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Shameless self promotion - new album from my band

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So it's finally here... we have released "Lying in Wait" and also picked up the domain Darkest Ritual | Doom Metal for You

So... if you like hard rock, check it out. I sing, play some guitar, and laid down the live drum tracks. Jerry Norton is on lead and rhythm guitars, and Andy Weeks on bass! The website is just that first splash page for now with download links, but a full featured site coming soon. :)

For what it's worth, we've been compared to Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Black Sabbath, Queens of the Stone Age, and Pearl Jam. Not to mention Kyuss, Acid Bath, and a couple other flattering names. :)
 
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Congrats on the album. I hope the sacrifices I'm sure you made putting it together are worth it. I'll check it out.
 
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You up for any constructive criticism ? Please be honest, because I'd rather not come off sounding like I'm trying to insult you at any point. It would never be my intention. I played in metal bands when I was younger, played out a lot in NYC, and then when I hit my early 20's got into other things, and focused on my guitar playing past the whole "wanking off, ego" thing.

I will say right off the bat, that I like your vocal style...You remind me of Glenn Danzig a lot. Though I do believe that you'll need to work on your upper range and diversify your melodies a bit. Anything past that is going to be constructive criticism, but will reserve that for your approval. And believe me, I understand being sensitive to such things, and will totally get it if you'd rather just have it out there without any comments other than ones which are complimentary for the time being. Because sometimes, it's got nothing to do with whether or not everybody likes it.. . Sometimes it's just for you, and those whom share your views.

Hmm.. kinda like a large part of a Mac community ! :D

Doug
 
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Hah, I can take it. :) I may not follow your advice, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't hear it! :) I know I've gotta work on the high falsetto screams a lot, they're more of a recent development. I can blend across the break a little bit... that will be reserved for this fall though. Next release will have some more vocal acrobatics. :)

And what is this with everyone saying I sound like Danzig? I agree, but the best part is I never listened to him to take influence until after people told me I sounded like Danzig. :)

XJ - I actually sacrificed my mind and body for this one. Not so much the singing, that I can do drunk lying on the floor if I had to. The drum parts though... it was 115F up in that attic, the window was closed, and the only cold beverages were delicious beers. Of course I ended up with a huge blister on my thumb. :)

As for guitaring, I blow at guitar. I'm okay with that. Jerry's pretty good though, and we're having a blast!
 

pigoo3

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I know I've gotta work on the high falsetto screams a lot, they're more of a recent development.

You could try going to "castrati" route to improve your upper range;)...although you're probably too old at this point for it to work.;)

If you're not familiar with what I'm talking about...read this:

Castrato - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

- Nick

p.s. Congrats on getting the website started. Looking forward to a much more interactive site!:)
 
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Congrats on the album.
 
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Haha, I know what castrati and castrato are. I do after all have a degree in music and if programming doesn't work out will probably go back to school for a doctorate in musicology. :) Thanks for the congratulations. :)
 

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Haha, I know what castrati and castrato are. I do after all have a degree in music and if programming doesn't work out will probably go back to school for a doctorate in musicology. :) Thanks for the congratulations. :)

I didn't know you had a music degree (or I didn't remember)...but of course since you do...then the castrato/castrati terminology would be better known. Not many folks know about this outside the "music" world since it is more like music history at this point...since the last officially known castrati died in the early 1920's. I'm not necessarily a music history person...I only know about it because I'm a very curious person regarding almost all topics.

Instead of the PhD. in Musicology...you could get a Mixology degree...or maybe you already have one of those via personal partying experience!;) Ha ha!

- Nick
 
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If you need high falsetto, you might try Bruce ****enson. I don't think he's worked much lately, which is truly a shame.
 
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LOL It censored The Bruce's last name! Yea, he's awesome, but even better is Jens Carlsson from Persuader. Now that guy's a beast! Bruce wanted so badly to be Dio... a shame Dio is gone. :( <3 teh metalz!
 
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Alright then, just a quick run through.

