I like the ominous mood at the beginning. The synth at the very beginning sounds a bit murky and unpolished, and I also think you overused the kick drums a bit. The entire mix sounds pretty indistinct - I’d suggest toning down the reverb and trying to give each instrument a clear pitch range that overlaps with the others as little as possible. Right now, the texture sounds pretty bottom-heavy and off-balance. The composition could also use a bit more fleshing out, as the piece doesn’t have much of a sense of direction over time. There are a lot of good individual ideas in here, like the pitch slide at :53 and the frantic descending bass line at 1:04, but I wanted to see you clean up the mixing and do a bit more with the composition here. You nailed the harmonies, mood, atmosphere, and rhythmic elements, though. Keep at it, eatgruul! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
4/10

Hmm. I think this would sound a lot better with more variety of instruments and quality of instruments, specifically if you are going to emulate real instruments, it's better to find libraries like Spitfire Labs

The writing is not bad, and neither is the phrasing.

I would appreciate in addition to the kick, snares, hihats, crash cymbals, and transition noises.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!