Ryan-of-the-Metal's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[[SxE] Spoken]

Bang! Creative!

Really. I wouldn't have ever figured to use a rant for the vocals for a peice of music. This is pretty sweet, since not only does it all meld well together, but the backing track for the music sounds quite substantial, like it can all hold together.

The first three quarters of this song sound good, including all of the parts it sums up to. The guitar tone and track itself aren't anything too advanced, fairly simple. Although, there's that peculiar phaser effect for the lead that makes things a bit interesting.

The intro was really sludgingly slow though. It almost turned me away until I noticed that this submission was a full solid 6 minutes.

Well... Progression is fair and all, the rant and all was a creative, interesting idea. It doesn't exactly sound very music-oriented to follow an exact tempo, but it reminds me of something that the Talking Heads have done in the past.

It's really a rant that I've heard before, but again, put a rythm track to it, cool.

Wait, drums... Drums... They're simple too, but drums are supposed to be, no? I do beleive that they're a program, but everyone else uses them.

I need to admit though, Grayz is correct, make the power of the vocals and the intruments more consistent, that is all.

ArisingFlame responds:

Random idea gone rampant really.

It is obviously not finished. I'm still figuring what to put into the intro to make it move a little more smoothly into the rant. Maybe some more spoken word? I dunno. Working on it.

I kinda did the drums. I don't have the kind of money (Or experience) to play/record live drums, so I worked with what I have. I can't let myself stay with the automated pre-written drumlines though. I gave my touches to it to better fit the song. Hopefully, with time, I can learn to do that a lot better than I do at the current moment. With time comes more understanding, eh?

Thank you so much for this review. It is nice to see someone who takes the time to put actual thought into these things still.

ArisingFlame

[Desert Flare]

Where is this genre?

Honestly, it seems the lovechild of Indian/Middle-Eastern styles and metal is really neglected and really for the most part thrown aside or under the proverbial bus.

Why can't there be more interesting submissions like this? There's only a very strict few other submissions that are similar in genre to this, and that is really dissapointing, since this really can be much further exploered and experinmented with.

Anyways, enough tyraid. The composition of this song is really varied, I like that, it has all of the subtle features that constitute of Middle-Eastern music with an equally enojyably positioned metal section, it's really a subtle track that does a good amount of justice to the Middle-Eastern metal genre.

For those guitars, I honestly can't tell if they're real or not, which is something that's wrong with me, but I can't deny that they sound good and all, everything about this song is substantial and tight, except one thing.

This submission is way too short, I know it's supposed to be a loop. Just, all of the sections feel that they haven't completely lived out to thier possible potential, I have to admit I want more lol.

Actually, I challenge you to make a submission like this but only longer! Oh, the dare! ^_^

S3C responds:

thanks for the good review man, I appreciate it.

i know dude, although i havent ventured the metal section as much as I should, I haven't seen much World-Metal on the portal or even orchestral metal for that matter. I've only seen jrayteam6 combine guitars + orchestras and Middle Eastern influences in his song "Desert Metical". check his music out if you havent already, I think you will like it!

and thanks for grading on how the guitar's actual SOUND, not whether they are played, sampled, or synthesized. its actually the latter, the guitars are entirely made with FL Studio's "Slayer". they're terrible for lead sounds but work alright for chugs and palm muted riffs.

i actually have a longer version of this number. the parts don't transition well and I usually like to just finish and post the complete tracks if the working idea is over two minutes. I might just upload it tomorrow since you were kind enough to review. Thanks again man!

[TheRising-Metaljonus]

There will be uprising.

Since I listened to this. This is really groovy, and heavy too. Usually, I don't hear something heavy like this from you, a possible new style perhaps?

Anyways, I liked basically all the riffs used, the high notes with the strong influence of echo effects leading into the solos after the middle quotient were especially exquisite, being a really interesting contrast.

