*This is an official NGUAC 2017 review *
It HAS been a bit of time since I first listened to this, so I hope I can remember why I gave the scores I did haha. Regardless, this is really great, generally speaking. On to specifics...
Mixing, mastering and production: I only have one real criticism in the production side of things, and that's that 90% of the instruments are pretty obviously virtual. You've done great EQing, reverb and mastering on all of them but to someone who works with lots of vsts I can still tell, and that takes me a bit out of the piece. Granted, I think most people wouldn't be able to tell. There's no easy way out here, as the solution is actually recording all of those instruments live.
All I can say is that when I'm judging a piece and there are instruments that are intended to be real - such as most orchestral instruments - but are not, I can't bring myself to give a perfect 10.
Otherwise, everything is great!
Composition: Great use of instruments, really solid chords and textures. I docked a few points in the atmosphere and originality sections for - surprise, surprise - the use of lots of virtual instruments that would be better off live. I hate to seem like a stickler on this account but it's something that's very important for me in terms of being as authentic as possible as a musician. That's one of the risks of writing music that demands a great deal of material cost. A rock band doesn't have the same production issues an orchestra does because it involves about 60 less people (not to mention hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars less equipment). So unless I'm fully convinced there's an orchestra actually playing, I can't fully emotionally commit.
Adding the guitar in at 1:48 is a refreshing move. The way you did it was a good way to work guitar in on a client request.
I don't have too much bad to say about this (despite this feeling like a particularly negative review, sorry)! You have a great sense of musicality. Looking forward to what you bring to the table for the knockout round.