Genre Spotlight Project - Symphonic Metal 22/3/2021

For my genre spotlight project, I chose symphonic metal as my genre...

Symphonic Metal began in the mid 80s, with roots in Gothic, Death and Thrash Metal. It began to appear as a result of different extreme metal bands experimenting with classical music in their pieces, in order to achieve a more ethereal, mystical, evil and “scary” sound. Notable pioneers are the Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost, on their 1987 Album called Into The Pandemonium, on pieces like Rex Irae - Celtic Frost (Rex Irae/Requiem)+Lyrics in Description. Celtic Frost’s 1985 Album, called Mega Therion, Inspired the Naming of the Symphonic Metal Band Therion. With their black metal roots, Celtic Frost helped define the future Symphonic Black Metal bands, having been pioneers of the first wave of Black Metal, they were responsible for adding Symphonic elements into black metal, thus inspiring black metal bands like Dimmu Borgir, Old Man’s Child, Emperor etc. to also make use of these elements. Symphonic metal first became acknowledged as a subgenre in 1990, brought to light by the American thrash metal band Believer, in their piece, entitled Dies Irae Believer-Dies Irae (Day Of Wrath). The aforementioned piece, that appeared in Believer’s 1990 album, entitled Sanity Obscure, inspired the operatic vocals of future symphonic metal bands, such as Nightwish. The death metal band Therion was later known for polishing and bringing the genre forward by the use of a live orchestra, and by using classical composition techniques. Therion alongside the Finnish prog-metal band Waltari, became a notable influence in the genre, the latter releasing an entire album, called Yeah! Yeah! Die! Die! Death metal Symphony in Deep C Waltari - "Yeah! Yeah! Die! Die! - Death Metal Symphony in Deep C" (Full album HQ). In 1996, the German Thrash/Heavy metal band Rage also collaborated with the Prague Symphony Orchestra, and released another influential album, entitled Lingua Mortis 1996 - RAGE - Lingua Mortis (Full album). In 1997, bands like Nightwish and Within Temptation, began to add gothic elements into their Symphonic Metal pieces, as well as utilised soprano and operatic singing by powerful lead vocalists, like Tarja Turunen and Sharon Den Adel (building upon Believer’s Dies Irae), combined with growled vocals in gothic metal bands, creating, what was referred to, as “Beauty and the Beast” vocal style. In the mid 2000s, Symphonic metal moved more into the mainstream metal style and merged with power metal bands, like After Forever, Delain, Epica and Xandria, adopting upbeat fantasy style lyrics, such as in the song Call of Destiny by Xandria XANDRIA - Call Of Destiny (Official Video) | Napalm Records. Contemporarily, Symphonic metal has many subgenres, with EVERY genre of metal having the potential to be symphonic. However very often, the term Symphonic Metal is associated with the mainstream metal styles, like power metal as well as the less mainstream gothic metal and black metal, with bands like Dimmu Borgir, Blackthorn and Cradle Of Filth.

