Reviews for Your Father's Blade

[midimachine]

mmm dat peter satera sound. no complaints on the mixing from me, loving how everything is coming together from a dynamic standpoint. hmm actually the brass in the left speaker is just a little bit too edgy in the climax... some of the eastern winds are a bit on the nose too i think, especially the higher parts with the gigantic glissandos - towards the end the balance seemed really off kilter. would've liked a bit more of a reverb tail on that last note, or maybe have the strings fade a little more gradually. anyway that's all fairly minor stuff.

i like that you've gone for quite a new kind of instrumentation, but it still feels like "just another peter satera track" to me. you've taken these instruments from a very particular setting to tell a story that, in many ways, is culturally specific. the problem is that the writing doesn't place the story anywhere - like, i feel as though you've missed an opportunity to play with some really exotic scales and harmonic content. even if you were going for something more celtic or gaelic it's not really touching on any place other than hollywood. i mean, even in terms of storytelling this feels like it needs more harmonic variation, as it stands it kinda sits on this one brooding emotion and just escalates the level of brooding.

still, really great work as it is. it's AAA trailer material, that's for sure. in retrospect, i was a little too harsh when i scored this a couple weeks ago but at the same time i was quite a bit more impressed with the last two entries. but i don't know, maybe if this was your round entry i'd have given it 11/10 :v

EvilRaccoon responds:

Agree with the points you've made and that the brass is very edgy after a relisten.
Thanks for making the crits. Will take them on board. :)

[headphoamz]

Great intro. Soft, intense, emotional.
I felt throughout the song that I was waiting for something to happen. Nothing particularly spectacular happened, but this is an excellent cinematic piece, and I can totally picture the scene here.
I felt you could have used some more backing strings in the beginning, prior to 2:22. The melody kind of droned on after a bit and some lower harmonies might have given flavor to the “death of a beloved character” sequence.
And then wow, never mind, 2:22 is freakin’ beautiful. I love the vox you have overlaying everything. Very pretty and ethereal; gives us a sense of sadness, but perseverance as well. Most of your tracks are like this. You start off with a story, a main character that has forged his/her way through trials, and eventually we get to the conclusion that ends much like the intro started. Chords are beautiful here, but I would have liked to hear more of you going off the main path progression-wise, rather than “D, then C, then B flat, then C again”. It left me wanting more from the instruments.
Awesome emotes from the male choir here. Is this character training to be a samurai? Sounds like they’re grunting in another language. Might be obvious, actually – considering this person had a father who gave them a blade, I’m guessing samurai. Maybe wizard.
Very nostalgic and evocative. Would have liked more deviation from the normal chord progression; spot-on mixing.

NGADM Round 3 Score: 8.5

[Neon-Bard]

This is a NGADM review.

-----

Holy. Crap. Peter. This is so beautiful! :')

I'm just waiting for the day when I see your name on the big screen. Honestly, you are a professional. Anyway, this piece was alive with emotion. It has an awe-inspiring build-up, a great theme, and solid tension that keeps things interesting. I LOVED the ethnic influence that you incorporated here. You really gave off a Hans Zimmer sound in this track; have you ever heard his score for 'The Last Samurai'? Well, this is what I was reminded of (one of my all-time favourite film scores). It has an almost traditional Japanese vibe that I adore. Okay, I'll stop rambling now. The production quality is amazing, with the instrument execution being top-notch. The female vocals are hauntingly beautiful, and the support male choir is excellent. They really add a great deal of emotion to the piece – the human voice works wonders in tapping into our feelings! The hard-hitting percussion keeps everything tied together as it echoes throughout the track. What else is there to say? I loved pretty much everything about this song. As it currently stands, this is my favourite track that you have written.

I don't mean to echo what others have said, but I have two small complaints: the male choir (shouts) towards the end (2:56 – 3:29) are a tad too loud, and the build-up, while amazing, is rather long and drawn-out. As I stated above, this piece is full of emotion. However, the longer you draw out the emotion, the less it means to the listener. I found that by 3:20, the song held far less influence. That being said, the second half of the track is, in my opinion, superior to the first half.

I feel as if all of my reviews for your tracks are the same! That's your fault for making such great music though, so I have to recycle my words and try to spit them out in new ways haha! Great work Peter...no, this is astounding work. I'm eagerly looking forward to whatever you write next. I could definitely learn a thing or two from you, heck, just by listening I have. All the best! :)

Score: 9.5/10

[MetalRenard]

This is a NGADM Quater-Final Review!
--
You've done it again! From a softer and yet moving story-telling atmosphere to a huge final build-up, I can defnitely see a trend in your work that I would perhaps call your vibe or your style. It's very modern film-score indeed, and I'm sure you could make this work with many an on-screen tale.

Having said that, my honest opinion on this piece is that it has an incredible final section but the build up to it was too laborious to justify the time I spent waiting for the pay-off. It's similar in that respect to your previous submission where the outro gave me chills but I got bored before reaching that conclusion.

Maybe a way for you to move forward with this would be to include two build-ups in a song rather than just the one in the final section. Such is the way a story is told; context - tension - release - tension -release; instead of a single plot-line that lasts throughout the story.

I definitely enjoyed how it came together in the end, I hope you continue to make some awesome music!

9.1/10

[Krichotomy]

Wonderful progression. Amazing track.

"You're father's not dead; He's right here," the man said as he tapped the boy's chest twice.

My one complaint: To me, something sounds strange about the shouts that start at 02:56. I think to my ears they sound too loud, with perhaps too much high frequency. They don't even quite sound human to my ears. Is there a percussive instrument layered over them? I don't know.