Doc Ascension Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 Yes chaps, as promised, we have finished recording and mixing the Demo and 3 mp3's have been put on the new Ascension WebsiteHere's the link:www.ascensionband.co.uk/mp3.htmlSongs up are Against the Flame, Guilty Spark and a sample of Beyond The Sea.The full demo tracklist is:1. Against the Flame2. Guilty Spark3. Fortress4. The Fifth Element5. Durin's Bane (oh yes... 13 mins!!)Everything was recorded in one take due to time limitations so there are a few little mistakes but not bad considering! It's a fine enough demo anyways.... see what you think and if you like, come along to our next gig to see for yourself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spellchecker Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 not my sort of music, though certain parts of it piqued my interest, mainly in guilty spark.the drum recording is shocking. that's shockingly bad. in all of the tracks the kick and snare seem to sometimes almost completely disappear, when guitars, vocals and drum overheads/cymbals come in. the snare sounds god awful, it sounds like a snare drum with one metal strand left that you might have found in the salvation army shop or something. in terms of performance, i thought the drumming was pretty uninspiring. there were definite fuck ups, but if it was done all in one take, then granted mistakes can happen. nothing really attention grabbing though, with this style of music i think it would have been a good place to have some impressive drumming.i found the vocals mostly quite bland and dreary, though not always. it's hard to explain, but the vocals often sound "tired" - maybe it's the key you are singing in against the guitar melodies that does this, i'm not sure. i found the start of against the flame particularly cringeworthy. yet it sounds like the vocalist can actually sing - perhaps worth working out some decent vocal melodies to sit alongside the guitar work, instead of somewhere in the background. bruce dickinson came to mind sometimes when you were singing.i quite liked the guitar sounds you had, and thought the playing was pretty good. i'm not a techy guitarist so i'm not really that qualified to judge it anyway, but it seems to do the job. with the two guitars panned so hard left and right, you might have been better to get slightly different tones out of them - doing this can really fatten up a track - for example, just drop the gain on one guitar by about half and it'll contrast wonderfully with one of your really overdriven guitars (this is just ideas for recording, not live stuff). you do obviously lose some of the sustain, but one of your guitars seems more "lead" than the other if that makes any sense.how did you record the drums? did you record the tracks live, i.e. everyone playing at once? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hog Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 There is certainly lots of potential with this being just a demo. I agree with Spellchecker about the vocals, maybe Im wrong but the lower notes sound a little bland but when pushing for the higher stuff, the voice shines through.Ace drumming although its not very clear. The guitars certainly have a decent sound. Basically the songs have a good vibe about them, just looking forward to hearing a studio recording. Enjoyed that stuff though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Ascension Posted May 19, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 thank you very much for the feedback, it's hard to make this sound sincere and not saracastic in type, but I really appreciate it you listening and taking time to comment!!I should have said that we recorded it at The Foyer, and on a budget, we only wanted to chuck out a cheap demo for the purpose of sending to promoters and giving people an idea of what we do...What we did was record the drums and 2 guitars through in one take, then the bass and vocals through in one take but seperately (we have no bassist, so Gregor the other guitarist played the bass)...I'll be honest, I think Against The Flame the vocals are better, now this is because our singing is notoriously bad at remembering the words... so he read most of them. Being his first time recording I think he concentrated on reading too much and forgot to really sing them, a problem which he doesn't have at gigs - he can sing quite phenomenally live! He wrote the lyrics to Against The Flame, so he knows them really well hehe!!But thanks once again for the feedback mate, much appreciated! I'm glad that there were some parts you got into, Power Metal is definately not for everyone and it's almost like a marmite kind of love it-hate it thing I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Ascension Posted May 19, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 cool cool Hog, fancy funding us for a trip to Thin Ice Studios (Dragonforce fame haha...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scorge Spike Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 how did you record the drums? did you record the tracks live' date=' i.e. everyone playing at once?[/quote']Time for some excuses. All recorded at once, no metronome, one after the other, no time to fuck around with levels, etc. The kick track was spot on 96/97% of the time, you just can't hear it (same goes for the snare when the hi-hat goes on top). I had to use a shitty old snare because my DWP SX was being repaired on the day I happened to be in, just the way it goes.And if you can define 'inspiring', I'd be very grateful..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hog Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 cool cool Hog' date=' fancy funding us for a trip to Thin Ice Studios (Dragonforce fame haha...)[/quote']No, no I dont Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spellchecker Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 it's a shame about the drum sound. the first thing i'd ever work on is getting the kick and snare sounding good and well into the mix, everything else is a bonus - you have to have a strong kick and snare sound, because it provides half the rhythmic structure of your music. however, first demo and all that, at least you'll know what to concentrate harder on next time.maybe i'm being overly harsh on the drumming comment, it'd be more fair to comment after seeing you live. it's so hard to tell from the tracks what is going on anyway. for example, listen to against the flame at about 3m45s - all i can hear is what sounds like a tambourinist after a couple of wraps of speed and the occassional crash! personally, the style of drumming doesn't really appeal to me. physically and technically, it's perhaps quite a feat to play some of the stuff you are playing, but it concentrates so much on the speed and accuracy of the beats that, in my opinion, there isn't any room for soul or feeling in the playing. that's what i was thinking when i said the drumming was uninspiring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Milner Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 i cant hear any snare or kick when it goes into the blast beat rythem. it just kinda becomes a drum noise. appart from that not bad for a demo. the vox could be up in the mix but then thats just my preference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Ascension Posted May 19, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 yeh I see