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The new sound of 2014 has made it’s debut with this special full version of Beware the Forest’s Mushrooms!

I worked really hard on this one. I try to put forth a ton of effort on VG songs that can be considered mainstream, because to me, if it can’t be considered the best version, then it’s not good enough.

I mentioned on the Meridian Dance page that I was focusing a lot more on improving my mixing this year, and I feel I made some strides with this one. I decided to completely revemp my drums and finally managed to get a snare sound that I really like. All the other drums are different too, and I’m still debating whether or not I like this kick sound more. Everything else I’m really liking.

I also changed the rhythm guiting setting from what was previously an American amp sound to a British amp sound. It’s very similar to the distortion I had back in some of the 2010 songs, like Cossack Citadel. I like it, but I’m still doing some experimenting with it. The lead sound is only slightly tweaked but practically the same as recently, it’s still through an American amp setting.

I’m still doing a ton of experimenting with the bass guitar mixing and I finally achieved a sound I like a lot. I’m considering trying out a PJ bass rather than a J bass soon, but that probably wont be for another couple of months or so.

Not much else to talk about with the sound change (keyboards are keyboard, my Triton LE is still a workhorse), so on to the song. I went through a lot of rough drafts and made a lot of changes on this one, which is mostly the reason I took longer than usual. Originally this song was only some 3+ minutes, I didn’t have the breakdown at 1:28-2:18, or the original bit towards the end at 4:20-4:46.

I had plans for a soft buildup intro that ultimately I dropped because the song ended up being pretty long. The intro in this version was also originally different, the lead was doing constant eigth notes (the first 4 notes it plays, but repeated) but it didn’t come out sounding like I was expecting. A little bit of messing around and I came up with what it is now, and liked it a lot.

If you’re a fan of the GaMetal mega-medley Legend of the Seven Stars, you should instantly recognize the part after the intro (0:23), which I took directly from it. I was trying to get that bass thing I did from the medley (that slurred, drop thing) in there but I couldn’t get it sounding right and went with the drum fill instead.

Everything is sounding like the medley version till about 1:28 when S hits the fan and we get ready for a metalcore breakdown that makes me feel like im 16 years old playing in local bands again. Creative tip: a lot of great ideas come about by either messing around, or by accident. As I said earlier, this part wasn’t in the first draft, it came about when I was slowly practicing the main line slowly, an octave lower. Then I thought to myself, hey, it might be cool if I slowed down and had some kind of heavy breakdown piece. Gave it a shot and thought it was super awesome.

So, at about 2:06 we get all black metal with some choir stuff, but not for long. Dragon Force breaks into the studio at 2:18 with some fast paced sixteenth note mayhem, and it becomes apparent to the listener that Jonny has gone on another one of his musically bi-polar sound changing sprees once again.

……so eventually we get into a guitar solo, then we let the keyboard take over the main line for a bit, as well as a short acoustic part. At 4:20 I decided to get creative and make an original bit to solo over, since I don’t do original parts in GaMetal songs very often. It came out better than I expected and it even gets stuck in my head sometimes.

We close out with the outro which is a slightly different version of the intro. Bowyer is defeated, Rose Town and it’s people are saved, Geno reverts back into a doll and his spirit returns to the ‘above’, and the Mushroom Kingdom is at peace once again.

….what do you mean that’s not how SMRPG ended? It is in this song!