Cyberdevil's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[GLOBALISATION]

You just wanted something that hit hard huh! My gawd you got it. I really didn't expect how hard-hitting this'd be going in...

It SOUNDS like globalization. Sounds heavy and all-permeating. Sounds dissonant, dark and bleating. The heart of the machine. Sounds like a power-hungry posse feasting, on our dreams...

I love how it builds too, in an almost non-noticeable way, how the sound gets sharper and sharper, like nails digging into your skin, the overall frequency so distorted and grim, yet melodic... too. The sounds getting shrill, and stressful, like sin... it seems simple yet it seems there's a lot of nuance to that sound, and build. And layers you barely notice that further amplify that weight, and sense of distress... the fact that the pace is as slow as it is just makes it even heavier.

What a banger! What a groove. Production's rich and solid too. Loud but not too loud.

Love this.

-cd-

Pepenyan responds:

Yoo thank you Cyberdevil!

[Abandoned Shrine (432hz, modified Zarlino)]

Melancholy and nostalgic sounds about right... though why nostalgic, I wonder? Is it the tempo? Is it a sense of melancholy in conjunction with a certain pace, that gives that impression, as it plays?

I shan't act like I know anything about cents and ratios on display in the description though, maybe they actually explain something in regard to the particular emotions this evokes... I understand dissonance correlates to unease, but that's about all the frequency theory I've picked up I think... and that F# is actually in our genes.

This was touching through. Vibrant and bright, the melancholy despite, and I really like when the piano speeds up; seems to start pulling at all the right heartstrings. The melody struck with life, and wonder, and delight...

This was very nice.

-cd-

anthonyragus responds:

Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments. All sorts of facets of music production, like the ones you mentioned, contribute to a piece's respective sound. Piano comes with its own specific parameters, like close mics, muted high resonances of strings, and the natural variations in velocity and tempo of performance. The densest, loudest section of the piece is both a memory of and a longing for when the shrine was popular among people. The melody is largely ascending and the voicings are spread. The "A" section is stagnant, a repeating F# surrounded by mostly descending harmony, as the shrine's spirits slowly fades to nothing.

[NEVER KNOW]

Well that took a turn!

It starts off an unexpectedly good song, but familiar... and turns into something different entirely along the way! It really is a mesh of genres. With that lovely reverb of old recordings and decades past, a punk and rage of the new age, little fluent and soulful stretches akin to hip-hop and RnB... it's quite the mix! The end bit's an appreciate little kick too.

The production's crisp and rich, the composition's interesting, the lyrics make you think, and sync to the sounds, relatable and real, raw and melodic both. Though maybe a bit much raw, and a little little melodic, overall... I like the rage but would've liked more harmonies.

I do believe I love this, at least! Nice work.

-cd-

[I'm Friends With Lil Fish Creatures (We Adventure Together)]

Getting some Ronald Jenkees feels from this. :)

The pitch-shifting gives it a real cool theremin or sometimes even church organ-kind of sound too... over a good albeit pretty simple beat and backing, and then that very vibrant foreground layer, that keeps shifting; staying fresh... it's a nice tune.

I feel like there could maybe be a more consistent melody to it all though, or more of a build along the way, it keeps a very constant volume and pace from the start, shifts notably for the bridge, then jumps back to the same style and tempo.. the base structure feels a little simple, and the most notable layer a little all over the place, it seems maybe not as full-fledged a track as it could be.

I love the style though. And the title's imaginative...

Feelgood; soothing work! Solid production too.

-cd-

[Jouxl Eterna - Realm of Neogravity]

Good god those glitch effects!!! Trying to hear what's actually being said in the vocal samples though, that may be a lost cause...

Despite the distortion there really is a continuous melody and beat to this to though. Tis an intricate piece of work, so much going on, so many layers. I wonder if it could be a bit more streamlined still, or if this overall is just a style that's... a bit too glitchy for my personal liking. Sensory overload. Bit much pausing and switching. Bit too choppy. But impressive work.

You actually can hear the vocals towards the end btw! :D Nice fade...

-cd-

TurbonicZ responds:

I don't like to limit my imagination when working on songs lol

[Beethoven Virus (Remake)]

Sounds like something that could've come straight out of a Castlevania soundtrack hmm, starting to wonder if they're really all new arrangements of classic tunes like this too. :)

Love the energy here. Feels like the crashes get a bit masked by the rest of the sound, or are oddly toned down, but overall... banger. Nice work!

-cd-

[5.30]

Daaaang this goes hard! Lots of details in the sound, solid sample work, such a heavy DnB beat too once it kicks in!!! A lot of parts feel a bit short and transient, it's over almost too quick but... what a trip. Unpredictable in the best way, yet fluent too, it keeps on moving...

Production quality's solid too. Very nice work.

Bit abrupt end tho.

-cd-

[borracho]

This feels unlike any hip-hop beat I've heard really... feels familiar and yet so far away, like a bridge between times, a romantic scene or just overall romanticized life in classic black and white, some small utopia far away, samples from the new age filtering through the veil of another world...

Sample work: top tier. Vocals too. The overall mix is so rich. The beat's there a backing. This is banging man... really great tune. So atmospheric...

-cd-

foghorntape responds:

glad you dig it.

[A Samba in Solace]

Groovy and rich, it really is!

It's like an orchestral samba man. Maybe Latin music often is pretty orchestral though, come to think of it... but this feels special. The mix is rich, the composition's intricate, the instrumental balance is just right, it sounds real and riveting, you feel the music coursing; taking you on a trip all through those peaks and dips...

I love the lows, I love the highs, I love the way it builds and flies!

Love the title, too. :) Very nice.

-cd-

[resonatoae]

Is there some reverse kind of music magic going on here? Feels like the sequences might be reversed?

The melody starts feeling a bit repetitive after a while to me, and oddly more intense and ominous at the start than the end, like even the very structure of the song's reversed...? Or a part of it? Is it basically a backwards song? Though seems maybe some layers are mirrored and some not. Then again maybe it's just a really unconventional way you play...

When it starts I'm thinking it's got a Daft Punk kind of sound to it, but all the more ominous and dissonant, but that's just the intro. It seems to focus more and more on the base melody as it goes on; becomes something very different after...

Would've loved more of a build towards the end - though the switch-up after the ~2:20 minute mark's refreshing too it's also calmer, it really starts with the best part...

Fascinating work though! Very different. Good energy too.

-cd-