1. What Fire Taught the Sea
   Wassup Thunder
2. Bonds of Kick and Hi-Hat
   TheVideoGamer
3. Seafoam and Brimstone, Upon the Shores of Tallon IV
   TheVodouQueen

1. Back to the Sea; Back to the Fire
   HarlemHeat360
2. Seafoam and Brimstone, Upon the Shores of Tallon IV
   TheVodouQueen
3. What Fire Taught the Sea
   Wassup Thunder

VERY good round, ya'll should be proud!

TheVodouQueen: With the sea sfx and arpeggios in the intro, it reminds me of Link's Awakening. The delicate yet decisive percussion adds very well. I can pick out just a hint of Rosenthorne influence in there (that song still blows my socks), and you know I'm a sucker for Metroid tunes. You fit the Chozo temple in quite well, like it justly belonged there.

Wassup T: I sea what you did there with the title. Impressive work making the source so much more lively yet faithful. Very nice effect on atmosphere with the SFX. The piece is warm, but not blazing, quite a nice effect.

HarlemHeat: This song stole my breath and has NOT given it back. Downright amazed me. It's like Bonds of Sea and Fire if it was part of Ori and the Blind Forest's soundtrack. Ethereal, evocative, and beautifully transcendent.

TheVideoGamer: Glad that it made it in, this is some bumpin' stuff. Delightful simple synths pair nicely with the drumming for a riveting duality. Calming, yet engaging. It matches well with the source's apparently conflicting themes.

1. Back to the Sea; Back to the Fire
   HarlemHeat360
2. Seafoam and Brimstone, Upon the Shores of Tallon IV
   TheVodouQueen
3. Bonds of Kick and Hi-Hat
   TheVideoGamer

Beautiful compositions of a gorgeous song. Feel like I should be able to come up with some manner of water/fire joke/pun here, but its either slipping through my fingers or evaporating.

HaremHeat360 gets my first vote. pizzicato and tuned percussion set sparkling arpeggios while woodwind and vocals made the melody and countermelody SOAR. The delicate metals add excellent punctuation. It over all has a very airy, sweeping soundscape. The woodwind variations swept me away. Careful use of percussion gave it a strong yet dignified beat. I thought it very well balanced and well executed. And the outro sent shivers down my spine, the rising tension and its resolution was astounding. Great work.

TheVodouQueen gets my second vote. And I assure you it's not bias coming from using snippets of metroid (Though I dooo love metroid music.) You nailed the gentle sorrow vibe, keeping an nicely spaced composition for the acoustic guitar, synth-piano-sounding-thingy, and shaken percussion. The synth choirs on the Chozo Temple plus organ was a nice variation of instruments. The arrangement kinda gives me the imagery that Bond of Sea and Fire is the present individual's musings on the lost/forgotten past, and the Chozo Temple is their flashback to the cherished memories. Beautiful work.

TheVideoGamer gets my third vote. A cool twist on instrumentation, the synthetic analogs for strings and woodwinds make a unique and catchy sound. The rhythm and beats makes an excellent new backboard for the melody and chords. I love the energy and vibrancy of the arrangement and soundscape, it's quite bright and alive. A minor concern is a few times it seemed the hi-hats and synth strings came a little blurred in sound, maybe a slight EQ thing. However, it only happened a couple times, and could not ruin the experience of listening to this fun piece. Very nice.

And Souperion's bonus entry, simply a gorgeous arrangement. It faithfully brings out the strongest elements of the original with gentle variation to coax a little new life from it. The instrumentation is all spot on. Lovely.

1. Back to the Sea; Back to the Fire
   HarlemHeat360
2. Bonds of Kick and Hi-Hat
   TheVideoGamer
3. What Fire Taught the Sea
   Wassup Thunder

Sorry if I ramble a bit on these or sound a bit incoherent, hayfever is kicking my ass today... :(

----

1) 'Back to the Sea; Back to the Fire' � HarlemHeat360

Pros:

• I love how you gave the song a very organic, ensemble sound, like we're actually sat at a theatre or auditorium listening to a full orchestra performing 'Bonds of Sea and Fire'. You even utilize the mindset of having �two soloists� and a �vocalist�, whether or not they're manufactured using different VSTs or DAW add-ons, etc. The absolute / resolute realism I've noticed you try to give to every piece you make is astounding, and I love it.
• Love the ethnical / tonal shift @ 1:38 from the original source to the more Orient-sound. The Chinese reed-flute and (I think it is a) clarinet / oboe is wonderful, and so are your �singer� & "choir".
• I really loved the cymbal crashes and the amp up in intensity @ 2:15! Just further added to that authentic feel that we're listening to a live band play this.

