New Band Demo- What do you think?

[sbbassslapper]

We are a metal band, but not your typical metal band.

We've been a band for 2years now. And found someone new to record our stuff with his home studio. Everything sounds great to us!

Let me know what you think.

www.myspace.com/sourblood

[clayton]

I'm not a big metal fan so I can't say I really enjoyed listening to your songs.

Anyhow, your band sounds very tight and the recording quality is very good. I like the energy you have and your stuff is definetly heavy.... The bass gets a little lost in the mix, although it may be due to the crappy speakers I'm listening to.

Your singer has a great voice.

All in all I think it is pretty good stuff.

[ebladeboi123]

Honestly, I'm not big a of a fan of metal, so again I didn't really enjoy the listening exp.

But- you did sound together. It sounded very Nu-metally because of the drums. Which I didn't really like. The singer has a great voice? On the track I've listened to, theres no singing. Also, the bass gets lost- but I'm listening on a labtop. Also, I'm not digging the guitar tones, sorta muddy I know that the metal thing, but its in the 2nd song its hard to distinguish the guitar picking pattern.

On a better note- you sound very together, and the recording is good quality. If you master it I'm sure you could mass produce it and sell it

Good luck (btw im in ohio too, but way a few hours north)

Dan

[sbbassslapper]

any other critics bored and wanna critiche or add some input to a band thats been playing for a couple years.

Which we've all been playing for a couple years as well.

[derrenleepoole]

This takes me back to art college listening to Carcass, Godflesh and Bolt Thrower

Any how, the overall song structures are very interesting. Very mathematical metal with precise definitive time changes etc. I did however find it difficult to follow the songs because there are so many ideas presented in one tune - this too me is not such a good thing, I couldn't latch onto a hook or anything. It seemed to be more about 'lets do this - oh now this is cool, lets chuck that in too!' But thats my preference I guess?

I don't think the mix is super amazing, it's good though and is more than adequate in presenting the band. The drums lack a bit of punch for your music. The snare sound is weak too, and the bass guitar certainly needs mixing up.

My two pennies worth.......

[sbbassslapper]

Originally Posted by derrenleepoole

This takes me back to art college listening to Carcass, Godflesh and Bolt Thrower

Any how, the overall song structures are very interesting. Very mathematical metal with precise definitive time changes etc. I did however find it difficult to follow the songs because there are so many ideas presented in one tune - this too me is not such a good thing, I couldn't latch onto a hook or anything. It seemed to be more about 'lets do this - oh now this is cool, lets chuck that in too!' But thats my preference I guess?

I don't think the mix is super amazing, it's good though and is more than adequate in presenting the band. The drums lack a bit of punch for your music. The snare sound is weak too, and the bass guitar certainly needs mixing up.

My two pennies worth.......

Dude,

Thank you for that, thats one thing that we kind of pride ourselves on is that our song structures are so wierd, and not like everyone elses. We have written some new material that have more of a hook to them. I know that Dead like me, song is a lot of time changes on that one. I think we are a very different kind of metal band. Could be interesting, but for playing for two years, i don't think were doing to bad.

I definatley feel that the bass truck could be turned up. We had actually recorded this about three weeks before our cd realease show was coming up because the guy we were working with previously had flaked on us because his computer equipment fried way to many times. But we will be working with the same dude again that we worked with on the cd thats out now, and this is all he does now, where before he had like a day to master and get it where these are now. So it will be like night and day when we go back with him after August.

I appreciate all of your comments, keep them coming guys, i'm open for anyones suggestions and or opinions!

[sbbassslapper]

any other people want to give it a shot? I'm open for anything that you guys have to say, any critisim is open!!!

[jimb213]

Here's my thoughts on bleed, coming from a guy who likes metal like Fear Factory and Killswitch Engage:
The kick drum part in the main/intro riff doesn't make any sense. Noone else is doing a rhythm like that; i think it takes away from the riff. It jumbles up the rhythm. After listening to bits of the other songs, it appears that this is a recurring thing. He does the kick-flam thing all the time, but rarely accentuates the rhythm of the riffs with the bass drum. He needs to study double kick application, not just technique. If he hasn't already, he should check out Fear Factory and Killswitch to hear what I'm talking about.

I agree w/ everyone else that the bass is too quiet. Of course, it's rarely prominent in metal like this, so it may be acceptable.

One thing about the guitar tone:
They sound pretty good recorded, but I have a feeling they don't sound as good in a live situation, where they're way louder. I've seen tons of metal bands where the guitar sound literally hurts from too much high EQ and cranked presence. Y'all may want to make sure this isn't the case.

Overall, though, the recording is a good quality demo. definitely not too muddy or amateur sounding (like many recordings I've done )
I think if the drummer works more on playing the song (which I definitely hear him doing in some places), rather than just a heavy beat, it will improve everything tremendously. But like I said, overall, very nice work; better than 3/4ths of what's out there.

[sbbassslapper]

Originally Posted by jimb213

Here's my thoughts on bleed, coming from a guy who likes metal like Fear Factory and Killswitch Engage:
The kick drum part in the main/intro riff doesn't make any sense. Noone else is doing a rhythm like that; i think it takes away from the riff. It jumbles up the rhythm. After listening to bits of the other songs, it appears that this is a recurring thing. He does the kick-flam thing all the time, but rarely accentuates the rhythm of the riffs with the bass drum. He needs to study double kick application, not just technique. If he hasn't already, he should check out Fear Factory and Killswitch to hear what I'm talking about.

I agree w/ everyone else that the bass is too quiet. Of course, it's rarely prominent in metal like this, so it may be acceptable.

One thing about the guitar tone:
They sound pretty good recorded, but I have a feeling they don't sound as good in a live situation, where they're way louder. I've seen tons of metal bands where the guitar sound literally hurts from too much high EQ and cranked presence. Y'all may want to make sure this isn't the case.

Overall, though, the recording is a good quality demo. definitely not too muddy or amateur sounding (like many recordings I've done )
I think if the drummer works more on playing the song (which I definitely hear him doing in some places), rather than just a heavy beat, it will improve everything tremendously. But like I said, overall, very nice work; better than 3/4ths of what's out there.

Funny thing is that the drummer recorded, is actually the old drummer, and second guitarist, the new drummer, is more marching style and is more fundemental about his playing style then our old drummer, who was a fill machine that was cool at the time, but since we've grown so has our sound. We're actually a much tighter band since this recording happened. We'll be heading back to the studio after august or so after writing some new material and let you guys have another listen. Thank you for your comments. We appreciate them!

[Matt Till]

Explained my main complaint: The drummer is pretty sloppy. The snare sound is pretty tight, but that is some slopppppyyy footwork.

I'm not a big... uhm Nu Metal (is that what they are calling this style anymore) fan, so I can't critique very fairly. There isn't enough standing out for me, I don't think I'm just saying that because of the production... but I feel something needs to uniquen (invented a word) the band a bit more... unfortunatly, I don't know what. This music to me sounds like background music to a skating game for playstation or something. It needs more chaos, not constant chaos, but dynamic variation.

[dukeisdog]

I'm not a fan of metal. But it does sound good. The recording sounds like it was done professional. The bass is pretty good =)
I love your singers voice. The screaming makes the songs all that much better.
Good job
Your drummer's pretty good too =)

[sbbassslapper]

thanks!!!, i take pride in my tone, and i'm told i'm good, but i don't think i'm that good, i've only been playing for a couple years now.