Butchered Demos

Over the past couple of weeks at work my friend and co-worker Stephen Ward (who has just created a banner for me. Keep your eyes peeled for it's appearance!) had just got sick of listening to Weird Al Yankovic 8 hours a day so he decided on a change of band. Now hes decided on Dragonforce (formerly Dragonheart ) and is now playing that all the time. Thing is he loves it more than me by a large margin.

I love their unrelenting hyperactive speed and ( in later albums especially ) complete madness (things that are missing in their ballads which I'm sure they feel obliged to do... DON'T. The're basically your normal songs with the decent bits removed, leaving in the cheeseyness and naff lyrics.) I first listened to the Dragonheart demos from mp3.com back in late 2000 and really liked them. Thing is it took me till 2006 before buying there albums (which they had done 3 of them by then), think I just forgot about Dragonheart ( then changed to Dragonforce ) in the 3 years till their first full length album came out ( think it was literally first couple of weeks in uni I got the Dragonheart demo songs but they didn't release their first album till they AFTER I finished uni. Easy to forget to do something in three years, significant chunk spent drunk/studying.)

The sound Dragonforce's demo is pretty dam clear and tight in the demo songs. Very impressive for a demo ( even more impressive when supposedly they were recorded in a week. ) The first album entitled Valley of the damned is just odd because it's just plain different. After the completely pointless first track Invocation of Apocalyptic evil ( a Bullsh*t track as mentioned in my previous blogpost GOD DAMN BULLSH*T TRACKS!!!! ) Valley of the Damned from the first Dragonheart demo starts up. First thing you notice is the keyboard doing more than was in the demo. When the vocals start up they sound like the singer ZP Theart ( how the hell do you pronounce that?! Comments welcome.) is about 3 miles away. They've gone insane with the reverb, acidently set it to 100% wet. Especially with Dragonforces music the vocals just sink down into the mix and just loose the punch they had in the demo. This continues throughout the album. As well as the mix on the re-recorded songs you notice Dragonforce has tweaked little melodies and bits here and there. This is most blatant on Black Winter Night ( Is it me going insane or shouldn't that be Black Winter's night? Have I become what I hate? Some nitpicky git moaning about the tiniest bit of iffy English? ). Just look at this list below.

• as the rivers run dry ( first time only )


• Prechorus (on the endless seas of madness ) now with overtly exuberant keyboards.


• Weird sudden stop in the music just before the main chorus then guitar does a dive bomb.


• Chorus .... COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! Different lyrics, different melody


• post chorus different lead guitar


• no more tommorow... dieing of sorrow sung by
  ZP Theart instead of shouted by band.

And that's before the main solo! It just feels like Dragonforce were obliged to change bits of the songs because the fans might not like the idea of paying for an album and getting only 3 new songs. I personnally much prefer the original demo versions of the songs. So much so that that's what I brought into work to listen to, not the first album versions.



Another example of different between demo versions and album versions now. I bought Soilwork's Figure Number Five pretty much as soon as it came out and it was a special limited edition (a decent limited edition... not like some sh*tty ones, eg... I got a "Special edition" of Beneath The Remains by Sepultura but it just took the piss! The only extra stuff on it was a couple of "drum tracks" (basically the ghost tracks that they played along to when they were doing their main recording. Basically sounds like the final recording but cack quality and no vocals! Just..... why??? Surely nobody is interested in that?)). The extra thing was a CD which contained the songs that were on Soilwork's first demo which is cool. I listened to them and the one song that instanly grabbed my attention was Wake Up Call . This song was just class, even in the nasty sound quality of the demo, It just had that nice build up and a decent chorus ( simply put it goes Wake up, wake up, wake... up... CALL!. What more do you want? ).

I read up on these songs and found that they were all re-recorded for the first album. Coolios! Wake Up Call in decent quality! I bought the first album and looked at the back cover immediately to see if it was the case. I saw My Need, In a close encounter, Skin after skin and Steel bath suicide there but where the fudge was Wake up call? Saddened I just accepted the fact it wasn't there (along with Bound to illusions and put the album on my CD player. Listening through I heard the re-recorded versions of the demo songs and was delighted in their new nice quality recording ( although where the hell did the clean vocals go? They had clean vocals on the demo but dropped them for Steel bath suicide and The Chain heart machine. When they brought them back in A predators portrait they were class!).

I got up to a track called Demon in veins and within 5 seconds I instantly recognised the intro to Wake up call. WTF is going on? To my absolute bemusement I realised that they changed the vocals especially the chorus. It now goes Demon... demon... demon... demon in VEINS! ......... bury head in hands.... That just sound ridiculous. Wake up call sounded ace ( I mean. even Rage against the machine (don't just call them Rage. I keep on thinking your talking about the heavy metal band Rage when your actually talking about Rage against the machine) got away with just saying Wake up repeated for decades... I couldn't stand it with Fuck you I won't do what you tell me
repeated.
Fuck you I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you I won't do what you tell me
SHUT UP!
Fuck you I won't do what you tell me
STFU now!
Fuck you I won't do what you tell me
Thats it! If you won't STFU I'll just break your neck!
Fuck you I CRIK.....
Ahhh thats better.
). Just .... why? Just an unecessary and ridiculous change. They didn't do too much to the other songs but this is just daft. Maybe just me moaning but if I was asked to cover it then it would most definately be the Wake up call version and not the Demon in veins version.