It has been proven by research in articles such as https://cognitiontoday.com/the-social-psychology-of-heavy-metal-rock-music-research-on-metalheads/#:~:text=Metal%20Fans%20Interacting-,Psychology%20Of%20Heavy%20Metal%20Fans,people%20synchronize%20with%20each%20other.&text=Researchers%20have%20found%20that%20people,matches%20the%20person%27s%20physiological%20state that metal music attracts people who like to be unique, and not in favour of authority, this often relates to people aged 14-20, however, older people also listen to the genre, having grown up around it (many people who were young and rebellious back then have grown up and still listen to the music). Many metal fans tend to be misfits, and people who have suffered severe negativity in life. For example, as proven by the above article, fans of metal tend to suffer from mental conditions, such as bipolar disorder, depression and mania. As a result, metal music helps them regulate their negative emotions. Due to metal being a very diverse genre of music, with many subgenres, it attracts many people of different types. In the case of Symphonic Metal, it seems to attract more of the dark/gothic type of people, who often dress as such; this is due to the prevalent black metal origins, as well as the crossover with Gothic metal. Consequently, there is a very high percentage of women in symphonic/gothic metal bands, especially on vocals, due to the inspiration taken from Believer’s Dies Irae, meaning that many composers need a high soprano vocal, often dueting with a different style (like in gothic metal), and mostly women are capable of high soprano vocals. The high presence of female singers and band members in gothic metal bands, as well as symphonic metal bands, means that younger generations of girls often have people to look up to in these genres, and as a result, Symphonic and Gothic metal, and their subgenres and offshoots, tend to have a higher presence of female fans, as stated in this article from Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_metal. Fashion oftentimes ranges from band to band, however there seems to be a huge emphasis on dark/gothic fashion, than in other genres (for example Nu metal, where they wear sportswear or similar clothing to hip hop fans, or in metalcore, where they wear tight clothing/skinny jeans). Goth-inspired clothing is prevalent in symphonic metal, as well as black metal inspired clothing. Makeup is worn in a gothic style, with corpse paint and black lipstick being prevalent, as well as white powder/foundation. Often dark eyeshadow is worn, as well as mascara. Hair tends to be dyed black or occasionally other colours, like in black metal and gothic metal. Symphonic metal fans tend to have long hair, like most metal fans. In Symphonic Metal, many instruments that are prevalent in metal are used. For example high gain amps are used, in order to achieve a heavy distorted guitar sound. Like in other styles of metal, each guitarist’s setup differs from band to band, each striving to achieve their own unique timbre. For example, Silenoz, from Dimmu Borgir, uses a Blackstar HT-1R 1 Watt tube amp, alongside a Blackstar series one 412A Cabinet, and uses a Kemper profiler power head, he also uses a Radial JDX DI box, https://equipboard.com/pros/silenoz, both Silenoz, and his lead counterpart, Galder, use Seymour Duncan active pickups, as well as EMGs to achieve a fat distorted tone. On the other hand, Emppu Vuorinen from Nightwish, uses a different setup, instead using a Kemper Profiler rack amplifier, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier and Marshall speaker cabs, to achieve his unique and heavy tone. So the setup differs somewhat from band to band, however, some things remain the same. For example, regardless of the brand, some sort of high gain amp is always used, and very often, EMGs or some sort of humbucking pickups are used. This is to achieve a heavy distorted sound that will add weight and power to the pieces that they play. In order to add atmosphere, texture and darkness to the pieces, orchestral elements are used, and that is what defines a band as symphonic metal. However, although eternally prevalent, there is no set way that bands and composers orchestrate their mixes, once again, each band going for what they can afford and what sounds best for the message in the music that they are trying to convey. Very often, it is known for bands to employ the use of keyboardists for orchestration, especially in modern bands, where the modern and improved technology of powerful workstation keyboards allows the bands to fully simulate a full orchestra. Many bands use Korg or Roland workstation keyboards for this, for example, Toumas Holopainen from Nightwish is known for his use of the Korg Kronos and other Korg keyboards. Sometimes, bands will have such intricate orchestral pieces, that it will be impossible for a keyboardist to play, as stated here http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2931363/symphonic-metal-keyboardists-this-question-is-for-you, so often bands use pre sampled loops/recordings, or even backing tracks to achieve the desired sound. Before technology was so advanced however, meaning that keyboards did not emulate realistic orchestral parts. Many bands used reel to reel samplers/mellotrons to achieve orchestral sounds, like Led Zeppelin, who pioneered metal as a whole, and used mellotrons for their orchestral sounds, such as in Stairway To Heaven, where the melancholic sound of woodwinds was emulated on a mellotron, like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYciHGuG3aI. With synthesizers and keyboards still being in a very experimental phase in the later years, meaning that bands could not do anything majorly complex or realistic using keyboards. Symphonic metal bands used entire orchestras as well as singular symphonic instruments to achieve their sound. For example, Waltari made their death metal symphony album by working along with the Avanti! Symphony Orchestra, and Rage did their Lingua Mortis album, alongside the Prague Symphony Orchestra. Even nowadays, many bands use real symphonic elements, leaving keyboards for more textural elements, like piano, organ or harpsichord. Many bands also have used actual grand pianos for their pieces, for example Blackthorn, who recorded Elvira Alchemida playing a grand piano for their album Codex Archaos. Although full orchestras are common and do more than enough justice for most bands, they are however, expensive and a hassle, meaning that bands either turn to the aforementioned keyboards/samples, or have a few of their musicians play single orchestral instruments. In the latter case, strings are probably the most common instruments to be seen - with finnish metal band Apocalyptica pioneering, what they refer to as “cello metal”. Apocalyptica are famous for using only celli and a double bass for their rhythm/lead sound, meaning that they use no guitars, and instead distort their celli to sound heavy. Ex Apocalyptica cellist Max Lilja, later also joined the awesome thrash metal band Hevein. Hevein have a more traditional setup, with guitars and basses, however achieve symphonic elements by the use of a string duet, with Max Lilija on cello, supported by Aino Pilpari on violin, Similarly Blackthorn have employed Elena (aka Less) to play violin for them in Codex Archos and onwards. The end result of such bands is a very different sound. While still symphonic and dark, it is much less advanced than that of a full orchestra or sample library, instead sounding more minimalistic, making it easier to mix, and less hassle to travel with and to afford, than a full orchestra or a massive advanced sampler/workstation keyboard. Some folk metal bands also employ use of violinists, and folk instruments such as Pirate/folk metal band Storm Seeker, make use of the hurdy gurdy, and Eluveitie use a hurdy gurdy, as well as a celtic harp, an accordion and bagpipes/tin whistles, the latter has also been employed by Nightwish, who in their modern works, hired Troy Donockley as a full time member, for playing wind instruments, like flutes, Bagpipes and whistles. With technology constantly evolving, guitar synth pedals are beginning to also serve as a very cheap and affordable, yet powerful, way to achieve symphonic sounds. Most notably, the electro harmonix Mel9 pedal, which is a polyphonic pedal that converts guitar playing to mellotron/orchestral samples. Many independent metal internet composers (people who aren’t in bands but are making music by themselves and put it on the internet), have started using this pedal and others for orchestral sounds along with their guitars, sparing them from having to buy expensive keyboards or sample libraries, and achieve results like this: https://youtu.be/pBJhsDpjLpc. Bass wise, Symphonic metal employs similar rules to Thrash and Death metal, being a descendant of theirs, meaning that bass guitar in symphonic metal tends to be distorted with some overdrive. The setup and achievement of this differs from band to band. For example, the symphonic metal bassist and vocalist Marko Hietala, uses Warwick bass guitars, with a Warwick Jonas Hellborg power amp and a Warwick Jonas Hellborg big cab. During his service in Nightwish, He would also use a Boss ME-50B bass multiple effects pedal board https://equipboard.com/pros/marco-hietala. Some bands, that have orchestral accompaniment, may also get the bass instruments in the orchestra (Double Basses, Bassoons, Tubas, Contrabassoons, Bass Trombones) to play along with the bass and back it up, adding more darkness and texture to the music (while the other instruments play other things). Drums in Symphonic metal can range depending on the requirements of the different pieces and the band. Like in most metal, double bass drumming is present with two bass drums used by bands like Nightwish, Dimmu Borgir and Hevein, while other bands such as Blackthorn, opt for a single bass drum set up, instead utilising a double pedal of some sort, thus freeing the drummer from having an extra bass drum. Drums tend to be from brands like Yamaha and Tama, as used by ex-nightwish drummer, Jukka, https://www.tama.com/usa/artists/detail/44.html. Bands often implement percussion into their pieces, either having the drummer have them as part of their kit (like the drummer from Celtic Frost, who utilised timpani in his drum set), or by having a dedicated percussionist to play them, this often being prevalent with bands that have orchestras playing with them, such as Dimmu Borgir, who have a percussionist that adds textures to the main drums, by the use of Timpani, Tam Tams, Shakers, Piatti, Triangles, Field Snares, Tambourines and other similar instruments. Some more obscure bands also add a more cinematic and epic, battle feel to their pieces by utilizing war drums, such as Japanese Taiko, such as the band Aknew, in their piece Beowulf. In order to add an ethereal and dark feel, many symphonic metal bands will also use choirs. These will mostly be samples on keyboards, but, occasionally, bands will employ actual choirs to sing for them, such as Blackthorn who worked with the Moscow Silver Voice choir in the recording of Codex Archaos (but used recordings and samples of them in live performances). Dimmu Borgir are also known for having their own Choir and Orchestra appear on stage with them during live performances.

Like in most metal, symphonic metal employs a dark sound helped out by an intense, epic and dark sounding orchestration. Symphonic metal is a very fluid and vast genre, meaning that any style of metal can be symphonic, so long it has orchestral elements. With that in mind, the composition techniques often reside in the style of the band and what they strive to achieve with their pieces.

For example, a symphonic black metal band, like Dimmu Borgir, may employ Black Metal techniques and composition, such as high pitched tremolo picked guitars, shrieky/raspy vocals, dark/satanic/antichrist themes and a lofi sound production quality, into their music, alongside the symphonic metal parts - Gateways, whereas a Thrash/groove metal band like Hevein will instead employ thrash metal and groove metal styles into their pieces, for example palm muted low tremolo picked guitar notes, followed by power chords and angry screamed/shouted vocal, alongside their symphonic elements - Bleed The Day. This means that composition techniques often vary from band to band.

However, some composition techniques are prevalent in all bands that utilise this genre. For example, the aforementioned use of orchestration and ethereal sounding symphonic elements, are what defines symphonic metal, regardless of anything else. Bands that are labelled or otherwise fall under the symphonic metal category, always utilise some form of orchestration, and often it is scored and composed by either an orchestra, a keyboardist, or anyone who makes said orchestration. The orchestrations are often scored in a similar manner to film score, giving the music that epic, ethereal and powerful seasoning, adding emotion and drama to the anger and energy of the remaining instruments. An example of this would be Dimmu Borgir’s Self titled piece Dimmu Borgir.

Another notable composition technique is the use of different vocals, such as dueting, with two singers often performing the lead vocals, like in Nightwish’s epic, entitled The Poet and The Pendulum. Oftentimes, some symphonic metal bands, such as Nightwish, will employ powerful operatic style vocals. Other bands such as Blackthorn will utilise both operatic as well as guttural vocals, this technique being more prevalent in Gothic metal bands, referred to as beauty and the beast, due to the blend of “beautiful” operatic vocals, with “bestial” gutturals. This is often performed by two different vocalists, as well, like Aina and Elvira Alchemida have done in the Blackthorn song, Vehemence Came As Anodyne.

Occasionally, some bands (more of the power metal influenced ones) will only use one guitarist for their guitar parts, and instead get the keyboardist to play leads, with synth leads, such as in Nightwish. This is due to the difficulty of mixing lead guitar with orchestration. Most bands however utilise a secondary guitar to play leads and back the rhythm, often making shredding solos over the initial guitar, as is the case in Dimmu Borgir. Some bands may go for an entirely different approach, where they will omit the lead guitar, and have a different instrument, in a similar frequency and dynamic range, shred over their rhythm guitar, such as a Cello or a Violin, as is the case with Blackthorn, who utilize an electric violin to play lead melodies instead of a guitar or synth. Another notable band to do this approach is Hevein, who even compose shredding solos for their Violins/Celli, as seen in their piece, Break Out The Hammers.

Occasionally, bands will completely leave out guitars, and compose metal riffs for Celli, with a Double Bass for the bass parts, as seen done by the band Apocalyptica - Master Of Puppets Cover, or also as done by the band Coppelius, who also use woodwinds, such as clarinets to back up the distorted celli and double bass Coppelius - Risiko.

Bands like the aforementioned Coppelius, show that symphonic metal composition and imagery doesn't always have to be dark and serious or mystical, instead being funny and satire, while remaining heavy, similarly to the thrash metal bands that started it all back in the day, like Tankard. Most symphonic metal bands will however compose lyrics that are dark, and harsh and truthful, as in most metal, or lyrics that are mysterious, dark, satanic and gothic. Depending strongly on the bands image, some bands may also write more upbeat lyrics, influenced by power metal, that focus on beauty, nature, fantasy and magic, the bands essentially becoming modern day bards. The latter composition of lyrics is more common in the modern bands, such as modern Nightwish (from the Endless Forms Most Beautiful album onwards), with pieces like Elan, however it has been seen more or less in pretty much every style of metal. Symphonic Black metal bands like Dimmu Borgir, often choose religious, antichrist and satanic themes in their lyrics and imagery, whereas Symphonic Gothic metal Bands bands, such as Cradle of Filth, Blackthorn and Theater of Tragedy choose gothic, pagan or occult themes in their compositions as seen in the gothic metal classic Nymphetamine. Gothic metal bands Like Cradle of Filth are also known for first pioneering the Beauty Of the Beast style of vocal, which is seen clearly in the aforementioned piece.

A completed demo within your chosen genre implementing the techniques you have researched.

In My composition, I aimed to create a dark, ethereal and epic feel, like in many symphonic metal songs (and a lot of metal in general). I thus composed the song in the D# Locrian mode/scale. The notes in this scale are D#, E, F#, G#, A, B, C# and D# retrospectively. This scale is one of the go to scales amongst metal musicians, alongside the Chromatic, Phrygian Dominant and Harmonic Minor scales, due to its distinct, dissonant, dark and “evil” sound http://www.fretjam.com/metal-guitar-scales.html. With that in mind, I made up a riff composed of power chords, constructed of the notes in this scale. Due to having technical problems (my guitar is missing a string), as well as having a guitar with a strat style single coil pickup, which would make the sound too brittle and harsh for this piece, I opted

to using a sample library (Heavier7Strings by Threebodytech) in order to simulate guitars Although H7S is a seven string, seven strings are rarely seen in old school symphonic metal, which was the feel of what I was going for, so I tuned down the guitar half a step and omitted the seventh string

entirely. Another thing I needed to be wary of, is the sound and feel of virtual instruments being too robotic, if done incorrectly, something that is not taken kindly in metal. I had to

ensure that I simulate the feel of the guitar, especially when playing chords, by having every note play slightly before the other, in a strummed fashion. I also needed to add swing to the notes as well as humanize the velocity and add occasional ghost notes. When composing the riffs, I added thrash style palm muted tremolos, which often appear in symphonic metal, being the offspring of thrash. I also used a marshall amp simulator and cab and added a heavy distortion.

In order to achieve a symphonic sound, I recreated the sound of a mellotron pedal, using samples from Spitfire’s BBC Symphony Orchestra, with slight tape saturation, to achieve a more old school, lofi and less polished sound. I layered this sound with guitars, essentially mimicking what they play, and thus causing their parts to sound symphonic. Mixing both of these elements was very hard work, due to the shared mids of the guitars and the orchestration, as well as the psychoacoustic elements that cause the listener to pick up higher frequencies easier, meaning some sounds would be louder than others, especially when i added the lead guitar, which further caused more frequency clashes.

I used EQ to repair this, by cutting out the 2k-6k (high mids) of the guitars. These frequencies are very harsh in distorted guitars, serving as a high “fizz” sound that catches the ear easily, due to psychoacoustics, meaning that people will pick up these high frequencies over the proper sound of the guitars, meaning that they would cause the mix to be muddy, and the orchestra to be inaudible, and only the fizz would be then heard from the guitars. Having cut out those frequencies, meant I could boost the amplitude of both guitars, without killing my mix with fizz. I also cut out some low mids, at 200 - 300 hertz, as these would also muddy up my mix, with a muddy, boomy, wailing sound, that would cause the mix the become nasty to listen to, as well as clash with the bass drum and the bass guitar, and the low end of the orchestral sounds.

I used Steven slate drums for the drum track, which I ensured was humanized and realistic sounding. In order to add to the symphonic side, I utilised cinematic drums into the kit . I started the piece off with a beat from some taiko, which are said to be the only drums to be able to reach the gods, thus adding to the ethereal feel of the song, as well as making sense along with the lyrics. I used a large, concert bass drum as the bass drum for the kit, to add depth and power to the piece, as well as an accent, here and there, with an elongated hit. I used a fat sounding concert snare, for a fat and tight sound that would add to the heaviness and attack of the guitars and orchestrations.

Like in most genres of metal, double bass drumming is almost a standard in symphonic metal, thus I composed double bass drum parts, as if for two mallets, instead of one. I made the beats similar to those of death metal and thrash metal, as those were the beats used in old school symphonic metal, such as in the death metal symphony album by Waltari. I started the mix with a trash style beat, with blast beats for the bridges. I later employed a slowed down section for the choruses, which included the ride cymbal on every half beat (quaver) and the china cymbal hitting on every bar. For the pre-chorus, I used the china cymbal as a timekeeper, hitting on every beat. For the breakdown, I first used the china cymbal for the first and last parts of the breakdown, on every beat, and used a snare, crash, a tam tam and an open bass drum, for dramatic accents, amongst bursts of muffled double bass drum, and fills on toms for the main part of the breakdown. Solos are also a very integral part of symphonic metal, often epic and fast, with advanced shredding, as in thrash and power metal. I started off a first solo, with heavy usage of pitch bend, to simulate a whammy bar dive bomb and I did another solo after the breakdown, when the tempo speeds up again, with heavy use of tapping, and some more whammy bar/bending. I helped set a darker atmosphere, by creating ambient choral soundscapes in the background, using a keyboard, and Soundiron’s Requiem Light Choir Library, using the choir in the background, layered with a distorted church organ, from Spitfire Audio’s LABS, to create an ethereal and dark/atmospheric soundscape, like in symphonic gothic metal.

I used this to start off the piece, lead in with a tubular bell being hit on the drum kit, on every bar, and later in conjunction with an open high hat, and finally led on into a full blown taiko war drum/ tribal style beat. When playing the intro, I used a solo cello sound on the keyboard, using a solo cello sample library from Karoryfer Studios, in Sforzando sampler, amped with the aforementioned marshall amp sim, to give it a heavy “bite”. When writing parts for the keyboard, I had to bear in mind that, as a Keyboardist, I only have two hands - A struggle faced by many metal keyboard players. This is often countered, by recording overdubs, and later playing them back as a backing track. However to make mine realistic, I had to ensure that the keyboards only played two parts - the accompaniment, played with the left hand, that will add to the soundscape of the piece, by playing chords, for which I used the layered choir and organ sounds. The right hand would usually play the melody, or chords. I opted for the second hand to also play chords, as most “melody” or shred lines, would be done by the lead guitar. However at the beginning, I opened the piece up with a melody on the keyboard, using a distorted cello sound. This added to the symphonic feel of the track, being in a similar vein to the “cello metal” bands (symphonic metal bands, who make use of celli and other string instruments for their sound, instead of keyboards) like Apocalyptica, Hevein, Angher and Coppelius. I took lots of weight off the keyboards, by having the orchestral parts done by a mellotron pedal, meaning that I could focus the keyboards on adding textures and atmosphere, as opposed to full on orchestration. Most symphonic metal bands face the problem, and all bands have different ways they get over it, whether it is the aforementioned backing track, or the use of midi layering, synth pedals (like me), or a real orchestra.

I mixed the keys by the use of binaural pan. Binaural pan essentially uses surround effect as opposed to stereo effects, to move the sound source, essentially turning the metaphorical sound box (in box theory), to a three dimensional cube. I panned the keys, to be at the back of the mix, meaning that now the mix elements had much more areas to go than just left or right. Orchestration and keyboards were moved to the back, with lead guitar and rhythm guitar on front, lightly opposite each other. I panned the bass front and centre, in between the guitars, and the drumkit to the centre, along with the vocals. The percussion, an element which was meant to help out the drumkit, was put slightly in front of the main kit, so that it sounds different from the main kit, but still adds to it. When recording vocals, I had to bear in mind, that symphonic metal, like thrash, power and trad metal, can utilise any style of vocals, with many bands utilising different styles throughout the years. This means that unlike death metal, where the singer has to growl, or black metal where shrieking or rasping is expected, or rap/nu metal, where hip hop style rap vocals are used, I could use any vocal technique that was feasible, in my piece. A style of vocal that, while not used as a rule, but has caught on in some symphonic metal bands, is an epic, ethereal and operatic style of singing, as done by Tarja Turunen (from Nightwish) or Aina (from Blackthorn), pioneered by Believer, in the aforementioned Dies Irae piece. I tried to achieve that, however failed after nearly ripping my throat to shreds, shrieking bloody murder, trying to hit high sophrano notes, being merely a falsetto. So instead I opted to use a screamed technique, known as overdrive. This technique is sometimes seen in symphonic metal bands, being a technique that widely appears in thrash and traditional metal. Bands such as Al’virius, Angher and Hevein use this technique to deliver their vocals, as seen in songs like Anger (by Angher), Beg To Differ (by Hevein), which also inspired the clean vocals on the choruses, and Book Of The Dead (by Al’virius). I had written down song lyrics that were pretty much an allrounder for symphonic metal - Lyrics influenced by Paganism and Nature - a lyrical theme in folk, symphonic and pagan bands. I had included references to occult and Hellenistic/Kemetic paganism (old school Greek and Egyptian religions) in themes similar to symphonic gothic metal bands, like Blackthorn and Cradle Of Filth. I also included personal, political and environmentalist themes, seen in symphonic black and thrash metal bands. I also included a breakdown, a section when the music slows down, and the orchestrations and choirs become drawn out and legato, with brutal death growls, in the vain of symphonic death metal bands, like Scepticflesh and Fleshgod Apocalypse FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE - No (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO). The piece is entitled Ailuros, and the lyrics essentially tell the tale of a world that is withering away, with its inhabitants leading it and themselves, into doom. As a final resort, the Goddess Ailuros (Greek version of Egyptian Bast), decides to step in and save them, coming to said world, to “kill all, slay all the pestilence” - a thing that she was known for in Egypt; being the offspring of the Sun and the Goddess Isis, Bast also wielded supernatural powers, stronger than any mortal. She was known for the protection of mortals, especially from diseases and pestilence, as well as from venom, having been previously known as a fierce lioness-warrior, in a similar vein to Sekhmet, she was noted for fighting of evil, for example the killing of the giant, venomous serpent known as Apep. With the intent of sounding aggressive, I recorded aggressive yelled/screamed vocals into my Rode microphone and into Logic. I recorded clean vocals for the chorus, which I layered to create a harmony.

In order to mix the vocal, I first put an equaliser onto the track - I ensured that the vocal does not clash with the choir or the cymbals. In order to achieve that, I boosted some high mids, and cut some unpleasant resonances, as well as cut some low end, to remove the mud. I cut the very high end off the vocals, in order to give way to the choir and the cymbals. In order to bring more atmosphere and energy into the mix, I ended up adding some percussive accents that would help out the main drum kit, in places. Having had Bast/Ailuros, as the topic of the song, I decided to simulate a sistrum - an instrument often depicted in Bast’s hand, along with an Aegis - by using an orchestral tambourine. In the intro, I layered the tambourine with the taiko, to create the mystical, tribal energy. Later I added the tambourine as a backing for the drum kit, on the choruses, in a similar way to the symphonic/folk pagan metal band Iron Woods did in their piece, Sons of Mother Earth. Here is the Resulting Piece: Ailuros

Composing the drum beats went really well, I liked the way that they turned out. I also feel that most of the riffing and solo that I programmed sounded good and realistic/convincing. I like how my vocal turned out for the first verse and the pre chorus/bridge. I also like how the orchestral elements turned out and sounded with the guitars. I like how the guitars’ timbres sounded, and how I made them sound very heavy. I also liked how I came up with decent sounding and original riffs for the main riff, the solo, breakdown and the pre-chorus. I also really enjoyed how the solo turned out, and that it cut through the mix and sounded convincing and intense. I feel the breakdown was pretty decent too, and the growls i did during the breakdown were pretty good. My vocals were far from perfect, to be honest, especially on the last verse, I really sound like I am straining to hit the notes and to scream, my voice is breaking up, and they sound less impressive than the rest of the song. I also feel that the whole thing could be mixed better. I struggled to mix the piece pretty badly, with every attempt sounding different, depending on what it was listened to. I preferred mixing in Logic Pro X, as opposed to band lab, due to the extra control I had over the piece in Logic and the advanced mixing tools Logic offers, so it could be said that mixing on bandlab didn’t go so well. Also the fact that I couldn’t use my real guitar, as it was missing a string was not ideal - technical problems. To improve, my vocals need some more work, especially harsh vocals, like screams and guttural vocals like growls. I need to practice mixing metal with different symphonic elements, and work on riff composition, as well as try and experiment with some new scales that sound more “evil”, as the leads don’t sound that evil in places in the piece, even when using locrian. I have definitely developed my vocal skills and my confidence, this being my first full length vocal performance for a song (as opposed to Baltyneus, which was just the chorus, or the House track, which was literally one phrase). This was also the first time I recorded guttural vocals (during the breakdown), which need more work, as currently, to “activate” them, I first must scream, then gradually go lower into a growl. On that note, I feel like I have developed some new vocal skills, that I can later polish and add to my other pieces. I also developed and improved my mixing skills, as I did have to face barriers in mixing, like in any piece. Also, I got more confident with a new DAW, having previously neglected BandLab, and this lockdown being my first decent look at it. That said, I have also developed some more Logic Pro Skills, such as the usage of the binaural pan, which I never previously attempted, sticking to the traditional stereo pan. I also developed skill in mixing my vocals, as I found out how this style of vocal is mixed, and used compressors, further improving my understanding of compression, as well as learned how to order my effects in my sidechain appropriately (i.e. Noise Gate goes before the Compressor). I will definitely keep practicing my screams, and use different vocals (screams and cleans, and maybe gutturals too) in my pieces. I also now know how to mix vocals so I can mix them with more ease. I will also keep using orchestral elements, and mixing them with the equalisation techniques that I have used in this piece. I also may bring in some of the ambient choir soundscapes created by the keyboards, and maybe make my own, on my Korg Pa700.