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

[Shadow In The Dark]

Shadow + dark = reduntant? Lol.

This song is so 80's influenced lol. Not that's a bad thing, just it's been a while since I've heard something like this. For a moment it briefly reminded me of the movie 'Cobra' starring Sylvester Stalone.

Let's begin with the bass. It's cool to have a bass solo kick off a song, especially since bass usuage like that is rarely implemented in modern music anymore. It's also pretty funky too, which helps project an 80's vibe nicely. I also like the bassline towards the end of the song too.

What projects that vibe better is that synth. I must admit, it's pretty corny, but also appropriate for something to sound 80's, suppose.

That lead that comes in after the first half of the song has some nice distortion on it, I must admit. It's well-suited to be a lead, except it sounds off-in the distance, almost as if the microphone recording the amp, provided if one was used, was a bit too far away. I'd simply bring it closer if that method was used, increase the volume a smidge, or give it a bit more punch/power.
Although, the lead kind've wimps out towards the middle of the solo, but the end was fine though.

I think those drums are just as a couple decades ago as everything I already mentioned, they sound like they're programmed, which may not be a terrible thing, just the cymbals sound pretty shallow or weak.

Overall, I'm finely glad that this was shown to me, just, if only it was longer than approximately 2 minutes. >_>

[The Rot (Bad Man Incorporated)]

>string of censored words<

This is really quite something you've got here. It makes me glad that I got involved in your music back when you submitted 'Remember the Killings'.

These vocals are just flat out heavy and just overwhelming really. As mentioned earlier by Xeno, these lyrics are really powerful, moving in a dark, sullen way. The singing from the choruses is emotionally moving, as sought by Bad-Man; this seems a formula to really be effective.

Feeling always are evoked and stirred with topic like these, especially waiting too. Man, I've listened to this submissions alot today.

I've never really listened and actually enjoyed lyrics quite like this until now. Leave it to Bad-Man to expand horizons. Although, towards the ending half of the song, I think I would have liked to do something more to add more sections of lyrics, but knowing you, they were probably deliberate.

I still like that guitar tone, it feels raw and guttural, as I'd expect. Along the choruses, the lick used gives that section some added punch in terms of power and effect. Really, that's well done in my opinion. Although, after some mulling, I it sounds like there's only one guitar track some times, but that shouldn't be the case. -_- I guess it must be me, since there should be a lead and rhythm in there, sensibly.

Although, the guitar track(s) are EQ'd to completely fill the headphones, which I still enjoy too, sir.

Wait, now... What did I mention in previous submissions? Something about the phrase 'deadly awesome'? Well, apply that to the kick on those drums. The only thing I'd suggest for those suckers is maybe to add more fills, but that's another one of my opinions.

I'll try not to fall apart from the sick details of this song, thank you Bad-Man.

Bad-Man-Incorporated responds:

Thanks dude for the smokin review! To answer some of your thoughts, the way I record my guitars. This is actually four tracks, two different tones. I have one really crisp distorted tone, that I pan all the way left and right. I have a bit muddier and ballsier tone that is panned 60 L/R. I re record all the tracks, then eq them under the same setting. The crisp tone allows the articulation in the riffs to be heard, the second tone BALLS them up!

There are NO DRUM fills at all. haha. I did that on purpose. This was a test in my transition playing, and also gives a neat feel to a track. The fills portent a transition. I wanted to see if I could make a song that could sound "fluid" as far as transitions are concerned, but have NO fills. I do have a version with fills and such, but it took away from everything else. I did use the kick drum to compliment the rhythm of the guitar here and there.

I didn't use any leads either. I hemmed and hawed over that decision for a day or so. In the end, it just turned out that I didn't possess the lead or solo skills to compliment this style of song. So I didn't leave ANY sections for leads, except the outro riff. (which is also the verse riffs.)So if you wanna muck around soloing over that part, feel free. :)
And I don't usually put leads where vocals are. Too much for the listener to decipher.

All and all, super glad that you dug the song and left such an awesome review. I have more shit coming, with the album and here! Thanks again dude. I promise once I catch up on all my shit today, I'll come pop some reviews on your tunes!!

[Wake up to Reality]

I want to quickly remind you of something

Guess what it is? If you guessed that I was going to point out your awesome style and ability to create awesome original music, then I suppose you'd basically be right, lol.

