Ok guys, here are my remarks. If I missed your track, please let me know.

Mourning Pyre - Blizzard
Meh. It's ok.

MawBDSM - The Dark Eidolon
Intro is really awesome and powerful. I really enjoyed the build-up. Overall the included synth effects were cool for me, as I enjoy that aggressive style of synths. The layers of guitars helped keep it interesting, especially for the first 6-7 minutes. (Sweet crunchy tone as well.) I like the direction the second half of the song went, with childhood images of epic boss battles coming to my mind. As Arkhane mentioned, the guitars were really out of time in places, but the song overall was good for me. Fine job.

Awerewa - Optics
Pretty unsettling track that'd be a perfect bed for horror genres, be that a game or movie. I don't listen to this genre of music so I can't really say anything else. It was a real tough listen for me and the whole time I was thinking that it'd fit perfectly in "The Evil Within" or a similiar type of game. Seemed to me that the guitars were out of tune in some places as well, but that could have been a choice to help build the insanely dark/evil atmosphere. Interesting, but not my cup of tea.

The Murder Cult - Swear Yourself to Me
Bass and guitars together are amazing. Very fat and thick sounding. The composition musically was cool for me, but the vocals were hard to stomach. In some of the high screams it sounded like there was distortion and clipping, and the gutteral vocals sounded out of place in areas. (Some automation and L1 would help even out the dynamics and sit in the mix.) Overall I think the bass really makes this one sound beefy.

Arkhane - The World Beyond
All I'm going to say is that when I listened to this one, it didn't feel like 20 minutes. I fucking loved the track. Yes, limitless blowjobs for you. (Just not from me, that'd be gay.)

Cloggedfister - Cadaverns
Not too sure what to make of this one. Definitely different. Some very interesting synth parts and there are instances where the drums and synth do work together quite well. Sorry I really can't think of anything else to say, it was just a very unusual collaberation.

Flittering - That Which Has Become
Was difficult for me as often the song just sounded like a lot of noise. This really isn't my style or anything I'm fan of listening to. Like Awerewa's track, it'd fit really well in a horror themed production of some sort.

Nostril Caverns - Vague Evolving Patterns
This track was very interesting to listen to. It evolved, had some strange chords and transition (or lack thereof) sections that threw me for a loop. However, you clearly can play the fucking guitar and that really made your track interesting for me. Great synth additions - really added a lot of depth and dynamics to what you were doing. Enjoyed this one.

SlaveThrone - Champion Of The Frozen Wastes
With the name and composition it definitely has a Nordic/Viking feel. Interesting even how the last section of the song takes on a very 'happy' triumphant type of tone with some good old 80's metal type riffage. I like that a lot. This is another one where the 20 minutes flew by quickly because I enjoyed it.

haha, I've been permanently rechristened MawBDSM it seems.

Thanks for the feedback guys, and for taking the time to listen to it. Yeah, it's clear now that I should have pushed for much tighter performances. Maybe someday I'll redo this.

Sorry been sorta out of it and out about, in the next couple of days I'll post my reviews as well.

Haven't seen a new review since last year, people. C'mon!

Ugh, I know. I have listened to everyone's stuff but between being super lazy over the holidays and now grappling with the existential horror of returning to work I haven't written my reviews. I will though!

I can't seem to get caught up. and when I get home in the evening I'm tired. it might be sunday. but it might not depending what else I haven't managed to finish this week.

Thanks for the listens/reviews so far! I still haven't even downloaded the compilation yet.. I have to download it at work with the faster internet, but have been doing other internet-related things first. I still haven't reviewed the previous challenge, so I'm basically a bad person and my reviews suck anyway.

just do like everyone else. type a couple of sentences

Do like KFD and be completely vague and misunderstood.

