xxxZigZagxxx's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sea of Destiny]

EPIC

17-year-old Archmage from Las Vegas, Nevada, a composer of classical and trance, released "Sea of Destiny" on the 8th of August. He first stunned Newgrounds with his glitchy electro-fest "Trust Nobody", to much critical acclaim. His latest outing is a classical work, which is epic in proportion, without the mammoth runtime.

BEAUTY IN ART:
His music conjures up images of swelling tides and pirates at the sea. It brings up the imagery of a ship battle, with booming cannons and scimitars slashing, old men with grey beards yelling "FIRE!". But overall, it is epic in scope, with swelling strings and serene horns.

SKILL AND TECHNIQUE:
"Sea of Destiny" is mixed expertly, with the dynamics of the song ranging from pianissimo to fortissimo. Elements of the orchestra fit like pieces of a puzzle, the rolling toms providing an epic background to lay the strings and other magnificent instruments upon.

INHERENT MEANING:
The string stabs remind me somewhat of the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack, and a quest for lost gold, across vast waves crashing on top of decks. Booty! Alas! This is a swashbuckling piece that I would dare any of me hearties to jump of the bootdeck if he shed a single tear! Arrrrrrrh!

UNIQUENESS:
The piece provides a platform to take the listener to places of fantasy. The vast Sun inching over the sunrise, hairy men with no shirts pulling ropes and tying things to other things, surviving on a meager diet of pickles and porridge. George caught scurvy the other day. Need to bring some lemons along next time.

FULFILLED INTENT:
I think this song has fulfilled its intent, because it is filled with moments of sheer brilliance, along with some soothing serene horn riffs. Howard Shore would be proud.

9/10

TheBellmaker responds:

Haha your review definitely made me smile. Sounds like something you'd find in a newspaper. Many people have been saying that it sounds inspired by PotC, but in reality I came up with the theme while mucking around on my tablet keyboard :P

[grooveT3K - 911]

Good quality

Very nice and punchy! I like the little phone samples you put in there. Your beat is very crisp and to the point, of high quality. You build up a certain mood very successfully. This one even has a feel to it that you're in a post-futuristic environment where the government controls everything. A sort of anarchy in the age of flying cars and such :) I like it

Benny

grooveT3K responds:

Cheers mate!
I love your imagery and after hearing your idea I can really see it too lol
thanks for the compliments and im glad you liked it!
Thanks again mate!

[Simple Jazz Piano Loop]

Yo dude

Awesome. Very amazing, especially those little ones that you slide your hand down the register. Or whatever. It's cool as, brief, amazing.

GamekrazzyProduction responds:

Thanks, Sadly I cannot play it on the piano fully as I made the chords on a midi. I do know how to play the main melody and bass though. Anyways I am glad you liked it.

[Erik Jaime ft.Tico - Dropcuts]

So immaculately produced

Your flow is so amazin'! Everything's cool!

Benjamin

erikjaime responds:

Thanx man!! I appreciate it from the heart!
ill make sure to drop something more awesome soon!

/ Erik Jaime

[Above The Influence]

OMG

You've (both of you?) got probably one of the best flows on this site. Gj.

Benjamin

JonnyReLLo responds:

Thanks, I really appreciate that, I'm the first one on the song, the second one is my friend Jae Psalms, we're really glad you liked it. Hopefully we'll have more sometime soon :)

[ZiNiTY - Sweet melody (demo)]

Sounds crisp and serene

Very nice and soothing, especially with the little melody going over the top. You have top quality synths and vsts and you're probably really good at mixing. Where do you get your ace skillz from :3

Benjamin

Zinitymusic responds:

well. im just training everyday! :D
thanks!! ^^
SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/djzinity

[Gloomy Galleom (vers.2)]

Wow very cool and epic!

Hey AstrothSounds

Your strings and sounds are very ambient and nice. They'd fit very well for a game. It has that classic sound. But there might be a LITTLE too much reverb... I mean you're not playing live in a cave, are we? It kind of muddies everything up. But the wave sounds I love. And the drips. And the whole atmospheric nature of the thing. Very cool.

Benjamin

[Cooler Than Me]

I like it without the swing.

I think you should probably have it without the swing because it sounds sturdier and very nice for a band. It sounds like you're giving your own twist on it. I esp. like the 1:00 "And we all see... we got no doubt..." or something like that. It felt like the "gettin' mine..." solo on Kanye's All of the Lights. Kanye proves that brass is still cool :)

Benjamin

Lightningpichu responds:

Haha well our pep band does swing it, but maybe we could try it both ways. And im guessing yourt talking about the section where the horn and saxes take the melody, i especially like that part too, considering the original song only has like two distinct sections to work with. Thanks.

[TLM - Prelude to Battle]

It's OK

It's very slow and interesting. I like your experimentalness. I just didn't think it worked, because it doesn't really evoke much feeling on my part. Good try tho.

Benjamin