EpikHellSword's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Alice is Dead]

I have been looking so long for this song! It's so relaxing. Your vocals really complement the relaxing instruments and overall tone of the song. Speaking of the tone I love the piano and drum riffs. They really flow with your voice.

The lyrics really reflect the story summarizing the trilogy and the story that has been told so far whilst foreshadowing the end of the game. This song also has a lot of replay value. It is something I can see a majority of people enjoying. The fade out with the piano at the end of the song is perfect as it allows for an easy loop if needed.

The only issue I have is the "alice is dead" ad lib is a bit too low on volume. It should have been whispered a little louder so we can hear it.

Very iconic!

[Reditus Solis]

Very upbeat with smooth transitions. I especially like the victory tune nod at the end however I felt that the transition was abrupt instead of smooth. Maybe increasing the volume a bit for the battle victory theme would make it feel more complementary to the track.

[Hit it !]

I can imagine Samurai Jack dancing to this in the Rave. Is the thump at 0:30 called distortion? It complements well with the squeaking, claps, and background vocals. I wish I knew more about instrumentals to nitpick more.

[Feel The Beat]

I love the chill vibes I get from this and how the instrumentals at 0:06 sound like acapella. And when that beat drops with the trumpet, clap, bass, and other instrument it is done REALLY smoothly. The overall mixing of the instrumentals are just done so fluidly. The bass patterns were integrated excellently as well and that fade in was perfect! My favorite part was probably the trumpet as it really brought the beat together. This is energizing and relaxing!

[Muse - OST]

That was such a smooth opener. This gives me a kind of space vibe with the blend and integration of the strings, percussions, high hats, and other instruments. I wish I knew the instrument used for the riff of the first song though. I love the smooth transitions into the next track as well whether it seems like a continuation from one track with a sudden beat change or just a fade out into the next. I'll have to watch your breakdown to see the individual instruments. Awesome work.

Irish-Soul responds:

Thanks for the review! If you are referring to the horn sound at 0:20 that was made with a preset from “ARKHIS.” The transition noise was custom designed in “Rise & Hit.” Both of those VSTs are Kontakt instruments from Native Instruments.

Out of all of my VSTs I probably used ARKHIS the most for ambient stuff when I didn’t have time to orchestrate it out. Could I have done it? Yes, but I had deadlines to meet haha

[Killer RAT - Cold And Lovely]

Well, the instrumental certainly is catchy. The vocals coming in were perfect complementaing the riff. Necrophillia being the topic certainly was different. My favorite verse was the third one (The "My bride has died..." part. Btw, you said, "Bitch doesn't deserve a life at 2:44 and the description says "she")
The cup hitting a platform during the buildup should gradually get louder-it started to, but got softer, not even before the first verse. Additionally, the pattern of the cups was not steady with the beat, you should let each instrumental get introduced in a fluid pattern to harmonize them. The background vocals had some static in them starting at 02:32 so you may want to watch the volume of that.
Fantastic work.

guyfromKillerRAT responds:

yes thank you for pointing our inconsistencies with the described lyrics. I will fix that. The "cup hitting the platform" is supposed to be the guy walking back to his car, the crash before it was the coffin being tossed into his trunk. His trunk is really big.

The static vocals were purely intentional

[(DEMO) Lonely Night Solo Session]

The instrumental is very smooth. I especially liked the unique scratching of the guitar at 2:37. However the background creaks were distracting and the audio quality the vocals vastly contrasted with the instrumental. Also delivery like 3:14 seem to be not on beat because there is too much lyrics in the line to flow smoothly with the melody. I also enjoyed the ending with the high hat.

guyfromKillerRAT responds:

yes I hate my vocal track on this song

thankyaw thankyaw xoxo

[The Blazin' Bandit - OST]

It definitely sounds like an unique take on the Western music theme for movies. I like how it sounds cinematic and seems like something for the introduction of a movie. Each instrumental blends excellently easy complementing each other exquisitely while the fade out is masterfully handcrafted. Outstanding work!

And to address the "countdown" critique below, I imagine this being used in a movie so that beat taken was put in place so that the scene's tone could switch. It's a common technique put into all forms of media.

Irish-Soul responds:

Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed this western soundtrack! I still have to talk with my co-director but I may post the film on youtube

Edit: I put the video in the description :)

[Empty Soul]

This is a fine instrumental. However, although the melody and the percussions sound eerie, it's the same repetitive sound and gets bland REALLY fast. Some suggestions I would make it to perhaps change the tempo of the percussions sometimes in the track or even better add something to increase the feeling of eeriness as with just the snare and kick it feels like it has very little emotion.

0DRONZER responds:

sadly i don't remember what samples i used to make this, but yeah it does get repetitive very fast i will try to remake it someday

[Ghost Dance - NGUAC 2020]

The sound of the guitar really complements the ocean and chill feeling this instrumental gives, the little chimes with it adds charm, the drums really get the beat going once they start synchronizing. The tempo switch and I'm assuming that's an 808 at 1:58 adding a new relaxing flow to the instrumental. The fade out was perfect as well!

Irish-Soul responds:

Thank you so much for the kind words! At 1:58 I took a synth from the kontakt factory library and edited it to sound like a theremin, an instrument typically used in sci-fi soundtracks and such.