------ ---------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | .......METALSCENE CENTRAL PRESENT'S........ | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ----------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------- ------ _______ ______ _____ _____ ___ ___ |\ ___ \ ___ \ | __ | | __ \ | __ \ / _ \ | | | \ | | | |__) / | |_\| | | \ \ | |_) ) | |_| | | | | \| | | __ < | / | | | | | __ < | ___ | | | | | | | \ \ | |_/| | |_/ / | | \ \ | | | | | | | |\ | | | /_/ |____| |____/ |_| /_/ |_| |_| |_/ |_| | | | / \ | |/ \| Issue 06/2000 http://metalscene.tsx.org galahad@netppl.fi / gregjesko@clds.net / rickhal@videotron.ca Contents: ---------- * Warning * Quick News * RED Music Disk: Spiritual Annihilation - Detailed Plan * Modulica Delayed * What It Takes To Be A Reviewer * Interview - Malekith * Song Reviews - Singles - Disks * Trends, Urls, and Stuff... * Tracker Development News - Fast Tracker 3 * Article(s) - Commercial Music In Demos * Tons Of Chiptunes * The Whatnot * Random Writings ----------------------------------------------------------------------- WARNING ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Surgeon General has determined that techno can cause Cancer, Liver and Lung Disease, Miscarriages, Unwanted Pregnancies, Low Sperm Counts, Brain Tissue Damage, Forgetfulness, Left-Leg Paralysis, Internal Hemorrhaging, Geekiness, Carbohydrates Deficiency, Negligence, Slow Motioness, Bureaucracy, Deforestation, Sexual Atrocities, Lack of Personality, Inflation, Heavy Machinery Malfunction, Anaphora, Plagiarism, Lying-to-Congress Disease, Gerrymandering, Incrimination, Schwa Deletion, Non-Confirmation Syndrome, Defenestration, Illiteracy, Sarcasm, Broccoli Overcooking, Frequent Defecation, Gossiping, Getting-Laid-on-the-First-Date Syndrome, Mass Extinction, Ozone Depletion, Global Warming, Gas Leaks, Hailstorms, Arms Race, Legs Race, Gender Confusion, Transexualism, Misunderstandings, Gibberish, Boredom, Nausea, Vomiting, Hyperbation, Hyperbole, Manuscript Loss, Anarchism, Liposuction, Unsuccessful Barbecuing, Gargling, BONKing, Mavisms, Talking-in-Third-Person Syndrome, Limosine Overcrowding, Elevator Stalling, Messianism, Low Scoring on Standardized Tests, PBS Pledging, PTA Joining, PTL Propaganda, S&L Bailouts, Deficit Spending, BL&T Indigestion, Armpit Enlargement, Proletarianization, Antidisestablismenterianism, Panic, Disillusionment, Asymmetrical Twins, Appointment Cancellation, Foreplay Disruption, Stuttering, Dogmatism, Bath Tub Clogging, Eviction, Infant Mortality, Cryptorchitis, Shistosomaisis, Nepotism, Baldness, Bad Spelling, Maximum Verbosity, and General Failure in Life... [source: BatMUD logout message, slightly edited version] ...so avoid it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- QUICK NEWS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * MODULICA Hakan Productions disk is still delayed. More later in this issue. * TMT BOARD Top Metal Trax message board system has been changed to same with MC. * INVASION Invasion will take place on Trax In Space StarChat. Date is 05.11.2000. More info can be found from TMT site. http://topmetal.cjb.net * FT3 FT3 early beta is available now. Download it if you want to test the stability of your system :). More of this later in this issue. * NEW GROUP Finally metal scene sees the birth of the new group. Currently members are Desperado and Necromancer. Name of the group is Confederates, interesting name by the way, and you can find their site from http://vulcan.spaceports.com/~confes/index.html * THUNDER GODS DISK The Thunder Gods group has been lurking in the shadows for a while now and they are finally gathering to create their first music disk. There has been very little about Thunder Gods in Red Rain, but when they release the disk, which is called Descentants Of Thunder, there will be more story about this group. If you want to know more about the disk already, check out Thunder Gods site: http://www.angelfire.com/ri/thundergods/frame.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SPIRITUAL ANNIHILATION - DETAILED PLAN ----------------------------------------------------------------------- If all goes well and I get a lot of songs for the R.E.D. music disk, I will try to make the double disk which would go like that the first disk would be death/grind/garage black disk and the second would be more melodic stuff. I'm not exactly sure how many death trackers there are currently and so I'm not sure if it's possible to do this, but I'm going to try. Also this is the main reason why two songs are accepted from each tracker because many of you do both kind of tunes. If it seems that this won't work, it will be a mixed single disk with several kind of tunes. DEADLINE: 31.12.2000 so it's time to track now! Send your tunes to galahad@netppl.fi ----------------------------------------------------------------------- MODULICA DELEAYED ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I get the question several days every week: "when is modulica released?" (or similar questions). The current situation is that all songs but 3 are completely finished. Those who are yet not finished are Amanojaku with For Whom The Bell Tolls, Hybrido with Creeping Death and Razor & Gutrot's cooperation cover Ride The Lightning. Originally Modesty Drummer should have made the Ride The Lightning cover, but at the first official deadline he hadn't even started. Now Razor has finished his tracking with Ride The Lightning and currently Gutrot is working with the vocals for it. So if you are not one of those four trackers I would appreciate if you found another subject to talk to me about on mail, IRC, ICQ, etc... ;) /Hakan ----------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A REVIEWER ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Since it seems that people want to join RR team quite easily, but after a while they easily quit. Reason for this is that they think it's some kind of a cool thing to be in MC staff, but when they find out that it actually takes some hard work and devotion they just give up. It's highly recommended that you read this before you send in your application. Tracking is certainly just a hobby and it's easy to quit it when you get bored to it. However, if you wish to do something more like be a Red Rain reviewer, you must be ready to take some real responsibility. You have to take your hobby to entirely new level, instead of just hanging around. You have to work for it, you have to keep schedule given to you by the main reviewer. Sometimes it may take hours of your time. Downloading, listening, writing and taking negative feedback you might get when you give a low score. You just have to handle it all in a certain amount of time. We won't recommend this job to anybody who gives up easily, because like in tracking, you become better reviewer with time and hard work. Here are some things we require from a reviewer: - Ability to be objective. - Will to improve personal work with every review. - Ability to complete work before given deadline. - Ability to comply to changes. - Above average writing skills. We don't expect a new reviewer to be anywhere close to that in the beginning, but those parts should be achieved in couple of months. With writing skills, I don't mean grammatical skills, but more like ability to write colorful and interesting reviews. Score is only 1/3 of the review, argumentation is definitely 2/3, so you have to be able to explain why the song got exactly that score you gave it. So far very few reviewers have managed to get my full support and respect. They worked long and hard and they all quit for entirely different reasons than just getting bored to it. Here they are just so you, who are now wondering if you could be a good reviewer, can check their writings and maybe learn something before trying your own wings as a reviewer. - Crux Humanus (First reviewer, later main reviewer, but mainly known as Red Rain editor). - Malakhai. - Dragon (currently main reviewer). That's all. I hope the new ones will become as good as those mentioned above and also that after this we get applications from those who are willing to do it for real. