TheWisestMagi's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[_-={Crumbling Cathedral}=-_]

Maestro: Builder of Worlds

Excellent work once again Maestro! You please me! Anyway here is the review.

The actual substance: FLAWLESSLY song by Lady Arsenic again. My regards to her. To you Maestro, wonderful building of the song. I really like those sticato strings, they are one of the most wonderful parts of the song to me, just a wonderful suspenseful touch. The organ work is also wonderful, it reminds me of some psychaotic count playing a castle. Also reminds me of the brilliant backround piano work near the end of "These games we play". Once again the vocals really do set the scenery for the song, giving you a nice suspensful feel, but then when the insturmentation kicks in it almost sounds evil..i dont know, hard to explain. As for the chime debate, I like them, gives a nice castle-medieval feel.

Story time:(After the Dead's Witness story, they are away from that place..Maybe we will get to how some day = P).As the story starts,our heros are in a mystical place, gazing upwards upon a giant cathedral. Within the middle tower, near the top is a tainted stain glassed window. As the door creaks shut behind them they notice an abnormal cold rush over them without a breeze, but just an essence. They look around the room, noticing it has a haunting red coloring to it, almost victorian in structure. Then they look around the main room, seeing three giant suits of armor, two in the back left and right corners, and one centered. They are now walking down the great hall, on either side of them is a row of columns, and in between each of these is a strange suit of armor...not your average suits, for skeletons still lie within the standing statues. They near a celler door now, and open it to find a heap of bones. Disgusted they close the door, and go up the main toweres stairs. They are now at the top and are looking strait into a grand door. They open it, and a blast of psychaotic organ playing hits them. They enter the room and notice a count madly playing on a grand organ. They countinue to walk towards him thinking they are unnoticed, but when they get close, he spins around and screams at them "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" now are heros,startled, ask what on earth this mad man is talking about. He once again screams this but as he finishes his sentenced he grabs the belt of the main hero. "THE SWORD!" he says. And with this the hero takes out the sword of the three. Now, drawing backwards the count starts mumbling to himself "no...no....No...NO...NO!" louder each time. "THAT WAS RIDDED OF THIS LAND MANY YEARS AGO!" With the the count runs for the tainted stain glass window and leaps through it, shattering the glass. Our heros look out the window now and down at the crippled count, who already seemed to be turning into bone. The floor seems to rumble underneath them. Now, confused, our heros look at what remained of the stain glass window..a metal piece in the middle..and it read:
"The man, the beast, the evil.
They are one in the same.
Wisdom, power, Hatred.
Fear but one of them.
For if your fear each of them.
You shall not get far."
Now, our heros, see a middle piece in the metal, allowing someone to open it. They do so, and in it lies a black crytal ring,and like dropping blood a red stream ran through the middle. They pocket this ring, and feeling now stranger then ever, they descend back down the steps, to doubtfully see how the count was, and to see what the rumble was. As they get to the bottom they noticed the cellar that they closed, was now open, and all the suits of armors are now missing. They open the door to the main room, ready for battle, and see the shadows of hundreds of skeleton knights facing them. Over these nights is a greater shadow, one that even light won't penatrate, nor the swords of our heros...

(The monster from "The Metal Visage" has finally been once again found?)

Great work,( 5/5) I think this is your biggest leap in musical understanding since "The Metal Visage" (you've been constantly improving, but this is a jump).

MaestroRage responds:

Heh, I had never imagined that the monster from The Metal Visage could have been trapped in the celler of a cathedral, though in a way it makes perfect sense! I also didn't envision him to be a necromancer of sorts, if he's controlling those knights through his mental strength, that is some awesome power, and that was in fact how I envisioned him.

A blade and now a ring. The poem telling them to fear all would be their end arises again... I wonder what these items do, and if there is more, do they do something when brought together.

I don't know if the heroes would be able to escape these knights, unless one of these items does something drastic.

hmm... truly an interesting twist, well written Oracle, as always the tale was a good one. Thank you for that and the review, i'm glad you liked it ^^.

[FL experiments 001]

Well......

Well, I decided to look at your songs, because I kept noticing that you have reviewed the same songs as me, and must have about the same taste for music. Also, I see that you have FL studio 6 as well, which I have just started learning about a month ago...

But honestly man, spend more time on 1 song, or at least wait till you get enough ideas for a long one...because these are like the ipidimy of ADD... I don't mean to be mean or discourage you, but you should probably do some tutorials and come back with all new hits, surprise us with some crazy beat, with the synth adding a nice tune, preffereably at least 1 minute...

Hey, but keep up your learning, and goodluck out there.

~TheWisestMagi~

BlackPlastic responds:

Dont make fun of my disorder :(

[_-={The Dead's Witness}=-_]

So sorry..

Back to the song:
First of course, just the music composition itself. Once again, you bring back the beautiful war drums, flute, and choirs. This choir sounds slightly different to me... obviously the ones that do the warcry, but the heavenly one too. I'm not sure if they are, for I get to listen to all of these songs less and less until glorious spring arrives. The war drums are once again phenomenal and add the immortal feel to the "Dead's Witness". Especially where they reenter the song after the windchimes. Which brings me to the windchimes...They seem a little to...ugh...cant think of a proper way to describe them..they give the right feel I think you're going for in the song, but seem kind of toneless to me..I'm not sure, but I love their effect on the song (which ill go into later). The strings: I see less of these in this song, which is kind of a nice break from your other songs, I guess TOO many strings would make the "Dead's Witness" seem gentle..but not in a manner a beast would be in.

THE STORY! Time for the fun part = P.

As we go into the song, our heros keep hearing rumors about an untamable, unkillable beast that lives upon a local mountain (local to the infinately tall castle in the "These Angels of War" story). They believe this beast will have some interesting information, or gaurding some interesting information from them that is very important to their cause. As they set off, they see this mountain, shadowed in a mystic fog, and oracle-like feeling. They arrive at the base of the mountain and start up. It is a journey, not without it's difficulties. They reach the summit, exhausted from climbing, fighting, and just plain surviving, for they have been traveling for what seems like ages now. They notice no cave, or any other monster-dwelling cavern, but almost a stairway to heaven, for this summit was only an illusion. They countinue up, and arrive at the top, immediately facing a beast of mounsterous proportions. The wind beats against them as they stand, looking straight into the returned stare of the beast (chimes). They begin to have a feeling not new to them as the Witness looms over them...fear. They had come to far to lose another friend to an immortal beast, too far to lose hope...They charge the beast all at once and swing with fatal qualities...but the dead's witness stands still, and as the weapons strike him, is unmoved. Like the mountain itself it is unmovable. Behind it however lies a temple. They then figure that the goal shall not be slaying the beast, as they are used to, but getting into the temple and out alive. With a sudden movement they dash in all differnt directions, but with an unseen movement, the witness strikes them all back onto their backs. Now seeing a problem with their tactics, they sit, and meditate. They here a voice, (the one of the wise old man's from "These Angels of War"). Being calmed by this presence, our heros walk towards the beast, weaponless, and walk right past, unopposed. Now entering the temple they fight a holy room of white marble, with only a tombstone on a small patch of grass. They read it,
"The man, the beast, the evil.
They are one in the same.
Wisdom, power, Hatred.
Fear but one of them.
For if your fear each of them.
You shall not get far."
On atop this stone lay a sword, embued within it not only a remarkably unuasual symbol....It was glowing with majesty, pulsing with power, and shrouded in dark mystery. They grab the sword, and turn to eachother saying,
"Funny, the answer to the puzzle we just completed was the reward for completing it. Plus this sword of easily seen great value." Remarks one. As they exit the temple the fog had effectively turned black, the beast red eyed, and the feel evil. They now stare at the beast in a new light, in every since of the term. They reach to their sides for their weapons to find none, they had left all of them on the other side of the beast, all but the Sword of the 3.
Well, that was fun, but this song isn't quite enough of a battle feel to go further, (plus im running out of ideas).

