| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Track Structure | 7 |
| Interest | 8 |
| Melody | 8 |
| Performance | 7 |
| Lyrics | 0 |
| Enjoyment | 9 |
| Recording Quality | 7 |
| Commercial Appeal | 8 |
| Overall | 7.7 |
Next up is a track called 'The Heroic' from Final Strike, which is a trance number. Reading the artists comments seems the track was intended to have a long cinematic opening section before any kind of rhythmic interest. I'm hardly an expert on trance but will do my best to give a fair assessment of the track and it's structure as I saw it : ) Can't give exact timings on the track as download button is not available on track and have no timer on site player so all structural comments will be approximated.
Firstly the long intro, actually had no problem with this section, the instrumentation is quite convincing and organic in nature, there is a bit of variation in the chord structure, so I wasn't getting that terrible repetitive feel to this section, sets up a mood and does it very well. There is a slight problem in the section with over quantinisation, the notes are very precise with little human feel, as a rule I tend to play all pads or strings live initially as a tiny bit of feel with instruments with a slow attack can work wonders to trick the brain into thinking something has not been time corrected. Obviously if the notes are totally out they can be tidied up a bit but your going for symphonic, ambient effect so better to tone down the timing correction :) Anyways nice strings here, which are joined by a bubbly trance line and a lower bass register line to follow. Again there is some chord movement to avoid repetition fatigue, and the song is building with some fx elements and some subtle percussion elements. Again this part is successful to me as it leading somewhere. Then we get a great kind of distressed synth line and perc leading to the trance section. The build is very nice. The beats have started now, the arps are in full swing, the pads are more gated now to propel the track. There is a subby bass as well which is a bit polite for the track, possibly something with a bit more bite is needed to get the track even more moving. Then the track stops dead with another cinematic ambient string section. Unfortunately this part doesn't work for me at all, for two reasons. 1) It a note for note repeat of the same part we've already heard at the beginning. 2) In breaking the structure of a typical trance track by having the break at the beginning, to repeat the trick twice just negates the effect you have already achieved in the beginning, and literally kills the track. To behonest, if you want a bit of variation at this section of the track, I would use the end section here, which has a instrument drop but the momentum of the track is not harmed, but it would break the track up slightly which would lead better into the last part where there are some darker synth elements introduced. On a more positive note the darker elements introduced sounding quite cool and did give the track some variation. There is some muddiness creeping in the mix as well around the end, there are a lot of elements fighting in similar bandwidths for space, and the kick is getting a bit lost in there, perhaps some compression on that and maybe a bit of sidechaining on the bass and high trance line. Also there is a synth line in the last section set in the high band which is a bit shrill and trebley, maybe remove or tone that down :) Also because of the overload here the rhythm track in general is getting left out a bit and sounding a bit thin, could maybe do with a few more automated fills or fx to liven it up a bit. By the way I have dabbled in this stuff as well and mixing is total torture so I'm not saying I am expert in this lol, it's just how I am hearing it, not claiming in any way I could do any better on the mix side lol :)
So after all that moaning I still maintain I like the track and all the above are suggestions/observations you may or may not take on board. Oddly, I did get that game feeling about the track (possibly because of the unusual structure maybe) but I could certainly imagine it fronting some FPS and sounding wicked. And games can be very lucrative so this is not a snub or an insult. Still think track need a bit more finessing but I enjoyed my visit, well done :)
To listen to the track Click Here