Back-From-Purgatory's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Nice to Meet You Here]

NGADM 2 and stuff.

It's a shame you couldn't finish this, because most of this sounds really good. I was really impressed by the beginning, it was very well composed and nearly gave me shivers.
Unfortunately, after the first 40 seconds or so, it went downhill. The instruments felt like they were badly humanized and timed, and while the piano section sounds great on its own, it felt really out of place in comparison to the rest of the song, as everything else just sort of stops when the piano starts. And the last section... well, you said it yourself, it just sounds ugly.

I'd love to hear a reworked version of this, elaborating on the beginning section. It's unfortunate, but the second half did kind of undo the great feeling of the first. 6/10.

CheckeredZebra responds:

I'm glad you enjoyed the intro, that was my favorite part, haha. xD
A lot of the transitions I wanted to do simply didn't make it in (EG: the piano part was better planned). I completely understand your points, and honestly agree with all of them; as sad as it is, much of it wouldn't be an issue if I had been able to start sooner. xD

The beginning section was also going to be the end, by the way, only vamped up and all emotional and stuff. :V

[Descent (MSB)]

NGADM 2 and stuff.

That vocal synth... orgasmic. Dunno how you do it, but this was absolutely fantastic, and it was nice to see you take on another genre instead of sticking to any particular one. And once again, I was greatly impressed, it had good flow, didn't really feel repetitive at all, and everything I thought worked together nicely. And I was very fond of that angry bass synth, I love stuff like that. As well as the little touches like a quick synth slide/drop between bars. And I have to mention the vocal synth again... cause it was just that awesome.

Really the only thing I would've liked to see is a section that took the song in a new direction briefly. While it's not overly repetitive, it does carry the same theme throughout the song without too much change, and while it works well for what it is, variety is always nice.

Awesome tune, vocal synth and the "angry" bass was orgasmic, keep it up! 9/10.

GrantBowtie responds:

Thanks man - I appreciate the detailed review!

[Child of the Trough NGADM]

NGADM 2 and stuff.

Work of art. That's what this is... A true work of art. Unfortunately, the vocals were not present when I issued my score for this, so I will not be taking them into account (Although they are awesome, as always).
I really don't wanna just gush over this, cause that'd be lame... but honestly, there's not much else I can say, it's prog, it's awesome, it's very well done, and in your time in the NGADM, you have become one of my favorite NG artists. You simply do prog right...
I was especially fond of the section at 4:18... Seriously, sounded a lot like something Dream Theater would do, progressive, heavy, mind numbingly technical.
On top of all this, I noticed you addressed the kick issue I had with your round 1 submission.

Honestly, the biggest reason I docked you points was because you didn't manage to get the vocals in the song before the deadline, there's really not a whole lot more I can complain about on this track. The rest is relatively minor, such as maybe smoothing out a transition here and there to help listeners associate the different sections more easily.

Still, you are ridiculously talented, and I'm very glad to see you submitting to the portal, and I hope you keep submitting for a long time. 9/10.

Kor-Rune responds:

Thank you BFP <: It warms my heart to see kind words from you!

I'm so happy for NGADM, I suck at getting motivation and these great reviews and constructive words help make me a better musician. It's all because of you guys <: imagine what the kick drum would've sounded like without everyone's help!

So I thank you <: The next track will be fully complete I promise

[Supplication]

NGADM 2 and stuff.

A big improvement over your round 1 submission, the music this time was much clearer, although I don't think it was on the same level in terms of composition, it complimented the vocals well enough.
However, you still have that overly strong reverb on the vocals, making it sound like you're singing in a bathroom on the other side of the stadium instead of up on stage with the rest of the band. And I can still hear a struggle with confidence in your voice, it's not nearly as bad as before, but I'm hearing a lot of nervous wobbling in your voice that I think you were trying to pass off as vibrato, but it's very easy to distinguish between the two.

Still, and improvement, would've liked to hear a little more active music, vocals still need a bit more improvement though. 7/10.

