Xyresic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Vanquish The Night]

Not bad.

It does create quite a sense of forboding evil, and the spindly instrument at about 1:11 was very eery. I didn't like the dischordant strings at 1:45 very much, I thought they were a bit too much. They could probably have been less dischordant while still achieving the same creepy result. The terrifying buildup from around 2:20 onwards was masterfully done however, I could feel myself getting more and more tense and paranoid as more strings piled on and the pitch rose. Very good at inspiring fear, well done!

megakill responds:

I'm glad you liked it!

Yeah that part at 1:11 is a harp. I'd tried it with a bunch of other instuments but I couldnt find anything that would me the desired effect.

I'm sorry you thought the dischordant strings at 1:45 were a little too much. I kinda got carried away a bit i guess. To be honest I mostly listen to metal, so that part was sort of inspred by the breakdowns you find in some heavy songs.

I'm glad you generally like it though! Thanks for the review!

[Muirin's Dream]

Excellent

The deep drums in the middle were very good, but they were slightly overpowering the strings a bit too much near the end. The (harp? mandolin?) tune at about 2:20 was very well brought out and contrasted well with the string buildup after it. I liked the use of the sea waves coming in at the beach, it worked very well.
I did have a problem with one of the instruments near the start, I think it was the bagpipes. They made a high pitched squeal inbetween some notes, and it interrupted the ambience of the strings. If there was some way to remove those loud squeaks I think the intro would be much better, but nonetheless this is a great song, with an inspiring story to match!

Jessismith responds:

Hey, thanks so much for the kind review. :)

[Dream of being best]

Great, but....

I didn't get the feeling of someone who is the best at something. It was an uplifting piece though, so I guess that's pretty close. That bass-y boom effect you added worked well I think, and the fast drums contrasted nicely with the long, slow string melodies. Good work!

Cleverhill responds:

Hi!
Thank you for your review. I appreciate it.
Okey, then I guess we all get different feelings and thoughts when it comes to music :)

I'll check out your uploads as well. Again, thanks!
- Dan

[-Lost But Not Forgotten-]

The Battlefield....

This reminds me of a battlefield during an epic war... The amount of emotion you can build with those string harmonics is incredible, it's an amazing talent.
Wouldn't be surprised if this snagged anywhere in the top 3, it's an incredible piece. Good work on this one!

["Warped Galaxy" Orchestral NAC]

Very majestic...

First off, the French horns at the start were great. Really set the mood with those, as well as the rising tension built up throughout the midle before diving into the strong staccato notes near the middle-end. Would be the perfect soundtrack to an epic Sci-Fi war movie, good job!

XayberOptix responds:

Thanks for your uplifting review! Have a listen to the "Encore Edition."

['11 The SuperBugs Attack]

Eek!

I'm going to come back to this song in a few hours, with all the lights turned off and see how much of it I can listen to before I start looking over my shoulder....
BOO!

Great composition from you, man!

[Ballroom, 1899 (NAC)]

Hahaha!

This one brought a smile to my face, and I did indeed have an image of people dressed in extravagant Victorian Era clothing dancing prudently around an extraordinary ballroom while listening to this song. Greatly uplifting, an excellent entry!

[NP - The False Memory]

Hmm.....

This one is harder to review than the rest. I almost feel like it wasn't dark enough in some parts, and that it would have been much better if it was consistently dark and ambient, with fewer major sections (but not gone completely, the harmonic section in the middle was very nice.) Still, I enjoyed the creepiness of the darker parts. It felt very mischeivous, and I think thats one of the things that appealed to me :P. But like I said, the inbalance between the lighter major parts and the darker dischordant sections put me off a bit. Good luck in the competition!

ProudAardvark responds:

Hey, thanks for the review. So, like it or not, that feeling of uneasiness was exactly what I was going for. The sweeter / brighter sections get undermined and subverted by the darker middle section.

[==(Sunken City)==]

Mesmerizing...

The intro was fantastic, loved the melody coming from the pizzicato strings. It really did have the essence of travelling through some sort of underwater civilisation or perhaps a shipwreck. Perfectly ambient, I could listen to this for ages... and the strange harmonics coming from the flute were awesome, I really liked those. The ending was a bit abrupt for my liking, but overall the song is excellent. With a song like this, I reckon you'll do a *bit* better than 8th place!

[Spirit Rising (NAC)]

Emotional, but peaceful

I'm not sure whther that is what you were trying to get, but I was quite relaxed by this. The trumpet at about 1:05 was magnificant, I could feel a lot of emotion in them. The use of the bells (or chimes?) abour halfway through was very well done.
The intro felt a bit unstructured however, that's my only criticism.
Overall, an exceptionally emotional piece, fantastic work!

popraz responds:

Thank you ! The relaxed feeling was indeed my goal. The intro was meant to be sort of undefined, so by the end it reaches what is supposed to be a kind of catharsis.