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERVIEW WITH MALEKITH ----------------------------------------------------------------------- _Malekith buffer saved on Sun Sep 10 00:37:05 2000 alright here we go.. <_Malekith> ok <_Malekith> :) Tell everything about yourself. <_Malekith> well... I'm a 17 year old French guy, I live in Paris... <_Malekith> I have been tracking for about 5 years Have you tracked only metal? <_Malekith> at the beginning, not :) but it never was released and never will :) <_Malekith> Since Dragon and Hakan organized the first BOTF, I almost only track metal... Hehe.. alright, how did you find tracked metal scene? <_Malekith> Well... just searching for "metal mods" in some search engine, I found MDO :) <_Malekith> Then I discovered about RED, I downloaded tons of metal mods... <_Malekith> and finally, when I started to release my stuff, I contacted some trackers/organizers Are you in any group currently? <_Malekith> I am in Moonstorm, but the band hasn't been active for a long time :) <_Malekith> Now I am thinking about making my own group, but if I ever do, it will be after my disk's release... Oh yeah, didn't you join almost at the same time with Razor? <_Malekith> yeah I did :) <_Malekith> and after that I released Sacrifice..., I offered it for the group, yet they didn't add it, don't ask me why :) Ah, alright, you already mentioned your disk (which *SHOULD* be out when this interview is published), tell your own comments about the disk. <_Malekith> It is an epic metal disk, mainly inspired by Rhapsody :) So some of you will like, some of you will not :) <_Malekith> It contains vocals by Cadaver, guitars by me (but I don't know if I will use riffs or samples) and choirs recorded by me <_Malekith> there are 9 songs, so far 6 are complete What equipment you use to do samples, didn't you just recently changed betrayer's to your own? <_Malekith> yes I did... I use a Squier Stratocaster-clone, and a Zoom GFX-707 fx pedal for the distortion... <_Malekith> I plug this into a Peavey Rage 158 guitar amp, recorded using a mic... all this is, of course, cheap stuff :) Heh, do you have any future plans after the disk? <_Malekith> I will probably make a tune for the RED disk... <_Malekith> and there is also that group project... but since this year, studying is supposed to be quite intensive, I don't know what I will actually do. Do you have any other influences than Rhapsody? :) <_Malekith> yeah, Iron Maiden :) Figures :) Any favorite trackers? <_Malekith> well, Cadaver... he makes real songs with vocals, and I think he has managed to develop his own style :) moreover his songs are funny...:) <_Malekith> I also like my good old Betrayer mods, Tarantula, Razor... Your opinion about what is the most important thing to make a good metalmod? <_Malekith> hmm... hard one :) I think one of the main weaknesses in metalmods I hear is their structure :) Interesting asnwer, could you explain a bit more? <_Malekith> they're just a bunch of patterns stuck together... Of course it can be good, but when there are verses, solos etc... ah <_Malekith> it sounds better, at least you can remember some parts of the song <_Malekith> instead of listening and saying "what's that s--- ?!" :) <_Malekith> see what I mean ? Yeah I see your point there <_Malekith> that's also why I like Cad's songs :) So what's good and bad on tracked metal scene? <_Malekith> what's good : I think sound quality is becoming better and better <_Malekith> now, a good mod can sound better than a cheap demo... <_Malekith> and lots of mods now have vocals, which seems very important to me :) Anything bad? <_Malekith> Well... I would say there could be more originality... <_Malekith> but now I like most of the songs I get :) Ok, do you have any comments to the end of this interview? :) <_Malekith> no, but one question : have you ever heard of any other French metal tracker ? :) Hmm, I think I haven't :) Where they're lurking? <_Malekith> I don't know... I hope they find their way here soon, but anyway, thanks for interview <_Malekith> you're welcome :) <_Malekith> you didn't ask the ritual question about fave drink ? :) heh...alright... tell us :) <_Malekith> well... beer or vodka, it depends :) <_Malekith> yet in France, we don't get drunk as often as you seem to do :) beer? I have always thought that wine is number one in france <_Malekith> yeah, but I don't really like wine... <_Malekith> and when you get drunk with wine, the next day you're really bad :) maybe you're just different french ;) alright, I think we are finished with this :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SONG REVIEWS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Singles : ========= Khali - Stars Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 7/10 ----- Very nice, very nice. What a cool opening melody. The guitars are lo-fi in this song, and so is the keyboards, drums and everything else, but it's like a real CD track that was transferred in 8bit 22kHz or something. There's also some lengths, and some repetitions, but there's great melodic movements in this song. I enjoy it even though it has some flaws. ----- URL: http://koti.mbnet.fi/~khali/Stars.zip ------------------------------------------ Taurus - Sea Of Hidden Emotions Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 8/10 ----- This a softer, different approach here for Taurus. Nice piano melody with great guitar background and drumwork. The title and the music go together. Though a great song with skillful tracking abilities, it does leave me with a taste of unfulfillment, whatever the hell that is. What i mean is that i'm usually waiting for more with Taurus, because he always impressed me. Maybe i'm setting the bar too high for him. :) ----- URL: http://personal.inet.fi/hima/ville_e/zips/emotions.zip ----------------------------------------------------------- Einherjar - Helijagd (c64 tune) Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 7/10 ----- Ok. I never owned a c64, and i never heard c64 tracks, but i had a Radio Shack coco2 TRS-80 thingie when i was young, so I vaguely remember that old comp music feel. I imagine playing a game with this music, and i'm sure it must have been great. It reminds me of a Nintendo song too. I like it, weird samples to try and capture the feel of the piece are needed, so i won't pick on that. It resembles a Judas Priest song in some bits. It's overall pretty enjoyable. ----- URL: http://personal.inet.fi/musiikki/einherjar/Helijagd.zip ------------------------------------------------------------ Matofly - Catch My Disease Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 8/10 ----- This is kind of in the same vein as Matofly's other great song FLOOR. I enjoyed floor so much, i still play it often. It's easy to detect some DREAM THEATER influences, as well as a style of tracking that resembles PYRAMADH. The overall mix is fitting pretty well together, and the orchestral keyboard arrangements (the xylo too) are well inserted, but even though the virtuosity is there, floor has much more originality. Still, another great, great piece by this interesting newcomer on the Scene. ----- URL: http://www.geocities.com/matofly/Catch.zip ----------------------------------------------- Neomancia - Whispers Through The Woods Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 7/10 ----- There's not much to review here, but still, this could make a cool intro or outro to something bigger, but it's weird that it's release on its own. Very well tracked, melodic, with a lot of good elements, but ... Anyway, download it, it has cool arrangements, and it lasts longer than some punk or BM songs. ----- URL: http://www.traxinspace.com/Music/Songs/downloadfile.asp?SongID=42763 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dormant - Vampyrerna... Extreme circus madness Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 5/10 ----- Hehe, it sounds like when you enter the Kobold's cavern in QUEST FOR GLORY 1, Hero's Quest: so you wanna be a hero? The the Kobold gets angry and starts playing Black metal. Hahaha... I like the soft parts, but i'm not much for that angry yelling. ----- URL: http://hem.passagen.se/ersum/vamp.zip ------------------------------------------ Axeslash - In My Hate Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 8/10 ----- A very well tracked effort, with some good vocals, though they're sometimes too loud. The echoey effect is very well achieved though, and the drums and guit are very evil and well done. Everything sounds good here... ----- URL: http://io.spaceports.com/~axeslash/axe-hate.rar ---------------------------------------------------- Pantheon - The Last Blaze Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 7.5/10 ----- The skilled Pantheon comes up with a very nice melodic ballad, with some more speed near the end. Nice orchestral arrangements again, nice feeling through the piece, and good riffing and soloing. The thing that i dislike about this song is that the guitar seem to low in the mix. But it's a good song, just not Pantheon's best. It's well worth the download anyway. ----- URL: http://www.traxinspace.com/Music/Songs/downloadfile.asp?SongID=42592 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sahaj Maituna - Fourth Dimension Exists Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 8/10 ----- Nice intro and arrangements at the beginning, then the whole thing turns mysterious, with an evil laugh in there and a slow bit with hapsichord again (this is coming a very popular trend). Then it switches again, with nice melodies, almost ambient, with keyboard solos in there, this is an interesting song indeed, but weird in some parts. Still, it's very well done. Cool outro... ----- URL: http://members.xoom.com/potrancksz/files/fourth.zip -------------------------------------------------------- Aeuk - Pull The Plug (Death Cover) Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 8/10 ----- OK, so it's a cover of a band i don't know, but everything Aeuk does, it is always an Aeuk track, in my opinion, regardless of the fact it's cover or original. Lo muffled guit over a standard drum and bass filling. We have vocals in bonus here, and they fit the style perfectly, very demential stuff, that i'm beginning to enjoy. Lead guitar is very special, this is one of the best Aeuk songs, so i'll give it an 8. ----- http://members.xoom.com/tombmaiden/death.zip -------------------------------------------- Axeslash - I Damn Thee Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 7/10 ----- Oh, gregorian chants, shweeeet... But a weird song. A lot of keyboards again, and good BM/DM drumming. A lot of mysteriousness and some inspired riffs, but it's still weird. It is well tracked and arrangements are pretty solid, but the song idea is weird... Weird, weird, weird... 