New shit, old shit, good shit

[Random Axe]

I hadn't been terribly impressed with new music this year overall. There are a few gems but mostly has been a down year for me, which means going to the collections and pulling stuff off the shelf that I hadn't spun in a while. I've had some great new discoveries this year that made up for my lack of new music.

Soen - For whatever reason they never registered with me at all. I knew they were good, just not for me. Now they are. I'm loving the new one Imperial and the last one Lotus. Their formula works big time for me now. The prior albums not so much but I'll keep at them. Imperial will def be in my top five this year.

Scott Huffman Collection - I either forgot how good his stuff was or I never recognized the brilliance when released. I'm talking about Twelth Gate, Mindwarp Chamber and Syris. What a great bunch or riffy goodness and vocals that lie somewhere between Tate and Dickenson. What great rediscoveries!

Amaranthe - Before October I'm not sure I'd ever heard a note. Now I'm stunned how much energy and talent is in this band. Not all songs are good for me but the majority of these are some nice fist-pumping melodic throat punches.

Warlord - I knew Zonder was in this band but had never heard them till recently. Early 80s production aside, this is really good, and nothing I expected. I guess I was thinking a thrashfest mixed with some more hardcore but that's not what we get. This is not far off from Vicious Rumors musically and the vocalists are pretty good.

Tungsten - This is Mike Andersson's band form Cloudscape. What a cool mix of styles on this with super heavy, yet melodic metal mixed with folk elements and some harsh vocal flavorings. Its basically the Johansson family and Mike on these albums.

Binary Creed - I liked these when they came out but didn't love. Now I like a lot. This makes me want to go back and check out Hollow. I really don't remember a lot from them except same singer.

[LarryD]

I hadn't been terribly impressed with new music this year overall. There are a few gems but mostly has been a down year for me, which means going to the collections and pulling stuff off the shelf that I hadn't spun in a while. I've had some great new discoveries this year that made up for my lack of new music.

****I'm sort of in the same boat ..... except I'm going out of genre to fulfill my musical needs ........I think the only metal I bought recently was the Dream Theater.....the rest are either prog rock / neo-prog / classic rock / or all other .........

Soen - For whatever reason they never registered with me at all. I knew they were good, just not for me. Now they are. I'm loving the new one Imperial and the last one Lotus. Their formula works big time for me now. The prior albums not so much but I'll keep at them. Imperial will def be in my top five this year.

****I need to re-visit this band soon .... I feel the same way as you do about them and never could get into them ..........yet, they play the type of music I love overall......I've never been able to figure out why I can't into them except to say that the music bores me......I'll go back soon thanks.......

Amaranthe - Before October I'm not sure I'd ever heard a note. Now I'm stunned how much energy and talent is in this band. Not all songs are good for me but the majority of these are some nice fist-pumping melodic throat punches.

***Another band I should get into overall ..... enjoyed their ProgPower shows, but on disc I just can't keep re-visiting for some reason........

Tungsten - This is Mike Andersson's band form Cloudscape. What a cool mix of styles on this with super heavy, yet melodic metal mixed with folk elements and some harsh vocal flavorings. Its basically the Johansson family and Mike on these albums.

***I remember the project ..... I don't remember what it sounded like ..... anything with Mike in it gets my attention, I don't know why I don't remember this one ....

Binary Creed - I liked these when they came out but didn't love. Now I like a lot. This makes me want to go back and check out Hollow. I really don't remember a lot from them except same singer.

***First off, Andreas rules. I love this guys voice and always have ....... I was so excited about Binary Creed, and the second one really wowed me except for the computer production, which otherwise ruined a great disc. Second much better than the first one .....music and vocals incredible, production ugh ....... as far as Hollow, always a favorite back in the day - Andreas voice was always hit or miss for lots of people .... for me, it was always hit. Again, the Hollow productions weren't the best - pretty bass-less if I remember, but there is a new Hollow coming out soon - I hope the production is much better than past discs ..........

[introclaus]

***First off, Andreas rules. I love this guys voice and always have ....... I was so excited about Binary Creed, and the second one really wowed me except for the computer production, which otherwise ruined a great disc. Second much better than the first one .....music and vocals incredible, production ugh ....... as far as Hollow, always a favorite back in the day - Andreas voice was always hit or miss for lots of people .... for me, it was always hit. Again, the Hollow productions weren't the best - pretty bass-less if I remember, but there is a new Hollow coming out soon - I hope the production is much better than past discs ..........

Unfortunately the production isn’t great in the new one either, and just like the last one it’s only Andreas and a drummer (and that’s a joke, because it’s not a drummer - just programmed stuff … Stalder Zantos is the name of the drummer and if you give those letters a good old’ scramble you’ll end up with Andreas Stoltz).