KFD reviews:

this sucks
this sucks
this sucks

this is mine and it's awesome and is what all should strive for. it's the most interesting thing to be conjured up in the last 100 years

this sucks
this sucks

Hah, I'll get to this sometime. It's just the daunting nature of listening to/reviewing so much stuff combined with being really busy. It's coming though I swear.

I'm about halfway through with my notes on all this, and I'm really appreciating all of the feedback so far. Yeah, it's super daunting to have such a huge amount of stuff to go over.

I'll rate SLK's KFD impression though. This is a good impression, but it could have been a little more racist and ranted about capitalism while noting that hi hats' height cannot possibly be adjusted. 8/10.

Yea. Pretty much spot on. Also, it seems we are enjoying our music too much, so we need to tone that shit down. Music is not meant for that.

hahah yea that's true. I'm going to be posting my goods today. giving final listens while drinking so they might get less coherant as I go on but I just started

first 3

Cadaverns (collab with Clogged and CorpseFister)-
begining reminds me of Perturbator but you know with real drums. the overtly busy snare I'm not digging as much it... I'm not sure if it's cause of how you mixed it or what but it doesn't seem like it's a natural decay with ghost hits and all. around 3mins now it goes into some final fantasy shit the drums work more for me here and the snare while still same complaints... sounds better. I like the farty sounding bass drone thing added. sounds like one of those tiny basses with rubber strings I've played on a few times and wondered why anyone would want that exact sound there. I faded out for a bit so I rewound back, pertabator again but as in build ups to a full 4/4 I like the drumming here it's more fitting cause it's like a build to what should be a good drop.. fade to drum fuck off but I like it with the ultra ambience. And 11mins is interesting but it like an intro that doesn't move aside from the drums..14mins I do like this overall but it's like total background music to me cause it sounds like fucking off on both accounts but interesting to say the least I like the drumming I like the synths but it's not like a build up and release, it's just sorta a collection of ideas ran through. now if you took this and broke this down into sections and treated each one as if it was it's on composition and expanded on them from there I'd be far more about it.


Nostril Caverns - Vague Evolving Patterns Clogged-
I know what you are doing at the begining but I am not the biggest fan just wanted that kick to match up with it... talking the very first 10 seconds. love how it kicks in and how it all is grim with the symth faintly in there and then gets crackheaded. it's like a moment of clarity while having a schizo fit. I feel the death metal vocals could be up a tad more since they are far lower than the reg black metal vocals. at that 1:53 you did what I wanted you to do at the start. and I love just overall how the atmosphere feels. to me it's not too chaotic and flows extremely well, there are some overall parts that remind me of screamo/indie bands that just sorta always comes through in your work as in the best way. 3 mins is is great. I like how it sorta reminds me of ampere that's more blackened or circle takes the square and some more calmer of both bands. I enjoy when both guitars go to super high ranges and it's almost like they are falling apart like they are so super delicate. The math rock part at 6 mins is just tits as hell. And there are parts here that can are hypnotically repeated to great effect like at 8 mins and then it goes into a transistion that is really ctts or city of catepillar.. and I really like how the synth is further back in the mix and you keep going back some similar motifs and cutting to clean guitar just for a moment or two. I love how around 11mins it's more controlled and reigned in and raging as fuck. lot more 'normal' metal ideas take place and it's really grabbing. and it even gets better at 16mins. when you intermix that 'calm' more with the chaos it all stands out so much more. my only complaint... buy a goddamn bass and add bass, another layer of awesomeness is always welcomes.

