Asvegren's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[TTCM - River of gold.]

You wouldn't think it because of how dark / intense this is at points, but it's actually really easy listening. I've caught myself having it on in the background without really noticing. I like the dark bits in the beginning, particularly the creepy organ. But then it switches up and becomes more melodic, more alive. I like those parts too.

Calamaistr responds:

Look in my upload history for 'theme of atadema', its almost a tribute as similar ;)
thanks as always.
-cal

[Ruins rejected track 1]

damn, this is hardcore. very cool beat.

Calamaistr responds:

Can you understand it wasnt good? :(

[DOTM - 8 - Whiff of luck.]

The ending to this is pretty damn badass. Gives me hazmat vibes too!

Calamaistr responds:

Heh, well it does kindof cover the whole war all at once in both third and first person in a sense i suppose.

Not quite a nuclear war or anything, if anything the machine longs back to the world of nuclear instead of the world of the wireless electrofield (wich is why the browser could create a war in the first place, there is nothing preventing people from waging war, like the prospect of nuclear warfare does, with the wireless electrofield humankind has little say, the button is in the hands of everyone, especially the browser .. it kindof is a collection of everyone afterall.

[DOTM - 5 - Spiderwire.]

goddamn, this was good. one of your best for sure. the first half in particular... whoa. keep it up.

Calamaistr responds:

thanks, 2 more tracks, one (the final) already finished for 99%, only need to make a better ending for it, one before last one will be a lullaby sung by the machine concluding' saying its all right, we have seen the dream, and this is but the past. tbh the people who have been following this track (breaking the fourth wall) (edit: actually thats a great title for the track, ima write that down) have already seen how it truly ends, the browser may destroy earth but mankind is brought to another planet by the machine regardless, in the end it might have been the human mind that caused the thinking thus existance of the browser, the machine is a recurring reanimation that cradles humankind regardless.

greets.
-cal.

[TTCM - The right choice.]

Good stuff. Better than usual, lots of emotion in the melody. The minimalistic parts with the lone piano were also well executed.

Calamaistr responds:

personally wanted more out of it but adding more would probably have killed the focus on certain melodies, i did find a few parts a bit to generic for my own tastes but it takes a whole night to render such heavy instrumentation, cant be arsed to change it again, it takes alot of energy (and melatonin) to compose these tracks.

thanks.
-cal.

[TTCM - End of the sun.]

cool shit going on here, i particularly like the beginning part.

Calamaistr responds:

me too xD

[Canceled theme [8bit]]

Not necessarily cancelled, maybe rather postponed :) Genclops' review is very good in the context, he doesn't know the intended purpose of the theme yet interpreted it perfectly. That's a good review for you!

Your comments on this made me think of a quote I read the other day. I don't think it applies to you perfectly (because I think you do compose because you love it and not for fame), but maybe you're forgetting the joy of creation for the purpose of creation itself:

'Have you ever thought about it? We want to be famous as a writer, as a poet, as a painter, as a politician, as a singer, or what you will. Why? Because we really love what we are doing. If you loved to sing, or to paint, or to write poems, if you really loved it you would not be concerned with whether you are famous or not. To want to be famous is tawdry, trivial, stupid, it has no meaning; but, because we love what we are doing, we want to enrich ourselves with fame. Our present education is rotten because it teaches us to love success and not what we are doing. The result has become more important than the action.You know, it is good to hide your brilliance under a bushel, to be anonymous, to love what you are doing and not to show off. It is good to be kind without a name. That does not make you famous, it does not cause your photograph to appear in the newspapers. Politicians do not come to your door. You are just a creative human being living anonymously, and in that there is richness and great beauty.'
Krishnamurti

Calamaistr responds:

i dont care about fame, i care about genuine interest, perhaps to know im not alone, wich is what i experience 24/7. In my real life i cannot connect with people, most people have total apathy or are formal to me, all i truly have left are my mother and younger brother, one is old the other hard to talk with these days, so i feel incredibly isolated, and have been so for many years. Music was a way for me to create worlds and lose myself in them a bit, but even in those worlds i realise im alone, i am all those characters, all those facets, all the places and emotions, i just wish i could notice something outside of myself..

..before it is to late, i already find it hard to live in this world as it is, but i cant leave before my family, but i dont want to exist in this world after they would be gone either, that is how far it has come, and on the side my physical health nags on me, and its confusing because i dont know what came first.. the heartburn and stress that caused it, or it causing the heartburn and stress.. its suffocating even more that most doctors dont take me seriously and think im imagining things, and it makes me feel even less connected to this world.

I wish i could just open a door and actually enter one of my worlds, and to see the people and places i thought of to be alive, and willing to speak to me..

If that is death, then atleast i have something to look forward to because a future on this planet isnt it.

[Sage of the ages [BTTMC]]

Not my favourite out of this album, but it has its strong parts (especially on a second listen). Looking forward to hearing the final track(s)!

Calamaistr responds:

The final track will be called unity, dont know when ill finish it.
thanks for your kind words again.

[Last man on earth [BTTMC]]

kinda happy (clearly), which is a bit out of the norm for your style! still done well though, i particularly like the 'background' melody going on.

Calamaistr responds:

Well its double, on one hand he is happy to see that the people of earth are mostly preserved and living a life (in ignorance) on the new world, however he cant accept living the same life after all hes been through, afterall he still remembers everything and thus declines the offer to live amongst them forgetting about the machine.

He will stay with the machine till his death.

[Never verse home [BTTMC]]

Badass intro. And how could I not love THAT melody - you know which one I'm talking about! Overally, another great track, the beginning in particular imo.

Calamaistr responds:

I knew you'd like it, i chose not to make it exactly the same, i wanted it to have a hint of it and have more emphasis on the atmosphere, the frontier of space from the eyes of the humans inside the machines being taken from their scorched earth.