That said, musically it’s just wonderful - power prog in the classic sense (think Lethal, Crimson Glory, Hittman, Qryche, Tad Morose…).

[LarryD]

Unfortunately the production isn’t great in the new one either, and just like the last one it’s only Andreas and a drummer (and that’s a joke, because it’s not a drummer - just programmed stuff … Stalder Zantos is the name of the drummer and if you give those letters a good old’ scramble you’ll end up with Andreas Stoltz).

That said, musically it’s just wonderful - power prog in the classic sense (think Lethal, Crimson Glory, Hittman, Qryche, Tad Morose…).

****That is sad to hear about the production ...... and I didn't pick up on that name switch either ........good call there. That single you pointed out to me sounded ok...like the bands you mention. I was listening on a laptop, so I couldn't hear bass to begin with, but now it sounds like I won't be hearing it regardless......

I would think that as long as Andreas has been doing this - he would at least try to get a better sound than he did on the original Hollow discs...... Binary Creed was a little better, but not by much ....... I know money is always an issue when it comes to recording these days - but there has to come a point where you make a disc and someone doesn't bitch about the lack of sound on it ........ with his voice, he should have been able to become a household name at some point in his career.........

[introclaus]

Unfortunately the production isn’t great in the new one either, and just like the last one it’s only Andreas and a drummer (and that’s a joke, because it’s not a drummer - just programmed stuff … Stalder Zantos is the name of the drummer and if you give those letters a good old’ scramble you’ll end up with Andreas Stoltz).

That said, musically it’s just wonderful - power prog in the classic sense (think Lethal, Crimson Glory, Hittman, Qryche, Tad Morose…).

****That is sad to hear about the production ...... and I didn't pick up on that name switch either ........good call there. That single you pointed out to me sounded ok...like the bands you mention. I was listening on a laptop, so I couldn't hear bass to begin with, but now it sounds like I won't be hearing it regardless......

I would think that as long as Andreas has been doing this - he would at least try to get a better sound than he did on the original Hollow discs...... Binary Creed was a little better, but not by much ....... I know money is always an issue when it comes to recording these days - but there has to come a point where you make a disc and someone doesn't bitch about the lack of sound on it ........ with his voice, he should have been able to become a household name at some point in his career.........

I don’t think it’s for a lack of trying but nowadays a self financing artist (and especially one solely responsible for a “band”) can not afford going to a record studio of any kind of level … I mean, he might get in there but $10-15k isn’t gonna buy him more than a few days of work with which you ain’t gonna get much quality for. So considering that an artist like Hollow at best sells a few thousand albums, he is already deep in the hole if trying to finance just $15k (totally random budget there)… if he prints up CDs himself he might gain a bit of it back, but if he is going the label route (from what I can tell he is with Rockshots, which is a tiny label), he will at best get $2 per sold disc. So yeah … at best he stands to make half of his investment home. My guess (or let’s call it “hope for him”) is that he retained rights to sell it himself online on his own Bandcamp and also physical media through his website/fb so he can at least make some money on it.

Again, like I started out by saying, he probably didn’t go to any studio to record but instead did it all by himself at home and then only sent it off to someone else for final Mix and mastering which perhaps would be closer to $5k only.

Either way you slice and dice it, Andreas is most likely losing money on this album, but he does it because he is a true artist and there are multitudes of those out there in this scene we listen to that knowingly loses $$$ on each release but still does it for the love of the music. Respect.

I’m sure every artist would want their product to sound stellar but in today’s world that’s impossible. There’s no money in this business - just look at yourself as one of those potential buyers who already now says “not wasting my money on it unless it sounds like Dream Theater style production” - so I don’t fault them at all for not trying to fix what’s already broken by the consumers. I count myself lucky for still getting music that I enjoy listening to and that I don’t have those sensible ears that can’t take in anything that’s not an A grade production job.

[LarryD]

Either way you slice and dice it, Andreas is most likely losing money on this album, but he does it because he is a true artist and there are multitudes of those out there in this scene we listen to that knowingly loses $$$ on each release but still does it for the love of the music. Respect.

***Agree.

I count myself lucky for still getting music that I enjoy listening to and that I don’t have those sensible ears that can’t take in anything that’s not an A grade production job.

***I agree as well and I'll take that as a compliment ...........

[introclaus]

Either way you slice and dice it, Andreas is most likely losing money on this album, but he does it because he is a true artist and there are multitudes of those out there in this scene we listen to that knowingly loses $$$ on each release but still does it for the love of the music. Respect.

***Agree.

I count myself lucky for still getting music that I enjoy listening to and that I don’t have those sensible ears that can’t take in anything that’s not an A grade production job.

***I agree as well and I'll take that as a compliment ...........

Hahahaha - also, I guess it should have been “sensitive” and not “sensible” lol