Gravey's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Stormblast]

Wow...

When I think of Stormblast I think of Dimmu-Borgir and epicness. Didn't really get that feeling from this at all.

I'm not sure what to say about the song itself, cause I don't like any of it really. The riffs are simple and dull. They don't grab my attention at all.

As for the drums, you had some nice blast beats in there, which was cool. But they sound like shit man. EQ and compress the drums. In fact EQ and compress everything about 2 times. That would really help.

And this is so transparent for a metal song. There is nothing going on in the background. I mean yea, not everyone needs 5,000 things happening at once to be happy, but layers are good. Layers are VERY good. So add some more guitars, some keys, some synths, some...well...ANYTHING! Just do something other than throw some really basic death riffs and blast beats together.

Cause this is pretty bad man. And the worst part is it is so quiet. Like I said, EQ and compress, then EQ and compress again if you have to. 1/5 and 2/10, cause this really didn't have much other than the blast beats going for it.

Good luck working on future projects man.

-Gravey-

PENTAhazardous responds:

About the track, it has nothing to do with Gimme Burger at all, it's a one-shot song... others I did in days, in some month or even more... this one was made in a few hours and the idea kinda came while I was listening to Hypocrisy's Point Of No Return... (there is a riff, near the end of the track, that is somehow similar to one from that track). I'm more interested in the structure of the song. I can't be too technical when I'm using VSTs (all of the instruments), and all the instruments are EQed and Compressed and Limited and there are a lot of other plugins... There is a moment when...... for example: the bass is "on", along with some cymbals and the bass drum, after this, the whole instruments kick in... if I'll do what you're suggesting (eq-ing, compressing more then they already are), when the other instruments go "on" the guitars will be a bit too cutted off... this is caused by the low frequencies, bass guitar and bass drum mostly... The way the track is done right now, it's limiting a lot this problem... I'm using 2 guitars of a kind (Left and Right). The difference between them is made by the soft's EQ and some other plugins... and Amplitube. The problem is, if you're putting the same instrument on left and on right, the soft it's going to play it on the middle, like a mono channel, but I avoided this problem, It doesen't need layers. The guitars are filling very well the left and the right channel, so I don't see any problem here, and this track doesen't have in it keyboards because I didn't wanted keyboards... I tried to make an extreme metal track something close to black metal. It didn't turned out very well, but, it's nice as an experiment. I'm not going to change it because you or any other person want that... I mean... to make it longer add some other riffs, keyboards and all that stuff... I didn't wanted to do that with this track, and you don't have to like it. I like it this way and that's what matters.
Now don't get me wrong, it didn't bothered me at all what you wrote about it, actually... finally there is some one that came with ideas and real critics about one of my songs...
Thanks a lot for reviewing man... I hope to here more from you in the future... on other tracks ;)

[F.c.p.r.e.m.i.x. Sasha Tarquin]

Wrong Genre...

This isn't metal. It is rock. If you consider this metal than I'm sorry, but you don't listen to much real metal. Although, it is more metal than anything Metallica or In Flames has put out in a long time. So I guess it could be worse.

Now as far as the song itself, I like the riffs you used. Very nifty, but alas not metal. I don't like the distortion you used, it is to soft. You need something crunchy and rude. Think about what it would be like to eat glass, and then try to emulate what that would feel like into what the guitar distortion should be. Cause chewing on glass, that is brutal, and brutal is metal! X-D

The drums are slow and flat out boring. If you want metal, there needs to be some blast beats somewhere. Although the beats are nifty for a rock song.

4/5 and 9/10 as a rock song.

But yea, as a metal song I give it 1/5 and 1/10. If you want it to be metal, it has to be heavy and brutal. Nothing really heavy, or brutal in the least about this song.

-Gravey-

[Xi:Xi]

Cool...

I feel a little Dillinger Escape Plan in this song.

The riff that kicks in around the 0:40 mark is awesome. Then the next section after that is fucking kickass! Really I love all the guitar parts in this song except the riff around the 2:00 mark. It kinda annoyed me, but you win some and you lose some right?!

The drums aren't the best, they need to be faster in my opinion. What can I say, I'm a blast beat enthusiast!!! :-D Overall though nicely done!