Arkhane - The World Beyond
reminds me of alice of chains starting out, some reverb to your vocals would be awesome. That build with the chants is great now I see why you didn't have the reverb at the very begining. Everything dropping in is very very nice great building up. When it starts to crush at 4 mins reminds me of a bit more laxed Therion. their later years. and I like those years alot.I enjoy the swaying more meaty riffing with the death vocals, I kinda wish they weren't so dry also the blackened vocals are a bit low to me and have that same dryness. just a little reverb, the echo you use on the cleans is a bit much but dialed back some. and at 6mins where it goes from clean to dirt. that's thrilling and how you carry it out is fantastic. those are some great vocals. and how it breaks back down to just the strumming and the choir-esc effect of wash clean vocals. very sweet. And the building up right before 10mins, it's massive when it reaches the peak. Hell at that 12min mark that is a killer breaking point for one song so I take what comes next as part 2 to a single idea. the transition into the death could've been better. as in not it descreasing in vol but all of a sudden the distortion kicks off and leaves it like a limp dick in the wind. but everything after is solid as fuck. the dirt vocals sound better since they are doubled. but the single growls could be layered with reverb and a tiny bit louder. there could be even more lyrics carried on in this section or a lead. towards the end it kinda reminds me of Hate in their longer passages. I don't know why you thought I would hate this. Shit right at the end that dueling guitar I wish you incorrporated it more towards the ending or even expanded on it more

part 2
Mourning Pyre - Blizzard- loving the quick build with the sample and then it smashing right the fuck in. great programming, guitars could be up a cunt hair. Oh when it gets more fully in and with that lead it's great for the mix. loving this build. 3mins in and I love the transitions and everything but I'm guessing this is instrumental. I really think any or some vocals would be great other than that I really enjoy it as a solid track I thought it was a solid end at 9mins in. not tiring great transitions to keep me intrested though I'm not as thrilled with instrumental anything. But that's just me cause I always think of how I would layer down vocals in a rhythemic pattern. Love the crush after the piano, though that seemed almost a bit too long kinda wished it was some more build of instruments with the piano to usher in the onslaught. at 14mins is pure sex to me. I didn't like the clean cut at 18mins. i wish somehow maybe the synth/choirs was underneath already going to bridge them better before the cut and then the glorius clashing down. and I hate to say it some parts of this reminds me of Underoath's The Changing of Times which I find absolutely fabulous and no fucks given.Will fight someone over that. but great job outside of the no vocals, I'll continue to harp on forever.

Slavethrone - Champion of the Frozen Wastes
Fuck long ass piano intro. I kinda find the whole intro way drawn out. like I had to restart multiple times to full realize when it starts into the meat of the song. Good build as it comes in. Wish the guitars took a more commanding roll over the synths. not bad but I hear them more as it rolls on by. The leads sorta just get buried in a muck of everything. Also assuming this is all instrumental as well. I can hear where it can easily carry vocals over the whole ordeal. Ehh not digging the folky acoustic that's not acoustic doesn't lead back into the 13min mark of awesomeness that I dug. I wish I can say much more but it's sorta background with no vocals. nothing more hit me out. it did end nicely with going to the piano piece at the very end.

The Murder Cult - Swear Yourself to Me-
Grit guitar tone I love, grit bass tone that devestates. this build up is just what I love and that bass just cutting through is so awesome. wish these drums were a bit more 'organic' just a bit too mechanical for this but it's awesome great so far. the vocals could be blended more into the mix so it's not so kereoke. goddamn them vocals are way too loud and make the entire piece sound so much more amaturish. the black metal shrieks sound more balanced within the song. 18mins drop out is awesome and build back up. really overall if the vocals would be balanced more I could say more.

Awerewa - Optics
Loving this lead in. sounds like in anticipation for horror and dissonance.. the vocals and direction well... the vocals are odd not what I expected. the music I like but I guess i'll be lacking some percussion and bass... 3mins I hear some bass in that vast background or i'm imagining it. I heard a cymbal I think/ and I guess a snare. the guitars are great I love the chaotic dissonance ringing out but with everything so in the background it comes across as background jamming on ideas.

part 3.

