Brandon Yates: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSquKfL3MBHc360b_e5N2CA
Well, it’s about time I guess. Volume 5 is now completed of the Commission tracks by Brandon. Let’s see how they ranked in my opinon.
Patreon (if you want to support us like that idk): https://www.patreon.com/NemesisBloodryche
Ranking Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6Yc-9DGHrY
Ranking Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAyccQcLmYI
Top 20 of Part 3 Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0Ueq0_j13ZTsr23Cixpw4ClU_f0S36tg
source
For symbol of hope, I enjoyed the izuku part of the beginning
Brandon the battle music extraordinaire
Hope we get the Power Rangers episode reviews one day.
Shotaro Ishinomori
1:06:54 Dunno if you picked up on it, but when I commed the song, I asked Brandon to splice in a bit of Kuuga's opening theme into the song, because both Hibiki and Yuna were inspired by him.
Take a shot every time Nemesis says “F*ck”. 😂
Brandon just cooks is all it is, really.
I didn’t except a lego chima track of all things
Dude could've ranked by album but he intentionally did this to himself
1:09:32
you basically summed up Luz’s character development perfectly
(ALSO WATCH THE OWL HOUSE IT’S REALLY GOOD I SWEAR-)
Well then… it was interesting seeing the rankings, so might as well give my thoughts on the ones I commed
Brainwaves: My bias aside, I can def see why it doesn't have anything special truly going on, but there's a specific reason for that. It's built for when the vocals come out. Obviously it kinda saddens me that my most wanted match-up's track didn't get S, but just knowing people enjoy it makes me very happy
Outfox The Dragon: The fact the track is good is 90% because Brandon wanted me to commission it. Jokes aside, somehow Brandon knew exactly how I wanted the track to flow as it mostly takes inspiration from "Dragons" which is Genji's theme in Heroes of The Storm, and then made it play like a track you'd hear in an MGS game.
Scherzo of Snow: To quickly explain the name, it's pronounced "Sherzo". It's probably my least favorite track I've commed, but it's still incredible. I don't really know what… but something is off about it. The one other thing I find funny, is that Brandon went for more of a Mirror Mirror inspiration(which I think works) but the main one I was hoping would've been used was This Life Is Mine.
Honestly I'm pretty happy with 2/3 ranking extremely high, and I got a few I believe will be in volume 6 that should be a good listen.
He really described everything about awakened sacrifice
Wait did I not say anything about the Tai Lung vs Ryuga track? I was sure I did, have I gaslit myself for the last 5 months?
Anyway yeah banger track, thank you for commissioning it, I still listen to it when I have my earphones in at work sometimes.
14:49
This is the last time I will be discussing this matchup but I still do like the concept of Izuku Midoriya vs Izuru Kamukura from Danganronpa.
I’ll discuss Izuru’s abilities to prove his competence in this battle; With the talent of Ultimate Hope, Izuru possesses every talent that has ever been researched, only to a significantly greater degree.
I’ll Include combat-related talents:
Ultimate Analyst: Izuru can read and analyze anything virtually instantaneously, being able to determine the personality, abilities, thoughts, and history of his foes with a mere glance. As such, he can predict virtually anything that comes his way unless it is completely outside of comprehension and understanding that Izuru has witnessed.
Ultimate Clairvoyant: Izuru can directly predict the future.
Ultimate Luck: Izuru possesses incredible amounts of good luck, instantly turning most events in his favor. His luck is described to be stronger than Nagito’s, which has a unique luck pattern and allows him to survive near-death situations, and is unpredictable for even the likes of Junko Enoshima.
Ultimate Martial Artist: Izuru is a master of every martial art known to man, being able to flawlessly utilize any number of martial arts at once to create a mixed martial arts style. As the Ultimate Hope, Izuru's skill should be even greater. Izuru should also possess the talents of the other martial artists to have attended Hope's Peak Academy, including the Ultimate Boxer, Ultimate Wrestler, Ultimate Judo Master, Ultimate Karate Master, Ultimate Street Fighter and Ultimate Aikido Master.
Ultimate Secret Agent: Izuru can completely mask his presence to the point of being completely imperceptible without being seen, heard, smelled, or otherwise noticed.
Ultimate Breeder: Izuru can communicate with animals and command them.
