Deemo-R's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[I Want To Save A Princess]

This style always puts a smile on my face. You did it a lot of justice with this, I thought it sounded stellar ever since you put it up on SC. It's reminiscent of SPvTW, of course, but it actually sounds closer to a song that the band "I Fight Dragons" would make. I love their stuff, so this is right up my ally. Awesome work! :D

Mattashi responds:

I love Anamanaguchi especially the music they did for SPvTW so there's definitely some inspiration I got from them! I haven't heard of "I fight Dragons" I'll go check them out :D
Thank you!

[The First Elf]

This has the type of entrancing atmosphere that I'd expect from you. What's lacking in realism is made up for by the great balance of the instruments and memorable melody/harmony. I think it depicts the scene you were going for rather well! Really glad to hear something new from you, even if it is pretty short ;P

Neon-Bard responds:

Many thanks for listening, DMO. As short as this track is, it's good to know that there was a good balance happening. I will strive to create longer pieces in the near future! :P

[Prey And Predators]

Loved all the stuff you've been uploading from your album lately. This one, in particular, I really like. It goes in interesting directions and sounds super tight (like every other song on the album). Magnifique!

Mattashi responds:

Thanks allot! :)

[Afterlife]

The atmosphere is so very haunting in this. The drones and sounds you put together alongside the very pretty melody really do come together nicely. The sound effect that comes up at 00:50 among a number of other occasions isn't quite my favorite (I always associate that with horror movies... personal bias) in here, but it doesn't really detract anything. Splendiferous! :D

Mattashi responds:

Thank you! I know what you mean that sound effect (Waterphone) you hear it allot in horror movies indeed :) but I love to use it with mystery / emotional pieces, I've heard it in a few movies/game soundtracks.
Thanks for the review!

[The Valley of Apples and Hope]

So... I kind of love this. I'm an absolute sucker for anything with even a hint of Chinese flair in it, so this speaks to my soul. And it says nice things. :3

Good stuff! Also, shout-outs to SSO, that chime soundfont is just so hard to fit into a cohesive mix.

Krichotomy responds:

I'm glad. :D I think it is mostly the shamisen (from Fluid R3) that drives the Asian feel.

Those chimes are tricky because they can be rather dissonant. I used them a lot in my track "Lost Winter" (which is my only project done entirely with SSO).

[Heavenly Waterfall]

It's always cool to see where good musicians came from originally. Funny enough, I'd say you were a lot better at piano back then than I am now ;P

As far as first compositions go, it's definitely one of the better ones I've heard. The melody's okay and the chords you picked fit nicely, but as I'm sure you know, it doesn't really go anywhere once it's started. The song kind of stays in the same position all the way through, though I do appreciate the playing around in the upper octaves as well as the left hand doing more than just blocking out chords the whole time. The mistakes early in the piece are noticeable enough to pull you out of it, but they don't continue throughout the entirety of the music. It's pretty enough, for sure. It's just not something I could imagine remembering into next week.

You already know all of that, however, so this review is kind of pointless. I just wanted to point out how much progress you've made from this point. :D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hahha, yeah, I agree. I think it's great when you get to see an artists journey from the beginning to where they are now; how much they've developed, how far they still can go, etc. :p

Oh sure, I know that this piece isn't really going anyplace :)
It's the same chords, the same mood, and the same melodies throughout the whole song. The arrangement is sooo limited too, although I tried to vary the left hand patterns a bit.

But yeah, I don't really have anything to say to defend myself, I agree with all your criticism, as I'm sure you knew I would. Thanks for reviewing although it was a bit pointless XD

[Run Hobo Run]

This is super-groovy. I especially love the intro, as it starts to build upon the instrumentation little by little. It's creative in the panning, too. Really cool! It's a shame that you only get to hear a little of it when you're actually playing. Awesome stuff! :D

By the way, what did you use for the voice in the beginning? I'm curious.

SourJovis responds:

Glad you like it. Not everything I made for the game was put in no. Only 2 of the 4 loops I made were used, and the intro you can hear only very rarely (but I think that's some sort of glitch). That's why I wanted to post it as a full song. I did however change a lot about it, because the programmer (Wolve) asked me to make better versions of the songs for an upcoming improved release of the game... (spoiler!)

The voice at the beginning is an SP0256-AL2 soundchip emulator called "ST-1 Speak & Tweak". It's only available as a Reason plugin, but I'm sure there are other SP0256-AL2 emulators around, or maybe you can get your hands on an actual chip.

[Madness Combat: Intonation]

Great vocals, great mixing, and an entertaining chorus. I really like it!

However, this has an uncanny resemblance to Muse's "Uprising" in the verses, both in the bass and the vocals. The delivery is like a sped-up version of that song. I just could not shake that similarity from my mind as I listened to it.

Jacob responds:

SHOOT.
I didn't even realize that. I was actually worried that I may have borrowed from The Used in some way, and checked through their entire discography. Muse didn't even cross my mind. I love Muse, too, which makes it all the more embarrassing.

Hopefully it's not too distracting - I really didn't mean to rip that. But I guess it explains why that tune came to my head so quickly!