DonaldFletcher's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Drillcore]

hardcore industrial disaster- I LOVE it.

This is the kind of stuff that people are afraid to make.
The kind of material that says, "I don't give a damn. I'm gonna bore a hole from the top of your head to the base of your skull, and you're going to like it because at the end you won't know any better anyway."
Your use of completely non-traditional noises (the divider for industrial of course) manages to keep the rhythm of the song as well as keep their own innate thrust, magnified with each measure. I'm quite impressed with this out of the box and unforgiving piece. Well done.

[First to Die]

So bloody good. Almost flawless.

Simply can't say enough good things about this. The guitar and bass compliment each other through the whole 2 minutes and it kept my interest through the whole damn thing.
It wasn't even til my maybe 5th time or so (yeah, I listened to it on loop while I was doing some graphics to accompany my project) that I started to realize that after the intro there's no variation in the drumbeat whatsoever. An extra beat here or there would have made this so much better, but since the lead instruments are composed so perfectly, that made up for any shortcomings. Fabulous.

Ben-Spurgin responds:

Awesome! Thanks so much man! I've been playing with a drummer, but until we can get a decent recording I just do it to a crappy loop to try to get my ideas out. Stay tuned for more! :P

[Breaking Down (Instrumental)]

Definitely diggin it

Nice work, especially on the stereo with your drums. The guitar parts were very cohesively arranged and composed with some strong intentions. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing those vocals.

[The Bottomless Well]

Glad I was busy doing something for 60 seconds ;-]

You're right, but after a minute things really start to get interesting. This song was even more listenable the second time around because I finally got into the rhythm and found myself in tune with that alien sort of melody. The only drawback was getting used to it at first, though that probably ended up enhancing the rest of the piece. Who am I to say? Either way... just beautiful.

svinepels responds:

I guess that's the way it is with long, repetitive songs. You have to listen to them more than once. Thanks for the nine points! :)

[Bearing Arms]

I don't know why...

This had such a crappy rating before I voted just now. No one who appreciates a good 97 second track must be awake right now. For being so short it's pretty bloody sweet. Nicely done.

Only reason I gave it a seven instead of an eight or higher was that it should be easy to double this track in length with just a handful of subtle variations. Key changes or a change in the drums, or even new instruments could quite readily take this to the next level.

[Run, Darling, Run]

solid work

I gotta partially agree with cycerin about the vocals. Though I think some minimal, distant or even distorted spoken vocals /behind/ the instruments would greatly magnify the intensity. Your choice of the knives in the background was fantastic. Well done.

kevs91 responds:

This song was written with vocals in mind, but I never got comfortable with writing the lyrics, so I just focused on music.

Vocals are certainly in the future, though, because at some point I'm going to be too curious not to try it out.

Thanks for the review!

[Electric Pulse [PDM]]

As powerful as it is short!

Very very nicely done. I've got to say this track demonstrates better than almost anything how a bass can really steal the bloody show. Not only that, but the synthetic effects surrounding it add the variety and intensity this sort of bass riff needs to carry a song past the first 30 seconds. I'm definitely impressed. Thanks!

Elfire responds:

thanks man, i plan on finishing it at some point.

i think my downfall is the production aspect, compressing and stuff. ill get on it soon.

again, much thanks

[Dark Conviction]

If it was my style to give 10/10s all the time...

I'd start a new profile and do it twice.
So since that's not my style I have to say that the ONLY problem with this track is its repetitive nature. I'm sure a particular one of my tracks deserves worse criticism for the same reason so I'll leave myself open for that one.
But as much as "Dark Conviction" might be repetitive, every measure of it is priceless and the melody is worth a bottle of liquor for every note (that means a lot to me, so that's definitely a compliment)
Thanks for the incredible track.
-DEF

cycerin responds:

Yeah, I should have worked in some variations of the theme later on! Still glad you like it, though.