I haven't seen much of your work lately, but now we've got this nice and shiny, chrome adorned piece here from your new album. If I was to digress for a few lines, I must say, that this would be pretty awesome to way to begin an album. Especially with a song like this.

There really seems to be a lack of restrictions here, Xeno, you just keep producing some of the best songs on the Audio Portal. That is, if you want to count every single other artist too, you'd still definitely be up there.

Alright, this main riff has really been jarred into my head for the short period of time that I've been listening to it. The lead riff after the bass drone of the intro really is what defined the song for me. In my personal opinion, I can somewhat sense a bit of influence of fellow Newgrounders in that riff.

So really, what else should I say now? I really like the gallop of the rhythm, the melding of the drums' beat along with it? The fact that I can hear the bass? The nice equalization? Really now, I don't want to run out of things, but I have to, then I guess I will, won't I? :o

This is just overall pure awesome, if only you could've made some money off of this...

Anyways, it'd be interesting if I wrote lyrics to this lol. I can't sing, but I do write. Although, actually, I don't want to possibly ruin a song like this.

[Saint Heavy]

Promising

Alright, we've got some really sludgy, collapsing, rich metal here.

The intro was appropriately heavy and really enjoyable, except for that section of buzz, it took away from the quality, but I've heard that it is possible to mute sections that have no instruments playing to eliminate buzz like that.

Well, guitar tone, as I've mentioned is good and heavy, kind of like a slow deadly something. This also sounds a bit grungey as well, which blends well with metal if I may add.

The bass was actually really loud compared to the other instruments, but strangely, none of the other tracks seemed to suffer, that is except the main guitar track in certain spots.

Before I move on to the conflict of the two, for the drums, the kick seemed appropriate, but the snare seems to bother me slightly, I can't place my finger on why, maybe it's me, but something doesn't seem quite right, but the fills are enjoyable though.

Alright, it seems that the bass and guitar seem to conflict with another during their shared sustains. Anyway, it seems that way, but in certain other sustains it doesn't seem to be a major problem. There are other parts too, where they both seem slightly out of proper rhythm.

The main problem spots are shortly after 00:45, the beginning of the solo, 00:59, of which I wanted to like that section as much as I could, but I can only go so far. Also, slightly at 1:19, but it's minimal.

Also, the song is only two minutes long, but what can you do?

Alright, so if you survived my nit-picking, then you'll learn that I actually really like that solo. It sounds something similar to what Jerry Cantrel from Alice in Chains would consider concocting.

Last but not least, I don't point out every flaw because it's fun, or because I don't like the submission, but I honestly think that you can derive some more awesome from something like this slow-deadly song here!

GraniteOverworld responds:

First off, thanks a lot for the input, man. I very rarely get this kind of creative criticism.

Alright, so I can address a few of the problems now.

The Drums: I didn't use a real kit when I made this. I program most of my drum beats using a program called Acoustica Beatcraft. Sadly, the kits in this program are very limited and not of the highest quality. I plan to upgrade soon.

The Guitar and Bass: Yeah, with the bass, I often tried to improvise extensions of the riff as I went, so it was mostly hit and miss for me. I neglected to record more than one take for the bass track, but when I extend the song, I'll actually plan the extensions ahead of time.

Again, thanks a lot for the support. Really helps me get along.

[-=Stratosphere=-]

A few things of mentioning.

Alright! More Shadrock epicness ensues! May I add, there is actually something acoustic here finally, I was always curious of what was capable if there was something acoustically done by yourself, and really, this gave me the rudiments of an answer lol.

It was a promising answer, but I think the acoustic section needed some more definition and presence since it seemed really light, unless that was the intended sound for that section, then that is perfectly appropriate. I'm also including that the acoustic was nicely played. :)

As this track progresses, after the choir intro when the drums pick up, the song takes a nice slick jazzy feel, which I may add seems like the appropriate sub-genre whilst doing metal, especially with the tone of the bass, returning ominous choir and piano and all.

After the metalized section picked up, the submission conformed to Shadrock standard, which it seems pretty groovy at that, I've dawned upon an enjoyment of some of the ambient and piano sections in metal submissions. Concerning that I'm a bit picky when it comes to those, I must say that you've got a pattern down that works, sir.

