Lunar Strain - Half-amateurish sound. Would like to hear it with a better mix and some parts rerecorded.
Yep, Lunar/Sub remaster would be really interesting. You can already hear with Behind Space '99 and Clad in Shadows '99 how awesome these songs could sound with better production and parts rerecorded. I would love if The Halo Effect covered a Lunar Strain track - with Mikael and Jesper in the band the possibility is there - but I'm not expecting it as I think they'll be trying to distance themselves from IF for obvious reasons.
The Jester Race - Could be better I guess, but I think the weird guitar sound gives this one a lot of character and uniqueness.
There probably are some tweaks that could make TJR sound a bit better, but at the same time I don't listen to this album and think about how the production sucks. It works really well for the overall tone and atmopshere of the album. I'd leave it alone.
Whoracle - The guitar sound in this one is all over the place and a bit muddy. Also and more importantly, more competent drumming and better drum sound would do wonders for the overall impression.
I've always found it strange how Whoracle's production sounds so different to TJR, considering it's the same band, only a year or so later, with the same producer. Not like a whole lot had changed. Sometimes the more 'raw' effect works, but other times I'd prefer it to be a little more refined. It's interesting to listen to the Episode 666 demo, which better retains the TJR production values. I do think on some tracks (Episode 666 as an example, also Morphing Into Primal) Whoracle's production gives more power to the songs than TJR's production would have.
Colony - Sounds great, but the cymbal sound annoys me.
Listening to Colony and Clayman back-to-back you can hear how they tweaked the production to make the sound a little clearer. Colony production is still perfectly fine, but not quite as tight and precise as Clayman.
Clayman - Pretty much the best-sounding melodeath album ever... and then they fucked it up 20 years later.
Yup, not heard any album by any band that beats Clayman as far as production is concerned.
Reroute to Remain - Muddy sound and guitar melodies are buried in the mix. Works for the vocals though. Hides Anders inability to sing quite well.
I feel like at times the production nerfs the harsh vocals, making them sound more robotic than they should. It robs the vocals of their power at points, but considering how fucked up Anders' voice was at this point in time that might be for the best. Cleans definitely benefit from the production choice. As for the rest, it's well-known that they fucked up. Even the band admitted as much.
Soundtrack to Your Escape - Guitar sound is shit and drum sound is worse. As DE4life said, live version of this album shows the true potential of these songs. Although I still think I wouldn't like it too much even with normal production. Great electronics though...
Listening to STYE again recently definitely made me appreciate the electronics a lot more. Really well done. Better production would give the album for oomph for sure, but it's not like it's going to uncover any hidden melodies or solos. STYE is what it is.
Come Clarity - Pretty good, but the guitar sound is just too tiresome for my ears. More bass less treble I guess or something to that effect. Anders faked singing very well on this one.
The production of this one is very in-your-face, which generally works for the songs but is difficult to listen to from start to finish. Cleans and ProTools are integrated well into the album for the most part, but Anders' vocals on Come Clarity (the song) are really quite bad.
ASOP - Musically good, but the plastic sound of everything just sucks all life from these songs. Vocals would need to be re-recorded completely. Actually, I think this album would benefit the most from remaster and rerecording. Quite surprised some youtube IF fan didn't do it already.
As discussed, good ideas nuked by production choices and vocals. I actually think Anders could still do this one justice if he was motivated enough to rerecord it, but basically no chance of that happening. Schehf did some instrumental covers of ASOP songs and they sound far superior to the originals.
SOAPF - Good sound, but a would like more punch to the guitars. Sometimes they sound a bit thin and dry. Guess this was a conscious decision and works fine for some songs but not for others (A New Dawn is a good example).
Softer production here works well for the sound they were going for, but there are definitely some tracks which would have benefitted from a harder sound. Still, not an album I listen to and think 'production sucks'. It's fine. Also good integration of Anders & Autotune machine for this one.
Siren Charms - I don't even know where to start with this one. Would benefit the most from not being recorded at all in the first place.
Agree. Siren Charms is a half finished product in all respects, including production. This album needed a lot of reworking before being released.
Battles - No amount of remastering and rerecording would help some of these songs.
Guitar sound on this album is pathetic. Well, pretty much everything on this album is pathetic. Joke of a record.
ITM - Not great, not terrible.
Autotune integration in this one is often poor, especially in songs like Follow Me and parts of All The Pain. Guitars are an improvement, drumming & bass OK, vocals decent enough for the most part. Nowhere neaer their best but a step up from the previous two albums for sure.
