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Today’s Arrangement of the Week contains music from two different franchises and features a collaboration between a number of artists. The first game series is Assassin’s Creed, with the use of “Ezio’s Family” and the AC: Revelations “Title Theme.” The second franchise is Metal Gear Solid, being represented by the song “The Best is Yet to Come.”
The arrangement piece titled “Never Go Away,” is headed by remix artist DJ Mystix. Collaborating with him for this project are Chris “Amaterasu” Woo on Violin and Claire Yaxley on vocals. Together they have created an arrangement blending the music of Assassin’s Creed and Metal Gear Solid.
The cover starts off with a statement of “Ezio’s Family” from Assassin’s Creed 2, performed by a set of acoustic instruments, with Yaxley’s vocals coming in to reinforce the main melody. Around the one minute mark, Amaterasu enters on the violin with some original material to help transition to the first Metal Gear Solid segment. At 1’15” the vocals reenter for “The Best is Yet to Come” from Metal Gear Solid.
The arrangement as a whole has a very light pop music feel to it. Plenty of acoustic instruments like piano and strings, with just a handful of elements like the drums and bass helps give the music a modern pop sound. Most of the cover has Yaxley and Amaterasu taking turns as soloists. The “Title Theme” from Assassin’s Creed: Revelations shows up around 3’45” before returning to a final reprise of “The Best is Yet to Come.” On this reprise, at 4’30”, both the solo violin and vocalist share the spotlight, helping create a bigger finale for the arrangement. It’s an excellent collaboration between artists that also incorporates the music of multiple game titles in interesting ways.
Have you listened to any cool or unexpected mashups of game music this week? Let us know about them in the comments below. You can check out “Never Go Away” on OC ReMix [2].