7. ----- http://io.spaceports.com/~axeslash/axe-damn.rar ----------------------------------------------- Cadaver - Shepherd Of Goats Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 8/10 ----- Some slow evil blackmetal, like the master said. He did something different in this song, which i think is refreshing. Not only is Cadaver a great tracker, he always comes up with different stuff, so we don't get bored with the same ol' same ol'. This is a simpler, more riff oriented, and the vocals are fitting perfectly again, though they're lo-fi, but that's Cadaver's trademark. I enjoy this song still. ----- URL: http://www.student.oulu.fi/~loorni/mods/shepherd.zip --------------------------------------------------------- Aeuk - Crucificados Pelo Sistemas (Sepul.) Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 7/10 ----- Since Aeuk proposes two versions of this song, i decided to do a parallel comparison between the two. Sepultura cover, a band i'm just starting to get into, a lot of me listening to Sepultura has to do with this very lovely girl i see quite regularly and that i like a lot. :). A very short song, 1:07. The Normal one is good, it sounds a lot like Sepultura, and it is well tracked. The Lo-fi one is sounding more like good ol' Aeuk, but i prefer the first one, especially in the vocals, because they're less annoying. Get both version and do your own comparison. Do it, it's fun. ----- Normal - http://members.xoom.com/tombmaiden/aeuk-s1.zip Lo-fi - http://members.xoom.com/tombmaiden/aeuk-s1b.zip -------------------------------------------------------- Aeuk - Death Funk (Zombie Mix) Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 8/10 ----- This is one of the songs in the Finish Zack's song contest. It's an interesting paradox, cause Zack and Aeuk have very different styles. Of course, there is more of Zack than Aeuk here, but i think Aeuk does a great job of filling up the guitar duties, without intruding too much on Zack's original idea. This is a great combination. ----- URL: http://members.xoom.com/tombmaiden/aeukzack.zip ---------------------------------------------------- Warlord - Wormwood Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 6/10 ----- This is weird, but different. The main letdown is in the arrangements, the instruments seem all bulked together in an unintelligible substance, and mostly we don't hear the drums very well. The crashcym is very annoying. But i think the vibe Warlord wanted to attain is probably there, and also i've seen worst songs, so i'll give it a 6. ----- URL: http://www.nettilinja.fi/~jaakkola/wormwood.zip ---------------------------------------------------- NordavinD & Hakan - Rushrose Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 8/10 ----- Well folks, it seems Hakan is doing vocals nowadays (regularly i mean). And he even writes lyrics. I should know, i helped him correct his english mistakes :). Anyway, for a start, we have a great in-flames like metal song by NordavinD, that was already reviewed in RR if i remember correctly. Also, we have some good vocals, not too shabby by Hakan, so the whole thing, and the interesting lyrics, deserve an 8. ----- URL: http://www.crosswinds.net/~nordavind/rushrose.zip ------------------------------------------------------ Warlord - 10 Barrels Of Beer Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 7/10 ----- This is interesting. It does have vocals slightly too loud, but i have a tendency to do this in my own mods, so i won't pick on it too much. It's some sort of Viking Metal, like Warlord said himself in events. An interesting little song, well tracked and with an interesting melody that i enjoy. ----- URL: http://www.nettilinja.fi/~jaakkola/10barrel.zip ---------------------------------------------------- Aegis - Sunt Lacrimae Rerum Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 7/10 ----- It's been a long time since Aegis didn't release some stuff. He does pull off a nice soft little song here, with some lacking in the rhythm guitars, that we almost don't hear until about the 1:00 part. They sound ok, but then they fall back to the background again. Strange. Also, some vocals would be needed, to make this less repetitive. It's a good effort, but i remember Aegis to be better than this. ----- URL: http://members.xoom.com/theblind/Aegis/music/ag_sunt.zip ------------------------------------------------------------- Warlord - Haunting Apparition Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 7/10 ----- Warlord says this is a kind of punk tune, but i incline it more toward Viking Metal even if it has some punkish elements, like some sort of BM Bad Religion. It's pretty enjoyable, and has very good guitar. It's kind of quiet, but i like it. ----- URL: http://www.nettilinja.fi/~jaakkola/w_haunt.zip --------------------------------------------------- SVB - Another Friend Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 6/10 ----- Alterno-industrial-bm kind of mix here, by SVB, this is pretty weird shit, but it works as some background soundtrack of some kind. It has good intriguing vocals and is well tracked, but it lacks some elements, like a structure, a purpose. And it has some weird sound effects that are a bit annoying. This doesn't move me too much as a whole. ----- URL: http://www.traxinspace.com/Music/Songs/Download.asp?SongID=42404 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Pantheon - The Final Darkness And The End (vocals) Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 7.5/10 ----- I think this was reviewed without vocals, correct me if i'm wrong. The song itself is good and well tracked, and the vocals are evil and echoey, kind of like coming from a toilet. They don't fit the song particularly well in my opinion, but since they only complement it, it's not too bad. I'll do a 7.5 for this one, it's worth downloading, but i'll stick with the instrumental version. ----- URL: http://www.traxinspace.com/Music/Songs/downloadfile.asp?SongID=41970 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Orionmodz - Deathknight Warrior (CoB Cover) Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 8.5/10 ----- Cover of another band i don't know very well. Those who love the band will probably love this, and i find it well tracked, with great guitar and nice harpsichord. It even has some xylophone, an instrument not heard often in metal. I like every part of the song, i should check out the real band. ----- URL: http://www.traxinspace.com/Music/Songs/downloadfile.asp?SongID=41823 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crow - Strange City Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 8/10 ----- Very nice little melodic songie. I like it a lot, it has great guitar, and a funny drum sound. This is original, not too complicated, maybe slightly repetitive, but not too much to my taste. Nice work by Crow. And it has replay value. ----- URL: http://www.traxinspace.com/Music/Songs/downloadfile-show.asp?SongID=41590 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pantheon - Aurora At The Guarden Of Dolour Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 9/10 ----- This is another very well tracked song from Pantheon, orchestral metal you could say, but it's less poignant than other songs i've heard of this style. But there's no bad element to the song, it's like in IceLizard's case, it's good but nothing incredible. ----- URL: http://www.traxinspace.com/Music/Songs/downloadfile.asp?SongID=41072 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Khali - Amidst The Silvery Trees Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 6.5/10 ----- Some melodic stuff, nice, but the mix is rough. Some elements are too much behind, like the drums