Troisnyx responds:

What if I told you I wasn't even nervous AT ALL when I sang?

[Outside the Atmosphere]

Purdy...

Unique... I like it. Mixing a classical type feel with electronic music I think was a great idea, and not enough people do this.
I was quite fond of the pianos progression and how it interacted with the electronic instruments, it felt very natural. And that synth at 3:36, while short lived... Fantastic, if slightly biting.

Complaints... Drums... they're very dry, and contrasts in a bad way with the rest of the song. I also wasn't really fond of how you mixed the piano, it sounded like you ran it through a retro loudspeaker or something, sounded grainy and underwhelming, which was a shame because it really was the main focus for the majority of the song, and it just didn't seem to be seated properly into the song.

So, yeah... I like the idea behind this song, mixing up a piano with electronic instruments, and it didn't sound horrible. Mixing could've been better however. 7/10.

OpenLight responds:

Thanks for the review! Hopefully my next track is better.

[Insurgent [MSB] (NGADM)]

Ooo ee ah ooo ah ooo eee ooo ah....

Gotta say, that very daft punk style vocally synth was greatly amusing and in a strange way, fit right into the song... In fact, there was a lot of vocal type synth stuff going on in this, and I thought it was great.
Better yet, it's dubstep... but not shitty cliche dubstep... It's not overly gritty and trying too hard to be "hardcore" so to speak.. which is great, cause I absolutely hate dubstep where the main goal of the songs creation is to be as irritating as possible. This is far from that, and you gained points for it. I also thought it sounded unique in it's own right when compared to most "melodic dubstep" (as I call it).

Complaints? Not many actually, I'm terrible at writing dubstep... so coming up with constructive criticism for this is difficult for me... But here I go anyways... The biggest complaint I really have is that it is a bit repetitive, not enough to really ruin the song, but there is a lot of reusage going on in here I found.
Next up is I thought the wobble bass could have used a little more character, as among what else is going on in the song, I found the bass itself to be largely forgettable and kind of taking a backseat to everything else.

That's all I can really come up with on this one honestly... either way, was a pleasure to listen to, got an 8/10 from me.

GrantBowtie responds:

Variety is a hard thing. Thanks for such a constructive review.

[Impromptu - Spring]

I'm very pleased to see this in the contest...

I am a HUGE fan of this kind of music, it's soothing, it's beautiful, it's just all around awesome. And this is certainly no exception. You did a fantastic job with this, it's played well, it sounds good, and it's a great pleasure to listen to.
And the lift with the percussion and strings near the end was a very nice treat, even if short lived.

My complaints here are fairly minor... but complaints nonetheless...
First being that the section with the strings/percussion is too short lived, it just sort of comes out of nowhere, then a few seconds later it's done, and it left me a little disappointed that you didn't elaborate on it.
I also noticed that this sounds VERY familiar... I have been learning a song of which the main melody is eerily similar to the passage at 1:15 through about 1:30... I can't remember the name of the song off the top of my head... Although I didn't dock you points for it, because it could very well just be a coincidence.

Regardless, absolutely beautiful, I enjoyed this a lot. 8/10.

BlazingDragon responds:

Thanks for the thoughtful review, and my apologies for taking so long to respond!

You are right about the string/percussion part toward the end. It was something of a last minute decision, and the piece probably would have benefited from a bit more length and elaboration on that part. As far as the part at 1:15, it is very possible that I was subconsciously ripping off someone else, but I'm not really sure.

Thanks again for the kind words.

[-Rupture-]

It's gonna get me!!!

Fantastic work, there was very little about this that I didn't like, I'm quite impressed.
The ambiance and forced imagery of this song is the stuff nightmares are made of... In a good way. The way it builds up and just "explodes" at around 2:26 is nothing short of epic, gave me chills.
The use of both orchestral and electronic instruments I think was pulled off nearly flawlessly, never did they really clash and outshine one another, it all felt very natural, as if they were made to be together. Really, it kind of reminds me of some of the stuff you'd hear from Celldweller or Blue Stahli... except arguably more epic.