MaestroRage responds:

An interesting story, I must admit to find the warriors meditate and walk by unhindered was a puzzle. This beast seemed to only react to hostility, yet when the blades were taken from the crypt, the beast became filled with rage, with a darkness.

Triggered by seeing the blade? Perhaps the blades removal unleashed a spirit that took control of the indestructible beast.

An interesting concept...

The encryption on the stone with that small poem too is a puzzle. If they fear all they won't get far, but even just fearing one of those would hinder the fighters to a dead end, more then likely their graves. Fear will destroy their discipline and strength, their unity and minds. Even having one fear remain is dangerous.

" Plus this sword of easily seen great value"

Was this the start of their own corruption, greed?

As for the bells sounding toneless, I must admit I did not think bells could sound toneless, perhaps you mean they do not really sound alive, or part of the piece, and that is a possibility, those bells seem to be an area of debate.

In any case, it was a great story, I appreciated it ^^. Thank you for the review WisestMagi, i'm glad you liked it! Expect a pm soon for a lil gift.

[_-={When Demons Cry}=-_]

Great flute work (and strings..duh)

You impress me yet again Maestro! This song is very different from your others, even if it has at least a few of the same instruments, it doesn't much sound like it. The percussion parts do remind me so much fo "Gazing at the Sunset" though, not a bad thing, just something I noticed, they go great with this song in a completely new twist. The only complaint I have is that some of the instrumentation/vocal almost didn't start right together or something..(phasing I think is the term). But that is just what I might have heard..maybe it's just me going deaf from Drumline.

This is nice and peaceful, yet sad, and remorseful. But I must have my hand at creating a whole new story, with a whole new core, but of course...linking to the others in a way.

At the beginning I see our hero's just awakening..from what we do not know. They aren't even sure if what they rmember is what really happened, or how long it has been since they have opened their eyes. They now do a little wondering, searching the area, to find someone..anyone..or anything for that matter. They then stumble upon that demon, a demon that was just sitting near a peaceful stream in the steaming forest.. that demon they once new as one without remorse, compasion, or even a soul...At first they draw their swords, spears, and various other weapons with a stealthy silence equal to the silence that proceeded the action. They now start to creep forward as the demon seems to be eating something, or someone they suspect. But as they grow closer they hear not gnawing, and ravaging, but a weeping. Frozen in shock our heros stand, they don't know what to do, especially since they cannot communicate with eachother, nor do they know if what they hear is real. They are even less sure of reality now, and completely lose their focus on rerality itself, as they start to gaze at the demon, almost tearing up as they stare. Now the heros, getting a grip of what they have now trusted is reality glance to one another, one at a time..meeting the eyes of their beholders each time. They then proceeded to nod at one another, and approch the demon. We see the holy warriors sword glow silently as he lifts it up, then as he reluctantly lets it drop, the demon starts to turn for a moments, but then falls sideways into the stream, giving our heros one last look...one last vision of how things can change..a lesson they shall never forget...but as our heros very well know, this lesson does not always work in such a good manner....now, haunted and peaced by the staring expression of the demon of mixed realities, they stop...still not saying a word...and reflected..."What will happen?"."What have we done?"..."Was it....right?"..questions never to be answered.

Well, that was lengthy as usual and I am glad you were able to read this far (since if you are reading this you made it!) Give yourself a pat on the back = P. But I hope you liked it, as the story I got out of the piece. 5/5.

MaestroRage responds:

Thank you kindly for the story Magi, it is a grand story to be taken from this piece. Let me share you the full story for this piece that I created.

(The part where the violins are simply playing around)
It hurt. It always hurt, but it always felt good... no... saying it felt good indicated that he could feel. He trudged slowly through the snow, the black winter sky weeped small bitter frozen tears that landed on his wounded and battered frame.