mostly. And again it's nothing we haven't heard before. The lead melody is nice though, i must admit. And the middle part is interesting. ----- URL: http://www.traxinspace.com/Music/Songs/downloadfile.asp?SongID=40463 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pantheon - Secrets Beyond Sleep Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 8/10 ----- Very good song, well tracked, with some cool elements. The overall sound is just perfect, nice arrangements. What more can i say, it's a standard, well done track, with some energy and good simple riffing. ----- URL: http://www.traxinspace.com/Music/Songs/downloadfile.asp?SongID=40595 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Armageddon - F---ing Corpses Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 5/10 ----- Well, BM. Standard shit, with above average drumming, nothing else too extraordinary. Short and sour, you could say, with evil toilet vocals, classic stuff really. Fans of the style will love it, others might bypass downloading totally. ----- URL: http://www.traxinspace.com/Music/Songs/downloadfile.asp?SongID=40875 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Black Tiger - Greed Bastard Reviewer: DRAGON Score: N/A ----- It's an MAD TRACKER song and it doesn't seem to wanna play. hmm... ----- URL: http://www.traxinspace.com/Music/Songs/downloadfile.asp?SongID=40944 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- LabRat - Silencer Reviewer: MURHAQ Score: 6/10 ----- Again another song with Betrayer's samples... well it isn't bad at all, tracking is ok, but sounds a bit too repetitive without vocals. Melodies are a bit too common in my opinion. Well, nothing special to say about this one. Typicial stuff a la metallica/in flames :) ----- URL: http://mir.spaceports.com/~labrat/modules/silencer.zip ----------------------------------------------------------- Aegis - Gothic Electric Reviewer: MURHAQ Score: 8/10 ----- This song is simply great in my opinion! Melodies were really catchy and moody, and there isn't really nothing bad in this song. Tracking itself is good, drumwork is really good. Clear samples made it easy to listen. Sounds maybe a bit like The Kovenant and somehow like Pain, but still kinda original and really moody. With vocals this one would be even better! ----- URL: http://members.xoom.com/theblind/Aegis/music/ag_goth.zip ------------------------------------------------------------- Sahaj Maituna - New Generation Decadency (re-release) Reviewer: MURHAQ Score: 9/10 ----- Somehow strange song, i don't really like this style, but it was musically quite good piece! And tracked very well, but isn't as catchy as some simplier ones with good riffs. Alot of different influenses together, Some parts sounded a bit like Korn, others like japanese geisha music, and some parts like jazz :) Tracking was good as in all other Sahaj Maitunas songs too! After all very good song to everyone who likes music with alot of different styles together. ----- URL: http://members.xoom.com/potrancksz/files/ngenerat.zip ---------------------------------------------------------- Cadaver - 300 Days Of The BOFH Reviewer: MURHAQ Score: 3/10 ----- Hmm, not really what I expected from Cadaver.... :) It really sounds like manowar/im/or some other rock band. Well, simple song afterall, tracking wasn't nothing special, but solo was good one in this song. Nothing much to say about this, if this was ment to be jokesong, 'runkaten munaa' was that but this really isn't. ----- URL: http://www.student.oulu.fi/~loorni/mods/300days.zip -------------------------------------------------------- Khali - Astray At The Astral Oceans Reviewer: MURHAQ Score: 6/10 ----- Fast blackmetal style with synth intro, which was really good and majestic sounding, but simple. Other parts were medium-fast typical 'mosh'blackmetal, quite common but catchy riffs. Tracking itself were good, expect drums were a bit repeatable. Nothing bad but nothing special. Synth intro fits rest of the song good, that makes it still raise a bit from grey mass. In my opinion Khalis other songs are much better than this one, but was still quite enjoying piece. ----- URL: http://koti.mbnet.fi/~khali/Aaoceans.zip --------------------------------------------- Fuzzer - You Will Die Reviewer: MURHAQ Score: 4/10 ----- Slow blackmetal a la Immortal, with gruntvocals, riffs were simple and so. Hell, I don't know anything special to say about this kinda songs, decent song as it's kind, old underground stylish blackmetal, download and listen! ----- URL: http://phobos.spaceports.com/~mikkop/UWILLDIE.ZIP ------------------------------------------------------ Buried & Asushunamir - Deceased Reviewer: MURHAQ Score: 4/10 ----- Hmm, strange songs. Asus'es vocals were really different than in his songs, hmm, those aren't really his best vocals. Tracking is fine. But that leadquitar sample (or whatever it was supposed to be) sounded really like some cheap Casio-keyboard. Some faster parts sounded like some heavy metal. Drum work was decent but nothing special. ----- URL: http://www.geocities.com/ephel.duath/deceased.zip ------------------------------------------------------ Armageddon - For A Dying Kiss Reviewer: ARAGORN Score: 8/10 ----- This songs intro is just fantastic (but a bit too long). You could see the thunder strike everywhere and the wind blowing trees from their places. I had a picture in my mind about a man walking in an old cemetary while there was a great storm over him. After the intro a lead guitar joins the song and then starts the Black Metal part...damn! After a really great intro the artist really fucks it up with this part. In some parts the rhythm guitar and the lead guitar sound awful together. In the intro the samples were great, but i didn't like the samples in the Black Metal parts. The ending is more melodic and it sounds good, but there are still some samples that just doesn't go together. But still the intro is one of the greatest and most atmospheric intros that i have ever heard. ----- URL: http://www.geocities.com/kpagan_1999/dyinkiss.zip ------------------------------------------------------ Dragon/Hakan - The Wicker Man Reviewer: ARAGORN Score: 9/10 ----- I was wating for someone to track this song and here it is! The quality of the tracking in this song is just brilliant and it sounds just like the original. The chorus isn't as massive as it is in the real, but it's because of the lead guitar and the vocals. The samples are a bit too MOD like, but Dragon has done a great job tracking with them. The drums sound just like the original. Only big minus this song gets, is from the quality of the vocals. Dragon isn't as good in singing as he is in tracking and i REALLY hate those growlings that Hakan had made...they just don't fit to Iron Maiden's style. But i really want to say that Dragon has made a great job tracking this song. The drums, guitars, bass and the solo are just like the guys from Iron Maiden would have played them!!! Only big minus comes from the bad vocals. ----- URL: http://members.xoom.com/rickhal/wicker.zip or http://members.fortunecity.com/rickhal/wicker.zip ------------------------------------------------- Gutrot - Döda kristus Reviewer: ARAGORN Score: 4/10 ----- Another Punk stylish song from Gutrot only this time with almost none of those Black Metal vocals. This reminds me of Dead Kennedys (an old punk rock band), but i don't think that many of you know it. The style of the samples are almost the same as in Gutrot's Röst Från Helvete, but i don't like these as much as the others. The song starts with a cool slow part then it switches to cool sounding fast melodic punk song. The songs length gives it a BIG minus, because it's barely over a minute...i've seen intro songs that are longer. The vocals are cool, but again i didn't have a clue what they meant. The vocals quality isn't so good, but it doesn't matter cause i think that Gutrot sounds good enough to fix that problem! A cool song, but too short and the vocals sample quality gives a little minus. ----- URL: http://members.xoom.com/moonfreeze/mods/kristus.zip -------------------------------------------------------- Gutrot - Röst från helvetet Reviewer: ARAGORN Score: 6/10 ----- Hehe, this is a funny song! The song is a totally new style: Black Punk Rock. This is a good idea to put in Black Metal vocs and mix them up with fast Punk Rock. It's just a bad thing that the artist hasn't succeeded in it so well. The guitars are his own and they are cool and they fit greatly to the rest of the songs. I tried to understand the vocals, but my swedish isn't so good and i didn't have an idea what he was singing about. A lot of minus comes from the part that the song was just barely over 1:30, and it just ends before you even get started on listening to it. Some good parts where the melody changes from fast to slow, but mostly the song is really fast. Still there is something