MercyfulDeath's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Shut Your Mouth]

As the song progressed, both the rhythm and lead guitars began to deviate from the generic path and added lil flourishes that really gave the tune spice. At first it was difficult to classify as metal due to the very mid 2000's pop punk riff, but once the double bass started rolling in I found it to fit comfortably on the lighter side of mainstream mid 2000's metalcore. I felt the drums a little dry, but I assume the definition helps this style of music work better, however I felt the lead could've worked better with a hotter kind of guitar tone going through it, maybe try a TS or SD1 style overdrive to help pop the midrange out more? I can also detect your electronic influence shining through in small pitch shifts and sprinkles of synth within the song, bonus points for it being subtle. I must admit it sounds a little too newschool for my taste, given my criticism, but overall it is a fine piece imo. 8/10.

FinaLee responds:

Thank you for your honest opinion! It's funny you mention a TS because I was actually looking around for it in the house and still can't find it!

[This Way To Oblivion]

very thicc bass yes, thicc sludgy guitars too. I feel drums would've helped if they were massively reverberated like Mournful Congregation works them. The chuggy riff had stockholm swedeath vibes with the tremolo pickin in between the punishing chugs. At some points I felt some harmonies could've come sooner, but now that I think about it, Doom is slower compositionally as well, and I guess it took time for my speed metal addled brain to acclimate to that. The lead tone is fuckin killer, piercing as shit, are you using a humbucker equipped guitar for it? I feel it doesn't sound as thin as the single coil sound I assume has been part of your rhythm tone. The static at the end was to fantastic effect as well, very nice desolate feeling, gave me Saint Vitus vibes too.

Banana-head responds:

Thanks for the review! Yes my guitar has a humbucker, i used the same guitar for both the rhythm and lead. For rhythm i used the fuzz/distortion mode of my Boss FZ5 and for lead i used the octafuzz mode. The static at the end is feedback with the octafuzz mode turned on.

[Pentagram]

Well now that's a first for me. Noticing some things first off, offbeat on a couple of parts, I can pick off on which tracks you seem to lose the rhythm, no big deal happens more than I'd like to admit, I'd advise to play along a click track if you hadn't already, I know we're TR00 FKN METALHEDS AND WE DON'T PLAY TO THAT MODERN TECHNO CLICKY TRAC GARBAGE but it's helped me immensely for certain songs. I'm also noticing the punch ins, especially on the harmony leads near the end before the tempo change, now what I can't tell is if it's actual punch ins or noise gate cut off, which can be jarring to the listener. Compositionally I've very few complaints, and find it kind of hilarious you pack more riffs in bout a minute than I do in a full song lmao. That being said, I found some section changes to lack punch or lead ins, mostly the last one really, the rest were fine, I was thinking perhaps held notes on the harmony lead and a drum fill to lead in would've introduced the final riff better, but that's just me. I feel this is a fantastic instrumental, and I recommend you spend more time with it to iron it out and really bring out all the riffs leads and part in a way they burn in well but don't overstay their welcome.

4/5 gib more demon tiddies

Banana-head responds:

ayy thanks for the review! I did play along to a click track but i guess i just fucked up even with that lol. Im not sure what you mean by punch ins but i assume the problem is a noise gate cut off since i was using it indeed. Idk if i can do much anymore regarding mixing since i really dont know much but i can see where i should improve things, i just dont know how to do so.

[We'll Take The Night]

Ok I'm the resident 80's metal guru (I kid) around here, I'll be the judge of this... aaaaand it's pretty fucking killer dude. Very, very priest-y. Impressive lead section. Bit sloppy playing in parts but if I were to knock off points for sloppy playing I'd be king of the hypocrites since my playing slurs more than a Bacardi happy hour. Drums however felt eh, flat, and it has digital artifacting, but other than that everything sounds great. 9/10 broski lets collab

Banana-head responds:

Thanks for the review! The drums are flat because theyre guitar pro drums lmao. Im up for a collab!

[Pisces | AlphaStorm]

Congratulations on the full release, there's a lot of improvement since I last heard your output. I'm glad you were finally able to get the hang of mixing to the point everything is well balanced and audible. I've only one complaint, the drums lack presence and do feel, eh, drum machiney, due to the sound or how Superior Drummer's samples work, idk my dude, something about them feels dead, I'd recommend experimentation with some other drum plugins if you can find the time and money to get them (I'd advocate for piracy but uh, yeah). I'd recommend Ugritone's stuff as I've been having good results with them, and a few plugs might be up your alley. The rest are nitpicks really, guitars bite too much and don't bark as much as they should considering the mid 80's 'tallica sound you're going for, I'd recommend a TS boost (tone at center, level dimed, gain at 0) setup before distortion/amp to tighten up your mids and give it more of a presence. Cymbals could also be a smidge higher, but that's just me.

