Wicked Breath

Devil Is A Loser And I'm That Bitch...

2012-01-16T23:38:00.000+02:00

Emophobics beware.

It's confusing how thin the line between happiness and sorrow can be. Just a few days ago I was spending the best time of 2012 so far, and now I'm faced with rock bottom once again. It's not an unorthodox event for me, not at all as of January 2011 really. I feel so empty and I want to express myself badly. Sometimes my songs or writing a lyric/poem helps, hence why I haven't posted these things here all that much. And I've never wanted this blog to become a full-on angst attack - I want to keep things somewhat based on my works and contemplating, and while angst might occur with those two enough already, it's never as much in the forefront as it could be.

However, sometimes music or writing poetry is not the solution. Frankly, I've reached a weird state in my musical progression in which I can pick up the guitar and come up with a riff or two, even a song, in just a matter of minutes. But whether whatever I come up with is good or not is another story entirely. Most of the time it does not fulfill my standards and craving for better and better musicianship and creativity. Often these tend to mold into phases when I might not come up with anything satisfactory for weeks, and then boom, I have three new and rather finished songs done for my next album or EP in just a few days. Some would say this is natural - writer's blocks are common for every artist, no matter the field of art. But why do I get the feeling there's more to it than just that? Why does it seem that everytime I'm on a certain mood nothing seems to be good? This is not about the actual material - it's about how I feel towards it. Why can I write perfectly suitable and good songs but not like them myself? This applies to lyrics.

Anyway, that was a bit off-topic but just something I wanted to address. What I really wanted to say with this quick and spontaneous post is God I'm a loser. My self-esteem continues to suck worse than it does for about 98% of people, I'd guess. And can you blame me? My social relations are nothing short of disaster. I care too much about people who I either should not care about at all or who don't care nearly as much about me as I do about them. The few people that actually do care about me significantly get nothing but shit from me. There are no exceptions and although I acknowledge and hate myself for this situation, I can't seem to help myself and fix anything. Then there's obviously my love life which is getting more and more nerve-racking by now. After confessing my feelings to a certain someone two months ago my feelings haven't exactly cooled off, let alone disappeared. I still suffer greatly from what I see, hear and feel from her. Or what I don't feel from her, I should say in this context. Moreover, I'm starting to witness strong emotions for someone else, and this is where it gets REALLY interesting. And goddamn frustrating. While this scenario is not as desperate and unlikely as the other one, it's still something that has its major and minor issues. Of course, every life situation has issues, but concerning this one the issues still overcome everything else. The biggest of them all is perhaps the fact that I'm just too selfish too much of the time, I am who I am and can't (accept) change.

My school success is falling drastically, too. Particularly in non-linguistic theoretical subjects my latest grades are awful for me, and below average even on the normal scale. I'm not sure if I'm too distracted by everything else in my life, if things are just getting too hard for me to understand, if I'm running out of time or if my studying techniques are failing. What I do know is that if things progress this way, my only hope profession-wise is linguistics. Something I had already turned my back on... And something that's barely risk-free. How fantastic and ironic is that for someone who dreams of becoming a semi-professional musician?

My future is terrifyingly shaky. I'm more and more terrified of moving to study to Joensuu in two and a half years, and I don't even know what exactly I'll study there. To anyone who doesn't know me - I NEED to know my long-term position in my life and the society, so this is tearing me apart. My album is never going to be finished with this pace, either. I have the perfect sixth for recording schedules, and guess what? I'm not alone at the house for a single moment. Not that I can blame anyone for their recurring flues and such, but do I really have to face the exact same issue every time that I decide to kick myself in the ass and start recording again? Whenever I have an exam week or I'm just too lazy to do anything the house is free. Coincidence? Even if I got something put together by the end of the year like I was planning to, it would utterly sound like trash. I need better equipment but saving is not easy at this stage of life, and I'm niggardly as fuck. Not to mention I can't even get myself to learn a fucking bank account transfer.

I feel like I'm not good for anything, honestly. My music is not innovative, creative, catchy, challenging, poetic, emotional, atmospheric, fine-tuned or passionate enough. I might have potential to do many things, but instead of fulfilling that potential I keep failing more and more in both, quality and quantity. If someone doesn't hate me like I do, they should. End of debate.

Why can't I even enjoy winter? Or walking? Or *gasp* MUSIC?

The best thing is that even the few accomplishments I am willing to admit barely do anything for me anymore. They do boost my ego and mood significantly, but the effect wears off fast and I'm back to the same raging, angsty, lazy, supine and pathetic character I've become by default. The worst thing is that all these things are supposed to be easy to handle in contrast to what's ahead. All this drama, shame and tearjerking is supposed to be a fond memory when bills, work stress and more frustrating relationships hit you in the face. I just can't wrap my head around that idea, and hence today I decided that if exactly 5 years from now I'm still alive and well, I'm going to throw a party. At the moment it feels like chances are about 50-50 that I'll drop dead before turning 22 years and 2 months. Not to be confused with suicidal activities, just... My head and heart are about to blow off.

Is it really so hard to change into someone I can love? And maybe get loved back, then?

I apologize for all the swearing that I've done in this post and in my life in general. It's one of the biggest things that has come with my depression - I swear all the time and at everything. But that's just me. And I care too much about it. Maybe I should stop caring? I know I can't do it, but if I tried, at least I might have a chance of living a few days in glory. Free of this slavery that is my own reflection.

And we're not even going to get into my spirituality. I'm not sure I even have a spiritual side anymore. God should forsake me. No, He really should. How could I implement anything that satisfies Him? I can't even fucking pray anymore.

My rant is over. I hope I didn't offend you, reader. I know I offended myself.

Oh, and happy new year. Isn't it just going to be a terrific year for everybody?

Heritage

2011-12-31T16:39:00.000+02:00

Thanks to a friend, I recently discovered a cool site where you can rate and organize music, as well as find new bands and artists in a really handy way. I instantly had to join and spent a few nights working on it. Check my profile out here.

I've been really into making lists lately, and I got a few more for you. First, I chose four songs that for me were the best ones released in 2011. To make things easier and fairer, I decided to include just one song per each band/artist. Otherwise Fear And The Nervous System might have taken all the spots, heh.

4. Alcest - Autre Temps
This might come as a bit of a surprise since I haven't mentioned Alcest even once in this blog. Truth be told, I hadn't heard a single song from the one-mand-band prior to this beautiful and fairytale-like masterpiece, which was released as a single and music video just earlier this month. I had been hearing good things though, and for a reason. After a few listens of this song on YouTube, each listen bringing me closer to addiction, I had to get the single as well as the album Souvenirs d'Un Autre Monde. While Souvenirs... wasn't nearly as impressive as the yearning Autre Temps, I look forward to hearing the new album from Alcest in 2012.
3. Evanescence - The Change
Looking back at this year, one thing I will forever remember is re-discovering Evanescence. It's pretty incomprehensible to me that I managed to own a copy of Fallen for 8 years and learned to truly appreciate it, as well as the band in general, just 10 months ago, after accidentally deciding to give it a fresh spin. Eventually this accident lead to obtaining the band's second album The Open Door, as well as their third, self-titled album, but only after anticipating the latter for a decent period of time and totally falling for Amy Lee. Lastly, I was faced with the difficult decision to pick which song from the new album would make this list, because one of them absolutely had to. The Change is the ultimate result, and I'm happy to say that it would be on this list even without all the stuff I just told you. It's one of the most powerful, enchanting and reel-you-in songs I've heard this year, possibly ever.
2. Earthtone9 - Tide Of Ambition
Magnificent track that opened the For Cause & Consequence EP. If the other songs on the release would've been as strong, it would've most likely been the second release of the year to deserve a 5- grade from me. Hard-hitting song, still takes me every time. Brilliant.
1. Fear And The Nervous System - Beautiful Side
Like I implied already, almost any FATNS song could've taken any spot on this list if it wasn't for the rule of having only one song from each band. While Ambien, Choking Victim, No Secrets and Triggers are all fantastic songs, I chose Beautiful Side due to being attracted to it so much in the beginning and still finding it absolutely amazing. In the end, I feel that it's only fair to name it the best song of the year - in my books, at least.

I've also chosen the best albums of all-time (for me), which you can view on Rate Your Music, here. They're the only 10 albums I've rated with 5 stars on the site, and in alphabetical order.

After presenting those two, it's time we wrap this year up just like last year (clickity click for refresh) with me sharing everything that I've gotten out of 2011.

First and foremost, not counting my musical or linguistic endeavors, goes the fact that I confessed my love this year to a girl I go to the same school with. While last year I felt that for the first time I could admit having romantic feelings and do so actually knowing what they mean (nod to the Joona who lived 10 years back... I'm ashamed of you :p) throughout this year I felt the feelings persist albeit switching back and forth a little, and the need to talk and share about them only increase. What's left is a heart that's been broken once, but is beating stronger than ever - and an obession that might never go away entirely, but should never hurt anyone either (including myself, for now) and instead results in good things through art.

Speaking of art, I have never been as creative as I have been in 2011. This might sound odd to some, because this year I didn't eventually put out an EP or an album like I have every year ever since 2008. A year with no releases can be seen as both, a sign of time restraints and one of growth. I have been faced with a lot of stress coming from all over the place, including but not limited to school, love life, my various projects on various areas and the future of where I'm moving as a person. I'm still lazy when it comes down to mixing and have had horrific issues and feelings of dissatisfaction with my recordings and equipment. It is, however, also a sign of maturity in the sense that I am more careful with what I put out, and when I put it out. I have learned that something might sound great at first but after a while it can be dull, and in the same time some of the pieces you hate can come to a whole new life right by your eyes. Who's telling me to finish this and that by the end of that and that month anyway? Me. And the great thing about me being the boss of myself is that work can be flexible. Delay is still not nice, but it's an option - an option not all other people have. Concludingly, I am anxious to put out music from all my four musical projects, possibly a few releases already in 2012, but acknowledge now what the relation of time is to quality. That is perhaps for the first time ever, although I've kept saying before that I understand and execute it.

Of course, this year I did put out my first short story in over a year, called Onchocerca Volvulus. It had a positive response, particularly by a few people who I showed it to outside the internet. For me the significance of the story was more in the general idea of writing it and getting back to the routine of doing something non-musical and non-lyrical on my free time than what the content of the plot was. That's not to say the plot doesn't have any importance to me at all, however. It's very much the opposite, and writing OV was not only fun but therapeutic in relation to my own struggles in the social areas of my life.

Whether anyone wants to talk and read about it or not, there's no denying for my depression in 2011, either. I wish I could say that I was a happy person these past 12 months, or that I was a happy person during most 12 month periods. But that I am not. It could be due to the problems I faced with the things I loved, those being music and one specific person, or just general evolution of my mind and feelings, but regardless there have been times when I've been more down than I could have ever imagined anyone to be. The worst it got was at the end of July, when I felt totally useless - and looking back at it, I can't say that I was all that wrong. Throughout the year I've faced and admitted issues about my life and myself, but I am still not ready to fix them completely or accept the claims that I am worthy of everything everyone else is worthy of. Maybe I never will, who knows - but I do know that while Evanescence's Lithium is lyrically resembling my state of mind and soul more and more, I have plenty of things to live for still. If today's the day I died, no matter how it would happen, I would most certainly be useless, and that is something I could never live with. Oh, but I wouldn't even be alive anymore if I died, right? Oops... :P You get the point. A shout also goes out to my tremendously supportive, all-bearing and patient friends. I am incredibly grateful for the few of you.

The beauty in my state this year is how I've come to appreciate certain joys in life that have always been around me in some shape or form, but haven't even begun to excite me as much as they have recently. My walks, at their best, have been experiences nothing short of divine. The peace and calm of sauna has never warmed my soul as much as it does every time I go there these days. Photography has become a large part of my walks, but also an element at events outside nature. And the music. Ah, the music. I already mentioned Evanescence, Fear And The Nervous System, earthtone9 and others, and the list could honestly go on and on concerning the notes that I have gone crazy to, gotten shivers by, been inspired by, cried to, smiled to, worked to. My own music is very important, but I could live without doing it and instead focus my forces on something else. But others' music? Hell no. And I am not sad, weak or vulnerable at all to admit that.

My annual New Year's Eve playlist can be viewed here. All the songs mean something very special to me, as usual, and most of them also signify a point in my evolution of music and living. There have been disappointments, failure, problems and bleakness, but in the end I wouldn't trade my life, or this year for that matter, for anything. Time has shown time and time again that there are things we can't change or affect. If there was one lesson I would like to point out having learned in 2011, it would be to use the little time we have as individuals very wisely. At least on my end, however, that does not mean forsaking pleasure or relaxation, nor does it mean quitting after the first productive effort leads to a deadend. It's all about balance and perseverance. Us Finns, for one, have plenty of the latter. Hah.

Happy New Year, everyone. :)

Coil

2011-12-27T20:15:00.000+02:00

Time for my second last post of the year, including updates on my projects, life, Christmas... You catch my drift. Firstly I want to thank everyone for the warm response I've gotten for my lists. I'm 100% sure I'll do it again next year, and I'm excited not only because of that but the fact that many great releases are about to come out in 2012, including new albums from P.O.D., Project 86, possibly Deftones, earthtone9 and HURT, one from Storm Corrosion (a collaboration between Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth and Steven Wilson) and much more. Until then, I will try to give the most complex of albums that I covered in my list the chance they deserve, as well as embrace the music I got for Christmas.

What did I get for Christmas, then? Well, most of them were albums I really love and just had to get a physical copy of with the help of my parents and friends. These include the first four Korn albums Korn, Life Is Peachy, Follow The Leader and Issues, as well as their 6th album, Take A Look In The Mirror. Since I already had Untouchables and See You On The Other Side, this is how my Korn collection now looks like. Too bad LIP, FTL and Issues don't have any booklets because of the Original Album Classics version that was basically a three-for-the-price-of-one deal. Not complaining though!

I was lucky enough to find a copy of Deftones by Deftones earlier this fall, and bought it without hesitation together with Mastodon's Crack The Skye. After Christmas, I'm only missing Diamond Eyes out of all official Deftones studio albums, thanks to finding Adrenaline and Around The Fur inside the wrapping papers. My hunt for the one and only CD by my favorite band that I do not own yet shall continue next year...

I also got The Open Door by Evanescence, which is an album I totally fell in love with just last night, finally, by the way. This album I paid for on my own, among with Watershed by Opeth. Having received the deluxe edition of their self-titled album as a birthday gift earlier, I now have all of Ev's studio albums on CD. The Fallen one is still technically rogue, since it's from Russia... But regardless, I'm proud!

Finally, my first Opeth albums. Blackwater Park I've had on my computer since 2009, but just this year I really got into it, and it gained the revelation-like status it has today. It is currently, and hopefully for a long time, one of my favorite albums of all-time. Watershed, on the other hand, is an album I barely knew anything of prior to getting it, but I really wanted to have an album like that in the midst of all the oh-so-familiar ones (even if I did have a fresh new look on some of them like TOD). Opeth is a band I knew I could trust in terms of a quality release even if I had only heard the tracks Porcelain Heart and Coil on YouTube previously. Needless to say, the album has not left my player since I gave the CD its first spin at 2 AM on Sunday morning, and I love it already.

Other than that: lots of chocolate. LOTS. And a PDF and a book, both of which I'm forever grateful for.

My physical health is not all that great at the moment despite everything else going well. My left leg has been hurting for days now, and we suspect that it's a form of sciatica. I really don't want to go to the doctor, though, so nothing is certain. The pain is, thankfully, getting easier to cope with - I'm just honestly really annoyed that I can't go on any walks. Not that there's any snow or cold around here, anyway... I hate global warming so much, and am comteplating to move my political home from the Social Democrats to the Green League more and more.

As for the projects, I only have good news. Reflections & Realizations is oh-so-close to being done writing-wise since I finished Wallow In Life earlier this month and have been reworking Sip Of October the past few days. Recording has not been very successful, however my fourth sixth of the school year is rather easy time-wise, so I should have plenty of chances to catch up on my schedule and plans. All in all I have not been as active creatively these past few weeks than I was still a month ago or so, but I'm not worried at all because the new stuff is still great. Actually I prefer not having a ton of riffs to weigh and work on, not to mention all the lines that pop into my head and disappear in a blink of an eye unless I write them down. I'm telling all of you out there who are dreaming of becoming an artist... It's a gift and a curse once you get into it.

Before the big news, I feel that it's also important to share that the Christmas song I made for school purposes was never used. Most likely in February I will be performing something I really love, at least, because our class is practicing Bring Me To Life by Evanescence. There's also a slight chance that the first-ever Wicked Breath appearance will happen then, but I'd rather not think or talk about that too much, seeing how it's gotten cancelled again and again and my band line-up is still shaky.

SO, anyone remember the project I was planning about half a year ago, with a female vocalist, and a nu metal-ish sound? The one that was forever untitled and never went anywhere? Well, the surprise is that I've re-activated the whole thing. I invited a friend of mine to play guitar a little over a month ago and he said yes, and we're searching for a vocalist as we speak - once again a girl, although we might end up going with a male one if no female is interested. The style is shaping up to be more Drudkh- and Agalloch-esque than anything else, with long track lengths, epic moods and atmospheric metal influences. Since I managed to find a way to record Guitar Pro files into MP3 (the quality is still not fantastic, but much better than MIDIs), here's the first demo I've written (on my own) so far. If you or someone you know thinks that they might fit the project as either a vocalist or perhaps a drummer, this song shall serve as an example of what we will most likely be going for. And, even if you know that you can't help me, do still check it out and tell me your thoughts on the material! (I might include demo versions of R&R songs in future posts, by the way, now that it has become possible.)

Before all of this becomes way too long to digest, I'll stop. Like I hinted in the beginning, this is not my last post of the year and another one will come in a few days before the year 2011 draws to a close. Until then, take care, and blessings for all. :) Christmas might be over but the peace should remain in our hearts!

Remainder The Black Dog

2011-12-24T23:59:00.000+02:00

It's time for the cream of the crop, the best of the best - the most impressive albums of 2011, for me. Now that I'm done with all of this, all I can say is that while it was extremely difficult to make the list(s) and separate albums from each other, I'd love to do it again. Hopefully next year I will - unless you totally rape me after reading the text below... Haha. (I hope not!)

The average eventually went up a little and is now ~2.99 when taking both lists into account.

Here. We. Go.

Albums #10-1

10. Dope Stars, Inc. - Ultrawired ***+
Fantastic energy and a purely explosive mix of almost thrash-esque guitars and hard-hitting electronics are what make this album awesome. There are occasions when the industrial elements go over the top for my liking, though, as well as some really poppy and cliché moments. I really can't remember much from this album even after several listens, either, and thus it fails to reach a better score or rank than what's been given. Looking forward to what this band crafts next.

9. Staind - Staind ***+
Just like RED a little further down this list, Staind is great when they're heavy. Despite the fact that Dysfunction is over 12 years old, the band still carries aggression extremely well and makes it seem real and harsh enough for me to really get sucked in with songs like the brilliant opener Eyes Wide Open. Whenever the songs reach too much clean in Aaron Lewis' voice and the effect-filled and harmonized instrumentation comes to life, I'm less intrigued - and just because I prefer heavy stuff over soft melodies most of the time anyway, making my opinion slightly biased, I think there's an actual problem here to be adressed. More often than not, during these mellow moments Staind just doesn't seem to have the same level of passion and originality than with the bursts that literally make me jump out of my chair and tear the roof down. Also, I'm still not a fan of high-pitched solos that don't seem to differ from any of the foundations present in heavy metal for 30 years now. Sorry, Mike Mushok... I do still envy your baritone! Thankfully most of the record is hard-hitting and the solos are far from stealing the main focus.

8. Cave In - White Silence ***½
A beautiful piece of spacey and experimental hardcore/alternative rock. Took me by surprise just like it took the person who recommended it to me (thank you!). The vocals are amazing when at their deepest and most brutal, some of the best I've heard being done in that style, but there's also plenty of clean, since three people are doing the vocals on this album and seemingly only one of them is doing harsher stuff. Some would say that the production isn't quite top notch, but to me the slight rawness (that does have Hydra Head written all over it) is used as a brilliant adventage. The album does get weaker towards the end, where three ballad-like songs follow each other after six smashing tunes. The ballads are enjoyable as well, however, and only lower the score a little bit. Another thing that I'll have to criticize is length on this album - many songs seem to focus solely on an idea or two, yet they go on and on without developing all that much. The epic Sing My Loves suffers from this in particular, as it's over 8 minutes long but really only consists of two riffs. While both fantastic on their own right, I'm left hoping that especially the latter part of the song would've been taken to some different places to keep things more interesting. Nevertheless, a very solid release, and in many ways unexpected by both, its quality and diversity, all while remaining rather simplistic.

7. Thursday - No Devolución ***½
While No Devolución does pale in comparison to a similar release by Fear And The Nervous System, it goes head to head with Cave In. Having only heard Full Collapse from this band prior to this, I can say that things have definitely improved, or at least their music is easier for me to digest than earlier. Maybe that's because hardcore - a genre I've never been hugely into - has significantly lessened in the band's music and instead this album is filled with melodic alternative rock, even containing elements of post-rock and indie pop. Emo(tion) is there, regardless, and the band still sounds like themselves. This is a good album to relax to in particular, but I find it a little too evened out to become a favorite of mine, by which I mean that after a while all the songs sound really alike, particularly chorus-wise. The hardcore-esque parts are essentially what I was left craving more for since I feel that they would've further enhanced the dynamics. I do have to say that the band, particularly frontman Geoff Rickly, is quite successful in its attempt to paint sharp and beautiful landscapes with sound. It even leads to a cathartic experience for me with Empty Glass, a song that rises as the finest moment on the album due to its minimalistic appeal.

6. Nightwish - Imaginaerum ****-
This album reaches out far solely due to its innovation. Maybe it's just me, but flutes on top of distortion guitars, flutes doing dialog with distortion guitars... Woah. The drama and theatrical approach on here has the ability to be really attractive, and I can well imagine this as the soundtrack for a movie of the same name, that's also been done by the band for those that don't know. That is also where some of my complaints fall - at times the album sounds so soundtrack-ish it leaves me feeling distracted, to the extent where I feel that it's impossible to understand this record fully without seeing or knowing the film. Some of the most cinematic moments simply aren't very friendly to the ear without a visual, if that makes sense: it's too much like a background, a frame for something else that's meant to be the main focus. Arabesque is the greatest example, being the weakest song on the album for me. At its strongest, however, this album is catchy, beautiful and wandering in the same time. Anette's vocals don't always fit the music all too well, but in songs like the jazzy Slow, Love, Slow and the calm Turn Loose The Mermaids her voice does shine. Marco is much more equipped for the blasting and heavy parts, in my opinion, and I guess the band doesn't exactly disagree since his role as a vocalist at least hasn't diminished in comparison to earlier albums (or so I hear). My score is further negatively affected by some moments that feel a little filler without the inclusion of the movie, including a few choruses I feel are a bit too candy-coated, plus moments that especially towards the end seem to go a little over the top (why include the long speech on Song Of Myself when it could have been just instrumental? Not to mention how the flutes start to become a tad irritating when used so much after the nice stuff in the beginning). All in all, this is an album I look forward to embracing more and more, even if its style is maybe slightly too "majestic" for my taste, at least for now.

5. Minora - Imago ****-
I was introduced to this band's nu metal side first, so it took some time for me to truly appreciate the new sound found on Imago. In the beginning of the millenium, Minora's biggest influence seemed to be Korn, although I can safely say that the band developed a very original style with their three underrated yet in-your-face EPs, doing what perhaps could have saved nu metal from a downfall if more bands had done the same or at least more people had heard of Minora. But, fast forward a few years and drastic line-up changes, nu metal is practically dead, and Tool and A Perfect Circle are Minora's two big pillars in inspiration. Although the band's influences are more clear than with the old sound, this first full-length of theirs is quite beautiful, I dare to say even particularly romantic. The guitars still hit rather hard, but there's also more melody, and the piano segments are a lovely touch to the autumn-like atmosphere. In addition, I really enjoy the drums on this album. If you're a fan of Tool, APC, 10 Years or other modern, hard, and artsy rock bands, this is for you. Just don't expect it to be the most unique thing out there because it necessarily isn't, or look for hit singles. This is all about the entirety.

4. Steven Wilson - Grace For Drowning ****
A lovely and moody double album with vibes of progressive rock, jazz, metal, classical, ambient music... God knows what. I'm sure this isn't the most diverse album the world has ever seen but for me it's quite a palette. And what's great is that more often than not, the album is dark as hell (pun intended). It could be said that Grace For Drowning is cold but not by any means calculated. Unless you want to emphasize Steven Wilson's determination, that is, which is obvious on here. This album, if any, is a real journey and as such it's perfect for movie soundtracks. Unlike some albums that have been ranked lower on this list, there are dynamics that not only work but remain unexpected, and not too many songs sound the same. The sound is crystal clear, and the experimentation doesn't leave the impression of experimenting - it sounds just natural and not nearly a half of it fails like usually with such music. The only true complaint I have is that some of the happier tunes don't sound quite as original as the haunting and more bipolar ones. Once again, it might just be my preference of musical style (though I have also discovered music this year that's both, optimistic and wonderful). I bet if my understanding of music was as diverse as I'd hope it to be, this would have a near perfect score. Even now it's some of the best music I've heard all year.

3. Opeth - Heritage [Special Edition] ****
I can't say that I wouldn't prefer the older material of Opeth next to this one, but does that mean I can't appreciate the beauty Mikael and the guys have once again been able to create? No. This and Steven Wilson's album are the only ones I really need to develop myself as a musician and get into styles like jazz and old school progressive rock. And not only is this album diverse genre-wise, but just like Grace For Drowning, it has crazy dynamic shifts, instruments like flute and upright bass that are not very commonly used in rock music these days, a pure sound (although some vocals are drowned by the music at points)... And believe it or not, a warm ambiance. Yes, the darkness Opeth is known for can still be heard - in fact, one of the best moments on the entire record is the middle section of I Feel The Dark where a silent gap turns into a theatrical and diabolic string progression that musically wouldn't be out of place in an action or horror movie. I just can't help but getting a somewhat homely impression from listening to this album. The music is as adventurous as ever on an Opeth release, but somehow it makes me feel... safe. The key point I have to address and can't emphasize enough is that this album does not get monotone if you focus on it. Grace, evil, calmness, intensity, energy and loudness, ambiance and emotion - it's all here. Despite this, Heritage is an album that's not for every weather, or for every listener. It takes time, and even when you find it amazing, you need to have the right kind of mood to concentrate and reach that nest-like space it offers. Or maybe you personally like to fly to this album... Who cares? :P

2. Evanescence - Evanescence [Deluxe] ****½
Self-titled, this might just be the best Evanescence album to date - it's surely better than The Open Door and not at all worse than Fallen. Catchy, pummeling, lush and epic, Evanescence has all the elements that were there before, only it seems like all the line-up changes finally made the whole better than the sum of its parts. And hey, Amy Lee is still oh-so-adorable. I can't help it, she's a crush... And looking at the booklet that comes with the album, which I by the way own as a physical copy as well thanks to a special someone, can you blame me? :P What could be criticized a little, I guess, is that there's not anything particularly "new" about this release - Evanescence draws from a lot of things that have been done before, but the band captures it a lot better than most other acts around them.

*drum roll*
*crash cymbal rings*
*everyone stares at the screen in awe...*

1. Fear And The Nervous System - Fear And The Nervous System *****-
An absolutely phenomenal piece of art that almost instantly made its way to my favorite albums of all-time. With the help of Billy Gould, Brooks Wackerman, Steve Krolikowski, Leopold Ross and Zac Baird, James "Munky" Shaffer shows breathtaking creativeness and ability to craft highly emotional music that appeals to not only metal fans, but fans of great music in general. What's interesting about this debut is that you can clearly hear little pieces reminescent of Korn, almost allegories to elements of their style, including the industrial and textured experimentation they've done on most of their albums released in the 2000s. This album just seems to do it all in a more genuine, powerful, varied yet balanced fashion than anything since the astonishing Untouchables. Every musical note and vocal is done with such extreme emotion and passion that I'm left absolutely speechless. While the music itself isn't particularly progressive, it breaks away from traditional pop structures just enough to remain both accessible and triggering. The only issues keeping this from being a perfect, five-stars-worthy album are the effects on Steve Krolikowski that kind of disarm the emotion in his voice at a few occasions - plus the fact that not all songs are as mindblowing as the best of the best. Every track is still at least four stars for me. This is officially my new favorite album to listen to while outside, it's my new favorite album to scream and cry to, and it's my new favorite album to cheer myself up with. Words are not enough - if you haven't by now, CHECK THIS ALBUM OUT ASAP.

