Dan G

oh dear oh dear oh dear. there's something about terrible vocals that makes me laugh uncontrollably. When they are proper tone deaf, and don't listen to the music and just come in at random times. I bet their parents were gutted. Or wished they had abortions.

fucking hell that is awful.

Ah well, it's difference in opinion that makes music discussion interesting! I wasn't trying to say anyone was wrong for not liking them - just that in the current metal/hardcore musical climate, the one thing they are not (arguably vocally aside) is generic! But I guess different ears hear different things... By the way, the new Textures album is cracking - I love that band: MySpace.com - Textures- New album Silhouettes out now!! - Tilburg, NL - Metal / Death Metal / Progressive - www.myspace.com/textures Imagine Devin Townsend producing an album of Meshuggah covering Pantera songs. Quality. Check out the new song 'Old Days Born Anew'

I don't know why... you NAILED the solo!

Let's all kiss and make up, and celebrate by pre-oredering the new My Minds Weapon album from HMV: hmv.com: Music CDs, DVDs, Games & More

Hilarious.

But it's not generic metalcore ?( Generic metalcore is 4th rate At the gates riffs, all in one key and time signature. Chug chug chug followed by another harmonised riff in C minor, and then with a sung chorus and probably at some point an uninspired 4/4 breakdown. Misery Signals songs are full of deceptively complex Meshuggah-esque polyrhythmic breakdowns and time signatures, with beautiful ambient passages (although the 2 new songs don't have too much of that). They use heaps of dissonant suspended chords that are hardly ever used in the riff-and-powerchord based metalcore, as well as having interestingly cleverly structured songs that are far different than the largely verse/chorus/repeat/breakdown/chorus that are omnipresent in the majority of 'metalcore'. I understand that the monotone vocals are not everyone's cup of tea, but that isn't a metalcore trait as everyone from Deicide to Meshuggah and all the HXC hardcore types employ that style... If you can give me the names of 3 other bands that actually sound like Misery Signals then I will give you a coconut.

I don't understand how James wrote great lyrics from the mid 80s through to the late 90s. And then all of a sudden... BOOM! 15 year old "my-first-lyrics-syndrome" suddenly kicked in after the millennium. And his vocals have no agression in them anymore. They sound like fucking kareoke.

It does sound pretty cool, there's a really good overdrive on it too - I'm guessing the sans amp? Whatever it is, it sits in the mix with guitars really well. Loud and clear, but not annoying and overly 'present'.

Amazon, Play.com and even from goddamn Tesco! Now that is heavy metal. hmv.com: Music CDs, DVDs, Games & More Amazon.co.uk: The Carrion Sky: My Minds Weapon: Music Play.com (UK) : My Minds Weapon - The Carrion Sky : CD - Free Delivery Tesco.com - Page not found My Mind's Weapon - The Carrion Sky - CD - zavvi UK Here are some links so that you can price compare in case you would like to buy it...

on their myspace. MySpace.com - Myth - Miami, FL - www.myspace.com/misery signals from their forthcoming album which is produced by Devin Townsend. In my opinion they are everything that is positive about "metalcore" which is largely seen as a dirty word. Brutal. Technical. Beautiful. All at the same time. I wasn't really into their last album "Mirrors", but now they have Devin back at the helm, (like they did on their first album) they are sounding back on fine form. Can't wait for the album.

Good work chaps! There is a wicked stoner rock vs. widdly zappa/bumblefoot/freak kitchen crossover feel to this song. Love the groove. If I had to be critical, I'd say turn the solos up a little bit, and also there is some slightly nasty amp resonances during the pauses especially around 1:41. (this is mostly obvious when listening on headphones) Don't know if they could be cleaned up? This is a really cool song though.

I'd say it is all relevant the level of use you get out of it. My squire strat and zoom 505 did me a great service in bedroom playing (although that was about 9 years ago now!). And I've seen people make average set-ups sound great, and amazing set-ups sound terrible. Decent playing, and knowing how to get the tone you want is far more imortant than having a 4k rig.

jim deacon guitar ---> zoom multi-effects box ---> line 6 combo. tone heaven.

I missed out the all important "aren't" in my previous post.

