Over the past four years, I've written a kind of concept album. It is mostly progressive metal but I'm sure most of you could recognize the VG music influence on it. Now I'm pretty much finished writing it, but as it was finished a year ago, my skill has definitely improved since then. Still, I am pretty proud of the results and I thought I'd share it with you guys. Mythril Nazgul was kind enough to host the mp3s for me, so here are the links.

The album is called Angel One.

01 - Hidden Seraph
Instrumental song, the most VG influenced one. It almost feels like some Megaman.

02 - Imbecile
Another instrumental, this one goes a little crazier with the odd times.

03 - Weaver of Dreams
The first vocal performance of the album, featuring "pop singer" Nanie. The solo, for some reason, was hell to play for me.

04 - Angel One
This one is still incomplete. It's a vocal song featuring both soprano singer Leonie and Nanie. Some parts are bound to be changed heavily, but the main feature here is the vocal melody, which I thought to be fairly dark but catchy. The chorus in this song is the main theme of the album, and you can hear it in most of the other song.

05 - Nemesis
Odd time signatures insanity! Probably the most "progressive" song on the album featuring Leonie and Nanie. The verse are in 7/8, try to figure out the opening riff

06 - Neon Angelica
This is my favorite. It was heavily influenced by the band Andromeda (check them out) and was my first attempt in drum'n bass (not much to do with Bowser is Pissed though). Leonie is no vocals and my good friend Plear took care of the rhymes.

07 - Grand Lethal
Heaviest and darkest shit on the album, influenced a bit by Final Fantasy VI soundtrack. Leonie sings on this one.

08 - Luna Cry
Slower song of the album, with Leonie singing. The solo on this one is very different from what I usually do.

09 - The Encounter
Another heavy motherfucker. Plear rhymes on this one.

10 - Catastrophe
Short instrumental, this is my attempt at doing something like Symphony X's Death of Balance. I detuned by 7-string to VERY LOW G at the end.

11 - The Great Divide
Another SymX influenced-song. Leonie is on vocals here. There is a pretty empty part in the middle of the song which I thought I'd fill with rhymes or a solo, but then I realised I hadn't enough empty parts on this album to let the listener breathe a little, so I'm thinking of leaving it as is.

12 - Suncrash
Leonie is on vocals here. I always like this shuffly triplet feel and absolutely needed a song like that on my shit. Some friend of mine told me it sounded like a Christmas song, but I figured she must have had wicked Christmasses.

13 - Fehlen Liebe
The sad song of the album. No guitar nor singing here, just plain old electronica It is kind of a mix between Al di Meola's Infinite Desire and Chrono Cross People Imprisoned by Destiny.

14 - Eden
More groove-oriented, this is the favorite of my non-prog-metal friends. Nanie is on vocals here.

15 - Imbecile Part II
Still more groove oriented, this one is a guitar instrumental. There is another "emptier part" in this one, which I definitely wanted to put rhymes on. Waiting for Plear on this one.


16 - Amaranthine
I'd say this is the second most VG-oriented song on the album. There is an artsy-fancy concept in this one, with the final note being the main theme but ending on the sensible (Major Seventh), suggesting that the album isn't finished. This has to do with immortality, eternity or whatnot and fits the title Amaranthine. I'll let you try to figure out what the album is about. Oh yeah this song is instrumental, with guitars and an orchestral "epic" ending.

Comments are welcome, and I hope you like it.
Thanks for listening.

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I'm always up for more PriZm. I think I'll be giving this a listen tomorrow.

Hey, I haven't listened to all of 'em just yet. So far, the first 5, but I'm enjoying it.


-Nick

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“The world is a dangerous place; not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”
--Albert Einstein

I think the guitar work in Hidden Seraph establishes PriZm as one of the most skilled, versatile guitarists in this community, right up there with the likes of housethegrate, Virt, goat, Ailsean, and the rest. And no, I'm not just being a kissass here, I was seriously rockin' out hard to that song.

Thanks a lot. I wouldn't have expected to be compared to these guys

Glad you liked it.

Having listened to the whole thing another time, I think what this album lacks the most though is vocal harmonization during the choruses (chorii ?) and proper velocity micro-management. I'll do better next time.

What do you all think ?

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This is a pretty cool indie album! Are you guys going to be going around performing it and selling it? I know some people there that I can tell to go see you play. ;p

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We should do a project concert. Of course, some songs might consist of the person sitting at their computer and pushing "Play" on their FruityLoops/Reason/Whatever file...

I'll go buy a webcam and jam on my gitaaaa.

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*LOOOOOOL* I just imagined that... that would be really funny I once captured a video of myself playing the keyboard, this was funny, as well

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joah...

If you take any of this offensively then I apologise.

I just listened through it for the first time now. I must say I really like the arrangement of each and every song but the vocals truly ruin any chance of me listening to those songs again (apart from the instrumental tracks). I really think the guitar work especially shines through, with the breaks and fills. Personally I'd love to hear more solos or shredding over the top of some chugging riffs, as in some of these pieces you use it to great effect.

I think the only problem I have with it are the vocals, the female vocals are out of tune around 90-95% of the time and my problem with the rapping is just personal preference rather than it sounding wrong. I know vocals can round songs off but to me they sound as though are hiding your abilities because they dominate the sound field. If you have an entirely instrumental release of this I'd like to pick it up; or at least hear some of your preferred tracks without vocals.

Sorry if you or your friends take it harshly but I think it's worth pointing out.

In summary then, vocals = no, everything else =

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that's cool man, nobody's taking anything harshly, after all we're all still learning.

The problem is, sometimes we were recording around their kitchen table with my laptop, and sometimes there were people drinking beer and watching . I think Leonie's an awesome singer, and could have done much better, but that was two years ago and we didn't practice the tracks much and thought we could solve everything at mixing. should I do another album anytime soon (which won't happen, since I'd rather do remixes and have my shit heard) we would discpline ourselves more.

Thanks for the comments though, I'm glad you took the time to listen

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Ahh fair enough, but don't stop completely with the original stuff even if it's just the occasional song. I'll be sure to check them out if I have a link.

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Nearly a year has passed since you posted that album, care to share any of your newer originals?

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I don't have any

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You should rectify that. LET US HEAR YOU RAWK