until 5:40, where there's another transition into another section mainly consisting of more awesome percussion and intense choir. The guitar/harpsichord continue to do its thing, and the melody from the choir gradually gets louder and louder until 5:59. This is where the choir, some electronic effects for a bass, and the insane percussion mesh into a sequence of complete greatness. At 6:17 most sounds heard eventually dropped, mainly leaving the electronic stuff behind. However, the alarm is back and better than ever. The alarm even matches up with the beat, making everything work together perfectly. At 6:30, the intensity dies, and everything fades away. What I thought was cool was the alarm getting lower at 6:33, which leads to the end of the song. All I can say is "wow".
Pros: Amazing, completely amazing. The instrumentation in this entire piece was incredible, and even with electronic stuff playing, it works out perfectly. All the transitions were excellent and altogether flawless. Each of the numerous sections brought something new and no matter what I was hearing, it always had some intensity to it. The percussion was great, the effects were great, and pretty much everything was great. Wow, what a great song. :)
Cons: There were some parts of the song that may have needed more attention, such as at 1:41 with that pattern that supported the melody. There were hardly any cons to this song other than that, but that's mainly because this song is so well done.
Overall: This song is almost perfect. It has so much variety, so much presented, and so many awesome visuals. Everything would come together in each section, especially at 3:40. Despite the song being a bit lengthy, listening to this song was definitely worth it.
Rating: 9.8/10
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment