Haggard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Voolu Iidsete]

Sounds interesting

It's always nice to hear some exotic instruments. First of all, you don't hear them every day (I guess that's why they are "exotic") and second it's always interesting to hear what music is like in other parts of the world.

The only problem is: I cannot really judge this piece. I have no experience with a sanshin (I even had to look it up to see what it is) so I cannot say if what you play is especially good or bad.

So, why bother writing a review if I cannot "really judge" it? Because I just want to say that this piece sounds amazing. I really like the deep humming sounds that we can hear throughout the song. They have a very calming effect on me. I also like the short solo at the end. I really wish that solo part was a bit longer.

Anyway, I like this track.

{ Review Request Club }

[Shadow of Fate [collab]]

Great

This is really a great track you two have created here. It sounds pretty good from the start to the end, there's really no favorite part I could point out (even thought the middle part is indeed pretty nice, but that doesn't mean the intro and outro aren't nice as well).

The only thing I can criticize here is the changeover at 1:23. It seems to be very out of place and abrupt. A smoother transition between those two parts would make the song even better!

{ Review Request Club }

samulis responds:

Glad you like it, thanks for the suggestion. If we have more time, I am sure we can work something out for that little transition.

Thanks for the review

[Out In The Cold]

Good song

This is a really nice song. It creates a sad and thoughtful atmosphere without being overly cheesy. This is pretty hard to achieve, so you've done a really good job here (or maybe the creators of the music from Chrono Trigger did the good job ;) ).

I especialyl like the part towards the ending, where the string instrument sounds as if it was played backwards. Creates the image of a character who desperatly wants to turn back the time in my mind. Maybe because he is responsible for a great tragedy or because if he could turn back the time he might be able to prevent it.

{ Review Request Club }

bearskin responds:

I'm glad you enjoyed it! It's all original, I just drew a lot of inspiration from Chrono Trigger. Thanks for the review!

[House above the clouds]

I love 8 bit tunes

I like the into a lot, the bass line sounds pretty good here and I also like how you add more and more instruments during the intro.

The song itself is very enjoyable to listen to, the melodies are nice and the background music is appealing as well. Maybe you've overdone the "vibrato" of the main melody a bit, as it starts to get a bit annoying towards the end.
I also think you should try to make the background music a bit louder, so we can hear the good bass line a bit more clearly.

The ending is really abrupt, as if you suddendly lost interest in this song. Try to find a better outro, maybe do it similar to the intro, just the other way round: Take away the instruments one after another and then end on a single tone.
Or just do a quick fade out.

{ Review Request Club }

ErlendHL responds:

Thank you very much for the review and the tips!

[Kipling - If]

Good poem

I like the poem a lot. I'm not quite sure if I fully understand it's meaning, but it is indeed very powerful.

I also like the way you read the poem. Very set back, almost careful as if you don't want to hurt your listeners with the power of the poem.

Adding music to it would be a good idea. The best way to add some tune I can think of is with the help of Audacity. You can import various tracks into the program and edit the music or the voice track as you see fit.

{ Review Request Club }

Coop responds:

So by the sound of things, I really don't know my own strength with this program yet. Alright, I'll see if I can find the appropriate pieces and get cracking on the next one.

[Christmas Rock Medley]

\m/

First part: The guitars on Jingle Bells sound a bit overpowered, or at least the rhythm guitar does. Maybe try to reduce the distortion a bit. However, the solo work on Jingle Bells is awesome.

Second part: Didn't know that song before (so thanks to Knuckstrike for telling me how this song is called), but I like the instruments a lot better here than on Jingle Bells. The guitars don't seem to be so overly distorted, so they sound a lot better.

Third part: The melody stands out here a lot and it is a very nice melody. I also like the drums here.

Fourth part: Again a nice melody and nice drum work. The rhythm guitar sounds a bit strange again, maybe the distortion is too much again.

Overall, the idea of playing christmas songs in metal style isn't that new, but it is executed quite well here. However, I think in a medley the songs should be better connected, ie the cross overs from one part to the next part should be much more fluent. Right now we can hear pauses between every part (except for part 2 and part 3, there the connection works really well).

{ Review Request Club }

[Turn it]

Turns out to be pretty good

Starts off really slow. At first I thought "this is going to be the longest minute of my live if the song contiunes like this...), but after only 6 seconds I could hear the first vibrato in this song and I thought: "Oh, so there IS more to it!"

As it turns out, yes, there is A LOT more to this song than my very first impression. I really like the chirping effects and all those vibratos all over the place. They add a very comical effect to this 8-bit-track and they also make the song very enjoyable.

{ Review Request Club }

ErlendHL responds:

Hey thanks for the review! :)

[[NLC] The Great Sea]

Nice melodies

This song starts off really slow and almost a bit boring. Everything seems to be so set back that I almost forgot I was listening to this track while I was doing other things.

However, the song really picks up at around 1:41, where that nice melody sets in. This melody creates a very happy and somewhat relaxing atmosphere. Or maybe the relaxing atmosphere is created by the instruments in the background, who continue to play the set back tune they where playing before.

I'm glad we can hear this nice melody later on in the song as well.

Anyway, I think this song could use some more variation, as it tends to be very repetitve.

{ Review Request Club }

KrisKrosNL responds:

Okay. I was supposed to add some non-repetitive third part of the song, but I couldn't do that since it was too hard. :P

Thanks for the review, though.

[It Wants My Soul]

\m/

Oh man, it's been a long time since a Heavy Metal song has been requested in the RRC. Do you plan on submitting more? If so, please request those songs in the Review Club, haha!

Ok, on with the review: This is a rather short, yet enjoyable song. This could work as an intro to a song (or an album) or could be used as a solo part during a song.

I really like the drum work here, especially in the beginning the drums play some good stuff.

Of course, the guitars are the main instrument here as they play a very nice solo. However, I think you should mix the guitars a bit louder so they stand out a bit more.

{ Review Request Club }

Ultramartyr responds:

=] Thank you sir. Actually, you're right, this was intended to be an intro for an album. We plan on re-recording it to match the tone of the rest of the album... Thanks to Murph for the drums, they turned out wonderful, and Kris for the solo.

And yeah, we're definitely requesting reviews for the rest of our songs as well. Thanks again for the awesome review!

[Tumble Towers2 theme]

Good song

This is a very nice tune. I like listening to it, as I like the rhythm and the melodies a lot here.
At the same time I also enjoy doing various stuff (surfing the web, writing posts, writing this review) while listening to it. The song doesn't require my full attention, but instead it keeps itself very nice in the background. So I think this works really well as a background track.

I also like that this track is over 6 minutes long, so if this really is a background track in a flash players wouldn't have to worry to hear the same tune being repeated over and over again, since this track is so long.

The only real flaw I noticed is at 5:03 (or 5:04). The timing seems to be a bit off here and it sounds a little bit strange.

{ Review Request Club }

eatmeatleet responds:

thanks for feedback. I am not sure about that 5:03 part though, I've listened this song so much on repeat and probably got used to it