85/100
KSHMR has always proven himself to be a versatile and creative artist, and today we have another special occasion remarking that. The genre selected is trance, the collaborator is the famous Mark Sixma (Armada Music), and the reworked song is a legendary Hans Zimmer classic, “The Gladiator” theme. To be precise, it’s “Now We Are Free” with the emotional vocal by Lisa Gerrard.
When I was young I loved that movie, and the extraordinary soundtrack by the German composer is the icing on the cake. A delightful, cinematic, emotional and vibrant piece of art, one of his best works ever (even though the soundtrack for Pirates Of The Caribbean is impossible to beat).
That’s why I was really excited to see how KSHMR decided to rework it. Luckily, we also have the huge experience of Mark Sixma in the trance scene, guiding the Indian-American producer in this new territory. The overall result has a kind of “2008 Tiesto style“ in it, with some similarities with his remix of the “Titanic” soundtrack.
In fact, the two artists managed to give a lot of space to the original mood… The remix is slow, emotional and attempts to keep the original vibes almost intact and integrate them with a euphoric trance drop.
That part has an obvious influence by Mark Sixma, but let’s admit that KSHMR worked on the vocal style very well! The two styles fit adequately, it slightly reminds us of the relaxing “Jammu” for the drop’s concept. It’s a risky vocal choice (because it clashes with the other elements), so it’s a 50/50 for us. KSHMR put his personality into this remix, even if without a fully smooth approach. Hearing Indian vocals over the Gladiator theme is… Well, a bit strange.
A disappointment comes when the song ends. Just one drop? It sounds a bit approximative, making the “Gladiator” remix a bit too short. However, KSHMR and Mark Sixma already managed to do an incredibly difficult job, we can’t ask for too much.
That’s why the rating is pretty high: despite our critics, we think that the duo worked in a fantastic way. The Hans Zimmer masterpiece has been properly respected, and we are happy to see KSHMR doing well in basically every genre experimented. Congrats to Mark Sixma too, a perfect demonstration of class, skill, and experience!
What do you think?
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