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TheOldSkull
Metal newbie

Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2013 2:24 pm
Posts: 64
Location: Brittany
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 1:04 pm 
 

Jan/Feb Thrash Challenge: the results and reviews

All right, after some misadventures our friendly challenge has reached his conclusion, and I'm very pleased to bring you a compilation of various works from our fellow Metal Archives members.
The focus this time was Thrash/Speed metal, with related styles (death/thrash, black/thrash...) allowed.

Eight participants submitted one or more tracks, let's name them in no particular order :

In Thy Kingdom
Nightwisher1990
CloggedUrethra
KFD
Arkhane
MLGDeath
TheOldSkull (with Commandaunt on vocals)
InfiniteNexus

Click on this link to download a zip file containing all tracks (and some lyrics):

http://www.mediafire.com/download/vu3o9 ... llenge.zip

Once you've listened to them, feel free to write some short reviews, or give your impressions on the tracks. Even if you didn't participate, you're welcome to express your feelings. Every kind of feedback, praise, and constructive criticism will be appreciated.

Enjoy!

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iamntbatman
Chaos Breed

Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:55 am
Posts: 11421
Location: Tyrn Gorthad
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 2:03 pm 
 

Whoa, that's a lot more participants than I was expecting to see, great! As usual I'm gonna give this a download and review.
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Commandaunt
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:31 am
Posts: 572
Location: Bolivia
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 3:28 pm 
 

I've listened to a few and the most interesting so far has been MLGDeath's "Divine Demise". I was pretty put off from 0:00 - 1:40, because of the super simplistic instrumental and the vocals which sounded exactly like chris barnes. The solo and the instrumentation until 3:20 is fucking awesome though, loved the shift of melody, going from Amerika the Brutal to something actually worth listening to again and again. In a song like this, the idea to use acoustic guitar in the background of such an emotional solo is nothing short of genius, and the melodeath part after was unexpected as well. The part afterwards was actually a lot more tolerable just because of it, even though there was no real change from the intro. I just noticed that even the bridge at 03:15 is vastly different the barnes shit. Weird that you have such contrast between two styles. Anyway, I'd probably give this one an 8/10 just because of the middle section. Would like to hear more of your work. As long as you stay away from vocals (at least those specific growls) and that sort of groovy riffing, I'll be happy.

MLGDeath - Divine Demise - 8/10

Hmm, I'll do KFD's as well since it's short and sweet, which is something I really enjoyed about this. Going through songs in these packages that are needlessly long because of monotonous repetition makes reviewing a serious chore. The solo, unfortunately, was laughable and not even really on the level of euronymous' solo on "War". But that's alright because it only lasts 20 seconds (It was a good idea to open with something like that though). Lyrics were pretty class - I love historical shit like this where it's obvious you did some research on your topic. The production was sick, nice and old school, though the guitars at parts 0:41 and 1:31 definitely should have been louder. Guitaring was simple but aggressive and fitting, drums were a highlight, especially in a challenge full of badly mixed drum machines. I liked the vocals, especially the draculea part at 0:45.. they were amateurish and, like I said before, really old school like old sodom or sarcofago, which you were obviously going for so that's good. Catchy tune, I'll have DRACULEAAAAAAAAAA stuck in my head all shift tonight, fuck.

KFD - Draculea - 8.5/10

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Arkhane
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Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 3:39 pm
Posts: 1820
Location: South Texas
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 4:33 pm 
 

CloggedUrethra, you basically made a thrash EP, I thought that was pretty cool. I'm on Perceiving the Psychological Blur and some of the riffing is just fucking awesome. \m/ Also is that a drum machine or did you record those yourself?

I will do an official review later, but I am curious to see how my thrash/doom attempt turned out in someone else's perspective besides my own. Almost all of these submissions were pretty fucking badass, I'm pretty happy with this one.
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Nightwisher1990
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Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2009 6:26 pm
Posts: 489
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 6:10 pm 
 

I am listening right now, most of what I've listened to is really really great except for vocals in general, and I think that my vocals would end up as the worst :P
As for the first listen I totally like how professional CloggedUrethra's songs sound, though I don't like the style of vocals, but the whole thing is great.
Edit : Another highlight is Satanic Panzer Brigade - Machine-gunned by Satan, the main riff is so catchy, and the vocals with lyrics goes really well with music, great one also.
Edit 2: InfiniteNexus songs are another big highlight here : the song Tyrant is really great, the solos in the end is really awesome, as well as guitar tone especially lead.

