RiverSound

Ouch. It was just starting to sound good... Well, gotta prepare for a 2 hour review. IF it really turns out to be the only way.

What's going on with this? Has the voting somehow started without me noticing or are we still waiting for some technical stuff to get finished?

When's the voting set to start, zircon? Looking forwards to hearing the candidates.

Damn, why did I miss this. Waiting for what you people have cooked up, though... Hey BTW! It's 24th in here! I don't care if you're still living the 23rd on the other side of The Pond, I wanna vote now!!! Gimme contestants! !

I was actually going to suggest that to you. Why don't you organize such project? Seems to me like you're not just an OCR old timer, reminiscing on the good ol' days, but quite capable of organizing or directing something.

Same here, if it's nothing like the one you got there.

Time to throw in some feedback. Been listening to the first two discs for a few days now, so I'm ready to lay down my thoughts about them. In general, it feels like these albums don't get a fair amount of reviewing, comments and feedback given the effort put into them. As of late, and at least in these threads, it's just too bad that many great albums go predominantly undiscussed. Is there a reason for the unactivity in here nowadays? Anyhow, back to ARMed and DANGerous. I'll give my overall thoughts about each disc and point out some highlights or things that I found appealing in some tracks, so not going to be a track-by-track review. Disc 1 – Courage Its strength is variety which helps maintaining interest fairly well, and there's about 3 standout tracks which I feel is enough for one disc. Overall, I get the feel that it doesn't try to be anything spectacular yet, but more like a smooth/mellow, musically harmonious and easy-going introduction to the album, and in that regard, it works. Succumb to the Wilderness: Good opening track. Acoustic/clean electric guitars suit the melody perfectly and it has appropriate atmosphere considering the western theme. Then the distortion kicks in, and I gotta admit, after giving it many possibilities, it still sounds out of place and makes me uneasy. I think it's too middle-heavy, or at least in a sense that the rhythm/lead guitar sounds aren't distinct enough and it causes it to sound messy. Not sure if I'm expressing my thoughts successfully here, but I just find the distorted guitars the worst part of this otherwise great mix. Good arranging, opening and outro. Great job, Level99. Up an' at 'Em: Initially, I didn't consider this anything too special, but smooth arrangement/instrumentation, great melodies and peaceful feel altogether made this a standout for me. It's not always about the epicness and loud stuff. This time it's about easy livin' and ”I feel I'm recuperating from the fights of yesterday and lifting my eyes up in the skies, hoping for a better tomorrow.” Which seems to fit the source track fairly well;) Good stuff, Blue Magic. Forlorn Warrior: ilp0 always impresses me with his upbeat, versatile arrangements, solid production and great instrumentation. It just clicks and works every time. The only downside for me is that the tracks he mixes are rarely the ones I like much let alone my favorites, but he manages to make 'em enjoyable nonetheless. That goes for this one, too. Keep on jammin', buddy; hope you'd happen to tackle a favorite of mine some day. The Way: I think the best trance track of the first disc deserves a mention, even though it's not a genre I listen to much. Out of the few techno pieces on Courage, I find this one the most enjoyable. Again, it represents the overall feel of the disc well; nothing spectacular, but a smooth and easy-going mix with peaceful and hopeful melodies. Nice work, Jewbei. Round the Cape of Good Hope: Wow. Instant favorite. I'm not even sure why. Maybe I find the instrument choices very succesful and fitting, sax perfect, arrangement interesting throghout, production solid and all the performances great... Whatever, I love it and it makes the best song on disc 1. Outstanding job, guys. There in My Dreams: A brave take on the source. Whenever a vocal mix comes around, I respect the effort put into as it usually demands more skill and attention. The vocals sound a bit hollow in this one, though. I think further equalization and/or mastering could fix that and make it feel warmer and stronger. But at the end of the day, it doesn't bother me. This track embodies the feel of Courage; yet again smooth, hopeful, mellow, harmonious and beautiful with promises of more exciting discs. Excellent closure to Courage. Disc 2 – Love Definitely inferior to Courage IMO. It was fine and promised a lot with opening tracks, but once the trance marathon kicked in, my ears went numb. I would've hoped some breakdown tracks to cut a break during the techno roadcall. Considering my love for instrumental music, this disc, naturally, came off to me as a repetitive discoparty, excluding the last few tracks. This can be a good thing for many listeners, though: if the idea was to go by genre, then surely this disc is a treat for techno fans, while the first disc was very different and appeals to different listeners. East Meets Western: One of the best on the disc. Immediately caught my attention with the mellow guitars. Expands nicely into a piano-guitar duo with rising percussion. I expected an electric guitar lead at some point and was slightly let down when it turned out to be a synth lead, but it's not bad either after multiple listens. Surprising that this isn't posted on the site yet, I think it would make a nice debut for Artem Bank. Rudy's Electronic Temptations: Makes good use of sequenced brass elements and string action. The lead melody is enjoyable and has a thriving quality. There's even a flute later, which is nice. Overall, good sound choices make this a great and upbeat track. Nice one, Gario. Desirous Sacrifice: Jewbei once again draws my attention with melodies that I find rocking and thoroughly evolving beats. Alongside with Gario's track, this stands out during the trance marathon. You Are (Not) Defeated: Never would I have hoped to get this much music out of a source like this. Theophany creates an atmosphere that's full of different textures and instruments with a distant, eerie feel to it. Then rapid percussion kick in and provide a break from the sad, even haunting atmosphere. Slowly it returns and grows with some fitting synths backing up the authentic instruments. This track provides also a fitting drop from the trance/techno marathon. Not bad at all. Relief for the Wanderer: One of the best on the disc. Although I hear many similarities with this and Pot Hocket's FFIV remix, Relief of the Wanderer brings a whole new feel to the guitar duo and delivers feelings appropriately... Relieving? Soothing? Whatever you may call it, this track delivers. Enjoy. Premonitions: This track has been a grower for me. In fact, it's grown so much that it might be my favorite track from Love nowadays. The atmosphere present here is so magical and enchanting that it's impossible not to be attracted by it. Avaris introduces a whole new beautiful dimension of otherworldly ambiance and I'm totally sold. If this was the closure track for Love, I'd be more than satisfied. That female voice is just so gorgeous. Oh lala. A Ring and a Promise: This deserves recognition as well. It certainly fits to be the closure track, although my personal favorite for it would've been Premonitions. Vocals really hold this one up; bLiNd made a good job keeping the background optimal for singing to be on top. It's quite long but still easy to listen to, and for that I dig it. Beautiful voice she has, oh yeah. Well, this turned out much longer than I thought. Sorry if the overall quality degrades towards the end. Hope the artists appreciate the feedback as I've enjoyed your music. When the time is right, I'll move on to the last two discs. -Markus