Really, the only complaint I can come up with on this song is that it might take a little too long to build up to that explosion of awesome at 2:26. If this had been in the background of some kind of fight scene in a movie and it followed the progression of the action, it would be perfect, and wouldn't be an issue, but on it's own, I feel it takes a little too long to really get going.

When it does though, overall, fantastic track, I may even download this and put it on my personal playlist. 8/10.

Waterflame responds:

Thank you for the great review! i actually agree with your points of improvement. and thanks for the kind words!

[Focused Noise (NGADM '12)]

\m/ (>.<) \m/

Being a metalhead myself, I was very pleased to see a few people enter the contest with metal.
I really like the riffing you got going on in here. The guitar tone is crisp and clean, and of course... heavy as fuck. It was well played, and the mixing overall I found was pretty damn good.
I was also quite impressed with the change up at 0:53, while abrupt, it didn't sound horrifically out of place, which is something I, myself, struggle a lot with. In fact, I didn't find any of the transitions to be overly jarring, which I have to give you kudos for.
And that solo, very well played, and I was really impressed at how you balanced a shreddy feel with a more melodic and soulful lead in as opposed to giving the solo a single identity.

Now for my complaints... No denying it... this was horribly repetitive. While the riffing was pretty awesome, this sounds like it was meant for vocals. Because without vocals, the repetitiveness of the song is amplified and becomes very noticeable later in the song. The solo does managed to break that up a bit, but underneath, there really wasn't much new going on. And really, that's my biggest complaint.
And if I'm not crazy, I'm pretty sure I heard a fudged note or two in the solo, but I can't really hold that against you because it didn't in any way take away from the overall song.

Overall, this was pretty enjoyable to listen to, great riffing, awesome solo, but it suffered pretty badly from repetition. Got a 6/10 from me.

Demon-Slayer12 responds:

Thanks for your review, I'll probably finish the song some day with vocals and make it a deadly live song. If this was played at a show with the right band members, it would probably make some heads bang haha

[The Mare and The Tortoise]

Ask and ye shall receive... Told you I'd get to reviewing this sooner or later!

I'm gonna be honest, there wasn't a lot about this that I really enjoyed... I mean, what was there was played good, and I did genuinely enjoy the vocal harmonies in the background. But... yeah... on to my next section.

What I didn't like... Honesty is appreciated? Yes? Good...
The guitar part was boring as hell, and really had nothing to it and IMO was a little too quiet in the mix in comparison to the bass.
I don't know if I'm crazy, because everyone disagreed with me it seems, but I didn't enjoy your main vocals much at all, it constantly sounded like you were struggling to find the right pitch, and bits here and there sounded very forced and unnatural... examples being the high note at 2:01, and the rise at around 1:48... Both of those sounded horribly forced to me. And to be brutally honest, I think running with light auto tune would have done the vocals good... Not T-Pain... but just slight pitch correction.
As mentioned above, I have an issue with the mixing, when all was said and done, the only things that stood out were the vocals and the bass line when things picked up... The guitar sort of faded off into nowhere (I know it was still there... just shy and in hiding), and the "percussion" may as well have been non-existent.
On top of all this, I really didn't see practically any creativity put into this song... I mean, I know it's pop.. and pop by its very nature is pretty much devoid of creativity... but for the purpose of this competition, I really think this is a little too "safe".

To be brutally honest, most of the points I gave you for this one came from the background vocals and the effort you put into them. Because the song itself I felt was... just... boring... cliche... and relying way too heavily on the vocals to get by. Considering all of the above... I gave you a 5/10.

midimachine responds:

cheers for the review and for sitting through it all haha... i can't play guitar very well at all :P
autotune was definitely something i considered. normally i do use at least a little bit of pitch correction BUT it was getting annoying to apply here because I wasn't tuned to A440 (haha), but idk about being forced and unnatural, that's kinda just how i sing i suppose!