Ultimate Soldier & Ultimate Gymnast: Izuru possesses every skill related to combat and has mastered them to the point of gaining inhuman levels of strength, speed, agility, and endurance. He should also be able to wield any firearm. He should also have expert to inhuman level parkour and acrobatic skills.
Ultimate Swordsman: Izuru can use a sword to a masterful extent.
Ultimate Detective: Izuru has the skills of an extremely skilled detective and should be able to solve mysteries with little to no clues.
Ultimate Mechanic: Izuru has the skills of a skilled inventor and a genius mechanic. One of the most successful creations of Kazuichi (the original Ultimate Mechanic) was his enormous Monokuma robot, which was able to rampage through cities and buildings with ease. Izuru should be able to perform better than what Kazuichi can do.
Ultimate Pharmacist: Izuru has the ability to create absurd concoctions such as strength enhancers and super healing medication.
Ultimate Pyrotechnician: Izuru can create/utilize fireworks that can brainwash others with the illusion that his fireworks create.
Ultimate Nurse: Izuru has extensive knowledge of medication, being able to know details on injuries and cure himself of any injury (except when he loses a limb).
Izuru Kamukura’s feats/plotlines include:
-Backhanded Mukuro Ikusaba(Ultimate Soldier) and a bear away
-Stomped on Junko without moving from his bed
-Avoided every attack from Junko with a bat
-Outlucks Nagito Komaeda
-Took over the Neo World Program, gave full control to Junko Enoshima and broadcasted what was happening in the Neo World Program to the outside world to lure in the Future Foundation (Izuru utilizing Ultimate Programmer)
-Created a virtual alter ego of himself to kill/revive all of the comatose Ultimates from the Neo World Program, note: every dream or illusions have a stratum and each stratum has a level of defense, he was able to invade and reach the deepest stratum of all of his comatosed classmates' minds (Izuru utilizing Ultimate Programmer)
-Jumped off a tall building with no effect on the current state of his body (as World Destroyer)
-Survived a fallen building structure caused by Nagito Komaeda (as World Destroyer)
-Defeated 5 elite Future Foundation personnel single handedly (Fused with Hajime Hinata)
-Defeated a fleet of approximately 41 ships (Fused with Hajime Hinata)
-Broke down a steel door (Fused with Hajime Hinata)
Even if Izuku Midoriya still wins the mu, I believe Izuru’s death would still be very cinematic. Izuku would end up beating sense back into Izuru with his strongest attack, making him finally immobile and turn back into Hajime Hinata. Hajime and Izuku would have a moment of connecting; Hajime would be proud of Izuku pursuing his dream of becoming a true Symbol of Hope without resulting in losing himself in the process. Hajime thanks Izuku before dying.
What do you guys think? Is this really a bad to terrible mu? Or could it at least be a great mu in a THEMATIC sense regardless of it being a stomp?
Seeing The Feeling Is Neutral (that's the one I commissioned) ranked at the S section was a heck of a surprise, considering the reputation of the matchup itself but nonetheless, I'm very happy you liked it.
Overall, pretty great list, can't wait for your thoughts on the Therewolf tracks
that is if you do themSo funny story for Hope for Sin, when I had it commissioned it was a long time back (roughly a month or two after my first commission Mechanical Maidens had released) and I had kinda forgotten about it. Fast forward a couple of weeks before Taskforce: Ghost released (my other commission of this set) and neither Brandon, Ethan, or myself could think of a name so yeah….anyway glad you enjoyed them (I swear I will get a track into your S + rank one day)
I just wanna say, absolutely love that for The Feeling is Neutral the main instrument used for the song is a piano which not only sounds really good on it’s own, but it works even more since that’s the instrument that Monika plays in the game.
And that gives me the vibe that Monika is the one playing the piano for the soundtrack, and whenever the heavier and grungier parts come in, that’s Flowey interrupting her song
Destiny Calls A Tier pog.
