Free Gift (My demo album - melo-symphonic thrash)

Finally finished it! https://www.bandlab.com/streets_of_gold/albums/43c64fb9-c5dd-ee11-85fb-002248449fa4

It's pretty messy, especially Compromise, Out of Nothing, and One True God, but I'm happy with it for a debut. I've got a poll to vote for your favorite one, though please give your thoughts on all of them! I'll give brief thoughts and a ranking.

9. One True God
8. Out of Nothing
7. Compromise
6. Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus
5. Dark of the Night
4. Trust and Obey
3. Right Here
2. Heaven (would be my favorite if it was less messy and the sound quality didn't sound like Death Magnetic for some reason)
1. Free Gift

This is going to sound really mean but I mean it to be constructive. You need to find a singer. The vocals are pretty distracting and flat and I say that as someone who makes Bob Dylan sound good.

Black Rider wrote:This is going to sound really mean but I mean it to be constructive. You need to find a singer. The vocals are pretty distracting and flat and I say that as someone who makes Bob Dylan sound good.

No offense taken, mainly because I agree lol. When listening myself the vocal sections are almost always the worst part. Trust and Obey is, imo, where the vocals are the "best".

Black Rider wrote:This is going to sound really mean but I mean it to be constructive. You need to find a singer. The vocals are pretty distracting and flat and I say that as someone who makes Bob Dylan sound good.

In addition to what BR said…

I know your heart is in the right place, but I gotta be honest with you… it’s impossible to make thrash metal on a keyboard. It just doesn’t work. 

You need guitar, bass and drums (it’s essential). Especially guitar and drums. 

And I said this before… the music sounds like the old Nintendo music. I still think you could do something interesting with it. Maybe some kind of Darkwave stuff. But no, it’s not thrash.

You could try to do something like Devo. 

Aggressive Devo.

TZ75 wrote:You could try to do something like Devo. 

Aggressive Devo.

Is he not men?

Actually… you don’t need real drums if you do industrial metal. You just need a drum machine. You could even use pro-tools https://www.avid.com/pro-tools/intro or GarageBand.

Pro-Zak wrote:

TZ75 wrote:You could try to do something like Devo. 

Aggressive Devo.

Is he not men?

Working in the coal mine.

I got a question about “Out of Nothing”. 

It sounds like you were trying to purposely be quiet on the part that required a shout. I’m assuming you were in a bedroom and didn’t want to disturb anyone.

TZ75 wrote:I got a question about “Out of Nothing”. 

It sounds like you were trying to purposely be quiet on the part that required a shout. I’m assuming you were in a bedroom and didn’t want to disturb anyone.

I think that was just out of habit from all the times I've practiced my shouts and there was people nearby... gotta reconsider that next time lol

Yeah, as much as I want to get to the next album (as I think it will be really good), I should probably instead re-record this one after I get my guitar (though I still fail to see how it sounds like Nintendo music lol)

Aside from the keyboard aspect, what do you think of the songs? As in the composition/riffs/ideas/lyrics?

StevenCressler wrote:

TZ75 wrote:I got a question about “Out of Nothing”. 

It sounds like you were trying to purposely be quiet on the part that required a shout. I’m assuming you were in a bedroom and didn’t want to disturb anyone.

I think that was just out of habit from all the times I've practiced my shouts and there was people nearby... gotta reconsider that next time lol

Yeah, as much as I want to get to the next album (as I think it will be really good), I should probably instead re-record this one after I get my guitar (though I still fail to see how it sounds like Nintendo music lol)

Aside from the keyboard aspect, what do you think of the songs? As in the composition/riffs/ideas/lyrics?

I like how Dusty called it “dungeon-core” or something like that… 

The dark vibe is cool. I’m curious how it will translate to guitar.

Okay, Dusty called it Dungeon Synth. Nice label!

Sounds more like 90s Doom music than NES. Which is cool.

You have some interesting ideas which is a good start. 

The instrumentation will be the key - as well as either finding a vocalist or maybe consider putting some reverb or other effects on your vocals. Do some weird stuff like Guy Ritter! That would be awesome.

Let this collection of songs serve as a "pre-demo". I've made lots of these over the years. It's what I use to show other band members my songs. Then we would record a "proper" demo as a group. 

Whenever I get back into making music, I'll probably do like you're doing and just try and do as much of it as I can on my own. 

Good luck! You'll definitely figure this all out. Trial and error, etc...

It's a Beautiful World.

Yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to hearing how this will sound with real instruments. I will be getting a guitar and lessons soon, which imo is the most important part of it sounding more real, as for the most part the bass and drums are more to add to the guitar (obviously drums can be more, and so can bass if it's Burton or something, but with something more simple like this the focus is more vocals and guitar). If I can find a way to have the other instruments be real I will though (but I'll probably keep the synthesized violins as that's kind of the norm for symphonic metal anyway)

MagnusPrime wrote:Sounds more like 90s Doom music than NES. Which is cool.

You have some interesting ideas which is a good start. 

The instrumentation will be the key - as well as either finding a vocalist or maybe consider putting some reverb or other effects on your vocals. Do some weird stuff like Guy Ritter! That would be awesome.

Let this collection of songs serve as a "pre-demo". I've made lots of these over the years. It's what I use to show other band members my songs. Then we would record a "proper" demo as a group. 

Whenever I get back into making music, I'll probably do like you're doing and just try and do as much of it as I can on my own. 

Good luck! You'll definitely figure this all out. Trial and error, etc...

I do want to do the vocals myself, as not only will they be the most genuine from the person who wrote the lyrics, but the singer is always naturally the face of the band. But I certainly need lessons.

How about this... What does everyone think will be their favorite song once I do the final version?

MagnusPrime wrote:Sounds more like 90s Doom music than NES. Which is cool.

You have some interesting ideas which is a good start. 

The instrumentation will be the key - as well as either finding a vocalist or maybe consider putting some reverb or other effects on your vocals. Do some weird stuff like Guy Ritter! That would be awesome.

Let this collection of songs serve as a "pre-demo". I've made lots of these over the years. It's what I use to show other band members my songs. Then we would record a "proper" demo as a group. 

Whenever I get back into making music, I'll probably do like you're doing and just try and do as much of it as I can on my own. 

Good luck! You'll definitely figure this all out. Trial and error, etc...

Why don’t you guys work together on a project? 

MP, what instrument did you play?

.

Also forgot about this:

I'm the dork in the sunglasses and beanie.

https://www.youtube.com/@aramenta8703

As you can probably tell, I had made several changes to some of the songs and sounded a lot better vocally on the live versions due to not having a cold like I did making the demo hahaha!

Oh and also as you can tell, I suck at lead guitar hahaha!

We had a lead player when we did that particular show, but he had just joined and wasn't quite ready to perform with us yet.

I also left some empty spaces in my demo recordings for my lead player to add his own solos.

I'm still going to use some of these songs at some point. Hopefully.

MagnusPrime wrote:This was that last band I had.

We split up in 2015.

Here are some of the "pre-demo" songs I recorded myself at some point back in 2012.

https://www.reverbnation.com/aramentamusic

I'm usually a vocalist/rhythm guitarist but I can play several instruments at varying proficiency.

Pretty darn good! 

I hear a Deliverance influence.

I’m pleasantly surprised MP. 

Good stuff!

I know Steven wants to do his own thing… but you could provide some guitar over his keyboards. 

And your voice is not bad MP. You can carry a tune.