Gathering From Ashes (gatherfa.xm)

Posted by TMA Placeholder Account on Fri 17th May 2002, rated 8 / 10.

This is a song that draws you in, and impresses you with its quality; It is very good. BTW, I hate slow rock, but this song is an exception... :) ON ITS CASE======== Opening: Average. But It's hard to tell when the intro ends and the body begins. Bass: Average. The "bassiest" samples in the song the chorus pad and bass synth. I wish the bass synth would be louder, deeper, and last through more of the song. Rythm: Average. Because the song is a slow song, this is very noticeable. I would say that the samples sound good, but the pattern is generic, except in a few places. The bells add a nice variation, but should be used more sparingly. Refrain: Average. It is quite repetitive, and in fact alot more than I would have liked. More improvisation during the body of the song would help, especially for the flutes. (The electric solo rocks, though :) IN ITS DEFENSE======== Closing. Great. I like the electric solo. It stays true to the rythm, and simultaneously adds a nice improvisation to the melody. Melody: Very Good. Has a sad, yet comfortable "easy listening" feel. I'm not sure what genre this song fits into. I think slow rock or instrumental. The main theme is very dramatic in some parts, which works well in this song. The only improvements I could imagine would be to use more traditional woodwinds, because the ethnic one breaks the feel of this particular song. Harmony: Above Average. The song harmonizes well, but it's not very noticeable to the listener. More harmony could be done by using several strings to form chords (instead of a single, droning chorus sound.) Also, the chorus pad gets annoying after hearing it loop through half the song. The acoustic guitars harmonizes extremely well, but could use even more randomization to give a more "live" and "human" feel. TECHNICAL======== General: Average. The author used just the basic effects to make this song work, but nothing spectacular to make it stand out. It has plenty of set tone portamentos, but no portamento shifts. Pitch (portamento) shifts would add a "string slide" effect to the guitar and could possibly make it sound more realistic. Also, "string scrape" sounds and hums/static could add realism to the elctric guitar. Sample Usage: Good. The particular selection of intruments match very well, and are used correctly. The song gets it emotional feel from the way the samples come together, and they have a good ambience. OVERALL======== Great. This song is very powerful, dark, and yet "victorious." It would make a good "resolution song" for a video game, and could be played on the credits screen, or during an ending event.