I wonder how many other bands have done this? Made an awesome demo but then butcher the songs for their first album. Oh and Dragonforce... DON'T WRITE ANY MORE FOOKEEN BALLADS!. See you all next time.

How to finish off an album PROPERLY!

How many albums do you have that you listen to from start to finish that finish with an absolute ripper? Albums that leave you gagging for more because the last song was so dam extreme, so good, such a great finale? Well there's alot of classic albums that finish on a high, just consistent from start to finish, leaves you with a song that "rips your face off" as a common metal metaphor goes. I'm thinking of genius albums like Master of puppets by Metallica which finishes off with Damage inc., an absolutely ripping track that just doesn't let off till the final notes ( the only major gripe I have about the song is the 1 + min of dodgy uninteresting violining guitar notes as an intro... hmmm I see a future blog post. ) or A predator's portrait by Soilwork. These albums keep you interested till the very last second and when the album finishes your really up for putting another album on.

Now there are other albums which just end with a down beat calm slow song or even just filler. One band that regularly does this is Fear Factory where they finish absolutely ripping albums like Demanufacture with a song like A therapy for pain. As soon as the guitar starts doing the main riff you just know it isn't going to then start blitzing away like... well... the REST OF DEMANUFACTURE! A therapy for pain just doesn't go anywhere, the main riff pretty much plays throughout most of the song in some form or another which, when you consider it plays for over 6 minutes, just starts to get piss annoying ( Hohoho how clever am I? From Pisschrist to piss annoying!.... ok, not that clever, rather just coincidence. ). The vocals are the worst on the whole of Demanufacture (even though they are completely clean) with the long warbbling notes that feel purposely held back to attempt a creepier atmosphere. When you think the song is over after over 6 minutes (!!!) there is some weird keyboard sound effects going to play out, another few minutes! When A therapy for pain finally ends it clocks at the 9 minute mark. That's 6 minutes odd of funeral paced riff played nearly consistently and then 3 minutes odd of noise. By this time my brain is deactivated, dulled, numbed by this, Half the time I don't even noticed the album has finished because my attention would wander to anything else ( blog writting for example :) or just even day dreaming. You know you've lost people if they start day dreaming! ). I rarely sit and try listening to A therapy for pain because it's just one of those songs I could have mentioned in a past blog post Songs you just wanna skip RIGHT NOW! and with it being at the end of the album it's just far too easy and tempting to press the stop button.

Dragonforce are just plain mad with their hyperactive songs that just plough a way through your mind. All 3 of their albums have a ballad in them for some reason ( I don't know what it is with bands that on every album they do they put one track on it that is completely out of place from the rest of the tracks, usually ballads seems to be the most common type of these songs and Dragonforce are no exception. ). On the first two Dragonforce albums Valley of the damned and Sonic firestorm the ballads are in the middle of the albums but in Inhuman rampage it's at the end of damn album! When I first listened to Inhuman rampage I got through to track 7 The flame of youth (Yep, a rather dodgy song title but a good song) and was thinking Ahhh cool they've stuffed the ballad this time, surely they wouldn't stick one on the end of the album... ) but when track 8 Trail of broken hearts comes on and the piano voiced keyboards come in with the alternating chords and I just stop and think God damn it NOOO!!!. Just why do so many bands need these out of place songs in their albums? From then on I just could not be bother listening to the last track, I didn't bother skipping the ballads on Dragonforce's previous albums but on Inhuman rampage I cannot be bothered listening to the last track.

So my tip to you is DON'T END WITH A FOOKEEN BALLAD (or rather any weaker slow soporific song)! Your song will likely get skipped. Your album would not leave the listener craving more if you loose his attention before the end. If the listener doesn't automatically think OOooo... the album's just ended, better get some more tunes on then you might have failed to leave an impression on the listener. Just end with a brilliant song that doesn't tail off slowly or leave them with anything that leaves them high. Till next time cya later (See? No fannying around finishing this post. Just ends with Cya.).

How to get your song noticed

Ever had a band advertising a new song and it had some stupid title that just put you off bothering to download it? Out of a big list of free songs to download you notice you click on ones which catch your attention? Well with the use of the Internet in today's world more and more often people are finding out about new bands and songs by just seeing a downloadable version. The first thing they notice before clicking on an mp3 ( OGG ) is the band name and the song title and not the album cover like in the past. Put it this way would you download a song called "Sniff my pantyhose"? Whoops, everyone's pressed the back button now. See what I mean? Titles are very important and really should at least be given a second thought before emblazing it on the web.