Critique:

• If I am to be honest, I think the only thing I wasn't a massive fan of was the extended ending bit, with the choral runs. I think if the song was cut at about 3:32, off on a trailed echo / reverb of your chimes, it would've been fine. It's more a personal opinion rather than outright criticism, because I can see the argument to keep the end as it is. I just don't think it enhanced the rest of your artistry that is this remix.
• Like I said with Souperion's, I think a little bit of panning play between instruments and/or the choir and singer would've spiced the track up a bit, but isn't necessary.
• This was extremely lovely to listen to. I enjoyed and loved every bit of it and don't have much criticism to actually give it. Great job.

2) 'Bonds of Kick and Hi-Hat' � TheVideoGamer

Pros:

• Man, everyone's got that good flow going on this round, with very eclectic and different takes on the strings (with different kind of strings!) I love the synth used here for them. And that thumping polyrhythm is stellar, (it messed with my head a little bit listening to it the first couple of times, for sure!)
• This gives the song a whole new different spin, and that's fantastic. I can hear it both the original way, and this new polyrhythmic way, (where the beat is off-set just that little bit, but stays recognizable.) I don't even know how to describe it, but it's very cool and creative, and gives it that true genre shift from Classical to more EDM.
• I'm shocked you didn't go balls-to-the-wall on this one. When the beat kicked in, I expected your usual going wildness, with like the beat getting heavier and heavier as it goes on or the song speeding up. But, despite that weird bit of expectation, I thought the route you actually took this in was real neat and I liked this way better, specifically for this song. It's different without breaking it's overall feel and aesthetic too much, which I can appreciate.

Critique:

• Not sure how I feel about the dichotomy here between your main melody and harmony being taken up by more �organic� sounds, versus the very �inorganic� sounds of your bassline and drumwork. On one hand, it's real cool, and gives that song a vibe of like old vs new, classical vs electronic. But on the other hand, it's a bit dissonant. ...Guess I myself in this feel �split� in-between! Hmm...!
• Weirdly enough, you always get on people about being too stagnant in their composition (like, not enough dips and curves and surprise elements in their remix), and staying too much 1:1 on the straight-and-narrow. At least in PRC. I know MnP is really about that 1:1 with variation, (doesn't have to be super 1:1, but has to still carry the tone and feel of the original source,) but unsure. This remix in particular, for you, was very stable. Nothing wrong with that at all, just an observation. XD
• TBH, I don't have a lot of criticism to give it. Everything sounds very well-balanced to me, and we've got obvious high, middle and low between instruments and stuff. I think the only thing I can take from everyone's great work here, for criticism, is maybe to mess around more with volume and panning for some things. But in no way is it needed, and it just sounds like I'm grasping for straws, lol! This was a great remix nonetheless. Love it!

3) 'What Fire Taught the Sea' � Wassup Thunder

Pros:

• Here, fire truly teaches the sea a thing or two about getting down and getting more edgy! None of that light and airy crap here (not as much), and we've got a heavier beat. Great stringwork to be had from the get-go, and the power chord guitar riffs (although it took me a bit to settle on them), actually go very well with the classical trappings of your remix.
• Nice brassworks @ 1:32. :D
• Like with Souperion, I really like the expressiveness and the additions to the song you made with alternate harmonies and melodies @ 1:40, for example. It's always fun to see people get hella creative with rather repetitive arrangements. It's like reading some fanfic for published fiction work, sometimes they end up better than the original and enhance the narrative it gave.

Critique:

• I was not a big fan of the metal / rock drums, sorry. For me anyways, it didn't take away from the aesthetic, because you were going for a Rock n' Roll-feel, but I felt it weirdly didn't add to the song. It might've meshed better with more tribal drums, bongos and conga and clavs, rather than straight-up modern drumkit, and then do the same thing you're doing here with those and give it the same unique range of change-ups and interplay with the rest of the melody and harmony.
• I liked the fire crackling sounds, but they didn't fully mesh with the song itself. They felt and sounded a bit �layered on�, and too fake / synthetic. I also think you could've used them a bit more along with the percussion, if the percussion was more organic.
• A big well-done here!

