1. Peak Through Key or Eye Hole
   InvisibleObserver
2. Dilated under thin Lenses
   Wassup Thunder
3. VLyrica - Mirror Laughs
   Meistr

Great compo great songs

1. Key hole peep hole
   nukage
2. Dilated under thin Lenses
   Wassup Thunder
3. Peak Through Key or Eye Hole
   InvisibleObserver

All comments are replied to on Discord making this section irrelevant. Onto the voting!

TheVideoGamer - This track is kind of loop heavy, but that's by design, not accidental. It's essentially Breakbeat music, topped with some adventerous chords, and a overal mellow feel. For a theme that could be dark, i ended up the happy route haha. Bulk of the interest here is from layred breaks mostly from Think, followed by some Bobby Byrd for good measure. I also incorperated a thick 303 that changes throughout, and a chord progression in the middle to keep it from being the same. It's all about changing it as much as i can, but also keeping it the same. There is also emphasis on layered breaks here, we cycle through various breaks in each section, to keep it fresh and exciting. All in all, it's not making a statement, it kind of is just there, but i like it a lot regardless. Oh well, glad you liked it!

DDRKirby(ISQ) - I appreciate you submitting, but i don't know if it's acceptable to make something unrelated to compo and share it here. Sorry if i'm a bit harsh, but the whole point of compo is to make something specifically for compo during compo hours. This could have been shared in the sharing off channel in the ThaSauce discord, i'm sorry. Sure it's done in an hour, but it's still outside of the scope of compo for me. Either way what you have done is very lovely. The chord progression is super nice, very 80's, and that kickdrum is very nice and punchy, i really feel like driving in the road. That snare drum is so crispy, yet it works so well with the beat, i love the mix. The track is very high quality, down to the sick ass melodies and beautiful drums. If this was made to fit the theme and was done in compo hours, i would even vote for it, but alas it's made outside of compo hours, so i'm afraid it's in the needs work section. Sorry man, but good job!

DarkShadow - Interesting synth strings, it sounds like a SNES sample, but it's not, it's kind of cool. I do dig the chords here, it's a lot more tonal than a typical DarkShadow entry, and the mix isn't too overblown, this is probably my favourite so far from you. The drop is also really nice, the thick bassslines add something, but not in an overtly intense way. It's my first in a long time where i definately feel like placing this in the awesome section, because it was actually really good. The vibe was killer, melodies wern't too over the top, it was just lovely. Well done!

Wassup Thunder - Pretty piano and synth work, feels like a Eurobeat adventure is about to begin, but the intro is very soft, so i feel like chilling out lol. I love the progression in this, the melodies slowly get more and more busier as time goes on, yet not to the point where it's just too fast. The mix is actually lovely here, not too loud or in your face. The only thing that sticks out is the Orch hits, they're a bit too distorted for me. The arp work in the middle was suprising in an awesome way, it's so cool. It really adds some sick cool modulations to the track it's fire. Aside from the mildly loud orch hits, everything is amazing, nothing else to say, in fact i felt like placing it 2nd, amazing work!

Meistr - Cool bongos, we going tribal in this joint, even though the piano and sax is going the Jazz route, it's interesting, how the blend of styles gives me a different vibe from what i was expecting. I don't know if the brass is live, but man it's very convincing! It sounds like a real Jazz band in my own ears, just without the jazz drums as such. It was a minute, so i had to play it a few times, and whilst it was fire from a melody stand point, the mix did feel a tad bit too loud, like the gain was turned a little too high. Also because of how compressed the drums are, the vocals get smooshed resulting in vocals that are hard to decipher, but this is all me. Singing is awesome either way, your vocalists definately know their way around a voice, it's great. Lots of potential here, good job!

Nukage - Soft emotional guitar, something Nuke doesn't often do, but i'm all for it. Sadboi Sunday has a competitor (Hope David is doing well at the moment). The singing is powerful, and the chords are great, very emotive. There doesn't seem to be much in terms of dynamics in the waveform, so i feel like it's going to be mostly Ballad style, not really Metal. However you have surprised me in the past. This is pretty beautiful, it's very soft and soothing, even with a thick wide mix. My suspicions came true with the inclusion of trap drums, this is not intense at all, it's very soft by Nuke's standards. I really struggled to find anything wrong here, even after relistens. It's great, so great i placed it on the top spot, incredible work!

Turbo852 - Not only are you late, but you submit a 3 minute piece, that is dedication indeed. I do like the piano in this one, but it sounds tad bit mechanical. I would reccomend some reverb and velocity changes if you want to make it more of a emotive piano, but really it's just reverb on the piano. I was under the impression we would stick to mostly piano, i was not expecting that EDM drum and bass drop. It's pretty fire actually, the melodies are cool, and the sounds are punchy. Some of your synth choices in my opinion are way too loud, it actually made it a little shrill. Overall mix is fire, just gotta be careful, so you don't make it too compressed. Honestly there is a lot of potential here, the arrangement is basically there, it's just the mix/sounds need finessing for me personally. Good job!

InvisibleObserver - Brooding pads, this is definately an outer space feel, especially for a theme about keyholes heh. I do like the slow fading pads, it turns it from a dark experience into something kind of sad and lonely. I also love how the sounds are part acoustic, part electronic. It's got a synth orchestra element to the whole thing. It's kind of beautiful really, even if it's not fully melodic. I do wish the strings/chords made an appearance more, they make a statement in the beginning but then sort of fade away for the middle part, even if they slowly come back towards the end. It makes the track so much more emotive, without it, the track would be purely textural. Honestly, i think despite that though, i liked it a lot. Definately a lot more to like than dislike, it was enough for the 3rd spot, amazing work!

Arcana - Ooh Arcana going the happy route, now that is not something you see. The chords are pretty and mellow, but the vocals are detuned perhaps a bit too much for me. I don't think it's the singing, it could be the effect who knows. It is a short one, so a few repeat listens are needed, and honestly i kind of like it. If we had a bit more quantisation in the chords, maybe slight smoothing in the voice for less intense detune (To where it sounds like 2 notes on top of each other), and just overall smoothing in general, it could honestly be voting worthy, it has such potential. Good job!

Top 3 - Nukage, Wassup Thunder, InvisibleObserver.

Awesome - DarkShadow, Wassup Thunder, Nukage, InvisibleObserver.

Needs Work - DDRKirby(ISQ), Meistr, Turbo852, Arcana.

1. VLyrica - Mirror Laughs
   Meistr
2. Foreign Key Hole
   DarkShadow
3. Foreign Key Hole
   DarkShadow

Voting is pretty tough! I liked basically every track.

DDRKirby

Amazing track. It's a different theme, but works great for what you picked! I really liked the driving beat with all the ambient sounds.

DarkShadow:

I liked the sense that we are witnessing something nefarious through the keyhole.

Wassup Thunder:

Beautiful piano intro. I like the build in energy as it goes. Very fun melodies.

Meistr:

That sax melody is so good! The vocals fit well too. I think I liked this one best just due to the jazzy sax and trumpet parts with a solid beat.

Nukage:

I'm amazed at how you can come up with so many verses for this. It fits really well. I liked that bass you used.

InvisibleObserver

Nice ambient feel overall. I like how there is a pulse in the pad sound.

TheVideoGamer:

Just a really great jam throughout! I loved all the drum fills. The vocal samples in the drums were fun too.

Arcana:

Great job with the vocal layering! I think your lyrics fit the theme well also.