ReMix:Shovel Knight "Mole Total Destroy" 3:57

minusworld and his merry band of misfits bring Periphery-esque prog metal pain & power to virt's Shovel Knight soundtrack!

• minusworld - guitars, bass, programming, lyrics, arrangement, production
• Brandon Strader - vocals
• Development of Avoid - guitar solo at 2:23
• Shea's Violin - violin solo

When Brandon's dialed into his music, he unquestionably brings it (at one point gaining the record for most OC ReMixes), including his varied vocals for this ReMix juggling screamo and clean presentations, both of which are pulled off and produced exceptionally well. For arranger minusworld, his stylistic tribute to Periphery was the culmination of a level-up year of participation in Dwelling of Duels:

"This was my Dwelling of Duels submission for December 2022, MAGFest Month. I participated in DoD for the first time in January 2022, not knowing what I was getting into. After seeing the enthusiastic (and constructive) response to my submissions, I got hooked and committed to do a full year of DoD to practice recording, arranging, and production. This track was the culmination of that year.

I wanted to take everything I had learned submitting to DoD in 2022 and crank it up to 11. I thought the Mole Knight boss theme would make for a good djent cover, so, putting the arrangement chops I gained over the year, this is the result. It's heavy, it's prog, it's got vocals, it's got guitar solos, it's even got a violin solo!

The opening of Mole Knight's Boss theme reminded me of the intro to "Make Total Destroy" by Periphery, so I adapted it into a similarly fretboard-spanning octave tapping riff and went from there. I knew I wanted alternating growled and clean vocals, and Brandon Strader delivered 110%. Development of Avoid did the solo at 2:23. This track was perfect for his style. The solo is weird and alien, but also strangely memorable. I added the bridge really late in the month, and Shea's Violin came on board for a short violin solo and killed it.

The main source used is Mole Knight's boss theme, "Claws of Fate". Mole Knight's stage, "An Underlying Problem", is used in a few places, and the Specter of Torment version of the stage, "Facing the Task", is lightly used.

Main source: Shovel Knight - "Claws of Fate"

Other references:
* Shovel Knight - "An Underlying Problem" - melody from source at 0:00 adapted at 0:49 in this cover; bassline from source at 2:14 adapted into breakdown at 1:23 in this cover
* Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment - "Facing the Task" - chord progression and melody from source at 0:44 adapted in the bridge at 1:57 of this cover

The lyrics are mostly a generic "down with the system" deal, but with some mole- and shovel-related imagery. I did take some inspiration from current events at the time... namely a certain head-of-state warmonger and a certain owner of a bird-themed company."

HA! I appreciate that last bit. :-) I don't wear hats, but a tip of the hat to that AND for doing an amazing job taking the genre inspiration from Periphery and adapting virt's themes into something more melodious and catchy than "Make Total Destroy", which to me was a best-of-both-worlds situation, the style pulled off with more hooks. Screamo's not for me personally, but let's not question how well Strader's vocals have been done throughout, including the transition to the clean chorus from 1:56-2:10, deftly shifting into the pair of excellent back-to-back solos by Shea's Violin (unexpected violin, and it works!) and newcomer Development of Avoid from 2:10-2:56. In summary, this is an incredible representation of the personal growth Dwelling of Duels regularly brings about for artists diving into its monthly contest format. minusworld capped off his first year in DoD with this ambitious concept of three Shovel Knight themes effortlessly combined, emboldened and refined by effective collaboration. Everything's firing on all cylinders -- stylish, messy metal -- so GET OUT OF THE WAY!