This sounds really cool

I like the groovy synths and heavy compression at the beginning. The drum samples are a bit generic, although until the beat comes in it’s a bit hard to follow the rhythm. I enjoyed the sense of climax into :58, although the drop was a bit minimal and bottom-heavy. I did like the dissonant, pitter-patter synth riff that comes in every 8 bars or so, like at 1:30. The drop felt pretty dragged-out, and the sudden change in the harmonic framework at 2:10 was a bit jarring. At some point, I would’ve liked to hear some more prominent melodic content, more harmonic depth, and/or a fuller texture. You manage to keep the texture interesting with the industrial-sounding snare at 3:26 and vocal effects later on. Overall, I think the mixing, mastering, and rhythmic content are really strong here, but the composition feels both bland and disjointed. You transition between the sections a little too quickly, with the sweeps and risers not really doing much to stitch together the disparate instruments and harmonic patterns. Still, a lot of the isolated ideas here are really neat, like the jazzy pads at 2:10. They just need to be integrated with the earlier sections in a more compelling way. Keep at it, Solaraloe! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
6.5/10

I'm appreciating the strange rhythms but think you may be dealing with soft clipping from looking at the waveform and listening to your high frequencies in the very beginning.

Watch those very high frequencies on your risers. They are pretty piercing and loud.

Your rhythms and writing are wonderful. I think I'm only going to take issue with the mix and perhaps some choices in percussion -- and perhaps that the song does not let up even for a second volume wise for a transition. I end up having the very full head feeling.

2:35 is a wonderful melodic progression.

Mix wise I would leave at least 250 hz and below on your bass alone in the center channel.

Beyond that I don't have much to say. Hihats are a bit high in the mix. Snare could use more volume and transient shaping. Kick is doing okay thanks to sidechain. You may try tuning it.

I recommend less sausage fattening for effect and cleaning up frequencies, long reverb tails or too much reverb, and any noise that doesn't need to be there in your mix. It's causing the compression to sound like a wall.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!