Game composer Howard Drossin (Sonic & Knuckles, Afro Samurai) has invited a group of musicians to butcher his music from Splatterhouse (2010) by recording their own renditions.

The Splatterhouse remixes, entitled "Butchered by Various Aritsts," were posted online today for free download in multiple file formats. Among the participants are five composers who specialize in independent game scores. My liner notes from another free Bandcamp release, Locomalito's Hydorah Arranged Tracks, have been thrown in together with a few additions.

In order of appearance, Gryzor87 shows up first among the indies participating on the remix album. The Spanish composer of freeware titles Hydorah and Viriax arranges one of the game's retro-styled sidescroller themes. IGF Award nominee Mattias Häggström Gerdt, of Oxeye's Cobalt and currently writing music for Mojang's Scrolls, arranges the horror movie-inspired composition "The Doll That Bled."

"Zombies In The Mausoleum" follows, redone by Chris Geehan. Earlier this year, the musician's studio HyperDuck SoundWorks released the zombie game soundtrack Bitejacker: Undead on Arrival. Pocket Groovy, the composer of You Have No Legs, follows with his arrangement of "Blood Eclipse." Rounding out the album, Game Boy musician Crashfaster, composer of the Knifetank games, demakes another sidescroller theme to nostalgic effect.

Howard Drossin's original soundtrack album for the game, on which the remixes are based, will arrive on his Bandcamp page on Monday. The musician states that he found the process of collaborating with artists from the independent game scene intriguing. "Each track is completely different," he says, "and it's great to find that people from all over the world are represented. It really does bring a unique style to each of the tracks."


Zombies in the Mausoleum, arranged by Chris Geehan