First of all, a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
I've been really busy of late, getting stuck into work after moving for the second time in 6 months. After fighting my way through walls of boxes and home remodelling, I'm now finally back on track with a vengeance.
Recent projects have included the Torture re-remix (I did the original remix back in July 2003) but Tom decided he wanted to re-record some stuff that had been irking him since the original tracking back in the late 80s, so this past July we went in and reworked some vocals and guitar stuff, and then I re-remixed the newly modified stuff. Anyhow, it's all done now (apart from the mastering) and hopefully will see the light of day in the early New Year through Escapi Music of Sweden.
The Degree Absolute stuff will be mastered in mid December by Alan Douches at West West Side and will have an early 2005 release through Sensory (The Laser's Edge). I'm REALLY looking forward to hearing this mastered. I had loads of fun working on this with Aaron, and I think many of you will enjoy this one a lot.
The new Usurper album, "Cryptobeast", will be out in Feb. 2005 on Earache Records. As always, this one was a total blast to work on - I love the Usurper guys...they are just completely nuts, and I always have such a great time working with them. A laff a minute, at the very least. This one's a big step up in energy and focus from the last one, and features new vocalist Dan The Complete Bastard..oops. I mean Dan "Tyrantor" Lawson on vocals and also the original drummer, Joe "Apocalyptic" Warlord back on drums. The album playback party at Delilah's here in Chicago the other night was insane.
A couple of days ago I received the mastered version of the Subterranean Masquerade album that I mixed back in September for The End Records and I am very pleased with the way it sounds. Not exactly sure of the release date on this, but I'm sure that has already been announced for the early New Year. Tomer is off travelling around the world - he's currently in Nepal, lucky bastard.
On a very positive *developmental* note, I recently heard some of the new Ion Vein stuff and it rocks. Although only rough demos, the writing is much tighter and more focussed than some of their earlier stuff in my opinion. Definitely a good progression. The guys are continuing the writing process, but this stuff promises to raise the Ion Vein bar a few notches.
I just finished the mixing of the new Force Of Evil album for Escapi Music. This features Hank Sherman and Michael Denner from Mercyful Fate on guitar, Hal Patino and Bjarne T. Holm from King Diamond on bass and drums respectively, along with Martin Steene on vocals. I enjoyed working on this one a lot - really good songs, great guitar riffage and solos, thundering drums and bass and really strong vocal performances. All in all, killer metal. This is being mastered in Sweden at Polar Studios by Mia Lorentzson in the coming weeks and will see the light of day in early 2005.
As a few of you have mentioned to me, I am indeed in talks with Tapping The Vein (in fact we've been doing a long-distance demo/songwriting back and forth for almost a year now) and the material is really coming along nicely. Hopefully we'll be in the studio in the not too distant future, which will be really exciting for me as I've been a huge fan of the band since hearing their last CD, and I absolutely love Heather's voice. Thanks to Rick - RBH for helping me get in touch with the band.
Last but not least, I'm getting ready to venture off down South to start work on the new Nile album in the next week or so. This is something I've been looking forward to for months now and it's finally almost time. The plan is to get the drum tracks done before the Christmas holidays, and then reconvene in the New Year for the next phase. I'm sure this one will satisfy my technical death metal cravings...
Neil K.
I've been really busy of late, getting stuck into work after moving for the second time in 6 months. After fighting my way through walls of boxes and home remodelling, I'm now finally back on track with a vengeance.
Recent projects have included the Torture re-remix (I did the original remix back in July 2003) but Tom decided he wanted to re-record some stuff that had been irking him since the original tracking back in the late 80s, so this past July we went in and reworked some vocals and guitar stuff, and then I re-remixed the newly modified stuff. Anyhow, it's all done now (apart from the mastering) and hopefully will see the light of day in the early New Year through Escapi Music of Sweden.
The Degree Absolute stuff will be mastered in mid December by Alan Douches at West West Side and will have an early 2005 release through Sensory (The Laser's Edge). I'm REALLY looking forward to hearing this mastered. I had loads of fun working on this with Aaron, and I think many of you will enjoy this one a lot.
The new Usurper album, "Cryptobeast", will be out in Feb. 2005 on Earache Records. As always, this one was a total blast to work on - I love the Usurper guys...they are just completely nuts, and I always have such a great time working with them. A laff a minute, at the very least. This one's a big step up in energy and focus from the last one, and features new vocalist Dan The Complete Bastard..oops. I mean Dan "Tyrantor" Lawson on vocals and also the original drummer, Joe "Apocalyptic" Warlord back on drums. The album playback party at Delilah's here in Chicago the other night was insane.
A couple of days ago I received the mastered version of the Subterranean Masquerade album that I mixed back in September for The End Records and I am very pleased with the way it sounds. Not exactly sure of the release date on this, but I'm sure that has already been announced for the early New Year. Tomer is off travelling around the world - he's currently in Nepal, lucky bastard.
On a very positive *developmental* note, I recently heard some of the new Ion Vein stuff and it rocks. Although only rough demos, the writing is much tighter and more focussed than some of their earlier stuff in my opinion. Definitely a good progression. The guys are continuing the writing process, but this stuff promises to raise the Ion Vein bar a few notches.
I just finished the mixing of the new Force Of Evil album for Escapi Music. This features Hank Sherman and Michael Denner from Mercyful Fate on guitar, Hal Patino and Bjarne T. Holm from King Diamond on bass and drums respectively, along with Martin Steene on vocals. I enjoyed working on this one a lot - really good songs, great guitar riffage and solos, thundering drums and bass and really strong vocal performances. All in all, killer metal. This is being mastered in Sweden at Polar Studios by Mia Lorentzson in the coming weeks and will see the light of day in early 2005.
As a few of you have mentioned to me, I am indeed in talks with Tapping The Vein (in fact we've been doing a long-distance demo/songwriting back and forth for almost a year now) and the material is really coming along nicely. Hopefully we'll be in the studio in the not too distant future, which will be really exciting for me as I've been a huge fan of the band since hearing their last CD, and I absolutely love Heather's voice. Thanks to Rick - RBH for helping me get in touch with the band.
Last but not least, I'm getting ready to venture off down South to start work on the new Nile album in the next week or so. This is something I've been looking forward to for months now and it's finally almost time. The plan is to get the drum tracks done before the Christmas holidays, and then reconvene in the New Year for the next phase. I'm sure this one will satisfy my technical death metal cravings...
Neil K.
