I like the percussion at the beginning and the rhythmic content. The guitar at :07 sounds a tad dry, and could probably use some reverb or other mixing effects. The pads at :22 are neat, too. The tone shifts pretty abruptly at :36 to a more upbeat and full-textured sound. Your melodies have a lot of embellishments on them, which can make it hard to follow their contour sometimes. I really liked some of the rhythmic elements of this piece, though, like when the drums went crazy at 1:08. I would’ve liked for them to come through more clearly in the mix there, just because that seemed to be the most dynamic part of the texture at that point. You might consider adding some compression to the drums, or otherwise giving a boost to the midtones in the equalizer. I think it’s actually the bass that’s causing the drums to duck under the mix there - probably a sign that you should do a more careful EQ’ing job anyway. That said, the composition of this piece comes together really well for me. I like the lively melodies and sound design a lot. The end was a little abrupt, but I think it would’ve worked really well as a sort of comical effect if you had sold it a tad better (more dynamics/phrasing leading into it would probably accomplish that imo). Still, solid work overall here, CommanderFrost! The mixing is honestly my main complaint. :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
7.75/10

thoughtful composition. the drum fills in that bridge section were awesome, except for the goofy snare retrigger in the first fill. actually the main issue i have is that there's a serious lack of dynamics within each instrument, which is what makes those fast retriggers feel goofy. it doesn't feel overcompressed but it feels very flat, like everything stays the same volume the whole time. some of the virtual instruments sound very brittle and fake, sometimes sampling out of their natural range and doing weird fake vibrato. but the ending sounds comparatively great, and i do really love it when there's no resolution on the last chord. would love to hear this with more dynamics and more delicate software instruments in the intro and mid sections.

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text