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 Song Info: |
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Artist: |
ultrasyd (Ultrasyd) |
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Title: |
DarkTower part II-Striking from the Shadows |
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Score: |
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Page views: 3092 |
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Artist Comment: |
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DarkTower part II
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- Black Metal with symphonic elements. This track evoques some dark nights, forgotten, ancient & faeric ages...balancing between Light & Obscurity.
- Inspiration: any good Black Metal stuff, which I love, and of course "The Lord of The Ring" by Tolkien(but no reference to the movie  )
Featuring:
Middle age military ambiance, faeric Black Metal, "Final Fantasy like" breaks, epic theme with flute...tempo variations, some double kicks of course...
You will find the COVER too, in the zip - Enjoy  |
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 chosc (trance) |
17 Oct. 2005 |
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I dont have the time to read all the other reviews but i have to review this song afterwards cause now i have time.
And i always wanted to review this song cause it is a great one!
What i have first to say is that when i was 15 i never liked metal, but when i now hear your style of metal i like it very much.
In my sight this song is also a fantasy metal classical one.
Impressive for me was the piano arpeg after about 20 seconds.
After that my studio monitor speakers began to rumble a little bit *g*
I think the drums were a little bit to ..hmmm maybe wrong eq ?
But ok that doesnt matter you have various melodies in this track and i can hear very artistic elements in it. Yes you are very good !
Yes you are repeating some parts (maybe to often) but you have many variations in your sound and many melodies with strings.
Also i want to mention the rhythm change in your song from fast to slow at the end and that melody at the end is very impressive ! Congratulations !!!
N |
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 roncli (pop) |
12 Sep. 2004 |
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A highly creative symphonic metal arrangement, quite enchanting to listen to. Suffers from some EQ problems, but is still enjoyable.
The sound quality is the biggest problem on this one, as the bass and midrange is overdone... WAY overdone. Everything is all muddy and blends together, nothing stands out. This really hurts, as there's no separation to the sound. The 128kbps encoding only amplifies the problem as well. Aside from that, the instruments are great, the guitars fantastic!
The arrangement is odd, as it varies throughout the song, but plays the same riffs in succession with little or no variation. This causes the music to sound very uninspired, even with the variation in it. But what does play is just fantastically put together. The pianos going up and down, the percussion thundering along, it's all very well done.
Overall, not a bad piece of music, especially if you can EQ the treble up a bunch. Definately recommended for those who like this style. |
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 Rifflections (metal) |
09 Sep. 2004 |
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The intro just blows me away. It's awesome. Great guitars, great drums. My favorite part starts at 2:19, great double kicks, guitar goes perfect with the drums, strings very scrary. Then the short slow part.
[Arrangement]
very complex, lots of drum changes, very good
[Creativity]
awesome track, has it all, everything a real black metal track needs
[Feeling]
spooky, scary, just right
[Samples]
best samples I've heard on ctgmusic.com
[Sound]
powerfull sound, very solid
[Quality]
see rating
[Lacks]
NOTHING
P.s. Please release some of your samples. At least the guitars, please. |
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PLUKS (various) |
27 Jun. 2004 |
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00:00 to 00:22
The first part of the intro of the song has got some orchestration and some drum elements working with it. The feeling is of fantasy and medieval. Once again making the soundtrack of any legendary story. 
00:22 to 00:43
This second part of the intro shows us the main piano up and down fast arpeggio which will carry on with the heavy metal body. Nice progression indeed. 
00:43 to 01:03
As I said before, piano phrase carries on and it all becomes heavy metal!
Drums enter the song with double kick and fast rythmic pattern. The sound of drums is a bit weak, but I'll talk about it later.
Distorted guitar is also added here making long chords and adding fury to the theme. Its sound is not bad, but not great.
01:03 to 01:23
The ambient becomes calmed except for the drums. They're constantly kicking and kicking while some strings and the piano play around with some cut melodies.
01:23 to 01:43
The part of 00:43 to 01:03 is repeated here again.
01:43 to 02:03
Guess what? The part of 01:03 to 01:23 is also repeated.
02:03 to 02:11
A dramatic chage happens here.
Drums and guitar disappear leaving alone the orchestral elements which make a progressive rythm and a strange melody. This is the introduction of a completelly new part of the song.
