JRob's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Demon's Rebirth]

\m/

Chanting, huh? If you would like, since I have enough knowledge of the grammar and such, I could translate something into latin so you can put actual chanting in the song. For example: "Surga Daemon! Rapta oppida et urbes adversariorum nostrorum!" (Rise Demon! Ravage the towns and cities of our foes!)

DanJohansen responds:

That would be awesome man, I'll keep that in mind in case I make other such tracks, Not sure I can pronounce it right though XD

[Toxic Land]

Your mixing/mastering is starting to come along nicely; it's not quite professisional yet, but you're getting closer and closer with the last couple uploads. On that note, also since a couple people mentioned the compression, I wanted to put an idea out there - why not keep a copy of one of the earlier versions in the mixing process - a demo version; a good number of people like the more raw, powerful sound the earlier version of the song has (kind of like Cradle of Filth's "Principle of Evil Made Flesh" original album title track version versus the Bitter Suites to Succubi remake).

"Toxic Land" is quite the fitting title for this song - I can definitely see all the metal barrels of toxic waste overturned, spilling their contents everywhere and people walking around with gas masks and the like.

Metallica1136 responds:

Thanks for commenting on the mixing! A lot of people have commented about my mixing and mastering improving. Exactly my goal.

Up until Amplified Rage, i actually did upload all my songs raw and unmastered, but i Just recently started mastering them for Newgrounds. I definitely compare them though, good idea man!

Yeah, you and I have the same imagination it seems, I named Toxic Sea that title because i imagined a bunch of toxic barrels with yellow nuke symbols floating in a sickly green sea, and a boat sailing through it. What you stated about Toxic Land, is pretty much how I think about it as well! :D

Thanks for your review man!

[This Is Melodic Metal]

It's a good thing you noted that you know the sound quality/mixing was rough, as that is one of the first things I pay attention to when listening to a song. A great song you've come up with; it's very dynamic - doesn't stay in one place leaving the listener to get bored and press "stop." Also, although this is more of a personal view, you should probably do more songs like this, mabye experiment even further, instead of doing about 99% thrash (there's only so much you can do with only one particular style - I always try to do something different everytime), that way, if you ever actually become well-known (going to be pretty hard, considering many Newgrounds artists like us are suffocating under tons of over-promoted, untalented, mainstream crap (minaj, one direction - you get the general idea) and talentless attention whores promoting their "music" on other YouTube channels) and you decide to do something noticably different for a change, you won't easily be labelled a "sellout" since you established early on that you don't do just one style. Your call, not mine - just my opinion.

Just fix up the mastering and mixing and you'll be good to go. If only you could use a decent studio for recording - I would offer you a good studio to use, but sadly, like I already pointed out, I can't since I'm still asphyxiating due to the stench of all the crap the music industry is tossing everywhere (if only we could be rid of this industry so that music will regain its status as an "art" and not that of a "product," and independent artists will have a better chance at success).

Metallica1136 responds:

Thanks for your review, man! This is probably the most detailed one someone has written for me (which is not a bad thing at all) Yeah, this song was meant to be very progressive. And the opposite of repetitive. Yeah, I am thinking about maybe experimenting with lower tunings a little more, and doing these kind of songs oncassionally. Haha, I hear what you're saying. Shit like Nicki Minaj and One Direction is so terrible, unoriginal. You can't tell the songs apart. Complete shit lol. Yeah, the main reason why the majority of the stuff I do is thrash, is because, I thought people would consider me a sellout just for experimenting with a different style (like when everyone jumped on Metallica's nuts for the black album) But screw that. If people consider me a sellout just for doing a song in a tuning like C or C#, fine.

Yeah, I will mix and master this properly some time. I am learning to master music like a professional. It's no easy task, but it's worth the work. Thanks for your review, man!

