Polyphia (Serious Talent, Local Band Content, FFO: Periphery, Corelia, Instrumental)

[spawnofthesith]

Yeah this band is great. I really hope they change their minds about finding a vocalist though, that would totally ruin this band.

 

[hk_golgatha]

I know they made their most recent EP in their bedroom. While I love the guys, I agree that the music doesn't do much for me. Seems like mindless shreds and super fast drums. Impressive, no doubt, but I hope to see them move to a sound more conducive to vocals and such, something a little simpler. When it comes to instrumental music, to me it can't just be all self indulgent displays of talent.
I love simple melodies and such, that's what gets to me and gets stuck in my head.
To me their stuff just isn't memorable.

 

[hk_golgatha]

Though everything could change if they get a vocalist like they've been searching for.

 

[ncfiala]

Well perhaps if you were familiar with "all of the over-processed and over-produced "metal" these days" You'd know most bands use a vsti Like Superior 2.0 for drums.

I don't really want to be very familiar with over-processed music because I think it usually sounds terrible. And I doubt that most bands use fake drums. Maybe most bands in this genre do, but I doubt that many of the bands I listen to do.

Frankly, I really don't understand why a lot of bands like this even play instruments at all anymore. The music already sounds simulated so why not take it one step further and just simulate all of the instruments digitally within a computer. Then you can speed it up as much as you want. Of course it will sound like shit though.

 

[Chuck]

Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed...

 

[Jonathan20022]

I don't really want to be very familiar with over-processed music because I think it usually sounds terrible. And I doubt that most bands use fake drums. Maybe most bands in this genre do, but I doubt that many of the bands I listen to do.

Frankly, I really don't understand why a lot of bands like this even play instruments at all anymore. The music already sounds simulated so why not take it one step further and just simulate all of the instruments digitally within a computer. Then you can speed it up as much as you want. Of course it will sound like shit though.

This is blatantly ignorant and an extremely delayed reaction to people writing their own music using digital tools since, oh I don't know, forever now?

I'm writing my debut release right now using these tools, and refining it that way because I don't have like-minded musicians around who want to take the same direction that I'm taking. So you're left at the only solution, DIY.

Considering that, you don't see the potential use for these tools and what it can do? People write using Guitar Pro when they don't even have an instrument around and bands write entire songs using it only to show up at practice and rehearse. Your snarky comment about speeding up parts is also not relevant to anything else you said.

And frankly, you don't know what most bands do in the studio. It might actually surprise you that some of your favorite bands use the practices you look down upon. Just be a little more open minded and not fence an entire genre for trying to get these tight and very clear tones and using digital software and amp modelers.

OT though, they're a great band but the shred is up a few notches more than I would normally enjoy. Was interesting for the first listen, but it's not something I'd go back to often to listen to. Would like to see them with a vocalist for sure.

 

[hk_golgatha]

And I doubt that most bands use fake drums.

A bunch of bands use processed drums... Whether it's triggering entire kits or just replacing the kick with samples, a lot of bands do it.
Hell, the Black Dahlia Murder has credited Superior on records. While I prefer the sound of real drums, I'm not against some processing - especially if the band is totally open and honest about it.

 

[nicktao]

I'd like to know what bands you listen to nc.

OT This ep has good material but the drums are just god awful, the periphery debut is one of my favorite records of all time, they should seriously consider a better producer. Im probably being a little harsh but this one apparently had no idea what he was doing. Of course it could have been the direction they wanted to go, but I doubt fake plastic drums is what they wanted.

Also needs moar riffs.

 

[Severance]

Lol I remember playing shows with these dudes at Fat Daddies when they called themselves Palisades. Still haven't found there vocalist I see.

 

[ncfiala]

This is blatantly ignorant and an extremely delayed reaction to people writing their own music using digital tools since, oh I don't know, forever now?

I'm writing my debut release right now using these tools, and refining it that way because I don't have like-minded musicians around who want to take the same direction that I'm taking. So you're left at the only solution, DIY.

Considering that, you don't see the potential use for these tools and what it can do? People write using Guitar Pro when they don't even have an instrument around and bands write entire songs using it only to show up at practice and rehearse. Your snarky comment about speeding up parts is also not relevant to anything else you said.