Mac speaks a lot of sense. And just to back up one of his points, post-tracking mixing techniques (e.g. EQ/compression) can only do so much. You need to have a good tone to begin with, i.e. the guitar tone needs to sound good in the room you are recording in. And I mean GOOD. If you think 'my-budget-Ibanez-into-my-metalzone-and-line 6 combo' is good, then the first thing you need to do is shoot yourself in the face. If the guitar sound is genuinely good in the room, but crap when coming out the mixing desk speakers, examine the quality of the mic.. (is it a shure SM57? They are generally considered the best for recording rock/metal guitar and every studio should own one). Also, where is the positioning of the mic in relation to the speaker on the cab? The forum mac suggested has lots of good tips on this. The mic positioned an inch of the grill cloth, and very slightly off the centre of the best sounding speaker on your cab is good start. Are you double tracking your guitars? The guitar sound will likely by weak if you recording your main rhythm guitar parts twice, and then stereo-panning them left and right. It also must be said that to get great tone to begin with, you need 3 things: 1) To have good gear, which unfortuately is expensive. The amp in particular is massively important. 2) You need to be able to set it up properly. (i.e. buying a Mesa triple rectifier is pointless if you're just gonna put the gain up max, cut all the mids, or use a zoom multi effects board instead of the mesa's distortion) 3) Then you need to be able to PLAY properly, and tightly too. It's amazing how much tone is in the fingers. If you don't have the above, then you will ultimately sound shit. That's not to say that you need to be as good as Steve Vai and own a 10,000 rig... a decent player can make an average set-up still sound pretty damn good.

All the recent single artwork I did pretty quickly to be honest (about a days for each) where as I literally spent 6 months doing the artwork for the album. I'm afraid you will have to buy it to see it all - 8 (i think) but it would be worth it! We really went to town on the whole package so you get loads of artwork, lyrics, the kokura video in proper fancy quality (rather than the pixelly small screen that it turns into on youtube). You're spot on about the clients artwork, it's aweome. It was the same guy that did the trivium and mastodon albums, I think.

Regarding the t-shirts... It's not really meant to relate to the album artwork as such. (although "the wolves are at your door" is a line from a song...) Colour-wise it looked a lot 'darker' and less cartoon-y when it was more sombre colours (browny/green etc). I only did this purple and green colour scheme for a laugh... but then everyone who saw it thought it was the best because it WAS so different. Our last 2 or 3 shirt designs were a lot duller colours (which again, I prefer personally). However, after a while the purple and green totally grew on me so I'm happy with it. I guess it's like marmite. Design-wise, I think we're at least the first band to use a cerberus on a t-shirt. Skulls, snakes, wings etc are so ridiculously overdone that at least there should be points or originality! Quite possibly! I grew up loving pushead (who did all the classic metallica t-shirt designs), so that's always going to show slightly.

Hello all, Our album, 'The Carrion Sky', is to be released nationally (HMV/Amazon/iTunes etc.) through Basick records on 7th April... finally! It's been ready for a while now, and was originally scheduled for a February release but alas it's been put back to coincide with our next couple of UK tours. The album was mixed and mastered by Dan Weller and Justin Hill of SikTh fame, and sounds fantastic. The artwork (which was all done by myself) is below, and the inlay booklet has another 10 pages of similarly themed, slightly conceptual artwork that ties in with the title and front cover. If anyone wants it early, then come along to Moshulu this friday as we are supporting the mighty As I Lay Dying on the only Scottish date of their tour. I have also done a new tshirt design which we will be selling at the show: We were also in Total Guitar magazine this month if anyone reads that! Keep eyes peeled in all the other usual mags as I'm hoping for a bit of exposure over the next few months. We were also scheduled to shoot our second video last week but Alex was pretty ill, so that has been re-scheduled for sometime in late Spring. More info on that as it happens. Dates for the next tours etc can be found at the usual myspace site: MySpace.com - MY MINDS WEAPON [NEW MERCH COMING SOON!] - Aberdeen, UK - Metal / Hardcore / Progressive - www.myspace.com/mymindsweapon

Couldn't listen to the song but I'm well looking forward to the new album. Wasn't a fan of Catch 33 particularly, I think they rushed it a little. Still, Meshuggah are in a league of their own.

I'll buy one out of sympathy.

Cheers man. And it was indeed incorrectly spelled as the "Larrion" sky. Spastics.

I went to Nigel Mansell's 44th birthday party a good few years back. The red arrows performed especially for the ocassion. Paul McKenna was there also.

That is indeed a potential classic! You need some quality lyrics to go with that... "I went to her dissection, and couldn't get an erection" etc etc I also like this one: "I Tried to Eat Her out But the Maggots Got There First" Members of the band need to have an alias of course...: Cadaver Dave The Bondage Slave Necro Phil