MawBDSM - The Dark Eidolon
starting out with that synth build with some 4/4 with the drums, even when it comes with the double bass. i can dig reminds me how I felt about the Kovenant before they went another minute into their album and I lost all hope. the double up guitars almost sound off a fraction of a second... guitars are too far in the background when they are distorted. also disappointed this is instrumental. has some good transitions back and forth from clean to industrial.5 min solo is very tasteful. I dig the industrial tinges even though in some spots it gets iffy in the timing. I like the more blackened picked pieces. as it trudges on to the 13min mark it sorta just gets dull. I actually like it far more when the synth picks up and goes into far more dancy sounding material. and leaning right into the more aggressive metal parts is actually quite awesome. I like the dual leads.and with the keyboards coming in for that lead at 18mins, if it was down a hair it would have been massively awesome. I still enjoyed it but it almost pierced the fuck out of my eardrums

Flittering- That Which Has Become
space whistles into choirs... wish there was a bit more lower/bass range in the choir. The higher whine kinda reminds me of some wailing middle eastern woman praising some dead god no one cares about. transition from choir to song could've been a bit more dramatic and flowing better. kicks could be higher. could've tightened up the feedback on some parts but it does feed into the chaos. though the guitars are sorta slop they work as a wall of dissonance.

if I've forgotten anyone. let me know.

Yea, I think I should have expanded on my reviews a little bit. Maybe they were too long of songs to do just an overall opinion.

Yea that's why I kinda just do mine as I listen, regardless if I've listened before I like to revisit and still write my impressions as I feel them.

Thanks to everyone who has given feedback so far. The input I’ve received has been very helpful and I’ve decided to continue with this direction as a project. As a whole, these were impressive and showed me that I really need to up my recording and mixing game. Lots of really interesting bits and unexpected moments. Anyways, here are my brutally honest notes, if anyone wants me to elaborate, let me know:

The World Beyond:

This has really nice vocal work in the intro, it’s a really relaxed delivery but still quite strong. The overall feel of the intro however was way too airy for me. Once things start to kick into gear you have a really nice blend of heavier elements with the more peaceful sounding bits. This is the kind of stuff that has the potential to get fairly popular, nice work. In the later half of the song I think the snare could have been toned down just a bit in volume at times, but that’s a quirky personal taste of mine. I should mention though that the overall production is top-notch. My favorite part of this is when the solo comes in towards the end. There is such an epic feel just through the use of rather straightforward riffs, so when you add the lead on top of it everything gets a really triumphant vibe to it.

The Blizzard:

Mixing wise, you really nailed this track. Lush, full sound, with each bit wonderfully clear. On the composition side, I think I get what you were going for with this, but the mood in the song often came across as really mawkish. This was especially when you have the symphonic elements all going in unison with the lead guitars, like at 7:30, it’s overwhelmingly melodramatic. I get that this is part of the style, but I feel kinda slapped in the face by the grandeur of it all (even in the second minute) and think the song does better when you pull back in that regard or build up to it more gradually. An example of you doing this really well is how the part right after the beautiful piano interlude is really intense, but works great because you laid the foundation for it in both the melody and the overall pacing. The bit starting at 17:00 works well for the same reasons. I have to mention that the guitar interplay at around 5:00 onwards for about a minute with the soloing bits mirroring one another is really fucking smart stuff, it really brings of the melody you wrote in an interesting way.

Cadaverns:

Sorry, but this was like oil and water for me. Technical angular drumming with slow-attack pad-based synths really clashed against one another, making it hard to appreciate either even though each had their independent merits. In the mid section, where the synths pick up the speed a bit with the step-sequencer or whatever, things work a bit better. That really brassy sounding pad was pretty rough compared to how nice the others sounded. The ending on this though is pretty cool, unique kinda psychedelic feel.