Of course, I can't neglect the groovy opening riffs. When I started to beleive that they were becoming repetitive, they'd progress, thanks for reading my mind sir lol.

The rythm used too was interesting, I always tend to like something that sounds like the rudiments some sort of lag creation. I say lag, since I don't know the actual terminology, but it's the closest thing I can use to describe.

The bassline sounded nice and rumbly, rich, simple as far as I could discern, but necessarily so, has anyone mentioned that you have serious talent? Lol.

Drums sound strong and flexible to me, can't say much since I have an IQ of -20 when discussing percussion.

I have to admit the middle-section bothered me a slight bit, only since it went on longer than I would have expected, but the rest is really awesome, including those solos.

My MP3 might not know how to handle this.

Metaljonus responds:

Dude, thanks for the wicked review man! YOU are one of the few who get what I go for in my songs at times and god damn it thanks!

[Mercenary.]

Fantastic.

Quite, this submission is really awesome. It sounds similar to the other songs that you have on Newgrounds, but it also has it's own dynamic of difference. The only other song that I like similar to this is Discipline, it does sound similar to that too.

The intro is really cool, and caught my attention, with a low-gain twangy tone that could fit well for a mercenary feel. After I heard the scale used, it also sounded suspiciously similar to the one used in Discipline.

The chords for the rythm track aren't really all to heavy, but the chugging heading into the vocals is really addictive and catchy.

The drums sound and feel solid, with a really firm kick along with some interesting resenous drum fills that seems to hold everything upright just fine, further defining this submission in terms of awesome stature.

Vocals. Really, wow, when I first heard the vocals, I didn't know what to say, the vocals are fantastic, along with the sort of tempo used complimenting the rythm, it's really so much to explain, overall, they're simply top-notch. They have thier own style, Schief style of vocals, sick.

The section after the first solo-esque sequence really sounds awesome, how the chords switch with progression and the drums link, sounding different with the rest of the sections of the song.

I did catch a few recording scrape noises early in the submission, I don't know how that's caused or fixed, but it's really the only flaw, otherwise, pure awesomeness.

Schleif responds:

wow man, awesome review. thanks alot, i really appreciate it. yeah, you covered pretty much everything i spent alot of time with in this song, i'm really glad my work paid off. great review man, thanks again! you kick ass - keep rocking \m/

[Akin (A.C.T)]

I wish I was Akin to this song.

Since it's sick. This song boldly reminds me of Pensive in terms of construction, being the heavy and clean-chordy sections, which the skillful upbringing of these two elements together is the Zephman style.

Start heavy, then convert to airy and clean, which, in my opinion seems to be a formula that works. The guitar tone really has some drive to it, it's definately distorted, but not overly-done, which can definately ruin songs. This is at an appropriate level where you can have a beastly kick of crunch and still get your grind in. ^_^

I honestly could listen to just distorted guitars, but the chords that are used clean wouldn't have the same identity if distorted, which really makes the discarding of the distortion appropriate for a dynamic sound.

A little past 2:00 the first breakdown-esque section doesn't feel completely fitting, but as they progress they feel more and more Akin to the submission. (what is with my puns? >_<)

After the harmonic section, the low-gain, low-tone strumming added another possible element to the song, which fits really well with the chords again. It could just simplt be the same clean section used earlier though.

ZephMan responds:

You must be a Zephmanologist! Thanks for the kind words man. The breakdown part you mentioned at 2:00 is were the hiccup is I'm pretty sure, so that might be why you're thrown off. That is the same riff as the opening if you didn't notice :P.

[Dark Matter Consumption]

My word...

Shadrock's back, hell yea. :D

Classic Shadrock style of combining heavy-heavy-heavy-grindy-scrapey pipe sounding guitar tones with the pianos and a sort of ominous choir to produce something quite epic, here we go again lol.

