Rampant's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[NGHH - Fat Beats vs Rampa]

Hahaha lolol look at me my name is Poopwardo, and I am such a rap connoisseur* -- my favorite mash-up (in my news post) is B.O.B. featuring the chick from Paramore.

Look, this isn't YouTube, we have a bit more dignity and respect here. But you keep on listening to popular music: those groups (LMFAO, B.O.B., Florence & the Machine, etc.) are renown for their great rapping.

Or, if you think you can rap better, enter the NewGrounds Hip Hop competition. Hell, I'll even request BigRed put us in the same bracket so we can duke it out in the first round. In other words, don't talk shit if you can't do something yourself.

Now, actual review content / my thoughts:

Fat Beats: your verses were awesome to listen to, and your syncopated rhythms and cleverly disguised rhymes are sick. A lot of your punches were really awesome ("ya wanna get your growl on: you'll get dominated," and the "this bitch is wondering why his whole family just kicked the bucket" are two of my favorite lines in the battle). I wish you the best of luck here and in the NGHH 2012.

I think we both really stepped up our game from the last set of battles, which is of course a good thing, but let's keep going and see how far we can improve our skills :D

[NGHH - Richard vs MadFLeX]

Wow.

Ridiculous battle. You guys have serious skills that I can only aspire to.

I absolutely loved Rich's flips in the second verse -- his Datacat lines didn't mean as much to me as they could have done, as I only started getting into these battles at the tail-end of last year. MadFLeX, imo, came off as cocky (rightly deserved, though, from his 6-0 streak).

Vote goes to Rich.

[NGHH - Bummer vs Achilles]

Achilles015

I have to admit, I though BCT sounded a little monotone and his constant pauses between syllables to fit the beat got a little stale by the end of his second verse.

Both MCs had some really good punches in the second set of verses.

Although I thought Achilles spent a little too long ragging on Bummer for taking a long time to record, I did love his flips in the final verse.

Good job both of you - it was a little difficult to choose a winner since you have such distinct individual styles, but since I have to pick one of you, my vote goes to Achilles015.

[NGHH - Byron vs Gasmasq]

Great battle.

Gas' second verse killed it. That Shire line was great! Despite not being able to get into the studio, Gas' mic actually fit the style of the track perfectly.

Byron was a little hard to understand - had to listen to his second verse a couple of times to figure out half of what he was saying.

The beat was awesome, too, by the way.

My vote goes to Gasmasq.

[NGHH - JustInsane vs MickeyMao]

MickeyMao.

That beat change in Mao's was just insane, and solidified his victory. I felt like JustInsane had (in my opinion) a bit better flow, but Mao's attacks were more pointed.

My vote goes to MickeyMao.

Good battle!

[NGHH - Emergency vs SKS]

Emergency.

SKS stretched way too many syllables to try and fit the beat. At a faster tempo it might work (as was said by someone else). Emergency was a little off-beat in a few places, but overall his flow felt a lot better. SKS didn't seem like he could count to 16 bars - what was that? - and overall none of the punches were particularly great.

Emergency was much clearer and had better enunciation, probably due to having better equipment, so I won't hold that against SKS.

Overall, my vote goes to Emergency for this battle.

[NGHH - McFist vs Boss]

Boss.

Well I was hardly likely to vote for myself >.< I didn't come here to battle, I came here to have fun and try something new. (Something that I, as it turns out, am not very good at.)

Since I can't reply directly to reviews here, I'll do so through my news posts. If you have a spare few moments: http://rampantmusik.newgrounds.com/ne ws/post/659040

[NGHH - Slap vs Wyze]

Wyze

I thought both raps were excellent, and quite evenly matched.

For the first verse, I think Slap's lyrics were better, but Wyze's second verse just took Slap's verse to the ground and curbstomped it.

Wyze's clarity was also better - I had to listen a couple of times to make out all of what SlapHappy was saying.

My vote goes to Wyze-Stingray.

["The Guardians"]

Seriously.

You do not know how much I love this track: 10/10 & 5,000 characters just isn't enough to contain it.

First off, you just have an absolutely phenomenal theme to start the piece with. In fact, I'd say bolloks to the rest of the piece - take this theme and extend it to hell! If you took the time to do so, I'd say you could probably use it as the basis of a movement in a symphony, or a string quartet, or some other such concert piece.

Your variations and use of different instrumentation throughout the piece shows your maturity as a composer, and your ability to write well for different sections. (That harp writing is textbook perfect, for example.)

The only thing that's a little disappointing is the brass hits around 1:04-1:11; and 1:26 to the end - compared to the rest of the piece, they sound rather synthetic, which is pretty much the only thing that detracts from the piece.

Well, other than that. Make it longer! (Please?)

You certainly know how to write great themes and, presumably, work them into your future compositions as leitmotifs :)

- James

BrokenDeck responds:

Thanks for the lengthy review! The brass is EWQL Orchestral Gold. And I do admit that the arrangement at the parts you mentioned for them was a bit lacking. Thanx!

:D

[Nghh - Byron Vs Matatat]

Byron

Really well-matched battle, but...Byron's second verse just. Damn. That's a tough verse to follow.