5/5 and 9/10, cause I think it is a great song, but not quite perfect.

-Gravey-

PenguinBomb responds:

lol I'm glad you know about dillinger, I used to listen to them a good amount, not a fan of their new stuff though. lolz the part at 2:00 is actually my favorite. I like weird dissonant tapping riffs :D :D

And yeah, drums, I'm not a huge "death"/brutal metal kind of guy, so I don't like really agressive drums, and because I don't have means of recording real drums, I work with what I got. Thanks for reviewing my stuffs though, you leave better reviews than everyone else :D From the sound of your music you also obviously know what you're talking about too. Cheers!

-P.B.

[Black Canvas Order Redux]

Interesting...

The guitars are alright sounding, but I think you should go with a heavier distortion. This distortion doesn't grab me by the balls like I want metal songs to. The guitar that comes in around the 1:00 mark is awesome though as a lead. Good choice there.

I have to second BlackFear's opinion on the drums. Really really bad. First off, the cymbals need to be cleaner. It sounds like they have a wah wah effect on them or something. Not clean sounding at all. The kick could be crisper as well, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the cymbal crashes.

I couldn't hear much of the bass at all, which is something I hate about metal. Obviously in the beginning I could cause nothing else was playing. But after that it kinda vanished, and the bass is a lost art in metal.

Overall though very nicely done. I liked the overarching sound you got with this. Maybe some vocals to along with this sometime? ;-) 8/10 and 4/5, because there is still some work to be done.

Good luck man, and I hope this helped somehow.

-Gravey-

himenow responds:

The guitars aren't "wide" enough, yknow, I can't really do that :/

And yes it did help, thanks for the comment, bro. :)

[Shadow In The Sun]

Interesting...

You have a nifty little sound going here. I like when it kicks in around the 0:40 mark. Really hits nicely there, and the riff is pretty intense. Although, not the most original.

Oh wow, around the 1:10 mark you went kinda weak. Reminds me a bit of new In Flames style. That isn't really a good thing, but I'll let that slide cause the first section was so good. ;-)

I like the drums, but I think you could really improve them with a few tweaks. First off, compress the hell out of them! If they are already compressed, do it again! lol Second, make them less rockish, and more metal. They are so slow at times. I want some brutal blast beats.

Oh wow, 3:40ish stop the song is pretty bad. You should change that man. The riff is really boring, and unoriginal. If nothing else, speed it up, or add something there to make it a little more interesting.

Overall a nice little tune, but one that can be improved dramatically. Like I said, the guitar work is really good in places, and really boring in others. The drums could be louder and FASTER, and vocals would be nice. But I'm not holding no vocals against you in t he score, because not everybody can sing. And it is hard finding a good vocalist. So overall I'm giving you a 3/5 and 5/10. Nice start but a lot of work to do.

Hope this gave you an idea or two. Good luck finishing it!

-Gravey-

[.: Nano Coma I :. 1of2]

Eh....

It reminds me of the new, shitty In Flames stuff. Bunch of middle aged emo men crying about how life sucks, and who wants to sound like that?! The guitar work here reminds me of them. The style of the riffs and descant guitar parts are really....well....meh. I guess if there were BRUTAL as all hell vocals this would be ok. But I'm not even sure brutal vocals would fit this guitar style.

2/5 and 3/10, cause some of the riffs are really technical. But it has that shitty whiny sound coming from the guitar at times that I hate. If you are going for that sound though, you nailed it. Personally, I hate it.

-Gravey-

[Operation: Annihilate!]

Interesting...

I like the guitar sound you picked. It sounds a lot like Mnemic's guitars. Not the style so much, but the actual sound itself when hitting those low notes in the riffs.

I like the hit near the 1:20 mark. That section is really cool, especially when you expand it near the 1:35 mark. That makes it really kickin'! Fucking groovy, and cathartic.

Not the riff around the 2:05 mark is fucking kickass! I LOVE that section! And it just keeps getting heavier as you progress through that riff into the next little sub-section.

Oh, and then the clean guitar section has a nifty little feel to it. I'm not really sure it fits with the song or not, but I like it anyways. The solo though is fucking awesome! Even though it kinda repeats itself. Maybe you didn't really consider it a solo, but rather another riff in a descant role. If so then perfectly done it was!