And that's it. oO What do you think about my list? How about your picks? I urge you to write comments!

To Lead You To An Overwhelming Question

2011-12-24T12:00:00.000+02:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Before we get into the first half of my albums list, I want to wish everyone a delightful and enjoyable fest whether it be with their families or alone, and whether you're spending it today (on Eve) or on the 25th. Peace and love to the world!

Albums #20-11

20. Stillwell - Dirtbag *+
I won't go as far as some Korn fans have went and say that this sucks all the way. Dirtbag is by no means a good album though. What surprises me is that Wuv from P.O.D. thought this was worthy of his drumming. No offence to Fieldy, but his guitar style isn't particularly original or impressive. That's not to say he cannot play, but his riffs aren't memorable, and his songwriting needs work to, well, work, IMHO. Q-Unique doesn't irritate me, but he does not excite me either. The lyrics lack substance, which normally isn't that big of a deal for me, but when the music is as undetermined as this, you kind of wish that at least the message had something to offer. But no. Feel free to check this out if you're a fan of the bands the members of Stillwell originally come from, but other than that, I can't really recommend this album to folk of any kind.

19. Lou Reed & Metallica - Lulu **
While I'm not a hater like everyone else seems to be and really wanted to give this double album a proper chance, I can't say that I'd enjoy the whole all that much. Some cuts on here are really catchy and even adventurous, not just ideas that require developing. While not necessarily a new element for Metallica or for any band, ringing notes within chords are well executed at certain parts, in particular. The vocals, to me, aren't all that disturbing, although they are often unfitting and the lyrics seem hideous for a large portion of the time. Of course this is in connection to the story behind the album and poetry is subjective, but still - some of the delivery really leaves me thinking whether this is a serious effort or not. I think the main issue with this record is that it sounds like a big jam session Lou Reed and Metallica both were involved in at once. The songs are just as monotonous as those sessions with a band when you come up with a good riff or pattern and start developing it, repeating it again and again while it seeks for its shape. The lyrics and vocals sound just like improvisational experiments with the thought "I wonder whether these words would fit here or not" surrounding the minds of Reed and occasionally James Hetfield. There's no problem with minimalism and repetitiveness, but when the songs drag on and on without reaching a crescendo or anything even close to sensible dynamics, you really can't praise this album for being succesful artistically. There are definitely interesting parts, riffs, soundscapes, even lines (all of this is apparent on Cheat On Me especially, which would sound awesome at least in the beginning if it didn't sound like half of the band was testing their equipment in the background with beautiful strings and synth on top), but that's never good enough in the midst of mediocre, in some cases clearly below mediocre compositions. Whatever things that sound fascinating are practically overshadowed by the nonsense that follows them. Conclusion: I'm sure this collaboration was fun for the ones who took part on it, but it's barely any fun for me.

18. Kotiteollisuus - Kotiteollisuus **+
It doesn't come as a surprise that this album is this low in the ranking - every album entity after Helvetistä Itään has been bland for this band, and though the first two songs actually raise a lot of hope for better this time, almost all the other songs are cliché in structure and riffage. Some softer numbers could be called experimental, but only for this band. Truth be told, Itken Seinään Päin almost made me lift up the score, but sorry guys, a 2+ out of 5 is the highest I can give to your "Finnrock" style. If you went back to making angsty and raw metal á lá Eevan Perintö, you'd definitely be at the other end of this list. The other option would be to actually put all your effort into experimenting new things, which this as a whole is not.

17. Blink-182 - Neighborhoods **+
This one was a pleasant experience, at least moreso than the score suggests. I had never listened to a full album by Blink before, and barely knew what to expect. Turns out there were a few very nice hooks and songs that I wanted to go back to. I guess pop punk just isn't my thing most of the time, and around a half of this album didn't do anything special for me. Still worth the listen. If it wasn't for autotune, Neighborhoods would get an average score for sure.

16. Times Of Grace - The Hymn Of A Broken Man **½
I did not expect much from this album, and that turned out to be just the perfect stand to take. Some parts are quite enjoyable and headbangable, but mostly Jesse Leach and Adam Dutkiewicz manage to deliver nothing but generic metalcore, the same Killswitch Engage has been delivering ever since Dutkiewicz switched his primary instrument from drums to guitar. After several listens I found myself not too bummed about this album - it lacks glue since the songs can be quite badly structured to my ears, and innovation is barely there, but I can't say I'd be disappointed or anything. At the least, The Hymn of a Broken Man beats the hell out of KSE's second self-titled album... *sigh*

15. Limp Bizkit - Gold Cobra [Deluxe Edition] **½
This album I might have listened to a lot, but trust me, it does not deserve to be any higher than it is on this list. Although I can still listen to Limp Bizkit every now and then and enjoy it, their music barely offers anything major for me anymore. Everyone knows their lyrics and attitude, and though a lot of people hate it, I've never been turned off by it. The problem is that I was never really a fan of it, either. There's undeniable groove on this album, and Wes combines some insanely catchy, fun-to-play-and-fun-to-listen-to type of riffs, but regardless of my many listens I can only look at this album as a party record, in some ways similar to Korn's release The Path of Totality. And those albums will never be highlights in my collection, as anyone who truly knows me would tell you. Back Porch is a killer song, nevertheless.

14. Vildhjarta - Måsstaden **½
Måsstaden is a chaotic village, and this is some of the most chaotic music to exist. But it's also djent, and extremely gruelling. After a sweet beginning it was as if an avalanche came, reigned over me and buried me completely, and whenever I tried to take a peek over the snow, more of it came along to numb me. I can't tell the difference between individual songs because the way they end and begin is just like transitioning from one ripping guitar scene with screaming and thunderous drumming to the next one. There are clean parts, but way too often the other instruments and the vocals pause for the duration of them. If there were more clean guitar parts with the other instruments playing, more clean vocals and exaggerated dynamics in general, like in the song Traces, this album might of worked. In small doses it's still enjoyable, even highly inspirational, but when I listen to it from front to back, I'm negatively overwhelmed. Maybe some day when my mind is in a chaos I'll find this better...

13. RED - Until We Have Faces **½
RED doesn't seem to develop at all apart from tuning down their guitars. They still have a headcrushing tone to their distorted weapons and do emit impressive riffs at times, not to mention the choruses in their songs are huge. This also makes them incredibly predictable and after two albums of the same formula already, rather uninnovative. The third time around there's also an increased number of ballads, and most of them aren't nearly as good as the band's previous efforts in the same field. What always made RED stood out from the crowd were their dramatic and pretty use of strings, and now even that's, while not totally gone, at least diminishing. Whenever the music isn't predictable, it's messy, aimless and sounds unfinished. While Innocence & Instinct was a fairly good album in my opinion, this as a whole is only a little bit above decent, despite the heavier tracks growing on me quite a bit. I can rock out to this, sure, but I'll rather go back to hearing Take It All Away... A masterpiece of a song I'm afraid they'll never top.

12. Animals As Leaders - Weightless ***
While I did enjoy many things on this album, it didn't change the way I feel about highly technical music. Many times things get really show-off when something more minimal could've done the trick a hundred times better in the context of the composition. This applies particularly for the clean tapping and slapping parts that I'm not necessarily too fancy on stylistically. The production on the low guitars isn't quite as deep as I'd hoped it to be, either, and this truly is a stream of consciousness, with creative ups and downs. No one can argue that Tosin Abasi is a very skilled guitar player, but his skills as a songwriter can and should be questioned, as well as whether this album is a masterpiece or not. For me it's entertaining, but I fail to reach a 'weightless' state while listening to it. There's variety and progress to be found within every individual song for sure with electronics, djent-esque riffing, melodic solos and calmer parts following each other nicely, but the songs tend to take a similar type of route structure-wise. Usually it's a good thing if a band is recognizable for its sound, but here it's just a little too much the same and everything begins to sound bland. Or maybe it's just too complex for me to comprehend. Go figure. I give this album a three, without including any points for the talent showcased. The songwriting, to me, was only occasionally purpose-serving and not particularly innovative.

11. Korn - The Path Of Totality [Deluxe] ***+
Although this grew on me a bit and upgraded from being a disappointment to being decent, I have quite a love and hate relationship with some of the songs on here. Most of the material on this album just falls flat, lacking depth and sense of path (see what I did there, ha). The question that's aroused is whether the result is to be blamed on the producers or the band. My guess would be that it's a bit of both, although Jonathan is quite obviously the only Korn member who's contributed as much to this album as for all the others (if not more), almost making it sound like his solo project especially after a few detailed interviews. In defense to the band, it does seem to matter which dubstep guy is producing them at least - Noisia is responsible for more bad than good judging by where he has received his credits, while all three songs with Skrillex are more hits than misses. This also brings a sad point. Two of the three best songs are ones that I heard prior to the rest of the album - which are obviously the singles Get Up and Narcissistic Cannibal, produced by Skrillex. That's what truly makes any album a disappointment - hearing fantastic things about it beforehand that up the hype, in this case songs that proved to be annoyingly perfect choices to promote the record, and then discovering that the album is just a mortal and easy-to-forget piece of the puzzle. Every song on The Path of Totality does have something that could at least potentially become insanely fantastic if tweaked and placed a little more correctly, proving that the concept of this collaboration is in fact inspiring and innovative on some level. The problem is that none of the songs, including my favorites, have the ability to literally grab me from the balls or kick my guts. Correct me if I'm wrong, but blowing one's head off is the only goal a dubstep-meets-nu-metal project should have, right? Nevertheless, I don't find this as difficult to get into as See You On The Other Side is these days or Remember Who You Are has always been, and the experimentation, regardless of the band maybe hailing it as slightly more fresh than it actually is, makes up for some of the flaws. It does not, however, make up for the fact that this is not a very cohesive record.There's very little humanity to be found in this artificial wall of electronic wobble, drumming and instrumentation, and if anything, the whole leaves me feeling confused. Particularly while comparing it with the album of the year.

...And that leads you to the overwhelming question - which is it? What is the album of the year for The Breath of Darkness? Top 10 coming at your face in exactly 12 hours!

Sing My Loves

2011-12-24T00:02:00.001+02:00

Before the actual lists, some additional details on my ranks, grades and the year as a whole.In total I have listed 6 EPs and 20 albums, which, I emphasize, are albums I discovered this year and were also released this year. The albums I discovered that were released prior to 2011 are not included, and lucky for me, since there would've been two times more to rate & review. Then again, some of the albums from previous years that I heard were much better than what this year as a whole had to offer, at least for me. Maybe that's also because this year I've been checking a lot of stuff that's new to me in terms of style, and so I have yet to fully get into it.

The grading system I've used is zero to five stars, with halves, plusses and minuses included for deeper detail. Not a single album has gotten less than one stars and a plus, but neither has any album gotten the perfect score of five stars. The average is around ~2.9 for the EPs and 3.0 for the albums, while I still have yet to make some final judgments concerning the latter. Usually, a release that gets zero to two stars is pretty bad in my opinion, one that gets two to three is average, three to four is already a very good listen and four to five is near excellence.

Like I already implied, this year in music might have been great for a lot of people, but for me many releases from this year really weren't all that good. I consciously checked a few controversial releases for sure and not all my experiments with bands that are doing something quite unexplored for me were succesful. Since I got in a bit of a hurry with all of this, too, mostly due to my greed to review as many albums as possible after really diving into this concept, some albums might have been hastily reviewed. I have given all of them at least one full spin, two or more for most of them, but we all know that certain albums need time to sink in, especially if they're new to the listener stylistically. I can only apologise for that - from you, myself, and the bands.

Lastly, please keep in mind that these are not professional reviews and I'm only doing this to please myself. If you disagree with something or would like to share your view on an album, or the whole list even, feel free to do so with a comment. I must warn you though, if the input is not done in a tasteful manner, I will never approve it. [/communistic bastard]

Here we go! First and foremost, the EPs.

6. Stillwell - Surrounded By Liars *½

Significantly better than the album Dirtbag, but still not great. Includes more of a nu metal sound, but the core of it all remains the same, as well as the flaws. Plus, these song structures just don't fit - at least the album was more logical on that department. Then again, the energy and passion of the band can genuinely be sensed with some of the wildness on here. Still not worth more than a 1½. Killing Myself to Live and Trepidation are both standout tracks and worth a listen. (I'd also critique the value of production, but that would make me a hypocrite. Heh.)

5. Linkin Park - Linkin Park Underground 11 **

I had no expectations on this one, and only got it because I wanted to give it as a Christmas gift to someone. Okay, I'll admit, I was feeling a little nostalgic as well and wanted to see if the band had continued putting out demos on their fan club releases. Turns out they had, but frankly, the result is not exactly a success. Then again... The initial purpose of these annual LPU EPs is to offer something extra for fans of the band, and I haven't been one in a while now, so I guess I have myself to blame. I do think that Program is fairly interesting with its post-rock verses and riffage very typical for the band during the Meteora-era. Soundtrack is also oddly appealing with its upbeatness, post-rock influences once again appearing in the structure and the melody. The demos of In The End and A Place For My Head are close enough to their final versions for me to at least consider giving them a thumbs up, too, especially with the aforementioned nostalgia involved. As a whole, however, this is not something I'd likely revisit, apart from listening to the songs mentioned above individually.

4. Celldweller - Wish Upon A Blackstar Chapter 4 [Deluxe Edition] ***

It's really awesome to hear the development of complex musical tracks and even more awesome that some artists out there are a) willing to let us hear it and b) take time to do a commentary on top of it. All the bonus material aside, however, the two songs on this chapter of the yet to be fully released album by Celldweller could've been a bit more eventful and interesting in my opinion. I Can't Wait is catchy for sure, but to me it's almost too catchy for its own good in the chorus, and the pitch corrections and vocal effects are just too obvious and off-putting. There are some great elements too - the lyrics, unfortunately for me, are easily relatable while not totally cliché, the drums are sick-sounding and the guitars haven't diminished at all, really, although Klayton is more and more into electronic music. Gift For You has a wonderful ambiance, but it's still missing something and ranks among the weaker Celldweller tracks I've heard. Hopefully the full album, which will be out next year, will have better gems than these. Which isn't to say that this chapter is dull. It's just that Eon from chapter two is responsible for keeping my expectations quite high.

3. Crosses - Crosses ***+

Let's get something straight. Any side project Chino Moreno takes part on can never be as mindblowing as the Deftones. While a great vocalist, lyricist and occasional guitarist, Chino on his own cannot create the special dynamic only the band as a whole unit are able to create. Having said this, Crosses is by no means a bad EP (or project, for that matter) - in many aspects it's Team Sleep-meets-recent-Deftones, as the instrumentals and singing both remind me of my favorite band's latest album with the positivity and production found in them. This EP works better as a whole than it does as individual cuts, and it has an odd, yet good pop vibe to it. It does also sound highly inorganic, and all in all isn't the kind of music I would be overly excited of. So, although this is fairly relaxing, the rating would most likely be significantly lower if it wasn't for Chino.

2. Riverside - Memories In My Head ***½

Once I really got into this one around my fourth listen, I found myself liking the whole a lot more than Anno Domini High Definition, the band's latest studio album. With Memories In My Head, Riverside seem to have found a balance between the sound of their older albums and the sound found on ADHD. In addition to this, there seems to be a newly crafted and quite fresh-sounding atmosphere in the first song Goodbye Sweet Innocence in particular. What does turn me off a bit is some of the play between the guitars and the keyboards, a thing that's always been there in Riverside's music with no exception this time around. Nothing wrong with the general idea of play between instruments of course, but when it gets really playful, missing the darkness I like to hear in most of my music, it distracts me slightly. Then again, if we look at the big picture, the aforementioned parts usually add a wonderful dynamic to Riverside's haunting melodies. Although the guitar solos aren't always my cup of tea either, the main impression this EP leaves on me is highly positive. If only the songs had gotten better towards the end instead of the opposite, with Forgotten Land sounding rather uninnovative and average already, this would have thrown a true challenge to the number one EP of 2011.

1. earthtone9 - For Cause & Consequence ****

It's awesomely ironic that I discovered this band almost simultaneously when the announcement was made for the making of this EP. For Cause & Consequence, their first studio release with new material in 9 years, is without a doubt a strong return. The energy here is insane and whereas the Omega EP in 2002 was hinting towards a melodic direction, this is mainly classic e9 with screams and roaring instrumental work. Harmony does show up, but it's merely there in a chorus or two to give us a reminder that these guys are able to deliver it. Whether it's just me or their composing pencil, this EP doesn't quite reach the heights of the jaw-dropping arc'tan'gent. Still, I'd say that it's one the best studio releases - and the best EP - of the entire year.

Pyre

2011-12-18T22:07:00.000+02:00

Just a quick announcement about next weekend and some of the things that are on the way. I have decided to post my list of the best releases of the year in three parts. Since I have little reviews to go with my ranks and ratings, stuffing everything in one post would just result in a wall of text no one would want to read in its entirety. So, I will be posting the bottom of the list at midnight, when the 23rd shifts to 24th; the middle of it at noon (or so) on the 24th; and the best of the best at once again midnight when the day shifts to the 25th. My other announcements, updates and rant are likely to be posted either on the 25th or the 26th, but surely not before or in the same time with the list.

Here's my greeting to Chi. I wonder whoever have given me 6 dislikes... Ah well.

Have a great week and let us all wait Christmas with patience and joy! ;)

Way Too Far

2011-12-11T14:47:00.000+02:00

Good afternoon, folks. As it has been over 40 days since my last post with actual updates, expect this one to be rather long. First and foremost, just for clarification, my last post was 100% true and Friday the 25th of November 2011 will forever be one of the biggest days of my life. Although all is doomed and all I can do is try to get over my feelings, I'm not hated and I've taken one of the most bold steps one can take in social interaction. I can't believe it, but I'm starting to feel more proud than embarrassed.

Anyway, let's get to news that are just as big and concern my music instead of teeny angst. Forget whatever I said in the past about being busy and having a lot of material waiting and pouring, because that is NOTHING compared to what's going on as of recently. I've pretty much confirmed the track listing for the first Wicked Breath album on the AS forums where I made this update (at the bottom of the page) earlier today. Not only that, I've continued recording and mixing for the album, tweaked the songs writing-wise, and come up with an insane plan for the actual release of the album. Listen very closely... Next December I intend to set free the album and the special edition EP both as a Christmas calendar, meaning that every day one new song will be made available, but only for 24 hours. So, when the next song is revealed, the old one will be gone. This will go on all the way until the 24th, when the last song will be revealed. On the 25th, the whole album as well as the EP will be made available for shipping as physical copies. The quality of the songs for the calendar will be slightly more lo-fi than the actual album versions of the songs to attract the option of buying, and the artwork of the album excluding the front cover will only be available to view with the physical copy. This is all just planning for now, but what do you think?

On top of the first album I've naturally been working on the second one, and none of the new songs are used for the first album or the EP anymore. There's more I could tell you as well, but I can't reveal everything yet. I promise that on Christmas I'll be making another post, however, that reveals the secrets I've been hiding. ;)

During Christmas I will also release my extensive list/review of the music releases from this year that I've taken the time to listen to. With the addition of several new releases I've checked out just recently, we're talking about around 25 releases in total. Some of these include The Path of Totality by KoRn, Lulu by Lou Reed & Metallica, and Imaginerum by Nightwish. Yeah, I'm not kidding, I actually feel like a music reviewer, haha. Perhaps next year I'll start early and reach an even greater number of albums in my 2012 list, but I think that my reviews already make the list so long that it's hardly going to fit in one post only.

Snow finally seems to be here to stay. Autumn was lovely in terms of my walks, but I would've liked to see winter come even sooner as it is my favorite season. I plan to ski a little more than usual this winter but also keep walking on my free time. Taking photographs has sucked me in so bad that if it wasn't for the darkness I'd have enough material to form a map of my home town in both, summer and autumn time. What's perhaps the greatest thing of all is that I'm really on a Christmas mood after working on gifts for people that mean a lot to me during the past few weekends. And, I won't lie - I can't wait to get my hands on my new guitar. :P Chocolate is too obvious to be mentioned...

While school is not exactly getting any easier, I'm used to the pace of everything by now and my second sixth went tremendously better than the first one. The row of exam grades consisting of mostly 9's was only really shadowed by the first Biology exam out of two (the second one is in January). Biology has almost zero significance to me, while Finnish, Philosophy, History and English are quite important, and in the same time all subjects I succeeded in. My third exam week starts right after New Years, but I'm not too worried. I just have to make sure I don't get too lazy on Christmas and stretch that to January... If my ideas to record, mix and film as much as possible during the holidays come true, that shouldn't be the case.

I'm sure I'd have even more things to talk about, but I'll try to keep it short and leave out the smallest things. I do have to mention that there's a slight chance for a Christmas song written and composed by me to be performed at a school event. I will at least play bass this Tuesday in the traditional Saint Lucia day event, and drums in one or two songs at the Christmas party.

Lastly, here are the last lyrics for the album, in case you haven't read them. There are still two songs without lyrics, but the other one will be an instrumental and the other one will be improvisational. So, here you are, Wallow In Life, loosely based on some of Arthur Schopenhauer's thoughts. See you next time, and God bless! :)

PAIN
IS
LIFE

What to do when love is tearing me apart
while hate is an infection from
within, stuck, both glued to stay in play and treasure

I'm blurry from the blinding days, my small nutshell offers security
Blood dribbling from the edge of poison
Entering the sale of used lives, every donor wants a fine
Like light bulbs sent to dispatch, then slowly die
Look at the bulk of chain reactions, yet fate does not exist
Slither and avoid the contact, in wish to take peers like belief
And on the verge of the well inside appears an image confirmed to confine
all dreams of returning to simplicity

(Overtriggering minds with clutter, self-deprecating has become underrated, pinch me)
Pour chloroform into infection and torn sight, beg comfort untouchable in fruits of our land
We pull with hands and stretch with toes to the tip of lantern
With pain as my blanket I wallow in life

IS THIS LIFE?

PS: Anyone who's into the Deftones or wants to support Chi Cheng in general, check this out.

In Memoriam of Today

2011-11-25T17:31:00.000+02:00

I've done it. I've expressed my love seriously for the very first time.

Eternal Turn Of The Wheel

2011-11-14T14:10:00.002+02:00

I had my second course philosophy exam earlier today and I don't think I did particularly well in it. Regardless, I'm really into the subject now and have been thinking about my own theories. In this part one of what hopefully will be a long series of fulfilling comtemplation, I will examine and analyze some of these ideas on life.

I haven't studied philosophy enough and am only aware of some key ideas and authors - and as you can tell by the claim that my exam didn't go well, my knowledge is limited even on the most essential - but here goes. How to reach eudaimonia.

Arthur Schopenhauer and Buddhism refer to life as suffering. Schopenhauer speaks of contradictions and denies the fact that there would be a logical structure and purpose to life. While I believe in God, and hence believe in the fact that there is logic to everything, logic that He not only uses to create and control this world but is in Himself, I can identify with the idea of suffering. In the past I liked the idea that earthly life is filled with tribulation, in fact I would contemplate that it's a tribulation as a whole. This thought is no longer attractive to me, however, and neither is the fact that Satan or some great evil like that would be making our life, well, hell. Don't get me wrong, he tempts us, he is evil, and he is us. But one can totally forsake evil in their heart and sacrifice to God, yet still they are never free to my experience, not on this land, not until the sacrifice becomes complete in front of the gates of Heaven. True faith is not words or actions, it's not something we can take as our mission to complete, it's knowing we'll die - and that when we do, we die for Him and to get to Him, to receive peace.

Now, if suffering doesn't come out of a greater force or choice, what does it come out of? Let's think about some of the most common reasons to depression, frustration, hate and negativity. From my own life, easy examples are failed love, time loss, lack of acceptance and notice, lack of creative fullfillment and the reach for perfection that always seems to slip away. Two of these are related to society, other people around us and how we react to them and vice versa. The other three are more or less subjective issues but ones many people around the world can identify with. Looking further, with the exception of time loss, it could be said that these are emotional reflexes. Failed love is self-explanatory. Lack of acceptance and notice are in reflection to how we feel and how we want to feel, creative fulfillment is the same only on a different level - reaching for perfection is an endless goal one may never achieve, but in the context the word and the expression are used these days, it has become the synonym for excellence, which is reachable, but usually requires that extra push from our emotions to motive us, and to tell us we've managed like we were supposed to. As for time loss, obviously time is the most objective thing around and affecting us. It's paradoxical to speak of time being lost, yet we do. Why is that? Because we feel that we've wasted some amount of time either by doing something we shouldn't have or spending too much time on something we needed to but not on the expense of something else.

So, once again things have become subjective. Going back to Schopenhauer's thoughts, the great hope in his pessimistic theory was that we can relieve our pain with aesthetic and artistic experiences. Enjoying them can take our mind away from the great darkness surrouding our cloud. Some of the most powerful emotions known to mankind are indeed attached to music, books, movies and images. See what I did there? Art is all about emotions, while it can make our life easier... It's all coming together. Looking back on it, even the things that I listed (depression, frustration, hate, negativity) were emotions. Suffering becomes suffering in our subjectivity, and our subjectivity equals emotion.

All the contradiction and suffering in our lives is caused by emotion. Many philosophers have said that there is no actual bad and good that exists outside the human moral - I disagree naturally with my Christian belief, but I do see that bad and good don't exist in the mind of a child before they are taught about them. And when we learn, emotions come attached to our knowledge. Whoever said we can't operate with emotions but wisdom instead... Don't you think the two are linked in a way that can never ever be separated?

If emotions are the key to everything, achieving a good life is theoretically simple - diagnose, analyze and learn to control your emotive self. Doing so is much much harder, of course.

See you next time... How I love the stream of consciousness!

End of A Search, Coming of Morning

2011-11-12T14:21:00.001+02:00

Thank you everyone who loves, hates, notices, ignores, stays and leaves. I survived. I will survive.

I'm aged 17 as of 2 PM today. And this is how I crossed the boundary.

Notion

2011-10-29T17:43:00.011+03:00

Quick post here with my review and more new lyrics.

Deftones – ”Deftones” (2003) Album Review

Deftones is a band that has been praised album after album by critics due to their original sound and style. Despite the album ”White Pony” (released in 2000) selling over a million copies in the US alone and yielding the band a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance with the song "Elite", the Sacramento fivesome remains unknown to many music fans, even to those in the metal music community. On the other hand, there's never been too much pressure surrounding the band, allowing them to maintain their will to experiment and letting them focus on whatever direction they want to.

In 2003, Deftones released their fourth album ”Deftones”, which showcased an experimental leap like no other in the band's history. The album was originally going to be called ”Lovers”, but singer and guitarist Chino Moreno changed it after he realized that it would make the concept of the record too obvious. While Moreno has always been writing about love and sexuality, it all indeed pales in comparison to the content found on Deftones. His poetry is still easy to interpret in many different ways, but songs like ”Good Morning Beautiful” and ”When Girls Telephone Boys” leave very little room for the actual themes to be something other than what they presumably are.

Despite the aforementioned concept, this is by no means a pop record. The band's primary guitarist Stephen Carpenter switched to 7-string guitars after the recording of White Pony and offers plenty of chunkiness and brutality to the listener with the help of his downtuned monsters. The tuning Carpenter used throughout the album is G# D# G# C# F# A# D#, from lowest string to highest. Moreno contributed with a 6-string guitar tuned to C# G# C# F# A# D# on some songs on the album. Carpenter is also notable for playing a 5-string bass on the song "Needles and Pins" and drums on ”Anniversary of an Uninteresting Event”. Together Carpenter and Moreno form a duo where the creative focus of the band mostly lays. Carpenter's crushing riffs and beautiful melodies push against Moreno's desperate and mourning, occasionally even intimidating vocals so paradoxically it starts to make sense. Even if the rest of the band is there to give their own flavour to the music, they are without a doubt being handed the side role in this play. Bassist Chi Cheng's screams on Needles and Pins luckily aren't the only impressive thing he can do and his bass lines are actually quite clever whenever they don't just settle to follow the low end of the guitars. Frank Delgado's keyboards and sampling are delicious ear candy as well, but in order to notice them, the performance of both Cheng and Delgado need to be concentrated on. Drummer Abe Cunningham is perhaps the most technical and skilled musician in the band, but he sticks to giving a solid performance and barely has a chance to shine apart from showcasing his playful bass drum technique particularly in the verses of some songs.