Flittering:

I still can’t get over how cool this intro is - so dirgey that it’s probably what Xasthur is trying to go for at times even though that isn’t really a comparable band to the complete track. As usual, this is really dense and demanding music and that makes it easy to space out to and almost gloss over everything that is going on. Fortunately you use a lot of signpost type musical bits to direct things - a distinctive riff change, a huge growl here, squeaking noise there; these attention grabbing things help keep the track from becoming a meaningless wash of aggression (in contrast to a band like Antediluvian that doesn’t manage that as well.) I’ve heard a fair bit of your music now over the years and the slightly stronger emphasis on the moaning/ whirling noises and vocal variety here is a real boon to what you are doing. This was so heavy it literally shook a guitar pick off of my speaker, which is really cool and all, but you owe me a new pick now.

Vague Evolving Patterns:

This is what I imagine fractal geometry sounds like. Not entirely up my alley, but this is a well written song because even in the most angular melody-jumping moments, you still imply certain chord progressions. Then in the lighter moments it builds on those bits to make the whole thing still very coherent. On the low-end of the mix though, I think you’re missing out and it makes the guitars and drums sound disconnected. In short, bass would do wonders to this track. Another suggestion I have is doing something to flesh out the vocals because they are fairly thin. The drumming and energetic guitar work draw a lot of attention to the point that the vocals are also pretty overshadowed by them.

The Dark Eidolon:

This one felt pretty underdeveloped in that it seems like something is missing. It’s as if it was written with the idea that vocals would be added, but they never were. It may be that the transitions between riffs weren’t convincing to me, but I think this just needs vocals. I won’t harp on the guitar timing, since others mentioned that previously. The song kind of dragged for me though, and I’m going crazy trying to figure out what the part at 14:00 sounds like - it reminds me of some famous song - I seriously just browsed through a dozen Goldfrapp and Daft Punk songs. AHHH! Anyway, sounding like a popular song is probably a good sign if you are going for broad appeal. The riff at around the 16 minute mark is really cool, gives off kind of a Melechesh vibe and had a nice flow to it but I think in the grand scheme it didn’t tie together well.

Champion of the Frozen Wastes:

The intro felt a bit overlong for the amount of variation it had, it sounds quite nice and all but seemed like you were stretching your ideas a tad thin initially. Once things get going, the kick drum sounds really clicky and the snare-kick-kick-kick pattern really draws a lot of attention to that. Having said that, the riffing has a solid atmosphere to it and I wish that the guitars were more prominent compared to the synth and drums. At around 17:00 you have the bass doing these quarter notes and it just absolutely dominates the mix, which wouldn’t be a problem but I don’t think the bass tone as it is really justifies taking center stage. This is another song that would have benefited from having vocals, but it’s nice that it has a memorable atmosphere throughout the song to hold it together.

Swear Yourself to Me:

Others have pointed this out, but the bass tone on this is really good and crunchy. When the guitar picks up in speed I like how it also goes out of time a little bit, the choppiness gives a really authentic feel to the performance. The vocal approach is a little clippy, but I think that since it’s in moderation overall that it makes everything work out. What it does, is make the intensity of your approach more at the forefront and you were careful to not let it create massive volume spike problems. I wish this had more changes in tempo though, since you stay in the same time a bit and the existing changes are really good; I think it would help accent some of the grooves you develop. The pacing is pretty languorous, but it still wasn’t a chore to listen to because of how the tremolo picking pulls in and out of the song. This is also nice, in that it doesn’t follow into any of the narrow black metal sub-genres too easily.

thanks for the review! I'll get you a fine pick that I use to craft. I'm glad it does sound like I'm improving and expanding. Sometimes I don't even know anymore.

Thanks a lot for your thoughts! I am not ashamed that I had to look up what mawkish meant. Once I saw the definition I had to smile because that is an aspect of my writing that's been criticized more than once by others. I definitely can get a bit too wrapped up in that. I've been recently kicking around the idea of working on it a bit more to refine it with a few different heavier parts and maybe break it up in to a 'concept EP' of sorts. Anyway, thanks for giving your feedback on and all the other tracks. Super appreciated!