Even tho I'm surprised the matchup didn't just say "Fuck off." And instead was a typo oof
By the way, Dance with the Devil is getting a vocal version. So if it's already in your S tier, hoo boy…
seeing The Path That Never Was in A tier kinda surprised me
As someone who's reviewed (almost) all tracks of this Volume too, I felt like it was a good idea to watch a video of someone who's got actual talent reviewing songs. And I don't think I was mistaken as it did help me realize a few new things on some of the tracks. Altho I have a few notes on some songs that I feel like noting, which I'll do in a list. Of course everything I'll say is my opinion and I understand that music appreciation is extremely subjective anyways (besides, there's no denying that all of this Volume's tracks were at least decent anyways). Also, I must say right now that it's really funny how, for almost all of the tracks, we basically said and think the exact same things on them (which I'll mention later for some of them), hell, I think I can say that any track I don't mention here is one where this applies and therefore have nothing more to add.
Oh yeah, that's gonna be long. So ready a sack of popcorn if you want to read it all because I spent actual hours writing it, which is why it's gonna be cut in muliple parts because it actually goes past the Youtube Character limit. Really makes me appreciate the work put into those review commissions given the time I spent doing that and it's not even a full list and just a wall of text.
Cold Blood-
I myself always found that Cold Blood suffered from its very "all over the place" instrumental and I'm quite happy that someone else has the same exact opinion on the song. The good bits are really freaking good but aren't emphasized enough to make the song truly excel and the change of styles heavily limit it. Brandon himself said it on his Discord server in that he edged too hard on the reference tracks which makes me a bit bummed out that we couldn't get the full potential of the song, even if it's still good.
Starstruck Gunners-
I'll admit that Starstruck Gunners is one of those songs that I never expected to like as much as I did and I feel similar with it that the vocals combine really well together without cutting one another off, an issue that some other tracks have but this one avoids masterfully. Also the vocal work in general for that song I feel is slept upon because damn the vocals are of great quality.
Crowned Shield Hero-
Same as you there where Crowned Shield Hero sadly has to stand in the shadow of Unbreakable due to how good the aforementioned is. Altho recently I've found myself actually listening to Crowned Shield Hero a bit more than Unbreakable so honestly my liking of both songs is still quite equivalent, even if Unbreakable is more memorable to me.
Symbol of Hope-
Symbol of Hope to me was one of the breaking points between vocal tracks being good and vocal tracks being *great*. It and Awakened Sacrifice are the two tracks that stand out the most as absolutely groundbreaking vocal tracks that do the most of their instrumental while adding absolutely grandiose vocals to it. In my opinion, the tracks where both characters unite for the lyrics, showing true, well, unity between their personality and goals with lyrics matching them are often the tracks that stand out the most and Symbol of Hope represents that wonderfully. There's a few segments that stand out more than others, of course (notably the midway point with the absolutely masterful "You Can't Break Me" delivery that's still one of the most memorable lyrics to any commission vocals that I can think of), but the whole song's a complete banger.
Blood Stained Strides-
Blood Stained Strides is a weird case for me. I like it, mind you. But with how much traction it's been getting, I think I'm not liking it as much as I should. It's a really good song but it doesn't really break the mold for me, which is why I never really understood the sheer hype for it. Given, it's one of the songs that released while I was on vacation so didn't experience its vocal version on release so that may not help either.
Awakened Sacrifice-
Now… Now we're getting to the track. Awakened Sacrifice was the breaking point for me that completely changed how I perceived the commission tracks as a whole. I doubt anyone has because I'm but a random person but if you've been reading some of my reviews on songs, you'll see that this track was the one track that changed how I reviewed songs completely from just a few comments on some bits of the tracks to the full on reviews that I do now. That's how good this track was.
And as you said both over the vocal version and the instrumental, this track truly is a masterwork of story and character writing via music. I was quite amused when you talked about how the song isn't to be fitted to a fight animation as much as it's supposed to be the fight itself because that is, almost literally word for word, what I wrote in my review of the song (seriously, I was replicating that pointing DiCaprio meme when I heard it because it was the exact same things I said about it) and I'm really glad someone else said it.
There's also a side to the song that I didn't really get and that was mentioned here in how the final act of the song isn't as much a "dance of fates" as it is a truly tragic end to the end where the two are suffering and not in peace with their opponent. It's a much darker interpretation to what I had but it's probably the one that'd actually happen were the fight to actually happen.
This also brings the discussion about the "meaning" of songs which I wholeheartedly agree with as, to me too, it is a true showcase of composition mastery when a song manages to tell something beyond just sounding good and Awakened Sacrifice is the epitome of this: this song is not a full book, for sure, but it's something akin to a sung fairy tale where the little details are left to the listener's imagination while only the big lines are told to maximum effects.
