verbicidemusic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Acerb-Acerb]

Yeeeesssss, love seeing your stuff posted on here, prolly my fav artist on this site tbh. The vocals are the highlight for me, with their animalistic yet simultaneously martial quality, super adrenaline-pumping. The guitars and percussion sound very obviously 80s-era Swans inspired but also have an industrial edge to them, similar to something Godflesh would put out (but also doom-y at the same time, which is awesome). Also the effects and feedback throughout blacken it a little bit and almost give it a dark ambient quality which is super interesting and the groove is so off-kilter yet at the same time hypnotic and tightly played. I give you kudos for your awesome work, and plan on buying this on bc when my first paycheck finally comes in. It's rare to hear an extreme metal outfit exhibit this much intensity, even nowadays with all of the different extreme subgenres/etc.

jambrother2 responds:

hey thanks, glad you dug it.
i was going for "public castration" type riffs with "whitehouse" styled vocals.
it was actually really hard to write the music for this album because every time i played a riff with more than two notes it just sounded over the top and cheesy in comparison.
anyway, glad your a fan. you mention a lot of bands/artists that i really like in your reviews

[Fly Again]

Wow, I'm absolutely in love with the sonics of this song. The intro reminded me heavily of Sweet Trip, then it kind of delved into some Slowdive-ish/MBV territory, but that's really where the comparisons end since it sounds incredibly unique. The grand sound of it all makes it sound almost cinematic, and the vocal layerings give it an alien/otherwordly quality. Loved it a lot, and the vocal melodies were really, really strong in the first half. Only issue is that I think the melodies meander a lil bit in the last quarter, but the sheer weight and aether present in the sonics made me not notice too much. Suuuuper good.

Joey4Track responds:

Wow, thank you so much! <3<3<3

[We Will Not Risk The Cause Of World Wide Nuclear War]

I liked it! Very DJ Shadow-esque. Though I think some improvements could be made. Since this a very sample-based piece of instrumental hip hop, I would've loved to hear some more chopping and slicing of the JFK sample to create vocal hooks out of said sample, akin to something you'd hear on J Dilla's "Donuts" or "Since I Left You" by the Avalanches. Creative and unique sample slicing is what can make an instrumental hip hop piece in this vein much more memorable and effective. Aside from that, I would've also liked a bit more detail in the percussion, maybe adding more fills/ beat switch-ups to keep it engaging. Very nice start though, and I can tell you have a great ear for textures and soundscaping.

NeonRadical responds:

Wow! thank you! I admit I don't know yet on how to vocal slice... and a plenty of other stuff. I am just starting to grasp producing and I know I need to study more to make my music good.
Thank you for a helpful critique.

[Noir After Dark]

Can totally see this looping over a crime/noir type of game. Also, were those drums recorded live? They sound incredibly organic!

Joey4Track responds:

Thanks so much! This is going to be in a game actually but it won't be out for awhile. No, the drums are just samples from a jazz kit. They are compressed quite a bit and I have a ton of good room reverb on them, I like my jazz drums big if I can help it :)

[Finale]

The main chord progression is cool, as is the main melody line. I think, however if you were to put some other overlaying melodies that play off of each other as the song progresses, it would add a lot to the overall intensity. Also, I can't help but feel that when the triplet synth-line hits in, the drums should follow suit with a similar 6/8 beat, mainly with the bass drum. I also felt that there were a lot of great builds that should've built into a bigger climax. Throughout the piece I was just waiting and waiting for that soaring moment to follow one of those builds, and it never quite hit that peak. I can hear where you wanted it to feel the most impactful, but it never truly reaches that point. I would suggest maybe applying some more cymbal work around those areas, mainly hi-hats, deepening the bass a bit more, and adding some soaring melodies, especially around the end. I can see from your description that you didn't have enough time to complete it to your liking, but after the competition, if you feel that you want to tweak this song, these are some suggestions I have. Overall, great potential, just a little under-cooked in my opinion.

[Every Photon, 100 Times a Second]

I love how you took the organic intro of this track and seamlessly transitioned into a glitchy dream-pop vibe. Despite the electronic sound of the bulk of the track, it still manages to sound simultaneously woodsy and natural. Great job; making me nervous for the outcome of this competition, haha

sleepFacingWest responds:

Thanks! No need for nervousness, though. Everyone in this round has already come so far. At this point we can just be happy that challenges were met and enjoy having a supportive community. Competitions are arbitrary. I'm having a blast listening to what other people have come up with.

[Alter Ego (Part 1)]

Great work! I especially loved the rhythmic strings that appeared around the 2 minute mark

[Khadr]

From a production standpoint, this is insane. You clearly have a knack for producing hard-hitting, yet nuanced beats. Its reminiscient of Run the Jewels' production, and even a little bit of Death Grips, but at the same time its wholly unique and very much your own, in that it hearkens back to old school hardcore hip-hop and early Madvillain-era experimemtal. Lyrically, its pretty srong throughout and uses some rather vivid imagery, which i find to be pretty appropriate for the subject matter. I do feel, however you could've slipped in a lot more profanity to heighten the aggression a little bit, though i do commend your effort to retaining an intellectual vocabulary throughout. Also, my biggest problem with this song is that i dont feel that your rapping is on par with the stellar production. The flow is rather redundant and sloppy at times, though I dont think thats your fault sincr as a musician, you likely dont practice your rap technique all that much lol. Maybe once NGAUC is over, you can get a more experienced MC to rap over this phenomenal beat. And i know im not a judge or anything, but i feel like a track with this much potential deserves a full review. Awesome work, though. :^)

Ceevro responds:

'Tis true, I'm no rapper. All of your points on my flow are quite valid. Given the subject matter, I had an awful lot to say, and only a certain amount of time to say it in. Rap is really the only genre I could use to get it all out in the time-space. Using profanity is something that I would ordinarily have no issue with, but this time, given that it's a competition piece, I figured I'd try to hit them with poetry over raw aggression. I wanted the meaning of the words to hit harder than my own talent or lack thereof.

This is, however, the first time I've gotten such high praise on production value! Normally, that's the part where I fall short!

[Life is a seething mass of pain and i no longer want any part of it]

This shit's more unsettling than that one Current 93 spoken word EP. Props, my guy.