that i just didn't like in the song...can't just put my mind to it. ----- URL: http://members.xoom.com/moonfreeze/mods/brutus.zip ------------------------------------------------------- Assassin - Sear Me III (MDB-cover) Reviewer: ARAGORN Score: 7/10 ----- It's really hard to say that if this is a good song as a cover, 'cause i haven't ever heard the original. I haven't actually ever heard any My Dying Bride's songs. Well because of the reason that i haven't heard the original ever i'd have to say that this is a really DULL song! The rhythm guitar plays a nice melody, but you kinda get fed up with it when you listen to it over four minutes. The nice drum fills are the only parts that save the song from full dullness. The samples are OK and the tracking is done really nicely (as you might expect from Assassin). The drum samples sound really cool and Assassin has done a great work with them too. One thing that i really miss are vocs, but as Assasin said in the song info: "I tried to make vocals for this too, but man they sucked!". Nicely done song still and the samples quality really saves the song from a bad rating!!! ----- URL: http://neptune.spaceports.com/~assassin/home/sear.zip ---------------------------------------------------------- AssAssIn - B.F.M. Reviewer: HYBRIDO Score: 7/10 ----- This is a typical neo-blackmetal song, à la Dimmu Borgir. Very good sounding and the whole song is very well tracked. The only thing I miss in this one is some good vocals or instead of that, more melodic stuff. The best thing about "BFM" is the sound on the guitars. Very nice, very nice... ----- URL: http://neptune.spaceports.com/~assassin/home/bfm.zip --------------------------------------------------------- Corpse - SPLASH Reviewer: HYBRIDO & DRAGON Score: N/A ----- This is no metalrelease, and I donİt think it fits in Red-Rain. Therefore I wonİt give it any score... Even though it's not metal, it's on the board, therefore there must be some kind of reason. This was submitted by i don't remember who, as kind of memorabilia. I won't grade it either, on the basis that i'm fucking tired and should go to sleep. ----- URL: http://www.znatoki.com/~emu/temp/dnd/SPLASH.S3M ---------------------------------------------------- Aeuk - Weird Rain Reviewer: HYBRIDO Score: N/A ----- This is no metalrelease, and I donİt think it fits in Red-Rain. Therefore I wonİt give it any score... Even though it's not metal, it's on the board, therefore there must be some kind of reason. I won't grade it either, on the basis that i'm fucking tired and should go to sleep. And that title Weird Rain, Red Rain is weird, so it belongs here :). ----- URL: http://www.traxinspace.com/Music/Songs/downloadfile.asp?SongID=39425 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mephisto - The Knight Who Said NI"! Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 8/10 ----- This is cool, it's a mix of style, melodic orchestral and some riffs like Metallica's BELL TOLLS, just a hint. And i detect some other similitudes with other songs i can't recall exactly. So it's a great song, but the overall volume of the mix is maybe too loud. ("Then just lower the volume, you dumbass"... :) ----- URL: http://www.traxinspace.com/Music/Songs/downloadfile.asp?SongID=39883 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Warlord - Unchained Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 8/10 ----- Very well tracked song, riff bassed, nice overall sound, vocals a bit too loud and drums a bit too low. Nice funny opera voice :). This is different to say the least. I like it, there is a hit song here, with some work in the lacking areas of it. ----- URL: http://members.xoom.com/bloodredsky/Unchain2.zip ----------------------------------------------------- Aeuk - Gasping For Air Reviewer: HYBRIDO Score: 2/10 ----- As most of you know AEUK has recently done a lot of Autopsy covers. This is another one called Gasping for Air. As I hardly ever have heard Autopsy I canİt tell how accurate this cover is. One thing is for sure though, I donİt like it at all. The guitars sounds more like a distorted bass than like a guitar, if there really are guitars. The drumwork aint very interesting either, and doesnİt sound so good. Maybe I donİt like Autopsy, or maybe this cover just donİt give the real song a fair shot. ----- URL: http://members.xoom.com/tombmaiden/aeuk-a8.zip --------------------------------------------------- NordavinD/Hakan - Everlasting Cruelty Reviewer: HYBRIDO Score: 5/10 ----- I havenİt heard much from NordavinD before, though if I donİt remember wrong he had another nick some time ago. Canİt recall what though... This one is kinda strange, I believe itİs suppossed to be some kind of melodic deathmetal.Itİs reminds me of old "In flames" but this one has some stupid vocals that even "Anal Cunt" would be afraid to release. Sounds like an angry bear trapped inside a waterfilled basement. Very dark vocals with other words. The sound of the guitars is typical Betrayer samples. Not bad, nor good, but very very boring. Thereİs not much to say about the bass and drums cause you kinda donİt think of them. Anyway, the song is very repeditive and becomes boring after a while. Some more riffs wouldnİt harm at all... ----- URL: http://www.crosswinds.net/~nordapoika/cruelty.zip ------------------------------------------------------ Disks : ======= Einherjar - Behind the time Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 9.5/10 ----- This is weird, it's a disk with all the songs in the same XM file. I don't know if it's proper to call this a disk, but what the hell... The first part of the 11 minute chunk of music is very intriguing slow metallica like intro, with lo-fi clean guit, a bit too modlike, but the overall arrangements are very interesting, so are the lead guitars and drumwork. It reminds me a lot of The Call Of Ktulu, but it has original elements. The second part has more rhythm, as is also very well tracked, with nice drumming a guitars. Well done, this is very intense and deserves a very good score. Just a ride cymbal unrealism and some weird bass guitar in some parts keep this from perfection. Very interesting shit. ----- URL: http://personal.inet.fi/musiikki/einherjar/Behind_the_time.zip ------------------------------------------------------------------- Dieheart - Warchian Blood Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 9.9/10 ----- Same thing as above, multiple songs in one single XM. Very nice keyboards arrangements, i must oblige. Very nice harpsi, this reminds me a lot of DR. FAUSTUS, but the work is much more solid. Guitars are very Cadaver like, drumming is better than what Cadaver usually comes with. The first part is totally kick-ass, this is again very close to perfection, very intense and i totally like it. The clean guit in the slow bit is a nice touch. Nice solo, with only minor glitches, but not too much. Second part, more solidness, very intense again, this whole thing is fitting dramatically well together, it's fucking brilliant, it just smells masterpiece. Also, even though we have no vocals, we don't need none, it works perfectly as instrumental. Third and final part, a nice tempo, interesting, more rock, kind of like some kind of FUTUREAL, with a bass only bit and some softer elements. Clearly the best thing i've heard on the Scene in a fucking long time, the ideas, the melodies, etc... Almost perfect, ... but perfect for my taste anyway. ----- URL: http://www.traxinspace.com/Music/Songs/downloadfile.asp?SongID=41949 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Buried - Musicdisk Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 7/10 ----- This music disk with no title contains three tracks, two originals and one Hammerfall cover. The first track called 'Break The Chains' is a shy heavy number, with a nice mixture of drums, bass and guitar, but the guitar is a bit too much in the background. Leads also leave a lot to be desired, but overall it's an ok track. The second track is Hammerfall's 'Child Of The Damned', a very good cover in my opinion, but with the absence of vocals is maybe not as good as it could have been. Apart from a few little things in the guitars, like unrealistically stretched rhythm in some places and no solo, it's very well done. Actually, the song works good without a solo. Third track is very different, and the guitars sound very lo-fi. The keyboards are very annoying, but the drums are well carried out. It's the weakest track though. This is worth the download, mainly for the good Hammerfall cover. ----- URL: http://www.geocities.com/ephel.duath/disk1.zip --------------------------------------------------- Murhaq - Dark Divinity Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 7.5/10 ----- This is a three piece disk, by Murhaq. The first song is a nice little intro, very enjoyable dark and gloomy. The second song is 'Chained In Pain', it starts very slow, then Soul Saver sings on it (his vocals get better and better), and we have a fast paced song with good arrangements. Not bad. And the final song, bearing the disks title, is another slow starter. Then it explodes in a very heavy track, with same kinds of arrangements, well done, but with some stretched samples in the guitars. Overall, this is enjoyable, but nothing new really. But it's one of the better kind productionwise, even though there some better stuff out there... ----- URL: http://ajatollah.hes.iki.fi/murhaq/music/Dark_Divinity.Zip --------------------------------------------------------------- Ari & Blue Shade - In Dreams Reviewer: DRAGON Score: 8/10 ----- What we have here is one of the most professional disks on the Scene, done with complete mastery by Ari and Blue Shade here. It's also huge, and divided in two packs containing 3 songs each, for a total of 6. Three by each of them. Ok, enough with the math. The first piece is a very mysterious intro that develops into a very nice instrumental track, by Ari. The guitar sound both in the rhythm and solo is one of the best i've heard in a long time. Second one is by Blue Shade, a kind of Cadaver type song, with a more melodic touch, and solid guitars again. 