Although! Never leave the heavy out, I appreciate that too much! \m/

Interesting violin break, of which, there's plenty of breaks which is very useful for listeners to remain occupied with the music and not become bored easily, good show, I must also mention that this behemoth is really 9 minutes long? Really? I don't know if epic goes further than that lol, I know that there is longer out there, but I mean, wow.

Another aspect of this I like is the weird panning bass whisper I heard at the end, something new and interesting, check it.

A note I must make is the fact that all of your submissions lately are undeniably quiet, I sometimes have to dime out every single audio slider in order for me to hear everything nicely, I won't deduct for that, but PLEASE increase the volume for the imminent moshing!

Shadrock responds:

Wow I love your reviews lol, thanks so much for the criticisms, I take them seriously so please listen for improvements in my future efforts!

[Diclonius - Sasha Tarquin]

Stunning.

I really didn't have enough of an appreciation of symphonic metal, until I came across this song a while ago, but thanks to my sheer laziness, I never reviewed this submission, why Ryan?

Anyway, as I mentioned, this is really quite a beholding peice of symphonic metal. Of which, I especially appreciate the projection of the symphony, being, that they aren't completely drowned out in the percussion, or even the guitars for that fact too.

Speaking of guitars, in my opinion, that rythm has some strangely ungodly awesome-sounding tone, I really need to know how you can get that distortion to actually sound like that. I enjoyed the lead thoroughly too, especially it's implementation.

Drums really seem to fit a niche that one is unable to complain with, but at the same exact time, seems like there should be something done to inprove them somehow, I personally am not sure what though, maybe volume.

Now, for vocals, I love the fact that vocals are clean, it melds well with really everything, the female vocalist has an admirable voice for singing harmony, I believe? Honestly though, as much as the vocals impressed me, maybe there could be work done to improve your ability for proper sustain, but honestly I can't even do that myself, the hypocrite that I am. >_>

Well, foreward, this is really an emotional track, that made me feel very moved as I listened to it, you heard me, I really appreciate this track, but what are the Diclonius anyway?

Regardless, do more symphonic metal please.

[Nirvana Gate]

Melodic awesome.

BERSERKYD at his best, cranking melodic metal, rocking to his last breath! Well, I'm glad that I've come across something new of yours, oddly I haven't been paying enough attention to your submissions, maybe I've been missing out. D:

Looks like we've gone along a bit more of a heavier road here, nice job. I always found that previous submissions weren't really heavy enough, and they reminded me of something more punk-influenced.

And now, we still have the same dynamic variations but heavier, excellent.

And one can assume that from this point on I'm simply going to discuss good qualities of this song, and yes, this is true.

Guitar tones seem to fit well into a melodic, punk-influenced genre of metal, not really to different from anything I've heard, but fitting regardless.

Percussion really draws plenty from the cymbals, fantastic, it also adds another edge to the changes that make a track like this different.

One question, what about vocals? Difficult question, I know, it seems that all of the instrumental tracks are too complex for vocals, maybe, but they're kicking arse anyway.

BERSERKYD responds:

Nice review ! You got it right ! That kinda pump mu up ! hehe

I know that I dont have vocal, its kinda hard to make this in my small appartement. because I'll disturbed everyone around. And I prefer put my energy to get a better melody everytime I do something new! Like getting this punk metal mixe like you said. Cool if like it !

Thanks man \m/,

[Captive In Sleep]

Epic cavern metal?

I kid, but that's what this is reminding me of, something that takes the notion of a sort of sci-fi metal and runs with it excluding being space metal. Actually, scratch that a bit, maybe it could. :)

I like the sheer deliciousness, depth and atmosphere of this track, it's really involving to the listener. In my opinion this is a fantastic setup that you have tweaked up here. Everything sounds balanced and righteous.

I like the guitar tone, it's exactly suitable for this reach of genre. Nice and grindy, chugging all fine too.

Drums are snappy, and definately up to par, I especially like the snare, nice!

The choir assembly also has benefited from this setup here, fantastic, it sounds really cavernous, mysterious, echo-influenced, all around deliciousness.

I must make note though that this is the first submission that I've heard of yours, so therefore I don't have a point of reference in terms of prior submissions to compare to, but this is alread suitable enough.

[[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!