2014-06-13 4:02:02 ¶ ●

By PhemieC

Image source: Homestuck.

Fantastic.

At first I only thought it was ‘just’ clever. That was a mistake. After a few more listen-throughs, I realized I was doing this track an injustice.

Musically, the entire composition feels terribly authentic. The little guitar string squeaks add to the song’s character, rather than distracting from it. The simple acoustic-plus-vocals arrangement gives it a better perspective than a busier composition might: it’s all one character’s thoughts.

And what a poetic set of lyrics. It’s stream-of-consciousness, all from Eridan’s perspective, as his attitude slowly deteroriates and he falls deeper into isolation and nihilism. The vocals are rapid-fire, and it’s a really impressive combination of content and rhyming meter (it’s tough to nail both without making sacrifices in one or the other).

This one’s not just my top track for the album: it’s one of my favorites throughout the Homestuck library.

2014-06-14 4:02:01 ¶ ●

By Nitrosparxx

The sampled instrumentation is a little rough around the edges, and it’s a tad plain, but there’s something enticing about this song. Maybe it’s the sad, lead violin that carries the melody. Then there’s my favorite bit, the morose, quiet rendition of Gardener that starts around 4:15. This tune’s pretty high up on my list of favorites for the album.

2014-06-15 4:01:54 ¶ ●

By Brenden “Avrec” Cameron

The first half’s a solid, sorta sad rendition of Showtime: death comes for us all. The second part’s a little more interesting. It’s a whooshy, newsroom-stacatto cut of Doctor: it’ll take more than a pesky stabbing to keep this one down.

2014-06-16 4:01:51 ¶ ●

By Samm Neiland

A really impressive, deep, reverberant strings medley of some of the heavy hitters in the catalog. The changeup in orchestration makes some of the covers almost unrecognizable, and even more fun to try to separate out.

2014-06-17 4:01:45 ¶ ●

By Paige “hrmnzr” Stanley

The fade-in’s a bit like the THX chord, morphing from chaos into ordered music. It’s supremely effortless and smooth, and I’m sure it was a technical challenge to produce. The stately, imposing version of English that starts after the crescendo is my favorite version of that tune.

Not really a fan of the second half (it’s night and day, this one), though the lead-in to Jackpot is pretty slick.

2014-06-25 4:02:01 ¶ ●

By Joren “Tensei” de Bruin

There’s some songs that work together in pairs. When some radio station sells out and plays ‘We Will Rock You’ but not ‘We Are the Champions’, it makes my skin crawl.

The first two tracks on Strife! are one such pair. Stormspirit is a subdued, simple piano introduction for the crazy, electric metal that’s soon to follow. Great way to kick off the album, and the transition into Heir Conditioning is absolutely seamless.