I like the smooth piano at the beginning. It really contrasts with that gritty synth bass, which I’m not sure I like at first, but the piece comes together quite well by :11. The melodic content here is really nice, and the sound design really reminds me of a retro animated action hero show or something. One thing that could be a bit smoother in this piece is the sudden mood change at around 30 seconds in. Maybe it’s meant to follow the arc of a story, but the sudden ominous mood at :35 and the different instruments present a jarring contrast to the beginning that might feel smoother with more of a gradual transition there. The melody at 1:22 served as a good transition back into the blissful refrain, though. I also like how you stacked up the notes of the chords in succession at the end. That painted a vivid picture in my mind of the clan of protagonists putting their hands into the middle of a table in a “go team!” kind of gesture. Anyway, mixing-wise things are pretty strong as well, although sometimes I wanted the drums to be a bit more prominent. Overall, this is a really strong piece with a lot of cool thematic content and variety. The pacing is a little on the fast side, but I commend you for covering a lot of compositional ground in a short 2.5 minutes, with good mixing and sound design to boot. Keep up the good work, aRho! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
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
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9/10

Nice beats! Nice melodies!This would be perfect for a RPG or a theme song, like you said.

Heyo, I don't really do anything on newgrounds but this was really amazing! I love the style and how the the intensity builds and then that rumbling that happens after like 20 seconds. My god what a gem.
I used it in a game jam and credited you :)
Message me if you wanna try it, I doubt I'm allowed to link it here.