02:11 to 02:19
Some instruments play the same game as the rest.
Guitar and Drums also want to play this game and they make it playing cut chords and percuting some elements, not making continued riffs or rythmic patterns.
02:19 to 02:49
There's a change on the tone and rythm. Everything becomes faster and wilder.
Guitar riff is fast and palm muted.
Drums are wild (but lacking some power).
The orchestral element is just perfect. Full of fantasy. I always insist on the fact of making songs extracting the orchestral parts of Ultrasyd songs.
02:49 to 03:04
The same part of 02:03 to 02:11 and the following are repeated here.
03:04 to 03:34
The same as 02:19 to 02:49.
03:34 to 04:05
This part is very similar to its precedent one. The only difference, in fact, is the chord progression. This one is less terrific than the other one and the feeling is different too.
04:05 to 04:25
Only distorted guitar and some strings on the background are playing during this bridge. There's only a progression of two chords (E and F I think) and it's clearly working as a bridge between parts.
04:25 to 04:45
Drums comes back only with a belic snare. Guitar is still making its two chords progression while some orchestral elements make a belic melody. The rythm now is quite different than the one of the rest of the song and there seems to be an uncertain calmness on the ambiente.
04:45 to 05:05
The only thing changing here is the main melody. This time it is a better composed one. More complex and with more variations too. I like it a lot.
05:05 to 05:23
A loooooooooong chord is used to end the song. Guitar and strings makes the final point to this nice fantasy metal track.
Sound Quality.
Well. I know this is not a new song and you've improved the quality of your songs, but here we've got a great orchestral sound and a poor heavy metal one.
Guitar is sometimes too loud and its sound is not realistic enough.
Bass is almost unperceptible and it seems to be hidden behind a big courtain of noises.
Drums are the weakest point here. There's not a good compensation between drum parts volume and, of course the contrast between drums and the rest of the song is too high. It's a pity to have this wrong thing in a song like this, because I really liked it and it makes me difficult to concentrate on the great composition.
Structure.
The song is a bit repetitive, but not too much. It has got many parts and each one is independient from the rest becouse of its context. The whole song seems compact and coherent. Good work with structure so! 
Overall.
Well, overall is great! I love your songs! This one, in fact is one proof of your great work creating your personal style. Fantasy Metal I would call it. The feelings created by this piece of art are quite good and the orchestral parts are pieces extracted from a genious mind. So this work is a really worth download and I will probably want to listen to it again and again.
Keep on tracking m8! |
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Cage (metal) |
10 Mar. 2004 |
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I already reviewed this song at ModPlug Central, so I'll just copy most of the review I made there:
First some sidenotes: I like the cover jpeg you suply with your songs, it really completes the package. When I decompress the zip the song itself hasn't got a file extensions though, that's a bit sloppy.
I love these kinds of metal songs. Some nice orchestral sounds and a very nice full sound. Contrary to Ethelion I think the drums, notably the bassdrum, lack in power compared to the guitars and the rest of the song. Also, the guitars have too much distortion on them. Their sound is very good, the EQ'íng, but a bit less distortion would be more to my liking.
The composition of this song is great however. Brilliant gentle melodies with a raw and heavy guitar track. Loads of variation, you won't get bored listening to this. The song has an epic feel to it, like it could be used for an rpg game or a movie soundtrack even. The sample quality is overall very good, as is the production.
This is a very good symphonic black metal song and should not be missed by metal fans. |
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Ceekayed (various) |
22 Feb. 2004 |
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Oh, yes, I like this one. Sounds like Dimmu Borgir's "Enthrone Darkness Triumphant" -era mixed with Limbonic Art's old -era. Very nice.
The composition is very nice and quite original compared to other blackmetal.
Still, I'd love a more gripping guitarsound and some dualgrowled vocals.
Now, the drumsound is as blackmetal as it can be, but unfortunately, I don't like it. I like hearing clear drums, that are mixed quite close, and that's forbidden in blackmetal, right?
Not much to complain in this song, except for the lack of vocals and a bit messy guitarsound. Everything else is right in place.
The low score comes from the fact, that I've still heard alot better done tracked blackmetal songs than this is, so I can't really give a high score.