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CloggedUrethra
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Joined: Sat Nov 30, 2002 4:30 am
Posts: 499
Location: Ontario, Canada
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 6:26 pm 
 

Cool to see so many submissions! I'll try to download it tomorrow at my dad's place.
Thanks Arkhane. That song was inspired by Mind Control by Slayer. Yep I played the drums.
And thanks Nightwisher, also I agree my vocals are getting worse and worse haha.
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MLG_Death
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2010 3:57 pm
Posts: 91
Location: United States
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:22 pm 
 

Gahhh damn didn't know we could submit more than one song. Then again I only skimmed through the first post on the challenge last month, didn't really retain any information except man make thrash song, man submit thrash song.

Will post some reviews when done listening to them all.


Arkhane - 40 G's of Wrath gave me a six feet under feel in the beginning but the song changes moods for me at certain times. I like the part 1:35 - 1:47, it's a nice groovy evil sound. Like the part at 2:33 where you have the double bass going with the snare hitting half time in combination with that riff is pretty cool sounding. Also I like your harmonized parts, I'm a fan of harmonizing guitars and I feel you satisfied my need for them. Doesn't fully hit my thrash spot, but it's still a cool song. Great job.



Clogged Urethra - Immortal Agony I feel has that death/thrash feel. Not too fond bass/snare/bass/snare hits... slower blast beat? Whatever it is, that type of thrash beat is not my flavor. But it's good that you have that in there because when 2:17 rolls around, I appreciate that slower tempo change much more, adds contrast to make the song interesting. Also the vocals are really cool on all 3 songs. I like the highs and lows, but lows are my favorite in general for any band, and yours or whoever's lows those are, are really deep and evil. Reminds of like Antti Boman from Demilich, would like tips on how to achieve this vocal sound :)

Perceiving the Psychological Blur - Sounds like a song Slayer would come up with more of a death metal sound to it. Again sounds like death/thrash to me. At 1:32 I like this part because it's melody, it's harmonized, and it's a type of sound that reminds me of my favorite band. Iced Earth.


Inside the Cell - All 3 of your songs are cool, but this one is my favorite because when the drum bass is synced with that Eb chug in the beginning, I get a Demolition Hammer feel out of it and I fucking love that band because of their awesome brutal grooviness. The main melodic riff is cool. At around 2:19 or so, you get into a slow melodic riff, and I love it, I just wish after about two runs of it you would have added a 5th or 3rd harmonization to continue with it. Nice solo too :D



Infinite Nexus - The Great Crime had okay riffage, not too fond of the drum grooves in it mainly because I personally am not a fan of snare hits each click, which is usually common in thrash but that doesn't make your song bad in general.

Tyrant - This song sounds sort of like Kalmah and with your vocal style it adds to that feeling. I think the harmonized riff is cool. All of your solos are not bad, but I mainly like the ones with the clean part, those were rad. I'm a fan of the idea of calming the song down with a clean break as you can tell from my song, because I feel like it builds up suspense for a heavy part and/or solo to come ahead. My favorite song of the three.

Until They Die - Again sort of has that Black Waltz era of Kalmah feeling going on here. Not a bad song, okay riffs. I'm almost certain you're playing in D, which is probably why I'm not that big of a fan it. I like when thrash is mainly in Eb and sometimes E. D loses that traditional thrash key that I'm used to hearing.

(5 minutes later) - Yup... I just put Tyrant in Eb on Audacity and the solo at the clean part gave me some chills. Keys matter to me, even if they're one measly half step. It made a difference.

LOL. I put Until They Die in Audacity and did the same thing. Changed the pitch to Eb. It sounded better, and I enjoy the songs a lot more.


Overall. I think your music is good and I happen to like your vocals.


InThyKingdom - Machine Gunned By Satan - The main riff is okay, would have liked more variety. Although I wasn't a fan of the riffs, with the combination of the drum beats you created, I felt like the song was coming at me full force which I'm sure was what you were aiming for ;) I loved the solo, that was great. I dig the ending samples too, I could imagine Satan just walking around really tall with all his minions just gunning everyone down haha.



KFD - Draculea - Good song title.



Nightwisher1990 - The Plug I like that whole riff before the singing started, the rest of the song is alright. I don't really care for the vocals, they sound like you were trying too hard, haha as you said you were experimenting. GOOD! :) But good job anyway man.



TheOldSkull/Commandaunt - Ad Mortem - The drums sound like they're coming out of an FM alarm clock radio, that's how thin and tinny sounding they are lol, no power. Good thrash riffs though, dug 'em, I liked the vocals and the lyrics were above the rest in terms of being well thought out in my opinion and also that echo on the "inclined" part was cool. Good job guys.