'Tonight The Sky is Calling Me' has Blue's first vocals and they are very good and well recorded in my opinion. The third piece by Ari starts as a ballad, and sticks with it. Very troubling lyrics and some kind of opera vocals, very special. Rhythm guitars are lighter, but the tracking and other elements are in the front row to make this a very solid piece, so that minor setback is not hurting the song too much. Vocals are good, but could have been better quality. Fourth track, the first of the second pack, gosh the math, 'Silent Woods, Frozen Paths' by Blue Shade, is the cornerstone of the disk in my opinion, very similar to some of Black Sabbath's darkest and softest moments. Everything comes out shining in this one, except maybe the rhythm guitar, but it's not too bad. The vocals are low clean, with some growls. Nice double feature. Fifth track, 'Division Of Inheritance', by Ari, has some nice oriental keyboards, and a whole 'Nomad' vibe. Vocals are sometimes weird, with the accent and rhythm, but they are good. Lead guitar is awesome in this one, it has some recorded solos i think. Excellent work. Final track, by Blue Shade, 'Somnus' something, is a solid outro, with nice guitar and solos, and it finishes a disk that is excellent and shows a great dual/duet between two excellent trackers, but it could have been longer, we wanted more. Maybe a seventh song made by the both of them, or something, would have iced it. ----- pack1 - http://members.nbci.com/darkwritings/fp-id1.zip pack2 - http://members.nbci.com/darkwritings/fp-id2.zip ------------------------------------------------------- Next Red Rain will include : =================== Cadaver - MW3 Musicdisk Aeuk - Tribute To Autopsy NordavinD - The Suburb Of Heaven And Hell Ansgaros - Cromm Cruaich (Skarf) with Vocals Tap - Plex-a-flex Axeslash - The Brutalist Axeslash - Born In a Cell Cadaver - Toxic Enema Frozen Eyes - Where Worlds Collide NordavinD - Death v.2 Warlord - Born Of The Cold Void Fuzzer - Gone (cn5 entry) Aeuk - Brain Taste Aegis - Nightmares Coming Warlord - Fading Memories Axeslash - R.I.P.P.E.R. Aragorn - Under The Mask Daoloth - Hatemonger Daoloth - Infectious Human Waste Daoloth - Jojo the Monkey's Theme Daoloth - Strawberry Cake Selected Lines (remix by Mikke, originally by Assassin) CroW/Cadaver - Forest Of Elves Nightkill - Leatherpantmetal ----- And much much more... Peace! DRAGON ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRENDS, URLS AND STUFF... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- by : Dragon Like any Scene out there, our beloved Metal Tracking Scene has developped trends over time, and I thought it was a good subject to debate on. Whether trends are good or bad to the Scene or its followers is varying from a great number of different opinions, so we won't get into that. However, we can easily notice a few of those trends and try to document them. I sense a lot of humor coming to me now, so before we begin this journey, let's deal with one small matter concerning URLS and Trax In Space. Since I took the job of Main Reviewer for MC, i've been doing a lot of downloading. I found it quite easy to do, except for a few URLS, or types of URLS. I'd say about 80% of the urls listed on the Events Board are no problem at all. They are of a pretty blue color, and when you right click them and do 'save as', they bring up the directory window and you have a wonderful 'song.zip' file waiting to be saved. Then they take a few minutes and never bother you again. Splendid! But, there's another 20% of them which are a pain in the arse, to say the least. There's five types of those problematic URLS. The first one is the unclickable URL, that you have to copy and paste in your browser. Sometimes, that's a minor setback and it saves perfectly, but more often than not, they don't work. The second one is the URL that points to an html file. What's that, i don't know, i think it would be best if everyone made sure they at least have a correct URL to provide. The third type is the Trax In Space URL. Sometimes, the URL is rightclickable, and savable, but some other times we absolutely have to go through the TiS download page, and that's just dreadful. It's like going through customs before boarding a plane. As Hakan told me, this has to do with the 'downloadfile.asp' part of the URL, that is somehow replaced by 'downloadfile-show.asp'. People should try and avoid that, even though sometimes the download page works ok. That leads me to the fourth type, the not-working TiS download page, which make the browser crash. When i get to this one, I give up on the URL completely. And the fifth and last type of problematic URL is the invalid one. Hey, sometimes, the URL is a valid one and it's just the server it's on that's fucked, i can understand that and often i retry them later and they work, but sometimes it just is invalid. Some solutions to this would be to check the urls yourself, after you post them online, and if they don't work properly, repost them. I'll be happy to remove the not working message from the board afterwards. Also, it would be cool if people from our Scene would stop using Trax In Space as storage and sign up with a free server, at least for the songs you want reviewed. (Aren't we supposed to boycott TiS?) But if you must use TiS still, please can you try and use the 'downloadfile.asp' correctly so that we reviewers are spared from the dreadful TiS download page. Also, try to totally avoid the HTML files, or plain XM, IT or S3M files. Please post zip files, or rar files if you really really must, or MO3. Nothing else if possible. Since we now review the whole board except MP3's, it's becoming a hard job, a fun but hard job, especially for those problematic URLS, so we will start to be more selective with URLS in the future. Thanks in advance for your cooperation, and it won't only help the reviewers, but also the standard mod downloader that comes to our Scene. Ok, let's get back to our topic now: Trends! There is three or four trends that everyone can notice. The first one i'm thinking of is the IN FLAMES like melodic songs using Betrayer's samples. There was a time when one of two songs sounded exactly the same, had almost the same melodies and song structure. Some of the most professional songs are from that bunch, and also some totally awesome, but the trend was getting too big and some trackers had to rethink their whole style, like IceLizard for example. His latest songs show that he's trying to change for the better. I think the Betrayer pack is not completely responsible for this trend, i think this has more to do with the fact that everyone wanted to do a song that sounds like a Betrayer song. Every good thing is good in moderation. NiC provided the scene with great samples, but they fit only one style or seem to fit only one style. People use them for melodic metal only. Why not try and find different ways of using them, or at least mix them with other samples, or not use them in EVERY song we make... A second trend that's quite noticeable nowadays is the over production trend, or the Autopsy cover trend. The man responsible for this is Aeuk. He makes the less productive trackers out there (like me for example) more lazy. Hey, he has more releases in one month than some of us have in our whole mod tracking career. Gee, i wonder where he gets all that inspiration and motivation... Of course, i think soon he will have covered all the Autopsy songs that exist, but still... I wonder... The fact that this is a trend is that some other trackers are becoming overproductive too, like Warlord, or Assassin. Warlord said so himself. But even though we slow