what you mean.... just a side effect of the time constraints mainly though.... inconsistent quality in it....If someone has seen it live can you comment on its effectiveness as a demo for our live performance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve corps Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 hmmmnot having a specific go for the sake of it, but i have played these tracks on repeat for an hour now just to give it a chance and my main conclusion would be the singing is terrible, especially for this type of music.i'd say this style of music needs a voice with some power and bombast, and thats two things the singer simply does not display.its how i would sound if i went for monotone comedy power metal vocals.some cool riffs in there, drummings been commented on already.bad metal basically, with some promise perhaps.its cool to call me a cunt for typing that btw, buts thats my honest opinion ladies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Milner Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 yeh I see what you mean.... just a side effect of the time constraints mainly though.... inconsistent quality in it....If someone has seen it live can you comment on its effectiveness as a demo for our live performance?i would say the drum thing is more to do with bad technque than anything else. the snare needs to be hit harder its that simple, it goes from being nice and loud and solid to non-existant same with the bass drum, during the blast beats it dissapears into nothing just a noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cowboy Dan Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 AHAHAHAHA!!I was really hoping this would be awful, and it really is!!I genuinely can't stop laughing at this, it's awful. If you're particularly offended by my comments then i'll add some constructive criticism, but i'm sure you're not and I can't be bothered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Ascension Posted May 19, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 no infact you better add something constructive to that because I've heard your music Dan and it's the least I would do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Ascension Posted May 19, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 not having a specific go for the sake of it' date=' but i have played these tracks on repeat for an hour now just to give it a chance and my main conclusion would be the singing is terrible, especially for this type of music.i'd say this style of music needs a voice with some power and bombast, and thats two things the singer simply does not display.its how i would sound if i went for monotone comedy power metal vocals.some cool riffs in there, drummings been commented on already.bad metal basically, with some promise perhaps.its cool to call me a cunt for typing that btw, buts thats my honest opinion ladies.No not at all! Thanks for the feedback, the only one being an arsehole so far is Dan, but your comments are welcomed dude! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zeenat Aman Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 I'll be honest, I think you should have taken more time to record less songs, but making sure they were of a higher standard, both recording and playing wise. I dont think this demo does your band any favours, the drumming and singing is very flat and weak, things just get lost in to one mush of sound. That's my opinion on those recordings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkaline Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 No not at all! Thanks for the feedback' date=' the only one being an arsehole so far is Dan, but your comments are welcomed dude![/quote']When is Cowboy Dan anything other than an asshole, find some proof and i'll accept it. Otherwise i'm happy to live on thinking the boy is some jumped up spoiled little cunt with little or no musical talent other than constantly leaching on his best mates musical credability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkaline Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 As for the tracks, musically they sound like a demo, but you can still get a feel for the songs. I'm not a fan of your vocalist tho, i don't think his voice suits your stuff. But thats just my personal preference, i woulda liked a more 'Bleeding Through' style vocal approach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Ascension Posted May 19, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 When is Cowboy Dan anything other than an asshole' date=' find some proof and i'll accept it. Otherwise i'm happy to live on thinking the boy is some jumped up spoiled little cunt with little or no musical talent other than constantly leaching on his best mates musical credability.[/quote']Very good point indeed. As for the tracks' date=' musically they sound like a demo, but you can still get a feel for the songs.[/quote']Cool good feedback always welcome.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hog Posted May 20, 2005 Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 When is Cowboy Dan anything other than an asshole' date=' find some proof and i'll accept it. Otherwise i'm happy to live on thinking the boy is some jumped up spoiled little cunt with little or no musical talent other than constantly leaching on his best mates musical credability.[/quote']Very very good point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Ascension Posted May 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 I'll be honest' date=' I think you should have taken more time to record less songs, but making sure they were of a higher standard, both recording and playing wise.[/quote']I think we will take this into consideration next time, we wanted to get down as much as possible this time though, even though not all of the stuff will be used... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zeenat Aman Posted May 20, 2005 Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 I think we will take this into consideration next time' date=' we wanted to get down as much as possible this time though, even though not all of the stuff will be used...[/quote']Quality is better than quantity I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psydoll Posted May 20, 2005 Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 Quality is better than quantity I think.Tell that to the Pro Evo thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Ascension Posted May 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 Quality is better than quantity I think.So are you tempted to come see it live?? Thats when the songs really shine imho.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nikola Tesla Posted May 20, 2005 Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 Right okay.. I'm not even a power metal fan so disregard this if you want. The vocals are extremely weak, the guy sounds like he is bored out of his fucking mind. I thought that power metal vocals were meant to be overdone and cheesy as fuck, but heck. The guitar is okay, although it gets really boring and repetitive after a while. Plus there's not much of what you would call a good riff for miles. Solo's just ain't my bag at all. Finaly, the drumming pretty generic and could do with some more vairiation, but that's just a personal opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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