Well let's see a few examples. In Flames have come back on form with their latest album Come Clarity after the slightly dull Soundtrack to your escape ( see, album titles are also important. Come Clarity? Oooo sounds intriguing, Soundtrack to your escape? ..... errr... ok.... ). WIth a quick scan of the song titles I see Take this life and Reflect the storm are one's that catches my eye and already get me curious as to what they are like. Now look abit further down and you have Your bedtime story is scaring everyone .... just .... what??? For a start it's so long it could be a Bal-Sagoth song ( eg The Dark Liege of Chaos is Unleashed at the Ensorcelled Shrine of A'Zura Kai (The Splendour of a Thousand Swords Gleaming Beneath the Blazon of the Hyperborean Empire Part II), no honest this is a Bal-Sagoth song. ). The fact that it mentions Your bedtime story is just plain off putting. MY bedtime story??? I'm sorry... just no.

Coincidently Take this life and Reflect the storm are actually really good songs while Your bedtime story is scaring everyone is just one of those bullsh*t tracks which aren't proper songs at all. Don't take that sentence to mean all songs can be guesses from their song title. An example is Peepshow by Sikth. Peepshow is probably the only really serious sounding metal song on Sikth's first album The trees are dead & dried out, wait for something wild ( yep, a dodgy album title. ) with the utterly macabre singing prevelant on most of the songs held back for this one as well as the guitars not going mental over the fret board too much. While when you listen to songs like Pussyfoot and Hold my finger they sound as mental as their song title implies while Peepshow just sounds like it's implying another nutty song but the actual song isn't particularly mad.

Now you can forgive bands who's mother's tongue isn't English for coming up with odd song titles but Sikth are British so they don't have an excuse... no wait... yes they do... THE'RE MAD, FRUITY LOOPED, DOLLOP OF MASH, OUT OF THE SPACESHIP.... Not like the guy who made Bloodshed dev C++ for Windows who had got complaints so he explains why he used the name "Bloodshed" ( admittedly slightly tenuously ). I especially like the bit Heavy metal / Hard rock music is not really my cup of tea.. Certainly telling of the general image of Heavy metal. It's like the GNU Image Manipulation Program ( previously known as General Image Manipulation Program. ) or GIMP for short. It you didn't know what the GIMP was and someone sent you a message or email saying go to this website www.gimp.org would YOU dare click it? I suppose on the flip side the amusing acronym does help you remember the GIMP. While I'm on the subject of proper free ( libre and gratis ) open source graphic applications and titles another program I really love is one called Inkscape ( see a webcomic that was done by my friend utilising the unique calligraphy tool present in Inkscape. The bloke without glasses is actually me. Right too much shameless plugging and drifting off subject, back to the fold. ). Inkscape is pretty much the perfect name for a graphics program for the Ink conjures up thoughts of familiarity with drawing while the scape gives you thoughts of a large open canvas with which to fill to you imagination's content. Now Inkscape is a fork ( bit like Warrel Dane and Jeff Loomis left Sanctuary to form Nevermore. You could say that Nevermore is a fork of Sanctuary. ) of a program called Sodipodi... Sodipodi? What sort of name is that? Certainly harder to remember and not as obvious what it is compared to Inkscape. I wonder if the names of the programs were responsible for Sodipodi failing while Inkscape succeeded. It would not surprise me if it was.

To a ( slightly ) lesser degree band names are also important. There is something intriguing about the name Soilwork. It's just a peculiar band name. I went to a gig in Manchester to see ( if I remember rightly ) Arch Enemy wearing a Soilwork long sleeve shirt ( A predator's portrait by the way. The album before Soilwork went downhill. ) with blatantly emblazoned on it Soilwork in huge letters. I was walking down Oxford road and every 2 or 3 people I walked by had a good look at my shirt then, after I walked pass, I'll hear them muttering in a slightly perplexed voice Soilwork?. Copywriters ( yes "Copywriters", not "Copyrighters" ) would sell their liver to get people looking at a title and wondering in fascination just to create titles like that every week. I wonder if Soilwork spent a long time pondering about their name thinking about whether it would get people talking about them, or did the conversation go like this,
Hmmm.... how about Soilwork?
.... sounds odd... but doesn't sound stupid. Balls to it we're "Soilwork"

I admit there isn't one rule for all with song titles. What would attract the attention of one person could be missed by another person. For example Vim by Machine Head on Through the ashes of empire earns brownie points for being named after my favourite text editor Vim :) .



Well OK I doubt the band were thinking of Vim the text editor but I cannot possibly think what Vim could mean. Vim cannot be Roman numerals because what would Vim be? 994 cause of v + i - m or 996 cause of v - m + i or 1004 from m - i + v but none of these are correct Roman numerals. To people who have never heard of Vim the text editor this song title would normally skip past their attention.

I spent a good chunk of time thinking of the title to this blog post. First I was thinking of just calling it Song titles ARE IMPERATIVE then I was thinking of going for You know song titles ARE IMPERATIVE. I was not so sure about the Imperative bit so I thought I would go for the present title How to get your song noticed. Although slightly cheap it looks to have got your attention at least so it can't be all bad. So remember, THINK TWICE about your next song's/album's/band's name. In the Internet which is rather text based your song title gets seen first. More Reflect the storm and less Your bedtime story is scaring everyone.

Any song titles you think give a positive or negative impression on the reader? Just post them in the comment section. I would like to see what the general populace thinks of them. Until next time. Cya.