Open Mic Night 11/28

Here's three tunes I performed last week at my local open mic on 11/28/18.
We did three songs
Electric Funeral by Black Sabbath
Hey Joe by Hendrix
Spirits of the Dead (original tune)

It was an interesting night because I had a full band, a trio with my friend Martin on drums and his friend on bass. During Hey Joe the friend got off, and another guest bass player quickly plugged in.

It was a fun night. Not very often that I have a full band. Enjoy!

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/spirits-of-the-dead-1128-full-band-arrangement-trio
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/hey-joe-1128-full-band-arrangement-trio
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/electric-funeral-1128-full-band-arrangement-trio

New Jam tracks (9/5/18)

So I happened to be off work last week so my drummer and I went out and played an open jam, our only real performance space other than practicing at the studio with occasional friends spectating, sometimes even performing too. 

We start the jam off with an instrumental tune, Buckethead's Soothsayer. Then we play Electric Funeral by Black Sabbath, and end the mini-gig with my original death metal tune called Spirits of the Dead. 

Enjoy! 

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/soothsayer918
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/electric-funeral-95
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/spirits-of-the-dead-95


Good news is that although my singing and death metal screams aren't "good" they are at least decent enough to pass, and I have improved a lot in my general singing and screams. Back to the shed for practice! 

Mass plays Spirits of the Dead

My band recorded an original tune of mine recently called Spirits of the Dead, a tune I wrote on Halloween morning in 2017. Features my friend Martin Arevalo on drums and myself on guitar and vocals with Dmitri on bass. Dmitri also recorded it. Rock and roll!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfdbEKI_y7g

Open Mic Tracks from 5/16

Hello, here are my recordings from last week's open mic. We played Electric Funeral and Poachers as a guitar, drums duo with myself on vocals. 

I think we did an excellent job on the Sabbath tune considering we didn't have a bass player. It sounds pretty bad ass. Although its not perfect metric (timing)-wise I still think its pretty cool. I can do metal too, haha. Check out the tune here https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/electric-funeral-guitar-drum-duo

And the other tune is Poachers, a tune written by new music composer Frank Abbinanti. Here I play it with my friend Martin on drums. I was following the score and he improvised music based on what I was playing. Upon hearing it after I think we could use more practice with this one. However, Martin's drumming wasn't bad. He does pretty well when we improvise. I also like the yelling from the audience. Makes it feel like a rock concert! Check it out here https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/poachers-martin-on-drums

Lastly, I have something different, a jazz/blues in c featuring Jim Xaiver on drums, Mike Mitchell on distorted electric guitar, Ken on tambourine, Art on bass, and myself on clean guitar. Check that out here https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/jazzblues-in-c
I like this one a lot because its jazz, which I love!  

Enjoy! 

Metal Band Recordings

Hello everybody, 

Thought I'd share the studio recordings I made with my short lived metal band, Wolves to the Slaughter. They're pretty much recorded live, I'm just glad that some recordings exist of the three tunes we played a lot. 

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/heroine-vs-the-band-introduction 
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/dethroned 
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/serpent-king 

Personnel included 
Alex Martin Vocals, Songwriter
Dmitri Bass/Recording Engineer
Martin Ruffalo Drums
Orlando Figueroa Guitar/Arranger

Electric Funeral, Music Politics

Here's our rendition of Electric Funeral with my buddy Martin on drums, and Thelma on groans :D https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/electric-funeral
I did a bit of vocals but not the full song. Enjoy!

I've been pretty busy practicing a lot of music, working on jazz guitar, jazz standards, as well as piano. I'm mostly just improvising on piano but I'm getting much better pretty quickly and I've only been playing since October.

The band situation is either getting worse or getting better depending on how you look at it. The drummer has improved a lot and I look forward to continue working with him for a long time. However, the singer might be leaving to join another band, depending on if he gets accepted after the audition process.

In the meantime we're still practicing together with the current singer. However, Martin (drummer) has found a new guitarist (named Stan) that also plays guitar and sings. I sing and play guitar too so if Alex (current singer) ends up leaving we have a good back up plan for the band.

I'm teaching my friend rudimentary rock bass and I'm hoping he can get good fast enough to play with us (our riffs aren't that difficult, just fast mostly).

As if that wasn't enough our current bass player can't play the songs the same way, he just improvises and changes it every time so we're going to have to let him go.

