IMPORTANT. PLEASE READ

Hey Djents! 


Just to tell you that I have now moved! 


Musings is now an official website :D 




http://musingsofadjentleman.com/


This blogspot address will no longer be used. So make sure you hit up the new site! 

Interview Time! The Paradoxical Spiral

Wow. Its really late...

I really cannot be bothered to write an article right now. So have an interview instead! 

 

Hey there Mike! Thanks for taking the time to talk to us here at Musings. First of all, tell everyone a bit about The Paradoxical Spiral?

Hey guys! Thanks for having me. The Paradoxical Spiral started out as a simple mini

project on the side, nothing major. I was in a band called "Discordance" at the timeand I used to write things with a drummer in the band who's name isn't worthmentioning at this point, and a guitarist (Joel Jason). Joel Jason started writinga ton of drums for me through FL Studio, and I'd record it with a Roland 30x watt amp directly into my computer haha. Not the best way, But that's pretty much when TPS was born.The name came from my iTunes list, I was scrolling down and I'm horrible with naming things, I just enjoy getting my work done, So The Paradoxical Spiral it was! Ever since then,Joel Jason got caught up with his band "Mother Night" and I decided to understandhow to tab my stuff and write my own drums, and after a bunch of practice and puttingtime into it, It's what it is today! Progressing to be an official band, play shows and do toursif possible, and featuring members from Razing Valhalla (Jared Nicolan - Guitar) and In Dire Need (Josh Conrad - Bass).

You released your first album, Necromorphs, last year. How do you feel your sound has progressed since then? 

It's progressed a ton! Pretty much "Necromorphs" was a Guitar Pro forced album.It's basically when I was getting into tabbing, and understanding drums (sort of)And all the material I was making ended up being one full album. That was recorded with a Line 6 Pod x3 at the time, and most of the songs don't even have bass on the album.It was definitely rushed and all fun haha. Although, The new album is a lot more technical,a lot more melodic, and a lot more heavier to say the least.

You have a brand new album coming out this year, give us a taste of what we can expect? Will it be in the same vein as "Voids Of Rapture" that we released the other day?

 Indeed I do! The name of the album is "An Ancient Prophecy" There will be 14 tracks, and it'll be 43 minutes long.As for the same sound as Voids in Rapture, it's all for you to decide, although in my opinion and what I try to do is,Keep thinks different and interesting, So it doesn't bore the listener.

Are there any ideas in regards to a release date? 

A release date is up in the air right now, but im shooting for early August, but the end of August the latest! We'll have pre-orders of a digitalcopy through theparadoxicalspiral.bandcamp.com The album will be $10.00, but maybe i'll add one of those niftydiscount codes for pre-orders. But like I said, everything is still up in the air. We're waiting on album artwork by Alex Prylewho did the album art work for Encircle, Anthony Digiacomo's project. As for hard copies, we're waiting on that one. Our bassistJosh Conrad volunteered to help out with pressing some.

Are there any plans for merchandise? 

Absolutely! I for one am all for merch. We'll definitely get those started, possibly some band logo t's and maybealbum concept t's as well!

Who influences you as an artist?

A ton of people, But off the top of my head, Guthrie Govan, Ron Jarombek, Tosin Abasi, Allan Holdsworth, Muhammed Suicmez,Mikael Akerfeldt, and most likely a bunch more, I'm really horrible with thinking of names from the top of my head haha.

Is a live show a possibility in the future?

You can count on it. As long as everyone works to their full potential learning it (which everything seems to be going smoothly so far!) We'llhave tons of shows in the future.

As always, we like to offer every featured artist a chance to say something to our readers. So go ahead!

Thanks a lot for reading, and thanks for supporting my music! I hope to see you all at a show once we get everything squared away. Thanks again!

So there we have it! 

Make sure you go hit up my featured artist this week! The amazing, The Paradoxical Spiral. 

Speak soon guys

Announcements Galore!

Evening Djents. 

Today has been a busy one for me here at Musings. However it has also been an awesome day. 

Firstly I would like to let you all know that at some point over the next week, Musingsofadjentleman.blogspot will be no more......

However! Don't panic. While musings will be no more on blogspot, Musingsofadjentleman.com will be born! Yay! 

Yeah basically I didn't like the fact that I was constantly associated with Blogspot. This isn't a bad thing, I just think it would be better if I had my own registered domain name and site. So, I have enlisted the help of a web designer to get me up and running. This would be the awesome Rob Booth. He is an awesome guy and I am very greatful to him taking on this job for me.

I am not sure when the new site will be up, but you will all know about it when its finished! 

Right. 

Now to other stuff happening in the world of Musings. 

As you can see by the above picture, Visions are releasing their début LP in a week or so (As if you didn't all know already). With this in mind, I contacted the awesome people over at Basick records and have managed to grab myself an early copy to review! This is of course awesome. I am hoping to have some more stuff to do with these guys over the next week or so, but I cant say anything yet! Dont want to go making empty promises to you guys. 

Also in the next week, I will have a review up for another awesome band. Mishkin! Their awesome new EP Row Away From The Rocks has kindly been sent to me to review. So I will have that up real soon!

I will be back tomorrow with new stuff, and hopefully an interview. 

Much Love People 

Featured Artist, Exclusives And A Big Grovelling Apology

Woah. Its been a while.....


Lets start today's post with the big apology shall we. I started the blog a few weeks ago with the intention of updating every day with new, cool shit for you awesome people to read. I was obviously not thinking realistically. The past few days have been an arsehole in terms of being able to post, largely due to work and wank like that. It is incredibly frustrating and has not made me at all happy. So, for all of you lovely people who have been checking back on the blog every day since Saturday's post to see if there is anything new, I am sorry. I really do appreciate you continuously looking for new material though, it means a lot to me. I will pay you all back in the future with some more cool, probably free, stuff! 


I would also like to say thankyou to our Featured Guys last week. The Helix Nebula. Remember to go hit them up! 


Anyway, after that, I need to get on to actually posting music related stuff! 

As you can see, I have had a funky new graphic done, which will be used each week for the obligatory "Featured Artist" post on a Monday. However, as I managed to miss that this week, I am going to use it now and announce my featured artist. 

If you have been reading the Facebook page, you will have seen one of my sporadically posted updates from the last few days, this of course has already revealed my artist for this week. However if you haven't seen it, I am wondering why you haven't been on the page?! Naah, I joke! For those of you who dont know, my band this week is none other than Tech overlords The Paradoxical Spiral! 

If you haven't heard of The Paradoxical Spiral, you need to check them out. NOW. Although, when i say "Them", I should really say "Him". This is because The Paradoxical Spiral is the name given to the solo project of shredder, fret wizard and all round nice guy, Mr. Mike Dunn. 

Mike is a guitarist from Massachusetts in the USA and has been making music under the name The Paradoxical Spiral for a while now. He has, unfortunately, remained under the radar of a lot of metal fans and has therefore got a piss poor number of fans. I aim to change this.  

Paradoxical's debut LP was released last year on the bands Bandcamp page. It is a blisteringly technical album. My only flaw with it being that it sounds too obviously programmed and stuff like that. However, the guitars are just insane. Anyone who denies that this man has serious talent is clearly a moron. 


Necromorphs got my attention. Big time. However, I kind of forgot about TPS...... until recently. I was chatting to Anthoney Di'Giacomo (Encircle) about his new album (Which I still need to review because its so bloody good) when he told me about a brand spanking new TPS LP due for release soon. He kindly got me in touch with Mike and after speaking to him for a while, I managed to bag an early copy of the upcoming sophomore release An Ancient Prophecy. 


Shit A Brick. It is fucking amazing. 


I wont go into too much detail now though, as I will review the album later in the week/next week. 


So yeah, go like TPS NOW! Click HERE to go to their Facebook Page. 

Ooooooh.. more nice graphics! I hear you say. Well you aren't mistaken. Here is my second brand new graphic designed by the always awesome, Bryan Shepherd. Hit this guy up for graphics work at amazing prices: Margoloh@gmail.com


Moving on....


As the graphic exclaims, we do have an exclusive here at Musings. We like exclusives right? 


Well, Mike Dunn of TPS has kindly let me share one of the tracks from the brand new album An Ancient Prophecy, with you guys. You can only find it here. Nowhere else. 


The song Voids In Rapture can be listened to HERE.


It is fast, technical and has some serious groove. The melodic parts are also seriously orgasmic. So be careful of those impending Eargasms! 






Phew. Glad that's over with. As I said earlier, seriously sorry about shitty lack of posts. I promise to do better in the future! 


Also, I would like to thank all of you who have liked the page recently, we are up to 250 in just over 3 weeks :D Tell everyone and get us to 500 in the next 3! 


Love you all guys, thanks so much for reading! 

8 Bit, Electro AND Djent? Oh yes.

Good afternoon to you all. 


I woke up this morning after an incredibly late night, thinking to myself "I want to listen to something ridiculously different today". This is what I did. Yeah, I'm that badass. 


After trawling through my incredibly large Ipod library I settled upon a band/project I only stumbled upon a week or so ago. They are a self recorded/produced band from the good old English county of Oxfordshire, going by the name Sky Sanctuary. 

This is another example of a small time band posting on the Musings Facebook wall, me listening and thinking they are one of the best things to happen to the world since sliced bread and then wanting to tell everyone they should feel the same way as me. Of course not everybody will agree but I do hope that some of you will. 


Anyway this isn't a review, as such, largely due to the fact that they haven't released anything. This is more of a promotional post, to help these guys get some more attention from the general community. I know that because you are just awesome people, this shouldn't be too much of a hard task. 


Sky Sanctuary seem to be a band who have gone, "Ya know what, fuck this normal Djent sound. Lets make some sweet ass grooves but add the soundtrack to mario in for good measure" And although it isnt actually the mario soundtrack, its something you would expect to hear from the old 8 bit arcade games. 


Before you turn your nose up, it really works. I mean, I could be called biased because I am a big fan of people who make metal songs 8 Bit. It just sounds awesome in my opinion. So for a band to incorporate that into their sound along side the guitars and drums is like heaven for me. 

From what I can gather after speaking to Joey Cohen, Sky Sanctuary's guitarist, they will have an EP, entitled Insert Coins, out in the near future as well as a follow up full length soon after that. This of course pleases me and gets me even more stoked to hear some more tracks. 


The title track to the EP is already up on the bands Facebook page. It is a typically groovy Djent track with tempo changes galore. However there is a strong central melody well woven into the track throughout. It 8bit, electro synths follow the track through well, providing brilliant accompaniment to the guitars. 


All in all, I am stoked for their new release and I am sure I will purchase it for a review when it does drop! 


Check them out HERE and give them a Like! 


Speak soon guys 

Interview Time! The Helix Nebula

Good evening lovely people. 

I hope you all checked out my new friend Cygnia's first post here on Musings yesterday! He writes about some awesome stuff and I am pleased he will be writing a weekly column for us :D 

Anyway, as you all will know, my featured artist this week is the amazing The Helix Nebula. Seriously, if for some insane reason you havent checked them out yet. Do it. Now. I don't actually think I have posted anything apart from stuff to do with these guys all week. So yeah, find them on Facebook, Like them, download all their music, let the eargasms commence. 

Sorry, ramble over. 

Anyway, I was fortunate enough to be able to speak to Jake Lowe, the bands guitarist, earlier this week. Here is what was said......

Hey there guys, thanks for chatting to me here at Musings. Tell us about The Helix Nebula and what you have been up to? 

We started out as a two piece studio project around February this year, between myself (Jake) and bassist/producer Simon. We've known each other for ages after meeting at the Australian Institute of Music 3 or so years ago and it just seemed right that we start making music together! We haven't been at this all that long so the success we've had online so far has been pretty unexpected. We've just been writing new material and putting together plans to take the project live in the long run. With a lot of procrastination and silly antics thrown in along the way!

 Do you set out to create a particular style of music? 

When I came up with the idea for this project I always had a very melodic sound in mind. I'm pretty sure this goes for Simon as well, but I've played in a band or two before that have been pretty aggressive and a lot less melodic so I wanted to give this sort of thing a go and see how well we could fuse melody with technical riffage because that's just the sorta stuff I naturally write. We don't really limit our selves in anyway other than our own personal standards, but there definitely is a certain sound we're going for. 

You have released a couple of tracks in the last year, are there any plans for a full length or EP? 

An EP is in the works!

If so, when? 

We're aiming to have it out well before the end of the Year. 

Who influences you musically? 

Simon and I both have really eclectic music tastes so influences come from everywhere. In terms of music similar to us I'd say bands like CHON, Veil Of Maya, Scale The Summit, The Arusha Accord and The Faceless. Oh and anything Ron Jarzombek does. But we really take influence from anything, I'm massively into Zappa, and Simon and I both love fusion/jazz artists like Alex Argento, James Muller, Adam Nitti, Tom Quayle etc. There's really too many bands and artists to mention. I'm really into Karnivool and Deftones at the moment. 

Are you out looking for a vocalist or do you plan to stay instrumental? 

We are still sorting out a full line up for the live band but we will have vocals. We understand that there are some people who need vocals to get into music, and we love music with both screaming and singing, but we also know there are people who find that vocals ruin some music so we're going to be releasing all our music both instrumentally and with vocals. Hopefully we can please everybody. 

We have a lot of Aussie readers here at Musings, so are there any plans to tour? 

At the moment we're starting to prepare to play live, we've actually entered the competition to play Euroblast in Germany which would be ridiculous if we go the spot! But at the moment there are no plans set in stone to play shows. Unless we get the Euroblast spot we're going to take as long as we need to make our live show as tight as possible. It's also hard because there is not that much of a technical metal scene here so you really have to play with any type of heavy bands you can. We're heaps keen to play with some other great Aussie bands though, Halcyon, Ignite The Ibex, The Schoenberg Automaton and Circles spring to mind. 

Finally, is there anything you would like to say to the readers?

We'd just like to say thank you to anyone who's supported us in the short time we've been around, the response we've received has been incredible. To anyone who has posted us on facebook, or shared our videos, you're the best and we'd be no where without you guys! Keep spreading the word! 

If you guys haven't already, there is an exclusive download of their latest track exclusive to Musings, so go get it HERE

Be back tomorrow peeps! 

And Here Is That First Post.......

Tracklist:


01. Actualize
02. Contraband
03. Currency
04. Altered Perspective One
05. Altered Perspective Two
06. Vertigo
07. The Decline
08. Degenerate
09. Looking West
10. A Climate For Change 


ALONE is the debut album by Evan Brewer (bassist of The Faceless), the concept of which is astounding, and not to mention incredibly ambitious.

The entire album is comprised entirely of bass – no guitars, no drums, just plain ol’ bass.


Now, in no way is this man un-talented.

Anyone who has listened to The Faceless, and has a working pair of ears can back me up on that, but listeners beware, if you go into this album expecting to hear lots of tech-death riffs played on repeat for half an hour, you’ll be sorely disappointed, because what you will hear from this is a wide range of styles and influences, mainly taken from Jazz and Funk.


I know what you’re all probably thinking:
“Jazz and Funk? But where’s my technicality?”

The answer to that question is that it’s still all there, but it appears in a different way.


The first two tracks, “Actualize” and “Contraband” showcase some intense slap-bass skills, which would impress anyone who knows anything about the instrument itself.

The next three tracks, “Currency” and the “Altered Perspective” parts delve into more of a relaxed and chilled style.


People who have paid attention to Evan’s YouTube account would recognize the first and third track as videos that he posted a couple of months back, titled “Slap Bass Evan Brewer” and “Evan Brewer Two Basses” respectively, both of which were clips posted from these songs and used as teasers for his upcoming album.


But I digress, the fifth track, “Vertigo” combines the chilled out atmosphere of the last three tracks with the intensity of the first two, and manages to transition the two ideas seamlessly into one song.


“The Decline” serves as an interlude (filled with some faded in slapping) into the next track “Degenerate”, which once again demonstrates this man’s love for slap-bass perfectly.
The last two tracks on the album, “Looking West” and “A Climate For Change” derive their influences heavily from Jazz music, which becomes more evident on the latter track.


I’m going to end this review with a segment where I’m going to ask myself a question and say:

“Who would have ever thought that the bassist of a technical death metal band could come up with an easy-listening album?”

The answer to that question being “Evan. Fucking. Brewer.”


This man is a genius on this album, and I hope that The Faceless start to use more technicalities in their bass guitar instead of that one opening sweep on The Ancient Covenant.


Evan Brewer’s debut album Alone receives 5 simultaneous bass lines, out of 5.

Introducing Our New Columnist.......Cygnia!

"Hey guys, my name's Barney, but for the sake of this blog I'll go by the username Cygnia.

It seems that I'm going to have a weekly column on this site, which I guess will be filled with reviews, impressions or opinions about whatever I feel like writing, as long as it's music related of course.

For the first post, I reviewed Evan Brewer's debut album Alone.
Stay tuned for more from me in the future.

Free Stuff For Everyone!!!

Happy Wednesday Djents! 


This is just a quick post as I have to leave for work very soon. 


The lovely People at The Helix Nebula have given Musings an exclusive FREE download of their brand spanking new track. Aptly named - Track 3. This is one of their best yet and heralds back to the shredding technicality heard in their first track.


There is a link to the song HERE so you can listen before you download. 


And HERE is the download link. 


You CANNOT download this anywhere else at the moment. So make sure you tell your fellow Metalheads to head over to Musings Of A Djentleman for awesome free music! 


