Ericho's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Music Box Waltz]

How authentic

This song is very well done because it gives off a great sense of a music box. It must be forever since I had an actual one. It is mostly everything that you would want in a music box. It doesn't try to be too fancy or anything but at least fancy enough to make you realize how good the song is. The coolest thing is probably how it starts off so softly and escalates. What's truly impressive is that the escalation happens very gradually so you barely even notice it.

Whatever the one was intended to be, it gave me a great tone of grace and peace. While it loses it a bit as it goes along, still a wonderful song. Around 0:53, it seems to take on a more stylistic part and makes you think about going on a journey. I can just imagine the violin slowly being played to this song. I am so glad to have come by it.

Rampant responds:

Slow but steady build-up. That's interesting, because in my older tracks (not on NewGrounds), that's what everyone agreed I did a lot -- slowly add instruments, drive, etc.

Anyway, thank you for the feedback, and I'm glad you like it so much,
- James

[Dor mirage]

What does dor mean?

I am not sure what the title means, but whatever intention this was a good song. What really works is how it has a fairly consistent style with some variety. That's always a good recipe. My only complaint is that I think it goes on a bit too long for something that doesn't really have that much variety. It seems to have a tone of mystery or maybe it's building up to something in the long run. It almost seems like a lullaby.

I guess the mirage comes from the fact that it seems to use the same notes over and over. I wasn't really annoyed by that because the overall style is pretty good. While it has some more chaotic moments, it keeps its general pleasant tone. I do not even know what bended false means, but I bet this song did it. It's a fairly good tune.

Calamaistr responds:

Dor(r)

To deafen with noise.

greets -cal.

[Kane Theme]

Too sweet!

I am personally not a fan of the Kane series (nor do I know much about it) but man, was this awesome! There was just such a wonderful sense of awe and unexpectedness. It sounds a little like heavy metal. Some heavy metal sounds make the mistake of being a bit too "hard" but this manages to have a very nice grace to go with it. It never lets up for a minute, even though it is only three minutes long. My favorite part is at 2:10 when the tone seems to get darker.

I can now recognize it more as using the organ. I would be familiar with those kinds of instruments as I used to play the piano. I saw and reviewed the cartoon this was featured in and I find it odd I do not recall it. You'd think such an awesome tune would be something I could pick up well. This is not just for video game fans, but music fans!

Bezo responds:

It's the theme of Kane the professional wrestler, not the...whatever you're talking about. Thanks for the review though. :D

[The Dark-Haired Girl]

Dark hair?

Yep, this reminded me of the little red-haired girl from "Peanuts". I guess red hair could count as dark hair? This was a very interesting piece, because there was such grace to it. It just seems like a very generic tune and could be applied to any number of everyday things. I imagine it could even apply to me, as I am sitting lonely one night writing just one of the thousands of reviews I have written. This is great because it's just so peaceful.

The author comments made it seem like a more depressing song. I interpreted it more of a song that you could really relax to. You can tell that I once played the piano as I can recognize all of the notes being played. There seem to be some other instruments, perhaps percussion, as well. It is great to find joy in such simplicity.

Cuzone responds:

My song was about another girl, one with proper black hair. Thank you for the review, sir, it's very nice to hear from a fellow musician!

[Eternal Memories at Midnight]

Quite soft, if a little too soft

This was quite a moving piece, but its main fault was that I could honestly barely hear it. Yes, I can turn up the volume but it's a bit of an inconvience. What was the coolest about this was that it consistently kept a very meaningful melody to it. It could have used a bit more variety, but it works well with what it is. I can understand why this would be the extended and simplified version of something. It seems like it was made entirely on piano.

The title itself is very graceful and certainly prepares something nice for the listener. It's hard to tell when this begins or ends so you can really listen to it any time in the song. While not midnight now, it makes me aware of how I am typing this review at night. Speaking of memories, it does remind me of when I used to play the piano. This would probably be better as part of something bigger.

ObsidianSnow responds:

The low volume is actually just an export issue I encountered back when I was using Reason 2.0. It seemed that it wanted to automatically balance the master volume for every export, and brought everything to about this volume. I'd re-export it from Reason 4 now, but NG won't let me edit this song anymore. Too many views, or downloads, or something.