[Glass Walls]

Amazing. You gave the song sort of an "adventurous" tone to it; it's light and flows well (whenever I do a song that portrays a snowy or icy setting, it either has a "dangerous" sound, like a blizzard, or it's very still and calm, like a wintry day. Also, I always feel the need to add bells or vibraphones - or a similar instrument - when composing that type of song, so I was kind of suprised that you did without - you used a piano instead, which also gives that "icy" touch, and I also used it in one of my winter themed songs so I can relate perfectly to that). In regards to the recent review (below mine, or on the next page, if more reviews move it down), this somewhat reminded me of an RPG, lesser-known and with a different music style (DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT) - but with the same ambiance/ambience, by the name of Okami (towards the end, when in the northern land - you have to have played it to know, woof woof - great game by the way). The instruments fit and complement each other perfectly; I don't think this could have been put together any better than you did it. You should definitely do more music like this and the other classical/theme setting pieces in your "music world" series.

DanJohansen responds:

Awesome review man, you really went into the tune's concept and saw what I was going for.
Bells are something I considered back and forth a lot here but in the past when I've made Winter tunes for personal projects, I've always used them so I thought Piano has much of the same effect just like you stated :D

And yeah, it does have the same kind of ''drive'' like Okami doesn't it? I didn't think about it but I see it now, that game is fantastic, lots of great music, and I am def getting the HD release in september, it's such an artistic game through and through I can't wait to experience it again.

I shall keep making these types of tracks to complete my world good sir! Thanks a lot!

[Black Hole Syndrom!]

Success in the music industry OBVIOUSLY doesn't reflect the amout of talent and musical genius of the artist (the music industry is shit - major labels only produce what will make them more money, simplistic, generic crap, which usually occurs in pop, rap, and generic rock. The music industry sees music as a product, not an art). This and the entire Life Systems album is on par with a lot of the works by progressive metal and symphonic metal groups/artists such as Symphony X and Yngwie Malmsteen. The only thing I think you could have added more vocals like in this one (I don't mind it being instrumental, as there are a good deal of amazing instrumentals in Rock, Hard Rock, and Metal - Joe Satriani's songs for example), and maybe switch back and forth between screamed/growled vocals (like here) and shouted or clean vocals.

Amazing man, rock on \m/

P.S. - Have you ever considered doing some symphonic metal songs like Cradle of Filth or Nightwish songs?

DanJohansen responds:

You nailed it man, because the industry is like this, I haven't sought out record deals. In many ways to me, getting deals is like selling my soul at this point. And I'm happy with self releases :)

I have thought about doing more vocal stuff, it would def be cool, so what you're saying is a good idea :D As for making Symphonic metal, yes, I am very interested in it, my first album Tablets of Gilgamesh has a lot of it, but not as much as nightwish, but it would def be cool to step it up :D

Thanks for the in depth comeback and great compliments man, ROCK ON!

[[Lavender Town Dubstep]*]

Just ignore the fool below me - he's probably never set a finger on a single instrument in his life, except maybe the recorder or playing chopsticks on the piano. Â I've played multiple instruments throughout my life including violin and piano and I think dubstep is awesome. Â People who have no experience in music should not give biased reviews.

I think the remix is great. Â It's not some generic "wub wub wub" or the typical dubstep bassline. Â The dubstep portion is mixed perfectly with the original melody - heck, if I didn't know any better, I would have never guessed that it was a remix.

Solkrieg responds:

Thanks a lot for the review! And thanks for the confidence booster ^_^!

[[Lavender Town Haunting]*]

Simply amazing, nothing more to say. Â I remember always trying to get away from that area as quickly as possible when I first played Red back in the first grade - always gave me the creeps (wouldn't bother me now, though).

Although at some sections it has a more upbeat feel to it like the GSC version rather than the creepy RBY(G) one.

Solkrieg responds:

I tried as hard as possible to keep the creepy theme in this song (if you couldn't tell XD). The other one was more creepy mostly because it's simply the original. The sounds they use go directly back to your childhood and haunt you.