You can check out and follow my band here. https://www.facebook.com/terrestrialdecimation

As for our song Devine Demise. We wanted to make songs in the style of Thrash/Death. Our first song called "Matricide", which I think some if not most of you heard already. https://soundcloud.com/stormrider/matricide. Was a thrashier song than Devine Demise. I knew this but I felt like Devine Demise was a better song overall, and I also didn't realize how death it sounded compared to thrash until you guys started saying it was more death metal, I honestly thought there was some thrash sounding stuff in there. But hearing what you create is a different point of view than an outside POV, a.k.a you guys, fans, other people not creating the music, etc. Also I thought it was a one song entry, or else I would have been more than happy to have sent Matricide with it.

Plus I like the clean section, with the epic solo done by my friend in the band, and the Amon Amarth-like riff afterwards is just icing on the cake for me personally. It's not like we try take riffs or riff styles from anyone. We created a riff and the way it sounded at first sounded like a Kalmah riff, but then I was like... nah wait a minute, this sounds like vikings charging into war... this is an Amon Amarth type of riff... and there's nothing wrong with that, it sounds badass. You guys know what it's like. When you play something, the way it sounds to you as you play it, sounds completely different to outsiders, or maybe that's me. I try to create the style of riffs I want to play that I hear in my head, but I have to ask outsiders something like "how does this sound to you?" "what does this sound like?" to make sure I'm creating that feeling or that precise style I'm wanting to create.


But yeah this was pretty fun for a first challenge, when is the next one?


Last edited by MLG_Death on Mon Mar 03, 2014 1:33 am, edited 4 times in total.
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KFD
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2006 8:19 pm
Posts: 1064
Location: France
PostPosted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 3:38 pm 
 

As a whole, I'm more enthusiastic about the submitted songs than I was about the latest October black metal challenge.


InThyKingdom - "Machine-gunned by Satan":
Reminds me of Ritual Carnage in terms of sound and composition. Really sounds like a cover from that band, except the vocals who sound too amateurish. Useless digital gun samples in the end.


InfiniteNexus - "Tyrant"
This sounds like a mix between thrash and melodeath. Very pro. The vocals are cool. I stopped at the clean arpeggio break, too cliché.


OldSkull/Commandaunt - "Ad Mortem"
Old-school thrash/death, quite ear-friendly, but the drum machine is way too loud in the mix.


CloggedUrethra - "Inside the Cell"
The vocals frankly suck, both hi and low growls. My suggestion is "hire a real vocalist". I can't really comment on the song because I don't like the style, too much changes and demonstration for me. I must admit the drums are very technical and varied, but they suffer from their digital tone. Especially the bass drum that I find horrible and plastic.
No comment about the Slayer cover, choosing "Fight 'Till Death" was suicidal.


Arkhane - "40G's of Wrath"
What's the difference between both versions? Not blatant at first listen. This is basic (quite modern) death metal, not my cup of tea. I don't like the vocals, and the drums sound programmed, so I'll stop here.


MLGDeath - "Divine Demise"
This is the kind of death metal my ears can't tolerate, so I can't be objective here. Sorry.


Nightwisher1990 - "The Plug"
The production has a kind of muffled tone. The vocals are a complete failure, they sound at best like some NYHC singer imitation. The music also qualifies as death metal according to my criteria. Weakest song at first impression.


KFD - "Drǎculea"
Finishing with my own song. Both versions were recorded and mixed differently. I might remix the faster version or re-record it in a professional manner (with studio magic tricks) some day. I know the drum parts are not 100% regular, but I did the best I could. This song wasn't easy to pull out, I worked on it for almost a year (not constantly, of course). If anyone enjoys, all the pleasure is for me.


To conclude, I'd like to thank all the participants and reviewers. I'll post my songs directly in the thread later.
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Last edited by KFD on Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Arkhane
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 3:39 pm
Posts: 1820
Location: South Texas
PostPosted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 5:27 pm 
 

KFD wrote:
Arkhane - "40G's..."
What's the difference between both versions? Not blatant at first listen. This is basic (quite modern) death metal, not my cup of tea. I don't like the vocals, and the drums sound programmed, so I'll stop here.

The only difference is that in the edit version, I have clean vocals layered under the growls in the second riff, and I have a falsetto howl behind the moaning towards the middle of the song. So in essence, it's a choice of whether or not you like clean vocals.
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Arkhane
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 3:39 pm
Posts: 1820
Location: South Texas
PostPosted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 6:16 pm 
 

In my review, I'm just going to go through every user and state the highlights and low points. Doing one for every song will just be a lot of repetitive wording and will take up far more space than should be. Also, I had already listened to all of these songs yesterday, but I wrote my review while re-listening to the song that I was reviewing. So, here we go:




CloggedUrethra - Inside the Cell (4 songs)
Upon starting the first song, I am quickly turned off by the choking vocals and lack of bass guitar. The riffing is pretty strange, but not in a bad way as I enjoyed the way it fluttered around (for lack of a better word). Perceiving the Psychological Blur's chorus riff was pretty wicked, and so was the harmonized guitar right before the solo. All in all this song was pretty badass. My final verdict: Although mostly forgettable, there was some enjoyment to be found.