As you can see I'm dealing with a lot of politics! Me and the drummer are the unofficial leaders but man am I glad that he found another guitarist that can do vocals, that will make things a lot easier if Alex ends up ditching us.

Its a lot of pressure and I'm trying to stay positive about the whole metal band thing. One could take a look at my band and just say those guys are just fucking around.

As if that wasn't enough I'm also looking and talking to jazz musicians to play in a jazz setting. Hopefully I can do that soon because my heart is way more into jazz than metal, even if I do have a 7-string Jackson as my current main guitar. 

I'm going to continue to work hard and improve my chops, increase my repertoire and keep playing live at the open jam at Petie's Place, the bar on Reseda. I've got to keep pushing myself. 

Last Week's Jam Tracks II

Here's last week's jam tracks from Peties Places' open jam that I go to every week. Peties is this really cool bar that I've been jamming at for a while, one drink minimum, a pool table, and free popcorn, wow! Its a cool place and this is where I've met the drummer I'm working with right now, my friend Martin.

The first song we started off the set with (three song set) was Black Sabbath's Paranoid. This one we started off like a bat out of hell and it sounded great. I was pretty happy with the performance as it was the first time we've ever played the song live. I think I did a great job on the solo sounding like Tony Iommi, that pentatonic box shape man! 

Next, we played Smoke on the Water, which we've done in the past but not nearly as well as this rendition. My vocals were a little spotty in certain sections but overall I would say I pulled it off. I really enjoy the hand percussion on this piece, I think I notice Ken's sound a lot more in this particular recording. I liked what I was doing with the vocals on the chorus, giving it that more British pronunciation. This song is a long time coming with Martin, it took him a while to get the drumming down, he does a good job. The improvised guitar solo has some sections where it sounds like things Blackmore would play, but is also unique.

Lastly, we ended with Spirits of the Dead, which has been a 'cult classic hit' for our 'band' (just me and Martin). I've been enjoying posting many versions of the same song because I really like the song a lot. I wrote and recorded it on the first day of October and I was heavily inspired by black metal when I was recording it. Think about coarse singing into a microphone on the first morning of October, bad ass.

You can find the tracks below.
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/spirits-of-the-dead-most-recent-version
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/smoke-on-the-water
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/paranoid

Check out my Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17
And my other Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763

Long live rock and roll.

Last week's jam

Here's some music I played last week at the open jam I go to all the time. We played Sunshine of Your Love (a staple for us, my drummer and I) and Spirits of the Dead, an original metal tune I wrote on the first day of October this year. Upon listening to Sunshine I've realized I gotta get my vocals better. The first lines of the song are tuneless but later in the song I start to sing with more authority and tone. On Spirits of the Dead I was going to sing the whole song but my lyrics fell off the music stand! Oh well. I sang it again last night and it sounded amazing. I'll post that when I get the tracks from the percussionist, there's a guy who plays tambourines and hand drums that records everything and sends it to me. Whatta guy! You can find the tracks below.

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/sunshine-of-your-love-1
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/spirits-of-the-dead

Metal Show Extravaganza at the Regent

I went to a metal show last night at the Regent, this venue in LA. At first I wasn't going to go because lately I haven't been listening to a lot of metal but my friends persuaded me to go. I'm so glad I went because it was super fun! Let me tell you about it.

The opening band was the band that we went there to see specifically. The Agonist is a female fronted metal (metalcore/deathcore/death metal) band that my friends really love. Its easy to see why. The chick fronting the band has such charisma, style, and a great voice for cleans as well as screaming. I would say that The Agonist sounds even better live than they do on record, and I've heard them a lot on record because of my friends. Seeing them perform was a first for me in the sense that it was the first time I'd ever seen a woman singing super aggressive metal live and doing it with such grace, style, and sonic fury. It was pretty amazing. Definitely a memorable experience!

The next band was called Winter Plague or Plagues, something like that. I can't remember because their name was nothing remarkable. They were more of a stereotypical sort of metalcore band where they played lots of fast heavy riffs with a guy screaming over the top of all of it. The best part was when the keyboardist girl sang a song. The lead guitarist had some better solos than the guitarists in The Agonist but overall their band was a bit too cliche for my metal tastes. Totally the opposite of the next band...