But anyways, thanks for the review, Ericho!

[Strykjärn - Svälj Din Stolthet]

Quite hardcore!

Well, I really have little idea about what is going on here, but it's sure awesome! I wish I knew what these foreign lyrics mean and I think it's Swedish or something. My only complaint is that it does seem a bit repetitive. Of course, this complaint is easily forgotten when you sit down and realize how truly awesome this music is! It seems like every 90's rock band came together to create this. It's perfect music for the "Dad 'N Me" series.

You really don't have to point out that there are no vocals here. I mean, I'd say three fourths of the songs I have reviewed here don't have lyrics. I can tell you spent a long time recording this as there's so much going on. Your fingers would probably be on fire from grabbing those guitar strings so many times. It just shows how hard rock will live on.

Dimoria responds:

Actually we wrote the song the same day as we recorded it so :p

[Punishment Fits]

It is epic

This has so much going on it is a bit hard to understand what is even being said! Of course, you could say that about a lot of songs, I suppose. It is amazing how many themes this goes through in the talking and non-talking parts. You sound just like what a grunge group sounded back then. Given the fact that this was made with modern technology, it does a good job of updating it. It's a little long, but it's still a genuinely good thing to listen to.

There seem to be a lot of intermissions in this. I am going to admit right now that I am not a fan of grunge, I just never was. This, however, should please all fans of the genre. It certainly sounds like you were imitating a typical teenager with feelings of rebellion, love, and lust. I am not a fan of those themes, but you did put emotion into this.

Gunshy responds:

thanks for the review. this is an ode to teenage grunge angst, through a little bit of the '10 yrs later' lens, recalling that era. and yes, with the modern tech to make that solo guitar. i couldn't have played it on guitar if i'd tried. :)

[YuYu Metal]

Lives up to its name

I suppose it's been awhile since I saw the flash "The YuYu" but this is still a very nice song to listen to. This reminds me of the original Irish sounding tunes. You never would have thought Irish tunes would be combined with heavy metal! It's nice this got some recognition and now that I listen to it more, it seems to remind me of pirate music. I guess the pictures of the entires it was heard in seem like pirate submissions. The best thing is that it builds up after starting a bit softer.

Of course, even a softer note for heavy metal is still crazy! It gets a little redundant, but it still manages to keep enough variety to make the listener interested for three minutes. That's fairly long for a song here. The tone seems to be one of adventure or on a great journey. It's easy to envision that with any kind of heavy metal.

rtnario responds:

Oh, you just don't know the entire subgenre of folk metal waiting to be heard! And yes, there is even a pirate metal band if you must know. It's called Alestorm if you're interested.

Well, even though NG Audio is free for everyone to just put anything, I'm sure the people who want to stand out are the people who will work really hard on songs regardless of length and make sure that others will enjoy it as much as they did creating it! Glad it makes you imagine many things, and thanks for listening :D

[Trancotic Symphony Remastered]

Good and slick

I am not sure if I know much about the original song, but whatever it was, this was a fantastic tribute. This has a really good sense of hope and joy and really elevates a person's spirit. It is not a tone of humor or action and certainly not despair. It has the tone of going out and causing change in the world and being thankful for all we have. The little bumps in this are great too.I guess I wish I would have heard this around Thanksgiving or something, but Christmas is coming up and that's kind of a similar holiday.

Semaphore responds:

=D Thank you very much Ericho

commentaries like yours is why I make music for =)

[Hill Top Cruise]

Very nice

This was a lot of fun to listen to because it had a very casual feeling going for it. I did not even recognize it as being "Sonic The Hedgehog" music at first, but it did seem familiar. I am not sure how it took me this long to review something this old for you. The thing I liked most about how it was how it had a very uplifting feeling to it. It is the kind of music that you want to hear in a light-hearted video game, even in Mario. The use of instruments was very stylistic, unless of course you did not use any of your own.

Short-Factor responds:

I created all the sound you hear, except for the piano samples, and the percussion is a hybrid of my sounds and other samples.