Double-bass kick, I like the implementation, it's always produced to make someone want to kick another in angst, but that's thier problem. >_>

This all opens out quite well, but as the track progresses... There's some odd panny-techno thing, but it ends quick, then back into those grindy riffs. I usually like the slower songs of yours best, but this is still something to behold in my opinion.

Of this track, I especially liked the middle-quontient, it sounded the most diverse and overall interesting... Not that the rest of the tack isn't though.

Although, don't like how the song suddenly ends though, it felt like getting shoved off a cliff while blindfolded. It also in my opinion felt like it maybe should've taken more time for production to better develop all the parts, but simply my opinion.

Shadrock responds:

All great criticisms and ones I agree with, techno part I'd like to rid of and the ending was actually never finished, there's supposed to be a panning out solo in the end but I haven't gotten around to doing, might update this song in the future though so keep checking back!

[The Something]

Holy sh-t McMuffins...

I'm not sure where to begin with this one, except that it's got this difficult to match sort've sound that's really something to behold, quite something something. (Me and my jokes...)

No, I don't understand the lyrics half the time, but on the same note, that actually might do something good for the overall congeniality of this submission. Even if I can't exactly understand them, they still sound good for improvisation for a lack of a better word, in a good way.

The guitar tone's also a bit creepy, good, but also sounds like it's got some sort of quaint reverb, good stuff. The breaks with the note scraping add another sort of element to the overall sense to the character of the song, which is another good point really.

Not to mention, where the bass emerges in the song is pretty interesting too, I'd like a bit more of that. ;)

The drums seem to break out of rythm sometimes, but it isn't anything too serious in my opinion.

MarkArandjus responds:

Whaaw! Thanks so much, never expected this type of reaction.

Personally I love this song even though it oviously lacks quality, it's from back in the day when we were starting out, stilll earning and keeping it simple, hence only one chord throughout the entire song x)
Thanks again for the in-depth review!

[Falling to pieces/What's Done]

Looks like someone's back.

Definately, it's time to review another one of the kind Mr. Badman's submissions. :O

To begin with, the main riff is somewhat snappy, yet heavily crisp. In other words, I'm just tossing around words that all eventually mean that I like the tone lol.

The vocals in a sense caught me off-guard since it had began lacking hesitation, straight to screaming. I like this since these are the screaming vocals that are actually understandable yet still enraging.

Not to mention that the vocals still seem to carry some emotion with them, especially the prechorus and the chorus. They also seem to hit the right note in my opinion.

Drums and percussion is simply fine, and well, as I don't know too much about them, I don't quite have much to say. >_>

Bad-Man-Incorporated responds:

Haha, thanks dude. I've been working a lot with my tone lately, and pretty satisfied. :D
Also happy you dig the vocal mix up. I'm a little concerned with the meshing of different styles...but I quite like the differences.

Which chorus did you like better?

Fucking glad you dig it thus far\m/ Thanks for the review!

[Far Away From You]

Deadly awesome.

I have to repeat myself, deadly awesome. The piano intro caught me off-guard, but that guitar tone makes up for it in every way.

The vocals are fantastic, with some odd echo effects thrown in especially caught my attention. The overall style and sound reminds me boldy of something of Killswitch Engage.

Overall though, this is another one for my MP3 player and another quality song produced by Bad-Man.

Bad-Man-Incorporated responds:

Super glad you liked it, bro. Thanks for the review!

[Kush-Metaljonus]

I'm at a loss for words

The bass line is incredibly rich, and- screw it, it's sexy lol. The arpeggios used in this tracks are so fitting with the harmonics used, I didn't quite know that music could be this epic. Obviously, it sounds very professional with that Jonus-touch, and the tremolo effects mid-way give a really sweet out-of mind breakdown. I could really go on for pages admiring this track, but aren't I doing that just now? Lol, overall, this song is reall quite mind-blowing... Why name it kush?

Metaljonus responds:

Thanks man! I named the song after my favorite thing in the world and that is some Kush son!