Impressive that you were able to put 14 tracks together for this. How long have you been making music now, and what programs do you use? Some of the piano sounds like it was played on an actual keyboard rather than being laid out on a note chart, so I'm assuming you play your music yourself?
I'll be honest with you, the album has some issues that permeate it. It'd be redundant of me to go through things track by track, so I'll speak generally instead. These songs are very simple, consisting of a backing drum track, perhaps some bass, and simple melodies that consist of few notes and repeat almost endlessly. The music doesn't flow the way songs usually do, with recognizable hooks/choruses and melody change ups. Most of this just tends to drone on with the same notes being played, maybe with another instrument being added in or taken out partway through. There's just not enough variation to justify the long lengths of some of these tracks. While maybe some could be used as backing for a rap song, what I'm really reminded of are the 30 second to a minute long incidental music tracks that are composed for a 15 second video-game cut-scenes. It just doesn't work when placed in the context of a full level in SRB2.
While the lack of catchy melodies is the album's biggest weakness, there are also problems in the general production. Percussion in these tracks is often placed far louder than any of the instruments carry the melody, which makes them soud tiny and far away. Some of these percussion tracks are obnoxious sounding as well, such as in Mecha Kyoto and I am Water, I am Flow, and they dominate the songs because of how loud they are in comparison to everything else. Lastly, most of the songs sound very similar to one another, as if they could all be used for the same environment types; not very good for a video-game soundtrack where each zone should feel different from one another, and doesn't make for a dynamic album listening experience either.
I think you need to listen to the structure of some songs you really like, see how they work, and then try to replicate that. There are some decent sounds in this album, and I can easily see a few of these tracks being greatly expanded and turned into something cool. A track like Paradise Lost, if given a good hook and some variation, could make for a neat Donkey Kong Country 2-esque track. Pineapple Beach is also really fun all the way to the thirty second mark, but the song never actually delivers a payoff after that point.
Thank you for providing the SRB2 community with some new tracks to use. I'm sure they'll get some use before long.
