Feel free to shred both mixes apart. I will not get offended. I'm still learning ;)

Just from my subjective feeling i like the pre soundgym version better. It has drive, feeling and some sort of grittiness. Reminds me of something from the album "Meltdown" from ASH.

@Tobias Lütge Interesting perspective!

Congrats!! The second version for me is definitely much better. It's cleaner and well-balanced. Great work. Keep it up!

The second is a great jump from the first, which was already decent to my ear. It's much more glued together, for want of a bette phrase - and less harsh in the highs! Great stuff.

@stephane trepanier Countless hours of compressed raw black metal on YT leads me to this perspective😂

Nice improvement! I definitely prefer the second one because it's more balanced. It also sounds more open, vocals are more solid and drums are stronger, though the kick needs more work.

I can understand where @Tobias Lütge is coming from though because the first one has an interesting overall tone to it that gives it character! There are also some small cool things happening in the first one that don't in the second such as the panning at 0:43 and the dope riff at 1:39 (you lost the file and that's why you didn't put it in the second one? xD)

P.S: Stop buying BeatRace tickets in the beginning of the mix ;))

@Andrei Ghebaru I found the lead breaks 1:39 were taking focus away from the "vocals." In hindsight, I could have kept them and tucked them out of the way. Oh well, I make decisions, sometimes good, sometimes not so good ;)

@Tobias Lütge Your perspective is not wrong! I believe we're getting into the personal taste (which no one can dispute) VS technicality (which sometimes takes away from the "Art").

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I appreciate it. Cheers!