Reviews for Rage of the Champions

[Zen-Zudokai]

Power...Strength...all swirl in a warrior's heart

Power! Such power flows through this piece! Strength is abundant throughout all of this! It took a while to get a story for this piece but now it is as clear as crystal.
A warrior is returning home from a long journey. He is returning from a journey that was unsettling and unsatisfying as well. He had traveled to a arena in the far west to test the strength of the best warriors of the west. But all they were were pathetic creatures who had no skill and no strength to back up their words of insult. "Insults are for those who haven't said enough...teh..." the warrior thinks to himself. He is left with a void that is large in his heart. He had risen his expectations and they were not even met by a single soul. He truly felt that his journey had been pointless and fruitless for all the endeavors that he had gone through to get to the arena. However, fate had other plans for when he returned home. Upon his arrival back in his homeland he sees it ravaged and in almost complete and utter ruin. He asks some survivors of this mysterious onslaught and they say that a local warlord had assasinated the emperour and that he had taken full control of all the land. He had raised the taxes to unbearable heights and any city or town that couldn't meet his quota's would be destroyed on the spot. And to further mock and ruin the land the new emperour declared that any who wished to oppose him could come and challenge him at any time in the warrior's ring. If he would be killed the emperour would leave the throne and give it to one of the few remaining descendants of the previous emperour's family. If they warrior failed they would have their family slaughtered and would be forced to watch before they would be beheaded. The warrior falls to his knees and tears at his hair in anguish at the terrible truth and at a terrible realization. While he was so busy concerning for himself in the west his own country had fallen into complete ruin. The one thing that he had tresured above all things was now in complete ruin. "There is only one way to redeem myself and cleanse myself of this sin...I will face the emperour and I will win! I WILL BRING THE BASTARD TO HIS KNEES FOR HE SAKE OF MY COUNTRY!! If I can't beat him...then with my final breath...I will send us both to HELL!!" And thus the warrior sets off for the capital, slaughtering the emperour's soldiers until he is finally in front of the palace. Who won the fight? Who was victorous? Heh...the comment you wrote for this piece should give you your answer. Keep up the good work...

MaestroRage responds:

a brilliantly written story Zen! A large smile crept onto my face when I read "Who won the fight? Who was victorous? Heh...the comment you wrote for this piece should give you your answer"

because right away my mind went into overdrive. Just how brutal, and ruthless this champion was to cleanse himself from his sin, and to purge this emperor.

Ironic really... to bring down an entire world of hurt and destruction to purify yourself. A strange and interesting way to see things.

All in all, a brilliant story Zen... speaking of stories, I didn't respond to your story did I?!

=_=. The to-do list is like a mold... constantly growing, and stinking up the place. Thank you for the review Zen, i'm glad you liked it!

[DarKsidE555]

Sweet!

You already know that I love this. It's actionpacked and has this magical flow. A great composition which I could listen to all day long. You even put some bongos in the background? XD I just noticed. lol. Nice going there. The percussion work was intense. Very deep and powerful tone.

I just hope I can come up with some that matches this sweet tune. ;)

Anyways, great entry! Surely one of my favs!

5/5

MaestroRage responds:

Hey DarKsidE555! Thanks for dropping by! I'm more then sure you can, the game needs some freaking sweet metal songs, and i'm sure you are one of few who could deliver! So get yur arse in thar, and grind the axe over the souls of many >:(!!!

Thank you for the review, i'm glad you liked it ^^!

[Beacon515L]

I like. Very Much.

As always, MaetroRage, radiating brilliance. Discounting the incredible work on strings, I particularly liked the percussion, a section, while accounted for in Garritan, still somewhat lacking. Very epic and job well done.

And it loops! XD

MaestroRage responds:

Indeed, Garriton does lack percussion in my opinion. However it's solo string sections are incredible. I find that most of Garritan and it's products are really good with solo instrument expression. I don't know if you've heard their product Garritan's Stradivari, but it's a solo instrument VST, of just one violin, and it rules.