The biggest flaw on Deftones as well as the reason why it is such a great album in the end is merely the same. Unlike past albums, there aren't any songs that float above nor any that fall beneath the rest of the material found on the 11-track CD. Some of the songs are more radio-friendly than others, but this is first and foremost an album; a strong entity of great music that most likely gives the best of satisfaction whenever heard from the beginning to the end all at once. Songs that do poke out more or less due to personal taste are Needles and Pins, When Girls Telephone Boys and ”Battle-Axe”, each storming while provoking images to one's brain through Moreno's visual and suggestive lyrics. ”Lucky You” is another standout track, as it relies completely on electronics composed by guest musician DJ Crook with Moreno's once again flirtatious vocals on top.

With their self-titled album, Deftones have crafted something that has their trademark sound all over it while in the same time it's very noticeable how they've expanded their horizons and what they are capable of. The band is less and less about pure aggression and speed with a few seconds reserved to breathing in between – softness, slowness, atmosphere and fresh elements now go hand in hand with the heavy, fast, in-your-face and old aspects of the band's identatintity. Delgado creating his own samples now instead of loaning from others and Carpenter tuning down to G# are just little things to note and warm the listener up before this adventure enters them. Deftones is truly not only an experimental album – it is an experience, and one any self-appreciative rock and metal music fan won't want to miss.

-Written by Joona Turunen (in October 2011)

Lyrics to the song Sip of October:

Sugar flows deep

cogwheels are untouchable

I carry the axe and shine in my spit

Perkele ajaa minua*

Lonely under guiding light

possessed by charmed, poisoned ideals

containing no fear, danger dwells in my stare

God's creation lives on

God's inspiration will fall like platitude

His chaotic vision will effectuate

shed my nucleus like skin, still He perpetuates it

I'll never learn

and I know I should

infections dismissed

tribulation as destiny

I wish

too late, I'm ruined.

*Finnish for devil drives me. "Perkele" has multiple meanings, however, and many (including myself) consider it to be the most 'Finnish' word in existence.

Lyrics to Precipitation:

I wonder which part of my face is bleeding today

A scene rolls on and on within the creep's gates

Fantasies fly like the dove in the horizon

helping me get lost in the night

Somehow when I talk with you or spend time near you

I unwaste everything

You are the wonder, lush, horrific paradox

pumping me with breeze and bright allusions

turning to illusions

For me to live you must live

for you to live I must die

for me to die you must die

for you to die I must wake up

I think I want what you want me to, beauty in death

and need in this pitiful sacrifice

Romantic death, romantic sacrifice

roses from Hades, thorns dirty from the mud

Kiss on the letter she's adhered with

is not from my lips, is not from my cape

it's from the deepest vein.

And now back to mixing Precipitation. <3 See you soon.

±0

2011-10-24T22:22:00.000+03:00

Enough with misery. Here come the great news. I have now if not finished at least started working on all of the songs for my and Wicked Breath's first studio album, Reflections & Realizations. That being said, I'll also have to admit that plans for a second album have taken a great leap forwards as I've come up with several new song titles, ideas, and one fully structured song. This means that while I am hoping to get the recording and mixing done for the first album by the end of 2012, I might just finish writing the second album before then and thus get the sophomore effort out sooner than expected, perhaps already in 2013, which will be my sabbatical year from studies allowing me to spend more time on my music (although I'll also be attending my non-military service then). I have not lost my focus however, and acknowledge the order in which I need to take my steps. In fact, I am happy to announce that not only have I been writing a lot lately, but recording as well - so much that I am almost done with the song Precipitation, and strongly on the move with the song Skies. With a bit of luck I'd be even more ready, but a sickness running in the family has ruined a bit of my plans. (Everyone's okay right about now, don't worry.)

Before we move on to other type of updates and rant, here is the tentative track listing for the album (with song lengths) as well as some new lyrics I'd like to share since it's been a while that I've done so. Keep in mind that the song titles themselves are still unconfirmed and the lyrics may still change slightly. Nothing too drastic is expected to happen though.

01. The Black 6:36

02. Baptism of Fire 4:12

03. Drowning 4:55

04. Cyan Lie 5:06

05. Excruciated 2:12

06. Skies 3:26

07. Half-Heart 5:03

08. Allergy/Anemia 7:18

09. Syppress 4:34

10. Awaiting The Great Depression 4:52

11. (Unholy) Months for Affection 4:16

12. Sip of October 3:59

13. Precipitation 3:29

14. Polarity 4:36

15. Grain 4:30

16. Wallow In Life 3:36

17. CATS 3:03

18. The White 4:09

Lyrics for Drowning:

I pull I out, tune on in

Wipe the pale jacket off my head

Moving still, screaming with no sound

please amplify the stars I weigh

My acknowledgement disappears

My mistake is the greatest success

I know the way to make pain stop

to make time rush and not matter for us

I am ready to give in to the ocean all around my shot chest

candle light, be my zest

burn a hole in a blushed clown suit

Falling in love over and over

walking, I'm dying, over and over again

I owe you more than you will receive from me

all this gloom grows for you, the ice cracks blue just to bloom

genuine so I can no longer forcefeed lies

you've created a night that calls from my insides

OPEN UP THE WICKED

(Hello, beautiful.)

I will be posting more close details on the album in the near future, including more lyrics, most likely. I'd appreciate it if someone out there would also make a comment on the lyrics, or anything else I write about here... Or at least click the Like/Love/Dislike buttons before they go. I'm getting lonely and this place seems more and more dead with the gap in between my posts getting longer and longer these days. :p

I'm noticing that this post got long fast so I'll try to fit all the rest of what I have to say in a smaller space than usual. I'm on my autumn holiday now which naturally lasts only for a week, but is still very needed and helpful in my quest to a) make progress with my music and other projects b) relax. On Saturday night, I finally started the novel that I've been planning in my mind for over a month, and I'm positive that I'll continue writing it in the next few days. I've been doing some school works too including a portfolio that's obligatory for English in this course. It's a lot of work but I love it - or have loved, I should say, as it's near completion now. My three works include a review of the self-titled Deftones record, a biography on Mike Patton and the lyrics for The Black with a Finnish translation included. I'll make sure to post the review here later - I, for one, feel rather proud of it. It was really nice writing one for a change, too. Regardless of the fun I've had with the portfolio, a big reason as to why this holiday is so needed is the stress school's putting on me. I've never had as many things to juggle with in my entire life before than I have right now every day I enter the school building. The works are harder than ever before and so are the demands I make for myself. Not only that, there are distractions, particularly my love life which we will not be getting deeper into right now. Most of you know what I'm referring to, anyway. I've also reached a point in my life when I need to make some very serious decisions. I guess I don't need to tell anyone who's possibly reading, most of whom are older than me, that it's not an easy task to handle.

Luckily there have been Chuck and Kotiteollisuus. As the fifth and last season of the former is about to begin this week, I'm trying to finish my re-run mission in time and have watched about 15 episodes of season three during the past three days (the number would probably be a little less if it wasn't for that sickness though, heh). It all just makes me recall how fantastic of a series it is and how much I love it, ever since the first watch but somehow even more now, with a greater ability to relate to the people and the events in the plot. Kotiteollisuus, on the other hand, is an interesting case. I half-accidentally stumbled upon their darkest effort, the album Eevan Perintö last Sunday and my God, it's one of the best albums I've ever heard. I now have the band's entire discography with the exception of their latest, self-titled album. I haven't had a chance to listen to all of it yet, but I do know that their more recent stuff is more catchy and while not exactly poprock, filled with choruses I tend to dislike. Some of their stuff is just too good for me to judge the more commercialized releases without listening first. Their simplicity, lyrical content including allegories to the Bible and Finnish literature as well as their somehow perfect description of Finland and Finnish people with their sound just strikes me. And, those of you who are observant enough, should notice their influence on the music I'm currently writing. Then again, you probably won't hear that (properly) in at least two years. :P

But hey, that's all for now, folks. I'll try to fit making another post this week into my schedule if I can. Until then, take care - which reminds me, RIP, Davide Simoncelli and Dan Wheldon. :( May God Bless us all.

Overture

2011-10-21T17:36:00.005+03:00

The biggest curse one can have is low self-esteem.

Anything and everything can make you crack.

You feel the adrenaline in your system flowing so often that it becomes your norm.

A hormone is preparing you to die at whatever you do.

And you let it take you as its slave.

You've never done drugs yet you're a crack addict.

Or even worse.

You are afraid to try anything new.

All that's old bores you and is no longer enough.

Actually, you're beginning to think it was never enough.

Accomplishments are the only thing that satisfy you.

And even they fade away like fireworks in the sky; you blink and all your efforts are gone.

And no one was there to see them.

You lash yourself.

You lash yourself for everything you hate and is you, and eventually even the things that you thought were worth admiring become untolerable.

Whoever says that shyness is a good quality is either a liar or a brainwasher.

Whoever they are, they haven't felt the beating you have in your chest.

Depression is the enemy.

Depression is nutrition.

Then you're shot.

You wore a bulletproof vest, how did it happen?

This was no bullet.

It was a laser, a bright light that seemed to infiltrate all of you, and didn't stop there.

It began to change you.

You lose your focus, you dwell in memories, draw in the ground and write in your hand.

You act, speak, care.

Someone cares for you.

But they're not who you chose.

And then you lash yourself again.

Evil comes out of your mouth.

You deceive and attempt to break free.

But the pressure grows.

It's cold and everyone around you is frightened.

You stay calm and caress what you see.

But no one is there to caress me.

I forfeit, let it pour and fall on my knees

with closed eyes give in to my low self-esteem.

I Am Who I Am, There's Nothing You Can Do...

2011-10-01T14:50:00.006+03:00

Back again. First and foremost I'm announcing that the Wicked Breath EP Perfidy of Judgment will not be released due to several reasons, including lack of time and satisfaction. Instead, a song or two that were intended to be on the EP will be released on another EP titled This Slut They Call A Heart, which will be available around the same time as Wicked Breath's debut album. TSTCAH is what I may have been referring to as the 'special edition EP' up until now. The album itself also carries a new working title as of late, which is Reflections & Realizations. I've been writing songs like crazy the past two months or so, and there is only one song yet to be started on for the 18-track affair. The working titles of the latest two songs are Vail and Drowning, and I've also finished a song called Excruciated since my last post. At this rate, I am presumably done with writing by Christmas and can aim my focus entirely on finalizing the product and getting it out by the end of next year.

During the past week or so I've resumed the recording of the album by working on guitars and bass for Skies. While I never stopped writing, I had been on a break from recording and mixing basically since the middle of August, but now I've developed a game plan and am back to experience the rush. Not only have I abandoned Perfidy of Judgment though, I'm also delaying Ravinethrall's debut release Bequeath to a time yet unknown. Whether it will be finished this year or next year is impossible to tell, but it will be released sooner or later - as it is only a side project, I'm just finding it more important to work on my priority first. All recording has been done for over a month now so it shouldn't take long to put everything together for Bequeath once the time comes. Later this weekend I'm also having a meeting with the members of Theban Cycle so don't you worry - I may not be able to work on everything simultaneously not to mention share every single update, but I have not forgotten or ditched anything. Well, anything besides Perfidy of Judgment, but I precise that metaphorically, its intention was merely that of a movie trailer with cut scenes and whatnot, and along the way it was just decided that some of the scenes would be used for the movie itself instead while some others would be scrapped entirely. As the artist I don't really have to explain myself anyway, do I? I live by Evanescence's new song. :P

Speaking of Evanescence, their new album is coming out soon (October 11th to be exact) and it will have a zero chance to wear off by the time more awesome and new releases I'm thrilled about are already out. KoRn's new album The Path of Totality gets off the leash December 6th, with Munky's side project Fear And The Nervous System releasing their debut album over a month prior to that on October 25th. A new KoRn single will be playable as early as next Tuesday and it's called Narcissistic Cannibal. While waiting for the new album(s) I've checked out some bonus tracks from KoRn III: Remember Who You Are, and one of them called Trapped Underneath the Stairs is officially my song of the week. Opeth's Heritage has been in my possession for about a month now and though different, it's a very enjoyable album which I'm sure will grow in huge amounts as I listen to it more. There are also several albums that have come out recently from such bands as Mastodon and Dream Theater that I'm thinking of checking out, since they are bands I've been meaning to listen to for a while but haven't done so yet.

School is naturally what has kept me so busy that I haven't posted here much and am required to do even some harsh decisions with my projects. What's worse is that so far it's not even really worth it. My first exam week of the year ended on Tuesday and the grades I've gotten back so far are a 6+ from Health Knowledge and a 7½ from Geography. Both are rather meaningless subjects to me but I'm still a bit disappointed, and I don't feel like the grades we have yet to receive from Finnish, Swedish and English are going to be much better. I have received a few honors though along the way so far - one of my Finnish essays was the best of both classes attending year two and yielded 55 points out of 60. My teacher is eager to make me want to be a reporter now. I was also offered the chance to join the European Youth Parliament due to my English skills and interest in society, but I turned it down. What truly scares me is that I still don't know what I want to do with my life apart from writing lyrics/poems and stories, and music which will surely never end. Neither happen to be things I could make a living out of, unfortunately.

Finally, I have started a new short story with a friend of mine that's yet another love story, but quite dramatic at that. There's no telling when it'll be done but so far we have almost two chapters written. My other idea hasn't come to letters yet but I have tons of twists, characters and the general plot (most importantly) memorized in my head. It looks like it's going to be an actual novel after all. Obviously that means it won't be done in years but that's fine. I'm more confident than with my previous novel attempts that it will be finished eventually.

I leave you with Trapped Underneath The Stairs now (click) and go on with some school work and Wicked Breath-related things for the rest of the day. Regardless of the song fitting with my mood these past two weeks or so, I can say that my depression is better now than it was a month ago. Ironic, isn't it, since days are getting darker and colder? :P Then again, we're coming closer to the season I really love.

Until next time... Take care!

It Feels Like Dying

2011-09-16T22:02:00.008+03:00

Two Months From a Year...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBxWsf1bpE4

Am I allowed to breathe?

Am I allowed to counter

words that don't believe

and words that don't matter?

And soon I'll sigh

and forget them all

Only sometimes

am I allowed
(breathe)

And someone should have told me

that you would be here

but you weren't you anymore

you weren't you

But you will, you will, you will
YOU

Soon I will fall like the wall

(Breathe)
(Breathe)

And how it feels will be horror

Do you hate it?

'Cause you weren't you anymore

You weren't you

But you will, you will, you will
YOU

Soon I will fall like the wall

All around fractured view of life

I tear down all these idols

And I'll make my transformation

You'll feel better

RIGHT?

(Breathe)

(Breathe)

You will, you will, you will
YOU

YOU CAN'T SCAR ME, YOU CAN'T
YOU CAN'T SCAR ME, YOU CAN'T

How the fuck does it feel?

Soon I will fall like the wall

And soon I will fall like the wall

And how the fuck does it feel?
And how the fuck did you figure?

How the fuck does it feel?
And how the fuck did you figure?
How the fuck does it feel?
How the fuck did you figure?
How the fuck does it feel?
How the FUCK
HOW THE FUCK DOES IT FEEL?
HOW THE FUCK DOES IT FEEL?
HOW THE FUCK DOES IT FEEL?
AND HOW THE FUCK DOES IT FEEL?

I Want To Be Much Then More

2011-09-10T22:14:00.008+03:00

And here I am. Before proceeding to anything else, I have to thank each and everyone for your votes in the poll. I had 13 votes in total, which is more than I expected. The final results were less surprising though. Baptism of Fire, with its straightforward and catchy nature (I assume), took the win with eight votes. Grain and Polarity both had two votes while The Black had one person think it would the best choice. I've now filmed about a half of the music video with my friend Justine who came to visit me last week (thanks for that and all the great time we had once again!). I can tell you already that it'll look great and hopefully much less amateurish than the previous music video. Due to Baptism of Fire not necessarily describing the upcoming album as a whole all that well, however, I'm also considering the option of doing another music video later for Polarity. Don't take it the wrong way - I just don't want people to feel hugely disappointed when they hear a way more progressive record than what the single might predict. Technically I never implied that whatever you choose would be the one & only single anyway... :P

The reason as to why I haven't been making proper updates very consistently in a while is obviously lack of time. I thought that school was tough when it started, but it's getting tougher and tougher each week. Besides homework, stress and social issues my band line-up for the performance has totally been revamped and it's not really a positive thing. In fact all I want to do right now is get the performance out of the way and move on entirely on my own again. At least I tried... Slight creative frustration and the fact that I haven't had time to record or mix much has also affected on me becoming more depressed than ever before in my life. I still think that the only time I've really faced the bottom was during the eighth week of my summer holiday, but regardless of feeling a little better than back then I would say that my depression has become a long-term affair. Then again there is the question whether or not I've always been depressed - the state I'm in right now isn't necessarily anything new, there's just that little extra bit of tension in there making it seem so. Or then I'm overreacting as always. Go and tell.

Despite everything my album has made a lot of progress. I've finished several brand new songs and am working on another bunch right now. You can check the more detailed list of the current situation on the AS forums where I posted my September update just earlier today. All in all I've actually been overwhelmingly inspired lately, and it could just be the depression working as a catalyst of some sort on my artistic tendencies. It goes around though because not being able to take all my ideas and work on them is making me even more sad. One of these is a plot for a story I really want to write. Unlike the story I made in the summer, this one I'd rather make into a book which naturally makes things even more difficult. I'm however determined to at least give it a try - I'm about to start writing it tonight to be exact, as soon as I'm finished with this post and some lyrics and drums I'm working on for a song called Skies, most likely a song to be on the album. It uses 5-string guitars. Don't ask why. :P

Ravinethrall hasn't really gone forth. Today was the first time in weeks that I touched any of the project files. I am hoping to get the EP out this month though, but it's quite an optimistic goal I have to admit. Chances are that if I can't put it out this month, the Wicked Breath EP Perfidy of Judgment won't be released at all since I really want the album to be out next year more than to have some leftover songs put out in promotion for it. I might still put the songs out eventually, but they're really not that great anyway. Apart from Cyan Lie obviously, which was supposed to be on both, the POJ and the album. Let's just keep our fingers crossed...

Walking is what has kept me together for most of my days recently. It's a miracle how doing it more regularly than before and having started taking photographs has made me realize the whole experience differently. What of course helps this is that the autumn in here is breathtaking. Again, the bad thing about the whole thing is that it exhausts me and sucks even more time out of my week. I am really productive during my walks though - often so productive that I'll have ideas I'll forget by the time I'm back home.

I don't really have anything to say about the music that I've been into besides Spineshank and Deftones. And lots of shuffle, hah.

That all just came pouring out, but I think I'm done now. Time to go make some pizza and then conclude the most productive day of the week with some more creative activity. I'll promise to post next week - if nothing else, it'll just be another song that means a great deal to me. Take care and enjoy what's left of your day. :)

PS: My thoughts and prayers go to the families and friends of the players and staff of the ice-hockey team Lokomotiv Jaroslavl. If you don't know what I'm talking about, their plane crashed last Wednesday just as it had taken off to the air. 43 out of 45 passengers died. A tragic day (and week) for hockey.

Taste of Better Times to Come

2011-09-10T10:06:00.006+03:00

Hello memory lover
You are mine
I gave everything
I need you
And someday
I'll be with her
I'll be with you
I will
I'm so dead
You're the first star
You're the one who sees it all
I know
I'm so tired
And sick.
-Deftones: Fist

See you tonight.

Tearjerker

2011-08-25T17:37:00.003+03:00

This is becoming a tradition - posting songs that make me cry in between the actual updates. Here's one more by Korn called Tearjerker. It's all I have right now - and yes, that's a multi-interpretational statement.

Well I wish there was someone
well I wish there was someone
to love me
When I used to be someone
and I knew there was someone
that loved me
As I sit here frozen alone
even ghosts get tired and go home
as they crawl back under the stones

And I wish there was something
please tell me there's something better
and I wish there was something more than this
saturated loneliness
And I wish I could feel it
and I wish I could steal it
abduct it, corrupt it, but I never can, it's just
saturated loneliness

Does the silence get lonely?
Does the silence get lonely?
Who knows?
I've been hearing it tell me
I've been hearing it tell me
go home
'cause the freaks are playing tonight
they packed up and turned out the lights

And I wish there was something
please tell me there's something better
and I wish there was something more than this
saturated loneliness
And I wish I could feel it
and I wish I could steal it
abduct it, corrupt it, but I never can, it's just
saturated loneliness

And the bath waters cold
and this life's getting old

And I wish I could feel it
and I wish I could feel it
and I wish I could steal it
abduct it, corrupt it
And I wish I could feel it
and I wish I could steal it
and I wish I could feel it
abduct it, corrupt it
but I never can
I never can
never can
never can
never can.

[/angst]

Good Evening Beautiful

2011-08-15T22:22:00.010+03:00

Hey, surprise surprise! Since my school schedule is really a nightmare and I'm guessing that from all the mixing and recording I will be doing I won't have much time for posts any time soon, I thought I'd make a tiny tiny one tonight while I'm still without homework and (almost) without stress. Basically what this post is supposed to be is an introduction to the poll you can see on the right of this page (I hope...:P). I've decided I want Wicked Breath's debut album to have a music video and single to promote it well, and this time it would be made entirely public unlike in the case of Xie Xie. The question is - which song to use? As brainstorming, filming, not to mention editing a music video is very time-consuming, the time for planning is right now. It's true that only about 2/3 of the songs that will be on the album have so far been started on (read: not all of them have even been entirely finished, especially concerning the drum parts) and only 6 of them have been confirmed for the record, but I can't stall this any longer for the sake of finishing in time with both, the album and its promotion material. Moreover, I think the best way to describe this process that has taken a year and a half so far and will continue to take more than another year of my life is to use a song that was not made just a few months before release as a last attempt or something.

So how's this going to work exactly? Well, I will be linking you to some MIDIs of the songs I've chosen for the poll, and you can also read the lyrics for the songs by scrolling this post down a little more. I am hoping to have as many votes as possible, so tell your friends! If you're a newcomer to this blog or my music, don't let it stop you. MIDIs (which you can open with Windows Media Player) are awful in quality but they should give you enough of an idea on how the songs will end up sounding with real instrumentation, and perhaps the lyrics you see will evoke such spirit in you that you just have to see it being sung in a music video. (That being said, I accept ideas for the music video itself in the comments - and remember, while some of these songs aren't necessarily all that accessible at first, there's a reason for every choice I've made for the poll and that reason is that they describe my sound.) ALL HELP AND SUPPORT WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. I cannot underline it enough that even if I make music for myself, I am eager to share it with the world and most importantly, hear what the world thinks of it.

(EDIT, SUNDAY 21ST: It has come to my attention that Sendspace is having limitations on free downloading, and so to make things a little easier you can now choose to download the MIDIs in one .zip package (click here) instead of having to download them all individually. For those who prefer trying their luck, the links from before are still up though.)

Option #1: The Black (Clickity Click Here)

At the dawn of the latest evening, there’s a queen holding the rights to breathe

Sirens hold their notes in the air, set the tone for a late attempt to bleach

drunk with power, while a little boy climbs down from his tree to applaud our backwardness

for this circus has been forced to go on so long, it has turned to the other side

And now black

Are you ready for the black? [X3]

Calling home, the messengers, now break down the hearts fold with pepper

(They say):

“Paper clips, the answer is war

Difference, silenced by scandals

When nature rebels, we rebel the poor

But after this call, we must hang from liability”

And now justice lives underground, first signs of flood break out

to the public, dressed clowns, anxiously proclaim how

we must not seek for crowns, not wealth and not ourselves

just grab our evil friends, run and hope to find new shelter

(But sages, they remain with bloodshot cameras and tapes)

The compensation of the gentleman with the looks to reflect the madness plan

as the choirs of laugh spin around the stem turning into severe mayhem

can’t get this snow globe out of my consciousness, unfocused, refugee of the divinity

The essence of wind makes her grief and smile in the same tiny breath

her light is captured in a slowly caving nest, surrounding it she sees his deadbeat chest

and the deepest of shades keeps on burning, setting on fire even the ashes and even the frames

no more pain left, for the hopeless, to rain the death’s final rain

Bloody lips kissing concrete, your deathblow is finally mine

Mental chaos, the man kills man and with escape they both fall to sand

There is no technology to replace love

and there is no haven for the unkind

A pessimists' dread scenario

in its coldness it should be notional

notice, the change

The best day for change is today

Option #2: Baptism of Fire

FLUSH MY HEART AWAY!

Crawling on the floor of a station restroom

(fall is it? Own me, push me and loathe me,

crooning, “I am me”, keeping the truth leashed,

staying untamed so tomorrow can drive me slow)

Lakes they’re turning into mountain vales

(Ruthlessly standing by what I trample,

aiming my vengeance at everyone else

when all the banishment should be laid like mud on me)

[Chorus]: Hunting demons down the lane of death

Narcissism is programmed into my brain

Wherever I call for a sincere smile to support

Melatonin attacks, flames charge right beneath my back

Carry judgment I must to be a part of the mass

(The truth, still fizzling under my lungs

filling, this nature covers it up with

threads do connect but are nowhere to be found at all)

Relying on myself and me only

(For I can’t take advice, I could as well be blind

seeing moonlight where sunrise is offering blood

donation, my soul lives in daily frustration)

AARGH

[Chorus]

I snap, the hoodies are gone off the faces

surround me like haze and fight for their places

In pieces, throwing the torch on the flame, suffocation

it’s freezing to be here

[Chorus2]: Hunting demons down the lane of death

Narcissism is programmed into my brain

Whenever I call for a sentimental support

Melatonin attacks, the machine boots beneath my back

Option #3: Polarity
Squinting through mist, listing my observations
while glitches lay open yet bury the lie, I
keep counting my steps while a shadow sweeps the floor
sweeps more patiently than bore taking over my norm
Recently standing has began to instigate
an ache somewhere deep down the wind of condemn
And trust in myself and my way of sincerity
has shrinken to dust, lust has turned me to rust
At the end I am empty and full when it's dawn
saturated from hunger I am growing from torment
Through pieces and madness I sense all at my sight
Through what's genuine fear approaching to realize

(Toxic inside...)
the vein, where the golden prey, withers from the power of the change
transforming into this new shell of irregular phase and
impulse stronger with hate, desperation
and ugliness uniting to play for the sake of the enemy
in the mirror with the weight of angst hanging from the blepharons ready to burst
to long, winded, hysterical show
without contentment, without an exit from the surveillance
shot at you and your reactions untypically unglued

Closing the blind that built a bridge for this effort
to abandon the forecast, shove the beginning burn
A shivering glimpse at the sweet little symbiont
'cause of the light that you carry I am shackled onto
is filled with smoke, with hate, with everything that is me
My shame is flooding to an unwrittable page
dribbling with pain, I PLEAD

Winters have come and certainly they have gone
the testament has now frozen in between rays of sun
but soon everything that was lost will be lost again
not likely to prolong my time, my life without cure for dying
in panic I empty what once was supposedly done
while the cure is more closer than where my eyes can meet
only shadowed by habit embedded in me

Until the scenery is intruded by a beckoning face
I endure in the pits of backlash and supposed fate
two-folded, while my mind won't let me renew
this polar state just won't bring me here

Option #4: Grain
Absurd, the abstract, has come
re-arranged my relucant compass
and blind caress of peaches and lime
without reality and purpose to die for
synthetized, my soul was sketched out of scars
doomed to cause more and rip them apart
now each cut deeper than the mist on the surface
only gathers itself, empowering me

But this also is oh so painful
seeing the imperfected perversion
where the water meets me
with the waves never as sheer

Weight on my throat suffocating origin of the flourished attic
and with my wrists tied together, the cadmium grain contemplates leaving its arx
that was washed out of weakness just before the orchid
came screaming back for sand to take on

I ERUPT truth
YOU ERUPT... ?
---------------------

Once you've made your decision, whatever it's based on (do take your time please), I obviously expect you to vote on it. The poll is once again shown on the right panel of this page (where I've also added some other cool new stuff lately, if you haven't noticed). Voting ends on the last day of this month, which is August 31st, 2011. Don't miss out on the results, either!