Next up was Death Angel. These were the grandmaster metal musicians of the night. They were older, cooler looking, more talented, and way more metal than all the other bands, even The Agonist. They were my favorite band. The band featured two Asian (most of them are Filipino) guys on guitars and they absolutely shredded through heavy metal guitar riffs and solos. The lead guitarist was so fast and maniacal. There was a sense that anything and everything could happen at anytime during his solos, it was very daring and adventurous even though he was making mistakes and hitting bum notes at times. This set him apart from the other guitarists of the night who seemed to be playing stock solos that they play every night at every show.

Their drummer was a fat white guy bigger than me but who was so fast and technical. He was probably good enough to play in Dream Theater or something, his double bass drum patterns and fills were so spot on. The singer was good but his voice didn't exactly stand out as much as the other musicians. Also, the singer looked a lot like Tom Araya, singer/bassist of Slayer. That was funny because they're both in thrash metal bands from the 80's. Their set was definitely the best of the night. There was a sense that most of the people there went to see Death Angel and their fans really shouted and moshed in the pit hard for them. How could a band called Death Angel not play great heavy metal music?

Finally, after standing around all night we got to hear the headliner. Devil Driver is a popular metal band that plays such stock cliche gun metal gray (to quote Marty Friedman on Megadeth) music that it was too bland to enjoy. Their singer didn't have a great voice, their riffs were generic and fast but not technical enough to be interesting, and the songs didn't really go anywhere. The good thing that I can say about them is that they played their entire set almost as if they were playing an album live in the studio. They didn't even stop to say anything in between songs. It was just start, finish, start, finish, and repeat. I like that sense of urgency from musicians. They played the longest set and after a certain point I wanted them to stop playing and they kept going on and on. Eventually they ended the show. And that was that.

As you can imagine I was really tired after the show ended. I'm actually super tired right now the day after. Thinking about it all now I'm still not the biggest fan of modern metal and I would go so far as to say that Devil Driver was annoying. But still, I'm glad I got to see The Agonist and Death Angel. Also, you'd be surprised how many hot girls were at this show. Seems like metal musicians probably get a lot of hot girls. But that's a story for another post.

Think I'm gonna lay low off loud things and heavy metal music for a while. Till the next concert that is. Btw, that's a young picture of Death Angel.

The Music That Delivers The Goods

I've been listening to a lot more music lately. More so than gaming. Here I'd like to talk about some of the music that delivers the goods-the emotional content, the cool riffs, the outstanding improvisation, and more.

I usually like to listen to a lot of music that I've heard before. A major part of that is that quite frankly I've heard a lot of music-perhaps too much. A lot of people my age wouldn't know most of the music I listen to. No, I'm not being condescending, I'm just stating the facts. There are people my age who don't even know Strawberry Fields by the Beatles. Sad, yes. But true. Anyways, let's talk about the music I've been listening to and perhaps provide a little insight on why I keep coming back to it and gravitating to it.

First off, Death. The brutal death metal band from Florida that came to popular acclaim in the 1990s. I was talking to an older musician co-worker earlier tonight and he said that the singer from Death (Chuck Schuldiner) was considered the great hope for metal back then. But then he suddenly died due to brain cancer. He's considered the Godfather of Death Metal and had this great voice that wasn't cookie monster vocals that you hear in pretty much every death metal group. Not only were his vocals great but his guitar playing was spot on. He could do great leads as well as phenomenal rhythm.

I've been feeling Death a lot lately because I've been feeling a little angry. I like to display my anger through my guitar playing (shredding fast neoclassical licks and playing jazz standards) but sometimes you just need that raw guttural death metal style growls to satisfy the beast within. Am I evil? Probably. Haha.

Right now I'm relaxing listening to Hendrix. Hendrix is an artist I will always respect, love, and admire until the day I die. He's literally the greatest guitar player that ever lived, one of the best songwriters, and one of the best rock and rollers. He was cooler than all the Beatles combined. His music is so bluesy and jazzy but he's also a true rock and roller. The Band of Gypsies album is the one I always listen to whenever I feel the need to listen to Hendrix. And I always like hearing Little Wing. 

Hendrix's music soothes my soul. Every aspect of the music is spiritually uplifting-if you believe in that sort of thing. It's like how Hendrix described his music, as "electric church music". It's great! I've learned a lot from Hendrix about guitar playing and what it means to be a truly great musician. I'll continue to learn from him through his music.