I'm glad you liked the percussion, it was the most difficult part to carry out, as it's the biggest part of the song itself :D.

Thank you for the review, i'm glad you liked it!

[TheWisestMagi]

Meaningless warfare?

I finally have been given enough inspiration to come back = ). This song was completely phenominal, took a battle scene to a new level to me, especially in such a short song >=O. (I LOVE THE PERCUSSION IN THIS SONG!). The parts where the strings are involved in give you such an understanding of great victory coming with great loss to me...almost a reflection of the why the battle is taking place during the heat of the battle itself. (I LOVE THE PERCUSSION IN THIS SONG!).

Also, you added the perfect amount of zest and zeal to the song without making it confusing sounding...sounds more like a bravehearted fight then a confused swinging of axes and swords to me...(I LOVE THE PERCUSSION IN THIS SONG!).

Also, I can't help but to feel that this is the closest feeling from a classical song to a metal song I've ever felt, gives you that same ROCKIN! feeling at points, I think this has an imidiate link to the awesomely done percussion. (I LOVE THE PERCUSSION IN THIS SONG!). This really adds some adreneline to the song without making it completely hectic..very nice indeed..plus, it's not getting old at all as I listen too it, no repetitive sound to it...which is a VERY nice quality if this is to be a general battle music.

Story Time: First we see men lined up, weapons at arms, a leader shouting orders at them, their adreneline and fear becoming uncontainable as it almost becomes visible...then, as a calm quickly sweeps over them, the next thing they know they are silently rushing up a rocky wooded hill straight toward the jaws of death itself. (As the strings cut back in) The jaws quickly return to life and charge headfirst back into the attackers...all is chaos for but a moment..until it is clear that each man, with each owns soul is fighting another real human being, whose soul may not be much farther away, but as of now, they are mortal enemies upon contact, bent on killing the other no matter what...This is taking place all across the hazardous battlefeild, and as the scene fades away, only we can see, that there will be no victor in this battle...

Hope I still had it in me to write a story ; ). (I LOVE THE PERCUSSION IN THIS SONG!). Also, it seems like I haven't emphasized something enough in this review...oh yeah! The percussion completely owns..

5/5 I've still been watching (downloading) and enjoying your songs, don't worry ^^.

MaestroRage responds:

The first thing i'm getting from this review is that you seem to enjoy a certain aspect of this song... but you've done such an incredibly good job mingling it with the review that I can't seem to point out exactly what it is...

I think you should know there's no woodwinds in this song, so you're wrong >:(!!

But seriously though, i'm glad you liked the percussion, it is my most diverse, most powerful percussion layers! Easily 70% of the song was spent with percussion and the heavy brass and strings. The melody itself, no more then 2 hours.

It's funny you should say that the percussion makes you think of metal, for i've been studying metal/industrial/DnB style percussion for some while. I think it was worth the effort as you have heard. Metal is also one of my favorite genres overall. Especially Power Metal, some people hate it, I don't see why. It's awesome, melodic, greatness. But thats besides the point.

As for your image, you have the idea right on the dot :D! Meaningless, savage, passionate fighting. Without restraint, without thinking of the other, even losing the ability to love and protect one's own comrades. Victory will be had, even if the swords used are made of ally bones.

I'm glad you listen to the pieces Wisest :). You still write well, thank you for the review, i'm glad you liked it!

[Otakumage]

HELL YEAH!

Im a huge fan of viking metal. and that would be PERFECT for a Manowar song.

I liked the way it started out with such intesity and anger.

I kinda saw a fight in a colloseum. A man is near death and facing his opponent, when he lashes out with a feirce final attempt to kill him, charging through his stomach with the blade of his sword.

MaestroRage responds:

I love viking metal myself! Man-o-war is also one of my favorite metal bands. I love some of their cheezy lyrics! Warriors of the World being one of such favorite works of mine!

So you saw the fight to the death eh? Glad you did, though the image I had was not nearly as violent as mine :D! My warriors had no interest of merely running stomachs with blades, their was a much bigger desire to... tear things apart >:}

Thank you for the review, i'm glad you liked it!