InfinteNexus
I am impressed by the production of these 3 songs, though I shouldn't expect any less than this upon viewing your mixing and mastering tips thread. It's got a nice vintage tone to it. And your ability to solo is fucking sick! Upon listening to Tyrant, I really love the calm interlude with the twin solos... that shit sent chills down my spine. My only complaint is that I think the tuning on your open G string was a little flat. It could just be me though, since I'm the only one who noticed it so far. I really enjoyed all three songs, good job! (I think I'll keep "Tyrant" especially, haha) :np:

InThyKingdom
The first thing I noticed was the really full guitar tone, like an old school dirty sound. The vocals weren't very standout, but they did work for the song. Good tone and presence on just about everything in the mix (although a duel toned satanic voice over at the end with the machine gun sample would have made my day :lol:). There wasn't really much variation in the song structure though, but then again this was a shorter song and it didn't really bother me too much. Not a bad little jam. Title gave me a good kick.

KFD
I gotta be honest dude, I really did not enjoy this one. The guitar had no real "attack" (meaning it was too warm in the mix, especially for thrash), the drums sounded really sloppy, and the vocals are completely illegible and juvenile. This goes for both songs, by the way.

MLGDeath
Dude!! Death/thrash, but with more death. This shit was fucking brutal as hell! I really didn't hear any thrash in this, to honest, but this song really kept me on my toes. Especially with the random ass clean break in the middle of the song, which was really cool but out of place. The vocals reminded me of Amon Amarth, in that, they are full scale good and brutal. I think this one is another keeper.

Nightwisher1990
As I listen, I really don't find this one very enjoyable either. The vocals are literally making me giggle. There is one part of this song though that was a little better; the chorus had a bit of a darker atmosphere, but it was still pretty bad. Honestly, the title of this song just made me want to skip it completely.

TheOldSkull and Commandaunt
This one was alright. The guitar riffing and vocals are pretty fucking dark, but the drumming is so thin I can't help but think there is a super charged high pass filter on it. Ignoring that, the song has a sort of aggressive and evil presence, which is always a plus for me. I can't really say anything else about it. I really enjoyed it, but I don't think I'll give it another listen anytime soon.

Arkhane
Since this is mine, I'll just share some notes as KFD did. This song aimed towards successfully merging Thrash and Doom metal into one song. So before I wrote the instrumentation, I spent a lot of time listening to Slayer, Draconian, and Candlemass for inspiration. The lyrics were a little slow to come to me, but I had the idea of a platoon of men going to war and just getting killed in a dramatic and emotional fashion. When I wrote them, however, it turned into more fun than being a serious matter. The lyrics themselves are about a group of specially trained astronauts who venture into space with an arsenal of nuclear weaponry. They try to fight off a mass of lights and orbs they think is an alien race that is threatening the planet, but when they run out of ammunition and firepower, they realize that its a supersized black hole and quickly try to retreat only to be sucked in and killed.

I'm really happy with the way this challenge turned out, as most of the songs seemed really cool and I could easily headbang and jam out to them.
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iamntbatman
Chaos Breed

Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:55 am
Posts: 11421
Location: Tyrn Gorthad
PostPosted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 4:10 am 
 

Fuckface Academy – 40 G's of Wrath

First of all, this band name is completely terrible, haha. I don't think I'm really the biggest fan of the vocals on this. Those growls are sort of vaguely Celtic Frostish, I guess, but come across as too...tough guy? I dunno, hard to describe but somehow they rub me the wrong way a little. The more basic thrash riffs in this are just sorta there and don't do a lot for me, except for that one at 2:15 that's just plain monstrous. Overall, though, the more death metallish tremolo parts were cooler. Your drum programming sounded pretty good except for the kind of robotic sound of the high hats. I do like the version without as much vocal layering much more; the one with all of those cleans and stuff was just way too busy. The production is really pretty good though, and a couple standout riffs in that bridge section especially make this a pretty good track overall.

TheOldSkull – Ad Mortem

Haha, the drum machine sounds so bad. Not in a totally unlistenable way, though, as it sorta fits with the decidedly old-school production. Really dig your guitar tone. Nice and mean and dirty but with lots of space for it to breathe. Your lower vocals actually kind of remind me of the Fuckface Academy vocals, with sort of the same issue, but those higher pitched black metal barks sound really good. Your riffs are pretty simple for most of the song but just have this super appealing fist-pumping infectiousness that sorta evokes Motorhead/Venom while being more explicitly thrashy. Your bass tone is also really fucking cool, love it when the guitars drop out. The guitar solo is also really great. I thoroughly enjoyed this track to be honest.