I will see you sooner or later, now peace. :)

Shiny Skin

2011-08-13T18:50:00.001+03:00

Here we are - just less than 40 hours away from the beginning of my second school year in upper secondary school. I've spent 70 days in what was supposed to be bliss during my off time. Has it? Well, it has and hasn't; more of the latter, unfortunately. It's impossible to go through it all in a nutshell so prepare for some heavy ranting and whatnot to enter your brain.

To start with the positive, if I had to choose one thing I'm really glad of doing and have done more than I would've ever imagined, it would be walking. I've had around forty of them throughout the summer, no lying, and as we count all of them together it's safe to say I've wandered for more than two hundred kilometers outside in heat, mild, sun light, rain and dusk. It's been wonderful. I've been inspired a ton during if not all, at least during the majority of them. There's been line ideas, song ideas, riffs, beats, and most importantly, project ideas. Ah yes, another very positive thing I could've never imagined having earlier... Ravinethrall eventually became the perfect side project and counterpart to Wicked Breath, and putting together an EP of 3 songs in less than 24 hours (=which is what you get when you count together the time I spent in total on writing the songs during my all nighters, obviously this does not include recording/mixing/et cetera) was a great experience. Although I still have one or two drum tracks to do not to mention a bunch of mixing before Bequeath gets out, I'm already very proud, particularly since the tiny bit of reception Winterpipedream has gotten has been delightfully positive so far. (During my walks I of course also listened to music and as they've become more frequent, I've also started taking an immense number of photographs while passing breathtaking scenery.) Last addition to this segment would have to be my short story, which hasn't yielded a single bad review yet. There have been small mistakes in both the Finnish and English version (obviously some more significant ones in the latter), but basically everyone has been telling that they've liked it and haven't been able to stop reading before they've reached the end. While it's only been read by people who are family/friends/friends of family, there's no reason they would be lying or giving soft criticism. Not all of them. Regardless, I knew myself that I got a lot to improve even before I showed it to anyone, yet it was surprisingly easy to write the story after such a break in writing and I'm happy about the response I've had.

Kind of on the branch of good and bad is my "actual" work. I've vacuumed, wiped dust, washed carpets, doors, windows, cleaned rooms (...) and for a good money since my parents have been grateful enough to give me around 300 Euros for all that I've done for our house. You don't have to be a scientist to tell that it's been time-consuming too, though. This holiday has really opened my eyes to how cruel and disgusting money can be - we work our asses off to get some, and in the end it's wasted oh so quickly and at least for me, sometimes even in vain. I bought Pro Tools only to find that it's really just Guitar Rig, Guitar Pro and Audacity packed in one with a "professional" sticker in it and massive lagging on a regular processor and USB sound card, and that I actually already got version seven of it hiding in my drawer (got it with my MobilePre preamp ages ago). Sure I now have version nine, and it does have its perks like easy volume control, but 300 Euros? Just too much. Then again, my drum mics were totally worth the investment - it's just too bad I had to get seven (for the price of seven) while all I needed and have use for is two. Here goes hoping that what I'm currently saving for (this beauty) won't let me down.

That leads us to my guitar issues. Slightly better now, but still a concern and for a long time, very distressing. Not only did I not record as much as I wanted, I also didn't create as much as I wanted, didn't mix or finish as much as I wanted, and felt depressed from time to time (but whenever it got to that there were other things involved such as drama in the social department and self-loathing). Actually, just this week when I've been going through some of my songs and demos from the past year or so, I've noticed how much better songs like The Black are than my newer material. Seriously, it could also be because the newer songs are ones I've been dwelling with without a break, but there's so much going on in that song both musically and lyrically that it just makes me wonder whether I'll ever be able to do the same again.

Last Friday (the 5th) was actually the perfect way of tying this holiday's common themes and events together, as it was the concert where I saw a number of local bands as well as Pariisin Kevät. I can't reveal everything here, but there was the drama again, as well as a huge amount of walking back and forth (I left my home and came back four times!), plenty of photographs, great music and energy, but also embarrassment, loathing, and alienation. And, as I was attending I thought of having a really long night afterwards writing and tweaking songs, but ended up sleeping with only a few lines written. You see, we can't really talk about writer's blocks here, not when a) I have actually done quite a lot of stuff including Ravinethrall & CITS, Still (a new song done last weekend), cORE4 and the completion of Grain and Polarity Wicked Breath-wise, and many poems b) I haven't been struggling as much with writing and composing itself as I have with finding the spark to try doing them. Don't get me wrong, I still want to create - the heck, this holiday has made me realize that I LIVE out of it - but all the other, well, shit that's around is sucking up the time and spark too often for me to just clear the air, sit down and write a song. Ravinethrall was so great for that exact reason, because although I couldn't shove everything aside, I could put together music in a short period of time without having to focus on anything but the music itself too much. Then again it also meant that I have yet to really find the right sound for the project, which will come together eventually though, I'm sure.

Oh, also movies and books we have to talk about. I could've spent more time with both, but having finished Brian "Head" Welch's biography Save Me From Myself just a moment ago, experienced the greatness of Skjut Apelsinen by Mikael Niemi, and found back the Harry Potter series, I can be happy. A few movies weren't really that worthwhile as wasn't the short story collection I read, but it's just a part of discovering new things.

Finally, here's a playlist I made out of my holiday, including the new Evanescence song that was released this week. And 23 other pieces of greatness, naturally. Who's questioning my taste? :P

Anyway, it's now time to prepare for a new beginning. Stay well, friends! I myself will do my best, I promise, and remain hopeful for good things to come. :)

The Shadow Of Your Hand

2011-08-10T19:55:00.003+03:00

We have waited for so long
To occur this day
There are those who fly away to a distant place
But I think I'll stay
And I wouldn't have it any other way
In this solace I see a light
piercing the darkness
Coming on the winds
of imagery
When all I know is crumbling
I am becoming something more than humanity could ever allow me to be
I remember a day when
My dreams of escape
Seemed so far away

Let's go back in time, you and I
To my
Initiation to your false empire
You greased, you aimed
And then you spit
While I
Once again pushed away my conscience

Yet always, it seems
I cannot fathom the plateau
Without first in the pits

Against the goads there can be no pleading
Because every thought reaps an action
And for you, my former captor
All the earthly wisdom and wealth
Cannot erase your susceptibility
To brutal mortality
And the funny thing about justice
Is that it always comes when you least expect it
So friends it won't be long
Seems I stole your smile, right from wrong

So forever now we'll find
Our peace inside this
We'll find our solace in your silence
And though I once desired your twisted sense of fame
I know, I know that in myself I'm nothing

Nothing
Nothing
Nothing but the words of the meaningless

You have given me all I'll ever need
The nerve, the greed, the lust, the lust, the lust, the lust for justice
And now I will never rest
Until the meaningless become your silence

And you're
Over
Over
Over
Out
Over
Over
Over
Out
Over
Over
Over
Out
Over
Over
Over
Out

Now I mean to thank you once again, with this
My, my, my goodbye kiss
You broke my heart
But something tells me that I won't, that I won't, and I won't miss it
And on this very day
And on this very hill
While the heavens are hushed
In anticipation, beckoning
We'll have ourselves a reckoning
And all of the oppressed will greet you

And you're
Over
Over
Over
Out
Over
Over
Over...
-----------------------
I've fallen hopelessly back in love to this song (Project 86 - Solace) and album (Songs To Burn Your Bridges By) during my discography sessions. Up until the weekend, that is all.

Amiss Distance

2011-08-02T16:53:00.003+03:00

I was mixing Winterpipedream and failing to make it work as usual while doing such, I decided to take a break and make a post here instead. So here I am. If I had to find a word to describe the last eight to nine days it would probably be something along the lines of "a rollercoaster." "a pursuit." "a tribulation." or *gasp...* "life." I reached the bottom once and for all and actually am not sure if I've climbed up yet, at all. I know it's pathetic but I couldn't/can't help it - the pain of not being able to breathe music (as I like to put it) as well as other smaller things made me self-destruct, crawl into my shell and feel eager to do nothing but sleep. Anyone who truly knows me knows that disregarding dreams, sleeping is a waste of time in my world. Thus I deliberately wanted to waste my time. That should tell you something. Ever since then I've been basically trying to seek balance with the little things as there's nothing I can do with the big ones for a while. At times I've fallen back, at times I've actually felt rather happy and like this holiday that will end in less than two weeks shouldn't end. But yeah, I won't get too emo, I don't want to at least, so let's just move on, because there are things I have to share other than just angst.

Art ironically has perhaps just increased as a part of my life ever since my sufferings occurred. Since my last post I've watched four of the latest Harry Potter movies (The Order Of The Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince once, the part one of Deathly Hallows twice, part two of Deathly Hallows once), read two books, written down numerous poems and lyrical ideas as well as started on one new song, and recorded guitars, bass, vocals and drums for Ravinethrall and Wicked Breath both. I know that in the same time it sounds contradicting to what I just wrote in the above paragraph but I emphasize that my guitars do not sound like they are supposed to. Anyway, my visit to the library on Thursday was maybe the one thing that turned all for better. (Not exactly art-related, but I've also been on seven walks, btw). I loaned a total of five books - Syleily ("Embrace") by Maria Vuorio, Skjut Apelsinen ("Shot Oranges" by Mikael Vuori), Not The End of The World by Geraldine McCaughrean, Uskonnonfilosofia ("Philosophy of Religion") by Timo Helenius, Timo Koistinen and Sami Pihlström and Kirjoittamisen Ihanuus: Nuoren Kirjoittajan Opas ("The Delight of Writing: The Guide of A Young Writer") by Katariina Kuick and Ylva Karlsson. Maria Vuorio's book turned out to be decent, consisting of seven short stories which for the most part lacked cohesiveness within themselves to me. I could not get into her writing style but I thought that at least two of the seven stories were quite good. Skjut Apelsinen, on the other hand, was BRILLIANT. One of the best books I've ever read, it mainly focuses on the angst of a 16-year-old. (I bet it doesn't come as a surprise that I loved it now does it, heh.) It's more than just that though, and among other things I found enormous and fantastically used contrasts in humor and seriousness, naivety and depth, love and hate, questions and answers, you name it. The protagonist ends up making poems to relieve his emotions (again, I bet someone wrote this book for me) and falling in love with a girl who is the only one that understands his rebellious clothing (believe me, this doesn't mean what you think it does, READ IT :P) after him being rejected by the most beautiful girl in school, and obviously in front of everyone. The book plays with the struggles all teenagers face but doesn't come across as cheesy. It's laughable, intense, in-your-face and straightforward as much as it's abstract and poetic. A masterpiece, really. Niemi has another book that's even more famous and after this I MUST read it as soon as I get the chance. The Guide of A Young Writer has inspired me even more though, obviously. I've done poems in Finnish based on the tips and ideas the book has given, and it's been wonderful even if I haven't used that much time on it yet. The book has also given me a thematic idea for Wicked Breath's second album. (You heard me, second... Maybe, just maybe I should finish the first album first as well as Theban Cycle's debut EP, the Ravinethrall stuff, not to mention my untitled project? *rolls eyes*) Here are some of the best poems I've done so far. Some of them were haikus but I'll rather translate them word for word than attempt maintaining the number of syllables. I'll also note that without exception all these poems have been done very briefly in a rather improvised manner.

I pray that the figure beside me would turn to real
turn to you, the home of my love.
For a third day I'm speaking to you
but you don't reply, at all.
I paint the walls, paint the ceiling,
paint the meadow and fitted carpet.
The emptiness won't release, like ice beneath my feet
I'm cold and tingled.
I melt at a distance with the distance as the reason.

Sadness of the dancer
gives birth to happiness large
a protecting flood.

Redness of the stalk of a tree
glows with the color of her
shoots itself.

A basket lies in the moss
a burrow shouts the name of the hunter.
White, green, black, dark
a bird wishes ugly night.
But ugliness is only ugly to the beautiful
to the ugly it's alike.
The companion drinks from the oasis
from the brook of pretty secret.

Ravinethrall-wise I'm done recording Winterpipedream entirely, (Still Not) Burnished's guitars and bass, and dearth's bass and most of the guitars. Wicked Breath is still on a bit of a hiatus but Tear of The Afternoon is done completely and Finland will soon be too. For Polarity, I've recorded the bass. I am now hoping to get Bequeath out by the end of this month and Perfidy of Judgment somewhere in October, but the latter isn't fully in my own hands.

Faith No More has taken over my intent to listen to my favorite bands' discographies. I'd say it's more fortunate than unfortunate, since Angel Dust and The Real Thing don't seem to be hailed as classics for nothing. If I had heard songs like Jizzlobber and Malpractice before I started Ravinethrall they would've been a big influence for sure. I'm also thinking of doing an instrumental cover of Quote Unquote, the masterpiece by Mike Patton's other band, Mr. Bungle. It would fit perfectly for the second Ravinethrall EP whenever the time comes for that, mood-wise if not else. Plus I probably won't finish the cover for Insomnia by Faithless I was about to, and I still want to do some cover and put it out officially, sooner or later. Old KoRn and Deftones plus Opeth and P.O.D.'s new songs have also rolled in my headphones the past week. For the fanboys and -girls, you can hear The Devil's Orchard here and On Fire here.

That's about it. I'm hoping to deliver one or two more posts before school starts again. :) Be blessed! I know I won't...

In Abyss

2011-07-24T21:59:00.005+03:00

Hey there. I'm very happy to start this post by giving you the link to the English version of my short story Onchocerca volvulus, which I finished just yesterday. http://www.sendspace.com/file/nxbzej (For the Finnish version, see http://www.sendspace.com/file/26kpea) I had a lot of issues with the dialogues, and there might be some grammar mistakes left and whatnot. If you find any, please let me know - as well as what you think of the story in general, of course. I'm proud and had a lot of fun doing both, the Finnish version and the translation. If only I had a few weeks more left of my holiday than I actually do, because I would love to start another one. With 3 weeks left and my other projects keeping me busy, it's unfortunately impossible for the time being.

Another project, Ravinethrall's debut EP Bequeath, is also near completion. After 4 all night long sessions the writing and the artwork is done, and I have been recording some of the guitar and bass tracks too already. Here is the tracklist, some descriptions of the songs and the front cover for the EP.

1. Winterpipedream - 4:10

Most haunting song of the bunch and arguably most experimental as well since everything is played in 13/8. The song consists of a high-pitched guitar mood-setter reminiscent of KoRn with heavier riffs accompanying one after the other. After a return to the intro a lush harmony enters, followed by a climactic and slightly dissonant ending. The structure and the drum work are particularly simple in this one.

2. (Still Not) Burnished - 5:35
A very personal piece of progressive melancholy. Misses the doom of its predecessor but doesn't let down the foundation either with sorrow and desperation all over the music and the lyrics. For listeners of Wicked Breath this should be most accessible track in here since the time signature is 6/4 and the progressive touch is closer to my other works as opposed to the repetitive nature and idea of this project. There's still a unity found throughout though and one riff in particular is recycled within the song. All in all Burnished is as "brisk" and, occasionally, as upbeat as it gets on this EP.

3. dearth - 6:45

The songs get longer and longer gradually and so our journey ends with a monster that's almost 7 minutes in length. dearth (yes, it's intentionally lowercase) includes lyrics from my good friend Justine Florio which I've modified a little and fulfilled with a few lines of my own. What we have here is however the most instrumental-based song by Ravinethrall so far. Timing goes in 7/4, and with this I've taken the biggest risk to bore people who just aren't getting it (that's not to point anyone with fingers; I myself am not necessarily conceiving what I've created :P). Divided in two distinctive portions, this track starts off with a riff that requires some time to get used to, but thankfully goes on and on for ages with brand new layers being presented from time to time, eventually going into a break where another riff comes in and leads us out of the maze so to speak in a very similar way, only more briefly (the first portion takes over twice as much time as the latter). In many fields this song falls between the two prior to it, while still delivering its own sense of structure and identity. To me it's not a perfect closer but still leaves you hanging for more, including me as the composer.

Here's your wannabe-art:

I also have a back cover and two inlays, but to see those you'll just have to wait until the release. Ha.

I'm hoping to get Bequeath out next month, and Wicked Breath's Perfidy of Judgment in September. Since I still have issues with my guitar necks and am lacking in time and sometimes motivation to record and mix the tens of layers I have to, I'm afraid WB's album will have a hard time getting finished next year, but obviously it's too early to estimate let alone state anything final on that. You shouldn't be worried about Ravinethrall or any of my other projects taking over by no means, because Wicked Breath still comes first in my decisions and creativity. I've actually been writing a new song for the album just this week. I guess I just really wanted to get something done and out there fast and Ravinethrall seemed like the best way to do that. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if the next Ravinethrall EP takes several years to even be started with, unfortunately. I'll have to get the first one entirely completed first and see what happens, anyway.

I've already given you a lot to take in and I'm getting lazy myself so I'll just quickly deal with some of the music I've been listening to lately and we can all go home. Deftones has been up on my playlist, with Deadsy, Major Label, Celldweller, and KoRn having almost just as many listens. I basically re-discovered Deftones' Adrenaline yesterday and it's oh so amazing. Deadsy's second album Phantasmagore proved not to be as good as their debut in my opinion but it could be that it just needs a bit more time to grow. The title track especially is quite epic, nevertheless. The fourth chapter of Celldweller's Wish Upon a Black Star sounds greater with each new listen, and I also finally checked out Soundtrack For The Voices In My Head, including some of the most brilliant stuff Klayton has done I'll have to admit. Plus, it's wonderfully heavy at times. I'm basically trying to listen to the discographies of all my favorite bands and artists as much as I can for the remainder of my holiday, without forgetting my little Opeth project, which has though become pretty absent in my life recently. My apologies, Mikael and the guys...

Finally, my wishes go out to the victims and families involved in the Oslo shootings. May Amy Winehouse rest in peace, too. For those of us who are still alive: "may God bless you all, for the song you saved us..." :)

Choking Victim

2011-07-10T15:12:00.001+03:00

Here I am again, after 12 days of absence. You all are going to love this post so much. :P Unless you're a troll. Trolls love nothing.

Big news first - I have started yet another new project. So far I'm calling it Ravinethrall, and it's basically built around an idea I had last Sunday while on a walk about making music very spontaneously and at night. So, whenever I'm having an all nighter or staying up longer than I'm supposed to on this holiday, I'm working on rather slow and repetitive as well as dark and gloomy songs for a 3-track EP called Bequeath. I will also do artwork for it on my own and when it's time to record (which I obviously will have to do at some other point of time) I plan to use my only adventage as a vocalist, emotion, by doing the throatwork following a one-take philosophy. Not only that, I want to keep things simple with this project and not polish or stress too much about everything having to be flawless. While this doesn't mean that all you'll hear is random notes or noise that can't be called music, I will admit that this an experimental experience and if you don't like the darkest aspects heard on Wicked Breath and Theban Cycle recordings, you might want to prepare yourself for something even more distressing to come with this thing. Last night I had my first session and finished one song called Winterpipedream, so I know what I'm talking about. It's the creepiest thing I've ever written, but I love it oh so much. Hopefully someone is as excited as I am about Ravinethrall, it's something quite astonishing for me so far in both the making of it and the results that come.

On the Wicked Breath department I've kept on recording for the teaser and the album. Vocals (and guitars) for Cyan Lie are now waiting to be mixed while the ones for Tear of the Afternoon already have been, Johannesburg is basically just missing the drums and a few more guitar inserts (all guitars have been recorded) and the latter half of the guitars for Letters from Rats will be put on tape next week. I've been throwing quite a lot of new demos in the air too lately; most notably last weekend I came up with 4 and continued on 2 previous ideas. Some of the guitars for Clutch and the bass for Midnight Sun are also off of my to-do list so I'm not only focusing on the solo stuff. Of course the progress for Theban Cycle and my third, untitled project is however slow(er).

Evanescence, Opeth, Jesu, Sepultura, KoRn and Arto Tuunela's projects Samuel Tubak, Major Label and Pariisin Kevät are what I've been hearing the most recently. Evanescence and Amy Lee in particular are driving me crazy... Haha. Ev and Jesu are also the two biggest influences for my Ravinethrall though Ev might be a bit harder to identify. Pariisin Kevät, being a somewhat new familiarity, turned out to be slightly predictable yet still enjoyable pop music. Lastly I've been addicted to the one & only song released by KoRn guitarist Munky's side project Fear And The Nervous System. The song is called Choking Victim (yes that's where my post title comes from, clever aren't I?) and it kicks some major ass. The 7/8 time signature also influenced me on the first song I did for Ravinethrall as it ended up having a 13/8 time signature. You can hear the FATNS song here. I really hope that the album they've been working on since 2008 will be out this year.

Even after everything that's been said I think my greatest achievement of the past 2 weeks might just be yet without a mention. You see on Friday I actually finished the short story I began writing on my first holiday week. I haven't been more anxious towards a story ever before I think, and the way I kept typing without knowing how to stop near completing it was just fantastic to see and feel. The original came to be around 7500 words and 18 pages long. I have already translated its first page and am trying my best to get the story posted here later this month, in English and in its entirety. Although it's quite love-centered and perhaps even soapy I am proud of it making it, particularly since I thought my storywriting days would be over. It's been almost 2 years since Just Another Numbered Day, the previous (short) story I finished. I'm relieved I now have more.

Now it's time for me to continue melting here in the heat of Finland. I seriously miss the winter, its weather and atmosphere to be exact. Summer's just not for me unless it's chilly and/or raining. Warmth is fine as long as it doesn't go too much over 20 degrees or so. 33.1 degrees in my room... Not the ideal conditions for my creativity or personality. Ah well, no can do. Those who can, please enjoy your sun. Blessings all around. =)

Selfish Blues

2011-06-27T18:59:00.000+03:00

Another week, or one and a half weeks to be precise, has passed. Soon it's time to *gasp* go to school again... Okay, not soon, but 30% of my holiday is gone, regardless. The great news is that I have remained extremely productive. Let's break it down, shall we?

The two songs that I've been working on the most writing-wise, Polarity and Grain, are both pretty much finished now in structure. Grain barely has any lyrics I'm satisfied with and some transitions definitely need work, but the ending harmony turned out great and all in all the song is among the ones I'm most proud of having done right beside Allergy/Anemia and The Black. As it is very Opeth- and Pelican-influenced, is there really any reason to claim otherwise? :P Polarity is an interesting blend of three more or less contrasting sections, mixing hope and solace with distress and extreme darkness. In a way its dark and light are the deepest and shiniest found on the material for the album so far. With this there also lies a problem I have yet to solve - are the sections too different from each other? Other notable and fresh compositions include Graze, which is basically just a build-up for the time being, built around a riff that's, believe it or not, extremely danceable. It's got groove totally new to Wicked Breath, and I'm excited over that. Recording-wise I've made progress by finishing the guitars for Johannesburg, the guitars and bass for Tear of the Afternoon, the bass and guitar solo for Letters from Rats as well as the bass for the Theban Cycle song Midnight Sun, which will be entirely written by me, by the way. I've also mixed Tear of the Afternoon for the parts that are done and tweaked the Letters from Rats guitar solo. Tonight I plan to mix some of the bass tracks if I have the motivation. For the rest of the week my goal is to move on with guitars for Cyan Lie and Clutch, and perhaps record the bass for yet another Theban Cycle track, Dividing By Zero. The reason why I'm rushing with Clutch is that I have finally found my singer and I do not want to make her wait too long to hear how I, and our project, is to sound instrumentally.

The short story (which is still untitled, unfortunately) has made decent progress and is now at around 3400 words written. Since I have a good picture of where the plot will go from here on and where it will end, I'm estimating about 5000 words in total and am hoping to finish next week, after which I will start the translation work. It's been a lot of fun to write as an author opposed to writing as a poet for a change, and doing the original version in Finnish has ensured that the text flows quite well and comes out as naturally as ever. I can't wait to get it out to the few who want to read it.

Obviously I have also written some lyrics recently - what would my life be without them? Here's a sample of some of the lyrics I've done for Grain, yet am not fully if at all happy with.

(Absurd the abstract has come)
Absurd the abstract has come
re-arranged my rapid eye movement
(of blind) caress that I used to breathe with (onto)
before healing unsynthetized me
Thanks to the cadmium grain that paved me a way
from the midst of sands so grey
clouds lay upon the fire so truth
can retort the salty sixth of wounds

HURT AND BEAT ME DOWN [x2]
Until I am beyond the pain,
beyond the forest fire place

Watching my hands sends shivers like creeping down my back
tattooed on my lips is betrayal, dishonesty
sealing my comfort zone I fear the storm waking inside
fear the hurricane of non-pretending
wreaked lights corresponding to me
and my wish of lust and greed
missunderstatement is the shadow
I'm forced to pour my heart due

Finally a word from my sponsors. No, wait... :P I've been getting new music in a very rapid pace during the last few weeks, as you could probably tell by my last blogpost. Since then I have been focusing more on my own music perhaps but still, there are plenty of albums that have found them their way into my hard drive. I actually have a project now to collect and listen to all albums by Opeth before their new one, Heritage, comes out in September, and I've started by adding Deliverance, Damnation and Still Life to my library that only include Blackwater Park prior to this. I also have two new Nostromo albums besides the one I had before, Ecce Lex. Those two are Argue and Hysteron - Proteron, the latter being a fully acoustic album with renewed and somewhat mindblowing versions of six of their previously released songs. Though their most extreme material is a little too extreme for me to be listening to it for too long at a time, it's a shame the band quit a number of years ago. On the evening of my previous post's date I checked out some Rammstein, and was pleasantly surprised by the solid riffing and industrial elements creating a unique atmosphere on their album Sehnsucht. Finally, there's Limp Bizkit's new album Gold Cobra I got just yesterday and have rolled in my player for a decent 73 scrobbles worth according to Last.fm. It's been another pleasant surprise since I don't consider myself a fan anymore.

And yes, we have reached the end of the road for now! I will have some dinner in just a bit. Hence I'm walking away... ;)

Life Is Worthless If It Doesn't Hurt

2011-06-16T19:25:00.017+03:00

My first holiday week was rather full of everything I could imagine. I had work, recording sessions, walks outside, lots of great new music, artistic ideas and plans and not much seemed to go wrong. In contrast to that, week 2 was a bit bland and disappointing at first but as the weekend is arriving things are moving again. If the rest of the vacation follows the same formula, I'm going to be done with almost all of my plans and much more on top of them.

On Tuesday I got my Pro Tools M-Powered software. So far I'm not even close to getting into all of its attributes since I barely have any stuff to test it with, but my first impression is that whereas it's definitely credited as the best (in some cases second best) software out there for basically anything audio-related, 300 Euros was a bit too much any way considering Audacity is free and can do the same basic functions as PT, with the exception of the virtual instruments which I unfortunately don't have any use for at the moment at least. One big plus is that the functions Audacity and PT share are all without exception much easier to use in the latter. The interface is as user-friendly as one can imagine really and while I mixed together the bass and guitars for Finland yesterday, I quite easily got the hang of things and felt like everything turned out smooth. Hopefully as I start mixing full tracks together I'll find some ways to enhance the sound even more et cetera so not only will it all sound better, but satisfy the niggardly banker I have in me. :P

The amount of new music, as well as old (some of which I want to re-check after not exactly giving it a chance in the first place) has been huge, resulting me to have Undertow and 10,000 Days by Tool, What We All Come to Need and City of Echoes by Pelican, Apology Accepted and Orphan by Darwin's Waiting Room, Healing and Becoming I by Ünloco, The Height of Callousness and Self-Destructive Pattern by Spineshank, Blackwater Park by Opeth, Outcast by Ektomorf and Wounds Wide Open by To/Die/For on rotation lately. While both albums by Pelican have turned out to be more or less disappointments in comparison to their earlier records, Ünloco is a band I can't believe I had forgotten about. Darwin's Waiting Room's Orphan still doesn't awoke much emotion in me though it's growing, whereas Apology Accepted, the album that was never officially released, sounds awesome. On the other hand, the album I got first from Spineshank (THOC), is addictive and strong while the second one (SDP), despite the praise it's gotten, fails to impress me that much. Could be another grower. Outcast by Ektomorf sounds quite the same as before, containing a few fantastic rockers, but as a whole the album is too monotone and unoriginal in my opinion. Undertow and 10,000 Days are clearly Tool's weakest pair of albums but still way, way above average and very enjoyable. To/Die/For, being I don't listen to Gothic rock, seems like a good band, but I can't say that their album had a single song I would've fell in love with. Still, the album is better now than a year ago when I first bought it. I'm already planning to get some more Opeth now which should tell you all you need to know about my revisit to Blackwater Park. ;)

Artistically I've been active by recording things for the teaser EP Perfidy of Judgement to be released sometime in the fall, hopefully in September. Songs to be included are Johannesburg, Finland, Letters from Rats and Cyan Lie. So far I'm done recording guitars and bass for Finland, bass for Johannesburg and bass for Cyan Lie. In addition, I've been working on CITS and another new demo called Grain, and just yesterday I experimented with Drop A tuning (!!!) and ended up developing Polarity for a bit. The new riffs are so dark that after working with them for a while they started to make me feel distressed... Go figure what that means, ha. The icing on the cake is a new short story I'm writing (Finnish-only), revolving around a male psychologist and his love life which gets mixed up with his profession leading him to something unethical and... Well, I'll save you from the spoilers in case I ever decide to translate/put it out. I'm excited over it, that's for sure.

I finally have also finished reading the Kierkegaard book I lent two months ago. Reading it in a bit of a hurry and not having enough experience with philosophy beforehand made it very hard to grasp, but I did certainly learn from it nevertheless and am still interested in checking more similar kind of books though not necessarily right here and right now. Actually I'm thinking of not reading anything at all this month, though I have a tendency to read quite a bit of literature on my holidays in comparison to the school year when school books naturally sort of suck all my time. :P Next month I'm planning to relax a bit more though and perhaps then I'll go lend several books to keep me in that state.

Talk to you later and take care, guys and girls. =)

(Feels good knowing there's actually several individuals from both genders reading this page now... ;))

Out of the Shadows

2011-06-07T15:35:00.002+03:00

My holiday has finally begun! Nine and a half months of excessive studying is now over and I am enjoying the fruits of it. I got a scholarship (well, kind of, more accurately it was a Swedish novel given to me and another first grader for "showing interest" in particular for the subject) and my average didn't go down much - last year it was 8.95 in total, now I'm at 8.94. My average for theoretical subjects did however fall from 9.07 to 8.93. The last sixth offered me a few pleasant surprises exam-wise and thus I can't really be unsatisfied though, and I know that most students have had an even bigger decrease in their numbers this year than I have, like much bigger. My live performance still didn't take place as the event where we all thought I would perform turned out to be one for some junior high school students only, making it a little stupid to perform if none of my class mates or peers were watching. Instead we're now looking to perform in the fall, when I may have to search for a new bassist. Hopefully I can persuade the others to play a third song since I'm frankly annoyed of practicing Cyan Lie and Permafrost all over, especially since it's been for nothing so far. I think that (Unholy) Months for Affection for instance would be quite easily manageable.

To keep up with positive news, I am typing this post to you on my new computer, a Toshiba laptop with Windows 7, 4 GB of memory and over 600 GB of hard drive capacity. The screen is luxory compared to the old one and so far everything is running fairly smooth. It took me almost 5 days to get all my important stuff copied from the old PC since I did it all with the help of my MP3 player and two memory cards I had laying around, containing 2 and 4 GB of space. Needless to say, my old PC refused to work all that efficiently as well. :P Lastly, I bought a professional set of drum mics that cost me 170 Euros on my visit to Savonlinna last Wednesday. The unfortunate thing is that there are 7 mics of which I can only use 2 at a time due to my M-Audio MobilePre sound card only having 2 inputs for the needed wire. I also invested 45 Euros on a mic stand for nothing, as it doesn't seem to fit with any of the microphone holders that came with the drumpack. If the Pro Tools M-Powered software that I intend to order later today works though, it's not such a big deal. You see, originally I planned to buy the full version of Pro Tools which costs around 550 Euros, but after doing some research on what would be the optimal choice considering my hardware, M-Powered seems like the perfect choice, costing only 300 Euros. I might need the mic stand in the future, anyway. It's one of those things that you never really have too much around. (Oh, and in case you're wondering... Yes, the drum mics have MAGNIFICENT sound quality.)

My new project is still missing a female singer, but I have finished the first instrumental for it entitled Clutch and might start recording it this summer if I have spare time and resources at some point. I've already started recording the teaser EP (which so far has the working title Perfidy of Judgment containing topical as well as ironic meaning) and as always, there are a few new ideas I got going on even if most of them don't seem all that satisfactory. The one that does hold quite a bit of potential is a song with the working title CITS. It'll be a quite piano-driven track with KoRn and Nostromo influences. Sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it? Heh. It has so much potential that I'm thinking of having it as track #17 on the album, right before the closer. We'll see where it goes... Things have started picking up again with Theban Cycle too, but there's still no reason to expect a new song to be done and finished any time soon.

Besides listening to KoRn and Nostromo, a new familiarity, I found Demon Hunter and Five Finger Death Punch back just a few days ago. Dope Stars Inc. put out a new album just recently which I have listened to, though it doesn't seem to be quite as good as Gigahearts. At the moment I'm listening to some old P.O.D., and am planning to check something new and soft later on, to contrast with the recent times of more and more heavy stuff. Recommendations are welcome.

Today I intend to go swimming and watch some football later (Finland - Sweden part 2... :P). I've already started work by washing some carpets and I might record some more bass before the evening comes. I also want to read - Soren Kierkegaard has been waiting too long for my presence. =) I'll try to make a post again next week. Tack och vi ses då. ;)

Tide of Ambition

2011-05-21T15:39:00.001+03:00

Time for my monthly post. Heh. In my defense, times have been busy in between my last post 5 weeks ago and this one. I went to my first-ever concert on the last day of April and not only saw Project 86 and Jacks of All Trades (and many other great bands) play live, but also bought CDs and got one of them, Picket Fence Cartel by P86, signed by Andrew Schwab. I've been practicing heavily for my own debut performance as well which now has an official and unchanging date - the 3rd of June. I've read a book I very much enjoyed called Sokkopeli (which freely translates to "Blind Game") written by Virpi Hämeen-Anttila and started reading 2 others - Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks and Frygt og Bæven ("Fear and Trembling") by Søren Kierkegaard, a Danish philosopher and theologian from the 19th century. I've written tons of new lyrics and music as usual, started recording for my upcoming EPs and album, and even began on an entirely new project. My last exam week starts next Friday, and with it also summer closes on... What else could a man seriously hope for from his life? (Well, love... But I'll save that for another time. :P)

First, a more detailed analysis on my concert experience. Due to leaving at 10:30 AM and coming back no earlier than 5 AM, I was quite tired near the end of the experience - yet what an experience it was. oO Seeing so many different bands perform on-stage was one thing - another thing was to be surrounded by so many people in the crowd and share the atmosphere of the place with them. I'm still embarrassed of my brief meeting with Andrew and bummed that I couldn't fully enjoy the performances due to realizing the all awesomeness I was a part of just afterwards really. I spent the entire first week after the concert missing it, and I'm glad I could take so much pictures and video with me to recap almost everything whenever I like. Besides Picket Fence Cartel, I also FINALLY bought P.O.D.'s Fundamental Elements of Southtown, a self-titled album by Stavesacre (which turned out to be a decent purchase though I hadn't listened to the band before), some plectrums, and some RnB CD I bought by mistake thinking it was by a metal band... It shall not be spoken of more than that. :P Without getting too deeply into ALL of the details, I'll just say that I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend 25 Euros and a Saturday than the way I did. Astonishing. (By the way, I made a sheet that said "Dear Project, please play a song from the debut LP" and waved it during P86's performance. They didn't see it nor play a song from the self-titled, but I got to tell Andrew afterwards and saw him post on Twitter some days later that they would be playing songs from the debut on their upcoming tour. :P)

Other musical experiences I've had during my absence revolve around listening to bands such as Dope Stars Inc. (sweet industrial metal from Italy; thank you for the recommendation, you know who you are), Minora (Swedish nu metal/alt-metal, previous EPs sound a lot like grade 8 meets Ill Niño meets Ünloco and the like, while their one & only full-length album Imago is more like APC and Tool), earthtone9 (who recently put out a new EP called For Cause & Consequence, WHAT A COMEBACK), Drudkh (whose music has turned out to be not only beautifully repetitive in structure, but also technically rather inspiring in its simplicity), Limp Bizkit (Gold Cobra is finally knocking on the door, with the catchy lead single Shotgun already out), The Cure (I now have the Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me album, and though it only contains one masterpiece (read: If Only Tonight We Could Sleep), it's a very pleasant CD to listen to), Riverside (re-discovered their entire discography last week), et cetera. My own songs have taken a very Drop B-based direction, with shifty and heavy riffs coming up all the time, even more than before that is. My newest efforts for the album are a song called Effect (don't worry, it's just the working title :P), which I'm going to have some help on, making it the second collaboration I might have on the full-length; and Polarity, a prime example of the style I've had going on lately with its moodiness and rapped (!!) vocals. The interesting thing about Effect is that I might have some zither on it, and the lyrics for it won't be entirely done by me or necessarily even sung, making them a poem.

Moreover, I've been planning the recording and such for the album and the EPs more and more. The plan I got right now is to record 7 songs this summer and a little over one song per month during my second upper secondary school year that begins in the fall. The rest would be then recorded during the summer and early fall of 2012. The overall number of songs I'll record is 28 - 4-5 for the teaser EP (with Cyan Lie and Silence OR Letters from Rats also being used for the album/the second EP), 18 for the album and 7 for the EP that'll be released after the album. Of course, I haven't even written all of the songs I'll record yet, but knowing myself the arrangement should work well. I'll just start by recording the songs I know will have to be recorded for sure, and go on from there.

Then, the major news. My new project. As I've been writing more and more this year, I've realized that I just can't fit all of the songs I'd like to on the EPs and the album, and that Theban Cycle is simply making progress too slowly for me to channel my creativity through it as much as I was hoping. Needless to say, I hate throwing songs in the trash bin, so... A new outlet seems like the best thing to do and start. While this new project already has one song almost finished called Clutch, it's really just an idea so far that I got earlier this week. I'm looking for a female singer to collaborate with me at the moment before I move on with the name and all that. Basically the style I'm going for is quite the same as Wicked Breath, only with female vocals or in some occasions, no vocals at all, at least not in "a leading role". If you're interested or know someone who might be, leave a comment on this post please. I believe this could become something great and very unique if everything goes well - though it is required from the singer to be open-minded, and understanding specifically for heavy music is also a plus (though the vocals I'm looking for will be clean). Whoever the vocalist will be, she'll also have a strong say on the lyrics.

Lastly, I'd like to celebrate Finland's victory in the 2011 Ice-Hockey World Championships. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, we won Sweden in the final last Sunday 6-1 and took home our history's second world championship after a not necessarily all-convincing yet well-played tournament. There has been a lot of fear in here over the future of Finnish hockey, and even though the Olympics are the real meter of a country's level in the sport, this should shed some light to our situation, and most importantly, money and more children to practice the sport. Finland has been crazy all week anyway and we're very proud of our nation right now. Including me. =)

That's it quickly typed for now. I'll probably post in 2 weeks or so after my school's over for the summer. Until then, take care and see ya. ;)

Counting On Me

2011-04-16T16:15:00.003+03:00

It's been another 3 weeks now, so I thought I'd make my post. It's not like something spectacular and new has come to life during my absence, though... I've been making progress with my songs in a steady pace (albeit the exam week kind of slowed things down), Theban Cycle is once again a bit closer to having a full and finished song out (with vocals) as well as several other ideas more developed than before, school has kept me busy yet rewarded more or less, and in general things have been moody but in a positive way mostly; moody for the best of things. To jot it down somewhat philosophically, at times everything has made perfect sense while the next minute it all has come crushing down. Maybe I'm just bipolar - or God's control on my life is... :P

Spring's coming fast here now, but for weeks it was reported late. Snow kept falling and the temperature has been ossified to more than 0 degrees Celsius just this week actually. I loved winter as I always do, but watching the weather change (Tool pun intended) has genuinely been refreshing and relieving to see. In the same time it feels like doing school work is even harder mentally. I only managed to get 7 from my Geography exam and 8+ from Chemistry according to the exam results given this week. I have been sick since last weekend (not so much anymore) which means I was sick also when those exams took place early this week, but still the outcome seemed a little, well, unsatisfying for my standards. Luckily then came the results for French and Finnish - 9½ from the prime and 9½ from the latter were encouraging, but even more so were 5/6 and 55/60 from the two essays in Finnish, both "hard to find mistakes out of" according to the substitute we've had for the last few weeks. It's quite likely now that I'll get a grade of 9 for the entire course in Finnish just like for the two before, which I'm truly happy about it as this was the last course for this year. In French I've been promised a 10. I'm trying not to get too excited though - it would be a bad idea considering I could get cocky, and also since there's one more sixth left, which started last Wednesday. And oh boy, it's not an easy pass at all for any of the subjects since I don't only have Religion, Psychology, Physics, Swedish and Art, but also French and practice sessions for my upcoming life performance. Speaking of which...

Yesterday, I had my first practice session for the performance (which will take place in 2 weeks itself), and even though we failed to do much progress, I pretty much loved it. We've also agreed that since our music teacher has said it's possible we'll come to practice for several hours on Good Friday, which naturally would be a day-off for us and is for everyone else. That should make it possible for us to get things figured out in time, even though I find myself tripping with some parts of Cyan Lie and Permafrost still in addition to helping the others with their parts. My co-players aren't awful though (at least compared to me they're good enough), so things should be very manageable. With just two weeks left, the biggest issue to my mind is my nerves... Forever tightening I'm literally feeling like I could explode just days before stepping on stage because of them. Let us not forget that I'm also going to my first-ever concert the day after the performance, creating even more anticipation which isn't necessarily all for the best. Due to my voice still being a tad weakened by the flu it's also unlikely that I'll sing at all in Cyan Lie as I was planning before. Time will tell.

Whenever I haven't been busy with what's mentioned above, I've been listening to music, and more than in a little while. Some popular bands down my list include Tool, HURT, AqME, KoRn, Lordi, Bomfunk MC's and Mighty 44 (notice 3 Finnish bands I didn't care for too much earlier). I even purchased a 3-CD collection of Frederic Chopin's classical work last week, so I've definitely been trying to push the boundaries lately, at least the ones I've gotten used to.

Spiritually, I've been in a slight metamorphosis, mostly thanks to some inspiring videos by David Pawson. I encourage everyone, not just Christians, to look up some of his interpretations on the Bible and the world we live. For me it did a lot, and I now others close to me who relate with that feeling. On the other hand, I've been deeply depressed lately due to my own faulty and just not getting pass the fact that they're here to stay and that I AM the evil, as are you (by being human). Whether it's true or not I'm stuck with the idea that you and everyone else around me just don't deserve something as bad as me around you.

Alright, that's a bit of a downer but I'll leave you with that note. Brace yourself and bless the world, and I'll see you in a week, two weeks, or so. :)

Finger of Death

2011-03-25T19:30:00.005+02:00

This time the title of my post comes from a compilation of Saturday Night Wrist-era demos by the Deftones that I discovered last Sunday. Finger of Death is a masterpiece of a demo found within the batch of songs, and it's also the song I've listened to the most during the last week or so. The rest of the leak is mindblowing as well, and for the first time since 2005, I think I actually have to place some band higher than P.O.D. among my favorites. Don't worry, they're still steadily my number #2 though... As can be seen from my last.fm charts, where Deftones and P.O.D. both crossed the magical boundary of 1000 plays this Wednesday. What comes to the week before, I was really into Parkway Drive and their new album Deep Blue, which despite a fair bit of repetition is wonderfully heavy and enjoyable.

New Wicked Breath material is currently something that I come up with very fast, as if it was coming from an assembly line. Letters from Rats, the song I had started when I made my last post, is now nearly complete. There are 3 new ideas that I've executed in terms of riffs and I have a bunch more in my head yet to be tried out. I've also developed and modified several of my old songs - including (Unholy) Months for Affection (now entirely finished writing-wise), Seven (a.k.a. the worship song) and Let Go. Besides all of that, I've spent time planning and planning the tracklists for the demo, album and the EP, as well as song lengths, structure, flowability, et cetera. Last but not least I've finished the composition for the Theban Cycle song Midnight Sun, and worked on some of the lyrics for it. The rest of the band have been happy with the results so far, and the dark and rather dissonant song has become one of my own favorites. All in all my recent stuff has had even more significant emphasis on the contrast of dissonance and harmony/darkness and light than before.

Lately yours truly has been pondering his future as well. I've done some estimated calculations on how much money I'd need to make it on my own in my own place and everything, which is ahead of me in a few years. Moreover, I've given some thought on where exactly I would study after graduating from upper secondary school and completing my non-military service. Right now the campus of the University of East Finland over at Savonlinna is the most likely option, where I would like to study either religious or psychological sciences. This of course doesn't mean that I want to quit on my dream in music - it's just that regardless of how great the music I make is, the personality of it in contrast to the situation of the music industry today just can't produce me any money to live my life with. Besides, I doubt that without an actual profession outside music I could have as much inspiration and variety all around as in the opposite case. So, everything is still tentative, but things are getting a lot clearer. Moving to America is still another dream I want to make reality, but it'll have to wait for at least until 2018.

School has been mostly really fun the past few weeks and even with the difficulty of chemistry and such, I'm doing well in my opinion just like in the past. We haven't started practicing for the upcoming performance yet, but I've kept looking for the right people and the right way to handle the performance itself. As the days are getting more and more spring-y, I'm getting more and more excited - and a bit terrified, too. :P Summer's basically just around the corner and that means that another recording process is about to begin, this time with much better tools I though have yet to purchase. Collecting money through chores has gone smoothly and mostly according to the plan - just today I earned about 15 Euros more to put in my pocket.

Before the conclusion of this post I want to give my best wishes to all the innocent and not-so-innocent victims in Japan and Libya. With these two crucial areas it seems like the theory of the world coming to its end next year isn't entirely without foundation. Let's just hope and pray for the best, shall we...

Blessings, Joona

White Fever

2011-03-05T17:51:00.014+02:00

It's Saturday and way past noon, thus my mind is slowly approaching school and going back to the weekday rhythm. Regardless of the feeling of down because of this, the past week has been very fruitful and relaxing all around. I've followed the 2011 Nordic World Ski Championships closely, and been delighted to see Finland grab 4 medals, with only 1 day of the Championships left. I've been out a lot, naturally walking and listening to music; as well as indoors working on new music and new lyrics. I've earned some more money by working at home as I'm still saving for Pro Tools and a new mic, but also slept more than during any other week this year. There are also some things I want(ed) but have yet to do. All things considered it's been an absolutely fantastic winter break, however.

Me and the band have been working on a new Theban Cycle song since last weekend, and it's coming along well. I personally prefer some of the previous demos we've worked on, but this one is steadily growing on me. There are no lyrics at the moment, but the instrumental is nearly entirely written. The working title is Dividing By Zero, and much like 5th Step, its basis consists of our guitarist/vocalist Kevin's ideas. As for my solo stuff, I saw a movie on Wednesday night that inspired me to start a new song. It's called Letters from Rats for the time being, and it too is almost finished instrumentally, whereas the lyrics are about half-done. It's quite different in style than the songs I've been working on most recently, with an inclusive guitar solo and a decent bit of experimentation. The lyrics for Better have also been modified and re-constructed, but they are still far from being entirely finished yet. Because it has been a while since I included lyrics in a blog entry, I thought I could share the ones for (Unholy) Months for Affection now. Those of you who are not into moaning, love-centered poetry, skip this. :P

I have a past like we all, oh, we do

In paradox I'm wanting to be with you, but not hurt you

So I lay my head low

DIMENSIONS, IN THE EYES, IN THE CROWD

THEY DON'T BEG TO BE FORSAKEN NOW

THE PATHS AND THE BARS BENDING OVER ADMONISH ME TO TILT MY HEAD

(I suffer) with every scent

MY ACTIONS DROVE ME TO THIS (so I could) PROTECT YOU FROM THE GLACIER THAT I AM

WHEREVER YOU ARE, I WILL BE WAVING AT THE MOON (hoping the reflection) WILL GET TO YOU

Such a beautiful piece of perfection you are

welcoming me, but my spine deflects what could be

What I dreamt of for the duration of infinite indications

must be torn 'cause of my inner war

Running through the forest just not to love

Please understand me, get to the car

GET INTO THE CAR

Longing shall live on

They are quite short and aren't as expressive as some of my previous, but together with the music I find them very atmospheric.

Earthtone9 is the band I've been embracing the most throughout these days, but I've also been introduced to Pendulum and have been listening to a variety of bands, on my walks in particular. The arc'tan'gent album by e9 just keeps on getting better and better in my ears. Yellow Fever has been my favorite for days now, and with its magnificent bridge it describes my understanding of melody perfectly. I haven't given a full spin to their debut album so far, but I plan to do so soon, and there is no apparent reason right now why I wouldn't love it.

The book I was writing early on last year has begun to fascinate me again and I really want to write something new for it tonight. On Wednesday, I already read the last chapter that I had made and improved it a little bit. If only I had more time to work on such things after Sunday... Ah well, time to go back to working, and back to school (Deftones pun intended). Cya on my next break. :)

E...e.

2011-02-25T18:20:00.006+02:00

Over a month since my last visit. Wow. It goes without saying that I have kept myself occupied and that there's a lot of stuff I want to type about. Let's begin...

Firstly, the name of this post isn't something I decided to go with just because I had no ideas. It is based on how my listening habits have been these past 5 weeks. You see, after the freshness of Ultraspank, grade 8, Lengsel, Agalloch and APC I went on to re-discover Evanescence, a band I'd assume needs no ado. I listened to Fallen in utter spontaneousness and unlike a year ago when I tried it last time, it completely blew me away much like back in 2003. I got the band's second album The Open Door a few days later, as well as a bunch of their early demo material, all of which have turned out to be solid releases regardless of the fact that they're not as fantastic as the debut. All in all, Evanescence kept me happy for a long time - and when I say 'kept', I mean it literally, since these 5 weeks have been rather difficult for me all around. While typing this paragraph, however, I'm listening to something else. The act ruling my library since this Monday has been Earthtone9, a very underrated alt-metal band from the UK, which disbanded in 2002 and reformed just last year. After getting several albums by them as well (their second, Off Kilter Enhancement; their third, and considered by many one of the best albums of 2000, arc'tan'gent; and their latest release, the Omega EP) I can't help but to admit that they're becoming one of my favorite bands, due to the variety, talent and permanence found within their discography and repertoire. Each release has almost as much to love as the next one, and that is something I find rather rare. Last weekend I was heavily into Skillet and their album Collide, which for example is their only really amazing album in my opinion. The rest isn't bad, but nowhere near the same level, either. Anyhow, the two bands I've been most into during my absence, Evanescence and earthtone9, both start with E and end with e (if we ignore the number 9), hence the headline. Genius, eh? :P

There was a BIG misunderstanding at school with the whole live event where 'anyone can play whatever they want'. Instead of February, it's due in April - only a day before the May Day Gospel. That means that if everything goes how it's supposed to, I'll perform my own material live for the first time ever on Friday the 29th and have my first real concert experience on Saturday the 30th. How awesome is that? It sets a lot of pressure too, though, particularly since I feel that I'm not at all liked at school for the time being. Still, the excitement is huge.

Theban Cycle-wise, we're still working on the vocals for 5th Step, but it shouldn't take long anymore. We've also made progress with the writing of several other songs, so things are alright. With my own stuff, things have been going forward very smoothly. I've been working on a new track called Better which so far is the most potential song to becoming a single from the upcoming album. (Unholy) Months for Affection is basically written completely. Then, there's an interlude by the name Tear of the Afternoon, based on a poem I wrote one angst-y afternoon. Inspired by the song, I've drawn a picture as well that might see the daylight later. There's also a little something called Silence, which is a full song only missing some bass parts and some of the drums. The original lyric for it was from 2008, and revamping it + writing melodies for it was a lot of fun. The feedback I've gotten has been extremely positive lately concerning these demos, particularly Silence. I also have a new riff I wrote for The White and several other riffs yet to be placed anywhere, most of which I came up with yesterday while jamming for 1½ hours in a row (quite spectacular for me). Sort of related to both of my musical projects is a festival here in my home town that'll be arranged in August, where the band Pariisin Kevät will also be performing, including two members of the band Major Label (one of my favorite bands ever). I feel it's an opportunity that shouldn't go to waste and am considering whether I should hand the guys a demo of both bands, TC and WB. I've been planning a meeting with the Theban Cycle members and one other internet friend of mine anyway to take place in the summer, and nothing would be better than to have them with me when handing a demo of songs we've worked hard to complete. It's a long way to go, that's a sure thing... Whether this event takes place or not, I have decided that I will put together one last free EP before the album, and hope to finish it by the festival. It would consist of 4 songs, with Cyan Lie and Tear of the Afternoon confirmed so far. Naturally, it would serve as this "demo" I'd then give away.

As stated earlier, I have went through some dark times between this and my last entry. The contradiction winter sets is really quite a trip - the scene and the atmosphere is mind-blowing and particularly this year I've had some unbelievable moments of happiness and excitement, contrasted by angst and several minor issues - which all have driven me creatively, in a massive impact. The burden I've been carrying has consisted of heartache, school, as well as the sole fact that I just can't be perfect and in the same time, can't live without aiming for it. I don't want to sound too depressed though because there have been oh-so-many wonderful and genuine moments, too. The little pieces of negativity just get to me too easily. I have continued getting good grades at school and my friend relationships are fine, not to mention I've been enjoying more walks outside than ever before in my life. There's always just something in the back of my head, so to speak...

I am now on holiday for the next 9 days to come and should have enough time to rest, relax, enjoy and reset. I will post some more during these days as well as after they're gone. The last 5 weeks that are now behind honestly didn't offer me much of a chance to sit down and write this message. I truly must apologize for that. Nevertheless, see you next time, and take care. In the (bitter) end, life's good. :)

Two Thousand And Eleven Suns

2011-01-16T13:27:00.000+02:00

Time for my first post in 2011. Once again I've had a little break from posting - mostly due to my third exam week, which fortunately went better than expected at least judging by the first two tests I've gotten back by now. I'm only 0,03 away from my junior high school average now, which is far greater than I could imagine. The new sixth which started this Wednesday seems a little easier than the last one, but Maths and Finnish in particular are for sure going to keep me busy and stressed out. :P Thank God Philosophy has also started, though, and seems just as interesting as I thought it would.

The instrumental for Theban Cycle's first song, 5th Step, is now fully mixed, with vocals being recorded during next week, most likely. It's been a long time since the first idea for the song was introduced, and so it's definitely taken a lot of work to get to this point. I've uploaded the instrumental to SendSpace in case anyone wants to take a listen, here. Some minor changes might still occur as the vocals have to be mixed in without causing the whole to sound distorted, but nothing radical. We're all proud at the moment, that's for sure. :) Concerning Wicked Breath, I had an idea just earlier this week for a song which pretty much was finished yesterday evening, with the exception of the drums I have yet to consider. The song's working title is Unholy, and it's one of the darkest and most metal-like songs I've ever done - but also one of the best in general, I reckon. I've also been working on another song this year which I'm not very satisfied with, called Spine, which is more Staind and KoRn-influenced. Before Unholy, I was really experiencing a downshift in my writing and composing, with several ideas going through my head but nothing that ended up satisfying me. Things are going smoothly for the album again now, thankfully.

The music I've spent time listening has consisted of 5 great new bands for me. First, I really got into A Perfect Circle during my exam week, listening to their debut Mer de Noms and their sophomore effort Thirteenth Step with pleasure for 5 days in a row. This attraction would've lasted much longer, I assume, if it wasn't for my dear friend and fellow MindDeathMachine admin MDM, who sent me a package of 4 CDs in return to the Christmas present I sent him. Conclusion: I've been infected with Ultraspank and grade 8's self-titled albums as well as Agalloch's Ashes Against the Grain and Lengsel's Solace for another 5 days now. The nu metal-ish sound of the first two and the more atmospheric post/black-metal sound of the latter two really make quite a mix, which strongly affected the new song I've made, naturally.