Compositionally a very victorious feeling piece, lots of callbacks to To Live is To Die. I'm sure it's due to being the last piece done, it does feel like the end of a journey. Good show lad.

AlphaStormMusic responds:

Thank you very much! I will admit, I've learned a lot about drum mixing since making this so the presence problem lies in a lack of low mids on the drums that rely on them for punch. And I think most of the reason it feels dead is not so much anything to do with Superior Drummer, but rather my dependence on using max velocity on every hit that isn't a cymbal or fill, and the humanizing I did being a tad too light. I did actually make sure each hit was slightly misaligned with the beats, but it may have been too little. As for the guitars, the greatest problem they face is that I boosted the highs, which is where all those harsh frequencies live, therefore that affected the rest of the sound, making it sound too shrill. I've always had that problem, is that I like brightness to a fault, but I only realized that within the last month or two, and I finished this album back in September. I've since managed to get a much nicer sound out of some new plugins and just new discoveries about mixing. So, all of your gripes and nitpicks, I've fixed since I recorded this. The only problem is that those fixes will only start to be heard in May.

I'm glad it did its job well, though! This really did feel like the perfect ending to the album, so I'm glad it came across that way. Thank you for the review! :)

[Valkyrie]

Pretty Maids called, they want their keyboardist back, very excellent playing and production though, lot of Thunder Force vibes, reminiscent of Sword of Justice's arrangements in a couple of places. If there is one complaint I have it's the bass is not as upfront as I'd like, but that's just me being an Iron Maiden fanboy. Fantastic way to start the year man, you still can't make me like bog standards strats though :P.

DanJohansen responds:

Thanks man! I'm surprised you think the bass is low, I think it's already louder than the rhythm guitars :D Glad you liked it man! Strats rule haha

[Fuck It All (and fuck you)]

Very Metallica-like main riff, got that AJFA feel. The speedup at the end is radical, and the solo gives me Kreator Endless Pain vibes. Productionwise well, I'm not the best critic, but everything is even and audible, bass does Lemmy proud, I do wish the bass drum had a bit more presence though. All in all sick fuckin shit my dude.

djt820 responds:

I do not deserve any comparison to Lemmy but thank you very much

[Cyber Trace]

Hey this is pretty tite, feels like it builds up forever though after the 14 sec mark, but then it's a loop so it's not written to be a full fleged piece I guess? I like it though, and I'm very interested in seeing what plugins you used, I've got a few and I'd really like to make some cool synthwave if I can ever get the hang of it.

Write a song though, forget about sound design and just concentrate on writing a song, I have a feeling you'll add your own bits and pieces of cool design without you even realizing it.

zybor responds:

Thank you for your constructive critique. :)

[Fiery Determination]

Let me begin by getting this out of the way, I fucking HATE stratocasters, I hate the wiry wussy tone they got when trying to get em filthy, I hate how they look, I hate how they're the most common fucking guitar style around. Fortunately, the tone on this shit is thick enough to please me, so that's fuckin great. On the playing, it's 100% certified not gay, I do however wish the synths were more 80's synthy, like Maiden in Somwhere in Time, that'd be radical. I really have nothing bad to say 'bout this, I wish I could play that cleanly and well, but eh, I guess I'm satisfied with what I got 'till now.

Good fuckin shit cap'n

DanJohansen responds:

I got a stratocaster with some proper metal pickups ;) A lot of the other fender's come with very weak but nice sound for accoustic stuff... I got the Yngwie Malmsteen Metal pickups for it, that's why it's not wussy :D

[Wicked Women of The Sea]

The intro kinda sounds like Cloven Hoof's 1001 Nights with the off time shit but mixed with the nasal tones of Mark Shelton and Cirith Ungol's Jerry Fogle on King of the Dead. This whole thing has some radical fuckin off time riffs, and it seamlessly merges with 4/4 headbangery. The final gallop and melody is so fucking triumphant and sick I went fuck it and gave it my 5. I dig the fuck out of this my man, make more.

ThermalLaser responds:

Really appreciate the review man!
Not going to lie, I'm really proud of that ending gallop part. LUL
Stay tuned, I'll definitely be making more. \m/