I'm getting ready to do some serious work on my 2nd black metal album. this is the first song I have. all recorded with one microphone. trying to go for a raw but goth/melodic sound. I think the distorted drums work. my band only has one guitarist, so I'm trying to focus more on ambient leads for this project.

here's the link
http://soundcloud.com/pj-famicom/chains-to-sleep

really, I'm down for any criticism at all.

Well, I heard raw black metal...but I also heard pop.

is poppyness also gothyness?

I really liked it, the melodic gothy sound reminded me of Celestia but obviously sounding much rawer. This worked out really well because that kind of candy sweet melodic influence in black metal can sound really out of place or weak but the raw sound evens it all out. That higher melody in the start and throughout the song could use some tweaking in terms of guitar tone. The tone works for everything but that riff for me, where it comes off as a little grating and squeaky.

I liked this a lot, nice work, could use a little bore bass, but over all I would love to a see a band come from this

Reminds me of Amesouers for some reason... I like it!

I really like this diamond, could we possibly hear more tracks by you? I think the gothic influence mixes in very well with the black metal sound. My advice would be to double track both those rhythm and harmony sections, so you have four layers altogether, to give it a fuller sound, and boost the bass on the eq of your guitar tracks. Also, I think if you applied some reverb to the vocals that would also work very well.

This is definitely a cool song and I'm still listening to it, actually. I'd love to hear more of your tracks.

Wow, pretty cool stuff except for maybe the guitar solo - seems a bit out of place, like you didn't quite know where you were going with it. But the rest is great!

Check his sig, guys got just tons of stuff. Most of it isn't black metal, but I like how transitions to this song. This is definitely black metal but the melodies seem influenced by indie rock pop. I think that's great, it bring a unique character to the sound.

I'm not huge on really lo-fi production but this does sound good and I think you've done it well, for the most part. There is an odd resonance in there that I don't find overly pleasing- I think it comes from a lead and sits somewhere in the mid-low range. I think your style could be better served by striving for a bit more out of the production, but the song itself is good and you've got an individual style.

Ah, cheers corpse, I missed that one. 23 albums deep? that's admirable.