ARMed and DANGerous disc1!

Cheers for the info, man. I'll hope for the best- this thing excites the hell out of me. As for non-music stuff, is there any artwork/cover art that we've settled on? I saw a couple fun pictures in this thread, but are they like, the real thing?

Yea, I figured it might be a notification or something. Do you, Gario, or anyone else know about the albums-to-be-released queue? Has it, like, 10 albums already so that this doesn't even have a chance of coming out any time soon even if all the tracks were finished?

Enlighten a newbie here. How do you know in advance which tracks are going to be direct posts? Also, congratulations for the 2 mixes, looking forwards to hearing them.

Fitting name. Exactly what I think of while listening to this.

How dare you be so irresponsible, Fishy.

gz i hear u make remixes lol

Hehe, never did I actually think it would have a connection with your personal practices but I couldn't resist a mental image of DS running around throwing seven-sided strikes while Gentle Fist plays in the background. Okay gotta knock it off now.

Oooh I can imagine Darke's monk runnin' around blastin' demons into oblivion... Dragon style!!

Yea it seems like they couldn't predict that there's gonna be quite a crowd swarming in on the servers right away. Or at least, judging by the servers' unavailability, didn't prepare for it with precautions. I lol'd at the message it gave when it didn't let me on a server.. What did it say.. Damn, can't remember.

I might be missing something here, but what's stopping u nowadays? Did u grow up and have a family:lol:

Yea it's pretty clear by now that it's a movie well worth seeing in the theaters at least once. Personally, I'm going to see it again, in 2D. 3D just isn't my thing, stuff goes darker and messier, at least in my eyes. The Avengers has pretty much everything you could wish from a superhero movie. Unlike with many of the prequel films, this one got it all right and delivered action and likable, distinct characters without cheesy humor thrown in at every turn.

Best of luck! Hope to see you on the album:-) It's a great, upbeat source track that deserves a shot.

For anyone not yet familiar with FFV or its soundtrack, this is a perfect time to play the game and listen to its music while waiting for Water. This is one project that makes it worthwhile. Oh, the anticipation... Don't lose hope.

I can't say for certain, but you should contact Fishy if you have ideas and are willing to work quickly to get it done. I got on board like two weeks ago, seeing potential in some of the unclaimed tracks and the delays with this project. I presume that no one's against some late additions while some key tracks are still being worked on.

Maybe you should go for it;-)