ChronoNomad's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sunshine Lima Bean (Best Before Dec 15 2023)]

I've just gotta say, first and foremost, that I am incredibly sorry that this experience ended up becoming a cautionary tale. Any kind of collaboration or group project comes with those kinds of risks, and I've endured plenty of my own cautionary tales due to such circumstances. When communication breaks down, everything goes to hell, and being the guy stuck holding the bag really sucks. It's a pretty classically tragic social commentary, but I'm proud of you for doing what you could and actually releasing something.

I would love to give you full marks just for putting an offering on the table, but I've got a job to do, and I would be remiss to not do it to the best of my ability regardless of circumstance. Obviously, it's up to Flamadour whether this stays in the running or not. I won't be telling you anything you don't already know, but the length of the track is way too short, and it doesn't really end so much as cut off where the next section would have been.

What stands out to me is the percussion, though there isn't much variation to the beat within these two minutes besides a slower rhythm that kicks in at 1:49. The combination of instruments is a bit jarring, some elements working together, and others at cross-purposes. Mix-wise it comes across as muddy, even with just a few instruments playing at one time. Some of the notes mesh very unharmoniously with the bass, as well. I don't know if these issues came about before or after things started going wrong with the band's cohesion, so all I can really do is call a spade a spade. What's here is better than some things I've heard, but generally it's very incomplete and lacking in variation throughout its all-too-brief life. That said, I hope you'll do your best to get over this unpleasant experience, learn from it, and continue making music. Regardless, I wish you the very best in all you do.

Score: 5/10

[At The Seams ("Deathslab!" 's BOTB ENTRY)]

This track definitely has a very unique vibe, one that I'm not entirely sure I could pinpoint if I tried, and it's almost crazy how quickly those seven minutes go by. You guys held my attention from one end to the other, and oh my goodness those lead guitar licks are fire. The experience almost feels like an out of body one, the whole trip being so incredibly surreal; slipping from chaotic disharmony to harmony, and back again. I really enjoyed your use of panning effects, but even more impressive is the dynamic quality of the track, which is anything but a solid brick wall, and very much appreciated.

The lyrics are strange and wonderful in equal measure, vocalized beautifully despite some rather odd syntax from time to time. The percussion just plain fits all the way through, never detracting from the other instruments and vocals, but adding just the right amount of rhythm. During the verses about time, those ticking clock-like effects really bring the idea home.

Seriously, you guys just really brought the overall production quality to the table. I'm listening through for the third time already, and trying to absorb something different each time, but your mix is so full and rich that it's hard to merely focus on the individual layers. Beautifully mixed, mastered, and so fantastically bizarre. I'm not sure what else to say, but WOW. Keep the band together and make a career out of it. Seriously.

Score: 9.7/10

carboluka responds:

Wow, that's the best response we could've ever hoped for!

It's nice to hear that the transitions were not as jarring as I thought they would be, that the drums fit (those are real btw, thank god Dark is a mixing master) and the guitar solos were the right amount of wacky! I was worried that communication and artistic choices among us would greatly differ (especially after sketching the bare-bone track), but the way everyone managed to enhance the initial vision was amazing!

About the vocals, I was merely option B; we were on a tight deadline and Dark was already working on guitar and bass and was unable to write lyrics and sing on top of that: I'm unfortunately not a singer AND Italian 😭, so yeah, sorry about the synthax lol

But we're glad you managed to enjoy it and that you're still listening to it! That's dope 😎

[Freefall]

First off, there's a little pop at the :11 mark during the song's intro. Not a big deal, but I've got to take a little off for any random unintentional artifacts like pops, clicks, and so on. Just doing my job.

Now that THAT'S out of the way, I've got to say that I wasn't expecting to hear this kind of Pop/Rock-inspired track. What's the title of your new Anime series, by the way? In all seriousness, this is fun to listen to. It's different, and that's never a bad thing. Well, maybe sometimes it is, but not here. At first, I was lamenting the lack of electric guitar licks in lieu of synths, but when those licks finally hit I was not disappointed. Some really solid chugging and bass going on throughout, and I am a big fan of the way you guys mixed it up with different types of drum riffs. Sticking to one speed throughout does end up getting a bit stale, especially in a longer track, so very nicely done there. Your percussion was always evolving, and that really sets the right tone.