Hahaha, I'm a lazy fuck, this took me forever to do, but here are your reviews! This was a super, super ambitious challenge so despite any harsh words in the individual reviews lemme just say that I applaud everyone for actually completing 20+ minute recordings as that's no mean feat.

Mourning Pyre - The Blizzard

Alright, this is twenty minutes long, so starting out with some nature samples and some washing guitar then some blastbeats is about right. I'm not really the biggest fan of the drum production but otherwise this is drawing favorable comparisons to some Cascadian black metal. I'm really digging the guitar layering going on in this track; oftentimes you've got three distinct guitar things happening at the same time, which really mesh well together rather than sounding overly busy or muddled. There's also some really nice sounding synths in here. While every part of the song flows effectively into the next part and there are some really welcome changes in pacing and in mood (like that dreary neoclassical meets Elysian Blaze-ish piano part), the fast parts have a decidedly "atmospheric black metal jam session" vibe to it that kind of takes away from the sense of direction and purpose of the track. Maybe vocals would've helped but I dunno, other than during the piano part I couldn't help but feel like this was a song that didn't really want to be twenty minutes long but was forced to be. Could be that slightly more engaging riffs would've done a lot, too, since a lot of times the riffs themselves are dead simple chord patterns while the tremolo guitar leads are the sole source of variation over minutes at a clip. Very pretty stuff to listen to, but left me wanting.


CloggedUrethra/CorpseFister Collab - Cadaverns

I like CorpseFister's post-punk band, but can't remember details about his past participation in these songwriting contests. CloggedUrethra is a super talented dude but his hyperactive, busy songwriting and instrumental style is basically the exact opposite of what I enjoy in music, and unfortunately it essentially totally ruins this track for me. This is basically some swooning, soaring, gentle space synth stuff with the worst ADHD spastic drumming all over it. I'm actually having a lot of difficulty imagining a more frustrating music experience because I really want to just lay back and let the synths take me somewhere else, but those goddamn drums ARRGGGHHHH. Maybe if you were trying to do zazen meditation and a bunch of cats were raping each other just beyond arm's length it'd be something of a similar ordeal. Is there a version of this with no drums? I'd like to hear that I think.


Arkhane - The World Beyond

Hah, shocking change of pace with this one. This is starting out kind of like some mixture of the more laid back acoustic Alice in Chains EPs and maybe A Perfect Circle or something. The really strange thing, though, is that with the two previous tracks I basically understood their M.O. right out of the gate, but I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head around how this is going to wind up being a twenty minute song. Maybe this is like Acid Bath but I'm not really sure since I never really liked Acid Bath all that much for some reason. The more powerful clean vocals during the metal parts are actually reminding me a whole lot of Ereb Altor, which is definitely a good thing. Also, despite the slightly strange dry sound to the electric guitars, I'm actually really liking some of these riffs and the overall flow of this song. Perhaps because I'm such a big sucker for waltz time, I dunno. You also did a good job of burying a pretty bland drum programming job thoroughly underneath the riffs and vocals so that it does its timekeeping job just fine without making itself too obvious or otherwise irritating. That's really one of two correct paths with drum programming: either make it so unobtrusive people don't even think about it (like here) or make it so unique it seems like a stylistic choice rather than a substitute for real drums (i.e. Summoning). Anyway my only real complaint about this song is that part around twelve and a half minutes in where you bash on that chord a few times then bring in that strummed guitar before going back into the heavy extreme metal part - that's the only part of the song where I really got the impression you were padding out some time requirement rather than just letting the song flow naturally. This is probably my favorite track of the competition so far.


