Well, now that I invested 3.5 minutes (7 now that I hit replay) to listen to this, I'll invest a few more to comment on it.
Obviously, it's an attempt at mid-00s sad-anthemic trance, with sad piano melodies and huge arpeggiated melodies. And it works, it has potential! Maybe it's not my thing anymore, but I can still recognize there is something here. And it will be liked, no doubt about it.
That said, I think the execution leaves a bit to be desired. I'll elaborate in a few bullet points what I think limited this track's potential:
- Those buildup snare rolls add a touch of cheapness to it. I don't think that's the way to build up to a climax of a track like this. Snare rolls are too obvious, and they just don't work, period. The entire transition from breakdown to climax doesn't produce any emotion. It's just there, it's a tool rather than an expression.
- The kick + bassline combo I don't think works well in the climax, when combined with the main melody. Something sounds slightly off there. The rolling bassline pattern is also pretty obvious, bit psyish because the notes are so short.
- The drums/percussion are pretty obvious as well, no creativity. Yeah just pick any drum loop from the Vengeance pack or whatever and it will fit, but nothing more than that. I have a feeling it was just slapped on because it does the job - and left like that.
I appreciate most of the work was spent on the melodic ideas - which is great! - but that's still not the whole package. At least not for me. If you've got the melodic ideas nailed completely, why not invest a bit more time to bring everything else to the same level?