Clean vocals and great riff!

man that riff is huge! you're gonna have to tell me how you got guthrie govan for the solo at the end.

I like the catchy guitar riff at the beginning and the ghostly pads at :08. Really strong vocals as always - love the harsh, almost judgemental tone they have. The lyrics themselves are also really strong, centered around a very versatile metaphor. Is it literally about a human relationship? Or someone’s unhealthy habit (drugs, gambling, etc.)? The lyrics leave all of that ambiguous, which is what I like about them. If there’s one thing I had to critique about the lyrics (or really about their delivery), it’s that the line “you can walk away” didn’t feel like it deserved the weight of 4 full measures every time it’s delivered.

Structurally, the piece is smooth-flowing and arranged well, although the copy-paste of the refrain at 2:32 felt a bit underwhelming. Even harmonizing it a bit more the second time around would be preferable imo. The solo at 2:50 was refreshing, a nice climactic way of hitting the piece home. The mixing is solid, but not perfect. The drums are crisp and loud, but at times the pads sound a bit too front-and-center to cut through when the vocals and guitar are playing simultaneously. Overall, despite my nitpicks, this is a really strong piece, Mischa-head! Love the sound design, progression, vocals, and melodies here. Thanks for coming out to the NGUAC. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
8.75/10

Great FX on that opening guitar, and nice spread. Wide without feeling inorganic. Synth choice is also great.

I have a little bit of gripes on hihat and cymbal eq/FX. The cymbals jump in and out, particularly in the right channel. I would apply more compression or otherwise manually control for slightly less dynamic range on the cymbals. The big crashes are too loud on the right, and the rest are about appropriate. You could also roll off a small amount of highs or alternatively, bring them up BUT turn the cymbal volume down.

I would also prefer a bit of stereo slapback on the hat and a bit more of a far-off feel. In general, the drums are quite up front, while the composition, synths, and vocal performance lend themselves to a bit of bombastic, epic, far off percussion. You might take a reference of something like Opeth, Nightwish, etc. -- particularly Nightwish, and see if you can experiment with emulating that balance.

I'd also like a louder and less dynamic master. The peaks of the waveform make for a lot of dynamic jumping around, particularly on heavy percussion sections with a lot of drive. The kick stands out well, perhaps a bit too well, as it sounds to be the lead instrument at 1:20 or so. The bass could stand to come up on larger sections and give some more fullness here. If you were to manage the kick and cymbals, you could probably afford to push the master harder.

Overall, you are improving by leaps and bounds each time I hear you. Wonderful vocal delivery, strong songwriting, and playing that is tight and controlled. Great work!

The title of the song got me intrigued before I even opened the track to listen to it. Then from the first second, the cleanness of the mix drew me in immediately. The mix in general is really balanced and sounds very professional. The vocals feel very close to me and makes my ears stand to attention, which complements the genre and the lyrics perfectly. Speaking of which, you're clearly a very impressive lyric-writer. The vocals were also really impressive too! Such a badass guitar solo. A very solid track and I think you'll do well in the NGUAC. Regardless, I shall still wish you the best of luck :)