MetalRenard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[A Whole New Year]

You never cease to blow me away with your music, especially when you sing, too. Such meaningful lyrics and fantastic composition to back it all up.

[Naturewalk]

Listening to stuff like this makes me want to invest in tons of instruments just to play them live and record them. I love how it sounds and the atmosphere the piece creates. I'm trying to think what it makes me feel - Normally in my mind wind instruments say freedom and the dulcimer usually says civilisation or city. Whimsical life in the city?

samulis responds:

Haha... it's your guess. I had a lot of trouble naming this piece, actually, and I'm still not quite satisfied.

[Skyless]

This is a NGADM Review!
Well Garlagan... You sneaky beggar. Look at what you've been hiding all this time - I knew you did vocals some times but this is the first example of you bringing them out of the mix to the forefront and dude, you nailed it.
Great melodic and rhythm work again, if a tad more repetitive than your previous submission.
I loved the way the song ended, immediately, no BS. Endings like that are always so impactful, you can't help but notice that the song has ended, it leaves a statement and makes you want to listen again in to spot the build-up to the end more precisely.

Honestly you've gone from strength to strength throughout the NGADM and it's a well deserved win. Congratulations buddy!

garlagan responds:

haha I'm really glad you liked it. Thanks a lot for the review Sam!

[No Joy Here]

NGADM Round 4 Review!
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Congrats on making it this far Mr Crabby Pirate! Honestly this is a commendable effort and I tried not to be biased based on my expectations of your usual style (i.e. it not being here at all hehe).
It has a pretty intro which sets the tone well. The piano section after it is also lovely and I got a real boost when you introduced the percussion. This means I definitely connected with the composition - a good sign you're doing something right.
I feel you could have taken this further and mixed it more competently, plus I feel you ended it right at the moment it should have picked up even further. You could have added brass in harmony with the strings, some rhythmic section where all the instruments stop and then go again creating a sense of momentum to build up to a final emotional peak...

As I said, it's better than a lot of things you hear and you were unlucky towards the end of the contest with life events and technical issues so all I can say to you is congratulations, you did a great job.

[Impulse]

NGADM Round 4 review!
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Sorry it took me a while to get round to this, I'm a busy person. hehe
Well you know from the score I gave you that I love the track, the sound especially the lead synth which blew my mind, the vibe or atmosphere of the whole piece which went even further thanks to the slower section, the variation of style/theme at different parts of the song, the motif or main melody, the way the whole thing comes together...
*takes a breath*

Why did you not get 10/10? Because I think the percussion in general was a little lacking, for example the toms needed more power to really fit the style and could have added an extra edge (and layer of awesome). Also I find the main snare is a little awkward sounding, a little outside the mix.

Did that stop me listening to the song 5 times on here then 10 times on my trips to work and up to London plus 5 more when walking my dogs? Nope.

Killer track, more please. Deliver. Now.

garlagan responds:

haha thank you Sam! Glad you liked it!

[Your Father's Blade]

This is a NGADM Quater-Final Review!
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You've done it again! From a softer and yet moving story-telling atmosphere to a huge final build-up, I can defnitely see a trend in your work that I would perhaps call your vibe or your style. It's very modern film-score indeed, and I'm sure you could make this work with many an on-screen tale.

Having said that, my honest opinion on this piece is that it has an incredible final section but the build up to it was too laborious to justify the time I spent waiting for the pay-off. It's similar in that respect to your previous submission where the outro gave me chills but I got bored before reaching that conclusion.

Maybe a way for you to move forward with this would be to include two build-ups in a song rather than just the one in the final section. Such is the way a story is told; context - tension - release - tension -release; instead of a single plot-line that lasts throughout the story.

I definitely enjoyed how it came together in the end, I hope you continue to make some awesome music!

9.1/10