I like the furtive and eerie mood at the beginning and the variety in the sound design. By :37, the synth riffs are seriously catchy, and the orchestral elements really help fill in the atmosphere around them. The drums get a little lost in the mix, but there’s great sense of build into 1:10, and the watery sound effects at 1:30 are a nice touch. Love the return of the creepy ascending line at 1:44 too. It seems 2:10 is another place where the drums would have benefited from some more compression, and the equalization on the other instruments probably should have been a bit stricter. That said, the rich texture and engrossing atmosphere by 2:30 or so is great, and the glissandos on that one synth lead really help hit the piece home. At first, 3:04 almost sounded like the start of a different piece to me, but it also adds a fitting air of mystery and whimsy to the content that came before it, like the ruins of the tower are slowly being overtaken by nature. Really cool piece overall, Irish-Soul! Focusing on tightening up the mix is a good next step for this, but the composition has a great sense of storytelling here, and the sound design is really effective at telling it. Keep it up! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
8.75/10

(disclaimer: AIM judge review here! these are just my opinions and thoughts, you can take from them whatever you like! music is subjective and all that. <3)

this tune paints the picture of an industrial landscape quite well - great choices of sounds, from the arpeggiated synths to the booming percussion to the strings and their open reverbs which create a full soundscape. when the piece changes up along the way, i feel like i am looking at different parts of the artwork you chose; there's so many compartments, so many facets to the image, really an immense level of detail. having a bit of all that in the song is a cool, sensible choice, and overall it manages to stay fairly cohesive in the process. the transition halfway through is a bit abrupt, and it seems like you added the arpeggios back in rather quickly to try and smooth it over, but i actually feel like it would've been nicer for the string pads to just have their breathing room and let the arps come back later (as they do anyway). also, there's so many great ideas in here that i feel like individually they could've all had a little more time in the sun! this could easily be a 5 minute piece with a bit more iteration on the many sections; not that it really suffers as it is, but there could for sure be more vibing before moving on...!

Sounds like shits getting real

AIM 2023 Judge Review

There's a lot of complexity in the art you've chosen, from the intricate details to the lighting. The top portion of the art suggests steampunk, but the bottom portion seems more sci-fi, and I think you managed to evoke these elements in your entry in a way that is cohesive and not just two styles sitting incidentally next to one another. As the track progresses, it feels like we're panning over a close-up of the image - I feel like top-to-bottom is what I picture because of the gradual lighting from the top. It's a very concise entry and I sense a lot of these subtle complexities in spite of a straightforward melody.

One small nitpick that I'm not sure was intentional or not - it seems like the softer instrument playing those arps at 1:08 has some clashing notes. I'm not sure if a note was forgotten to be deleted (considering the repeat of this pattern does not have this issue), but it happens pretty quickly so it really only became noticeable after a few repeat listens.

I think what helps this entry flow so well is the way the melody recurs throughout the piece. Even then, there's a lot of time taken in between to help build up the atmosphere, especially leading up to that reiteration at 2:34 which seems to play in a different mode from the first time we hear that main melody. I also love the slowing down of the tempo in the outro where the melody repeats one last time with those gentle keys. The decision to use a lot of plunky instruments and detached notes really helped to always give this entry a sense of the machinery. It's almost a deceptively simple entry that only shows its details after repeat listens and I feel like that does speak to the way the art inspiration shows itself in more detail upon zooming in and lingering at different angles.

Amazing track that really fits the art