The synth lead is good, but it does seem a little lacking in the reverb department. The synth samples and piano sound good, but not great; though I'm not about to ding you for that so much as how things fit into the mix, which is pretty solid. The overall motif and different sections are well- written and executed, but the ending felt rather bland. While the chime sound echoed into infinity, and the piano note held on, the high string just kind of...stopped. It really could have benefited from a slow fade or even a reverse fade, but it just kind of gave up the ghost entirely. Even the chime could have faded slowly in that final phase to give it a more ethereal quality. Regardless, this is quite well made. Anyone from Sailor Moon to One-Punch Man would be proud to have this as their theme. Good job.

Score: 8/10

[Dreams As Deep As Oblivion]

Some very interesting choices, stylistically-speaking. Every single guitar riff is luscious, and that detuned piano section during the break really fits your overall theme. That's the point where the lyrics really get a chance to shine, but they tend to be heavily overshadowed by the instrumentals. Speaking of the vocals, the bulk of them sounded like they were delivered by Andy Sirkis doing his Gollum voice. Not a bad thing necessarily, but I had to put that out there. Personally, I would have liked to see the vocals come out to play a bit more in the mix, even with the nigh unintelligable nature of them. That said, whatever you guys did to make your Metal screaming sound like that, it certainly fits the overarching theme.

Rich chugs and sweet leads coalesce into a harmonious foundation of Rock, and I am so here for it. I kind of fell in and out of love with the background choir, though. Probably because it was there in the background most of the time, kind of doing the same background-y thing. Switching things up with some dark melodic strings or something to shake off that feeling of sameness would have been nice. The percussion really kept up the sense of driving beat, but every time that machinegun kick started up I found myself wanting more variation to the beat. That said, all the other metallic touches and tom drum fills helped to round things out. The one place where I found that machinegun style kick actually fit like a glove was in the final section, and that whole part was my absolute favorite, classic fade-out and all. I feel like if you had saved that heavy-duty wall-to-wall kick attack just for the end, it would have had even greater impact. Very nice track. I dig the dark and gothic vibe. Well done.

Score: 8.6/10

LD-W responds:

Heya, thanks for the review!

This ended up as our 'Plan B' choice after Plan A wasn't quite working out how we hoped in the planning stages, but that's fine since this was all fun to do! Main influences for the style/direction come from 90's to early-00's Symphonic Black Metal such as Odium, Limbonic Art, late-90's Dimmu Borgir, early-2000's Ceremonial Castings, Obtain Enslavement, Diabolical Masquerade etc. Track took us around a week in the end to get it in within deadline and under the 6:30 time limit

The BM Vocal-style is always a risk to do in contests since it's not popular outside of other Black Metal enjoyers haha. The recordings for it in this contest were like how I used to do them all the way back in my teenage years: smashed up SM58, very raw performance done in 2 long takes with only abit of EQ + mid-band saturation, compression, subtle doubling and alot of reverb to finish it off. The cool thing is that anyone can do similar-vocals, it just takes several months of training yourself up to do it without causing any damage to your vocal chords. I started retraining earlier this year in prep for some albums I want to do next year, so the timing of this contest was pretty handy!

Did speak to Nahu and we're potentially keen on sticking with this project for a next-year proper release (either a 40-min album, or a 22-min EP). We may actually go a tad more raw to stay true to the original subgenre's sound and downgrade the drums, but yeah your notes on variation are definitely valid and that's something that we'd sort out for sure. Also gives me plenty of time to also sort out a proper hand-drawn logo + some album art which wasn't a 45-min rushed Blender sculpt haha

Any questions, feel free to DM me anytime!

[Stones of the Solstice]

Welcome back! I have to say, that percussion really drew me in right straightaway. You say it's not so fleshed-out, but man...this style is my jam! Noodle away and totally go ham anytime, my friend. The experience was fun and fresh, and even without vocals it's still all you, mate.