MLGDeath – Divine Demise

This one's pretty much straight up death metal, albeit with a distinctly thrashy foundation, unlike the sort of “brutal thrash” leanings of the first two songs. As I've said in many times in the past, I really dislike those sort of doubled “demon vocals” and I hate them here, too, haha. I'd love to hear this without that effect. The weepy clean-into-epic section in the middle sounds good on its own, and that guitar solo was pulled off really well, but I don't really know how I feel about the whole thing in the context of the song. It flows back into the meat of the song well enough, but it still feels like it just kinda wrecked the momentum of the track. This sounds really professional and all, but none of the riffs really grabbed me.

KFD – Draculea

This sounds like it was recorded on a cell phone in a trash can kinda. I like the huge echo on the vocals in the chorus, but the verse vocals are just kinda weak and don't fit too well. The riffing is pretty furious and sounds decent in a “cool unknown thrash demo” sort of way, but definitely could have stood to have some more variation since the bulk of the song is basically just two riffs. The fast version is clearly superior to the slow version. I don't really have tons more to say about this as it's an incredibly basic song, but I'd probably enjoy a short demo of stuff like this.

Nostril Caverns – Fight Till Death

As I was expecting the drumming is pretty captivating, but I couldn't help but be totally distracted by the gremlin vocals. There's also something sorta...weird about the production. There just seems to be huge gulfs of space between the guitars and the drums. I don't mind a spacious mix but it sorta sounds like they aren't really married together at all in the overall mix. Vague complaint I realize but that's just sorta the impression I get. The guitar playing also pushes the style into a more black metally style and kind of sucks the fun speed metal out of the original, if that makes any sense. Definitely not my most favorite cover.

Nostril Caverns – Immortal Agony/Inside the Cell/Perceiving the Psychological Blur

I'll review these originals separately since they don't really carry the baggage of trying to do justice to the Slayer original. The same complaint applies re: the vocals, though. I'm not the biggest fan of your vocals but they sound extra out of place in this context. Anyway, the music is really manic sort of tech-thrash stuff. Very riff-salad. Some parts here and there almost remind me of a schizophrenic version of Helstar, with cool riff ideas morphing and disappearing before they really get a chance to make much of an impact. This even happens in the breaks sometimes, like the one about 2/3rds through “Immortal Agony”, where the whole thing shifts after a couple of bars and before the guys can even get their circle pit really going. “Inside the Cell” almost feels like sort of the inverse, where the riffs get to stay around for much longer, but the individual riff sections feel very herky-jerky anyway due to the stuttering drums. “Perceiving the Psychological Blur” has sort of a Demolition Hammer vibe and is thus my favorite track of the three, but still suffers from the same general riff ADD as the other tracks so still isn't as good as it could be. I can see this stuff being of interest to people who like Vektor and wouldn't mind hearing a more extreme approach to tech-thrash, but it's really just not for me I guess, other than “Perceiving...” which was a pretty cool track for the most part.

Eternal Oblivion – The Great Crime/Tyrant/Until They Die

Hmm, I think I would have liked this more with a cleaner shouted vocal style rather than these sort of black metal raspy things. The other big complaint I have is that I think there's a pretty big gulf between the riff quality during the purely instrumental parts and those that have vocals – though the riffs tend to be pretty busy during the vocal sections, they're generally just a lot less visceral and memorable. The guitar tone is nice and tight though, which really makes the palm mutes come through wonderfully. I really dug the solos in “Tyrant” but otherwise the song wasn't really that interesting – veered too close to melodeath mixed with sappy Metallica stuff for my tastes. I much preferred the more direct assaults of “The Great Crime” and “Until They Die”. “Until They Die” was probably my favorite of the three, actually.

Satanic Panzer Brigade – Gunned by Satan

This track shows a lot of promise right from the beginning. I love the stupid name and the stupider song title. Those higher notes in the main guitar riffs sound fucking glorious due to your guitar tone. Something about this kind of reminds me of Bolzer even though they're basically nothing alike. Don't ask me to explain that one. Anyway the riffs in this one really get my blood going, and even during the choruses when you're just playing some power chords, you keep it short and sweet before getting back to the riffs. The solo was good stuff – especially the second half when the right-panned guitar comes in. The main riff does get a little bit repetitive by the end of the song, but it's still a sub-four minute track so it's not really too offensive, and the change-ups in the drumming and stuff make it less of a problem. One of the more outright enjoyable tracks in the challenge for me, for sure.

