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

[We Hate Tuesdays]

Well.

You may go read my review of Bad-Man's version of 'I Hate Tuesdays' but I do believe that there should be an alternate review for you, my good, sadistic sir.

This will probably be one of my shorter reviews since all of the instruments are Bad-Man's, therefore, you're probably not banking on me to review them, instead, I know you want me to talk about singing and lyrics, which I shall.

I like how you kept some of Bad-Man in this, so it's like 'Featuring Schleif' but only more badarse. And also with more hate agains Tuesday. If I may make a little comment, I was one of the beginners with the war against the plauge known as Tuesdays lol.

Well, anway, your voice is rash, and ferocious as usual, I'm glad you didn't dissapoint! Early in the song, I like how you accented Bad-Man by vocalizing as an echo.

Also, you did pretty dang well keeping up with the rythm of Bad-Man's vocals for this song, which, in my opinon, was pretty difficult, considering he had a pretty difficult act to follow this time around. Your panning is always awesome and never boring to listen to.

There were a FEW times you were off-sync, but I don't mind. \m/

Schleif responds:

i was off-sync a couple of times, indeed. but i didn't bother to record it again. glad you liked it dude, thanks alot for giving me another badass review! keep rocking \m/

[I Hate Tuesdays Motherfuckers]

I agree, Tuesdays suck.

Except that, I have my lessons on Tuesdays, that's really just about it. I'm guessing that your Tuesday this week must've just been horendous, sorry dude. But, hey, at least your suckish Tuesday spawned something productive, like this song, right?

Well, you really kicked your guitar in the arse today, you really ripped out some punching riffs, I'd say I'm proud, but I really never contributed to your riffs lol, so nevermind that. I can't tell exactly what they are, if they're death, thrash, or what, but all's I know is that they're heavily in your face, PISSED about Tuesday.

And then we have those harmonics too, at least you never neglected those, but some of this reminds me of Dimora's challenge to make a song that somehow didn't care. You seemed to capture an essence like this, not only for the guitar tracks, but also for the others too.

It feels like you want to lash out getting to the Tuesday causing all the problems, but there's crowds restraining you, but when this song plays, you can just toss them all aside. But, hey, that's more of an opinion.

I can't exacly hear that bass in there, but it does decide to peak out in some parts. I think maybe I don't hear it since it's actually melding really well with the rythm guitar to make that earth-moving, trembling tone? I think so.

Those drums are Bad-Man standard, really ferocious kick, but everything else just moves at just about normal speed, but again, I don't hear quite any fills here, but that's fine, since Bad-Man's so cool, that he doesn't even need fills to make his songs have all that impact. XD

Well, here's probably the most tense part, the vocals. I wasn't sure of the intro when I heard it, but I knew to give you some time, and then you got some fricking NUTSO screaming/shouting going on here, which is what I commend in regards for vocals in metal.

I'm concerned about the part after you are done speaking elligeble lyrics, since I have no idea what you're saying. O_o Actually nevermind, there's plenty more people that need more therapy than you my good man. I think I should play this song whenever I'm having a bad Tuesday. \m/ Remember, eff Tuesdays.

Bad-Man-Incorporated responds:

Dude, you made my Tuesday. <3

[TMW - Redemption]

How about that?

I remember you Fanatical specifically for the songs you've uploaded that made me feel very peculiar. Your fretwork had a very particular way of presenting notse to stir the deepest, profound and strangest sense of emotions that I've experienced from most songs.

Here... I don't know, you seemed to really ease off of it a bit. Now don't get me wrong, I don't hate all of your music from this point on, maybe I'll change my opinion of it if you bring up some different stuff.

This song is cool, but it lacks most of the effect I've heard of your music.

Well, otherwise, very soon after the half-way mark, I sort've hear what I expected of FanaticalProductions, but just not really enough.

Funny, you seem to still be using either a similar, or the same drum kit since a couple albums ago. I think that there were some other songs that had some really cool fills in it that I'm not really getting here.

Meh, I don't know, maybe I'm over analyzing it, but at least the leads were pretty cool regardless, and some of those rythm riffs hit a couple spots.

At least I liked how it looped.

