How would you describe your original compositions?!

[Katalepsy]

I just gotta know, those of you who write original material, what band(s) would you say most or all of your stuff sounds like. I personally write a lot like older Evergrey (Recreation Day and everything prior to).

Take note:
I think anyone who claims that their music is unique is lying to themselves, because you usually play and write in the styles that you listen to, and that being the case, there's nothing you can do that hasn't already been done, I'm sure. So in responding to this thread, do not say "It is very unique." Because chances are, it isn't. Just lettin you all know that before you say something is unique

SO, let's hear what you all have to say! I'm interested to find out how people write music, and what they base it on.

 

[LT]

I write in a lot of different styles, because I am a fan of pretty much everything except for rap, hip hop and punk. My band has written some songs that contain prog elements, jazz, blues, rock, thrash, power... The band I am in has a wide variety of tastes in music and I work well with a lot of people because of my liking of almost all music genres.

We're walking on a project now too, writting songs for each book of the Dark Tower series... it could be amazing if done right.

 

[XeroX.]

I sound like... mmm if romeo joined cannibal corpse and jason rullo`s head was on cannibal corpse`s drummer body... i kind of sound like that

i know ill be attacked for this... but its actually how i sound...

 

[dargormudshark]

My band is pretty much a mix between SX,DT,Adagio, Evergrey, and Kamelot. But we have alot of other big influences like Kansas, Yes, King Crimson, Soilwork, Mike Olfield, Genesis, PoS, Magistral and alot of others.

 

[the_satanic_rabbit]

For my old band the stuff I wrote sounded like a mix between Death/At the Gates/Deicide, yet more melodic than all three. The cool thing was the other dude that wrote material was into Pantera and old Metallica and stuff that "grooves" more. Makes for a pretty good combination.

Now my stuff sounds like a mix of old Exodus, Poison, Kenny G, Al Di Meola, and Morbid Angel.

 

[Necramentia]

my friends say that my orchestral stuff sounds like it should be in a horror movie...i dunno...it's really just non diatonic progressions (which i fucking love) and all sorts of melodies...

 

[Yngvai X]

Like crap...theres no other way to describe it



Seriously tho...I think the most prevailent influences that pop up in my music are Rage, Symphony X, some Bodom, and various other bands/musicians/composers I might be inspired by at the time.

 

[Katalepsy]

Though most of my work is very VERY Evergrey-ish, Sym X and DT kinda stuff seems to pop up every once in awhile. I usually try not to think of any bands/musicians/composers when I'm writing a song, otherwise the song will end up sounding remarkably similar to such artists, although it does help a lot sometimes. Off and on I might listen to a song, find a tab for the song, and work with the riffs to find a good note progression to use, while not necessarily "COPYING" anything, it just gives me a good basis to start off with.

 

[PRauhala]

Shadow Gallery. In some songs churgh things like in adagio. symphony x melodies and things. some hard parts like planet x... andromeda.. many bands

 

[dargormudshark]

when it comes to composers I'm really influenced by: Beethoven, Sibelius, Bartok, Bach, and Holst.

 

[seed2003]

like lots of different crap from hendrix to malmsteen lol

 

[cryptakeys]

Hmmm...the latest review of our band's demo compares us to mid-career Fates Warning and SymX ( you can read it by clicking HERE ) but I joined the band after that material was written and we've developed a different sound over the past nine months or so. I'd say that my personal writing incorporates elements ranging from Elton John to Richard Anderssen to Gunter Werno to Michael Cretu...just a lot of influences in a lot of different styles. When you add a guitarist who is influenced by Romeo, Malmsteen, Skolnik, Vivaldi, Bach, etc. and a drummer influenced by Portnoy, Zonder, Macaluso, Chambers, etc. it becomes this amalgamation of styles that fit together wonderfully. We're actually going in a heavier direction now (hooray!) and incorporating more neoclassical elements into the songwriting process.

 

[OfSinsAndShred]

My band: Zeppelin, Van Halen, Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam, Deep Purple - we have all those in common. My bass player's into Grateful Dead and lots of jam bands, drummer's big on all that stuff and extreme/prog/power metal. Throw all that together, and rock guitar solos by a fan of Romeo/Yngwie/Becker... it makes for an interesting mix.

My stuff on my own. Sorta prog, mostly power and very neoclassical kinda stuff. A lot of Symphony X, and I'm told Adagio influence, but I don't hear the Adagio much. And all the classical stuff I like pops up a lot.

 

[shadowimage]

I would have to say that we are a cross between Symphony X, Adagio, Cacophony, Dream Theater, and King Diamond. We all have different styles, and try to incorporate it into the writing process. Anyone interested, can check us out at www.shadowimage.net.



Tom S.

 

[Guitardeth]

When I write riffs I usually try to catch the same feeling as other riffs, not that I use the same notes, chords etc or the same intervalls, but I try to get the same expression.. a.e. Inferno 02:30 before the chorus is a great example. I wanna go from heavy chew to a common chordprogression 1 octave or so above the key. I listen to that part of Inferno a few times to get filled with the idea and then I start to create something that fits my song.

But when I jam I just mess around from anything between progressive metal and thrash to jazz and pure hardrock.

My compositions sounds very different, although at least I can hear some re-occuring parts that I'm unawared of when I play.. I'll buy some equipment at the end of this month to start my home-recordings and hopefully I'll be able to show you what my music sounds like.

take care!

 

[theunforgiven246]

mine are if black label society and yngwie had a miscarrige.

 

[Thraxz]

Utter crap. I'm a newbie and am trying to write music with less knowledge than a child does of his X-box. I'm just getting the hang of playing the guitar, period. So naturally my stuff will be horrible. If I ever really get a cohesive song written it would sound like heavy prog. Basically, I'd incorporate SyX and early In Flames. For some reason IF's (Jester Race) solos wrench emotions out of me like you would water out of a sopping wet chamois. SyX simply drops my jaw so.. imagine a "good" (depending on who you are) combination there.

 

[MorphineChild205]

It sounds like a giant melting pot of my major influences (Symphony X, Dream Theater, Rush, Megadeth, Nightwish, Armored Saint, etc).

 

[RR1 Player]

Lately I've been writing stuff that sounds like old video game music

Like the end of this one:
http://www.geocities.com/mynameisandrew2/frozen.mp3

 

[GuitarVirtuoso_X]

My music can only be characterized as a "perennial orgasm".