Cyberdevil's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Conflict Within]

Slow, brooding, yet with a hopeful tone... then that grand 'woosh' as you start marching onto war with those demons of yours. The brewing brooding. Resuming soon in.

The melody overall seems a bit repetitive occasionally, but I love the style. The jazzy piano, the choir, the triangle-like percussion detail, the intricacies of the composition overall... it floats together in a good way.

Seems like there's much more to the sound design here than meets your ear the first time you hear it! And the mix is clear. Good balance.

-cd-

polo-official responds:

Thank you for the kind words :)

[Remorse]

Feels like I recognize the melody from somewhere hmm... both the melody and the pitch; the type of sound, but maybe not in this exact arrangement after all...

The music goes well with the theme of the song, and yet it seems you move past through the remorse too, with an almost victory-like kind of melody beyond the slower parts. It's a nice contrast.

Feels like the production quality could be a bit more vibrant sometimes. It is initially, it seems to vary with the different instruments and sections, the victory strings in particular don't feel quite as vibrant as the keys in the intro; in the parts I correlate most to the remorse.

Great track though.

-cd-

Bendivad responds:

Oh wow thanks for the feedback lol, yeah these were really silly tracks I threw together as proof of concepts for a certain style I was going for.
Might make more in the future with this in mind :)

[X3ll3n - Bring Out the Flame (NGUAC Finals 2023)]

Energetic, atmospheric, icy and irradiating sound... feels more ice than fire, though the energy's perceivable! I love the tone, I love the build and intro, production quality's on point too...

It does sound a little surprisingly thin considering the loudness though, it's like waveform and actual sound don't really match... interesting. Maybe that's not so much the mix as just the range of notes though.

Good stuff! A remaster would for sure be interesting too.

-cd-

X3LL3N responds:

I'd love to remaster it, but it does seem like a gargantuan task and I'm not very knowledgeable on the matter.

Big shame, because I think this really has an identity of its own unlike most of my songs.

[FACUNDO GARDIOL - Summer Fan ( Glitch Hop )]

Glitch hop at it's finest, visceral, fluent, with some awesome builds along the way, even that classic 'aw yeah' sample in the mix! :D And the 'woo's and 'go go go's and 'yah's and everything. Respect. It's almost like classic Bomb tha Bass meets the new age. A homage and honing both, the genre better and better with each welter of awesome audial measure.

The wavy glitching sounds almost accordion-like too, it's an interesting effect, fresh and new.

The builds are probably my favorite part about this really, so much atmosphere in this.

And the end... suddenly goes VG and chiptune too. :) Creative fade.

Awesome track!

-cd-

SPIRALi responds:

Thank you so much!!!!! :DDDDD

[Anj_Octopus]

You have an almost Aesop Rock kind of flow and lyricism man. :) This is impressive. Both lyrically and instrumentally. Timing and annunciation could maybe be a bit more on point sometimes, it doesn't always feel like it follows the instrumental, and I didn't catch all words on the first listen, but overall this is on point!

I wonder if complex word schemes need to be all this complex though? It's impressive to witness, but it seems like complexity maybe trumps meaning; you don't follow the intention or story as much sometimes. With Aesop for example there's often a clear red thread all the way through, even if the subject matter occasionally flies over your (well, MY) head. Here sometimes I wonder if the words are more there to sound good than to really tie things together; they occasionally make it harder to follow along, but maybe that's just me, might need to hone my ears and vocabulary a bit harder... I do love the theme. It does have a red thread.

Good stuff anyhow! Production quality's on point too.

-cd-

Anjovi responds:

Thanks bro! Aes is definately an inspiration of mine. While I normally find that he's too dense for me to fully immerse myself in, I can definitely see his genius and find myself able to fixate on single lines from him and get deal of inspiration.

This song was interesting as I normally don't go as verbose with the vocabulary and occult references, but the theme had this beckoning for them I found. Kind of got to have fun and pull up references and moods that stuck with me from my exploring of the conspiracy theory circuit/circus. While there is a meaning attributed to those funkier words, there definitely is an element of fun and aesthetic, but the theme seemed to call for it so I felt ok leaving it in that murky (giving it more that popcorn type lyricism than the more deep/profound).

[G-Dash]

I wonder what G-Dash means hmm... Groove? Grand? OG? Ahh Geometry! XD

This was funky. A little repetitive, but rich, and dreamy.