Nightwisher1990 – The Plug

For some reason this track feels really sluggish, like it would've been a hell of a lot better if the tempo were cranked up a notch or two. Like some of the other entries in the challenge, the vocals are definitely your weak point but to be quite honest, they're really quite bad and distract a lot from the rest of the song. They kind of remind me of that Slough Feg song “Troll Pack” but like, really weak and off-key. The riffs aren't really that good, either, but I'd definitely rather be able to focus on those than the vocals in this track. I remember kind of liking some of your tracks from past challenges, so I guess I'd say that thrash just isn't really your strong suit. The production is pretty decent I guess, though I wouldn't have minded a little more meat on the guitars. Sorry to sound so harsh!



Always fun listening to these challenges, especially since it seems like the average in terms of songwriting, performance and, especially, production keeps going up and up.
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shouvince
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Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2005 9:11 am
Posts: 3225
PostPosted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 5:32 am 
 

It's true, the overall quality of submissions is only improving. I listened to all the tracks and concur with batman on most counts. Some of the highlights -

• I really enjoyed Nostril Cavern's submissions. The songs are giving me the strong Absu vibe, not sure if you were going for that, but kudos.
• Arkhane's style could come off great as an industrial/death-groove track. Maybe better suited for that instead of a thrash challenge.
• InfiniteNexus's songs had some highs and lows – Songs began in a very promising manner, it kind of got a bit repetitive and slightly lost my interest
• Satanic Panzer Brigade’s track is highly enjoyable. Love the tempo and somehow the vocals seemed to fit the music & production quite well.
• KFD’s production seemed okay, kinda raw. Simplistic song but the guitar solos were kinda off-putting.
• MLG Death’s track sounded death metal to me too. I loved the bridge/interlude and how the mid-section sounded like it wouldn’t be out of place on an Amon Amarth album. Good effort.
• NightWish’s track was a tad too repetitive in the beginning and really suffered tremendously from the poor vocals. Kinda hilarious haha, but good effort.
• TheOldSkull’s song was pretty good musically, the vocals were not suited to my taste but the rest of the song kicked ass in a Slayer kind of way.

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TheOldSkull
Metal newbie

Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2013 2:24 pm
Posts: 64
Location: Brittany
PostPosted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 6:53 am 
 

KFD - Draculea

Insane track, very simple and straightforward but very efficient. Both versions are good, even though the "slow" one is fast enough for my tastes (but I dig the opening solo in the fastest one).
Probably my favourite.


Infinite Nexus - Three Eternal Oblivion tracks

Very efficient again, too melodic at times (on the verge of melodeath or something). Production and execution is really good. Guitar solos are great, especially the melodic one on Tyrant, but sometimes they are too long. I already knew the Eternal Oblivion project so I wasn't surprised by the quality delivered here.


Nostril caverns - Fight til death + 3 original tracks.

Music is really, really good, very fast and aggressive. Wasn't totally turned down by the vocals, in fact I love the high-pitched ones which remind me of Necrodeath. Low growls though, I'm not a huge fan in the first place, and those ones didn't seem particularly good on top of that. All in all, I enjoyed it a lot.

MLG Death - Divine demise

Really good death metal, wrong challenge try again...
Haha seriously there's nothing thrash in this. Sadly, the clean arpeggios and melodic solo felt totally out of place. Those first 1'45 minutes show a huge potential though, I'd totally enjoy some more!

Nightwisher1990 - The plug

Production is almost as bad as mine haha. Vocals sound really weird, didn't like them to be honest but somehow they kinda work... I mean the track has a nice fucked up atmosphere, something you'd find on Voivod albums, or Kreator-Renewal. On the whole, in theory it sucks but it ends up having its charm.

InThyKingdom - SPB - Machine-gunned by Satan

The title says it all, and now I want a doom (the videogame) wad named after this! Here we're more into Bay Area thrash territory, and hell it sounds fucking good. Death Angel and Exodus come to mind, the riffing is very dynamic and well executed, guitar solos blow everything. Love the guitar tone. Definitely a highlight from this batch.

Arkhane - 40 Gs of wrath

More modern stuff, I prefer the edit version (the one with clean vocals). It's hard to comment because the track goes in many ways, sometimes it sounds like Nevermore or Soilwork, at times it's more death metallish, old school style.
Edit: ok I now remember you attempted to mix thrash and doom, well you managed to but I'm not sure it was something meant to be done in the first place...don't cross the streams they said :)

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KFD
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2006 8:19 pm
Posts: 1064
Location: France
PostPosted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:51 pm 
 

Arkhane - "40 G's of Wrath" (edit version)
The melodic vocals are impressive, even better than late Darkthrone's. You should have sung the whole song with this kind of vocals and fire the modern death/black riffs to qualify as thrash metal. The song grows on me as I listen to it. But the digital tone of the hi-hat is hard to bear.


