That drop is really powerful, and I really enjoyed listening to this. I didn't even know you could get some of these sounds out of Musescore!
Author Comments
I can't believe this is finally finished, and just in time for Halloween.
This is a gargantuan behemoth of a composition I made in the span of about 2 months. It is comprised of 6 sections, and I will describe them below.
00:32-1:20 - "Shell-Shocked." After a short intro section with the glockenspiel, the piece truly begins with a groovy yet intense melody whose symbolism is rather clear given the name of the section.
1:21-2:31: "Those We Lost." Taking a break from the intensity of the previous introductory part is a calmer, yet still illustrative section driven by the trumpets.
2:31-3:21: "Trench Warfare." This part is basically an expansion upon "Shell-Shocked" in an attempt to advance the story: rather than marching onto the battlefield, this part tries to guide you through the actual battle itself. This section and the next are also the most derivative of their source material, one of the islands from an MSM game.
3:29-4:15: "Dance of the War-Torn Children." This is meant to represent children distracting themselves from the horrific tragedy of war with a comedic dance. This is by far the darkest section of the piece.
4:15-5:26: "Victory." To follow the dance is a brief interlude within which one of the sides of the conflict wins. Hooray! You Won! Right? :D
5:26-end: "Aftermath." Self-explanatory. (Section 6 is without description).
Never before have I reconsidered and remade a piece as many times as I have here. There are some obvious political corollaries in many parts of the world of the moment; although this piece was made in reaction to that, it is not meant to be political commentary in any way. This is just an abstract yet accurate depiction of the horrors of war from the perspective of the characters from My Singing Monsters. It basically answers the question of why Yelmut is screaming during the Cave Island song. Enjoy and Happy Halloween...
P.S. there is a bird in that game on Cave Island, hence the name warbird.
Edit: WHAT THIS WAS FRONTPAGED?!?! I actually am at a loss for words right now. Thank you kind soul! Finally I have a frontpaged that isn’t on FL mobile lmao. The nearly 2 year wait is finally over.
Edit 2: I think I’m finally getting better at using dissonance to my advantage. The chief complaint among my recent compositions has been “too much clashing.” But here, I actually don’t think anything “clashes” with each other in a very unpleasant way.
Edit 3: 1000 listens 11/01/23
Edit 4: 2K listens 11/02/23
Edit 5: 3K listens 11/04/23
Edit 6: 4K listens 11/12/23
Edit 7: after some musical analysis, I have deduced that the main chords at the beginning of the climax of Victory are A maj #15 and then C maj 13.
Edit 8: 5K listens 1/07/24
Edit 9: Peacebird: https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/1309920
Edit 10: 6K listens 5/09/24
50Steaks responds:
If you liked this you’ll probably also like zenith and the thing I’m posting in about 8 days.
Wow... Never heard something like that before. This deserves to be Frontpaged on Newgrounds. Congratulations!
50Steaks responds:
In fact, it is frontpaged and this is in fact newgrounds.
In seriousness, thanks for the support. You might enjoy the much less serious version of this entitled peacebird as well as the spiritual successor the last goodbye.
This is Amazing, my favourite segments were either those we lost or trench warfare but its all brilliant
50Steaks responds:
Those we lost is a good one. You might enjoy the joke piece Peacebird if you liked this one to be honest. Obviously my favorite section is definitely Victory but that's just because it is the most harmonically unique and interesting of all of them.
What a powerful sound, and message too! And wow, you really managed to get a cool sound out of musescore. I need to try to make some bigger compositions in musescore some day myself.
Very cool!
50Steaks responds:
People know musescore for its terrible soundfonts, but ever since the musescore 4 free soundfonts were released, I immediately recognized the potential they held as a very valid way to express my ideas. I just wish it had something like live volume automation: that would help a ton (outside of the strict dynamics, where not all of them even affect the soundfont). Being able to modulate the tempo mid song is something I simply can’t do on FL mobile, so it’s really cool that I get that functionality here.
Man, this is actually amazing. First off, the intro is amazing and I couldn't think of any way to make it better. It perfectly sets the viewer up for the next section where it gets better, and the pacing and instrumentation are amazing.
So, remember when I messaged you saying I was going to do a really big in-depth review of this song? Y'know, since it's your biggest one yet. Listening to it again, I don't think there's really much I could add. It's so expertly composed with every second having meaning for the broader story of the piece, while still being super entertaining. Like, somehow every moment feels like it's the peak and it can't get better, but then it does.
I can't get over just how much I love 03:43. It's so cute and amazing and I love it so much haha.
04:40, I really love the use of dissonance. Now watch as you do the exact same with but with synths and I call it a bad thing, but I think you can just get away with much more when it's with actual instruments. the timbre is a lot less harsh if you know what I mean. This section perfectly represents the aftermath of war. Its got hints of happiness and relief, but that joy is overshadowed by all that was lost and the devastation. I love how you demonstrated that with the somewhat hopeful and triumphant melody along with harsh clashes and dissonance. It's amazingly done and it's so emotionally powerful.
I like your version of the cave island infinitely more than the original. so much more emotion and meaning in it.
God hearing this masterpiece has reminded me just how lazy I've gotten with my own music. Today is the first day out of school since I finished my last exam yesterday, and I decided to speedrun a song for a challenge I saw in the Newgrounds pub. It sounds *good* I guess, but I think it lacks inspiration and emotion. After hearing this I kinda realized that I gotta get my shit together and focus more on giving my songs meaning rather than making them just sound good. I feel like I've started to lose that part of my music.
Anyway, awesome job as usual. This song is so beautiful and powerful and I think it's going to be a near impossible task for you to top this, which I'm sure you'll find a way.
Very good, epic, and long ;)
Response: Don't get me wrong, dissonance of course can work on a synth, but what I was trying to say is that you can get away with much more when using orchestral instruments. At least in my personal experience.
50Steaks responds:
This is the first song of mine you’ve had 0 complaints with since Nevada. That’s hilarious to think about
3:45 was never intended to be cute. I had no idea it would have that effect on people once they saw the name of the section tbh. I do find it cool that people take it as light hearted despite my intention with it though.
But you’ve finally explained why you think this succeeds where newer Hampshire fails: the instrumentation. And here’s where I can half agree: I could’ve used better synths in newer Hampshire, but I don’t think dissonance is an absolute no-no when it comes to electronic music. There are plenty of very dissonant and chaotic songs in this genre that blew me away the first time I heard them, primarily in the electric jazz genre, so it can work in my opinion.
“Victory” is my favorite part of the piece, and it’s also the part that I spent the most time on. I really wanted it to feel natural and flow well whilst also pushing the narrative forward. Originally, this piece was never meant to include that section; rather, it just sped up and moved right on to aftermath. I feel like the addition of a slower interlude really helped the overall pacing of the piece while being thought provoking and realistic.
One more tidbit: “Those we lost” feels kind of uneven because I put an extra break measure. It feels like it never lies on beat despite being an even 16 measures. I really tried to go for that there.
Thanks for reviewing! I can concur that your review is also incredibly good, epic, and loooong
Plenty more like this here!
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50Steaks 
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