I like the strings at the beginning. The choir sample wasn’t my favorite, and there may have been a tad too much reverb in the texture at times. That said, the melodic content is beautiful here, and the entire piece has a distinct emotional quality about it. The transition at 1:06 was a little sudden, but works well in the cinematic context of the piece, and also gives the piece a pleasant amount of structural contrast. The subtle vocals at around the 2-minute mark really serve the emotional appeal of the piece well, and the warm sound of the texture is really nice during this middle section. When the texture gets a bit thicker at around 2:42, you really hit this piece home. The echo/delay effects on the percussion were a little much imo, but overall the sound design, atmosphere, and melodies here are all really strong. The minimal piano outro fits the piece really well, too. Nice work overall, Papkee! All of my gripes are minor with this one. :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
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
9.25/10

An absolutely inspiring journey through sound! Definitely one of my top 5 favorites in the audition round so far. The composition for this song is really what got me to stop scoring and leave a review as its a balance of striking melodies and a pace that makes the track feel like a living organism. From 1:10 all the way to the end literally made me stand up and hold my headphones up to my ears.

I'll have to be more critical next round but for now all I want to note is that the intro is a bit abrupt, if it would of been longer a more progressive build, starting much quieter (like the middle of your track) I feel like it would of fit the rest of the song a bit better. also your bass rumbles seem to be clipping somehow at 1:24 as well as in other parts in the song. At first I thought it might of been due to the newgrounds waveform but after downloading it I notices it still in the record.

Thumbs up from me buddy! Good luck in the NewGrounds Audio DeathMatch!