Production Comparisons

Production 1 : Iron Maiden - Invaders https://youtu.be/BLqsCPbrCM8

What elements can you hear working within this production?

Instrumentation - Guitars, Drums, Bass, Keyboards and Vocals

Drums are heavy, harsh and aggressive/intense, adding to the atmosphere of the song, which is about an invasion of some sort.

The vocals are clean and aggressive.

Guitars are distorted and pretty dark and intense

Guitars are Overdriven

What makes this a good production?

The atmosphere that Iron Maiden have created in this song, links well with the storyline and lyrics of the song - the drums are harsh and aggressive and intense - adding to the prevalent feeling of despair and giving emotion to the lyrics. Bruce Dickinson’s voice is harsh and very intense, but also rather bright, and the vocal cut nicely through the song - standing out amongst the guitar storm and the drum thunder. The guitars are distorted and also pretty down tuned, making them dark and heavy and they have this constant attack about them, linking back to the theme of the song.

Performance 2 : BlackThorn - Hexshadow Turned To Flesh https://youtu.be/dGJ7sUDEo2k

What elements can you hear working within this performance?

Instrumentation - Vocals (clean) and also Growls/Screams, are clean and lack autotune, but may have some slight reverb on them. The guitars are distorted and heavy. There is also the use of atmospherics, such as violins and synth pads and strings. Later, they also used a piano to add texture and atmosphere.

There is a spoken word moment in the middle, which adds to the dark atmosphere, the spoken words have reverb on them, as are slightly distorted and whispered.

At the end, there are ambient choirs, with reverb on as well as distant screams to add texture and atmosphere.

What makes this a good performance?

The sheer dark atmosphere, created by the use of synths and strings, adds to the song and makes the “backbone” of why this song is so good, creating a spine chilling emotion on the listener and bringing about a sense of doom. Furthermore, Elvira’s growls, and the vocals in general, give the song texture and an “edgy” atmosphere, that is important in gothic metal. The heaviness of the song is another key element of the song - the heavily distorted guitars, low tuned and riffing fast, sound dark and intense, further adding to the atmosphere and the compressed/loud/sharp/staccato attack of the drums, combined with the guitars, makes one want to bang their head to the song. The middle section with the piano interval/bridge, also adds a sense of intensity and darkness, with the piano having a large decay and a good amount of reverb on it, giving it the feeling as though it is being played in a large room - and in this case, a temple or cave. The choir synth pad past that point gives the song a funeral atmosphere, making the audience think of church choirs and funerals. The distorted, whisper/speech near the end has a lot of reverb on it making it sound mysterious - as though it was a call in an empty, dark temple, inviting the Gods to make the ritual work. Finally the choir vocals at the very end and the distant screams, add an element of horror to the song and add texture and atmosphere to the song, making it sound eerie. The atmosphere and the heaviness and intensity of this song is what makes it good and drives it forward.

Performance 3 : Anthrax - Madhouse https://youtu.be/uGHsxMqpL0c

What elements can you hear working within this performance?

Screechy and aggressive (and crazy) vocals, which are clean, but have a slight amount of chorus on them.

Instrumentation - Heavily distorted, screeching, heavy guitars (the lead guitar at the beginning literally sounds like a scream). Drums sound real, but also have a high attack. Bass is distorted slightly..

The voice at the beginning uses a slight telephone effect, making it sound surreal, as though the listener is mad and is unable to distinguish reality from fantasy.

The Rhythm guitar is pretty low tuned, but also have a high presence making them rather high, and crazy sounding (which differs to Blackthorn, who have dark and heavy guitars).

What makes this a good performance?

The Surreality of the song and the atmosphere is what makes it good. That is set by the screechy lead guitar and the pretty crazy sounding, mid/low tuned rhythm guitar, which are distorted but also have a high presence, which gives the song a lively and crazy atmosphere. The song sounds very much like the context - it is crazy/mad. The vocals are also screechy and crazy and have a slight chorous on them, making them sound like surreal voices. The rhythm guitars and the drums are also aggressive and heavy. The distorted bass makes the song sound pretty weird too. The whole song sounds crazy and heavy, but also very lively and bright, making it very good.

Comparison:

Iron Maiden’s Invaders, has an aggressive and heavy sound, with guitars being distorted and Bruce Dickinson’s vocals being clean, but loud and having perhaps a hint of reverb on. Invaders sounds dark and heavy, especially due to the distorted guitars and intense atmospheric drums, creating an intense atmosphere, making the listener visualise the battle in their heads. This is slightly similar to Anthrax’s Madhouse, which has also mid tuned guitars and a lively and crazy atmosphere, however Maiden’s atmosphere on Invaders is significantly darker than in Madhouse, and less chaotic, whereas the motive behind Madhouse is craziness and insanity. Maiden is heavier and less crazy in their song, which is about a more scary topic, being about war. Iron Maiden is also a different subgenre - being Classic metal, whereas Anthrax are Thrash metal and therefore likely to have their songs wilder, chaotic and “thrashier”. Maiden’s Invaders has a similar dark atmosphere to BlackThorn’s Hexshadow Turned To Flesh, with also low tuned guitars that are heavy and distorted and the drumming on Invaders is intense, Like in Hexshadow, however, BlackThorn have created a much darker atmosphere, being much more atmospheric than both Maiden and Anthrax, with the use of synth pads and strings and choir vocals, to add to the texture and dark feel of the song. They also use lower tuned guitars in their song, than Maiden and Anthrax, making them darker and more intense and scary (similarly to other bands, like Slayer or Pantera). They also have reverb on their vocals, which adds to the mystery of them, whereas Maiden has slightly compressed vocals in their song, and Anthrax used chorus on their vocals in Madhouse, making them sound distant and otherworldly, like voices in the head of a madman - linking to the theme of the song. BlackThorn is much darker as it is also a different subgenre of heavy metal, being more gothic/symphonic/blackened death metal. All three bands use distorted, heavy guitars and real drums, as well as vocals that do not have autotune.