My only issue is the lack of fullness. Either you need to mix this into a richer sound, or add some extra stuff to it. Vocals always help, but that is not always an option, which I understand fully. You could always add a keyboard to it to help enhance the sound.

But I think I know what the main problem is. the bass, or lack thereof. I really don't hear any bass at all in this song. Which is a big issue. If nothing else you could get Fruity Loops and add a bassline with that program if you can't play bass. But being able to play guitar, I'm guessing that isn't an issue. But if it is, you should think about adding a bass part with Fruity Loops.

Fruity Loops' electric guitar sounds blow, but the basses in their Slayer section aren't half bad. Especially when mixed right in a song. Just something to contemplate anyways.

Overall I like this a lot! 5/5 and 9/10 for originality. I would normally only give you a 4/5 on it, but I'm guessing like most entries you got zero bombed at least a dozen times. So this should help balance that out ever so slightly! :-D

Nice work, and let me know when you post more stuff if you want.

-Gravey-

PenguinBomb responds:

First off, thanks for the extensive review :D

Yeah, Mnemic was one of the bands whose guitar tone I'm pretty fond of, so I try to get their neato sound with low notes. Glad you like the part around 2:05, that was actually my least favorite part, I messed it up a few times while recording, so if I ever re-record this one I'd make sure to play that part more accurately. Lolz, the clean part is actually my favorite, and no it's not a solo just a random melodic line in like 13/8 or something (until the lower guitars come in anyway). I actually do have a bass guitar, and it is recorded in there, but I have it processed like a guitar so it actually sounds like a really low guitar occasionally. And I guess the volume of the bass is this song is a little bit low, but I guess from all my recording I can definitely pick it out. I still haven't found a bass tone I'm completely satisfied with, so I'll have to do some more experimenting. As for fruity loops, that's not really my deal, although I do like to mess around in electronic stuff occasionally I like my music to have all parts played by actual people playing actual instruments (obviously this is not completely possible because I live in a dorm, so recording drum would just be IMPOSSIBLE), so aside from the drums I like to keep everything legit. Anyways, glad you liked it and thanks a lot for the review!

[Silent Echo]

Oh I like it!

I'm writing this as I'm listening to it. :-D the beginning has some Tool influence to it I do believe. A very Tool-ish riff on the opening guitar, as well as the drum cadence.

I like the overall sound of the piece. The drum change around the 1:30 mark is cool as fuck. Very nifty! Oh and that lead guitar at the 1:50ish mark is sexy as all hell. I love that sound. I also like the solo itself. It is not tempered, or out of control.

And the riff coming out of the solo is fucking cathartic!!! And when everything comes back in, it is mixed VERY nicely together. I think you could compress the drums a bit more to get a tighter sound. If this was done on Pro-Tools, try using the Bombfactory plugins, they work great on drums.

I like the vocals a lot, even though there aren't a lot of them. Very nicely done. My only beef is the fadeout. Personally I hate fadeouts because most of the time they are escapes for bands who can't write a decent ending. So fadeouts are not a really good professional way to end a song.

But other than that GREAT job here. I like it a lot. 5/5 and 9/10, mainly because of the fadeout I can't give 10/10. Nice work guys!

-Gravey-

[The End Of All To Come]

Fucking Awesome!

I love everything about this piece you wrote. The guitar parts are engaging and pulsing. And you can actually hear some bass in there as well, which is rare nowadays in metal.

That opening riff is simply epic. Fucking intense and powerful. The drums really make this a pounding, cathartic piece. Very nice job!

5/5 and 9/10, mainly because there are no vocals. I think that vocals would enhance this nicely. Don't get me wrong, this is a great piece already, but vocals do help drive a song. Great job! :-D

-Gravey

[Through the Heart of the Drago]

I Gotta Say...

I typically don't like the synth orchestra, but you do it very well. If I ever get a metal band like I want, I'm having you do background orchestral scoring for us! Cause you really come up with some epic stuff sometimes. I mean for real man, I can hear a metal piece with this playing in the background.

:-D

4/5 and 9/10. Nice piece overall.

-Gravey

Aeris responds:

Cool, sure, give me chords or music, and i'll give you something sexy.

thanks C: