Listen to my album

[ESA1996]

Interesting song. It's a bit different stylistically than the others I think, but that's not a bad thing, variety is good so long as it's not a complete turn over which this is not. Probably the least gloomy song so far. One of the better drum arrangements too I think. One of my favorites alongside songs #2 and #5.

Favorite part of the song is the melody starting at 2:06

 

[ESA1996]

The 4th song is probably the darkest of them all, but I prefer the more modal songs. The melodies are easier to remember, when they're less chromatic. There are some nice parts in the 4th song too though. The part at 1:27 stands out. Really slow and gloomy. Sounds like doom metal to me (I don't listen to doom though so that might be way off).

 

[(__Joonas__)]

The 4th song is probably the darkest of them all, but I prefer the more modal songs. The melodies are easier to remember, when they're less chromatic. There are some nice parts in the 4th song too though. The part at 1:27 stands out. Really slow and gloomy. Sounds like doom metal to me (I don't listen to doom though so that might be way off).

That part (in song 4) has secret in the drums, it mimics sea waves crashing into rocks and flushing across the sand. For me the part starting 2:14 is creepy and atmospheric (and doomy), I fucking love it, very simple yet genious, it's like you can smell the putrid algae / rotting seaweed and sense the presence of an unseen danger lurking about. It really is a doom song in spirit (much more than black metal). The tritone thing closer to the end of the song, with that bass octave thing, is also quite moody. The intro I love too, it's short but sets the mood perfectly, also the outro. There isn't any material I dislike, if there was then I'd thrown it away.

Interesting song. It's a bit different stylistically than the others I think, but that's not a bad thing, variety is good so long as it's not a complete turn over which this is not. Probably the least gloomy song so far. One of the better drum arrangements too I think. One of my favorites alongside songs #2 and #5.

Favorite part of the song is the melody starting at 2:06

This song feels like doom / black fusion. That part you refer to is the refrain / chorus. You'd be surprised how it's played, it's quite weird, there's dissonance and a sweet melody both occurring to accompany the bass thing. I like how that bass covers the low and high register and has both dissonance and melody in it.

Then of course song 5 is stylistically in no sub-genre of metal at all. It's more about the spirit being identical, with no strict boundaries set by style. Out of all the bands I listen to I can feel unconscious influences from each of them, but it's all coming from within and I don't think there's any band that's similar.

It's a theme album with songs giving different aspects to complete the story - just like in a song you have different sections to form a complete story. I start an album by thinking what subjects / difficult emotions / memories I have to deal with, then find a symbolism for them, and they become song ideas. Then figure what is the common theme the songs share, so I understand what the album is about. Having ideas of songs before thinking about music (both the symbolic form and psychological form) helps me to separate musical ideas as each of the songs have a different vibe.

The next album will be far different in style and I've had a vision about it for quite a while. One thing I learned is I will make sure I have enough time to dive into a song, to come up with the foundation ideas on the same evening, this will make it much faster and less painful to put a song together. It will need to be more fluent.

 

[(__Joonas__)]

Love how I've literally silenced my critics...

 

[(__Joonas__)]

I've been having a vision for the 3rd album's style and theme for long now. But I have also another vision, and they clash pretty hard. Intention was to make it darker and more atmospheric than ever, but I've created a piece that can only be described as "zen black metal" and it's the coolest piece ever. So I'm in a thinking phase. What I know is it'll not be the same. It'll either go deeper into the Woods of Distress idea, or develop into something with maybe windwood pipes or choirs, with just one guitar. Sometimes I'm even thinking of making guitars baritone.

Maybe I should stick with what I have and make sure I keep up the spirit? And not plan themes before they emerge spontaneously?

 

[(__Joonas__)]

1:06 - the bass starting from here is one of the coolest and gloomiest things I've managed to do. This song's dirty and chromatic, but maybe the eeriest and darkest song ever made.

-

 

[(__Joonas__)]

I've found the style and atmosphere I'm looking for with my new material for a new song. It's got some of the heaviest, darkest stuff ever, without even using the lowest five notes in E-standard! This is fucking sick. Some think you can't do heavy, dark stuff in E anyway, or atmosphere without keyboard. I say it's all about creativity. Once you can listen to the subconscious source of creativity, it's not about equipment. I hope this album becomes what I've envisioned. Even I was suspicious, but this proves heaviness and darkness really is not about tuning, but the feeling and emotion created.

 

[NewHewkas]

New Woods Of Distress album's coming up?

 

[(__Joonas__)]

Sometime next Spring is the plan. I have a demanding work life, so that's a challenge. I need to find many evenings time to dive deep.

 

[Works0fheart]

Nice stuff. Glad your ambition with music has finally taken to writing. How's the hunt for real recorded instruments going though?

 

[(__Joonas__)]

^I've delayed the band forming till next Spring. Need to get this third album done without distractions, while the "iron is hot." I intend to make my true album now. I've finally discovered the style / atmosphere I desire, and the new song I've almost finished is the basis for the album. It's very witchy, dark, deep, atmospheric, grey, distant, metallic, eerie, dissonant, yet soulful to hum along with, like a dark bedtime story made flesh. It's stories of human emotions blending subconsciously with primitive forest mysticism. I use creativity to make heaviness in standard tuning, atmosphere without keyboards, and energy without insane speeds. If that's not bold I don't know what is. It has to be atmospheric enough to listen to while sleeping, but still in-your-face enough to play live.

 

[NewHewkas]

Ohh, since you mentioned you can not hire Henkaa due to the fact you are already the bass player I realised you need a drummer and a keyboardist, so maybe you should contact with Jaska & Janne. (If I recon right Janne once personly visited this forum occasionally 10 years ago or so.)

 

[(__Joonas__)]

I have the artwork, album title and first song ready, everything's so eerie and psychic. Wicked stuff, can't wait to unveil it one day. Now I can just dive deeper into the other songs, breathe life into them and see how they shape up.

^Tthere's no keyboards, it was purposeful to not take short-cuts in creating atmosphere (even tho they could easily be added as choirs over the guitars or pianos over bass lines.) That's a funny idea about the guys, but unrealistic for many reasons. It's gonna be a fresh band if it ever forms.

 

[(__Joonas__)]

I've been working on the new album every off-day I get, to the point of near depression when I rarely meet people outside my dayjob. Just can't do it in five minute sittings. It's been demanding crucial soulsearching for the style both in theory and practice, agonizingly slow I inch closer to it. The first song I made struck gold vein and it's likely the best song I've made, but I'm trying to understand my other songs / how to express the style of this album in seven different ways while holding onto the foundation mood. There's an idea for each of them, but I've been mentally over-burdened the last year so it demands inhuman 'meditation sessions' to try to hear the songs in my mind with all instruments. I'm gonna make sure I give it everything, to the point where it's so satisfying on a deep level it can remain the last album I ever make. I know I have it inside me. I've needed to reinvent the methods of creating the songs first abstractly and then trying to manifest it concretically.

The whole process is interesting, it's like formulating different psychic and symbolic ideas into the correct musical environment. The imagination has to stray off to various musical vibes, while still clinging onto the source feeling of the project. It's gonna sound like a dusty, crackling cassette tape lost in the 80's that uses a gray metallic sound to bring to life hymns from a forgotten past. I sort of try to think of the lead guitar as a sigh of cold wind from a distant past, and the other guitar as the moaning of neglected spirits looming over the voiceless forest, and so on. Then try to fit it into minor scale, as for me the shapes of harmonic minor seem too difficult to use flowingly... I won't let it confine the creativity to the point of killing it, so I may use passing tones and key changes. The charm lies in doing it without the shortcut of synthesizers, so I need to lure out more subtle spiritual moods, instead of just striking senseless chords for noise and laying a lullaby keyboard on top like many do. I need to understand this isn't supposed to cover all my musical tastes, but to have courage to go for one style, then spice it up, instead of doing many breeds of music and trying to make them fit the intended style. Maybe once the overthinking phase is done I should go blindly with instinct.

 

[(__Joonas__)]

Got another song finished some days ago, the opening track, it's the fastest I've done so far at 150bpm when my normal is 120 (even tho intentionally I try to make slower, around 110, as speed to me is kinda 'cheating to energy'), it's very mysterious, very fucking kickass, very atmospheric, still musically simple to play. Only thing I'm not satisfied with is how long it took to create it. Can't wait to let you hear the bridge especially, some cool and wicked stuff. This song's got five sections.

The other five song ideas are incubating and now I'm just gonna plunge into them one at a time. Hope to get them all done by summer. These two songs are beyond what I've done before and if the rest materialize as good it's gonna be an unforgettable album, so not gonna rush it. This album sounds venomous, mysterious and gray, it's like Hatebreeder / Burzum / Hypocrisy fusion. You won't believe your ears when you hear these songs.

 

[(__Joonas__)]

Yeah, third song ready, missing just one drumbeat. This one has a strong symbolic and psychological meaning as well. It's dark and gloomy in a hypnotic way. Some wicked stuff, maybe not the most unforgettable one, but this is such that I need to listen to it a lot as there are no annoying hooks, it's kinda rich in a dim way. Four others I've been developing equally and I just plunge into one at a time to make that final deep dive to dig out the song from the subconscious. I just went with the gut feeling with this one, while keeping in mind the idea. I see it as there are many ways to musically tell the story of this song and this is one of them. It's hard to "hear" the ideas sometimes, but when I can't hear them clearly, I feel them.

 

[(__Joonas__)]

Been thinking for a long time how envious I am for not having come up with these ideas myself, as they're the spirit I strive for. The only advice I can think of for myself is to remember to forget about technique and scale and (I write this every day and still forget it easily): hear the idea first, only then play. It's what I will try to keep in mind. Creativity comes from the mind, technique can easily become a hindrance; meaning I think too much does this fit into the minor scale shapes. I'm ready to include chromatic sections again if need be. Maybe I should try the harmonic minor, I think it would be more suitable, but I could never memorize those shapes. I've run into situations where the minor scale doesn't feature a shape I'd need, but the harmonic sometimes does.

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0:09 -

 

[ESA1996]

Most of the stuff I write fits into the natural minor scale, but every now and then I have melodies where by changing one note I can make it sound very "creepy" or "evil" and very often that one note is what turns it from natural minor to some mode of harmonic minor. As for remembering scales, I remember E minor all around the neck, I can improvise in A minor fairly fluently since it only has one different note to E minor, and I can improvise somewhat fluently in E harmonic minor, though again, I don't really remember it, I just compare it to E natural minor while playing and change all the D notes into D#.

 

[(__Joonas__)]

There really are several occurrences when I could not force an idea into the minor scale, as that one note would make it lose the intended feeling. Some would say in this sort of situation the beauty of music is to know when to break the rules.

 

[(__Joonas__)]

Time for an update. One song remaining out of the seven, and some arrangement for the sixth song. It's taken so much time, over a year, but it's incredibly spellbinding and eerie. I'm so satisfied with the midis it must be recorded eventually. It's darker, it's got interesting themes, drums are better, songs themselves are better. There's that psychological symbolism in the songs again and you'll be able to feel what they're about, the mood comes from somewhere deep so it feels affecting. Will take maybe a couple months more. I intended to give everything I have to voice to this album (ever since thinking the themes for the songs) so I'll never need to do another one unless I feel like it.