Flittering - That Which Has Become

Weird chants and screeching synth(?) noises starting this one off. I was prepped for crawling, filthy chaos but the faltering yet steady drums and slow alien buildup of this intro have me intrigued. I was even more excited when some guitars and more "regular" vocals came in and the song seemed like it was really gonna progress along the lines laid out by the intro, especially as the drums kept doing that odd beat, but then a couple minutes in we get the rectum-of-the-earth vocals and demented chaos guitar that I was both expecting and kind of fearing to be honest. Lots of blasts and mushy guitar and after a handful of minutes of it I'm kind of wondering how I plan on lasting twenty more. This is an interesting take on Lovecraftian horror caverncore because typically that genre likes to try to be some sort of musical reflection of cosmic madness, the soundtrack to a tale of the unknowable and malevolent unfathomable power from beyond space and time, but this is totally different - this is just the ugly shit that keeps repeating in the main character's head over and over for decades until he finally loses his shit and goes and joins a Nyarlahotep cult and offers himself up as a sacrifice or some damn thing. WHEN WILL IT STOOOOOOP oh there it goes finally.


Nostril Caverns - Vague Evolving Patterns

Really not looking forward to this one, especially after following the original thread for this challenge and seeing that Clogged definitely wrote the song in a linear fashion. In reality, this is possibly even more irritating than I thought it would be because there are vague hints of neat ideas here and there, with chords or synth sounds that work really well, but at any given time there are typically at least two different things actively annoying me, most often the drums or the vocals but also the skronking bleating guitars. But yeah while there are distinct movements of this song where riffs repeat or whatever overall it does give the general impression of a typical Nostril Caverns riff salad clusterfuck where it's just one spastic thing after another but this time it's twenty minutes of it an man, it's an ordeal I tell you what. At least it does have some interesting stuff here and there and changes things up often enough that I can sorta pay attention to it without constantly hating it so I guess it's only my second least favorite so far.


MawBTS - Dark Eidolon

Already really into the synths that kick this one off. Very Mass Effect, fuck yeah. Once the drums get a bit more aggressive my worries are coming up a bit as I was really hoping this would be some properly spacey black metal or something but now I'm worried this is gonna be some kind of like prog death or something. Once this gets going, though, it's basically just like a thrash instrumental I guess. Other than some little timing issues here and there this is well-executed and sounds pretty good the whole time, but like some other songs in this competition this definitely feels a lot more like a string ideas just sorta put end to end to meet a time requirement more than a song that wanted to be (or needed to be) twenty minutes long from the outset. I mean shit, plenty of professional, well-liked bands kinda suck when they attempt stuff like this, so I reckon it's pretty hard to write a song this long and have the whole thing instilled with a sense of purpose. Anyway back to the song - the synths sound good but as a riff slideshow I'm just not really taken with any of the riffs here and the dancey drum beat eventually gets really irritating. By the end this is really starting to feel like one of those live shows you go to where instead of playing the songs you wanna hear the band just jams on the fade out to some song for like twenty fuckin' minutes and you go get a beer.


Awewera - Optics

Haha, you know, a lot of songs so far in this competition have started with really promising intros but then pretty much totally let me down, so the ugly weird guitar that kicks this one off in a less than great way actually has me kind of excited for the rest of the track. At least it should be weird. I hope? Ok maybe there's no rule. There's no percussion in this so far other than just someone whacking on a cymbal, which is kinda weird. The vocals are like some guy passing a kidney stone and cussing out his neighbor at the same time. This is uh...art metal? It feels basically totally improvised or something. It says "experimental" but yeah I dunno. I probably sound like everyone who's ever looked at a Jackson Pollock painting and gone, "well shit, I could do that!" but yeah this basically sounds like if you handed a drunk kid his first guitar and made it super loud and told him to try his best to annoy everyone in that particular Guitar Center for as long as possible while that kidney stone guy creates a distraction by yelling about not getting his customer reward points for the $3 used cable he bought and which he will now be returning THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Man sorry, this one is terrible.