Perhaps the greatest news of all is that Project 86 and Jacks of All Trades will be on the same festival on the 30th of April here in Finland in the city of Kouvola, in an event called the May Day Gospel. Guess who's going? :P It is still a bit uncertain, but chances are that I will go there with some of my friends and have a great night no matter what. Besides the two bands mentioned there will also be a bunch of others which, who knows, might turn me to a fan with their performance. I am absolutely thrilled of a) doing my own live debut in February b) going to my first-ever live show in April, and thus 2011 is seemingly challenging 2010 for the title of the best year ever quite early on already!

It's great to end on that note. Blessings and see you around, folks. ;)

Absolute Zero

2010-12-31T00:51:00.000+02:00

Happy New Year's Eve! It's time to wrap up the year 2010. Regardless of its egoism, I would like to gather some of my personal experiences and such since the worldwide events that have met us can probably be read from any news service's website.

What this year was perhaps most notable for me personally was my graduation from Kerimäen yläaste (The junior high school of Kerimäki) on the 5th of June. I made it through with an average of 9.14, took a scholarship with me and performed twice in the period of two days with my music class, live. Another live performance I did with the class took place earlier on the 30th of April. Of course, I also put out my third EP ever, a concept one revolving around dreaming, which also showcased a leap forwards to becoming a more professional musician (notice the word more, since I'm by no means close to being a pro yet) and continued from where the first two EPs left off with, as the sound of Wicked Breath kept evolving in a natural progression towards a less amusing and unoriginal entirety. In addition to The Art In Dreaming came also my first music video, for the song Xie Xie, which I finished filming and editing during the summer and put out on the 21nd of July. The video, even if low in quality and hardly smooth by its cut or manuscript, managed to satisfy myself for the main part and the feedback I received was mostly positive considering it was more like a college project done 100% on my own than a real music video with editing, directing, writing and all that done by people who are specialized on their areas. Although still in the process of making the EP, I started planning my debut album in February-March, and after the release of the music video my main focus switched towards working on the monstrous creation (TBA in 2012) that still seems more like utter craziness than logic. But who cares. :P

2010 was a rollercoaster in my social life more than anywhere else. I re-activated my goal of forming a band where I would only be one of the members instead of doing everything by myself, leading to the realization of time schedules, which are hard to fit not only when everyone in the band is studying, but when they're also on different time zones. I gathered five people from all around the world to form an internet band which after a few months collapsed on the inactivity and ignorance of some of the members. Thankfully, two members remained besides me, and with the help of our new guitarist we have now been going strong and are on our way to finishing our first song any time now. If the year 2011 is good enough for us, we'll have a demo/EP out before you even know it. Besides the virtual relationships, I had one crush in my real life, and I think that I also fell in love for the first time, inspiring me to write several love-centered lyrics and compositions. I had a few new friends and lost some old ones, and came to terms with a bunch of personal issues. Without getting deeper into it all, there's no doubt that it's been a hectic 12 months on the area of human communication - but then again, what could be more inspirational?

Okay, I said I wouldn't, but I have to bring in some international events as well. Sports was huge throughout this year. Finland screwed up in Vancouver causing people to react heavily on the state of the Finnish Winter sports - me included - and in the summer we barely got any medals from the championships in athletics. That is why the floorball championship this December in Helsinki was such a refreshing event no matter how tiny the actual sport is. There were some great performances done by our nation's sportsmen and -women on events not so close to the Finnish heart, however, such as in gymnastics and boat sports. Finally, I have to mention the World Cup in football. The African teams still didn't make it as I had hoped, but it was a blast seeing some of the big teams fail and some of the more little ones succeed, nevertheless. Football has never been at the top of the list for me (Finland's lousy success has something to do with it, I'll add) but this year it was definitely one of the highlights.

Reading and writing decreased for me, because the 4 books I read in the summer were pretty much the only ones I did outside the stuff I read for school. Writing-wise my resources were all used in lyrics, as I haven't really had the motivation or the time to write novels or short stories. I still have ideas, though, so perhaps next year I will get back to the actual writing form.

Last of all are my influences in music. I again have made a playlist describing this year and intend to listen to it later today. You can take a look at it here. In general this year was weaker in new music than the year 2009 was, because there were a bunch of bands and albums I expected much from, but didn't deliver my expectations. To my own surprise, I did manage to come up with a pretty kickass playlist, nevertheless. My musical evolution hasn't suffered a decrease or anything either, really. There's just been more things keeping me busy than before, and some of my choices for new music have gone more wrong than earlier. I'd imagine that happens at every part of my life sometimes. The best album of the entire year was Diamond Eyes by the Deftones, I'd have to say. Entertainment in the form of TV shows and movies have also moved and shaped me a lot this year, perhaps more than ever before. Series like Chuck and Ketonen & Myllyrinne have provided relaxing moments for the most part, but also inspired and made me think about all sorts of things.

That's about it, my year's summed up. All that is left for me to do now is wishing that next year, the year 2011, will be better for all of us around the world - and make a promise that personally, I'll do the best I can to make it so. :)

Happy New Year!

Inkblots

2010-12-26T13:48:00.000+02:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Even though it is already the 26th now, I wanted to open with that before moving on with other things. For me, the Eve was one of the best I've ever spent, since I had the chance to spend a lot of quality time with my family as well as enjoy music and a few pleasant gifts I received and gave in return. Those are what Christmas is all about after all... Oh, and of course the food. Ah, the food... :P Chocolate is the dominating ingredient throughout my vacation, as always, but I never say no to Christmas ham or carrot casserole either. Although we tend to celebrate more or less on the Eve and just rest on the 25th here in Finland, I am aware of the tradition in many other countries, particularly America, where the 25th is the actual day of gifts exchanging and such. So, hopefully everyone who spent Christmas just yesterday is enthusiastic as well and feeling the calm. :)

To go on with more everyday subjects, my last week or so hasn't been filled with Christmas-related stuff only as you would imagine. I've been so thrilled about February's performance that I've had difficulties falling asleep on a few nights, and I've used several hours of my time in the day planning the songs, their arrangement, and the general look of it all in much detail. Obviously it's a bit unnecessary because many things may and will change as the other players join me (who the other players are isn't 100% certain either yet at this point). The one thing that is almost written in stone is that I've chosen Cyan Lie and Permafrost as the two songs I want to perform. They are not very complex, should keep the audience occupied (even more if I have the courage to sing Cyan Lie entirely plus one verse of Permafrost that I've been thinking about) and to me, they both should be pleasant for the other players as well to learn and perform. The only major issue for now is that Permafrost is lacking a lot of the drum parts and thus I need to figure something out next week. But yeah, I don't think I've ever been this excited about anything in my life before, and my family and friends have also showed encouragement which I never take for granted.

Outside the whole 'live' project I've continued working on the album, however in smaller doses than earlier. I've come up with three to four more potential ideas since the 18th (including an idea to compose something inspired by the popular Psychological test that takes adventage of inkblots, hence the title of my post) and written some random lyrics. All in all I am walking on quiet waters though as the year is reaching its end, despite trying hard to write something positive in particular. Perhaps it's not such a bad thing, because I have been worried about the amount of material I've been working on, forever increasing and eventually leading to the point where I have way more songs than can be fitted on an album and a special edition EP. Also, maybe the balance I'm trying to go for at the moment with my writing is too much since I find it 100 times easier to write something dark than something happy. Time will tell.

Finnish cello-headbangers Apocalyptica are the latest addition to my music library, but lately I have focused on less heavy music in the spirit of Christmas. Or, tried to, at least. :P On Christmas Eve I couldn't help but to jump around in my room to songs like RED's Fight Inside and Celldweller's One Good Reason. It's just the way I am... But seriously, I have been leaning towards some quite laid-back tunes as well (such as another Finnish band, Don Johnson Big Band, whose self-titled album I've also grabbed with me but have yet to listen to) and will continue to do so during my second holiday week, I believe. The bad thing is that I'll already have to get back to studying for my future exams on Wednesday/Thursday. Then again, the hardest exams are ahead of me until the 10th and the 11th of January, luckily.

Before I end up ranting for numerous pages about my wishes for the performance, my endless plans and inspirations for the album not to mention my current state of mind, it's for the best that I go. This was just a quick update to create a nice pace and once again wish the whole world a wonderful Christmas. Not to say that the whole world is reading my blog, but... Eh, you get my point. ;)

Pink Mammoth

2010-12-18T19:20:00.000+02:00

Alright, it has been a LONG time. Since my last post (which I made almost two months ago) I've turned 16, worked on both of my musical projects actively, enjoyed the cold and all-white Finnish winter, and studied as hard as I've been able to with the Christmas approaching and haunting in the back of my head. :P School-wise everything really has been going surprisingly well though - at the moment my average is 9 exactly, which is only 0.14 worse than at the end of the ninth grade. I've really had a good time in general at school lately, for whatever reason. The environment for succeful studies has turned out to be almost perfect in our class room, which might also be one reason to why I'm doing better than expected. The only negative thing really is that the next exam week begins already on the 4th of January, meaning that my upcoming vacation is only 1½ weeks long. I also will have to sacrifice a few days of that to prepare for the first of the 4 exams, society studies.

Musically, I naturally have more than enough new stuff going on. My internet band has changed its name to Theban Cycle and we're now around 70% done with our first song - I have mixed the drums and the bass together, plus the piano and half of the guitars have also been added. We already have 2 new songs in the process of writing as well, so things have really picked up for us. For Wicked Breath, the situation is even more exciting. I haven't only come up with new ideas and finished old ones, but also pondered the overall themes, stylistic directions, lengths, instrumentation, song structures et cetera for the individual songs and the album as a whole. I've been able to maintain my pace with everything and there hasn't been a single week when I would've been feeling too uninspired to write or compose something new. The greatest news of all is that in February, there is an event at school where I might play 1-2 WB songs with the help of some local musicians. I am absolutely thrilled about the opportunity, which just hit me some days ago. Currently I am thinking of performing Cyan Lie with some of its guitar parts transposed to piano, as well as some other song like Johannesburg. I will spend more time thinking about the song choices and such during my Christmas vacation. Before moving on, here's a brief listing of the songs I've worked on most recently and how they are in my opinion.

Permafrost - a song I started on ages ago already has found its true form, in both, lyrics and music. Includes a plenty of experimentation with transitions in particular.
Let Go - my darkest effort to date has remained dark from one edit to the other. In a tough spot with the lyrics and the music after the first two-three minutes - many things sound good but don't seem to fit where they are. Is also a challenging song because of its theme, and I am finding it hard to work on it when I'm feeling happy. Makes sense.
Tree of Life - another messy song that has lots of potential, but makes me feel very little/not at all satisfied. Shows, however, a great example for a bunch of future songs I intend to make positive and thus balance out the moods on the album.
Superstar [AqME Cover] - Concerning this one I only have three words to say. "Just for fun." :P
The Black - Is 95% finished structure- and lyrics-wise, but seems to be missing something. The anthem for the end of the world also lacks drums for its middle parts at the moment.
Prejudice - a new song I wrote in three days or so. Much like Baptism of Fire in theme, length and musicianship. Under present conditions won't be used on the album, but a catchy song that was fun to write and is still fun to listen to and play, nevertheless.
Seven - also known as simply "The Worship Song". No lyrics yet, however the instrumental is growing on me after first having thought that it's not good enough. The main melody is minimalism at its best.

(I'm also re-considering the demos Fingernumb and VW which for a long time were both forgotten about.)

The website project I was stalling with for weeks, if not months, has also been set off during my absence from blogging life. The site is called Mind Death Machine and it focuses on expressionism. A lot hasn't happened yet, but we're obviously welcoming everyone to join, particularly to the message boards. The address for the main site is http://minddeathmachine.webs.com/ whereas for the boards you need to go to http://minddeathmachine.freeforums.org/. I will keep posting about the site as we make progress. After Christmas some updates will definitely be on their way.

My birthday was nothing short of spectacular, even though I did enjoy it quite a bit. What strikes me the most is that I now am, actually, sixteen. This makes me sound even older but the years just fly by these days with music and school keeping me busy. With each year from now on also comes greater responsibility... And frankly, despite being a little more mature than the average perhaps, I've never been too fond of that.

The music I've been listening to has consisted of oh-so-many bands since the end of October. I've had my phases with KoRn (twice), AqME, RED, Cold (twice), Soundgarden (oh yes), Mr. Bungle, Killswitch Engage, Faith No More, Disturbed, Metallica, Drudkh (atmospheric black metal, with nothing against God found so far), Orgy, Deftones, Major Label, Tool, Celldweller and Pelican. During the past few days I've been merely into calm music like electronica in the likes of Junkie XL, as well as post-rock and post-metal in general. It really is my version of Christmas music. :P

That's actually everything essential I have to say for now. Really thought it would've taken more space... Ah well, I will get back into posting once a week or so from now on, allowing me to share something in my next post that I might of forgotten to type here. In case something happens though, Merry Christmas, everyone - and God Bless. :) Of course, I hope that anyone reading will also have a nice day/week/year/life. :P

I'm back, baby!

Peach

2010-10-26T18:56:00.000+03:00

Wazzup. I've been on holiday now for 4 days, and although I don't think I've ever been this bored and reluctant during one, I have made some significant progress on many areas. On Saturday, I started writing a new song called Peach, which is most likely going to be an instrumental played in Drop B tuning. If some day I come up with lyrics for it, they'll most likely focus on love, thus I'm pretty sure already that the song won't be included on the future album. It will, however, still be worked on actively, since you never know if it might see the light of day in another format - plus it's fun and fascinating to work on something without the pressure of it being heard and having to make it as perfect as possible, similar to State 18. Today I've continued this development by writing a few new parts for the worship song I've been working on and off with, and by recording the bass track for Shyoul's first song. The worship song is becoming more dramatic than I expected, which is making me feel a bit uncertain about its direction - whereas the bass track still needs to be mixed before it's officially done. I've also been rehearsing the drum parts for the song since yesterday so I can record them by the end of the week, and hand both over to the rest of the band soon afterwards.

After a tiny break from watching Chuck I've found myself relaxing to the first 6 episodes of season 4 lately. Unfortunately, I have caught up on the US schedule now and have to wait for a week before the next episode is available. I've come to think that maybe that's not such a bad thing, though - I have loads of work to do whether I like it or not, school-wise and recording/writing-wise. Being hooked to a TV show with new episodes available wouldn't exactly help that. One of my biggest concerns is reading a book for school which, despite its interesting nature, seems like an obnoxious assignment to do for some reason. I have read about 30% of it already, but time's running out and I'm not a quick reader.

Before we move on, a quick look onto what school actually looks like for me at the moment. I got another not-so-good grade the other day - 7+ from Health studies - which just adds to the pressure I set on myself concerning the future exams *sigh*. After this holiday ends I have a few weeks of really heavy studying on many different subjects ahead, and so I am entitled to my rest this week on top of all the work really. I'm probably making it sound more serious than it is, but in my life these are big things at the moment. Thankfully Christmas isn't too far away... Amusingly my birthday collides with the next exam week, by the way.

Anyhow, back to some less stressing topics. We are officially just a few days away from the release of the new website I've been promoting for months already. As I'm writing this, the last descriptions and tweaks to the forums and the main site are taking place. My moments as a music listener, on the other hand, have been quite rare recently. When I have been listening, I haven't left the route I was on a couple of weeks back or so, taking some various recommendations from people into consideration while moving with my search for (doom) metal. I've been taking many walks outside in the autumn-meets-winter-scene as well these past few weeks, with my mobile phone's music player shuffling such bands as P.O.D., The Accident Experiment and Project 86 for me.

Pff, I've ran out of what to talk about. That could be another not-so-bad of a thing... Haha. Cya, and blessings all around. :) I'll try to post again during the weekend.

Forecast for Today

2010-10-16T17:44:00.001+03:00

I'm officially turning into a doom metal fan. During the past week I've been into Pelican again, a lot, while yesterday I downloaded Jesu's self-titled album. Although Pelican's early material is much more intriguing, I've been very excited towards both bands - aside from some old school P.O.D. and Deadsy that I've also been enjoying. In a way you can also hear the doom influence with some of the new stuff I've composed, if you could access my Guitar Pro files that is, haha. The Black, for instance, is progressing in a good pace again and with the lack of a better way to put it, it's just like one of its lines: "...for this circus has been forced to go so long, it has turned to the other side." There are some really crazy combinations of layered guitars presented throughout the song to begin with, and several polyrhythms, end of the world-esque lyrics and buried melodies deep in the mix are some things that follow their lead. I'm probably making it sound much more impressive and sublime than it is, but one thing's for sure - it's different, for me and for you, I'd assume, once you hear it in its final form.

As much as I hate to think about school on my free time, here are a few things about my study week. I got my first course marks which are 10 for Maths (!) and 9 for Swedish. Both are more or less confusing, but nothing worth complaining much about. Finnish has kept stressing me but I'm doing alright in it for now, whereas German and French do the same thing without making me satisfied with how I'm doing in them. I'm already quite certain I'll quit either one at the end of the first year, because like this it's just simply too much. My health studies exam wasn't exactly a success and I fear the result is a lot the same than with my history exam a few weeks back. Despite all this, however, I've been on a rather positive mood all week. The first snow has also arrived to my home place and though it's a little sad that autumn has never been this short before, it's a lovely view as always.

For those of you wondering about my little site project that never seemed to launch - it's still being worked on. I and my partner have both been busy outside the site but we're doing our best to launch it as soon as possible. In the mean time I'm hoping that whoever reading will make sure to join the forums of the site once it does get public and also let their friends know about it and the main site. It is thematically very wide so no worries if you're not into the whole spiritual discussion and/or the tasteful joking - plus those two, there's music, literature, TV and movies etc. type of discussions and I'm sure that everyone who can adjust to the simple rules of the forums can find something to like and post on.

Concerning the disaster of Finland's national football team that just seems to cut deeper and deeper each qualification match... Baxter has my support, and that is all. Another sports-related news I have is that the play-offs of season 5 in the internet game PowerPlay Manager have been on-going for a while now, and my team Cyan Dreams is currently fighting for place 6 in the IV.7 division. Besides that, I've been taken by another hockey manager game, MHM 2000 (again). :P I'm not overly addicted though and thus I'm not letting the gaming interfere with my studies or the projects I'm working on too much.

Anyhow, it's now time to say goodbye and turn the page, folks. We'll catch up again later - and once that happens, I will be on my first holiday since summer vacation. It will be well-deserved... But filled with working, as you can imagine. Take care, reader #1 and #2... and you too, random bots. Leave me alone!

Postpone

2010-10-08T17:55:00.000+03:00

No posts in 3 weeks... Oh dear. Am I dead? I don't feel so. Maybe I'm just unconscious or something? Nah. It must be the same ol' same ol' - busy when motivated and lazy when there's time. I'm here now, though... :)

How's life treating me? Well, the first exam week is gone now and we've already gotten our exams back some days ago. For me, it was the strangest chain of events ever. I couldn't really tell if any of the individual exams went particularly well or bad beforehand - I mean, I did have some sort of an impression of each, but seeing how badly I was wrong with all of them in the end, I'll rather not share whatever it was that I had in mind. The lowest score I got was from history, which in the same time is also the lowest score I've ever gotten from any exam - 6½, describing a slightly below average score in our 4-10 grade system. Sweet, eh? I wasn't expecting a 10 out of it by no means, but I surely wasn't expecting something so low. The level of my disappointment wasn't overly big, nevertheless, because history has never been at the top of my list in the subjects that fascinate me nor in the subjects that I succeed in the best. Anyways, next up was Maths, which was more than a positive surprise - the one & only subject I had REALLY been struggling with yielded me a 9+, which was also the best score of our entire 1B class, apparently. At this point all the slightest disappointment went away concerning history, and I have to admit that I am going to re-consider my definite no-no towards writing Maths in my baccalaureate. I might do well in it anyway... The remaining two exams were from Swedish and English, with yet another positive and negative surprise included. From Swedish I got a 10-, even though it seemed to me like the teacher had messed up the checking or something due to my many mistakes. Not complaining, however, because I did work hard for that exam in particular. From English I got my second 9+, which in contrary to the Swedish exam was a pretty low grade in my opinion while compared to the amount of mistakes I committed. It serves as a good enough base for my future courses though, and that's the important thing.

The second sixth of year one has begun now and I got to tell you, it's quite a relief after all the stress with the first one. We're now on our second course of history as well as starting our first high school course in society studies. Psychology is really a treat for me, and I'm enjoying it a lot. Other subjects include Finnish, health studies, biology, German and French. The latter four I only got 3 hours a week, while Finnish frustrates me five times a week. Our new teacher in Finnish is not one of my favorites I have to say, and I'd really just like to write during the lessons and not necessarily talk about/study some of the stuff we do. I'm trying my best to remain positive about it, of course, regardless of things not going the way I was thinking. Like I said, all in all this is a much more relaxed sixth than the previous.

Then to some less school-orientated topics. :P My debut album - yes I dare to call it that - is progressing strong and maybe even a bit quicker than I had anticipated. During this week only I've practically started and finished a brand new song called Baptism of Fire, which is however traditionally-structured and a rather short song in my books. Various other new and old ideas have also been developed during this time, as always. A fresh list of working titles and their lengths is up on the AS forums now if you want to take a closer look, which despite the lack of Baptism of Fire is as up-to-date as it gets. Concerning Shyoul, we're preparing to record our first song which is now fully written and composed. I plan to lay my drum and bass tracks on it during my next vacation, which is 9 days long and will take place in 2 weeks.

To keep it short, that's pretty much all I have. I've kept playing some hockey manager games for pastime as well as kept watching Ketonen & Myllyrinne and Chuck every now and then, but being productive music- and school-wise is still my thing, as you all know. Many bands have been floating in and out of my ears, but most notably I've been influenced by a Finnish rapcore group called Jacks of All Trades, with Project 86 and Demon Hunter fulfilling the mix on their part. I also gave Darwin's Waiting Room a chance just after my last post, but didn't find them particularly appealing apart from 2 standout songs on their album Orphan.

Before I let you go, I'm showing you the lyrics for Baptism of Fire. Enjoy (and reflect on):

FLUSH MY HEART AWAY!

Crawling on the floor of a station restroom

(Fall is it? Own me, push me and loathe me

Crooning, “I am me”, keeping the truth leashed

Staying untamed so tomorrow can drive me slow)

Lakes they’re turning into mountain vales

(Ruthlessly standing by what I trample

Aiming my vengeance at everyone else

when all the banishment should be laid like mud on me)

[Chorus]:

Hunting demons down the lane of death

Narcissism is programmed into my brain

Wherever I call for a sincere smile to support

Melatonin attacks, flames charge right beneath my back

Carry judgment I must to be a part of the mass

(The truth, still fizzling under my lungs

filling, this nature covers it up with

Threads do connect but are nowhere to be found at all)

Relying on myself and me only

(For I can’t take advice, I could as well be blind

Seeing moonlight where sunrise is offering blood

donation, my soul lives in daily frustration)

AARH

[Chorus]

Elements of you and I on the tapestry

of the caves and the modern reins

Insides cry “go away, raise attention you eyesore

or die away”

Lemons, voices, eyes

gifts behind that line

of shifting into an euphoric bond

of esprit and ghosts

I snap, the hoodies are gone off the faces

surround me like haze and fight for their places

In pieces, throwing the torch on the flame, suffocation

it’s freezing, let me in

[Chorus2]:

Hunting demons down the lane of death

Narcissism is programmed into my brain

Wherever I call for a sentimental support

Melatonin attacks, the machine boots beneath my back

(The machine boots beneath my back)

------------------

Peace and love. ;)

Let Go

2010-09-17T17:09:00.002+03:00

My apologies for not posting in 2 weeks. As you can surely guess by now, my excuse is that I've been studying quite hard - and whenever not, been lacking the motivation to login here and type something up. I'm here now, though, so... :P

First things first - I have now started on part three of the trilogy songs Blue-Fragmented Pilgrimage and Cyan Lie form. This new song (which is meant to give closure to the rather dark love story) is so far titled Let Go and played in a weird pair of tunings - a Drop A# tuned guitar and a Drop D# tuned bass, meaning that I've actually tuned the bass up half a step from usual while sticking with my latest low tuning guitar-wise. Instrumentally, I have about 3 minutes done (without drums) and also some minor lyrics sketched out so far. I've thrown some other new riffs and ideas together as well during these last 2 weeks or so, of course, such as an interlude type of chord play called VW and yet another Drop A# fest titled Maybe I Should Go, which I was actually planning to have as the closure of the trilogy before I got inspired to write Let Go instead. I've had a little less ideas all in all lately, though, as the exams are closing on me. On Thursday and Friday I already had two word exams (one from English and one from Swedish), tomorrow I will have another word exam from English + a listening exam from the same subject + a possible Cooper test in P.E. The actual exam week begins on Thursday with maths, followed by English on Friday. Soon after finishing up with this post I will actually begin studying for the one on Thursday.

Outside school and my music, I've only been watching an episode or two of Chuck during the weekends now. It's turning more and more exciting however, with season 4 knocking on the door already. On another note, I've also really gotten into a Finnish comedy duo recently, Kari Ketonen and Ville Myllyrinne, and their show Ketonen & Myllyrinne, which is currently running on its 3rd season on Finnish TV. Lovely "black" humor - need I say more? I have known the show and the actors for quite a while, and even watched the episodes since last year, but not been this excited about it all up until now. The site project hasn't been going anywhere, unfortunately, but I stand by my promise to let you all know whenever there's news on it. Same goes for Shyoul. My listening appetite has been quite small, with Linkin Park's new album A Thousand Suns being the only significant new release or band I've checked. The record is far from their best in my opinion, but my view on it is pretty neutral compared to the general fanbase, I feel, with most people either really loving or really hating it. I personally wouldn't consider it absolutely horrific or anything, but apart from a few great moments such as the songs Wretches and Kings, Blackout and When They Come for Me, in addition to the wonderful solo in Burning In The Skies, it's a non-innovative product with way too much filler and secondary pop mixed with true potential. The positive thing is that last Sunday I spent the whole evening listening to Chester Bennington's very first band, Grey Daze, obviously inspired by LP. I still love their sound of the 90's, blending hard rock and grunge... Hah. Thirdly, I've been giving myself some sort of a refresh of Deftones' self-titled, which I have been more or less ignoring beside their other records after I first got into it (and the band).

Since my life is getting more and more filled with studies and all kinds of Wicked Breath-associated things, that's honestly all I have been doing in a nutshell. Although the exam week that continues all the way until Tuesday the 28th won't be leaving me with much free time, I'll do my best in being creative and productive next week and share it here as soon as I can. Until then, God Bless and please enjoy the effect of autumn, for I personally have always thought of it as the season that seems to go by the quickest. :)

S.M.C.

2010-09-05T19:19:00.000+03:00

At the moment yours truly is sick with flu, cough and fever, so I won't be making a huge post for your relief. Not that there's anything significant that's been going on anyway. The main news is that what I've been referring to as "the new online project" is still not in a publishable form; however some progress has been made this week. I am rather positive that you won't have to wait much longer anymore to see what I and my partner in crime have been up working with though. Secondly, before moving forward, I want to give my support to the coach of the Finnish national football team, Stuart Baxter, who most fans around here have been almost crucifying after last Friday's disastrous loss to Moldova. I don't think Finland will make it to the 2012 Euro tournament in the end, but I am still anxious to follow the qualifications and I believe that the team has way more to offer than what they did on the disgraceful Moldovan potato field 2 nights ago.

Lately I've spent some time developing a few new songs as well, obviously. I only did some slight modifications and additions to Johannesburg yesterday afternoon but it's already reaching its climax and I have a good view on how to end it. I've scrapped my previous worship song idea and am now working on another idea with the same concept, strongly inspired by P.O.D.'s classic song Alive. New guitar riffs have been floating in the air less frequently than on the past two weeks but there's still been a decent amount of creationism around all in all with once again multiple new ideas saved on Guitar Pro. Shyoul-wise, we're closing on our first song with partial lyrics written and a full structure finalized, only waiting for some polishing touches before we move on.

Studying hasn't eased on me but I am getting more and more used to the pace of it and days seem to be going fast as they usually do in the middle of a new semester. My test this week went well however I'm going to be a little behind from the others next week, as I will have to stay home for at least one work day due to my fever (38 degrees Celsius this morning). We've received our schedule for the exam week (23.-28.9) and it seems fitting to me, so I'm good all things considered on the studying area.