FanaticalProductions responds:

Sorry for the confusion, but I'm not uploading my discography to newgrounds in any particular order. Here's the order of all the albums I've made so far (by release date):

1999 - Fragging Fanatical
2000 - Delicate Balance
2000 - Doom Tc Music
2001 - Catherine
2001 - Limits
2002 - Inner Realm
2003 - Distraction
2003 - One Voice
2003 - Raretracks
2003 - The Next Ruler
2004 - Cube
2005 - 7 Bad Days
2005 - Complexities
2005 - Doleo
2005 - Thick
2006 - Foreverhood
2006 - Lost In This World
2006 - Phobia
2006 - Random Tracks
2006 - Raretracks 2
2006 - RTC-3057
2006 - Sauer Anger
2006 - Sleep Apena
2006 - Stream of Consciousness
2006 - Tidbits
2006 - Two Minute Warning
2007 - Cognizant Dreaming
2007 - Panexypnos Dimiourgia
2008 - Odius
2008 - Spontanious Failure

Some of these I obviously have yet to upload.

Hopefully it all makes more sense now!

I'm putting this all in a blog post so others can see it too.

[Face This Doom (Metal)]

Don't you just love boredom?

Really, I don't exactly understand why, but it just spawns some of the most awesome stuff sometimes. I've made music to interrupt my boredom, but it's nothing compared to what you're got. :P

Looks like you really turned up the dial for heavy here. D0000d, you've got some fairly br00tal stuff here, I'm not going to lie. I liked the initial death chord progression in a whole buch of ways.

And I noticed soemthing else from that intro, you've got some interesting drums, the likes of which I don't think I've heard before. I don't mean the really pounding kick, but that cymbal assembly, it sounds really different compared to what I've previously heard, I likes it.

Alright, those riffs are pretty nuts too. I just love the chunkiness of them, they've got alot of body and thickness to them, and the leas has a complimentary, airy, hollowness to it that seems to envelope the rythm nicely! Wow, that's a new standard of description for me lol.

I loved the entire song, but the keyboard break was really wierd. It completely and utterly caught me off guard. It's kind've like what Wahnsinn might do in a sense. Make it jazzy.

And when it progresses on with the lead, that was certain to send me to my doom. Anyway, forsome reason the way you ended the song made me laugh. Don't expect me to explain myself, since I really don't know why I did, but oh well.

By the way, you might want to trim the huge block of empty space at the end, and that's that, bye!

Ritz190 responds:

Ah Ryan! you and your kick ass reviews! haha yea....i have no idea where this song came from but i liked it when i finished it. yea i didn't expect the long pause at the end, i'll fix that. but with every song, i always have a melodic part. i listen to In Flames too much. i love melodic parts in songs. i was going for a Doom metal type song, but eh it evolved from that to Doom-melodic-death-something. lol but eh...it is what it is. thanks for the review man!

[Body Count]

This is fury incarnate

Really, Schlief. I don't know what sort of hole you've crawled out of this time, but you're back again with still more fury on your mind. Your really are an endless fountain of angst and fury, but I suppose that's a quintessential element for your music. I must admit, all I can do is shrug.

So I like this submission, I'll say this now, and I think I will mention it a few more times in this submission, but what the hell.

Let's begin with that intro, and be a bit chronological. I didn't really expect a very percussion-laden intro to be honest. It's not really what I expect from you. Now, I'm not saying that's a bad thing at all, I'd say that it's a good thing to keep your fans on thier toes, not sure what to expect next.

But with those guitar riffs... I realize that some of your latest songs, you've really improved on your riff complexity, making your songs sound just that much more awesome, with more and more facets of epicness. I can tell that the lead gives alot of identity to this song.

The song has a really cool solo too that I just rocked to it so easily, the solo is good enough that I could have been by itself easily. Then you kick me with an unexpected second part. Although, your songs are difficult to categorize with specific sections, they're all good enough to make thier own songs almost.

In the song, you get to the lighter parts that really sound pleasant and melodic, but then it spins you right back around with more chugs and heavy parts!

For those drums and bass, they vary nicely and swiftly meld into the song well. The drums do all sorts of intersting things, with the ska-sounding stuff, they can easily just swap to crushing fills. I never mentioned that you put some interesting parts on those drums towards the end of the song that I really can't figure out myself.

I really think you have alot of variety here, you took progression really far in this song, your lyrics reflect that too. I suppose you really like to be dynamic with your lyrics, having them constantly evolve, which is just siiiiiiccck in my opinion.

You know, moving onto the vocals, they're really just plain great. 'Dying to live' onto 'Body count' sections have so much power on the vocals, it's really impressive, sir. Although, you really don't shy away from the graphic vocals too, man. Shoot. I don't know what influences you to talk about so much violence and death. If I didn't know youy any better, I would have thought you were deeply indulged in the military skinning your enemy!

Don't ever quit. \m/

P.S. I could also use some constructive criticism!

