The breathy vocals at the beginning have a nice, haunting vibe, and the frantic percussion helps enhance that feeling too. The vocals at :15 are good, although it’s a bit unconventional to pan them to one side like that, and in general it’s very hard to make them out in the mix. The loud, distorted, and heavy drop at :38 was not my cup of tea. The atmosphere there was pretty creative, but the spammy rolled percussion took away all sense of rhythmic appeal, and the pads and other harmonic elements are really hard to make out in the mix. I might’ve actually used 1:01, the post-chorus, as the full drop. The harmonies come through a bit better at 1:26, but the rolled percussion is just a little too prominent and distorted in the mix there for my tastes. The vocals also get fairly repetitive after a while.
The breakdown at 2:34 was a nice relief from the harsh mastering of the previous 2 minutes of content. I like the dreamy synths and warm strings there a lot. The soulful vocals at 2:57 add a great, emotional appeal to the texture. You also integrate that soulful verse well back into the harsher refrain at 3:50. The guitar solos at 4:14 are nice, although they overwhelm the vocals in the mix a bit too much IMO. The breathy vocals at 4:40 are good for some variety, too, but the “eternal subconscious” vocals that follow are seriously overused at this point.
Overall, the composition and sound design are solid here, but the mastering seriously detracts from my enjoyment of the piece. The volume levels are seriously out of control, and the level of distortion in the texture obliterates most of the harmonic content. Still, I can tell that you’re a talented producer, and I think it would’ve take much to rein in the volume levels, limit the distortion on the drums, and make this piece a well-balanced and still-catchy banger. Keep at it, TurbonicZ! ^_^
Mixing, mastering, and balance
.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7/10