And no way, this is not a chaotic track, rather impressive and original. I couldn't know what's coming next a single time when listened this song. Two thumbs up, once again. |
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obScene (various) |
24 Oct. 2003 |
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Hey I like this track. One.. howerver I think the drums are way overdone! That rolling tom really is annoying! I think you done the same thing in Obscurantis!!! Sound quality is pretty good but I think the strings are a liitle weak. Guitar is very nice though.
I think the track is rather chaotic and I never seem to really get into it. Its not really repetitive but the track grows kind of mundane IMO. There seems to be a lot of fancy arrangements repeating themselves and moving on through the bag of tricks for the entire song. I just never found any melodies or grooves to really latch on to. Too much chaos IMO. But a lot of time, work and care is evident in this track. There is alot to listen to if one bothers. Good work!
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It-Alien (rock) |
23 Oct. 2003 |
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hmm.. I don't see the point of all this enthusiasm about this song: ok it's finally something different on this site, and the production is somehow good, but I find it very much overrated.
I've read something like "very real sounding drumlines"... hmmm... hmmmmmm.... Ethelion.. have you ever heard of "dynamics"? Everything lacks of dynamics in this song, not only drums... everything is so robot-played...
It is a good effort without any doubt, but giving this song a 9.5 is something really exhaggerated in my humble opinion.
Some parts lacks of variations, too: for example from 3rd minute to 4'30".. I don't see any "drums randomness" here...
the final part is the one I prefer, though the guitar is REAAALLLY killing me there, and the very end itself is.. hmm.. well.. just an end.. doesn't fill with the rest of the song at all.
the sounds fit the genre very well, and indeed I don't like them very much (black side of metal is not my favourite because of guitar sound aswell).
The piano is very good, but once again there is not dynamics at all here.
Strings are that kind of synth strings we are accustomed to listen to in symphonic black metal songs, so once again.. no dynamics!
The clarinet is convincing and it is also probably the best used instrument here.
There is a good amount of things to appreciate here, and a lot more to be improved.
Vocals? hmm.. well ok.. if the song was made with the idea of vocals to be added, then some boring (i.e. repeating) parts could get better, but if you have to put vocals in it just because it HAS to have vocals, or to hide repeativeness.. just try to give more variety to that parts with some leads, tempo variations or something like that.
Aww.. if only this would have been made on a tracker.. |
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NamtoJ (metal) |
17 Oct. 2003 |
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You have noe idea how much I love symphonic metal and that intro is amaizing!! Reall nice and fluent before the guitars and drums begin. really great and dark atmosphere and those sypmhonicla "solos" are great! But I agree with most of the reviewers here. Turn up the sound of that guitar!! I have never said such a thing before... But I waas dissapointed when it ended! I wanted to hear more!! Excellent job!! |
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Ethelion (metal) |
06 Aug. 2003 |
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COMPOSITION : The structure of the song
The song starts off sounding like a theme from a war-game or a naval-movie.. but then one of the many strong transitions appears and the track takes a completely different turn.. for the better. The way you've built the transitions and bridges in this song really define the composition as a whole. Pauses, brakes and occational halts makes the listening-experience a welcomed one. To me, the song has a very natural feel to it, and from the very beginning, the song guides you without hesitation or doubt. A job well done.
MASTERING : The quality of production
The first thing you might notice is the quality mastering done in this track. It all sounds very professional, and I would say that it is, to some degree, as well. There are two noticable flaws in the mastering though, and that is the volume on the bass-drums from 00:43 to 02:03, which is too loud, and the volume on the gitars from 00:00 until the end, which is a little low. The strings might be a bit too loud in the composition. I am just refering to subtle changes here, so in an overall sound-scheme, it works just fine the way it is now. I love the way you've made the effects so subtle, but still so imperative to the production as a whole.
INSTRUMENTS : The selection of instruments
All the instruments fit the genre accordingly, and I must say that some of the guitars sound absolutely awesome. A good death-metal, black-metal setting. Everything blend well together, and creates a full, strong soundscape that sweeps the listener away. I especially enjoy the gitars (because they are real), and the drums because they almost sound real. Some of the strings might be too loud. The flute is a very nice touch near the end.
RHYTHM : Percussions and drums
The percussions sound very good in production, and creates randomness. The drums in general sound very real, though the bass-drum might me a bit loud. As for the metal-arrangement on the drums, I think you've done an outstanding job. There are many good transitions and take-offs, and the programming leaves the listener with a very authentic 'live'-feeling.