Next up, I'd like to talk about John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. Too very different kinds of saxophonists. Trane is a tenor sax player who went on to become one of the greatest musicians of all time. The same for Parker except he played alto.

I dig a lot of Trane's music because of how uplifting and spiritual it is. The wide range of emotions displayed through musical techniques, style, and sound are baffling but rewarding. Towards the end of Trane's career he was booed and shunned because he wasn't playing bebop and My Favorite Things. The truth is that Trane took jazz to the furthest edge that it could go-further beyond. Jazz can't go further than that. Trane and Ornette Coleman were the last revolutionary changes to come to jazz. Quite remarkable. That's why he's my favorite musician.

With Charlie Parker it's a different sort of inspiration. I'm in awe of Parker's technique and sound more so than his compositions or emotional range. He played all the best songs-the jazz standards of the day that are still popular now. I can hum a lot of stuff he played and its pretty technical but it's always melodic and catchy. His influence was so vast on jazz musicians-even me, an electric guitarist in 2016. Who would've thought, right? I can see his influence on people like Trane and Eric Dolphy too, even though those guys are totally different jazz cats.

Different moods call for different music. Who knows, maybe I'll start listening to rap sometime soon. 

My Top Ten Metal Bands list

     I've been doing these kind or random posts lately because I feel like writing for the blog has really given me a voice on the internet and its a great release after working late hours in the middle of the night. Anyways, here's my list for top ten best metal bands. I'm considering this for all forms of metal. Share, like, comment if you agree or disagree!
      1) Death, this is the quintessential death metal band that made death metal famous. Sure, they didn't officially start death metal, but their music speaks for itself. It is hardcore or extreme metal that deserves the name Death, which is a really brutal name for a metal band. Although I don't like their early stuff, I have to say their later stuff (like 1998) is really amazing. I know that by then Chuck's vocals were a lot higher pitched than your usual guttural death metal style vocals from the late 80's, but I prefer it over their first couple records. In addition, I think the music got better as they progressed as a band and had several line-up changes. Their guitar playing is phenomenal and learning how to play it wouldn't be easy and would require down tuning. Songs like Crystal Mountain, Suicide Machine, The Philosopher, Flesh and The Power It Holds, and Spirit Crusher are standards that every death metal fan must know. This is a must listen to band if you like death metal, maybe even just metal in general. They are definitely one of the best metal bands of all time.
     2) Megadeth, this is just one of my favorite bands of all time. The music never gets old to me. The reason why I love this band so much is that I've always liked Dave Mustaine and Marty Friedman working together. Marty is my guitar sempai, I love everything he plays, and every things he's ever played on. He's probably my favorite guitarist of all time, maybe even above Hendrix and Jeff Beck! I would say Megadeth is the greatest thrash metal band of all time, above Metallica, even Slayer, and definitely above Anthrax. I've seen Slayer and Anthrax so I can attest to know that Megadeth is better than them live at least. Songs like Hangar 18, Holy Wars, Peace Sells, and Mechanix are all standard thrash metal songs that every thrash metal fan would know, and again maybe every metal fan in general would know these songs as well. They are one of the best and they haven't changed at all since the 90's, they've kept the same gun metal gray aggressive player but only had changes in lead guitars and drums, the two Daves staying together until the very end it seems. Check out Rust in Peace and Peace Sells, those are their best recordings. That's a picture of Megadeth up top.
     3) Black Sabbath, one of the most influential metal bands of all time. Although I don't think they were considered metal at that time in 1969 when their first album came out. The first album was a sort of blues rock thing with a lot of power chords, but they really developed into a super heavy band after that first bluesy rockish sort of album. Toni Iommi is one of the greatest guitar players in metal history, and guitar history too! He created the idea that all you need is pummeling riffs over and over again to make a great song. He got rid of the idea that you had to be a Jimi Hendrix or a Jeff Beck. Although he was no slouch when it came to lead guitar either! This band had so much influence on me and my guitar playing. When I first started all I would play is the Ramones and Sabbath, that's how I learned guitar basically. All of their songs are metal anthems, even the Dio period was great in my opinion. Ozzy doesn't have the best voice, he has 'thee' voice, a great voice for what Sabbath does, which is pummel you with great riffs over and over again. If I had to rate this band I would give them a 10/10. They are probably the best metal band of all time.
