Christian Muenzner - Timewarp

[christianmuenzner]

Hey people! My name is Christian Muenzner, I play guitar for the german prog death metal band Obscura (on the 2 recent albums Cosmogenesis and Omnivium) and used to play in Necrophagist (on the album Epitaph). In 3 weeks from now we'll hit the road in the US with the mighty COB. Since I figured there are many guitar players on this forum, or people who dig guitar at least, maybe some of you might dig my recently released instrumental solo album called "Timewarp", some people say they can hear some earlier COB in some of my tunes.
Working with me on the album were Steve DiGiorgio and Jacob Schmidt (Bass), Hannes Grossmann (Drums), Daniel Galmarini (Keyboards), and it has guest solo appearances by Bob Katsionis (Firewind, Revolution Renaissance etc.), Per Nilsson (Scar Symmetry), shrapnel recording artist Derek Taylor (Eniac Requiem, Crimeny), Ryan Knight (ex Arsis, Black Dahlia Murder) and Alex Guth (Stormwarrior).

You can check out my music here:

http://christianmuenzner.bandcamp.com/

http://soundcloud.com/christian-muenzner

You can order the album directly from me (as explained on the soundcloud page), you can buy the digital versions on Bandcamp, Amazon MP3 and CD Baby, ITunes will have it within the next couple of days, physical copies will also be available on Guitar 9 and CD Baby soon.

 

[Muffin]

Self promotion of music that DOESN'T suck major ass and actually has members worthwhile?

Sounds great, actually, I like it

 

[Undefined]

I can't listen to this out of principle. There's only one Time Warp.

 

[TheKid]

Fuck yeah, been waiting for this album for a few months now

On the off chance you read this post, Omnivium was a glorious album

 

[Works0fheart]

Muffin pretty much summed it up. As soon as I read there was a solo album I was excited enough, and then to read all the people guest starring on it made me *DOING-OI-OING!*

Ryan Knight and Derek Taylor. That last one is a name you almost never hear about anymore, and it's a real shame, he's an amazing player.

 

[Leandro]

The mere fact that he's self promoting without pretending he's somebody else also says a lot!

 

[marfal66]

Sounds good, you also got yourself a nice list of kickass musicians right there, I'm considering buying this. Keep up the good work.

 

[Works0fheart]

The mere fact that he's self promoting without pretending he's somebody else also says a lot!

Agreed. I've had tremendous respect for him for quite some time. He's pretty frequent on youtube and goes around and watches people covering his songs and even gives them advice on how to play shit. It's always nice to see a great musician like that who isn't too arrogant to be social with his/her fans.

 

[The Emptier]

I've had this album for about two weeks, and honestly I can't say I like it. I was expecting so much more, because Obscura is my absolute favorite band. But every single solo lick was copped from previous obscura stuff, and the riffs themselves were lackluster, IMHO. There was some really cool stuff on it, but I wasn't blown away. Maybe I'll have to listen to it again.

 

[christianmuenzner]

I've had this album for about two weeks, and honestly I can't say I like it. I was expecting so much more, because Obscura is my absolute favorite band. But every single solo lick was copped from previous obscura stuff, and the riffs themselves were lackluster, IMHO. There was some really cool stuff on it, but I wasn't blown away. Maybe I'll have to listen to it again.

Hehe no probs man, you don't have to like it, everyone hears music differently, and I know some people expect different stuff from me, it's all cool. I only have to set one thing straight that you said, there are many many licks on this album I never played like this before in Obscura or any other of my recordings, there are many more different changes and tonalities than I can do in a band context as well, so saying that every single lick on this album was copped from Obscura stuff isn't really accurate at all. Actually the majority of licks is stuff I never played before. Of course those licks sound like me just as those in Obscura, as this is my style of lead playing. And many of those ideas on Timewarp go back to a time long long before I joined Obscura or Necro. Anyway, not trying to convince you here hehe, but I couldn't have gone to bed without setting that straight

 

[Macharius]

Sounds good. I can see where Dragonforce ripped you off.

 

[Works0fheart]

Kind of off topic, but still somewhat relevant, does this mean we'll be seeing more stuff from you as a solo artist or possibly touring on your own?

:edit: Also, I just checked out the Soundcloud songs, and I must say that I agree the first song is very Wintersun style. I actually kind of enjoy this stuff more than Obscura for as much as I love your work with them. I know all of these things may be a little much to expect you to answer, and I don't, but if you could maybe give us an idea as to what equipment you're using now, or even if you have tabs of either of those songs since I would really like to try my hand... er, hands at learning it. I don't see it happening honestly, but it definitely seems to be something great to practice never the less. Thanks again Christian, and sorry for the long ass post.

 

[christianmuenzner]

Kind of off topic, but still somewhat relevant, does this mean we'll be seeing more stuff from you as a solo artist or possibly touring on your own?

Right now I don't have any plans to do a second solo album, but I wouldn't say it's impossible, time will tell. It also depends if I can sell enough of the first one as it was quite an investment financially and I don't know if I can do that a second time without label support. As for playing that stuff live, I would love to do that, but I think a tour is financially and logistically impossible, maybe on some guitar oriented festivals I could imagine performing that stuff with a real band though. And I'm planning to do clinics/workshops/masterclasses in which I will also perfrom material from Timewarp.

 

[christianmuenzner]

Sounds good. I can see where Dragonforce ripped you off.

It's funny I hear that comparision at times. I don't listen to them or have any of their albums though, but I guess they have a lot of similar influences as me (80's Shrapnel guitar stuff, Dream Theater/Symphony X, late 90's Power Metal, extreme metal for the drumming etc.). It's probably because Maybe Tomorrow has a blast beat and harmonized guitar shredding on top of it which has become one of their trademarks, but I was basically just combining my influences which are not Dragonforce haha. Not saying they're bad or anything, but there are many older bands from that same genre which I like much more.

 

[The Emptier]

Hehe no probs man, you don't have to like it, everyone hears music differently, and I know some people expect different stuff from me, it's all cool. I only have to set one thing straight that you said, there are many many licks on this album I never played like this before in Obscura or any other of my recordings, there are many more different changes and tonalities than I can do in a band context as well, so saying that every single lick on this album was copped from Obscura stuff isn't really accurate at all. Actually the majority of licks is stuff I never played before. Of course those licks sound like me just as those in Obscura, as this is my style of lead playing. And many of those ideas on Timewarp go back to a time long long before I joined Obscura or Necro. Anyway, not trying to convince you here hehe, but I couldn't have gone to bed without setting that straight

Sorry I came off badly in that other post, long weekend. I listened to more of it, and I'm liking it a lot. Like I said, Obscura is my favorite and you're a huge idol for me. Omnivium is literally the greatest album ever. Keep it up, can't wait to see you guys this summer. I'm bummed you're not higher up in the lineup, but with a bill like that it's hard to put people above others

 

[Lowberg]

My band is an opening act on your and Dev's off date in Rochester July 18th. See you there!

 

[Works0fheart]

Keep it up, can't wait to see you guys this summer. I'm bummed you're not higher up in the lineup, but with a bill like that it's hard to put people above others

Hopefully they'll get a long set time, the last time I saw them with TBDM and Augury they played for a decent bit, but the opening band never usually does play that long :/ Makes me sad because they're probably the only reason I would really go to the show here. I'd like to see Bodom and Devin Townsend of course, but Obscura are easily one of the best bands I've ever seen live, it's disappointing they are going on first :/

 

[Altitudes]

I don't want to put you down, because the music is actually very good, but so much of it is flat-out plagiarism. I know it is hard to be completely original, but some of this is bordering on copying other songs.

 

[christianmuenzner]

I don't want to put you down, because the music is actually very good, but so much of it is flat-out plagiarism. I know it is hard to be completely original, but some of this is bordering on copying other songs.

? Wtf....None of my riffs, themes or solos are copied from other bands/artists. The theme in Endless Caravan is an intended tribute to Yngwie Malmsteen (very inspired by some of his slower instrumental tunes), but that's even admitted in the booklet and on the bandcamp description. Rocket Shop is inspired by songs like Greg Howe's Bad Racket or some Michael Lee Firkins/Joey Tafolla, as it's a fast uptempo shuffle with some mixolydian themes and soloing over static dom7 chords, but it's not like I copied any riffs or licks from any of their songs. You can hear my influences of course, which I don't consider a bad thing, but copying other songs is an unfair judgement dude. Just because you can hear the influence of someone in for example a solo does not mean it is plagiarised.

 

[Works0fheart]

So it's official, this is probably the best guitar oriented album I've ever heard :l Every song has a completely different feel to it and I can't say I've felt this inspired in quite some time. I'm buying it tomorrow when my check gets deposited.