RESULTS - SUPERSTEPH54
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SUMMARY : Now this, is cool.
REVIEW : Man, this song is yet again another masterpiece from you. I mean wow, this song is more than just evil or villainous.
I'll start with those awesome melodies. Seriously, they just sound out of this world. They're catchy and never want to leave your head, and they really evoke that 'don't mess with me' feel. Your use of accidentals really emphasized on how evil this Orcu is. This seriously rocks. Loved the break at 2:47. Epic songs don't always have to be epic, and that's why I think this break fits so well. Then, the buildup right after with that drum hit was sublime.
Instruments were superb quality, making me doubt if they're East/West or you hired your own orchestra and rock band. The guitar really got me by surprise, but it was a really nice surprise so yeah xP. It sounded very good, Ministry of Rock or Goliath, right? Choirs were also a nice touch, and the piano sounded amazing as well. One thing I would complain about your guitar is that I think it needs more bass to fill up the song a little more, since I think it leans a bit too much towards the treble. Still, I'm not experienced at all in that kind of stuff, so I won't reduce any points for you because I might be wrong. Yeah, instruments and melodies are perfection.
The transitions in this song were very smooth, and the song flowed really smoothly and no transition dared to be even slightly abrupt. New instruments were introduced really well, and what I really liked in this submission would be your brilliant buildups. The beginning had a buildup where you slowly introduced more elements to the song, which always makes a great intro, and the buildup after the break, as I said, was excellent.
The structure was fantastic, and the fact that you had such a powerful climax at the end really added to the good structure that this has. At times the song got slightly repetitive, especially a little after the guitar came in, but there were enough alternate melodies to keep the listener enjoying the song, so I can't really complain much about repetition. Intro was full of suspense, which I really liked, and the ending was almost perfect. Maybe you could make the final hit with the strings more powerful though, since it sounds almost as if the song ended with a drum hit only, and that didn't make such a good ending note. What I'm trying to say is, I think the final note of the strings could be a bit more prominent and not drowned away by the final drum hit.
The drums on the other hand were really some of the best drums I've heard on NG. I heard cymbal crashes, scrape sounds, guiros, bass drums and some of the most powerful drum hits I've ever heard on NG. Seriously, these drums fit so well with the song that I can't tell the difference between professional drums and your drums anymore xD. So yeah, drums were an absolute win for me, loved them from beginning to end!
The only thing which got your score down to a 9 would be the fact that the mix is so busy. The song actually got very cluttered and at times it was hard to understand what was going on. A person referred to your song as 'organised noise'. While this song is very far from 'noise', I can see what he means by that phrase - it's just so cluttered. So while it is extremely epic, I think there's too much going on. Maybe you should make the main melodies a bit more pronounced and easier to listen to, and remove a few elements from the song, since at times this song gets really busy and almost 'messy', since sometimes simpler is better :|.
Still, other than that, this song is beyond epic, and it's so devestating that I'm hardly surprised it got the top 5. a 9/10, just work a little on that ending and making the song a little less cluttered. Barely any other defects with the song, which shows how talented you are. Keep up your outstanding work, and say hi to Orcu for me! :D.
SCORE : 9/10
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SUMMARY : Catchy, relaxing, awesome :D.
REVIEW : This is a great song, just like all your others. You excel at making relaxing trance songs, that's for sure, and this is a perfect example of your fantastic capabilities. Good job man, loved it!
The melodies were beautifully done, namely the piano melodies which were very catchy, especially in the chorus. I really like that you didn't keep to 4/4, but switched to a different time signature (sounds more like 6/8 than 3/4 to me but whatever), which is one of the things which I like about your songs - you don't always limit yourself to 4/4, but explore different time signatures, making your songs very original and unique. Loved the part at 1:30. Still, I'll have to complain about your mix. The song in all greatly lacked reverb. If you listen to those sweeps, they sound so dry, and sweeps are supposed to have that full, echoey sound. The piano sounds like it's begging for reverb, and the synths, although spacey, are bland and dry, which is why I'd highly suggest adding some more reverb to the piece overall.
There's a nice variety of different instruments, although the main instrument usually stays piano. The beginning of the song had some different instruments carrying the main melody, but from then on, basically the piano played the main melody, almost all the time. Maybe towards the middle/end of the song you could change from the piano a little, since although the piano truly does sound amazing, I think if you add more variety of instruments carrying the main melody, this piece would have even more diversity than it already has. Like in all your other songs, you sometimes have so many things going on at the same time, yet the song never becomes messy or cluttered, which is really effective and great, IMO. Good job :). Sweeps were brilliant and were a really nice touch.
Transitions on the whole were extremely well done, and show the fact that you worked really hard on the song. Still, I don't agree with some of the transitions, such as the transition to the different time signature at 1:42. I know how hard it is to change to a different time signature, so I won't really reduce many points for it, but still, the transitions to different time signatures may need some work (1:42 and 2:01).
The song has a good structure, quite interesting too. The only thing I'll have to complain about when it comes to the structure would be in the part from 3:24 till the end. It's as if you grabbed the original piano piece, put it in your song, added some beautifully done instrumentation and drums, but then at 3:24 you got lazy and decided to leave the piano piece as it is and submit it like that. Sorry, but I don't think this works too well. However, the variety was superb, and the fact that you varied it so well without it getting random was impressive.
The intro was BEAUTIFUL. The violins really set off the mood, and sounded amazing. Hip-hop drums were a nice touch in the intro, and they evolved into breakbeats so smoothly. 0:19 sounded great too. All in all, the intro was amazing, I wish I saw more parts along the lines of the intro throughout the song. The outro was fine, too bad it only ended in piano as I said above. Still, a good outro.
Drums were varied extremely well, and sound nice. I don't have much to complain about with the drums, except maybe the fact that you could add more cymbals. The only cymbals I heard where some really abrupt hi-hats. Crash cymbals, rides, open hats, you have a variety to choose from. Other than that, I really liked the drums since they fit so well with the submission.
Awesome submission, and I really enjoyed listening to it. This submission is among the top best I've heard in the NGADM so far. Just work on the dry mix, piano-only part at the end, and the time signature transitions. Other than those few defects, this song deserves all the 9's and 10's it gets :D. 9/10, keep it up!
SCORE : 9/10
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Wolf Pack Riders - 9 / 10
Ghetto Boyz - 9 / 10
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Continues in the next post...