Nostril Caverns - "Fight 'Till Death"
Really sounds like a draft and should have not been published in my humble opinion. The vocals sound like a joke. Bass guitar cruelly missing. Amateur mixing (unforgivable with a modern tone). That's a waste because the drums are really well-executed, even if they tend to sound like a plastic drum machine.

"Immortal Agony"
The guitar tone is decent. Great solo in the middle of the song. Good Slayer-worship moments.

"Perceiving the Psychological Blur"
Great riffage. Really. It's such a pity that your song is incomplete. I consider this as a guitar-drums draft.

CloggedUrethra, I would definitely advise you to form a band with a bassist/vocalist, because you have potential.


MLG Death - "Divine Demise"
This song is not bad, it's fairly produced and executed, and it should probably please fans of the subgenre. But this has nothing to do with thrash metal. I think it should be disqualified. As another user said: "wrong challenge".


OldSkull / Commandaunt - "Ad Mortem"
I like riffs A and C, but B sounds a bit filler. The song is spoiled by the shitty drum machine. I like the solo toward 2'50, old-school feeling. Should be re-recorded with real drums.


From the personnel I see in this challenge, a band could be formed:
CloggedUrethra - drums
OldSkull - guitar/bass
Commandaunt - vocals
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Nightwisher1990
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2009 6:26 pm
Posts: 489
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 2:22 pm 
 

Thanks for the reviews guys, I am gonna re use this song in a demo, I'll replace my vocals with Death Metal vocalist's voice, the vocals on my song were just failure experiment, I don't perform such type of vocals at all.
It's really great that I've had the chance to get my song reviewed by good musicians, I'll take all the points into consideration to make it better next time.

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Arkhane
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 3:39 pm
Posts: 1820
Location: South Texas
PostPosted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 8:09 pm 
 

This guy ^ has a good attitude. :thumbsup:
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MLG_Death
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2010 3:57 pm
Posts: 91
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 1:31 am 
 

Updated my reviews... :)

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Commandaunt
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:31 am
Posts: 572
Location: Bolivia
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:20 am 
 

Infinitenexus

Holy shit man! This package is fucking incredible - although I can't say I'm surprised as I'm always expectant of great quality from you. Tyrant is a monster of a track, and something I think I'll actually come back to which is more than I can say for 99% of the tracks that come with these challenges. The solo was brilliant, the production was nothing short of absolute professional level and even the drum machine sounded awesome, totally listenable and super close to the real thing (Now I'm wondering if it even is a machine?). Despite the unfortunate and unwise decision of the admins banning you, you have to participate in future challenges. The only thing lacking here is the vocals, which is something I'd love to collab with you on for some challenge. They're a bit lacking in the power department, but with the right voice behind your instruments/production, I don't think there's much on this board that could rival your tracks.

Infinitenexus - Tyrant - 10/10

CloggedUrethra

I always really want to like your shit because the instrumental is usually there 100% (Like that one part in Immortal Agony at 2:31 - fucking awesome! Although I think I'm just a sucker for solos), but I seriously can't get past your vocals. Please get somebody else for the next challenge. I'd really like to hear you with full force. \m/

CloggedUrethra package - 7/10

Arkhane

As I suspected, the clean vocals made your track. It's death/doom and not really thrash, but that doesn't detract from how awesome it is (Though next time, stick closer to the challenge rules). I think a lot of your track is pretty standard..very standard and expected actually, with not much in the way of surprises and interesting intricacies, but that's okay, because the clean vocals you put in are what made it stand out and what kept my attention. Risk taking like that is something I think should be very much encouraged in this challenge because of how trivial it is (It's not like this is a demo to be sent to nuclear blast or anything). That transition at 0:45 is fucking sick, and so is the one at 2:10 (Nice scream by the way! awesome stamina). Pretty good stuff, exactly what I like to hear in these challenges.

Fuckface Academy - 40 G's of Wrath - 9/10

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Arkhane
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 3:39 pm
Posts: 1820
Location: South Texas
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 6:08 pm 
 

I appreciate the kind words, Commandaunt :)

Me and a couple other users had a conversation about the style of my song, and although originally a silly joke of mine, I had to take it seriously. Then I found out that the challenge was gonna be thrash based so I figured eh, what the hell.
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KFD
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2006 8:19 pm
Posts: 1064
Location: France
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 7:10 pm 
 





Born in Wallachia as third of the name, destined to become a prince
You must be worthy of your father to honor the Order of the Dragon
Betrayed by your own (kind) you did not cease the fight against the Ottoman Empire
Your first wife jumped into the river of death to avoid being enslaved by the Turks

Your father was killed by Hungarian agents, your brother buried alive and blinded
Briefly allied to the Turks against them, the only tactic to survive

Drǎculea!