The Murder Cult - Swear Yourself to Me

Alright, this one sounds fuckin' nasty right off the bat. Love that bass tone, and even just a short while in I can tell there's a strong sense of melody at work here. I've just got my fingers crossed that the drums and (hopefully!) vocals bring this all together and that the huge running length will be better justified here than in some of the previous entries. I like the vocal performance but unfortunately the production kinda gets wrecked when the vocals come in. The vocals get really loud and push everything else (the guitars especially) really far down in the mix. I'd love to hear a remixed version of this track as those production issues really hamper what could otherwise be a really cool black/doom song. Really good balance of ugly, tortured primal stuff and hopeless melodic beauty. I really like the droning guitars toward the end of this, too. Man, this song really does sound like it was meant to be/had to be twenty minutes long, so huge props to you for not just working within the confines of the challenge but actually using it to your advantage to make this sprawling monster. I'd really love to hear this with a live drummer and better production because this is a cool track.


SlaveThrone - Champion of the Frozen Wastes

Blend of Enslaved and Darkthrone? We'll see. Icy synth string intro - good. I'm also liking the tune once the metal instrumentation comes in, but the whole thing has this kind of flimsy, distant production. The guitars are kind of just a wash that blends together with the synths, and the drum programming is really front-and-center. Like that The Murder Cult song, I'd really like to hear this one with a different mix. Shit, I only just now realized that apart from the rhythm guitars there's also sort of a tremolo lead right down the middle that I can only just make out with the volume cranked way up. If I focus my earballs enough it sounds good to me. I just wish the production favored the non-drum parts of this recording more, and made the instruments stand out a little more from each other. Wall-of-sound production can work well in styles like this, but this isn't a well-executed example of the technique and instead just cries for more clarity. What this really cries for, though, are vocals. Sometimes you hear an instrumental track that works perfectly well on its own, with movements designed to fulfill every part of a complete listening experience on their own, but in this song I can't help but hear a big gaping hole where vocals ought to be. I was also super pleasantly surprised by that acoustic break in the middle - that was really pretty stuff - but then it just jarringly shifted back to that really muffled metal part. The transition to that part worked fine, but I think it would've been way better had you done some sorta buildup or something where you brought the metal instrumentation back in more gradually while still doing the acoustic bit then finally exploded into the aggressive part where you take away the acoustic. Would've been great. Anyway there's a lot of cool stuff in this track and other than that one little misstep I think the songwriting was also really solid. I just would love to hear this with better production and vocals. Imagine some really searing black metal screams and layered chants like Caladan Brood or something...yeahhhh that'd rule.

It's all good, brutha. Better late than never. I really wanted to do more time sig changes, but I kept getting ideas that went with the previous riffs and all. So eventually, I ended up doing a two part song structure. I was hoping the more hectic pacing would help progress the narrative of the story, contradicting the easy going pace of the first 12 minutes. But I guess that's something to work on next time I want to write an epic.

Anyway, thank you NotBatman. It's nice to see reviews still coming out.

Oh I just meant that your song was a shocking change of pace from the previous two tracks, haha. I forgot to mention it but basically the only things about your track I didn't like were that one shift with that bashed-out chord, and that sort of "chorus" part in the intro that felt just a hair too modern radio rock for my tastes I guess. But otherwise really good song and an impressive use of the 20 minute time constraint.

Thanks for taking the time and following through, unlike a number of people who actually contributed and didn't review.

Yeah sorry! I think this is the first time I've participated and not followed up with reviews. I'll try to get to it though, just been lazy and stuck with the winter blues in the last while.


Success! Haha, nah I get that it's not something a lot of people would want to hear, but the bizarre contrast and juxtaposition is what made it fun to do. I am working on just soundtrack/ambient style stuff, maybe I'll post some of that sometime.

Thanks for the feedback! Even though I didn't fare well at all, those were really entertaining to read and quite detailed.

Part 1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mvcdbcw0lpyxvul/Coprse%20Synths%20Part%201.wav?dl=0
Part 2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/v9tz0q50chcp8rx/Corpse%20Synths%20Part%202.wav?dl=0

there is some really good stuff, i love the world beyond

Thank you.