Ode to hopelessness (xct-ode.xm)

Posted by Rikimbo on Thu 21st Oct 2004, rated 6 / 10.

Alright, this piece seems to have two movements, so I'll look at them seperately. It starts off with some, well, I guess humourous is the best way to describe them, pizzicato strings and orchestral hits. Soon after, some instrument starts playing a first theme, I think it's supposed to be a cello. About a minute in, a high, fast-paces string section comes in, which I found strangely reminescent of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Some parts I found to be slightly dissonant. It sure gives a chaotic feel to this part of the piece, to say the least. About halfway through the piece, there's no clean line seperating it, but I'd say it gets into a second movement. As you may tell, I really didn't like the first part, but the piece redeems itself with this second half. Attention was put into giving the lead a fair range of dynamics, and the guitar fits in nicely. Deep percussion and lower overtones make this part sound mysterious, almost suspenseful. Very well done, this part. However, as much as I liked that second half, the ending is disappointing. In an orchestral work such as this, I was expecting a powerful ending, especially considering the way the piece started. However, it's a fade-out ending. In my opinion, he should have recapped to the first movement (even though I hate it so much) to give the piece more form. So in general, not a bad example for an orchestral piece. I'd recommend you have a listen just for that second half, if you're a fan of the style. My first and probably most obvious complaint is about the cello. I call it a cello, becaus that's probably what the sample was supposed to be used for. It really doesn't sound like anything like a real cello. It's too harsh and choppy to be a bow running across strings. I don't understand, the artist has got multiple channels for his four-note string section chords bleeding onto eachother, and his guitar (which I really like) is also spread over around four channels. So why use only one for the cello? Aside from that, it looks like the artist knew what he was doing and file size is reasonable. Really, if it weren't for my hating that intro and first bit so much, as well as my personal hate for fade-out endings, I'd call this a pretty good piece of work.