trackers feel totally unproductive, the more mods we have the better. At least Aeuk, Warlord and Assassin produce some good songs so it's not too bad. A third trend, one that seems to be dwindling now, is the use of techno instruments or industrial instruments in a good number of metal mods, like that Morfeus song called 'Addicted To Own Feces', or S. Von Berzerk's songs, among others. It does give a strange new dimension to metal music, it kind of reminds me when Rammstein's Du Hast came out. Along the same line of trendiness, there is a lot more of those orchestral arrangements, or classical instruments like harpsichord, flutes and such in metal mods, be it LIB's great work, or Cadaver's Dr. Faustus, or Dieheart's farewell disk. I think it sounds pretty good to mix up the recipe a little. It's a nice kind of trend i think. Finally a fourth trend that has been there from almost the beginning, it's those BM goblin like toilet vocals, that are difficult to decipher even when you read the lyrics while listening. You're not sure if the are toned up, down, or if the vocals are at the original pitch. It's like reliving the Gremlins movie all over again. :) The most early song i can recall is 'Flying In Ravenform', by Cadaver. I'm sure there has been some of those vocals before, and i know there's been a lot after. These guttural regurgitations are very evil and sound as if spoken in an unknown satanic language, they fit the most brutal and hellish kinds of BM, DM or whatever. We can call this one of the big trends, but it's not much trouble, because those who like it love it, and those who hate it avoid it. The only thing i wonder is why bother writing lyrics if we can't understand them anyway, but that's only my opinion. Something like: "Hail Satan, wwrrrrraaaaaaahhhh..." is pretty harmless anyway, more often than not i bypass the whole lyrical and vocal aspect of the songs and study the music, at least for reviews. I'm sure there's quite many other types of trends going on right now, that i haven't thought about, maybe some of you readers can bring them to my attention for a future article. Meanwhile, i must share my appreciation of the Scene, now that i go through every single release or disk release and listen to all of them. I believe that we are becoming much bigger, and that the sound quality and professionalism in the songs is greatly improving every day. Also, even though there are some trends that show up from time to time, the overall originality is not suffering too much. The IN FLAMES trend is maybe the dullest moment in the Scene's history, since it kind of equalized a good chunk of the releases, but now with all the people recording their own samples and people providing numerous sample packs and stuff, we have a lot more diversity in the sound. As for originality, well some people do more covers than others, but if we speak only in matter of original releases, you can always pick up similarities between songs and artists, and you can pick up some of their influences, that's true in any Scene. In this modern age, it seems everything has been done once. What's important is the personal twists that the artist brings to his material. It's important to focus on the personal elements when doing a song, otherwise people don't remember you by. So all in all, this is a great Scene to which i'm proud of belonging. I'll try and be more active in the releases department if i can. Peace! DRAGON ----------------------------------------------------------------------- TRACKER DEVELOPMENT NEWS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Fast Tracker 3: --------------- After reports of unofficial Betas being leaked by Beta Testers of FT3, the developers have announced the official release of the first public version of FT3. The entire FT3 project has been met with mixed opinion, with some even angry about the fact that the program is associating itself with the original Fast Tracker. This is seen as a disrespect to Triton, the original developer of Fast Tracker. Others are simply excited to see a new program released under a name that they recognize. People who have tried the Beta also have mixed opinions. Again, you have anger from those whose system do not meet the requirements of the program. (PII or better CPU, Win9x/2000, DirectX 7.0, Video Card with a decent ddraw support) They don't list any memory requirements, but one user with 64MB reported that the program said that he didn't have enough memory to run it. Others are happy to see something other than screenshots of the program, but as one user put it: "It's [a] very [early] beta as they state everywhere, so I take it more or less like a moving screenshot.." It seems as though people are glad to see it released, but do not think that it is stable or useful enough to use seriously. "I've been using FT2 for countless of years, and it's hard to teach an old dog how to sit..." "I think I'll keep using my favourite Modplug + Ft2 combo. Ft2 under keyboard shortcut for instrument, sample editing and basic tracking, Modplug for tracking and final optimalization." The official site has more information about the features of FT3, and is the only place for the moment that you can download the official Beta. FT3 web site: http://chanka.planet-d.net/ft3/main.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- COMMERCIAL MUSIC IN DEMOS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- an article by Ohad "civax" Barzilay There seems to be a new trend lately in the demo scene. Some groups use commercial music for their demos, and they do it GOOD. We're not talking your B-class demos, made by newbies or by side groups (I'm trying to avoid the word 'lamers'). We're talking about A+ class demos, winners of respected demo parties, where everything - but the music - is totally original and was hard worked. Every time a demo like this is released, a huge debate is taking place around comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos and around the web. These demos break one of the most basic rules of the demoscene - 100% original work. I went out to look why have the scene started to see - and accept - more products like this. Before we continue, I suggest that you'll go and watch several of these demos. Get at least 'State of Mind' by Bomb and 'Just a touch of funk (a little bit)' by Digital Murder. Seeing these demos will give you an idea about the quality of the demos we're going to discuss. Another thing you should notice, is that all these demos are coded as video clips. They're very aware of the music, the rhythm, the beat. Not your usual 'we'll sync the music and demo only to change between scenes' demo. First, I wanted to hear from the groups themselves. I have chose to email Bomb, Popsy Team (for VIP2) and Digital Murder. Up to this point I haven't received Popsy Team's answer, therefore I will not relate to them in this part. Both groups claims the lake of professional music in the scene was the main reason. "If we chose a commercial music [ ... ] it's the result of a lack of "GOOD" musicians in the demoscene..." Say Carlos Pardo (Made) of Bomb, "I don't know if we are the only [group] to suffer from that, but when we have to design something, our first ideas spark mostly from professional music and what we have to work it on computers, there are just very few musicians left on scene. I mean people that can really express feelings with a personal touch and pro-sounding." Cyril Corvazier (Hulud) of Digital Murder offers another perspective: "The basic concept of this project (civax: the demo 'Just a touch') was to make a video clip with singers, dancers and MTVlike fx. Then, we have decided to make a demo with a real funky spirit, with music of the beginning of the 80's. This kind of music was played live, without any electronic devices. Rhythm boxes and sequencers came some year later with electrofunk. So, we have chosen to take a commercial mp3 to have the right 80's sound for the demo, with a kick ass black singer." Throwing this issue to the air on comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos (the demo scene newsgroup) lead to an interesting thread basically claiming 2 main things: 1. Scene Musicians are only producing trance / techno / electronic music, where as a lot of demo groups are interested in Rock / Funk music 2. The overall quality is mediocre at best, if not worse, and this refers to the electronic gamers. Good Rock / Funk / Jazz tracks are almost impossible to compose with the equipment most hobbyist trackers use (basically a computer and few over-used samples). In addition, an increasing number of groups wish to have lyrics in the demo they're creating. It adds another dimension and enhance the demo, say the people supporting it. As most scene musicians have limited access to studiom equipment and professional singers, the best they can do is record a friend in a room and hope