Project 86 has been my biggest musical influence this week with 10 Years coming in second. I have particularly spent a lot of time analyzing P86 lyrics and themes, with their repetitive yet imaginative riffing drawing a line (pun intended) on me as well. Unfortunately I have not been able to enjoy music as much as I would've wanted to, though.

I hope you all will take care, including the ones suffering from a more or less annoying disease (like me) and the ones who're doing just fine and healthy. See you next weekend, as it's becoming a habit for me to post on Saturdays and Sundays only. :)

Tree of Life

2010-08-28T17:10:00.002+03:00

Yo. Week 34 is reaching its Sabbath and your favorite storyteller is here with a quick recap of what's been going on. Let's go...

If last week seemed fast to me, this one's been even quicker. From Monday to Wednesday I went with pretty much the same formula - wake up, get ready, go to school, relax for about 2 hours when back home, sleep for an hour, homework for an hour, eat dinner, another hour of homework, some relaxation, and finally bedtime. Exceptions included a brief band meeting with Shyoul on Tuesday and skipping the so-called sleep hour on Wednesday. Since yesterday all first year students had no lessons but instead a 5-hour day by the nature with some further info on high school, games and such, Thursday evening I didn't have to commit any homework - half a relief, half a shock as I had already gotten used to working my afternoons on something. Nevertheless, I already had a word exam on Thursday (English) and next Monday I have another one (Swedish), so the work never really ends when you're a high school student. Probably not worth mentioning, but I admit under-estimating what's going on now when it was still upcoming.

Outside school my mind's been split. At times I've felt a little depressed, at times more or less inspired and happy. At the moment I'm feeling more like the latter, thankfully. I've been writing some random riffs all week, with the ones I've wrote down called The Hill, Fragile, Mystical and Doors, respectively. I've also done some modifications on Tree of Life, the demo I started on a week ago. Listening-wise I've been focusing on Adema's Unstable, some Project 86 songs and albums plus a fresh new influence, industrial rock band Deadsy, and their album Commencement. I actually had a song by Deadsy before, called Sleepy Hollow, but it had been mislabeled as KoRn featuring Marilyn Manson because of Jonathan Davis' vocals in it. The reason I checked the band out now was because my online project partner linked me to their music video The Key To The Gramercry Park a few days ago, which also features Davis doing additional singing. It has since been my favorite song of the moment.

I haven't been writing any lyrics or anything for the book in a long time now, so I'm hoping to put something together tonight. What comes to my interest in the TV show Chuck, I've managed to held onto my habit of watching an episode of it each day. It's not only great entertainment and good for relaxing, but also quite inspiring lately. The traditional Finland vs. Sweden athletics competition is also taking place this weekend, with me following it closely. Lastly, I've been planning to start taking more walks and going out more in general to further motivate my studies and keep my mind open and nimble beginning next week.

That is it. Hopefully the current situation where I only post once a week and with very little to say at once doesn't become a permanent habit - otherwise I'll probably have to start making up serious topics and conversation starters like in the beginning of this blog. :P It'd be fun for sure, but a major time-taker and not necessarily worth a read, anyway.

Blessings.

Birthright

2010-08-21T15:17:00.001+03:00

5 days at high school behind and what do you know, I'm still alive. :P I have to admit that while the amount of home assignments and work in general has been quite overwhelming, the new level of education has its upsides, too. Some courses are interesting to say the least, the atmosphere is pretty laid back all around and I've already gotten inspired thematically on something fresh. So, while certain concerns certainly haven't disappeared, including my recent lack of time, I can't say that I would be in utter hell or anything. Plus, it's my choice now to study, so enough with the whine (for the time being).

Unfortunately I don't have any further news on my new online project yet, other than the fact that it has been progressing more or less slowly this week. Among the hectic nature of everything some new songs have been continued though, as I predictably just can't dam whatever ideas I have in my head from time to time. My newest song idea is entitled Tree of Life. Music is really great therapy too at the moment, because it can easily take my mind away from most of the things I don't want to think about. Since it has been a while after the last one, below there is a listing of my most potential song ideas for the debut album I hope to release in 2012, just before my crucial third year in high school.

The demos in Drop D tuning are:
Allergy/Anemia
Blue-Fragmented Pilgrimage
Cyan Lie
Finland
Johannesburg
Scoff
Grope
The Day I Scared Myself
The Black
I Against Seven

The ones in Drop B tuning are:
Permafrost
The Aftercry
Insomnia (Faithless Cover)
Tree of Life

Before we move on, I really am serious about this. While there might be some samples, songs or even an EP released prior to it, Wicked Breath is now steadily moving towards an actual album. I am, however, taking a long-term approach on the project as you can see. For now I have no time limits and no huge pre-plans. I'm just letting the ideas flow, recording whenever I'm in the mood, and wherever that takes me, so be it.

What I've been listening to has been very versatile all week, with again no particular focus on a specific band or artist. I was going to get deeper with Saturday Night Wrist by the Deftones as well as Adema's Unstable (which for the record I downloaded on Wednesday) but there's just a lot of stuff going on currently in the music department as well. I seem to have a lot of stuff right now that I've at some point obtained but have yet to truly give a chance. I got no plans for this weekend though so hopefully during the remaining hours of today and tomorrow I'll offer that chance to some presumably great pieces.

I'm done here, that's all I got in a somewhat compressed form. I still do have to mention that Shyoul is having a few meetings next week which will hopefully push our first song a little further - and, just as I predicted, I haven't been able to let go of Chuck these past few days even if my viewings per day have decreased. Next week is just going to be another one stress, inspiration and hard work shall share with each other regardless of any attempt - therefore, keep your fingers crossed for my endeavors, and I'll keep mine crossed for yours. :) Peace and love.

Ten Against Seven

2010-08-14T15:52:00.001+03:00

Here we go, last post of the summer. I know, I know - summer's not really over yet weather- and calendar-wise, but as school begins, it's really secondary what season it is. There's going to be stress and a horrible lack of time from now on present no matter if it's +30 or -30 degrees outside.

Anyhow... During this last week, I've done my best in relaxing and taking my mind away from everything too stressful. I finished reading my 4th book of the summer which, by the way, has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the past 10 weeks - I never thought I'd read more than 2 of them, but I've indeed read 4 and enjoyed all of them very much. I only skipped on one book that didn't really seem interesting after 100 pages or so. The music that I've let my ears enjoy has been varying from 36 Crazyfists to the Deftones, from P.O.D. to Major Label, and from System of a Down to God Is An Astronaut, without a deep focus on one band in particular. I did get 36 Crazyfists' new album Collisions & Castaways last Sunday. So far I've only given it half a spin and I have to say that I've heard much better from the group. Last night I also downloaded an album by post-rock fit Explosions in the Sky but didn't have much concentration on it yet either. Lastly, here's a playlist I made last weekend including some of the songs I've really had fun with during this summer as a whole.

Throughout the past few days I've been relaxing to some TV as well. I am honestly obsessed with the show Chuck right now. I've watched about 15 episodes online after watching a few from Finnish TV earlier in July and this month (I hate the delay between USA and Finland, I mean 2 and a half seasons, come on!). The plot is so interesting, there's drama and action, and for those of you who've watched the show even just once, do I even have to mention Yvonne Strahovski? :P Anyway, I'll probably tone down on the interest once school starts, but still watch an episode or two a day. I don't remember being this hooked on a series since Kyle XY... And that show seems a bit childish now, anyway. (What is it with growth and TV shows going hand in hand? Haha)

I have not forgotten about my music either. On Tuesday I finally settled a melody of some sort for my upcoming, very first serious worship song. I'm calling it Me Against Seven for now. I also came up with a very dark and Tool's The Grudge type of demo on Thursday evening, called The Black. I have a strong feeling that it'll be a great opener if it makes itself on a release some day. It's definitely got that vibe I want an intro to have. On a side note, Shyoul's been having some meetings this week, and even though we are working on our first song very hard, let me put it this way - things really could go more smoothly than they are going on that area.

Then what I consider the biggest news in a while. I have teamed up with a fellow Christian and music lover from the US to form an online project so far known as Mind Death Machine. Before you ask, yes, we got that name from The Accident Experiment song, sue us if you care. :P Anyway, we're working on to put up a site with our own thoughts, pieces and such all over the place. Basically the idea of the place is expressionism. We will have a forum up as well where everyone can discuss about, well, anything really. I can't offer you a link or any further details yet, I'm afraid, but next week I bet I will have some more information on this fresh project. God only knows how many of them I got going on by now, though, hehe.

Well well. I'm done with the enws and I don't want to keep ranting about how great this holiday has been and how awful it is that it's ending. Bottom line is that everything good comes to an end - and hey, who says high school is 100% negative? I will be inspired with a lot of things I bet and I've come to see that when under pressure, stress and not much free time, I actually work pretty well and maintain everything that I got going on together. I'd like to thank you, my readers, and God for this 10 weeks that I've spent off-duty, so to speak, but it's time to go back now, regardless of what I want. This summer has offered me some great things and perspective but now life shall go on as it's destined with me entering high school. To stay positive, there's only 42 more weeks until next summer, let's not forget. ;)

That's it. Not the greatest post ever made but good enough to be posted and for me to cross this blog off of my list of things to do before Monday. I will be back ladies and gentlemen... When you least expect it! :)

Sacred Scavenger

2010-08-07T20:24:00.001+03:00

Even with my holiday getting more and more close to its end, I've been working hard on lyrics, music and the sorts all week. That is, however, not the most essential thing that I want to write about in this entry. Before anything else, I want to tell the world (starting from the few reading this, hehe) that despite being a Christian all my life, I've spent the last few days mainly changing some of my more or less bad ways into good. I've practiced purification of my mind and body, in a way, by some deep thinking, remorse and communication. It's not like I've killed someone or anything (:P), don't worry - I've just realized that despite calling myself a believer and having chosen the path of Jesus I haven't really acted like it during the last few years. Being a teenager or being busy with other projects is no valid excuse to this. I have now started to pursue a change though as I said and I can already feel its consequence - the calm, warm and confident effect that makes it seem like I've found faith just now for the very first time. :) Even if my road will be even harsher now that I'm a "proper" Christian, I am proud of taking the right moral turn in my life.

The spiritual change mentioned above was strongly encouraged at the start of the week as I went back to P.O.D.'s albums Satellite and The Fundamental Elements of Southtown half-accidently to find inspiration and groove I had been missing. At this point I have to admit something non-spiritual that I also regret in my life as of yet - not reading lyrics to most songs. It's ironic because as a lyricist and writer myself - and as a rather good one in my opinion - I don't often look up what exactly is said in a lot of songs I really love and as English is only my second language, it is impossible to understand everything right off the bat. Anyhow, this had been the case with FEOS as well for the most part and so I really enjoyed reading Sonny's raps and vocals in further detail as I listened to the once again refreshing record (I had done this once before in my qualm/interest last December, but that was too long ago for me to remember much of the wording, after all, it isn't all that simplistic :P). After P.O.D. I moved on to some System of a Down in the middle of the week as I wanted to write strong, even slightly political and straightforward lyrics for the demo named Scoff I actually finished instrumentally on Tuesday. Once again I took time to not only listen but also read what was going on. I took a new kind of atmosphere by going to the unheated sauna to sit and write, listen and read. The outcome was quite a success. Before I show you the lyrics, though, let me finish up this story. System of a Down wasn't where my notable listening experiences ended, you see... As a big fan of the Finnish band Major Label (look up my posts from early this year if you don't know what and who I'm talking about) I got curious about the band's guitarist/vocalist Arto Tuunela's other projects on Thursday. I knew about him having a solo project called Pariisin Kevät (Spring of Paris) in which he basically composed pop songs with naive kind of lyrics. Though innovative, I wasn't ready to get more down with this project in particular. Instead, I looked up two of his older projects - one where he used the alias Samuel Tubak, and one called Helsinki Blues Driver where he supposedly collaborated with an unknown electro-ambient musician. These projects blew my mind, particularly the second one. Tuunela doesn't just seem to have the ability to produce, mix and record for other artists, play basically any instrument and juggle between several different projects in the same time (half of which are not his own), but also have stunningly versatile content in his separate works. None of it is complex, it's all quite simple really - but in the same time, so different. Without any further efforts in trying to bore you, I'll conclude by saying that I really like his style no matter where he takes it. Even the performance videos and interviews I've seen give a very humble yet artistic picture of him, and regardless of me sounding like a fan boy, this guy is my new musical idol.

To get back to what I've actually been working on this week, here are the lyrics for Scoff like I hinted there in the last paragraph. Please do tell me what you think. ;)

Golden rings, suitcases of hope, burying their faces on hands of coke

Choke, every enemy with power they don’t in reality ever even touch to hold

The revolution is crying to be set off its cage, it’s a cage ruined with money and fame

And the selfish, somewhat privileged plays of zest accepted by the worldly brain

But hey, does that advertisement truly gain any real families or children to pay

for education, food and brainwash, you seem to deny being known for no lies

The bombs you build are nothing but disguise and foolishness towards bloody goodbyes

Tell me, how come aren’t you kicking me in the chest but causing all the pregnant women to get so depressed?

Love, you tear it off

The seed, of what we are

SCOFF

Stream of fall is everywhere, pain in the moonlight uncarved

Filling air with smoke and skies with lust martyrs die, liars remain alive

And pools of purity, dwell in unstoppable poverty

Without harmony, this corrupted corrosion floods our sources for life and how we want to DIE

So rip off your shirts to destroy the market

(Love, whoever’s around you)

In the name of this Earth, kindness shall overcome hate in the end

Struggles are short and painful, but our creations will last

The plea of candle wisps and enlightened houses

deserve more than pity and scoff

Now, we don’t call each other beautiful, beauty escapes us, we’re material too

Wearing grins we never smile, unless it’s to get us some more wine

THE STREAM OF FALL IS EVERYWHERE, SELLING HUMAN LOGIC,

ARTIFICIAL TRUST TO CHILDREN!

SCOFF [x4]

(Tear it off.)

What I'm really interested in is whether or not it's too aggressive or out of my usual style. I have also finished the lyrics for Blue-Fragmented Pilgrimage as well as its instrumental for the most part. With several riffs hanging over my head concerning a possible worship song, you could say that I'm doing progress in a good pace.

On the side of all this, I've been reading a new book and trying to complete some things that I still want to complete before school begins again. These include such things as barbecue, going to (a heated) sauna, playing floorball, watching movies, eating chocolate, going to the beach and so on. I also watched the fifth and sixth Harry Potter films this week caused by a sudden caprice. Shh, don't tell anyone. :D

I'll catch up with you once or twice more before high school starts to torture me.

PS: Shyoul is back with a fresh new member, making us a quartet. Tell all your friends.

The Pain of August

2010-08-01T14:40:00.000+03:00

August first is here, and before I go on with the good news I have, I'll tell you that I'm terrified right now. Just 15 days and I begin high school... And that'll be after a holiday that's been a total mess, in both, the good and the bad. There's still two weeks for me to embrace free time, though, so even if the thought of entering the great and stressing unknown is going through my head more and more rapidly, I'm hoping to still spend some relaxation-filled and great moments before it actually begins.

Then the good news. During this week I've been extremely productive, but still haven't been working on something all the time. A lot of new musical and lyrical ideas have been followed by spectator sports, and cleaning the house (=earning money) has been followed by moments of falling into music and rest. I haven't been reading or going out as much as I would've wanted to, but meh, you can't have everything. The Insomnia cover I started on last weekend is almost complete now, as is Blue-Fragmented Pilgrimage which I decided to continue working on after a while just yesterday evening. The Aftercry has earned itself some bass and a possible verse, and I've been thinking about the overall structure of all my new songs and their themes a lot in general. You can read more about the songs themselves, their current lengths and so forth on the updated forums of the Autumn Scream site, here. The whole site has been updated, really, so I'd appreciate it if everyone could take a brief look and maybe post around some.

Week #30 has also marked my return in writing stories. On Friday night I wrote about a thousand new words for a new chapter to be on the book so far known as Traveler, which I surprisingly started on over a year ago already. The chapter I've been working on now is not a direct continuation to the latest one I finished around winter, so I have skipped on the story a little and am planning on writing the chapter(s) between a little later on. All in all I am enjoying the process of writing a lot again and it's wonderful after such a long period of staying away from stories. Perhaps next week I will give you a little taste of what exactly I've been writing. :)

As the European Athletics Championships 2010 in Barcelona are ending later today, I feel like this is my one & only chance to rant about them. Finland hasn't obviously done all that great but it's been fun to watch the few women and men succeed and reach for their best out there. Not even near to the watching experience of the Winter Olympics, the Ice-Hockey World Championships or the World Cup in soccer, but nevertheless, nice for pastime and relaxation. So far we have achieved 1 medal and 2 point places, and today we are most likely going to score our second medal or at least a point place as long jump for men takes place in the evening with Tommi Evilä and Petteri Lax competing. On a more objective view, the amount of surprises has been a little overwhelming particularly in track events for women. The lucky Spaniards haven't been as successful as in soccer earlier during the summer, for which I feel a bit epicaricacy for. The organizers seemed so unprepared for the rain on Thursday that God should've let it rain here instead, haha. (Seriously, the heat record of all time got beaten here in Finland on the 29th, so it's been officially the hottest summer ever, which I obviously haven't fully enjoyed.)

Listening to music has been playing a smaller role in my plans this week than during the previous one but nevertheless I have been headbanging and jumping around to some Tool, Faithless, Killswitch Engage and Linkin Park (believe it or not). I also received Tool's Lateralus and Killswitch Engage's debut during the week, as I ordered them through a friend in the same way I did with White Pony by the Deftones the week before. Working on my own music for hours each day has taken its toll, anyway.

Now, enough with the letter torture. I'll talk to all of you later next week. ;)

Music.

2010-07-27T00:10:00.004+03:00

Music is never flawless. The people who make music are never flawless. Not even the people who listen to music are flawless. That is what really makes music what it is - a soulful, sincere product from one person to the other, from generations to generations; constantly developing it isn’t reliant on wars, hate or conflict that surrounds us daily. Instead, music is the deepest essence of us humans and at its best it is just as flawed as we are. Most importantly, all music is born from the love of something. In a ballad, it can be from the love of someone you have lost, or then someone you’re happy enough to be in a relationship with – in rap music it can be from the love of expressing your opinion on many unspoken things in an unformatted way. Even the most brutal heavy metal music comes from the love of something – the love of the music itself. Regardless of the many religions and beliefs music can spread, on its own it is actually the one & only universal language which can make anyone feel like they’re in heaven, meditating and/or worshipping no matter the place, the heart or the looks. Music is in the past, in the present, and it will be in the future, and it is never around just to flow with the timeline. Music changes with people, it changes people, but the great thing about it is that no matter how hard anyone tries, music cannot be made artificial by people. You can make it mainstream, you can make it all poppy or as horrible as you can, but it still remains sincere and plain. It just appears in a less original and inspirational packaging that way. There is nothing else in this world, in this entire universe that would be as lifeless and in the same time, as alive as music. Because of its non-breathing, non-thinking existence it is impossible to feed lies, deception, greed and all the other evil things people have created on this Earth to music, but it is just as alive as another person would be right next to you when it touches you in the core. With each note, through each melody… No one can ever truly understand the meaning or structure of music completely, but everyone can feel its overwhelming attack at night, day, summer, winter, in the ghetto and the mansions, in the cellars and on the mountains. Don’t even bother to try and stop it, government and record companies. Music is not only a tool of revolution, it is the revolution – and of the friendliest kind you can think of.

I just wrote that and even if it's totally not checked for errors and flow, I wanted to post it before I get any second thoughts. Totally spontaneous and out there. Enjoy.

200th Collage

2010-07-25T22:09:00.001+03:00

Here I am as I said I would be, about to make my 200th post in total on this blog. :) It has been quite a thrilling week - possibly the best one out of my entire holiday so far - filled with not so surprising yet enjoyable moments and acts. I'm currently downloading an album by Faithless called Sunday 8PM (fitting well to the current state of the week, amusingly) after getting back into the trio's debut Reverence just yesterday. I've been re-amazed by The Accident Experiment too recently, without ignoring Ektomorf, which is my most fresh new influence. Even though technically not as impressive as the two others, I've been headbanging for a fair bit to the album Outcast by the latter during the past few days.

Before I get any further, I want to reveal that Faithless has not only inspired me with its sound, but it has also inspired me for its sound within this weekend. I spent hours last night and some more throughout today to work on a cover of their probably most well-known song, Insomnia. Coming along not much different than the original sheet-wise, it is definitely something new for the undersigned, but with a trademark Wicked Breath twist to it. I hope you're all looking forward to hearing it as much as I am to finishing it. This is also most likely the only one out of the three covers I have worked on during June-July, with the covers of My Own Summer and Aerials being more or less too obvious for a musician such as myself to cover, I think. I couldn't really bring anything fresh to the already hard and heavy songs myself, not to mention that screwing up with the two songs could only result in big trouble, whereas with Insomnia I can at least get some credit for doing a brave effort in converting the song to rock. Outside Insomnia, I've began on yet another new song, which does base on a riff I came up with months ago already though. As I mentioned the possibility of maybe showing off some new lyrics of mine in the last post, here we go - two short, but in the same very meaningful verses of the new piece currently titled The Day I Scared Myself.

Waste around my lungs, stuffing my heart with internal calm

Another gust has built its hate in my eyes – all red, I see the aligned

Love is found within my haste, but confusion has perverted its taste

I want to live under the cold wrapping all, oh, milky

Late August fear and gasp, fading while the other one grows

Something strange about the silk ashtray advertises the west

Rage is making its temples again but I will not let it get far this time

So take all this evil away, now, now, now…

As the brightest ones out there can see, it's quite a mix of spiritual, depressed and self-exploratory moods with a poetic way of expressing. I won't go deeper with it yet, but I do wish that anyone reading will if only they have the time. ;)

Between these posts I've also completed reading a book which I started reading at the start of the week. The book is called Audrey, wait! (by Robin Benway) which focuses on telling a story about a worldwide hit song which, simply put, ruins a teenage girl's life since it was made by his boyfriend about their break-up. Sounds more stupid than it is, trust me, because it turns out that this Audrey girl is a huge music fanatic, and as there's plenty of syrup included inside the book's pages, there are interesting descriptions of live concerts and great music in general as well. I don't mind syrup-ish stories at all anyway, even if that does make me sound even more of a wussy than I already am I guess, haha.

As we are reaching the final paragraph, I want to announce that I am finally done with not only the EP and the music video, but also with the cutting of all the bonus material that the promotional team members can now view on the secret site they have been linked to. I would also like to let everyone know that there are still a few spots open in the said team in case some of you reading aren't members of it and haven't either turned down the offer or received one yet. I cannot emphasize enough that I need all the support I can get at this time. Promotion itself has been going a little better as far as I've heard during this week, but there's always room for a new listener or two, so... Keep spreading the word. Jon2 is off for tonight, but only to bug you again next week. Peace out!

Passive vs. Active

2010-07-21T18:55:00.004+03:00

Has it been a while or what, huh? I obviously have a lot of stuff to share but I'll try not to bore anyone here and keep things short and simple. It's not like I have much time to waste anyway, knowing that I have only about 35% of my holiday left anymore at this point...

First of all, the Xie Xie music video is now out. You can view the video on YouTube and comment on it either there or here in my blog. A lot of work has been put into the video despite its low quality and amateurish filming/acting, and so be gentle with your words even though I most certainly want to hear everything from love to hate concerning it. The video is about 6 and a half minutes in length but I'm hoping it's not too boring since it does have many different angles and characters. It beats half of the music videos rolling on MTV what comes to the content, at least. :P

The past 10 days or so I've mostly been working around finishing the MV, putting together some new ideas musically and lyrically, reading a bunch of stuff in general and further building up my addiction on music from the Deftones, KoRn, System of a Down, Killswitch Engage, Crazy Town and Atomship. I've actually been buying records, too - I ordered White Pony by the Deftones (which I also received 2 days ago), Lateralus by Tool and Killswitch Engage by Killswitch Engage through a friend of mine and yesterday, while doing some shopping with my dad, I bought Faith No More's The Very Best Definitive Ultimate Greatest Hits Collection and To/Die/For's Wounds Wide Open. The latter were both risky, I know - I was going to buy some albums I actually love from a familiar record store but then I heard it had been closed and settled for the market shelf which predictably didn't have much to offer. I've only given the two albums an incomplete listen so far and have yet to really have anything groundbreaking to say about them, but obviously one's from a classic, one's from quite a nobody. While "shopping", I also got myself a new TV, new headphones, some floorballs and ink for my printer. The first two were due to my old TV and headphones (both aged 2½ years, RIP) breaking down at the end of last week - not because me and my family could afford to buy those every other week, ha. My new TV is much better than the old one was but I'm a little skeptical about my headphones at the moment. I really loved the previous although these new ones have awesome bass leveling.

What else? Not much I guess since I really am not too keen on showing you my new lyrics not to mention my latest musical ideas. We all hate MIDI anyway, am I right? ;) Maybe I'll tease you with some hints of Permafrost or something when it's time for my next post. I have so many ideas and little drafts of songs though that it's even hard for myself to keep up with them, let alone anyone else.

The first promotional team members have already witnessed an exclusive site including videos, a recording of State 18, a digital booklet for TAID and much more. I am nevertheless desperate to get more supporters and members, so please, anyone reading, can't you just direct one or two people towards the EP if you haven't yet and let me know about it? Not much work, guys and girls, not much. Especially considering all the exclusives I got up on the secret site, it's worth doing. (I probably am overestimating the readers of this blog, but really, I'm sure there's a few of you lurking.)

I'll try to stop now and instead share any further updates, news and ranting in my next post, which I promise will come out before next week. Enjoy the MV and my absence until then. :P

Darkhorse

2010-07-10T14:44:00.000+03:00

Big news first - Wicked Breath is currently looking for a singer. I have FINALLY realized that no matter how much I dream about singing in particular whenever it's time for me to perform my own music live, at the moment it is for the best to try out something else, and someone else, because I simply am not going forward with the current flow of things. If I really wanted to become a decent singer someday soon, I'd have to invest some money and time on it which I can't afford to, not to mention the fact that I'm an autodidact who probably would only feel torture practicing with a vocal coach, anyway. Perhaps in a few years when I settle on my own and the music is good enough to be sold to a wide audience, I'll make the needed operations to reach a decent level of expressing things with my voice, but with the time being I am faced against the wall. (As a side note, the fact that I am looking for another singer doesn't mean that I am calling off the request to receive tips on vocals from anyone, so please, go ahead if you have any. ;)) For the record, I already have 3 candidates for the spot, but even more are welcome to volunteer, of course.

Then, speaking of selling my music... Another big decision I've made is that instead of selling the special edition package I've told you earlier, I'm only going to share some exclusives on a secret webpage to those who succeed in promotion. This means that most of the content I have filmed and prepared for the special package will see the light of day, but in a non-physical form and for free. So far there aren't many people that have been promoting well as far as I am aware, so keep on doing it, please. The EP is far from my best work of art to be presented in this life time, but I consider it enough to make a few people more acknowledge my musical existence through it. In a week, I will set up the secret site and tell about it to those who I feel deserve to know about it. In a week or so, I'm also releasing the Xie Xie music video on the AS site and YouTube, so keep an eye on for that.

As I shared in my last post, it's been overwhelming to spend my days listening to so much music after I no longer have had to work on the EP. Since Monday, I've been listening to such bands as Crazy Town, Deftones, KoRn, Disturbed, 36 Crazyfists, Blindside, AqME, Blindside and a few others as well. This morning I also went through the rather impressive spoken-word album by Chi Cheng called The Bamboo Parachute, which I believe I mentioned here a few posts back. The poems the album consists of are quite inspiring as far as I have been able to interpret them without any text to back up the words I can't catch or understand. Concerning KoRn, I've been getting into their new album KoRn III: Remember Who You Are, which so far seems like an okay album but not all that impressive - while from Crazy Town I downloaded their two studio albums The Gift of Game and Darkhorse after "losing" them between switching from my old laptop to this current one 1½ years ago. Both albums seem pretty solid, though not all that great lyrically, similar to Limp Bizkit. In case you are wondering, I have a much better internet connection than before since last Friday which is also a reason to why I've been downloading stuff like crazy lately. :P It's really fantastic to see albums and videos load 30 times faster than before, and the best thing is that the monthly fee is actually 2 Euros less than with the previous connection, making my parents happy too, heh.