Wrongfully-
Ah, Wrongfully's vocal. After Awakened Sacrifice's masterpiece, it feels like a complete 180 to talk about Wrongfully's vocal. Now don't get me wrong, it's still a song that I appreciate listening to from time to time, but I've come to actually not really like it due to one singular major issue it has:
It absolutely BUTCHERS both characters in its lyrics. I think this is the singularly worst track in terms of character representation lyrically. Both characters are completely mischaracterized. It makes Goblin Slayer, a character who's known for being nonconfrontational and as humble as you can possibly get, seem like a total jackass who thinks that Bell's a nobody and it does the same with Bell, who's known for being an extremely friendly character, seem like a really brutal one that's always looking for a fight.
It also straight up tells wrong things like saying that both characters have a connection to goblins which is completely wrong as Bell has never had a meaningful interaction with goblins in his life.
There's a few other issues when it comes to the lyrics that I noted on my actual review of the song but I won't say them here to avoid this part being too long. Once again I must reiterate that this track isn't bad , it's easily enjoyable. But it's the complete opposite of Awakened Sacrifice where the lyrics don't perfectly represent the characters and how their fight would go but instead seem like it's a story trying to parody both characters instead of telling their tale, so it's one of the few post-Will of the Drill vocal tracks that I think is lesser than its original (not helped by the fact that the instrumental uses Rightfully as its main melody and Rightfully is a total banger).
I'm glad that you liked it, but I must say I find it really weird how you say you actually like how it represents both characters as actively shittalking one another when it's the complete opposite of what they'd do in-character, losing a lot of the appeal of "character-sung lyrics" trope this track has.
Ultrasonic-
Never expected Ultrasonic to actually get a vocal version when it did, and I was quite afraid when first listening to it as I feared it'd end up like Wrongfully. And in a way it did, but in the good ways. I feel like both songs can have a lot of parallels drawn to one another in their general vibe. But where Wrongfully blatantly mischaracterized the characters and didn't really tell a story, Ultrasonic manages to actually tell something that fits both characters. And while I do agree that some of the lower points of the song are a bit rougher than the rest, it still is a really nice vocal track that surprised me in the best of ways.
Ketchup And Flush Down-
This track is one of those tracks that, as you said, Brandon never had to go as hard on as he did and it's much to the better. Like you said it's a wonderful thing that Brandon went the harder way on it because it makes it truly stand out. And even if the track loses the "training montage" feel that the original had, it makes up for it with a wonderful voice performance and amazingly written lyrics that really elevate the song.
Couple's Night Out-
It's exactly as you said. But I want to add that the original Couple's Night Out really lacked something, and the way the lyrics got added to it really elevated that track to something truly unique. The vocal performance from both singers just adds bonus points to an already really nice concept and they manage to do the "duet versus same duet" thing really well, managing to convey both sides quite well without having to read the lyrics to wonder which side the lyrics are supposed to be for.
Hello There, Hokage commissioner here!
Glad to see an honest opinion about my commission. To talk about it a bit more, as you no doubt figured by the matchup choice, it was inspired by Obi-Wan vs Kakashi, and I wanted there to be a leitmotif of Force & Lightning (which was the motive behind having Therewolf come in), as the original composer for Force & Lightning, I wanted to see how Therewolf, and now Brandon together would make a track combining the Star Wars and Naruto scores together. And I am still immensely pleased with what they made. This was also why I wanted a leitmotif of Force & Lightning, because when you combine two incredible composers.
After the Uchiha leitmotif started by Dangerous Gaze came along and started showing up on both commission and official tracks, I wanted to see if I could start a Hokage leitmotif so that you can truly feel like this is part of a larger whole, should the rest of the Hokage end up getting commissions. Though since this commission was done at the time of Brandon needing to pay for the removal of the black mould that was affecting his health, I would rather ensure Brandon is healthy and active and make something he and Therewolf were happy to make, not having a leitmotif doesn't detract from the whole experience of having a commission made.
Since this was my first commission with Brandon, I will never forget this experience, and I will be making future commissions, so I can't wait to see what you think of my other ideas, Nemesis.