Schleif responds:

first of all - i really can't thank you enough for this awesome review man! your reviews are fucking amazing! yeah, as you noticed i put quite a lot of effort in this song and i'm really glad to hear that it pays off! don't worry man, i won't quit - especially not with people like you around - you kick fucking ass, thanks again! i need to check your stuff out. keep rocking bro \m/

[The Ritz - It's My Destiny]

I don't care about your opinion

Joking lol, I only said that since I wanted to force my opinion of the guitars. Since I think they're SUPER sexy. Really, I like the assembly of everything here, what's not to like? I first got into this song all uninterested, thinking 'Oh, an artist I don't know about, what a bore.' And look, I just got my arse whooped by someone I don't know.

Thanks!

Now for some reviewing, first those guitars you mentioned. I like them. I really don't have a substantial point of reference, since I have never heard anything of yours previous to this, so I'm going by what I've got here. You made some progress if this is improved. Since the tone and everything is solid! It's just a slight bit fuzzy/overdriven for my taste. Maybe if I was doing this song, I'd include another rhythm track, but clean, but meh, I really don't know. What I do know is that this is good so far.

Also, the main riff sounds like something I've come up with once before. It also copes well with the signatures of the percussion too. I believe they're on eighth notes, but what the hell. The main riff also gives me the impression that it was something indie, but tuned down and meated up for metal, but again, silly Ryan's opinions.

I mentioned those drums earlier. If I didn't like them so much, then I'd hate them. But since I like the drums so much, I can't hate them. Like the thump of the bass and the duller snap of the snare. It's not too in the way, which I enjoyed. Again with silly opinions, I would try to somehow to pan the cymbals more into the respective ears. Although, some programs can't do that, so I won't harp on it.

That flutter effect was just plain weird and random lol.

I know I'm being anal about details and all, but I freakn' loved the break. It took me for surprise, and since I liked it so much, I think I may have gotten some ideas for my music production, myself. I wouldn't call it early if there were a few more parts and all, but it occurs in the first third of the song. Although, it goes into the third fifth of the song, so I can't arrive at a conclusion.

I liked the distant feel of the lead and the assembly of the cymbals in that break. They made me feel good. :P

I didn't recognize any bass guitar, and that's really about it. Go make more sexy guitar tones and breaks, lol.

Ritz190 responds:

whoaaa! that is one kick ass review! lol to be honest, everything was intentional except the flutter effect. that caught me by surprise as well. yea the tone is great and i know hat you mean by the fuzzy guitar since i didn't do any mixing. i wanted a raw feel to the song...the program i use is pretty simple...my style has improved alot thanks for checkin it out! lol! i decided to go more of a punk/melodic metal type mix. thus the guitar hitting right on the percussion. and there was no bass. i wanna get a bass guitar so i can put them in my songs...but as you know, musicians are broke most of the time. lol. the guitar may have too much distortion, but for some reason i like it that way. but hey man this review made my day thanks for listening! XD

[NWIP-Metaljonus]

This was ghetto

That's what I thought at first, anyway, but hell, I think I like this track anyway. It's pretty groovy, but not quite as complex as previous submissions, but hey, they all can't be golden goblets encrusted with rubies, can they? Maybe they can?

Transition! I'm getting this out of the way; my initial dislikes from this submission aren't all too strong or bold. I didn't really like the intro very much. Also, I think there could have been a few more things to be done for the depth and dynamics of the EQ of the tracks, like your other songs, but that's more of an opinionated suggestion though. Not too brutal?

Okay, done with that. I really kicked it off with that heavy groove portion after the intro, it took me for a bit of a joyride. Especially the meat to the chug, the cymbal assembly just complimented it well too, I don't think I can explain why, they just sounded good to me. >_> The accompanying licks also fit well too. Actually, it has a very Metaljonus sound to it.

Why wouldn't it though? Lol. It sounded very similar to other songs of yours.
The break I was sort've expecting, but not the execution into the interlude.

I MUST say, the interlude through the half-way benchmark of the song took me for a bit of a surprise, it really changed the melody of the song, and then just as quickly, threw the direction around in a whole bunch of ways. I may not say beautiful things about the intro, but this was worth its weight to listen to, just to hear an idea like that for an interlude, if using correct terminology, the re-introduction of the lead was really sick, lovely. Rip through some solos again, and then return right back into the main melody, that's pretty cool. I admit that.

7 ½ minutes... Cool, try making something 11 ¾ minutes long, lol, I really shouldn't even say that, you really could and would, so don't worry about it. It's good to hear new things from the esteemed Jonus of metal. I mean, Metaljonus.

Metaljonus responds:

god damn it i love you! lol

[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!!

[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!