--BONUS--

+ 'Dreams of Flowing Fire' � Souperion

Pros:

• From the start, beautiful stringwork with accompianing woodwinds. Extremely pretty, and lovely to hear.
• Even though this is a fairly 1:1 remix, and feels more like a sound upgrade to the original with additional instruments, God is it vibrant. And oddly�at least to me�although the original song is supposed to be fairly solemn in its vibe, this sounds a lot more celebrant and whimsical, lighter and airy. Great work. :D
• Love the counter-melody @ 3:00, and loved the extension of the melody and harmony you made @ 2:20. You gave the song that little bit of new life and growth, and it felt like we as the audience were being lead down a path of winding vines and wildflowers towards whatever faire or party was being held further afield. Inspiring, to say the least. The ending was fantastic as well. :)

Critique:

• I wish some of the stringwork (like the plucks / pizzicato) and piano was a bit louder in some parts. There's an arguable point as well that some of the bass string sustains could've been heavier as well, but I can see why staying on making the song be always light and airy gave it that strength of cohesion.
• Your composition is by no means �static�, because the ups and downs are very clear, but I think at the same time the dynamic between instruments are a bit too on the straight-and-narrow. Some volume or panning play might've spiced things up a bit more, especially by the time we reached your magnum opus of the different harmony lines and counter-melodies... Also, your remix especially I think could've had its BPM sped up a bit, rather than be at the same pace as the original. Just food for thought, though.
• But overall, this song is very beautiful. Great job!

1. Back to the Sea; Back to the Fire
   HarlemHeat360
2. Seafoam and Brimstone, Upon the Shores of Tallon IV
   TheVodouQueen
3. What Fire Taught the Sea
   Wassup Thunder

After thinking long and hard i believe HarlemHeat360 should get the win. Let's take it from the top.

TheVodouQueen - Wow this one is quite a journey. Great water sounds at the start, nice opener. Really guitar sound, the melody transcribes perfectly on the instrument. It's very much a summer feeling, i like it. Really liking how it builds up too, the guitar part goes from a solo instrument into a more lively orchestral part. Synths were also nice too. The only criticism i have, is that it's a bit too long for me. I like tracks that are 8 minutes or longer, but only if there is full developments, and parts that justify it's runtime. Every second was used well sure, but for me, i just feel like the last 3 minutes is copied and pasted from the first half. 5-6 minutes would work. The thing i have to be careful, is i've fallen to the trap of making 10 minute tracks, which is a problem, since i can fall into the repetition trap. Long story short i have no problems with the length, i just feel it doesn't need the extra 2 minutes. Really that's all i can find, the sound selection was really good, and the idea of transcribing each melody to different instrument is creative. Can't find the second source, i think it's buried somewhere in there, but i don't think it's a big one for me. Honestly i think you've done a lovely job on this, the ideas were really good. Well done!

Souperion - Really nice medieval styled sounds, this one is very faithful to the original. The sound selections are pretty high quality here, i really like the change in registers as well, switching between octaves is a lovely touch. The pan flute has a weird attack on it, not fond of that, but the rest is really good. Very much like an ensemble arrangement, i would imagine this in a concert hall. Love the dynamic changes, it's so satisfying to hear a release followed by the original arpeggio in the start. It's just well balanced. For only other thing i would recommend is spacing some instruments out. In some parts, particularly with the first melody, it can feel a little clustered. That's the only main criticism i have, because the rest of the sounds are really good. You've done a great job on this arrangement! Well done!

Wassup Thunder - The Wassup Orchestra drum grooves come back in this one. Really like the heavy waltz feel of this one. The original is in 3/4, but this one feels like it has a particular kind of feel, that the standard 3/4 doesn't have. Love the electric guitar in this, the melody works super well for that instrument. There seems to be quite a heavy amount of low end, and for me that kind of ruins a bit of the mixing. I think the simulation of wind, does more to add to the intensity than it needs to be. Also i feel a big break is needed, there is too many drum sounds going on, i think something more simpler could work. I still really enjoyed this arrangement though, the electric guitar is soo good, i love it. Great ending too, you've really provided me with some great sounds. Well Done!

HarlemHeat360 - Is that a vocalist there!? Wooah! It sounds like Enya! It works amazing in this track, i love it so much. The sound selection is very faithful to the original, more close to a 1-1 cover than all the others heard here. I absolutely love the strings and pads, the sounds are just soo good. The Japanese flute at the end, is just the icing on the cake. Honestly listening to this, i can't find anything to critique, it just sounds soo good. Maybe there are parts that get a bit too loud for me sure, but they mostly come in the form of dynamic swells, rather than a consistent stream of loudness. Everything was just perfect for me, and enough for me to pick you as the winner. Amazing work, well done!