HorusTheHeretic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Cornwall Farm]

GarageBand?

Hey, Sentinel, do you use GarageBand? Because I'm certain that this is a loop from that program, because I've used it myself (not in anything I've put up here).

I do like the instruments you chose, though.

Sentinel94 responds:

THIS was done pre-logic, and uses a couple loops, yes. I'm not proud of that one, but oh well, I guess.

[Bards Tale]

Great, but some issues

It's great, but this one has more issues than the others. The vocals don't sound as good as normal and there's something about the timing once it really gets into it that I can't put my finger on.

However, the riffs are great, the drumming is wicked (Kudos, neoblent), and the female singer is angelic as usual. I really like the backup the female singer does. I've never found a fault with her...

neoblent2 responds:

Thank you. i appreciate the kudo. If you ever figure out what it is that is wrong, let me know. That way we caan change it right. lol. Thanks for the review!

[Vengeance (Adavant)]

DON'T CHANGE A FUCKING THING

This is by far your best song. I am absolutely floored by this piece. You don't have to fix the mixing on this one unless you really wanted.

I'm so glad to hear your female vocalist again. She truly has the voice of an angel.

I regret not having said this before: your guitarist (s) is/are incredible. The riffs are quite complex in most of your songs. The solo in this one strikes a great balance between grace and complexity. I really cannot criticize this piece.

Can any of the guys in your band sing clean vocals? That would be an interesting contrast: a baritone male and your female singer and death metal vocals...

Make it so! Or don't. Just a thought.

I look forward to hearing more of your songs.

neoblent2 responds:

Funny you say that. The new album we are working on is gonna be the first incorporating clean male vocals. So look forward to it. And I'm glad you like this one. I agree with the fact that this is one of the only tracks that came out almost perfect. A few things here and there, but nothing major.

[22nd]

Skullsplitting And Facesmashing As Usual

I feel like killing dragons with a big ass axe now. Good job. This is probably one of my favorite songs you've done now. I fucking love the really rhythmic bridge, but I would like the bass guitar to be much more prominent there at least. It would give your bassist a short spotlight and really fit the rhythmic feel of the whole section.

The same sound criticisms apply, it sounds thin, which I know you're tired of hearing, but I know you haven't had a chance to remix the songs yet, so I'll leave you alone about it.

In my last review, I may have come across a bit harsh on your pianist. I'm going to revise my position on this. I don't think you should reduce your pianist's parts, but he should use more chords. It would make it sound much more epic, which is the idea with viking metal. If he is actually using a lot of chords, it's probably just a mixing issue where I can only hear the high end. If so, my bad.

One thing I've noticed is that when you guys first begin the songs, you use a lot of snare rolls, which I assume is to evoke the images of war drums. I totally get this, but the snare drum really only became a war drum long after the vikings. Big, booming toms would be more accurate, but who am I to criticize your stylistic choices? It'd also be really cool if you had horns in the beginnings of some of your songs. Just a thought.

Anyway, you hit the nail on the head with a big, bloody warhammer once again.

neoblent2 responds:

Thanks for the elaborate reviews man. I dig it. The bass and kick drum are very quite on almost all of our songs. All due to the mixing. We are hopefully getting in some time soon to get all of it fixed. the paion has really complex bass lines in all the songs, but you can't really ever hear them. Again due to the mixing. I'll def make sure when we get everything fixed and tight to send you a shout for opinion. And we aren't viking metal. we are epic, european, folk, metal. Mouth full. Haha.

[Warbound]

Great as usual!

What can I say? You nailed it again. All the praise I heaped upon "Pints For The Fallen" applies here as well.

So let me take this opportunity to tell you everything you could do better with your mixing. Note that this is still a great song, I'm just breaking one of it's parts down into many smaller parts.

Like I said before, bass it up. I'd like to hear the bass guitar a little more, being a bassist myself. For the guitars... They sound a little artificial. Make them sound more natural, more powerful, less thin. They sound like midi guitars. The drums also sound a little artificial, like loops or a drum machine. I'd like to hear more toms and bass drum, but that's just me. Vocals are good as always. Just make them sound more powerful.

And now the part I'm dreading, because I'm gonna sound like a dick. The piano gets a little old in your songs. It worked in "Pints" but it just gets annoying sometimes. Perhaps if you pushed the piano into more of a background role than a lead role, with more big, crashing, bass-ey, chords and less high, fiddly parts, it would work better. Your pianist is good, just overdone. Of course, you should work him extensively into every slow part, intro, and interlude, but his constant presence in the songs reduces the epic feel that pianos generally lend. It's like if I drew an awesome picture and showed it to you, you'd be amazed the first time, and probably amazed with the next four or five drawings I did, but eventually, it wouldn't surprise you anymore. You'd be used to it.

Like I said, this is a thorough examination of a relatively small area of the work. It's still great and I still love all of your writing and instrumentation. My regards to your pianist, who I hope I did not offend.

neoblent2 responds:

You probably did, but oh well. I like that you actually break down our songs and give us advice. You are one of the few. The piano player created all this. the music he wrote, the lyrics, the story, the concept. All him. Without his piano parts the band woudn't be as well off as we are. If you were to hear more than just the five sonds we have up on Newgrounds you'd get the feel for it. We will have new songs up soon enough. But all in all i appreciate your positive criticsism and hope to hear more from you about our other songs. Thanks for the review!

[Pints for the Fallen]

Great Musicianship

The technical prowess and writing skill is there. The only thing missing is better mixing, which you've already said you're going to redo. BASS IT UP, BROTHA! Any metal worth it's salt has enough bass to drive your eardrums into your brain. Awesome instruments, awesome vocals (Male and Female), awesome arrangement. Just all around wickedness.

The heavy parts of the song communicate the masculinity of the warriors honoring their comrades very well, while the female-sung, airy interludes show a more spiritual, reflective side as the living remember their fallen comrades. A perfect balance is struck between the two. The dose of folk thrown in gives the song that celebratory, honorary feeling and conjures images of large bearded men clashing their mugs of beer together in drunken revelry.

I very much like the male vocals, which are rough and heavy, but still human sounding as well as the female vocals, which are simply beautiful.

Nice work.

neoblent2 responds:

Wow. I think this is the first indepth review we've gotten about our songs. Thank you so much. We are in the process of getting all five tracks remixed and fine tuned. Hopefully the won't sound like such shit any more. We are also going to be in the studio soon to get three of four new tracks recorded, which will be up shortly after recieving them. So all in all I'm glad you enjoyed it and I suggest keeping tabs on me for any new or better material to come. Thanks for the review!