FFIX: Worlds Apart Review, Disc 4

Hello, and welcome to my review/listening guide of the fourth and final disc of Final Fantasy IX: Worlds Apart, the remix album from the sonic wizards over at OverClocked ReMix!

I’ll be going through, track-by-track, and rating them on a 1-5 “Dagger Scale”, along with giving a few thoughts on why I rated them so. You can listen along on SoundCloud or download the album yourself at ff9.ocremix.org!

Inritus Bellum (The War to Nothingness) [Guardians] Mikeaudio

Okay, Trent Reznor, when did you sneak into this album?

In a word: epic.

In three words: epic as fuck.

In… more words: A perfect remix of “Guardians”. Great build, great sense of… urgency, I guess? I dunno. It’s just super badass.

Ghosts (Terra) LuIzA, Level 99

I really wish I could rate this remix higher – I really like the music, and I think that the lyricism is some of the best on the album (far better than “Memories of Dali”, for example)… but… I didn’t like the singers. Kind of a dealbreaker. If I had enjoyed the voices themselves more, then this song would be a four, at the very least.

Ground Zero (Bran Bal, the Soulless Village) halc

There was nothing about this remix that really blew me away. It seemed relatively conservative, relatively uninspired. There were no risks taken to really get this remix to “the next level”, as it were, but it was good nonetheless. I quite enjoyed it.

The Fallen Savior (Pandemonium) Darangen

First off, badass name for a Pandemonium remix. Really shows that the artist knew what was going on in the plot of the game at this point. Definitely enjoyed how the melody was introduced by some super-badass guitar, and punctuated by a nice drumbeat. Reminds me of how badass Zidane really is.

You and I (We’re Not Alone) [Not Alone] Poolside feat. Amanda Appiarius

You know, I really liked this song on its own. I enjoyed the vocals (they’re probably the best on the album), it had a nice, driving beat, and the lyrics were… acceptable.

All this is rating the song itself, however. As a remix, it falls flat on its face.

Okay, so: “You’re Not Alone” isn’t a romantic song. It’s not, like, Dagger going “omg zidane ur zooooo hawt will u date me y/n?”. It’s an inspirational-as-fuck song during which, at Zidane’s lowest point, his friends refuse to leave him. He had helped them realize that they all had priceless life experiences, and that they all had something worth living (and, indeed, thriving) for, and now they finally return the favor. It’s about saving the savior when he can no longer carry the weight of the world on his own.

This remix completely missed that, and that’s unacceptable. The strength of the song alone brings it up to a 3. As a remix of one of the marquee songs in FFIX, I’m very disappointed.

Viking Funeral for the Damned (Silver Dragon) Knight of the Round, Adam Higgins

“Silver Dragon” gets the metal mix it richly deserves here. This isn’t something I’d personally listen to (I find double bass fucking obnoxious (because it is)), but for “Silver Dragon”? I’ll allow it. Damn good remix. The opposite of the remix above, basically: the song isn’t close to my favorite, but it’s damn faithful.

Filtering Through the Memories (Memoria) sephfire

Oooooh, here we go. A fantastic remix for the nostalgically, creepily spacey Memoria theme. I’m a huge fan of this remix. When I hear this, though, I know I’m approaching the end, which is an excitingly scary prospect…

Crystalline Tempest (Crystal World) Archangel

All right, I’m calling it, it’s official – Archangel is the MVP of this damn album. He, katethegreat, and umlaut-man all absolutely killed it, but… man. Archangel knew the tone he wanted to strike in every song, and executed them all to perfection. Well done, yo.

Arxidopita (The Darkness of Eternity) SnappleMan, finbeard, norg

DUDE. I LOVE how badass people have made Kuja’s themes in this album. As I’ve said before, I think Kuja is criminally underrated, but this album sonically draws him up to be the badass he really is. Like, if you’re not intimidated when you listen to this shit, you need to check your amygdala (or whatever the part of the brain that handles intimidation is. I’m no surgeon, fuck off). The breakdown in the middle is great – it takes us back to a better time in the game, a less-intense, less-“existence-is-on-the-line” time, as if the artist is trying to escape the reality of the battle themselves.

Zero World (The Final Battle) Fishy feat. Ludiotic

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKTHISSHITWASINCREDIBLE. I love how the actual FFIX lines were uttered in the beginning and end; so epic. I’ve always thought of Necron’s voice to be an… “anti-voice”, a sonic nothingness, greater than the deepest silence, cutting through the noise of the world around it… but I don’t blame the mixers for, y’know, not being able to do that. That’s kinda tough.

FIVE.

EPIC.

DAGGERS.

Prelude to Fantasy (Prelude) Archangel

I mean, there’s honestly not much to say – here we are at the end of the album, and who’s here to punctuate it but our man, Archangel.

Do I even need to tell you that he earned a five?

This is another song, like “You’re Not Alone”, like “Melodies of Life”, that if you fuck it up, that’s some bad news. Luckily, Archangel was on the job and up to the task, putting together the BEST “Prelude” mix I’ve ever heard.

It’s amazing. It’s transcendent. I wept in my office at work. It was worth it.

Worlds Apart, OverClocked ReMix’s incredible FFIX album, five years in the making, doesn’t go out with a whimper. It doesn’t go out with a bang.

It goes out… with a Prelude. As it was always destined to.

Thanks for joining me through the greatest remix album ever to be released.

God, I fucking love Final Fantasy IX.