Nice track. Creative composition and style too.

-cd-

Anjovi responds:

Thanks brother! Yeah, I do wish that I spent a bit more time fleshing out some of the compositional aspects. I think it's just a matter of finding a better work flow to keep the flowstate going from beginning to end.

In theory, it wouldn't be terribly difficult to weave together some more sections and flourishes to get out of repetitiveness. Just gotta invest in workflow related tutorials or some experimentation.

Thanks for the words Cyber!

[Lividness II]

This was... interesting. Atmospheric. Lucid and lush but... maybe not as riveting as it could be. Not with the variation nor with the flow, all the way through the sound is stalking; somewhat stagnant in how it seems to never reach the next natural stage...

The production's great, the sound's great, just feels like there could be more to it. The builds there but so slow, it takes about four minutes for it to kick in, and then... back to normal again.

Considering the name I would've thought this would be louder, or faster; somehow more intense. But maybe it's a boil under the surface too. A pent up anger bubbling and seething, erupting in re-occurring steam-like bursts of emotion... ambience and lividness though, it's a strange mix. :)

Anyway as far as the music goes it's great, just a little repetitive after all.

Nice work again!

-cd-

HaylenWillis responds:

oh why thank you i appreciate the kind words :), i do agree about the structure being questionable, the meaning that has to do with the title is quite complicated, a simpler way to explain my way of naming songs (at least half the time) is that i just think of whatever emotion i'm feeling around that period of time or i just try to create random images or scenes in my head and pick something or someone from that image that has a dope sounding name and chuck it in, there's rare times where i just come up with a completely made up word that sounds cool, i also find myself getting ideas from mostly phil elverum and aphex twin, it's a clusterfuck lmao.

and about repetition, i very much agree with this piece being a little repetitive, i was so proud of this track when making it, i honestly didn't even care lol. but the first demo of the track was like 7(1/2) minutes long without any second chorus or just a second anything, that same melody just went on for like 3-4 minutes lol so i'm really glad i still had the stems when i hopped back into working on the album that this track was in (which was much more flawed just a few months before release) nonetheless thank you a lot and i'm glad you like it :) ✌️

[Archscope - Just like the rest of 'em (demo)]

Feels almost like a spiritual journey initially.

Transcending this world; the void; the body.... though it goes on a bit long IMO. I guess that may be why it's still a demo? I wish the build would lead to something more; I wish there'd be some kind of conclusion or traversal, just a bit more variation maybe...

It sounds otherwordly though for sure. Airy. Atmospheric. Seemed it work well as a soundtrack for something equally pompous and beautiful...

-cd-

HaylenWillis responds:

i appreciate the kind words, and there’s other noteworthy reasons why this is a demo, this was late last year and i was still trying to figure out my kind of sound, i’m gonna have to agree with how you say it’s airy, making that kind off stuff is really not my strongsuit anymore imo, i’m much more about putting attack on the keys with delay and what not, stuff like steve roach’s track “reflections in suspension” or “azukiiro no kaori” by susumu yokota would be the best example, but either way thank you for the kind words :)

[AGNOSIA]

Freaky groove... in a good way.

Love the layers. The slow brooding in back, the dubstep-like switches, the 'ah' hits, the distortions and pauses and everything... the sound design here's masterful. That crazy half minute towards the end feels maybe a bit too crazy for me, but it's a mood for sure! The mix is amazing. So intricate.

...and the description! Well that just takes this to a whole new level. Listening to this; imagining what it'd feel like to somehow perceive the whole world in sound... woah.

Awesome work.

-cd-

SoTshu responds:

yooo! thanks for stopping by! I'm so happy you like it!
cheers!

[0620]

This was way too short! Such a good tune. From the catchy little jingle in the beginning, the slow build, the drums in back that maybe clue you in subconsciously on what's just about to hit you...

When the drums actually kick in full force, accompanied by that dirty bass or guitar or whatever it is you hear in parallel there, ohmygawd man!!! It's so good! And then it stops! And that's IT!

Maybe part of what makes this as good as it is is in fact also that it's so transient and brief. There's no time for it to get repetitive or monotone either, it's just a blast all the way through. A catchy build and then BANGER.

Thoroughly enjoyed this, though do wish it was longer still. :)

-cd-

TheReq responds:

Thanks! I'm thinking about extending it now