General thoughts
First of all, I'd like to say that you have all put in an excellent effort here. It makes it all very hard. As a casual listener, I rarely feel the need to grade music - it is what it is, and most music has a quality or a purpose that somehow makes it interesting to me - "good" or "bad" doesn't really play into it. All that being said, there are some differences here in regards to theme, production and execution, so I was eventually able to put together a score. But honestly, none of your tracks belong on the bottom half of any list. I'm sorry if I sometimes focus a bit too much on the negatives in my reviews - you all did good.
There's a rough split between the tracks that to my mind fit the theme, and some that really didn't give me a sense of a blackout at all, which means that some not-so-blackout tracks with a good production might score lower than an average production with a good thematic approach. Also, I had this recurring feeling of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" dancing around in the background. A good thing, for sure!
And, like JILLIAM, I have a pet peeve
- I pretty much loathe those sample library vowel-gurgling voices, but promise: I haven't allowed it to affect my score!
Anthemic - NDE
Good production and sounds, very enjoyable track. I
thiiiink I'd put a highpass filter on the dominant lead motif synth - a slightly distracting bass freq on the attack from my perspective. Nothing bad to say about the music at all, it might well end up on one of my playlists. But I don't get a sense of a blackout at all!
Clueless - Dark Days
Love the sounds, really, some of my favorite sound design of the round going on in this track. And I like the disjointed feel, with the different "movements". The production is a bit too mono and underdeveloped, though, and sometimes you dwell a bit to much on elements that don't really tell a story or lead anywhere.
Doctor Bob - Phone Freakin'
An epic work, for sure! As I said on Soundcloud, I love the Philip Glass feel of the part with the flute arpeggios. Nice, spacious feel as a contrast in the harp part afterwards. Good implementation of strings and winds for the most part. Good mix. Lots of things going on - a bit too overstuffed and busy, occasionally: When you have three countermelodies going on at the same time, you need to be very clear about where the center of attention is going to be
Dr. Dendrite - Symphonic Protestant
This hits all the right notes for me. Epic, idiosyncratic sounds. Brooding, claustrophobic, cold, grey, potential catastrophic implications - and yet with the sense that it's all happening in a vast, open, perhaps lawless, landscape where, now that everything is gone, everything is ultimately possible. All in an excellent production with super command of every nuance.
Erictracks - Maybe It's A Good Thing
Decent feel for the theme. More of a “rock” approach that could work really, really well. You have all the parts you need, but the drums and the track in general lack punch - which is a bit fatal for this track. The strings sound a bit too much like they're played out on a keyboard. That works if you go for a more hybrid string/synth sound, but with “real” strings it sounds a bit hokey - definitely need to go into automation mode for that.
JILLIAM - A Sad Quiet World
Cool jets! The A-flat “pillars of doom" (as I like to think of them) should've been much stronger and massive! Drumset is lo-fi, which is cool, but needs a bit more production context - they sound a bit unfinished as it is. And there are some unpleasant resonant frequencies throughout the track that need taming (same ones in different elements, which is weird - maybe to do with your monitoring gear?)
Los Rospjerdolonos - Lost Your Head
This is one of the tracks I keep returning to, because I enjoy it and desperately want to give it a better score! You have some great elements here, but they appear to be put together somewhat haphazardly - it still needs a lot of production work. It's a cool track - sadly, in no way whatsoever does this make me think of a “blackout” -
maybe a tiny, little bit as a “restaurant at the end of the world” lounge track if you put some reverb and saturation on it!
MarkS - Strange Things
It's not a bad track, and there are some good "blackout" elements, although that weak kick setting everything off is more like “random dude playing around with a drumkit in the basement” than “international communication breakdown.” Production needs more work, balance between elements is off, a bit disjointed at the seams.
The Exponent - Desolation
Great, chilly start. Excellent use of arpeggio. Cool, detuned "harp" lead. Definitely one of the slickest productions here, which, if you don't know me by now, is a good thing!
If I had to point my finger at anything, it's a wee bit too generic to connect as strongly to the theme as some other tracks do. Still, very well done, indeed!
toadhjo - Apocalypse Makes Perfect
I can totally see how the chaos in the middle part would make sense as a background soundtrack. It's all a bit too much to make sense as a standalone listening experience, but as a chaotic “blackout” movie sequence: Sure, I'm sold! More Menahem Globus/Cannon than Christopher Nolan/Warner, but that's fine. Not 100% sure about the pacing of the transitions in the beginning/end.
TrojakEW - Restart
The intro is really, really great. Great string movement. I don't necessarily agree with your interpretation of a blackout - even in a scenario where technology is gone and quietness is restored, I still expect some urgency, some insecurity about the situation ("
someone powerful out there still has control of the technology -what are they up to????") that I'm missing from your music. But everything here is expertly done and it is an excellent track.
Upright Joe - A Call Unanswered
It's a cool concept, and definitely has the style of something you'd hear in a blockbuster movie about a "blackout". You've clearly worked a lot with the string section here, but sadly it still falls short for me. It sounds like the strings are almost completely dry, or at least with only a minimal amount of reverb. Without any tail end, they sound quite unnatural and it makes it all the harder to sell the idea of a real string section, even though you have done some nice work with accents and dynamics. Because of this, it plays out more or less like a demo, really.
VOTING
So, to the SCOREBOARD! (I'll give your track a go as well, Benjamin - just haven't gotten around to it yet.):
► Show Spoiler
#1 Dr. Dendrite - Symphonic Protestant (12 points)
#2 The Exponent - Desolation (11 points)
#3 TrojakEW - Restart (10 points)
#4 Doctor Bob - Phone Freakin' (9 points)
#5 toadhjo - Apocalypse Makes Perfect (8 points)
#6 Upright Joe - A Call Unanswered (7 points)
#7 Erictracks - Maybe It's A Good Thing (6 points)
#8 Clueless/M0onocqa - Dark Days (5 points)
#9 JILLIAM - A Sad Quiet World (4 points)
#10 Los_ady / Los Rospjerdolonos - Lost Your Head (3 points)
#11 MarkS - Strange Things (2 points)
#12 Anthemic - NDE (1 point)
Best of luck to everyone - I enjoyed listening a lot!
So it means I can hear more problems in all your tracks also so there should by more comments (heavy criticism 
) from me regarding mix.