Switching the roles when the Ottomans spread, Hundyadi becomes your host
Reconquering Wallachia with sword in hand, order must now be restored
Impaling your opponents pitilessly, they must learn how to obey
Fear is the best way to control them all, so they will never rebel

Betrayed at last by the corrupted boyars, destiny was as cruel as you
Brief was your reign but memory will last, darkness is still your refuge

Drǎculea!
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CloggedUrethra
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Nov 30, 2002 4:30 am
Posts: 499
Location: Ontario, Canada
PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 12:44 am 
 

Finally managed to download this on a high-speed connection and after one listen I thought it was really cool! Definitely digging stuff on here and will post some short reviews soon.
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CloggedUrethra
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Nov 30, 2002 4:30 am
Posts: 499
Location: Ontario, Canada
PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 8:26 pm 
 

Arkhane: Fuckface Academy - 40 G's of Wrath
Funny band name heh. Vocals are cool and production sounds good. Sounds like old-school death metal riffing. I really like the part at 2:11 where the drums are going solo to finish off the beat and end with a ride bell, then the guitar kicks back into fast tempo stuff. Overall, nicely put together.

infinitenexus: Eternal Oblivion - 3 songs
Cool guitar tone and I like the black metally vocals. The Great Crime was my fav from these. I like the short opening riff at the start, and the riff + vocals from 0:33 to 0:53 are awesome, I love that. The solos and melody in Tyrant are nice. Overall, nicely put together, tight guitar playing, cool.

InThyKingdom: Satanic Panzer Brigade - Machine-gunned by Satan
Cool guitar tone, much dirtier/rawer sound on this compared to his black metal challenge songs, also did different vocals which are also cool. The song gave me a Carnal Forge vibe when the vocals kicked in. My fav part is 0:42 to 0:49, really cool/intense riff. Nice solo as well and overall another nicely put together song.

KFD: Draculea
Really raw and fast and catchy, can't really go wrong with that in a thrash challenge can you? The starting was cool by immediately going into a solo and fast tempo. I really like the tremolo picking between each power chord and the screaming chorus helps make this a very fun song.

MLG_Death: Divine Demise
I also get a very distinct death metal vibe from this song. The guitaring is nice and tight and the solo is great. I like sudden changes in music, so the middle clean section didn't bother me at all. I really liked that riff at 0:16 to 0:27 where it does the open string palm mutes and how it goes: 2 palm mute parts, 2 open note hits, 3 palm mutes, 2 open, 2 palms, 2 open, 1 palm, 2 open.

Nightwisher1990: The Plug
This song makes me smile, in a good way. The guitar tone seems really "tame" and clean, the vocals are different but they work. I like how the drums and guitar go together for the little lick/fill at 0:05 to 0:06. And then that riff from 0:29 to 0:39 literally made me laugh out loud (in a good way) the first time I heard it because I totally wasn't expecting it with the vocals and drum beat. The riff almost seems happy, and I just totally love that part of the song. Probably my fav part of the entire challenge haha.

TheOldSkull & Commandaunt: Ad Mortem - Fucking Death
Getting a real old-school Slayer vibe from the music, from the playing to the guitar tone. Vocals kinda sound like Pantera at the start. My fav part is 1:10 to 1:32 and I also really liked the part before it, really Hell Awaits sounding (I think, been a while since I heard that). TheOldSkull, do you post on doomworld? I'm TimeOfDeath there and play doom religiously!

Final Thoughts
This was another fun challenge and I think every song had its charm. Thumbs up to all who contributed or listened or reviewed etc. Looking forward to the next challenge!
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TheOldSkull
Metal newbie

Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2013 2:24 pm
Posts: 64
Location: Brittany
PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 1:33 am 
 

CloggedUrethra wrote:
TheOldSkull, do you post on doomworld? I'm TimeOfDeath there and play doom religiously!


No, I think I'm not registered there, I should probably. Tried Brutal Doom not so long ago, the game is still barrels of fun!

Also, thanks everyone for the comments, had two Slayer comparisons for my track, cannot be more pleased. I'll need to work on my drum machine sound, or better, find a real drummer.

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Commandaunt
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:31 am
Posts: 572
Location: Bolivia
PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 2:01 am 
 

CloggedUrethra wrote:
Vocals kinda sound like Pantera at the start.
Fuck.

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CloggedUrethra
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Nov 30, 2002 4:30 am
Posts: 499
Location: Ontario, Canada
PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 2:42 am 
 

Barrels of fun, I see what you did there.

No offence intended Commandaunt, just thought it sounded similar. I thought the vocals were cool though and how you did different kinds.
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