About the World Cup, I'm on Netherlands' side now for the final, and hoping that Uruguay will surprise Germany in the bronze match. All in all I have enjoyed the games a lot though I haven't been able to follow them as intensively as I would have hoped. I am proud that the African continent made it to the top 8 because of Ghana and I'm also happy that regardless of whether Netherlands or Spain wins, there will be a new champion added to the books of history. Now that I'm not really in a rush for anything besides finishing the music video, I'm certainly going to watch both of the last two matches from the start to the end this weekend.

Lastly I want to say a few things about the future of Wicked Breath. Some of the most developed new songs of mine at the moment include Allergy/Anemia, Cyan Lie, Permafrost, Blue-Fragmented Pilgrimage and Johannesburg. In August I will start recording instrumentals again for the singer candidates and before then I will try to finish a song or two, with them most likely consisting of the titles mentioned above. Currently the sound of WB is diversifying by each new song, basically, and the songs are all in all more complex, poetic and dark - however, there are more traditionally structured songs in the works too besides the progressive efforts I've been writing. Lyrically the palette is wider than ever, but that probably doesn't need to be explained... :P I'll be telling more about the new stuff as time passes and the ideas evolve.

Now, I'm off to watch some Formula 1. See you again in a few days, and before then... Stay active and don't forget the World Cup final. ;)

Bury Me Where I Fall.

2010-07-05T12:19:00.004+03:00

I honestly don't know where to start with this post. I guess above all things I should let everyone know that I will post a little more often from now on since I have much less work to do and I should also have more individuals things to talk about than during the past few months. As a cold lover, the hotness outside during this sunny July is simply too much for me to spend much time out there so I will probably sit in front of my computer for quite a bit, anyway. :P

The EP is now out as many of you know, and it has gotten a rather positive response so far. The bad thing is that I am still not satisfied. One reason to that is the fact how I still keep finding things I should've fixed upon release - another one is the fact that most of the feedback I've got so far has been from people who, to quote their own words, "don't listen to the kind of music" I make. While that makes my appreciation towards giving my music a chance even bigger, I've now realized that promoting it is actually a huge challenge. Currently I fuse a lot of genres on my releases, but instead of using the same kind of style on every song (or at least on most of the songs) basically each of them is different, which I've so far seen as only a good thing. Now I've opened my eyes and realized that no matter how much fun it is to make soft rock songs, nu metal songs, post-rock songs, progressive rock songs etc. it makes promotion and forming an own identity for Wicked Breath much much harder. Obviously there are people who have diverse musical tastes and enjoy not knowing what's coming next from me, but most people really just want to recognize one style and one direction when they pop in the CD and concentrate on what they hear. I haven't solved this issue yet but I am working on it - while in the same time I truly ask you to promote me. Seriously, anyone who is reading, take 10 minutes of your time to think of a person who could be into passion-filled rock music (because I'm sure everyone knows one) and then contact that person and tell him/her about me. If everyone who's already downloaded the EP could do that, the number of listeners would already double. And, with the numbers we're talking about here, that would be a pretty good start. A third issue I currently have is that I'm still getting a lot of criticism towards my singing, which I know I have improved on as expected, but apparently it's just not enough at this time. Thus, my second request is that if anyone knows some tips that might help with my singing, please do not hesitate to tell me.

To boost up the promotion I have started cutting the Xie Xie music video one week early now. The Promotional Team Sign-Up is on-going as well, but instead of the pre-planned deadline of a week, you now have 2 weeks to go to http://autumnscream.webs.com, sign-up if you haven't or login, and then go sign-up for the promotional team through the link you see on the site navigation bar. If you're an old member of the team, you also have to confirm your participation in promoting TAID, to make sure you're actually all awake and ready for it. :P For that, login and then go post your confirmation here. The Xie Xie music video should be released within one week, and I will of course keep you updated on how that goes before the actual release.

Recently I've been into making covers of songs on the side of working with and promoting the EP. I already told you about the cover of My Own Summer (Shove It) by the Deftones that I had been working on, and last week I also got inspired to do one of System of a Down's Aerials. Note that both of these aren't recorded though, just Guitar Pro files, and even though I already had an idea of making a cover EP of sorts, I don't have any bigger plans right now for neither one of the two songs. Concerning my other new demos, Allergy/Anemia is now almost complete written-wise and I've also started on a new one that was first called Ille Sidus Postumus, but later retitled to Johannesburg. Named after one of the big cities in South Africa, Johannesburg is very post-rock influenced as many of my newest songs have been. I was actually joking the other day that I have enough material already to make 4 mini-EPs consisting of just a few songs, which would revolve around covers, love, post-rock and left-overs, haha. I will do a list later compiling all of my new ideas and their titles.

Until I bore you to death... Last paragraph right here for now, focusing on the music I've been listening to and taken slight influences from lately. As you might predict after reading that I have worked on a cover of Aerials, last week I got back into System of a Down and listened to them more than anything else. The other band I've been covering, the Deftones, has also been swimming under my earwax, haha. A few days ago I tried to give Mudvayne's The End of All Things to Come a go but for the moment it doesn't/didn't seem all that pleasant or inspiring to listen to. Before and during the making of this post I have switched to 36 Crazyfists and their debut album, Bitterness the Star, as well as AqMe and Sombres Efforts. After only focusing on my own stuff for the last few weeks, seems like I have an enormous need for listening to all kinds of stuff right now. Finally I would like to note a totally off-topic and random thing - after the relief of finally releasing my first somewhat listenable effort, I spent the whole day re-decorating my room (exactly one year from when I did it last time) with images of my favorite bands, their album covers, a few photographs I've taken myself + the cover of TAID. I have to say that I have never felt as comfortable inside these 4 walls I'm typing this post from that I do now. :) So, concludingly, I'll be back in a few days, and remember the AS forums, the promotion, and all of my other insanely several though not at all impossible requests. ;)

Dreams of Art Sit In The Dark...

2010-07-02T14:00:00.005+03:00

...Waiting for you to open the bar. That's right... The Art In Dreaming EP is now here. :) More than a year has been spent while working on this piece and I am hopeful (however not certain) that this release is actually worth listening to more than just once and for numerious days yet to come. If you're kind enough to read the README file within the package to which I'm about to paste a link here, you'll see that I am modest and humble towards anything anyone has to say now - but in the same time, I am rather satisfied with myself, my patience, and my development. TAID is by no means perfect, but by no means is it as flawed as my past, either. I am positive that it's a promising effort, but how promising is it exactly? That's up to you.

Anyway, I don't want to rant all day here, I can do that in another post. I will let the music do the talking, for once. Be advised, however, that no matter how humble I might be now, I will rant if opinions don't start flooding during the weekend. :P

Last note I want to make is that the album art was done by Justine Florio, not me. She also appears as a vocalist in the closer of the EP, In The Art of Dreaming. Everything else has been written, performed, recorded, mixed and pondered in my own room - my own home studio, if you may. Now, enjoy this free product with your delicate ears. ;)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/lyq51s

My Own Summer

2010-06-25T17:22:00.001+03:00

Long story short - I'm done with Xie Xie for now and about to move on into mixing 15th Pb. Considering I have yet to do the final level checking, polishing of everything and whatnot for all the songs, I'd say that I'm about 95% done with the entirety at the moment. This week I've faced a few very tricky parts with Xie Xie and looking at it now, I probably could've done a drum part or two better... But what's there is on-tempo (at least more on-tempo than ever in my music) and thus I have no need to go back to recording and the other exhaustive phases I've already been through. What's left should be finished in a few days, so it's safe to say that this time next week you can already have a listen to the EP instead of just reading my tease about it. :P Regardless of how deaf I've become to my own works during this process, you will hear a developed version of my music (and me) soon enough. :)

Midsummer Day is tomorrow and even though it's the Eve today and the whole city has been in the mood all week already, I've barely had any room for relaxation once again. At best, I've read a few pages of a book or played some Floorball on my backyard, plus following the World Cup of course. Concerning the latter, I am hoping for a miracle as I type this since the third game of the tournament for Cote d'Ivoire is about to be kicked off and they're in a very difficult position what comes down to making it to the next round. As all of the African teams seem to be failing one by one, I'm more and more on the side of USA, and the bright Slovakia who surprised Italy wonderfully last night. Ghana will continue to the next round out of my original favorite teams, but all the other African teams have already dropped out with the exception of Cote d'Ivoire. Really unfortunate - especially when South Africa, for instance, really didn't lose much to Mexico, the second team to go on from Group A. I'm happy to see that the tournament has been getting a lot more interesting after the first games though, and it's been pleasing to see more and more goals and brave forwarding.

To go back to EP-related stuff, I plan to shoot the last scenes for the DVD of the special edition package on Monday. I was supposed to shoot them already this week but my mother's been on a brief holiday and on the morning she was outside, I happened to be feeling sleepy. :P Luckily I have been able to shake off the 10 AM waking up rhythm my body seemed to have gotten used to at the start of the week. To keep myself motivated, I'm doing another chocolate strike at the moment by the way, which will end when the internet version of TAID gets out.

Lately I've been listening to the Deftones like crazy, switching between Around the Fur, B-Sides & Rarities and Diamond Eyes. I've even been playing some of the riffs in their songs with my guitar in the past few days which I often don't do with songs composed by others, and on top of that I've been inspired to start working on my own version of the band's hit My Own Summer. So far it has a more uplifting chorus, some additional guitar fills and a bridge I've composed myself in comparison to the original song. I might have a lyrical verse added there too if I think the song is missing something after the instrumental's completion. To conclude my Deftones affectation, I've just downloaded Chi Cheng's spoken word album The Bamboo Parachute. As always, I'm also hoping and praying for his recovery out of coma.

I guess that's all I got for you in this update. I might do another one on Sunday or on Monday depending on how things progress. Until then, enjoy the summer, whether you like yours breezing cold or boiling hot. :)

Open for the Flow

2010-06-20T00:14:00.004+03:00

Currently I am rather exhausted and unmotivated to write much, but since there is one more webisode left to be put out, I dragged myself here nevertheless to complete my duties. Even though you really shouldn't expect an EP to be out next week (I just don't have enough time to finish it), I see no reason to postpone the release of this clip no more. Be noted that this is a short one compared to the other parts of the podcast, but even more valuable by its content, because ladies and gentlemen - at the end of the MP3 you can download from below is a teaser of song #3 on The Art In Dreaming EP, Trepidation. And no, it's not in MIDI or in some other disgraceful format - it is a 100% real snippet from the actual song to appear on the upcoming EP. So, enjoy - and promote, as always. :)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/80abfa

(For the record, I am still aiming to put the whole thing out until the end of the World Cup - and if that doesn't happen, something has to go really, really badly wrong, haha. Long(er) post with further information coming soon, so stay tuned.)

Horse & Crow

2010-06-14T19:07:00.001+03:00

I'm here - let's whine. :P First of all, I want to brag with my achievements. Even though the estimated release date for The Art In Dreaming (the 24th) still seems to be coming way too soon, I have gotten around 95% ready with mixing Trepidation, and tonight I plan to do the ending polishing. The heck with modesty - it's sounding awesome so far. Naturally, I still have Xie Xie and 15th Pb yet to mix starting from tomorrow, but if I keep working as hard as I have lately I should work things out by that. After all, I did mix for at least 10 hours in total this weekend - while another 5 hours or so was wasted by watching soccer. Last week I also finished shooting the scenes of the drummer for the music video, leaving me with just the singer yet to film. I already started on one angle earlier today and I am hoping to finish the remaining two angles tomorrow. I might have been able to pull them off already this morning if I wouldn't have woken up so late... Staying up late mixing just happens to have its downsides, haha.

Between my last long post and this one I have been listening to a Finnish alternative rock/metal band called Lapko a lot. They released their fourth studio album A New Bohemia last March and are currently promoting it quite heavily as you could expect. They appeared in a common summertime show here in Finland called Summeri ("Buzzer" in English) last week, through which I was reminded of the band and decided to check the new album out. Previously I had only heard two singles from them, but both had left a mark between my ears. I've even had the song All The Best Girls on my computer for like a year or so, but had ignored it for some reason. Anyhow, the album is quite an impressive mix of different emotions, ideas and directions and I am currently looking for another album by the band, even if A New Bohemia is far from being the best album of the year so far. I can at least say that I dig 5 bands from my home country now (Lapko, Major Label, Kinetik Control, HIM and The Rasmus to an extent), which is still shamefully little though. Lapko should keep me fascinated for some time, nevertheless. :)

After the book I already read and the walk I took last week I haven't been that active on the whole relaxation thing, unfortunately. I was going to go swimming again today but as I said before, I woke up pretty late and the weather outside has been rainy, cold and dark all day long, anyway. I got 3 more books I lent from the library last Monday yet to read, but they don't seem as interesting as the first one to be honest. I only hope that the weather will be better during the next few days and that the books will start to fascinate me as I get bored with constant working. Watching the World Cup has been quite liberating but I feel that I don't really have the patience to watch the games from the start to the end entirely because of the slowness of the game. Obviously the last thing I want to end up with right now is burning out and not enjoying my holiday at all, so let's just hope I will find ways to sit back and take it easy during the upcoming days.

Hmm hmm hmm... I guess I didn't have that much stuff to whine about after all. I do want to remind you all that the promotion for TAID is already on-going and if you want to get the physical copy of the EP + a special edition DVD with almost half an hour of bonus material, a bonus track and a personal letter from me, you need to begin with your wording about WB to your friends, family, and anyone else you think might be interested, now. MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, all kinds of message boards and your own websites are very efficient ways of promoting anything basically, as you know, and with the webisodes out you also got something to back your promotion with. You don't need to shout to the whole world that Wicked Breath exists - just do some little stuff here and there and you will be rewarded. :) The sign-up for the promotional team begins again in a week or so, and even if you've been a member before, check the site because I will ask some members to re-sign due to their inactiveness.

That's it friends. Go out and play, it's a wonderful day... At least I hope it is somewhere. :P

Hidden from the Light

2010-06-12T11:07:00.001+03:00

I just woke up around half an hour ago and so I'm not at my brightest right now - thus I'm not going to rant to you here about my past few days even if I do have more than one thing to share. I just want to to apologize for breaking the pattern with my webisodes. I really was going to release the third one yesterday as the previous two were also released on a Friday, but I fell asleep during the first half-time of the World Cup match France - Uruguay, after which I had planned to put it out. Anyhow, without any further babble, here you go now. (Better late than never, eh?) Talking about the upcoming music video for Xie Xie, the general artwork for Wicked Breath's past and future releases plus speculating with the idea of having another concept album made someday, webisode #3 is located here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/5yq5tr

I'll try to stop by here before the end of the weekend to let you know what else is up. ;)

Liberation Celebration, Pt. 1

2010-06-09T20:51:00.001+03:00

The title says it all - I am now done with my basic education! It's been 4 days since I left the school building for the last time as a ninth grader, but I can still feel the pride, satisfaction, relief and happiness all around me. Both of the performance(s) I had with my music class went pretty smoothly, at least for my part (we did one song on Friday in an event for ninth-graders only, and that same song + two others on Saturday in the ending ceremony of the semester, with me playing drums in all of them). There wasn't a big amount of mistakes that I committed and the ones I did commit were either rather unnoticeable or made it easy to continue afterwards. It's not like I lost rhythm completely, so I succeeded with my main thing in the performance. All of the songs were once again Finnish and quite pop-ish, but this time I really didn't mind it. Concerning my report, I did excellent - I can't be totally happy with a total average of 8.95 on all subjects, but I was pleasantly surprised that the average of the so-called theoretical subjects was as high as 9.07 (our grade system is 4-10, from worst to best). The latter is all that matters, anyway, as I am entering the local high school in the fall. I did get a scholarship as well, but then again, so did many others. Mine was worth 40 Euros.

Last week was mostly just practice, practice and once again practice for the already-mentioned performances concerning my school time, whereas at home I did my best in progressing with the EP. Before the holiday officially begun I was done with 24 out of 25 tracks recording-wise, and mixing-wise, right about 15/25 done. After 3 days of being productive, I am very happy to announce that the recording phase is now over and that I have also done a bit more progress with the mixing, which shall continue heavily during the next two weeks. The estimated release date for the free, internet version of the EP is the 24th of this month, and if I really want to manage everything before that, I need to work harder than possibly ever before. It gives me relief that for the free version I don't have to manage as many things as for the special edition (which will be available by July), though. Of course, if time seems to be ending too soon... I'll make sure to delay the date instead of getting everything together and out there unfinished. ;)

I still haven't been listening to that much music outside my own projects these past days but more and more now that it's holiday and I want to find some ways to relax, too. Limp Bizkit has been on heavy rotation as well as a new band called Atomship, who remind me of System of a Down quite a lot (I got the band's one & only album The Crash of '47 on Saturday). May their guitarist, who died last December, rest in peace. Last week I was also into God Is An Astronaut quite a bit, including their new album Age of the Fifth Sun. Seems like post-rock is definitely something I become interested about every summer... All the above bands aside, I am listening to The Accident Experiment while typing this post.

My creativeness has been impossible to dam once again - last Monday I developed a demo called Beautiful and Penniless by adding a bridge with some guitar solos and harmonies in it mainly, and since last Tuesday I have been working on another song called Allergy/Anemia. It started as a combination of two older demos - The Pendulum Effect and Stereotype - but through working many hectic nights on the idea it has become a very well-developed demo that already has some lyrics written for it, plus a bunch of very catchy and complex melodies. It's one of my most progressive, love-centered and impressive songs to date, at least in my personal opinion. Working on this fascinating song is my number two priority now right after mixing and getting everything worked out on The Art In Dreaming.

Up until now I have already swam once and spent a wonderful morning at the beach (alone) besides having read a 300-paged book (the third and last part of the "Nietos" book series that tells about a young band and its members' lives, from which I have read one book every summer now, coincidently). Conclusion: I am definitely enjoying my free time on the side of working as much as I can, as you can see, and I hope to continue like that throughout my 10 weeks outside of school. I plan to read a lot of other books during this holiday too and also check out new music much more frequently than I have been during the last few months - without forgetting to follow the upcoming World Cup tournament in soccer. For the second tournament in a row I will be rooting strongly for Cote d'Ivoire, a.k.a. Ivory Coast, in that one.

Anyhow, there's my rant of the day. Beware, on Friday there's going to be more... :P Until then, be blessed with your lives, everybody. :)

Fresh Draught... Before the Storm

2010-06-04T21:03:00.001+03:00

This one is a quickie. A thousand apologies for not posting again last weekend and another thousand for not making a long post this time. Truth is, I've been busy all week and tomorrow's the biggest day of my life. I'm already running out of time without this post confusing my schedule. Thank God after tomorrow morning I am free for 71 days in a row, though - or should I say free of school, because there's always my projects that tend to keep me occupied no matter what. :) Anyhow, let's get down to business. The reason I came here to type this post was, after all, the release of the second podcast webisode. The first one was received well in general, so I expect this one to be as well, with a little more downloads I hope (last one has had 6 to date). In this part of the podcast the theme is the actual content of the upcoming EP. Enjoy, guys and girls... And prepare for a massive rant to be appear during the next few days. :P

http://www.sendspace.com/file/nv3k4i

Age of the Sun

2010-05-28T23:25:00.002+03:00

My efforts to apologize for the delay in posting shall be skipped - I have something else to tell you which will wipe out that shame like a piece of dust. The first audio webisode in promotion to The Art In Dreaming EP is now here, you see. There will be 4 in total which I plan to release every Friday from now on, each dealing with a more or less different theme than the others. This first one includes general questions concerning Wicked Breath enquired by Jessie Todd, and obviously, answers to them inserted with my oh-so-adorable accent. :P Don't worry, the MP3 clip is only about 5 minutes long, so I'm sure you can enjoy it at some point of your day, whether you're busy or not. And, if you like what you're hearing and really want to get into the promotional team, please, spread the following link around. (Not everyone's going to get in the team out of the ones who have showed interest so far, anyway, and even the old members aren't safe at this rate. Conclusion: every action towards promoting the EP is taken into account and of course, everything's much appreciated as well.) Remember that the less you know about me, the EP and this project, the more valuable the information this webisode contains actually is - so for new listeners this is extremely useful. ;)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/3b0wfb

As you download that, let me talk about what's been going on during the past 2 weeks. Nothing overly big has been up really, apart from the fact that my school is getting closer and closer to completion (just 6 days left). I haven't been eager what comes to mixing but recording-wise I've finished the guitars for 15th Pb and so I am only missing 2 vocal tracks and 1 drum track now until I can officially say that I'm done with the entire recording stage. Studying for my last exams (all of which I am done with now, thankfully) has taken its toll - I've done very little progress all in all lately while compared to the previous weeks. I have, however, been editing and shooting material for the special edition DVD of TAID a lot - not to mention coming up with various new ideas, as always. I guess that makes these weeks fairly productive... :P I also have a totally new project going on, but seeing how most of them have failed pretty quickly in the past, I'll keep this one as a secret before it develops and comes clearer.

That's all I'm going to let out for now. Prepare for another post to come this weekend - this is just the beginning of my ranting. :P Until then, nighty night - and enjoy the webisode. :)

Baskets & Pucks

2010-05-15T17:50:00.014+03:00

Greetings from a workholiday. :P I got fed up with mixing Trepidation, so here I am, completing yet another task. I've been off of school for 3 days now like I said I would, and I've used it rather efficiently - as with the whole week, really. Even mixing has gained a little bit more interest. Let's peep in to see what's up...

Yesterday, I surprised myself by having enough time and patience to record the guitars for Xie Xie entirely. My original plan was to record half of them and move on to the other half during the upcoming week. I will still be recording next week - the target has only changed from the vocals and guitars for Xie Xie to the drums for 15th Pb now. The other parts I have yet to do are the guitars and vocals for 15th Pb. Conclusion: Only 4 instruments yet to record out of 25, so you could say that I'm getting very close to completion on the EP. Problem is that I've only mixed about a half of those 25 instruments (4 for State 18, 5 for In The Art of Dreaming, 4 for Melodia, 1 for Xie Xie = 14). I'm not going to rant about my lack of inspiration and time as I do every week these days, but... You know the situation.

At school, I've had a lot of fun playing basketball with my classmates, but also been drowning in stress with 2 exams down and at least 7 still to go. I don't want to bore my few loyal readers by ranting more than I am allowed to, but if I survive next week, I'm going to spoil myself - I have 2-3 exams (English = a piece of cake/Finnish = not so easy but manageable/possible Maths one = a nightmare), the Cooper test (which was moved from the 12th to the 19th, in case you're wondering), a speech in Finnish to write and perform (I'm doing it about the state of the mainstream music these days, I'm afraid it might be a little too radical though) plus, of course, all the stuff I'm forcing myself to do at home. On a side note, summer weather has attacked my city this week, and if you didn't know it yet, I hate the heat.

The ice-hockey world champs have kept me intrigued throughout the week and have offered me a nice break every now and then. Finland has really gotten impressive after the awful start and apart from a few problems in goal-making and such, I see lots of potential even for winning the whole thing. Denmark has kept playing strongly as well, while Russia has had to struggle surprisingly much. It's going to be a great tournament, nevertheless, and I'm just annoyed that I don't have time to see all of the remaining matches.

On Friday morning, I had a really weird dream which I intend to write into a story later as I have more time. I've been coming up with new musical ideas too, and they just keep getting better I have to say. The latest one is called Beautiful And Penniless, and it's one heck of a Drop B rocker with Staind influences in the verse (yes, it's quite traditionally structured). The band project has re-activated this week, but I'm afraid the site one is dead by now. Concerning my situation schedule-wise, that's necessarily not a bad thing though. Having said that, I'm quitting my post here and getting my ass back to work. See you again in a week or so - hopefully with more progress done. :)

...Until I Come Unknown

2010-05-09T15:46:00.001+03:00

With anticipation comes even more work, it seems. I'll start by saying that this week I haven't really even had a chance to listen to any music outside my own, let alone cared enough to be into finding some new. I could never live without music but next to my efforts, everything has become secondary lately (one of the reasons I want to finish working on TAID so badly - to finally have all the time in the world and relax). I have, luckily, made some progress while working hard, but still, it hasn't been a totally non-bumpy week. While I did record Notes to Kill a Man By and even mix it, it's a little off-tempo at points and now I'm left wondering whether or not I should try to fix it or not (we're talking about a few parts where I've played a note decimal too early or too late, which means that it's not necessarily noticeable, and as it is only a hidden track, I really am not sure if re-recording the whole thing just because of those few mistakes is worth it). I have not let go of my aim for perfection, but I am beginning to feel the constant frustration as pressuring. Anyhow, mixing-wise I have started on Trepidation and recording-wise I'm also done with the bass for Xie Xie now, meaning that the only tracks I have yet to get on tape are the guitars and vocals for Xie Xie and the drums, guitars and vocals for 15th Pb. During the upcoming week, my only goal is to re-record whatever I need to + start on the guitars for Xie Xie.

The new stuff has kept developing itself, too. Just yesterday morning I came close to finishing Cyan Lie by writing all the missing lyrics to it and emphasizing the final chorus with an extra guitar riff. The drums in the bridge are now my only concern before the song is ready for recording. I have been getting more title and riff ideas too, but all in all this week has been quieter than the last one was in this area.

Next I have to mention a few things about the Ice-Hockey World Championships that started on Friday. Surprises have been the main subject of discussion since Germany won USA and Finland lost to Denmark in the first two matches of the D group. While I predictably hope for Finland's playing to improve, the rise of the smaller countries has been very pleasant to see. Concerning our situation, us Finns have always been blamed for not being able to win important games and score goals with accuracy, but I dare to say that we have an even bigger problem in our hands now - defense. During yesterday's game and the Olympics earlier this year our defense was confusing to say the least. I really hope that head coach Jukka Jalonen can fix the situation as soon as possible because even if our defenders aren't the best in the world or even in this tournament, they have the potential to do better.

The upcoming week will be a very contradictory one for me. I will be free from Wednesday afternoon all the way to Sunday, but before then I have two exams and a Cooper test to complete at school. The possible re-recordings I have to make aren't helping either, since I am really running out of time these days. Ah well, no gain in complaining. Better get back to work... See you around.

PS: Happy Mother's Day, everyone! Almost forgot. :P

Lost Tail

2010-05-02T19:48:00.000+03:00

Here we are, another post this weekend, as promised. The little announcement I was referring to yesterday will be revealed first. Anyone still remember that little interview I did with Jessie Todd last fall? Well, we're working on another one now, only this time we've stepped it up even more. Instead of making just one written interview, we will be doing it in a podcast form, meaning that there will be 3-4 spoken webisodes released once a week, with the last one coming out just before the actual EP. This project requires a little more effort than the last interview did, and since I want to begin building a fanbase for Wicked Breath this summer, I ask everyone of you reading to not only check the webisodes when they come out (don't worry, they won't be long) but also share them with whoever you think might be interested. The questions we've done so far are quite insightful and give you information about the EP that I necessarily have not shared here in this blog at anytime yet, so this project really isn't worth missing. ;) You don't have anything to lose showing a webisode or two to your friends or posting them on your website, anyway, and if I even gain one new listener that way, your effort will be rewarded somehow.

Now that we got that one out of the way, let me just skip to what's been happening during the last 24 hours or so. This morning I came quite close to finishing the mixing of Melodia, as the structure of the song is now finished and any changes I might do from now on will only affect the sound of the the whole. There are a few parts where a note or a chord lands abruptly or is just a little off-tempo from the rest, but all of those are very, very minor while compared to the mistakes my songs have carried in the past. I am still working on to fix most of what's wrong, of course, but I will also be moving on to Trepidation during the following week to keep up my pace.

To be honest, I don't really know what else to type, since nothing's really been up or down lately apart from what I've already shared. Next week I will have one exam, I'll get a haircut, try to keep recording and mixing for a fair amount and work on the podcast thingy. The band project is going to be rolling slowly for a month or so now that one member quit a week ago and one left to study somewhere for a month where she cannot access the internet often enough, but the project is going fairly strong and we're by no means quitting as a whole. The site project I'm a little more concerned about because we haven't had a meeting together in a long time and progress doesn't seem to be happening. Let's hope that project picks up soon too, but frankly, it's quite low in my priority list at the moment with all of the other buzz taking most of my time.

I really have a blank head right now, so I guess that's my cue to stop writing. :P See you next weekend, and keep your eyes open for all of the great things I will be putting out soon... ;) May, the month of anticipation, has begun!