I often wonder what you're up to and how you're doing, so I'm honestly chuffed to know that you've still got music beating in your heart! It's nice to know that we both still lurk in the shadows, but like not in a creepy way. :D

[A Song for Peace]

Hail and well met, Jordi. It's been a minute or two, hasn't it? It's good to hear from you after all this time, and I pray that you have been well.

This piece really lives and breathes, dancing along the narrow edge between grief and hope. I don't personally feel like the desire for peace and prosperity between nations is as much a political stance as a natural human response, or at least it should be. The appeal of such ideals and desires is universal, and you have translated it beautifully within your arrangement.

I can neither confirm nor deny that my eyes were drier before listening. Suffice to say, I felt the simple, heartfelt emotion being conveyed.

[MM4 Sequel Wars Boss Theme]

Oh man, this is such a hot MegaMan nostalgia trip! As much as I've always loved the Blue Bomber's soundtrack, it's never had so much thrash and chug to drive the excitement home. The drum riffs have that flamin' hot galloping quality that RockMan (I had to call it that at least once, I mean come on) almost singlehandedly made famous. And then there's that awesome percussive slowdown that lets you ramp back into that sweet gallop. The tension stays pretty high at all times, but that rhythmic change lets it ease off just enough to draw you back in.

It's nice and short, like pretty much all MM tracks, so it's easily great for several listens in a row. I totally dig those Heavy Metal vibes, and your version makes the old-school goodness feel fresh and new. In my mind's eye, I was 100% head-banging.

ADR3-N responds:

If you check out the original prompt I was given, this is believe it or not a cover of a cover, almost one to one, excepting that I took quite a lot of liberties with turning a synth part into trumpets and doing wild modulations on everything.

Recreating this by ear was quite challenging, as hearing the percussion parts as a full drumset and not chip instruments is hard! And would you believe it, this was near my first introduction to Megaman music since I never got into the series before Megaman X command mission for the GameCube! As such it was a lot of fun to do, and a challenge to keep things interesting and dynamic throughout

[Because We Miss You]

It's like I'm the piano and you're playing on my heartstrings. Simply gorgeous, Lucid. At times it was reminiscent of Uematsu Nobuo of Final Fantasy fame, at others it was like Hisaishi Joe of Studio Ghibli, and yet it was always the epitome of your piano at the heart and soul of the piece.

A sad yet hopeful Requiem; the perfect way to immortalize your grandmother in music. Bravo.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Ooh, hello! It has been a while since last time. I hope you are doing well!!

I can definitely hear the inspirations you mentioned. It's no surprise, as they both are amongst the ones who have influenced my style quite a bit! Thank you for your warm words <3

[Villavslutning]

This somehow reminds me of something that's just out of reach and threatens to bring tears to my eyes. How do you manage to play those piano keys while simultaneously plucking at the heartstrings? Being able to evoke an emotional response truly is the Holy Grail of musical accomplishment.

You instantly drew me in with that delicate intro, and kept me utterly enthralled throughout. I haven't been around much lately, but I am so glad that I didn't miss out on this. <3

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Waaah, I thought I responded to this ages ago! So sorry for the delay D:

You have a way with words, mr. Thank you for listening to this song in particular, and sharing your thoughts.

I hope that 2022 brings you all kinds of interesting experiences and lovely memories.

[Longing]

Man, I really, really like this, and it absolutely reminds me of those amazing Your Lie in April feels. The main problem, to me at least, is that it has a highly compressed sort of sound. Between that and the heavy reverb, it gets incredibly muddy around the :50~:57 mark. Again, I adore the composition, but I can't help but find myself wishing for a crisper, less affected sound.

I also feel like the release on that final chord arrives too soon. It could have been drawn out a touch longer for greater impact, but maybe that's just a personal preference thing.

Oh, and next time remember to incorporate some melodica! Of course, that suggestion is purely referential in nature. Then again, for anyone who's seen the Anime, a bit of melodica at the end could be particularly emotional. :)

Everratic responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I agree with everything you said :) I wish I had a nice melodica!