As I've already said, I like your voice. It fits the tone of the music perfectly. Sounding like Danzig is just an aside, and natural not forced which is cool.

What I find to be the biggest problem is the mix down, or perhaps lack thereof ? Who was controlling the soundboard and the mix ? Who engineered this ? The vocals are far too up front, the drums are in another room it sounds like, and the guitars don't sound like they're mixed down to stereo. In fact.. I didn't do an analysis, but a lot of it sounds like the down mix is really off. Also, as a rule of thumb (but not a golden rule) when making an album, it's often good to have a certain overall sound in mind, so that the tracks can blend in to one another even if the tempo's are wildly different etc...

For instance, some of your tracks have heavy reverb on vocals, while others are totally dry. Personally speaking, I love your vocals dirt dry and raw. It's much more fitting and suited to you. The chorus on the acoustic intro is a bit over the top and very 90's. Sometimes it works, but doesn't for my taste here. I'd have cut back on that a bit.

Take care of that, and a lot of the problems are gone. A lot.. but not all. I'll be reaaaaally honest with you and disagree with your self assessment that you're a better drummer than a guitarist. While some of the guitar work could be tightened up a bit (tends to be unsure and uneven at many moments), the drums always take me out of the song. They're just not in the pocket nearly enough to be considered solid. Maybe I'm just sensitive to these things but... the double bass kicks are sloppy in a lot of places and seem out of place in others. You also tend to just miss beats from time to time and then try to make up for it by speeding up to catch it again. Why not just call a cut and re do the take ?

I know that's a pain in the rear and people in studio's tend to be anxious, strung out, hung over, high as heII and pretty crabby in general... but that's the fun of it no ? :p

Guess that's it for now. Fav track is currently #8.

Doug
 
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Nice, I love Blood of the Innocent too. :) The drums... well, sometimes I used a little bit of the "enhance timing" in garage band and it didn't work out so well. As far as the number of takes, trust me I'd LOVE to have gotten more. This is the scene:

Attic of guitar player from my black metal band. Temperature: 110ºF. Me: lots of beer and my last two hits from my prior stash. Amount of time to try and squeeze in as many of 8 tracks as possible: 1 hour 30 minutes.

Oh, and Adam wanted to jam a bit first. Hah. So I managed to get 5 tracks "Acceptable" and "close enough for grunge." Since I think of us more as a grunge band than a doom band, that worked for me. :)

The mix was also done by me, but I'm sure I'm going to want to go back over it and tighten it up. Our goal was mostly "get new music out quickly so we can share what we've been working on with our fans." I produced the whole thing in Garage Band :p haha. So kind of black metal/punk rock ethos in that it's self produced merely with the goal of sounding acceptable. :)

You're right on the vocal style. I unified it on quite a few of the tracks, but not so much on the older ones from previous efforts. Our next effort will probably be out in late summer/early winterish time period. Somewhere in there haha. I'll keep in mind what ya said. :)
 
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Oh and when I say I'm a better drummer than guitar player, I neglected to say how I'm judging that. When you consider collectively the entire time I have ever been behind a drum set is 5 hours, and that the amount of time I've spent playing guitar is probably 5 years (out of 12 years of my life in total), I own on drums. :) When I get a kit and have opportunity to practice it's going to be fun. My technique isn't solid yet because I'm not entirely used to the feel of resistance. :)
 
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Well then.. touché, kudos and job well done, all things considered ! It's so funny man, reading what you said just made me giggle all the way through because... been there, done that! Looking forward to your next effort.

Doug
 
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It's getting weird around here... DM and I have similar taste in music too! :eek:
 

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Haha, nothing wrong with good taste. Do you like what you hear from Persuader? I cannot WAIT for the new album. Sounds so good from the snippets in videos they release... also self produced on their computers. Jens... man. He used to play rhythm guitar for them as well as sing on the first two albums, which is awesome. No idea how the guy plays live and sings like that at the same time. Now he's just vocals, and his range got even better. Solid.
 

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