Back-From-Purgatory's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Settle]

Not bad

Very soothing, laid back track.

Although there seems to be a ridiculous amount of contrast between the vocals and guitar. I think you could do with a little less reverb on the vocals, don't be afraid to show your voice off instead of hiding it behind effects... Not to say don't use them... Reverb can add a lot to them, but I think this is a little much.

The guitar on the other hand I think is a little crisp and dry and could do with more post processing, a little reverb, and maybe a little EQing to cut down the treble a tiny bit.

I did, however, enjoy the subtle flute (It is a flute, right?) in the background, it's subtle, but it does add an extra layer to the song and wouldn't be quite the same without it. Although, I think it could be a little more active instead of just following the chord progression throughout.

In any case, definitely a good track, keep it up.

starcecil responds:

It's creepy how you picked out every aspect about this track that I thought was wrong with it as well XD Taking your advice to heart bro! Next track will be even better.

Yeah it's a flute, dude you have an amazing ear for instruments.

[Requiem For A Dream redux]

Not too shabby

This has the potential to be better than it is. Not to say it's bad, it's actually pretty decent.

My biggest complaint is that the percussion is too loud, it overpowers the rest of the track and I feel takes away from the overall feel of it all.
That aside, I think the synths are a tiny bit loud as well, as well as being kind of dry and lifeless... Spice them up a bit, maybe add a bit of chorus/reverb, give them life!

A little panning would also help bring the soul out of this, nothing huge, but having everything right on the center can detract from the overall immersion of the piece.

That aside, I could see this becoming something great.

This has been a return review from yours truly! Keep up the good work!

[Sole Beacon]

Love the music

... But the vocals make me fear for your vocal cords. I'm by no means a vocal coach, but from what I can hear, you aren't doing your growling properly, and it will bite you in the ass down the road. Not to say it sounds bad... It actually sounds pretty good.
Along with that, your clean vocals show you have a pretty good voice as well.

Biggest complaint, me fearing for your vocal cords aside, is that the intro is freaking awesome, but I feel that once the intro is done it dies down to a more cliché metal sound that I feel I've heard a million times before.

Although the transition between heavy and soft was pulled off nearly seamlessly, which can be difficult, so kudos for that. And I particularly loved the short "After twelve years... " section, it really brought back the feeling I got from the intro.

This has been a return review from yours truly, sorry it took so long, been rather busy lately... Keep up the good work!

abyss776 responds:

Thanks a lot for the review! As far as vocals go, I don't know whether I'm doing them right or wrong. All I know is that it doesn't hurt, and I've never lost my voice from doing this. My screams/growls are usually better sounding, but they were kind of off when I recorded this. Hopefully I'm not messing up my throat... =p

I understand what you're saying about the cliché metal sound. Unfortunately, my friend and I had to write and record all of the guitar riffs in about 3 hours. So, we lost a bit of the creativity that usually goes into that process.

Don't worry about taking so long. I didn't expect a return review anyway, but I really appreciate that you took the time to listen to this and to share your constructive criticism!

[Upward Over The Mountain]

Not bad

Pretty well played track, it definitely deserves better than the score it has received thusfar, so I've bumped you as much as I am able.

As for improvements, there is a fair amount of "wind noise" coming from the mic, I'd imagine you don't have a screen in front of your mic, so to avoid this, I'd advise singing at a slight angle to avoid breathing into it, should clear that up until you make/buy a screen for your vocal parts.
My only other complaint is that the vocals aren't quite loud enough, should boost them up to bring them to the front of the track.

And as an audio mod, I'm obliged to let you know you really should include who did the original in the case of covers. Just a tip should you choose to do any other covers.

Overall though, this was quite pleasing... laid back, well sung (Aside from being too quiet and the breathing noise), and pretty well played. Keep it up!

starcecil responds:

Thanks so much dude! I'll definitely get a screen or pop filter soon! Until then I'll make sure to sing at an angle and I'll definitely make the vocals louder. Thanks for all your suggestions!

[-td- Likeag6(dublooprmx)]

I like

I'm not huge on Dubstep, so any real helpful criticism from me is fairly unlikely... so I'll just point out what I enjoyed about it instead.

Overall it sounds really good, loops seamlessly, and I absolutely LOVED the underlying lead part that kicked in around 38 seconds in... It was subtle, but added an oh so sinister tone to it, and the next lead to kick in after that only complimented that shift even more.

Really my only complaint, and it is a fairly minor one as this is a loop, is the repetitiveness of the overlaying track, it doesn't really change throughout, leaving a tiny bit to be desired... But like I said, I'm aware this is a loop, and should be treated as such, so overall, a very minor complaint.

Also, sorry it took so long for me to get around to checking out your stuff, been real busy lately and I'm trying to catch up on my return reviews just now.

Overall, good stuff, keep it up!

Triented responds:

Thank-you for your excellent review! :D I certainly enjoyed reading this one, these are the kinds I look for :]

[MORE pipe organ metal]

Chills

Pipe organs always send chills down my spine, they're creepy.... yet eerily epic when put into a song with guitars.

This could be like... children of bodom shit... except better. Sounds very "Edward Scissorhands" to me.

Bad-Man-Incorporated responds:

Thanks very much, Glad you dig it.

[Drum sampling or something]

The instrument has potential

I don't know what it was you were using, but I hear massive potential for some DnB action.

As for the "song" itself, you need to turn your input down, there was a heapload of clipping on the track, I only managed to listen through once for fear of damaging my speakers.

At points, you had a really nice rhythm going, which is impressive considering you can only play one pad at a time (For whatever reason). I'd suggest recording in multiple takes overlapping them as to get a full song out of it.

My only other complaint I guess would be fairly obvious, there were points (don't lie, you know that's what you were doing) where you were just "mashing buttons", and it was fairly painful on the ears.

Aside from that though, if you can find a way to overlay the tracks and record different takes separately, this could be turned into something great.

NekoMika responds:

I gave link to what I am using here :P

Yea, at the time I wasn't paying attention to and was not very good at recording volume. Have gotten a lot better since then though.

Actually if you hit a second key a half second after the first one it counts as two notes at once.

Thanks for the review.

[Orange Town]

Metalize it

Honestly, I think it would sound amazing metalized... but that's coming from a metalhead.

It's not too bad, although I think a couple sections/"instruments" would have been better left out or changed a bit, as some of it doesn't really seem to fit with the rest of the music and feels like it was put there just to fill the song out.

Otherwise, not too shabby.

NekoMika responds:

Yea, this was back when I actually had Mario Paint on my laptop. =[

[xKore - jpop remixu]

Eargasm indeed

I'm not usually a big fan of Dubstep... but this track is pretty amazing.

My only complaints are the vox track could be bumped every so slightly, and it's too damn short. This thing has the potential to be the best dubstep track I've ever heard... should you expand on it.

[Darkness In Me (Symphonic]

Fucking... Epic.

This is the most full and epic sounding metal song I may have ever heard. If I were still doing my "Band of the Week" gig, you, and this song would definitely be featured next week.

I can't find anything that I don't like about this song, everything is just perfect. Let me have your babies.