The atmosphere at the beginning has a really evocative mood, but the samples themselves sound a bit harsh and unpolished. The beat at :22 is a bit generic, and the snare at :30 is a tad overwhelming, although it blends in better once some of the other harmonies fill in around it. The reverb at 1:07 is pretty heavy on the bass, and at 1:35 it’s a bit tricky to follow the rhythms. The harmonic content is very repetitive here, although the sound design and atmosphere help keep me engaged. The compression is very heavy at times, but perhaps the mix wouldn’t sound so artificial if you toned down the reverb more. I think my favorite elements of the piece are the creepy mood and ambiance, but the production quality also holds up well at the end of the day. The composition could’ve been a bit more dynamic, especially regarding the harmonic framework, and your sound design choices struck me as a bit cliche at times. That said, the rhythmic content is solid, and I like how you gradually transition to a more rock influence by around 1:30. Keep at it, FlowerBoyDeMii! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
6.5/10

Wild intro. I'd recommend less reverb on that sample synth in the beginning.

I appreciate the strange choices made here. They work together quite well. Less reverb on everything and that would help sincerely with the intelligibility, maybe 30% less in cases where you have held notes.

I appreciate the djent elements. I hear some double tracking here -- the left channel seems to be quieter than the right. Maybe a different amp or more distortion is in order. The drums sound quite loud here but I think that is relative to the somewhat quiet bass.

I quite like this and want to give it more stars for simply being a genre that I like and being very different in general, so I will state now that the score reflected here will be 1 star higher than my actual score for NGUAC. The mix is really the only detractor for me. I think the glitching guitars were a fantastic choice and would have worked very well if not for the synth in the background sounding louder than they themselves, as well as the lack of a supporting centered bass to give them girth.

I think you could still use to differentiate even machine gunned notes with velocity on your kick and snare. Just destroy them with FX however you like. A varied chaos.

In short, I'd like to hear the most dramatic elements of this piece hit above your background pad. Accomplish that however you care to, sidechain, lowering volume strategically, paring down reverb, etc. Transition FX would also be nice.

But otherwise, really enjoyed the piece. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!