there won't be any serious noise picked up. It's part of the fun, indeed, but it does not produce professional sounding track. The debate on csipd went on to focus on other things (as usual), mainly if it is possible or not to create non-electronic tracks on a computer with equal sound as studio recorded live instruments. An interesting issue we might pick in another article. However, some good arguments pros and cons were listed during the discussion which I'm about to present. Seems most people understand the benefits of using a commercial track - It has got clean sound, the music is professionally made and will apply to more people. This adds to being easy to pick (We hear commercial music all the time and picking a really cool track is fairly easy) and already available to inspire you while coding. The real issue was whether or not it's ok to place it in a demo. Was it giving an unfair edge? Frans Bouma sorted the cons quite well: in a competition for a price, groups who don't use commercial music don't have professional music and the advantages of commercial music over amateur music. So it's not fair competition. most of the time the artist performing the music didn't agree on using the music, which makes spreaders of the DEMO equal to pirates who spread illegal MP3's of the track it's not fair towards the great musicians who are in the scene. As each coder and (3D) graphician wants their work used, a musician wants his tunes in a demo. If more and more people start to use commercial tracks instead of good music from the scene musicians, it will demotivate. This has always been the case among musicians: too many tracks composed, too few of them used in top notch productions. A musician will not get attention by the scene crowd when he just places his mods on a website, he will far more get attention for his work when it's used in a demo. Again, things are open to personal interpretation. For example, The claim that trackers wants to be in a demo just like artists does met the claim that trackers should start doing tracks and meet the commercial standards, which seems the scene is on the verge of adapting. "Things are changing" said one of the guys. However, one serious point is still valid - The distrobution of the demo becomes illegal. This demo will not be inclouded in collections CDs as in all cases there is a use of commercial music without permission of the copyright holders and adding to that, the music is a regular MP3 that can be taken even without the demo. This poses a serious question infront of demo groups wanting to use a commercial MP3 in their demo. Things changing not only regarding sound. "How about the old scene concept about '100% original work'. Do you think it should change?" I've asked Carlos Pardo (Made / BOMB) in the little interview we had. "Interesting, but utopic." answers Made. "100% original works....it sounds funny when I remember my favourite demos, I see copied pictures, ton of commercial samples and most of the time improved but copied effects. If you decide to do something, you have to do it for "real", or just fix the limits that were never fixed for the last 15 years. So, I can count on my fingers the 100% original demos, so I don't worry very much about that concept. It's just that sceners are a very, very conservative community and they never liked changes... remember the fights about 3D / 2D ? 3D accelerated demos ? scanned pictures? DOS/WINDOWS demos? .MOD versus MP3? samples ripping ? today nobody say nothing about a demo with scanned sprites in the corner of the screen (CNCD style) with a 3D accelerated scene and a MP3 with tons of samples on it." Made took the whole issue a step further by implementing this is just a stage in the evolution of the scene, and not just a temporary hype. Is it really the way to look at it? Or was Jim Leonard (Trixter / Hornet) right by summarising this in saying "Call me crazy, but I've always thought demos were about creativity. Using someone else's music isn't creative -- it's a music video. No matter how inventive and amazing the demo is, it doesn't change the fact that you ripped the music"? Is it a temporary trend or evolution? Each of us will make his or her decision, and only time will tell how many of us thought the same. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- TONS OF CHIP TUNES ----------------------------------------------------------------------- You really can't be sure what you find from the net next. While going through possible news for this issue I ran into a site that actually distributes chip tunes only. Site is very professional looking and has all it takes to offer. Since some metal trackers do some chip tunes it would be good for them to report their tunes there. However, you should note that they don't accept all tunes automatically. It's a selected collection of finest chip tunes(?). Take a look if you're interested. http://www.chiptune.com Currently there are over 2000 chip tunes online. Later note: There's also a web site that offers old amiga hits to the public including legends like Sid and Chorus. I bet most of you have never heard of those guys. Check out the site if you're interested. Mods In Memoriam: http://www.mono211.com/st-00 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- THE WHATNOT ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay.. this is my little piece of RR where I speak. Until finished this will be the place to find detailed info on SS (formerly GPlayer). On with the show. Question: What happened to the name? Why the change? Gplayer was good? Answer: Yes. I liked the name Gplay/Gplayer also but it was already taken believe it or not. It may be in an unknown spot but someone got to that name before me. GPlay can be found in the MIDAS Sound System library - a C/C++ programming library for working with modfiles and other sounds. Has been very popular with the demoscene in the past. Question: Okay.. so what's the new name then? Answer: Sound Summoner. I asked a while back on the message board for suggestions and got quite a few. Kosmikko came up with this one and I liked the sound of it so Sound Summoner it is. If you don't like it.. oh well. Question: And where's a new version? What's the progress report? Hmmm... Answer: Lots of news actually. The following list shows what's been added or changed or fixed: - added:: multifile select - added:: mp3 tag viewing - added:: cycle through playlist from main player - added:: repeat options - added:: sound settings (khz, stereo/mono, bitrate) - added:: track # and order # labels - change:: config is in registry - change:: playlist is always used - fixed:: bunch of bugs revolving around playlist - fixed:: when adding files to playlist then sound would sometimes switch to mono playback - enhanced:: playlist now shows what type of file (IT, XM, MO3, etc..) The above only shows some of the stuff. There will be more detailed info in the readme file (you DO read those don't you). I still need to polish up the sound options and get started on a much needed eq. There is also a feature I'm not going to let everyone know about - only the testers know. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- RANDOM WRITINGS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Changed the name of this part since "corner of thoughts" sounded stupid when I thought of it afterwards. I don't have much to say this time. Sucks really, because this issue is going to be rather small. Hard month, nothing special happened, unless you want to consider FT3 beta release as an special event. About that "To Galahad" message on MC forum. Here it's plain and simple in english. Me and Einherjar had a real supercool idea to meet in the local metal club called Woodoo. We just happened to mention in a irc chat that we were going there on the same evening and wanted to meet, anyway, after Einherjar told me that he lost his cel phone for the weekend I was quite sure that it will never work. And it didn't. Woodoo was so full of people that I wasn't even able to order beer without waiting for half an hour. With very small chance that I would see Einherjar there I decided to change the place and so my visit was only around 10-15 minutes. That's it, maybe next time. Anyway, now Axeslash knows what was going on in that thread on forum. One other thing. I'm sure you have noticed that MC site hasn't been updated for a while. Reason for this is the fact that metal scene has been very quiet lately and I'm just sick of updating every small detail like one new ICQ number or one new link in there. Update is coming soon and all you who have sent your links and UINs and stuff will be there, so be patient. Hmm.. I think that's pretty much all this time. - Galahad ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Red Rain issue 07/2000 release: 15.11.2000 (dd.mm.yyyy) -----------------------------------------------------------------------