Okay, this is going to be a review kind of coinciding with some of the others, that being that some of this song feels a little... I don't know, disjointed, maybe? However, this, for me, is not a con. If anything, it's actually kind of unique. Not every song needs to be completely straightforward in terms of beat or tempo or a combination of the two. This song, though it has a bit of an off-beat section in the middle, is actually one of the more phenomenal songs I've heard on Newgrounds as of yet, and I've heard quite a lot that I consider phenomenal. Working through the death of your friend must not have been easy, and it's easy for anyone to start spiraling out of their groove when they're dealing with something as tragic as that. Even then, you managed to pull out something truly amazing here, and I'm highly impressed with what you've done. In fact, you actually kind of make me envious. It was around this time, back in 2014, that I was really starting to feel the bite of my still-ongoing creative block, and even though I'm armed with new toys to play with (sadly, I do everything on the computer as I do not have any good recording set-ups, nor do I practice near enough to be where I want to be), I still can't come up with anything new. I admire your ability to work through such a tragedy to bring us something truly awe-inspiring. I ought to look through your stuff more and see what else you've put out.

This is a NGADM Round 3 Review.

First, here's a breakdown of your score:
Production: 27.5/30 (Great)
Composition: 27/30 (Great)
Instrumentation: 14/15 (Great)
Originality: 8.5/10 (Above Average)
Interest/Emotion: 13/15 (Great)

Total Score: 90.0/100 or 9/10 or 4.5 stars (Great).

Rubric (w/ rough judge notes and explanation of categories):
http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/draw/c09dc842e3774c0d231d578e6824d132
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The Good:
- Very tight, locked performance!
- Foot-tapping/head-banging galore. There were some great ideas in the track, and a good deal of contrast between elements as well, keeping listener interest (at the expense of confusing the listener at points).
- Production was fairly solid.

The Not-So-Good:
- Overall the track was not as interesting for me as a listener as your previous round's entry. Like Elspeth (headphoamz), I had some trouble remembering the track afterwards.
- Some tighter/cleaner transitions might be nice, as it tends to jump around a bit. Perhaps this is a stylistic or personal choice, but some killer transitions can't hurt regardless of genre.
- One thing that may help make the track more memorable is a more distinct form and a more definitive ending. Forms don't have to be super limiting, but having contrasting sections that are related and transitioned between clearly is enough to create a thread throughout the entire piece.

Keep compos(ed/ing)!
-Samulis

Totally badass.
You always stun me with your amazing riffs! Everything is clean, your mix is very tightly rounded, and your direction here is excellent. I felt it got a bit lacking in energy around 2:20, and I realize this is because your main guitar wasn’t there, but it felt good to take a break and give the rhythm a little go.
The thing is here, I was looking for a melody and something that made the track particularly memorable. Although it’s an excellent song and your shredding is INSANE, I couldn’t remember it afterwards. I would have liked a cleaner ending, too, although I know you went through some struggles during the comp and so I didn’t take off any marks for it.
So very energetic! My favorite part is 1:15, where you sound a little like Opeth with your progression here. Nice transitions, too; you give the song a chance to take a breath and then dive right in again. I’m impressed by all the ways you make the guitar sing afterwards.
I do end up feeling slightly antsy by the percussion here, as you seem to concentrate on the snare often and a constant hi-hat that drills the song. However, it’s necessary to highlight your instruments; just would have liked some variety on the percussion.
Great mix, awesome riffs, well done!

NGADM Round 3 Score: 9

This is a NGADM review.

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Sorry to hear about your loss PirateCrab, I hope you are doing well. Let this piece stand as a remembrance to your friend.

I will never understand how you continue to create these tracks. Your skill level is almost demonic for goodness sake. As usual, your skill with the guitar is the focal point of the track. Your solo/lead work is just incredible, with portions of the song (1:41, for example) acting as absolute face melting mechanisms. Your break the song down where it needs less tension, and you create havoc with your instruments when the time calls for it. Marvelous execution to be sure! I think my favourite parts were 1:41 and 2:36. I just had to call those two out in particular, because they're so friggin' great!

As others have pointed out, the latter half seems as if it is less polished than the first – but it's still great! The drums seem flat throughout, perhaps due to the overwhelming emphasis on the guitar work. Furthermore, I feel that the cymbal crashes could have been dialed down a bit. Honestly though, despite these small things, this is one solid track.

Keep rockin' PirateCrab! See you next round. :)

Score: 9/10

really good, felt a lot tighter than your other pieces in the ngadm so far imo. great playing, love the way you cut the delays off so they don't overlap with following sections. the rhythmic stuff you're doing in this just amazing, such good use of polyrhythmic and odd-meter kick patterns, with really clever resolutions to 4/4 - the meshuggah as fuck ending, seriously perfect man.

some of the samples had a bit of a machine-gun effect sometimes, the snare most noticeably when you had the extra soft hits before the backbeat. the hi toms felt super weak, actually i would've liked the tom set in general to be more represented in the rhythm section. maybe i'm just a deaf dickhead tho.

the other thing was, to me at least, that the composition in the second half generally felt kind of unfocused, jumping between new sections without much common ground between them. the ending was still perfect though, holy shit.