Metal Reviews

Thanks for all your interest in our music!

I'm a partner in crime... :oops: ...so thanks for your comments. The anti-copy messages are perhaps a bit long, but it's hard to achieve balance with this kind of measure...I listened to Gamma Ray's Majestic promo with its "horrible mix of the sound going in and out" ( ), and thought that it was so inefficient at annoying pirates that it could have been thrown out altogether. Sorry if those 15-20 seconds irrevocably destroy the remainder of the songs for you, but well, we can't prevent you from P2P-eing them out if you really want them. :(

My main point however was to respond to Eyesore's question. Yes, this is a real CD replicated from a glass matrix in a factory, not a burnt CD-R. It was mixed by Michel St-Pere at Studio Illusion 3 (he manages a label called Unicorn Records, you might know about it if you're into prog-metal), and mastered in another studio. It comes in a jewel case with a 6-page leaflet, and we hired a professional artist for the artwork (wish I could name him, but it wasn't my responsibility really). So, reading (perhaps a bit too much, I'll confess) into your question, you do get a bang out of your buck.

Thanks a lot for your support! We need it to find a friendly record label and fund our first album! :twisted:

Well good luck with that I really like your sound a lot.I'm a fan of symphonic power metal and what you guys have to offer is really good.

By the way I've always wondered because some day I plan on forming my own power metal band how much did this whole EP cost you(production,etc)if I can ask that?

Thanks! Well I'm not authorized to disclose the price we paid for mixing and mastering, but the replication of 500 copies alone cost around 1200$CAD. If you're going to record, mix and master in a semi-professionnal studio, you can basically add that much again for the whole process if your musicians are fast and can get the job done quick. But I personnally recommend against it, cause it makes you a lot nervous when you see the clock ticking and you can't get that solo right.

Your best bet would be to ask (or find) a friend who knows his way in this stuff and make a home recording for a sweet deal. You can also record some stuff in DI on your home PC (bass, keyboards, even guitars if you're using preamps or low-volume amps and can mic them properly) to reduce your studio costs, but be wary that many issues have to be considered (audio formats or software different from the studio's, etc.) which may not reduce the cost as drastically as you would expect. Recording drums or vocals at home is a very risky thing as you need a room with good acoustics and specialized microphones to get really good quality.

So you're facing three possibilities:
1-entire recordings at home (requires much knowledge and much money to equip yourself at first, but then you only spend time)
2-partial recording at home, remainder and mixing in studio (requires some knowledge, puts some pressure on the studio performers and requires a fair amount of money)
3-record everything in studio (very costly and stressing)
4-not really an option in my book, but you could record in a studio and mix at home...which would require extensive knowledge from your part, and if you got that, then there would be no reason not to record on your own equipment.

Hope that helps! By the way, I'm not a regular on this forum...is this kind of talk appropriate or considered off-topic? :oops: If it is, just PM me if you got any further questions.

Excellent. I'll order my copy later today after work. I despise carboard slipcases, so I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to pay $10 for a CDR in a cardboard slipcase, something a lot of indie bands do and it pisses me off!

And don't worry about what you're discussing. It's on topic, I would say.

Cardboard slipcase? Is that like those little white pocket sleeves (ie no CD case at all) they give you when you buy, say, a video card and they include drivers on a CD?

I didn't thought people would really send CDs in those things... :shock: damn! we should have done that!

Nah, slipcases are little cd-sized folders made out of thin cardboard. They get used for promos a lot (almost all the metal albums we get at the radio station are in such slipcases) and can be rather annoying. I know I get insanely excited whenever we get an album in an actual jewel case. Good for you for going for quality. I liked the samples, although I'm not a huge fan of power metal.

Yes, Carnifex is right. Many bands do this. The cardboard often has artwork on the front and back, but usually you NEVER know it's a cardboard slipcase because they don't tell you. The problem is that a lot of bands charge $10 and up for the thing and a band doesn't really save a lot of money by going with that style opposed to the standard jewelcase. Personally I find it to be a bit of a rip-off. If they sell the CD for $5 or less, no problem. The slipcase sucks, but they're not overcharging you.

Shit, I paid $17 for that Leprechaun demo—the guy from Elvenking's side band—and that came in a cardboard slipcase (with art) and a fucking CDR! Back in the day when Stuck Mojo broke up and Rich Ward started Sick Speed, I paid $14 for a full-length album—not a demo or anything, it was listed as a studio album—and what I got was a CDR with a label on it...and no artwork whatsoever! For $14!?!? WTF?

Anyway, my rant is done.

That pissed me off!! I get a package in the mail and I'm like, hmm, this is awfully light. Open it up and its a fucking slip case!! I paid 17 FUCKING BUCKS FOR THIS!!??? Then I open it up and it’s a frikin CD-R. This was when I starting running into the wall numerous times b/c I was so confused as to why a band would do this. Anyway, same rant, different story. I was pissed.

You bought that demo, too? Good demo, but fuck them and their scam!

I actually bought it when you posted the band (I think it was you). I'm a huge fan of Elvenking, and when I found out about a replica with the same singer, I was there.

Yeah, I posted the link. Now I feel bad! :( Hehehe.

Has anyone bought this yet? I paid for it this weekend. Wonder if anyone else did, or if they've gotten it yet.

I bought it immediatly after I heard it. And no, still nothing in the mail.

Fuckin' Canadians!

tsk tsk...that's "fuckin' Canada Post" . I mailed your copies on monday morning. There's not much more I can do...don't despair!

Hahaha! Don't work, I love Canadians! Devin Townsend rules, and Strange Brew kicks ass.

Got my copy of this slut in the mail today.

OOOOO!! And it came with a thank you note. :o

Does it smell pretty?

Not as pretty as your mom.