Back-From-Purgatory's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Monkey Whore]

Very nice... has a very nostalgic feel to it, classic metal, the roots!

And as always freaking awesome vocals, although I think they needed to be turned up a tiny bit in a few spots.

Overall, awesome job, good to see you back in the saddle!

\m/

Bad-Man-Incorporated responds:

I thank you, sir. Mostly your fault. As it was working on your song that inspired me to giver. haha.
Cheers brother.

[Crash and Burn]

This is deliciously epic, glad I took the time to give it a listen. I absolutely love the theme behind it with the story and all, it really does give the song a great deal more emotion. And the writing was for the most part superb.

Overall, the mixing was wonderful, my biggest complaints are the intro seemed a little overdriven and the reverb was a little overpowering because of that when the piano (I'm assuming that's what that is) reached into the higher register.
The vocals were overall very well sung, although there did seem to be a spot here and there that felt a little forced, and the clean vocals seemed to fluctuate a little bit in volume throughout the song, not enough to be really distracting, but enough to notice.

That aside, I really enjoy this song, keep it up!

Dnman responds:

Thank you, its funny I didn't notice how over the top the reverb was until I listened to it on a different system. Cant win them all eh. Ya and the mike I'm using is a piece of crap. Worst of all my computer sucks lol, Basically cant have any midi playing back or my cpu fails and its all choppy. This song was a annoying to record cause there are 4 midi instruments (piano, drums, violin, cello). I would eq everything, turn on the midi tracks and export to a wave file (takes 20 min with my comp) then i could actually listen to everything lol. then when it sucked i would have to try again ha. i kinda gave up but iI' definitely gonna repost this when I'm done the other songs.
thanks again

[[Knox]Canyon (wip)]

u stoel dis frum finul fantisie!

Really though, I can definitely hear the Final Fantasy influence in this, and that's not really a bad thing, as I love the music in those games.

I was particularly fond of the section starting at around 1:30, was very unique, and flowed amazingly well considering the somewhat odd note progression.

Judging by the lack of fret noise in this track, I'm left to believe you rather play really damn clean, or you're using samples for your guitar sounds, in which case, it sounds very convincing, although shortly before 2:00 it does sound a bit more artificial, it didn't really retract from the overall enjoyment of the song.

Good work, I'd love to hear this finished.

Knoxius responds:

thanks for the review man. wish i could play this cleanly (or play this at all on guitar), but sadly it's all sampler stuff :(

i hope to get my buddy to play guitar and im going to try playing fretless bass for this; we'll see how it goes xD

[SR - Evening Doldrum]

Review with Ninja Speed!

This totally makes me think of that poppy music that plays back in shops and whatnot in RPGs.

Very soothing, and has kind of a feeling of nostalgia to it (Not entirely sure from what though).
Only a couple minor complaints:
The string scratching was pretty distracting at points, although I do know how hard it is to avoid this when playing guitar, especially when playing acoustic like this. That and at points the guitar felt a bit off time.

That's really all I have for critique, because that aside, this was very well done. Keep it up!

SineRider responds:

thanks bfg whoa that was fast.

Yeah you're right about the RPG thing, also I was kind of inspired by the music from Animal Crossing and the group Lullatone

Hmm i agree about the fret noise is a bit annoying, I think I've heard it so much my ears glaze over it. I'm also pretty lazy when it comes to recording, so I did leave in some not so perfect takes, but I may re-record them later ;)

[FreqEMLKI1Collab-V9]

Unce unce unce

While somewhat simplistic, this has a nice mellow vibe to it, quite enjoyable.

I'm quite fond of the lead synth sound at 1:30 (And recurring after that), very smooth and carries an interesting progression.
Only complaint is it's fairly repetitive, it really doesn't change much at all throughout, and there was a section shortly after 5:00 that felt a little awkward, I can't pinpoint why though.

Regardless, well done.

eatmeatleet responds:

thanks for comments, that's very helpful :) have a good day

[Grizzly(WIP)]

Not Dubstep! Rage!

Really, I don't care where it is in the genre list... All that matters is that it sounds good.

And this, it sounds good, in fact it's epic. The intro is freaking gorgeous, and the use of (what sounds like) synth string hits when the song picks up was just brilliant and really added to the overall feel of the song.
The only reason this lost points is because:
1: It's unfinished.
and
2: I think the kick/snare sounded extremely dry.

But when finished, I could easily see this being a 9-10. Keep it up.

Envy responds:

Haha yeah, so far I've done most of the mixing on my $10 earbuds because I haven't been at my apartment for a couple days so these are all things i've noticed and need to fix :3

Thank you sir
<3

[The Skandals - Insomniac]

A little rough

I agree... the intro is worth of making ears bleed... Next time you might wanna tune your guitars before recording.

A few things... The vocals aren't necessarily bad, but they are extremely muddy and buried in the mix... The out of tune intro you already know about... You guys fell off time around 2:20... it also sounded like "Guy #2" was forcing that rasp a bit too much, at points it fell through and affected the quality of his tone... The overall mix was a bit muddy as well.

Although I did enjoy the guitar solo and the overall feel of the song, it could certainly use a bit of work. I'd suggest a bit more rehearsing before recording.

Overall good effort though, keep at it, maybe a higher quality re-release down the line to show you've really nailed the song down to an art form.

FairSquare responds:

We didn't do any mixing and this was our very first take and first recording ever, so yeah, not only the vocals but everything sounds muddy :p Thanks for noticing though!
And you're right about 2:20, didn't even notice that myself yet.

Really, i appreciate the review and the tips! It's nice to receive an opinion from someone who knows what he's talking about and who isn't a member of the band :p

[Imaginary Being (WIP)]

Return of the Angry Synth! D=<

I really like that "angry synth", glad you're using it again.

Same deal as before, don't know much about dubstep, yadda yadda... So here's what I like:
That volume swell on the bass, as well as good stutter use... And again, this has a very foreboding sound to it... Almost sounds like you're working your way towards a common theme that could later become an album.

Really, what I like about this one is pretty much the same as the last one I reviewed. Good work, keep it up!

Kirbyfemur responds:

I'm glad that besides you're lack of knowledge on dubstep (i don't claim to know much) that you're able to enjoy the song :3

If i could somehow get my shite together, i might be in the works of an album.

[DeafMetalz-Metaljonus]

\m/

Epic, I wish I could shred like that.

Also, you asked about the mix in to BMI's response, so I'm gonna give you my take, although it might just be personal preference, but a thought is better than none I say!
I think the rhythm guitars could have been brought ever so slightly (And I do mean just a hair) closer to the front of the track. And while I enjoy a good kick to the head, the kick I think is (again) every so slightly too loud (Again, by just a hair).

That aside, brutally awesome!

Metaljonus responds:

Noted and done! Thanks for the input!! \m/

[WHIP (WIP)]

ANGRY!! )=<

This song makes me want to drive fast and punch someone in the face... In a good way... If that's even possible.

Unfortunately, I'm still a little behind on dubstep, so I've got little to offer in the way of constructive criticism... However, I will say that I quite enjoyed this, even in it's unfinished state... I particularly loved the very angry sound you gave the bass between the wobbles as well as the somewhat discordant "melody" that played in the background.

Very foreboding, good work!

Kirbyfemur responds:

Thanks very much. I'm still trying to figure out the whole dubstep thing myself actually. But i think i'm getting close :3