And frankly, you don't know what most bands do in the studio. It might actually surprise you that some of your favorite bands use the practices you look down upon. Just be a little more open minded and not fence an entire genre for trying to get these tight and very clear tones and using digital software and amp modelers.

OT though, they're a great band but the shred is up a few notches more than I would normally enjoy. Was interesting for the first listen, but it's not something I'd go back to often to listen to. Would like to see them with a vocalist for sure.

There is nothing ignorant or delayed about it. I'm aware a lot bands use fake drums and whatnot and I've never liked it and I try to steer clear of it. That's my choice. I don't have to like it.

I simpy expressed my opinion. I don't know what all the fuss is about. If people can't stomach someone else's opinions then perhaps they should stay off of internet forums.

 

[ncfiala]

I'd like to know what bands you listen to nc.

Not much lately. I'm getting pretty disillusioned with a lot of metal these days. Mostly just lots of High on Fire and Pallbearer with a little Yob and Mastodon thrown in.

 

[MrCthulhu]

The reason this band hasn't found their vocalist, is because they write immensely technical/heavy passages of music and ask "potential" vocalist to not use any screams and try and sing over the whole thing. I really don't think anyone could pull off exactly what they want. They should either stay instrumental and work on improving that, or they should allow a well rounded metal vocalist to work with them. I'm not a fan of their songwriting, but I just thought I'd pipe in because I saw the YouTube videos of people trying out and they were no bueno. The riffs are way to crazy to write good vocal melodies over, there is no breathing room. Yes there are bands like tesseract that have no screams or growls and they sound heavy, but the riffs they write aren't constant sweep chug tap.

 

[TheShreddinHand]

The reason this band hasn't found their vocalist, is because they write immensely technical/heavy passages of music and ask "potential" vocalist to not use any screams and try and sing over the whole thing. I really don't think anyone could pull off exactly what they want. They should either stay instrumental and work on improving that, or they should allow a well rounded metal vocalist to work with them. I'm not a fan of their songwriting, but I just thought I'd pipe in because I saw the YouTube videos of people trying out and they were no bueno. The riffs are way to crazy to write good vocal melodies over, there is no breathing room. Yes there are bands like tesseract that have no screams or growls and they sound heavy, but the riffs they write aren't constant sweep chug tap.

Yeah good point on the vox.

After a couple more listens the drums really sound too machine like and sped up (kick in particular). We'll see, these guys may only be good for a one night stand vs. continued listening......haha!

 

[Alpenglow]

These guys are crazy. I found them randomly a couple days ago and was really surprised by how proficient they are at such a young age. Their EP is great (though seriously, work on that kick drum sound). That being said they could work a little more on riffs...

The reason this band hasn't found their vocalist, is because they write immensely technical/heavy passages of music and ask "potential" vocalist to not use any screams and try and sing over the whole thing. I really don't think anyone could pull off exactly what they want. They should either stay instrumental and work on improving that, or they should allow a well rounded metal vocalist to work with them. I'm not a fan of their songwriting, but I just thought I'd pipe in because I saw the YouTube videos of people trying out and they were no bueno. The riffs are way to crazy to write good vocal melodies over, there is no breathing room. Yes there are bands like tesseract that have no screams or growls and they sound heavy, but the riffs they write aren't constant sweep chug tap.

I would also agree putting these limitations on aspiring vocalists is going to make it next to impossible to find what they want. No harsh vocals during heavy parts, as well as trying to add melodies over the busy parts of their music is going to be really hard. Their current music just isn't written for vocals.

 

[Nick6505djent]

These guys can shred for sure, but there's no climax like you get with an awesome guitar solo. However, I think they can pull it off. Maybe when they find a vocalist they like, they'll focus on rhythm. Picturing bands like these guys, intervals, animals as leaders, and pomegranate tiger with a vocalist is really hard. Their guitars do all the singing. Haha kind of like trying to sing over Bach or Beethoven (they have a cover of Beethoven on their youtube btw ;p)

 

[Jonathan20022]

There is nothing ignorant or delayed about it. I'm aware a lot bands use fake drums and whatnot and I've never liked it and I try to steer clear of it. That's my choice. I don't have to like it.

I simpy expressed my opinion. I don't know what all the fuss is about. If people can't stomach someone else's opinions then perhaps they should stay off of internet forums.