His large blade he dragged loosely behind him, scraping through the ice into the frozen earth. All he could hear was his own troubled breathing and the scraping of his razor sharp steel.

When suddenly, he thought he saw a figure.

(This is where the flutes come in, the first pounding sound)

He looked onwards, and felt he had met this person before. Why could he not see his face? Sheltered by his own hands, the figure stood frozen into place. The falling snow did not seem to land on him.

He walked towards him, his vision growing blurry and unstable. And suddenly the man brought his arms to his side, and revealed the giant wound running through his chest. Yes, he did know this man, this man burned back in the village he lay in ruins.

(Choir comes in)

From behind that man, came a small child. The child did not have eyes, yet in those empty sockets, he saw more emotion, more pain and suffering then any eye could possibly hope to portray. The small child clung to the chest wounded man, and buried his face into his wound. A silent cry swept from the childs mouth and into the berserker's soul.

It hurt... it had always hurt, but this was not physical hurt.

Suddenly all around, many more bodies started to form a circle around the berserker. Many hundreds... no thousands gathered and faced their killer. He could hear them... they wept, but all he could hear was his rugged and uneven breathing, getting rapid and shallow.

His eyes stung, and he seemed to shed a tear.

(have to cut it there, already at the limit, sorry, hope you enjoyed it ;))

[_-={These Angels of War}=]

*Rubs Eyes*

I must be blind, because I've checked your page everyday, and I just now noticed that this is a new song..-_-..

Sorry for the late review!

Anyway..I really love the drums =D, I am a member of Drumline so I really like it when a composer takes the drums so seriously. The bongos add a wonderful effect. The entire song sound very epic, exotic, and even mystic in its own way. Don't know how to explain this mystic other then it leaves me in a different world, much like "A Place for Dreams".

Timpani also has quite a wonderful effect on the song ;).

The Choir wonderfully adds to the song due to I see it doesn't seem to be the focus (Although I do notice 2 choirs now!) of the piece.

Once again you blow me away with your string work. You are very good with strings and portraying emotion and places with them, which may be the thing I love most about your music!

The Assortment of woodwinds helps greatly add to that exotic/mystic feel I was talking about, so I really liked that...Arabian snake charming instument or whatever it may be.

Once again I love the percussion drive and string emotion in the piece, It is wonderful..but now to try to link a story ;).

This to me does not portray as much of a danger or sorrow for our heros, but more so they have just come into sight of a massive, majestic castle, (I picture one much like Minas Tirth from Lord of the Rings) in which they even stand in awe looking at it for a moment or two. As they enter they see various markets, houses, the whole kit and kaboodle. They ascend upward in hopes of finding a ruler or ruling body. (Now the strings kick in). They start however to since that they are not welcome here as they ascend, the higher they get, the greater this unwelcomedness becomes...something is tainted somewhere within the angelic fortress, something not so angelic..
But our heros countinue to ascend, but don''t go up to the very top, where they have deducted the ruler/ruling body is, for they since great danger on the summit. They find refuge in a mysterious old man's house. He almost glows with a white, angelic power, but he appears to be crippled. They then lie down to rest...

This is where my story leaves off.. I do invision this as one of the groups earlier travels, and maybe one of their first sensed dangers, for they still have faith enough to trust.

Great song, HUGE review sorry...5/5

MaestroRage responds:

ah geez Magi, I could not have enjoyed reading that review more. My eyes are tired but DAMN IT, it was awesome ^^.

In any case I'm glad you love the strings, for they are my favourite instrument. In my eyes the strings have the capibility to portray ANYTHING. There are of course some weakness, as you can't use just strings for brutal thrashing audio, where the brass is needed, but overall I feel they are the best rounded.

There is actually 3 choirs blended together for this piece. By themselves they sound pretty bad, but together, they can pull off a rather decent job! One is good for high, one for low, and the last for more low. I have nothing middle wise XD.

