Reviews for Hope

[Neon-Bard]

This is a NGADM review.

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Sorry to hear about your loss PirateCrab, I hope you are doing well. Let this piece stand as a remembrance to your friend.

I will never understand how you continue to create these tracks. Your skill level is almost demonic for goodness sake. As usual, your skill with the guitar is the focal point of the track. Your solo/lead work is just incredible, with portions of the song (1:41, for example) acting as absolute face melting mechanisms. Your break the song down where it needs less tension, and you create havoc with your instruments when the time calls for it. Marvelous execution to be sure! I think my favourite parts were 1:41 and 2:36. I just had to call those two out in particular, because they're so friggin' great!

As others have pointed out, the latter half seems as if it is less polished than the first – but it's still great! The drums seem flat throughout, perhaps due to the overwhelming emphasis on the guitar work. Furthermore, I feel that the cymbal crashes could have been dialed down a bit. Honestly though, despite these small things, this is one solid track.

Keep rockin' PirateCrab! See you next round. :)

Score: 9/10

[headphoamz]

Totally badass.
You always stun me with your amazing riffs! Everything is clean, your mix is very tightly rounded, and your direction here is excellent. I felt it got a bit lacking in energy around 2:20, and I realize this is because your main guitar wasn’t there, but it felt good to take a break and give the rhythm a little go.
The thing is here, I was looking for a melody and something that made the track particularly memorable. Although it’s an excellent song and your shredding is INSANE, I couldn’t remember it afterwards. I would have liked a cleaner ending, too, although I know you went through some struggles during the comp and so I didn’t take off any marks for it.
So very energetic! My favorite part is 1:15, where you sound a little like Opeth with your progression here. Nice transitions, too; you give the song a chance to take a breath and then dive right in again. I’m impressed by all the ways you make the guitar sing afterwards.
I do end up feeling slightly antsy by the percussion here, as you seem to concentrate on the snare often and a constant hi-hat that drills the song. However, it’s necessary to highlight your instruments; just would have liked some variety on the percussion.
Great mix, awesome riffs, well done!

NGADM Round 3 Score: 9

[samulis]

This is a NGADM Round 3 Review.

First, here's a breakdown of your score:
Production: 27.5/30 (Great)
Composition: 27/30 (Great)
Instrumentation: 14/15 (Great)
Originality: 8.5/10 (Above Average)
Interest/Emotion: 13/15 (Great)

Total Score: 90.0/100 or 9/10 or 4.5 stars (Great).

Rubric (w/ rough judge notes and explanation of categories):
http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/draw/c09dc842e3774c0d231d578e6824d132
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The Good:
- Very tight, locked performance!
- Foot-tapping/head-banging galore. There were some great ideas in the track, and a good deal of contrast between elements as well, keeping listener interest (at the expense of confusing the listener at points).
- Production was fairly solid.

The Not-So-Good:
- Overall the track was not as interesting for me as a listener as your previous round's entry. Like Elspeth (headphoamz), I had some trouble remembering the track afterwards.
- Some tighter/cleaner transitions might be nice, as it tends to jump around a bit. Perhaps this is a stylistic or personal choice, but some killer transitions can't hurt regardless of genre.
- One thing that may help make the track more memorable is a more distinct form and a more definitive ending. Forms don't have to be super limiting, but having contrasting sections that are related and transitioned between clearly is enough to create a thread throughout the entire piece.

Keep compos(ed/ing)!
-Samulis