Alpharhino's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Combine Machinery Hall]

4 hours?

^ Jealous.

This is fabulous, it has the half life vibe and is amazingly atmospheric. Those noises in the beginning are incredible.

I can't find a single issue with it. Awesome

vai90 responds:

4 hours of constant working that is. Nothing to be jealous about, could've taken less but at one point I had to delete a whole section of the melody due it being to upbeat.^^

Thx for the 10! =)

[Retribution (Mac8)]

Wears me down

I really dug the intro, given the concept that it was a madness MAC I knew it would heat up, and I appreciated not being punched in the face with sound as soon as it began. However something in the high strings really bugs me, I don't know whether there is an actual issue there or if it's personal preference but something about it doesn't sit right for me.

Once the drums kicked in, I actually liked their erratic feel. I agree with other reviewers that it lacks a real groove, but that is what I liked about it. That said, it could have been a bit better plotted out. I understand the sort of organized chaos you were going for, but it felt a little ... forced?

Then the real problem hit. It doesn't really go anywhere, your main drum beat didn't change at all, very little new material was introduced and it was just outright boring in the middle. At first I really did like it, but while I was eagerly anticipating where the tune would go, I eventually had to face the truth that it wasn't going anywhere. I mean, there is the part where you revisit the intro, but every time I hear that specific drum beat it just reminds me of what I didn't like

I liked the ending, and that you contrasted the chaos with a grounded beginning and end works well.

Overall, I did like it, but it just didn't go the distance for me

Good luck in the comp however.

Quarl responds:

It's all preference. Dunno. Live I'm more of a funky drummer, here I'm an dnb producer. I should start taking the view that there really isn't much of a correlation.

[Domhail]

Really Neat

Sounds very professional, and very well thought out. I agree with other reviewers that it should be a bit longer (or at least I would like to hear more of it because I liked where you were going) but the time constraint and other pressures are to be noted. Anyway, had a very hollywood feel to it.

Yeah there's no main criticism I could offer for this or anything I could detract from it. Good Job and good luck

Bosa responds:

Thanks, man. I hope your music goes far as well.

-Bosa

[Toccata Per Rollins]

Good composition, crappy piano

The composition itself is pretty solid, doesn't get off track and stays fairly well within the idiom except there's no real cadence at the end. It feels like you just stopped it. Anyway this also suffers from a really weak piano sample (midi?) but the piece itself rises above that. This would benefit greatly from some accompaniment, possibly stings just voice led, very thin and quiet but still underscoring and adding real depth.

Overall its great and I realize that I wrote much more negative than I felt about the piece. It's very solid and has a Beethoven feel to it. Nice work

MJTTOMB responds:

Yeah, there's a fixed version on my music page. That fixed the piano.

I'm probably going to try to remix this with strings, but the key changes so often, and there's a new chord every beat, so strings might be a little hard to write for.

[SR - Polynomials]

Great Feel

I really like this. The drums really hold it down but don't give it a rushing feeling. The melody instrument was good, but for me left a bit to be desired, however the simple underscore was extremely effective. Overall that was great

SineRider responds:

Thanks a lot man. I appreciate the review :D

[Castle Warfare--_--(1:26)]

Very well done

I can't pick apart a single part of this. Solid all the way through. I am not sure if you're pro or not but it really sounds it and loops seamlessly. Very well done.

Fantastic orchestration!

PERVOK responds:

I'm definitely not a pro; just a kid with a computer. Glad to know you thougt so though ;)

Thanks for the review!

[TAA--Infiltration]

Reminds me of Doom II

This piece makes me think of the old Doom games and the soundtrack that went with them.

As a whole it had that stealth feel to it with the rhythms and instrumentation, but I feel it could have used a bridge or a second main progression to add a bit of variety in the piece

However, as a stealth-inspired piece it does fulfill its goals well and is a good work

TheAmateurAnimator responds:

Thanks. You know, I've never played Doom II...the resemblance must be coincidence.

[Bolero Of The Wolves (Final)]

Good Underscore, Good Piece

What I really appreciated about this entry was the accompaniment to the piano. At first I thought it would be a wandering piano piece, but when the subtle drums came in along with the strings and the other underscore instruments, it gave the piece a much fuller sound a a feel of continuity that the piano alone would not have provided

The ending was a little unsatisfying to me, but that may just be because there was no real cadence, in that respect its just a matter of personal taste.

Once again, you underscore really enhances your piano playing, very well thought out

nal1200 responds:

Thank you for your feedback!

[Blue Spike]

Pretty cool

I liked both the techno style and realistic drum samples. Also this was a good development of the original theme, also incorporating other Sonic melodies and ones that sound like they belonged in the series.

I liked the contrasting sections divided up with the main theme in between them, it had good flow and was interesting and creative to listen to.

Overall, I enjoyed this and its a good entry

Stargame responds:

Sweet, no downsides yet! Thanks for the review, I love it when people give me feedback about various stuff :D. It isn't quite as complete as I would like it to be, I was working on this song for 5 days(I left my comp on to do so, CPU usage levels were unbelievable XP), but I got REALLY tired of working on it. Also, I screwed it over completely at one point, so I took an older export I did of it and decided that it was done. So this is what I've got for it, and it actually turned out better than I thought it would. I was kinda going for a "Kids in America" sort of feel. I have to say I achieved it with flying colors. Just like the old bangles song, it's completely annoying! Yay!

[Wait a Second]

Definatly has the Muse feel

Reminds me a little of porcupine tree too. I like the kicks too, they're really effective. Nice.

PhoenixUL responds:

Wow! PT? really? that makes me wicked happy. they've been one of my favourites for YEARS