Here's a brief description of what to expect from The Deceiver's Bathysphere, a very different take on what compositional complexity can mean. In a related note, we'll be releasing these two demos as the B-side to an upcoming EP. The lead track will be one of our older tracks from a previous album (haven't picked which yet) as these aren't quite up to snuff to qualify for the leads. This becomes apparent when you factor in that, in the description for the previous song, no reference was made to the Lamb. He is still in the band, we just haven't figured out a way to squeeze him into that track, which will undoubtedly mean some reorganization of the composition of it. However, we are excited about them and feel that they give strong insight into the direction our new album will be headed in, so it makes sense to put this in the hands of people as early as possible in order to build buzz, especially since we aren't sure how long the album-writing process is going to take (I'm certain all my fellow musicians know how that is).
The Deceiver's Bathysphere
This song is a bit closer to what we expect its final length to be, considering it is about 7.5 minutes long which isn't too far from the norm for us and this one doesn't have as many superfluous bits that we'll adjust later. It's roughly written in three sections. The first section is one of the few pieces we have with our drummer Baph taking lead vocals. It opens with a very Diamond Head-influenced riff, with Baph laying down a strong and heavy groove that the Lamb and Harry riff heavily over, like if Crowbar played a NWOBHM riff. Derek and I perform a harmonized riff inspired by Thin Lizzy and early Iron Maiden over the heavy riff, but we aren't mixed right on top. It's a little hard to describe the mix, since the demo is in stereo and not 5.1, which we record our albums in normally, but in an ideal full mix Derek and I would be on either side and back a bit in the mix, with the Lamb and Harry behind and to either side and Baph right in the middle in front. The graphical image that we're attempting with this one is based on something that Langdon (from Enoch) and Chris (from Herr Fische) like to do, which is position the sounds like a face, with the rhythm of the Lamb and Harry being the back of the head, Baph being the face and the melodies of Derek and me being the two eyes. It will make more sense when you can hear a final recording and mix of this song. Anyway, this evolves and goes on for just over three minutes before it breaks into the second section. The second section switches to Harry on vocals as we go into a very, very heavy thrashing bit. This doesn't mean that it is straight-ahead thrash; we put in lots of technical touches here, like a guitar canon performed by me, Derek and the Lamb that lasts for about eight very short measures, some radical changes in time signature and the like. So, to be fair, it's a bit like earlier Meshuggah, where the times would change and chop but the tempo was still up there. While there are variations in specific places for certain bars, the main riff follows a pattern of 5+6+3+3.5+7/8, or one measure of 5/4, one of 6/4, etc. The 3.5 should be interpreted as one measure of 7/16, but it is simpler to annotate it as 3.5/8 considering the other bars are in that quaver value as well. But that's all a bit technical (Ha!). It sounds like it would be a bit disorienting, and it is a bit, but it clicks well into a solid groove. One of those things where if you try to count out the time, you'll get baffled at first but if you just listen, it sounds cool, you know? And, to answer some claims, the pattern evolved from jamming, not math, so it came out because this is how music evolves in our heads, not because we fucked around to get it weird. Again, various extensions to each of those five bits (5, 6, 3, 3.5, and 7) occur at various places in the second section due to fitting certain lyrical phrases. And Harry was chosen for that vocal section because his thrashier vocals sound like he is screaming at the top of his fucking lungs. The third section drops the volume drastically, with Baph switching to timpani mallets on his toms, playing very subtle almost tribal parts. The Lamb switches over to synthesizers and a cold "glowing" kind of sound, if you can picture that. Derek, Harry and I all play under over it in freely improvised mellow parts, heavily focused on effects heavy, ambient string work to create a sort of sea of sound. Occasionally, I do a pinch harmonic with some echo to create a radar's ping, which I use more extensively near the end of the piece.
The three sections haven't been named and might still go unnamed on the final release, but each will go through a bit of trimming and the third section will become a bit more formalized. Not overly so, just some lightly composed parts so that when we improvise the finale live we have certain cues to track our progress and keep us all on the same page. Expect the demos to get an official release in about 4 weeks (OOC: gametime).
- Daniel