     4) Deep Purple,  while some peeps might not consider Purp metal I do, mainly because of the influence they had on metal musicians and rock music in general. They're like Zeppelin (who will be on this list too), they didn't necessarily play metal but they inspired it to the point that they might as well be metal. What's great about Purp is the great songs like Smoke on the Water, Burn, Space Truckin', and Child in Time. Not only did they have great vocals and songs but they had a great lead guitarist with Richie Blackmore, who is so skilled that I would say he might have been near Hendrix's level at his peak. He inspired Ywngie Malmsteen, one of the greatest shred guitarists from the 80's. Blackmore often incorporated classical style runs into his solos as well as bluesy rock licks. He's one of the best in the business. Also, Purp stood out from the other heavy bands at the time because they had Jon Lord on organ. Cool stuff.
     5) Led Zeppelin, again its hard to argue that Zep is metal but I would say that because of the influence they had on metal music and rock in general, I deserve the right to call them heavy metal. Their music is rooted in blues rock and black blues especially but Jimmy Page just took the blues and made it his own thing. He's one of the greatest songwriters and guitar producers of all time. He isn't a Hendrix or a Jeff Beck but he wrote some of the greatest riffs and solos in recorded history. His live guitar work is a little bit sloppy but his recordings are amazing. Also, this band is the musicians band. Every musician loves Zeppelin, drummers, bassists, guitarists, and singers. How can you not like John Bonham (drums), John Paul Jones (bass), Page, and Robert Plant (vocals). They really did it all. There seemed to be a trend with heavy rock music coming from England in the late 60's, early 70's.
     6) Back to the real metal, fuckin' Slayer! Slayer is just one of those metal bands that every single metal fan loves. I've never met anyone who said Slayer sucks or anything like that. It's one of those standard bands that everyone knows. Like Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax (the big four), they all started back in the 80's and made a big name for themselves from there, resulting in probably millions of fans all over the globe. Their songs are all standards but I really like God Hates Us All and Reign in Blood. What I think makes them so good is that they play such super fast riffs all together and never mess up haha. They play really simple stuff but they do it so effectively over Tom Araya's bass and vocals. Kerry King has become a legend on the guitar too. He's gotten better at guitar since their early recordings, but he's no guitar god. I really like the albums Reign in Blood and South of Heaven, from the early part of their career.
     7) Metallica, to be honest I never really liked Metallica but I have to give them credit where credit is due. They are one of the biggest metal bands of all time and they've written some great songs and records in their career. The main reason I don't like Metallica is because they aren't consistent with great songwriting or staying with a particular style. They like to experiment a lot in their music. They're kind of like the pop metal fan's dream band because they change their style to what is popular and they play that because they know it will sell. In some ways I think Metallica has sold out but that doesn't change the fact that they've written and recorded some great shit. I think Kurt Hammett's guitar playing is garbage, especially when he overuses the wah pedal, his favorite pedal.
     8) Van Halen, this is another band I picked because they had a huge influence on me, especially when I was in high school and the very short time I spent in college. Eddie's guitar playing just blew me away. Not only did they have great guitar playing and technique, but the songs were super catchy and memorable. The first time I heard Eruption was when I was in high school. It changed my life because it changed the way I viewed guitar. Before that I thought guitar was all blues licks, Hendrix, and Eric Clapton. Eddie showed me the way to 80's guitar god mode. He's still great but he went through a great ordeal in his life. At his peak he was probably the greatest guitarist since Hendrix.
     9) Kiss, while I think Kiss's music sucks and they don't play very good music at all, I do like how catchy their songs are, the costumes and facepaint, and Ace Frehley's guitar playing. Ace showed me that you don't have to be Hendrix or Jeff Beck to be a guitar god. All you need to do is master the pentatonic scale and master a few good licks and make them your own. Anyone who can do that can play in a band really. I loved how Ace always stole the show in Kiss videos. He's one of my favorite guitarists mainly for the way he looked, and how he played his shit with emotion and bravado. Not a great technician but someone who makes due with what skills he has.
     10) Well, the last band has to be a great band that everyone knows about right? I'm going to have to go with a newer band and say Steel Panther. They rock! Satchel (lead guitar) is one of the best guitarists in the business. His playing rivals Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, and Eddie Van Halen at their peaks, it's really amazing. Not only that but Steel Panther are a funny parody band of an 80's metal band. I really like their song Asian Hooker. This band doesn't take itself seriously. Sometimes you don't need all the Satanism of Black Metal in your metal, although I do like some black metal bands, like this one called Ghost. Anyways, that concludes the list. Comment and tell me what metal bands you love.

