I like the dark, frantic riffs at the beginning. I thought you could’ve done more to transition more smoothly into :08, but that’s a small detail. The progression here is interesting. I love a lot of these rhythmic guitar riffs, but the piece loses a sense of direction a bit after you repeat several of these riffs over again a second time. Then, there’s occasionally some new content, such as at 1:37. It’s not really clear to me how you’re trying to channel the energy of this track, though. Some parts of it seem climactic, but I don’t really get a strong sense of melody until just after the 2-minute mark, and even then you don’t do a lot with the rhythm. 2:54 sounds like a completely different chorus section entirely, and at this point I’m really confused about the structure of the piece. 3:24 served as a great breakdown for some structural relief, but it also seemed to change the character of the piece a lot, and 3:54 continued this theme by being both more upbeat, melodic, and rhythmically varied. You then return to the somewhat robotic, apprehensive vibes of the first half of the piece at 4:38. However, the piece has little sense of conclusivity, and the ending seems rather hastily made. Maybe I’m focusing a bit too much on the structure here, though. The mixing and mastering are both very solid. The kick is a little weak for my tastes, but perhaps a strong kick is a taboo in heavy metal. I enjoyed the instrumentation. You especially used the soundscape well during the breakdown (3:24). That section had a dreamy quality that helped really reform this piece. That said, I would caution you about changing moods too suddenly. This is where some phrasing could really help you out. Instead of a curvaceous, gradual build to the emotion, you seem to prefer to increase or decrease the energy with small stepwise intervals every 4 bars, which I might caution against. It’s pretty catchy, although I think you could’ve done more to maximize the structural contrast here in order to emphasize the drama of the “busy” sections (again: played more with dynamics, phrasing, etc.). If anything, it’s a little too busy and over-stimulating at times. The highly unconventional structure makes it hard for me to stay grounded as a listener. Overall, this is pretty solid work. I appreciate that you took some risks here with the progression, but I’m not sure they paid off for me. Sorry. Keep at it, man. ;)
7.75/10
JDawg00100 