Funny story when I commissioned Unbreakable it was only supposed to be an instrumental track, but when I listened to it the first time I literally told Brandon "damn dude you made really regret not requesting vocals". I am so happy that you like Unbreakable just as much as I do.
So glad you're doing a new ranking video on the latest commission tracks by Brandon. Thank you for the high rankings you gave to my commissioned tracks (Couple's Night Out and Strings Attached).
Brandon and Mana did awesome with the vocals for Couple's Night Out. I'm so glad he chose her to duet with him for this track. Whenever I listen to it, I would always have a big grin on my face. It's so damn catchy! As for Strings Attached, I love the dark and creepy atmosphere it gave since it fits really well for the characters involved. I was surprised at the length of the track since I originally paid for a standard length, but I'm grateful Brandon gave me a longer track.
AVGN is great Edit: U succ
I want a Joylne Cujoh vs Vanessa from Black Clover commission
Called it Strings of Fate or Stringed By Fate
Yes I am, the @nunya_josh who keeps saying this
27:17 PEAK
38:00 Prince? It's Price
I have an idea
Uncle Ojisan vs Jiraya or the guy from Tron
That's my 2nd idea
Where you will rank covenant with hell now
Remnants of the soul told me different stories whenever i listened to it my second time. Not a battle to the death, but a competition that was set up by Ozpin and death as some extra training for the scythe wielding girls.
Glad to see you enjoy Heart of Darkness, a bit shocked to see it in last place though, because it's absolutely my favorite out of the volume. That's because, in my eyes at least, it does something that VS tracks don't usually do when blending sounds together. In other KH tracks, you can definitely hear the inspiration (except for This Heartless Empire), but I think Heart of Darkness takes it a step further, because it sounds full on like a Meta Knight boss fight IN Kingdom Hearts taking place on the Halberd, complete with a cutscene buildup, quick time events, etc. So rather than feeling like a normal VS track, it goes the extra mile to feel like a true crossover. The goofier parts help break tension and like the more innocent side of the Kirby series take center stage, most likely involving Meta Knight's crew. The only real criticism I have with it is that it doesn't get fast enough but Kingdom Hearts tracks don't tend to get balls to the wall fast in speed anyway, even if it would compliment this MU here. I think it's well enough in speed anyhow so it's not really an issue for me. I think it'll appear to people a lot more if it wasn't seen as a traditional VS track but rather a boss fight in one of the respective series against the other opponent. It helps to tell a story through music, much like Awakened Sacrifice's vocal track
You completely missed Remnants Underneath (W.D Gaster vs The Puppet), which is, without a doubt in my mind, SS tier.
Glad you liked Birth by Exile, Spectral Pain, and Sins of the Father.
Like you said, the first one was meant to convey the idea that both characters have been through some shit but are still keeping themselves together. Aqua's got arguably the most tragic story across the KH franchise. Meanwhile the Exile shows a lot of signs of lingering trauma throughout KOTOR 2.
With The Spectral Pain Brandon told me he was going for a mix of The Suicide Mission with MGSV's 80s-style soundtrack. The more gritty tone does actually help a lot since I sort of pictured the Shepard of this matchup as one with slight Renegade leanings, to mirror the darker tone of MGSV and the shit Venom Snake goes through. Though I prefer to think of Shepard as "they" instead of "he" since I believe Broshep and Femshep are both valid for Death Battle. In fact I would actually love it if both were used if Shepard was lucky enough to appear twice.
Yeah, Sins of the Father overall was definitely the best of the tracks I got. Was absolutely blown away by it. Brandon took my suggestion to combine Alert with Ashes on the Fire to heart, as it did an amazing job of capturing the feel of both series' soundtracks. Though I should point out that I wasn't picturing the battle culminating with REX vs the Beast Titan. But rather REX vs Zeke and the combined Warrior Unit, plus whatever's left of the Marleyan force. On his own, Zeke is better off as an anti-air defense against Liquid's HIND and coordinator of a small mindless titan horde.
I'm still fairly happy with how Revelation of Suffering turned out. Though I do sometimes wonder how it might have sounded if we'd gone with an early idea I suggested of emulating Revelation 2's menu theme and Silent Hill 3's pre-menu movie track (You're Not Here).
45:12
Huh neat I actually am really good freinds with the guy who commissioned this and did the art for him which I made to look more childish and crude to match Pyro I'm glad his track is getting alot of praise