The Faceless, Autotheism

    

     First of all, I got this album because I heard it on YouTube first. And I thought,"Wow! This is so good I have to buy it!" So not everyone that listens to albums on Youtube just listen for free and never buy anything. For me, Youtube helps promote the music I buy. So I ordered it online and I've had it for a couple weeks now. My opinion of it is the same as when I first heard it. It's still great. I can't say much of the lyrics because I don't understand the singing of the growls and death metal style singing, but I get the gist of what the songs are about from the titles. The track names are as follows, Autotheist Movement I: Create, Autotheist Movement II: Emancipate, Autotheist Movement III: Deconsecrate, Accelerated Evolution, The Eidolon Reality, Ten Billion Years, Hail Science, Hymn of Sanity, and In Solitude. All the tracks segue into one another like the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album. The only vocals I can really understand are guitarist Michael Keene's clean vocals, he does a really great job with the singing. He sounds great, he has a good voice. Nearly all the songs were written or co-written by Michael Keene (guitarist) and the album was produced by Keene at his home studio in LA.
     The whole album I believe is a concept album and the third studio debut by the Faceless but here is a little info about the album from Wikipedia. Keene has stated in interviews that the name "Auto-theism" derives from "auto" meaning self and "theism" meaning belief in God or gods, hence autotheism means "believing in one's self", or "being your own God". The album questions antiquated belief systems that are in play in current society. As well as touching upon religion, the album touches upon growth in technology at an exponential rate, the Holographic Universe theory, and science as a new religion, or alternatively, knowledge and reason as a reigning religion. Keene said in interviews that the inspiration for the album came partly from reading a book by Ray Kurzweil called The Singularity Is Near. The album also has an underlying theme of "Age of Reason" or "Renaissance"-esque discovery and ethics traits; alternatively, "starting over" or massively rethinking the way current systems are run. The album artwork, as well as the music and lyrics, intuitively portray this atmosphere.(Wikipedia)
     Here's some info on the production. The record was recorded at Keene's home studio in Los Angeles in 2012. Preproduction versions of almost every song had been previously recorded by Keene throughout 2011, along with an additional song which ultimately was not used for the record. Keene noted that this track was better suited for his solo project and that the song would eventually see the light of day under that project name. Some of the guitar tracking for the preproduction captured a natural, raw quality and ended up being used in the final album versions of the songs. Keene approached the recording of Autotheism differently than previous records. All guitar and bass was recorded direct and drums were tracked live right in Keene's living room. Keene states that 7 different guitars were used to achieve the broad array of tones heard, including his neon green Washburn WM526, a 1959 Gibson Les Paul, a Bernie Rico Jr, as well as a chambered guitar made of carbon fiber.
     Evan Brewer debuted the use of fretless bass in The Faceless on two tracks on a whim of experimentation in the studio. Keene also explored a more industrial influence, creating "post-apocalyptic" percussion sequences on many of the tracks. This played a big part in giving the record its distinctly dark quality. Another key quality of Autotheism came from Keene's time spent on experimenting with string arrangements and keyboard sequencing.
     The lyrics were written largely in the studio. A process that Keene and Ficco described as "grueling, but rewarding". An outline for the story of the lyrics was written, followed by the individual topics for each song. Then, Keene and Ficco worked out the lyrics and phrasing as they went along with the recording process. "The bulk of the time was spent on the writing of the lyrics and phrasing. Once that part was complete, the actual recording flew by. "Geoff is an exceptionally easy vocalist to record and produce" said Keene.
A guest appearance by Keene's long time friend and infamous YouTube sensation Sergio "The Sexy Sax Man" Flores appears on the track "Deconsecrate". Keene's mother also contributes harmonizing background vocals on the track "Emancipate". (Wikipedia)
     Anyways, I believe all the ideas and lyrics from the album are kind of wack and stupid. My stepdad saw the album and looked at the song titles and thought it was a bit silly. Let's face it; in metal there is a lot of ideology and ideas, but for the most part the musicians use it for their music and art, but they don't believe in it at all, its just something for entertainment, just a gimmick. Kind of like how Slayer uses Satan as the main source and ideas for a lot of their songs. Or like how Black Metal uses the idea of Satanism versus Christianity, and burning churches for their inspiration haha. And all the metal fans I know who are into those genres don't have an interest in any of the ideas behind the songs, they just enjoy the music because they think it sounds good. I once had a friend who believed in these ideas of autotheism and stuff, and he was a bit off your rocker, to say the least.
     Now, let's talk about the actual music. This is what makes the album great. There is even jazz elements; there's this sick saxophone solo in the beginning of the album! That alone to me makes this death metal album great. The guitar solos aren't meandering. In fact, they are very tasteful and straight to the point. The guitars and drums are the main focus of the album for me. The drums are thunderous and pretty much always have double bass going super fast and super hard. The lyrics for me are kind of hard to get over because yes they sound good but I don't understand a word. However, me not understanding the growls doesn't matter, I know that they sound great. Another great aspect of this album is the use of fretless bass by Evan Brewer. I really enjoy Keene's chorus vocals on the track Ten Billion Years, it sounds so catchy for metal. Is metal suppose to be catchy? Because this album is very catchy and I love that about it. The themes are very simple and they always repeat, bringing the music full circle. The last tune has acoustic guitar and some nice vocals, not unlike European folk music, or medieval folk music. It really gives off that kind of progressive rock vibe, or in this case, progressive death metal vibe. Or would you call it progressive technical death metal? Anyways, after the acoustic opening it goes back to the tech death metal stuff, ending the album on a high note.
     The other thing about this album is that it is very short. It seems to go by very quickly in about 40 minutes, which I guess is pretty long, but I'm more used to jazz albums where the music can go on much longer. The length is actually good for death metal.
     Lastly, although I'm not really a big death metal guy, this was a great listen and a great album. I wish they had more of the jazz elements, or even more acoustic guitar bits. That would have made things more interesting than just the stereotypical technical death metal playing. However, I did enjoy the saxophone solo on the album so I guess there's that. A great album produced by a great guitarist. Oh yeah, and let me also mention that I've seen Michael Keene at the grocery store. 