I can stomach your opinion just fine, it just sounds exactly like the opinion of every traditionalist guitar player I've ever encountered when they're approached with these new methods and ideas. They're not a bad thing, when used in a way to fake what you can't do, that's obviously not cool but those people tend to weed themselves out very quickly. (Now if only my lawn did that )

But yeah, either way no harm done I came off a bit strong on my part so my apologies. But yeah it's not a bad thing, I met a drummer doing some improv at a hookah bar a couple nights ago, and you could tell he played primarily metal. We talked about some of these things, and I was wearing one of my Catch 33 shirts, he noticed and we started talking about them. He mentioned that after a certain point every record was using triggered/programmed drums (I wouldn't know, if anyone's familiar with Meshuggah's recording practices please correct me) I was a bit surprised, but it didn't change my opinion of the band and the fact that Catch 33 is easily one of my favorite albums of all time.

 

[vilk]

+1 to not liking fake drums. And I say this as a big fan of all this new djent and whatnot. If I can tell it's a drum machine, it's a serious turn off and I probably won't listen to it. If I can't tell, and then someway or another I find out it's a drum machine, well then I might let it pass. Of course, if the writing is just all around amazing I can look past some programmed drums. I frequently check the line-ups of groups to make sure the drums are real if they don't sound obviously real.

I really pay a lot of attention to drum production. Basically as much as I listen for the tone of a guitar. Drums that are fake is like listening to a metal band where the guitar is MIDI or something. Frankly, if they made an acoustic recording of every drum separately and then pieced it all together I would be totally fine with that.


The thing is, this band has a drummer listed as being in the band, and there are loads of videos of him playing on the internet. And he's pretty good too. Do some bands with living breathing drummers still just use programmed drums? Because that doesn't even make sense.

 

[CTID]

The thing is, this band has a drummer listed as being in the band, and there are loads of videos of him playing on the internet. And he's pretty good too. Do some bands with living breathing drummers still just use programmed drums? Because that doesn't even make sense.

I'm in a band with a drummer who is, in my opinion, extremely talented, but when I do home recordings of demos I still use programmed drums just because it's more convenient and easy to do so. Now, when we go to actually do legitimate recordings, he'll definitely be recording his own parts, and I'm sure you'd be able to tell a difference in playing as well as sound. But it's just far more convenient if I want to throw together some tracks at 1 in the morning, where it'd normally be inadvisable to start playing drums where I live.

 

[MetalBuddah]

+1 to not liking fake drums. And I say this as a big fan of all this new djent and whatnot. If I can tell it's a drum machine, it's a serious turn off and I probably won't listen to it. If I can't tell, and then someway or another I find out it's a drum machine, well then I might let it pass. Of course, if the writing is just all around amazing I can look past some programmed drums. I frequently check the line-ups of groups to make sure the drums are real if they don't sound obviously real.

I really pay a lot of attention to drum production. Basically as much as I listen for the tone of a guitar. Drums that are fake is like listening to a metal band where the guitar is MIDI or something. Frankly, if they made an acoustic recording of every drum separately and then pieced it all together I would be totally fine with that.


The thing is, this band has a drummer listed as being in the band, and there are loads of videos of him playing on the internet. And he's pretty good too. Do some bands with living breathing drummers still just use programmed drums? Because that doesn't even make sense.

Sometimes it is also way out of a band's price range to be able to afford to track real drums. My band just released it's debut and it was entirely self-produced...we knew that if we didn't use Superior, all the music that we have had written for the past 3 years would never get brought to life. We used Superior Drummer because:

-1. we didn't have the cash to front to pay for studio time
-2. it was super convenient to be able to alter the midi we had recorded with the e-drum kit and try out new ideas as well (that our drummer can actually play)
-3. it saved a hell of a lot of headache for me during the mixing process
-4. our drummer can play everything note for note anyway

My drummer would have loved to have done real drums and everybody else in my band including myself would have loved to do it to, but the simple fact is that we are just a bunch of guys who do our music for fun and because of that we really don't have all that much money to put into live drum recording. There is nothing wrong with programming drums in Superior if you can't afford studio time and if your drummer can play the drum parts note for note that have been programmed in Superior.

Our album sounds worlds better than most of the local releases I have heard around here recently and guess what....we DI'd the guitars, used studio magic when appropriate, and used Superior. And the icing on the cake is that WE CAN ACTUALLY PLAY THE MUSIC.

 

[teamSKDM]

These guys are like protest the hero Jr.