CREATIVITY : Variations and melodies
I would say that the strings and the flute creates most of the melodies in this track, but the guitars do also play an important role. I like the melodies and the variations you've implemented, but I sure feel the need for a vocal on this track, since it all seems like a fast soundtrack of some sort now. Also, I am missing a part where the strings cut of from the main-theme and do a solo of their own whilst the guitars keep playing the melody. An occational change in tempo to enhance the drums and strings would not hurt either.
MOODS : The feeling of the song
I love the almost theatrical mood in this piece. It all sounds so dramatic and epical, and I can easily compare this track with other known artists within this genre. Some parts are more sad than freightning, and some are even filled with the feeling of awe. A fantasy-like setting one might say.
QUALITY : The quality of the instruments and samples
Quality could only improve slightly on the guitars, the rest of the instruments sound flawless. Real, with other words.
REMARKS : Additional comments
I will be looking forward to be hearing som vocals on this track, as it is the only thing that is really 'missing'. You might also try to incorporate another theme, since the song gets repetetive at times.
IN SHORT : Overall impression of the song
An epic metal track, obviously created with care and attention to detail. You definitely know the genre. The only thing missing is a vocal, and maybe a female choir.
TO THE REST : Comments to the other reviewers
- CrazyMan : I agree on the volume-part, but I don't think SlipKnot vocals would fit here.
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CrazyMan (metal) |
16 Mar. 2003 |
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!!!Some Classical and Metal Cocktail here!!! I love it. I Ain't got someting to say!!! Only voices like "SlipKnot" are missing in this one! The only little problem : You'd have put the guitar louder...
Awesome, Wonderful, I like it so much : 9.5!!!
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Szartd (classical) |
14 Feb. 2003 |
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Yeah , very very impressive track !
Very nice orchestal stuff going on , which turns in to very kewl and fast metal !
Yeah .... fast double kicks and kewl melodies !
Hehe ... just a very nice track , with an awesome sound and quality !
I like the twist it gets on about 2 minutes , there is some dark guitar coming in , which is very kewl !
I just got some feeling that there is someone story in the song when I listen to this .... NICE ! |
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Extra Info: |
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Genre: |
Metal, Symphonic Black Metal |
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Length: |
5 min 23 sec |
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Release year: |
2003 |
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Made using: |
Reason |
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File location: |
ultrasyd.free.fr |
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Added: |
14 Feb. 2003 |
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Download Options: |
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File size: |
4190 kB |
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File type: |
[MP3] |
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Link: |
  (save as) |
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Alternative: |
not avaliable |
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Song Stats: |
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Overall rating: |
8.46 |
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Total downloads: |
287 |
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This week downloads: |
0 |
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Current chart´s position: |
Not on charts. |
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Best chart´s position: |
1st |
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Favorite song of 2 users |
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Comments (13): |
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Ultrasyd [7th. November 13:19] ![[195.83.105.77]](pics/ip.gif)
| Ruler >> Nah, it's not the real soul of Black Metal; real Black Metal must be recorded in a cave with ugly sound quality, of course This one is commercial stuff lol |
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Cage [13th. September 0:39]
| @roncli: I thought it could use even some more bass. There are too much mids, but bass? |
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roncli [12th. September 23:19]
| The ZIP file I downloaded.... There's a file in it without an extension, it should be .mp3. |
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 Ruler [17th. June 11:45]
| good song, this track represents the real soul of the black metal good work ! |
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PLUKS [13th. June 12:05]
| Great track! |
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ultrasyd [25th. October 11:29]
SURE ! THIS IS CHAOS lol !!!
That's black metal guys ! |
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ultrasyd [16th. October 15:57]
Sorry, download quota exceded !  Please retry later ! |
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NamtoJ [16th. October 15:22]
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Ultrasyd [3rd. August 21:17]
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ultrasyd [13th. June 8:38]
| My site is down Fixed soon I hope !!! |
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Meltic StOrm [11th. June 22:33]
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ultrasyd [12th. April 13:57]
| CLICK ON THE LINK WITH THE RIGHT BUTTON AND CLICK "SAVE AS", or then you can have a error message ! |
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Monad [8th. April 17:13]
| Can not download! |
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