Music I've been listening to lately

     

     Been listening to a lot of cool stuff lately. I've been getting more and more into free-jazz. So I've been listening a lot to people like Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Peter Brotzman, Ken Vandermark, Albert Ayler, and this chick from Chicago named Matana Roberts. Those are all pretty heavy duty free-jazz artists. But I would say mainly Peter Brotzmann is the free-jazz guy I've been listening to the most. He really has a lot of personality to his playing. When he plays a note on the saxophone, you can really tell its him playing. Also, some of his playing nods to Coltrane when he's really feeling it. A great free-jazz composer I've been listening to is Wadada Leo Smith, a great trumpet player who plays in free contexts.
      Other things that have attracted my attention is video-game music. My favorite video game theme is the Brinstar theme from Super Metroid, an old super nintendo game. Also, I'm really into the music of the nintendo jrpg Xenoblade Chronicles. There's a lot of guitar in the music of that game, guitars with a lot of distortion, very progressive tracks with synthesizers, bass, and drums. The guitar riffs are very intricate and precise, very heavy-metal but more of a Japanese style of heavy metal rather than the death metal stuff of America. Also, I'm really into the music from the Legend of Zelda, Super Smash Brothers, and Final Fantasy 7. I got into the game music because it reminded me of playing these old games as a kid, and also you can't always just listen to jazz.
     Lastly, I've been listening to metal and death-metal stuff as well. In terms of death metal, I just picked up the new Faceless album, Autotheism. It's a pretty good effort from a band that keeps reforming with new members. There's a jazz vibe to the album, and there's clean vocals to add to the screaming. In addition I've been listening to Tosin Abasi's (guitarist of the instrumental metal band Animals as Leaders) sideproject T.R.A.M, a jazzy sort of rock band that has a guy that plays saxophone and flute. It's a great band and of all the music I've been listening to lately I would recommend T.R.A.M the most. Their first and only album is pretty darn good. Also, last week I picked up the new St.Vincent album and this CD by this band called Angra, a Brazilian metal band. So yeah, free-jazz, video-game music, and death-metal.