There's so much potential here. I may not say much since there are already some really good reviews that could point out a few things that even I can learn from.

I was listening to a couple of other of your songs before this one, and this one stuck out a bit more than some of your piano pieces. I'm not saying their bad, there's good stuff going on. But this track sticks out a little bit.

Some of the pads and the composing is cheesy, like Mario Golf for the Gamecube, but with a little mixing, adding some dynamics, changing up a few of the pads, this could be a boss piece (just noticed, I don't think this is metal in the slightest. Way more electronic than rock).

After listening to the track a second time, wow, there is a ton of cheesy 90's electronic flavors. Not just in pads but in some of the composition. If you listen to the Mario Golf stuff, you'll hear the same bass rhythm with the 8th and two 16ths.

But, after everything is said and done, this track caused you to gain another fan. Because, there a lot of really cool stuff that can come out of this. Once you get you synths down and your mixing, that ability you have to compose could do some really cool stuff.

I'll keep an ear out for you.
-Spadezer-

more like astroglide amirite?

actual round 1 review though:

intro was kinda promising but then the awful GM lead, floppy bass and flat drums came in. instrument levels are all at the same volume so nothing takes precedence, random super-loud crash cymbals on top of drums which are way too quiet, stereo image seems kinda random and everything's drowning in reverb (relatively, given how quiet everything is). the melodies tend to meander and are generally forgettable, though not technically bad. i think the real weakness in your writing here is when you try to move from section to section or create climaxes, it's just really awkwardly executed every time. that goes for the key change too. generally it's just cheesy as all heck but unfortunately it doesn't sound self aware enough to get away with it, or even particularly good as far as the mix is concerned.

4.8

This is an NGADM Round 1 Review.

--

I'm glad you made it into the competition in the end, even if you only managed to make a track for the first round. You bring something very valuable to the table, and that's a great sense of composition. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing your arpeggios and harmonies in the intro, and the melodies played by that smooth square lead are solid and flow very naturally. You have a solid progression and every transition is smooth (loving the one at 3:18), largely due to the fact that you often prepare the introduction of a new instrument/element suitably by ramping it up a few beats before it actually comes in. That's the mark of a thoughtful compositional flow. The structure is solid, and the intro and outro are both suitable ways to transition out of and into silence respectively.

My issue is not in the composition of this track, which is for the most part good, but in its sound. While you have a suitably clear mix and balanced levelling, the track just sounds extremely bland. It has very little depth outside a somewhat resonant/shrill pad, piano, drums and a square lead. At the risk of sounding like an uneducated music listener, the track lacks... punch. All of the elements are pretty subdued and sound pretty dull, and without any complex composition to make up for that we're left with a pretty underwhelming submission, I'm afraid. On an unrelated note, 1:22's synth is pretty harsh, and not in a tasteful way! I would suggest a different sound.

Recap: solid melodies/harmonies, lots of potential, bland instrumentation. Good job overall, and thanks for taking part!

SCORE: 7.2/10

Hot damn.
So this is pretty well written, I particularly like the melodies and the wavering synths that appear in the background throughout. A few things to note would be:
a.) crashes - just an issue (i think, personally) with the mixing, as they always appear in my right headphone, which messes with the balance of the music. Overall, many of the instruments tend to be slightly overwhelming on the right earphone, as it seems that most of the leads end up sounding prevalent on that side. Not an issue at all if I play the song on speakers, though.
b.) EQ changes (possible) - some of the instruments that appear earlier - like the bell-sounding lead from the intro - tend to have a sort of piercing feeling from the high frequencies, especially when the volume is turned up. A simple resolution to this would be messing with Channel EQ (so that the bass / treble freq.s are less far apart), but I don't have any complaints about this further on in the song.
c.) a last note would be to add some reverb / delay for the piano, as well as having the velocity increase steadily to make the break less sudden.

overall this is way too pretty for me to handle, though.

Well, this is still great :)
I think you did a perfect job with the transition at about 0:25! That's exactly what I meant, and it sounds good now :D

I don't really have anything to complain about. The transition into the piano break might've been a bit unexpected, but it still works well (the transition out of it is awesome ;D)
The ending is okay too :p

Rated 5, favorited and loved in general :3
I like reading descriptions btw XD
A free internet cookie is not to be mine today though, although I do like the name :'D