I enjoyed the story, it was rather strange to see this old man glow with such power, and be crippled. Perhaps he is hiding his true power? Perhaps he is part of the ruling class, and they all glow like so?

Whatever the cause, it was an interesting, and enjoyable story. Thank you. Thank you again for the review. I'm glad you liked the piece ^^.

[Nessatta Remix]

Better!

I like this remix better then the original (good thing too!) It has alot more instrumentation as well as other things to break away from the repetitiveness. I mean, this one doesn't get repetitive at all. Very nice, by the way, what is that guy saying?

Anyway, this is put together well, and I love the synth part. I can tell your getting better!

P.S. I just got a copy of Fruity Loops Studio 6 (Producer Edition) And am starting to feel my way around it, although I can review a song, I don't know how to write one. ANYWAY, I don't have much time to figure it out now,(Very busy part of year for me) but come spring and = ).

Aresdev responds:

Yeah, I made this near the end of using my old program, still a while ago, but I made it in response to the reviews for the original. Good luck figuring your program out!

[Splendor]

Almost...Jazzy?

Reminds me of the same style of music as Ethnicity, sound like it would be nice while just sitting down to read something.

It is well done, and the drums are well incorporated into the song. I also like the strings = ). Makes it so it doesn't sound empty.

Oh wow, I like that bell/vipraphone part near the end, and the strings that come in right after it..are ok, but the ones after THOSE ONES are very good, almost gives a new feel to the song. I also like those quick sticato feeling strings at the end.

Nice one! Keep it up!

Aresdev responds:

Thank you for the review, not too bad for another old one eh? Have a super day!

[Your Prelude (True)]

Nice!

Throughout all the reviews I have given, I have noticed that each author definately has their own style of (classical) music. Very distinct sound for each of you. In fact, if you all came out with a new song at the same time and I was supposed to name the author kind of deal, I think it would be fairly easy.

This song is beautiful and uplifting, the piano and strings are well done, and the cymbal crashes well placed. My only complaint is the balancing of those drums, maybe a crescendo to make them EVENTUALLLY get that loud, but I think they are far too loud for the part that they come in on. Like I said, (This is for their first appearence mostly) crescendo would help them alot. Well placed wind chimes though = ).

8/10 (This is just my opinion, it is beautiful in it's own way, but this way just doesn't happen to be my absolute favorite ways....although it is growing on me as I sit here listening to it, cept those drum dynamics ; ).

Bosa responds:

It hangs in your mind like a thought that never vanishes.

[Latino]

*GASP*

WOW, that is truely unbelievably original at any rate. It is kinda fun to listen to too! *Doots and Dahts along* Weeee. ANYWAY, yeah it is a nice little tune that those plucked strings are playing, and I enjoy those fun vocals = P.

Anyway, this song is a nice break from most things on newgrounds, original. The sound effects (such as the wistle) are awesome as well, sounds like you experimented alot with this one, and it came out so catchy! MAN this is sweet, anyway the only thing I can say negative about the song is maybe some of the drum breaks are slightly, just slightly too long, and I wish those fun little gizmos from the beginning kept playing on other parts of the song (but in a different style to keep away from repetitiveness).

But anyway, this song is sweet, keep up the good work.

Aresdev responds:

Thanks for the nice things you say! This one was uber-fun to make, back in the day. Anyway, you rock man!

[Ode To The Fallen]

Actually..

I don't know why I only reviewed your techno pieces because you are actually one of my favorite authors, probably 4th favorite at that.

I like the feel to this song alltogether and how the chior and strings switch off and on until in the 3rd part they come together.

I am really not sure how hard you worked on this one compared to others, but you definately had some creative juices flowing due to the great sequencing of each of the parts.

Shall I try imagery on such a song? Maybe partial imagery, because I can see people thinking of their lost and...almost not mouring, but fighting for that person, or even better yet, thinking of all of the times they had had together, and all of the times they could have had.

Keep it up!

medieval7 responds:

Okey, thanks

I cant believe that im so close to gold!