By the way, I will also have an interview up with the guys from THN in the next few days, as well as tabs for Track 3 so all you budding shredders can play along! 


Much Love Guys.

This Week's Featured Artist......The Helix Nebula

Good evening Djentlemen! 


A new week has begun, this can only mean one thing here at Musings...... New featured artist time! 


Every week I try to pick out one band/artist who I feel is just that teeny bit above the rest and needs that extra push to help them on their way to success. Not that all the other bands don't deserve it, as they all do. But yeah, to avoid me digging myself a hole and continuously rambling for the remainder of this post, you know what I mean. 


This week, my featured band are some really cool guys from Australia going by the name The Helix Nebula. 

They are a two piece instrumental band comprising guitarist Jake Lowe and bassist Simon Grove, who produce some insane shit from their studio in Sydney. They started out early this year and have been gracing out eardrums with shredding loveliness ever since despite only releasing 3 tracks, all of which can be found on their Facebook page. 


Jake and Simon formed the band after meeting at the Australian Institute of Music, where they studied and became good friends. After a while they started writing and recording together and thus, The Helix Nebula was born. 


Due to the fact that there are only two of them, touring is a bit difficult. However after speaking to Jake, there are plans to take The Helix Nebula live if they can find other members who are interested. 


I have lots of cool stuff lined up this week in regards to these guys so make sure you check back during the week!


Hit up their Facebook HERE
And here is their Youtube Account: http://www.youtube.com/user/thehelixnebulashred

Speak soon guys! 

Another Week Gone....

So here we are at the end of the second week! 

Again, thanks so much to all of you who read the blog! Really is appreciated. I am doing my best to say thankyou to all of you, but more on that later.....

I thought I would use today as a chance to round up what has been happening in the last week and to look forward to what's coming up both here on Musings and elsewhere. Where to begin? 

Of course, the week started on a massive shit note due to the death of Ryan Dunn. Massively sad thing to happen and I dont care if people say he had it coming due to his involvement with Jackass. Nobody deserves to die so young. The week did eventually get better though, some awesome bands posted on the Facebook wall, namely The Nocturnal Chaos. There were a few others but right at this moment in time I cant be arsed to trawl through the page looking for where people posted. So to all the bands that posted, sorry I didnt mention you. However it is appreciated! Keep on posting people! 

I will have more from the guys at The Nocturnal Chaos in the next month or so, so make sure you hit up their Facebook Page in the mean time. 

The main news from my point of view this week is the fact that myself and David Hurst from Monolyth Studios are teaming up to produce and promote the Debut EP for The Immerse Project. This is the solo project of 18 year old guitarist Connor Sweeney, who we are really excited about. We feel he has a massive amount of talent and so we are helping him get the exposure he deserves. We hope you will support us and him all through the process. Although saying that, I am sure you all will considering the amazing community we are! 

In regards to future events, next week will see a new featured artist as always, bringing with it some exclusive treats for you guys ;) So make sure you keep checking back! I promise it is worth checking back for. We also have another exclusive in the way of a review, I have managed to bag myself an early copy of Encircle's LP Watch The Sky Fall, so I will have that for you tomorrow. We also have the release of both Evan Brewer's Alone and Francesco Artusato's Chaos And The Primordial this week so I am sure you will see reviews cropping up when I find the time to write them and have had a good listen through. 

Staying with future stuff here on musings, Over the coming weeks I will have an early review of The Paradoxical Spirals amazing new album as well as some exclusives surrounding that for you people. There are also possible features from Remi Gallego, A.K.A The Algorithm, but I cant confirm that yet! 

Will be back tomorrow with stuff from my new featured artist and of course, the usual pointless ramblings! 

Much Love Guys! 

Encircle. Awesome.

Why hello there fellow Djents. 

If any of you have been reading the various pages and websites to do with Djent recently, you will have heard the news about Encircle releasing his début full length. Now, if any of you have heard the sampler he posted a few days ago and are like me, you will have continually raped that replay button. 

Watch The Sky Fall is shaping up to be absolutely fucking amazing. I spoke to the man behind Encircle, Anthony DiGiacomo, a few days back about the teaser and he said that he purposefully picked his LEAST favourite parts to put in there. Yes, you read that correctly. The LEAST favourite bits. If you have heard it, you will understand how utterly insane that sounds. The sampler was fucking incredible and just had me hooked, so if those are the shit bits I believe I may have an accident in my trousers when I hear the good bits! 

I have also been lucky enough to hear one of the tracks from the album a bit early. And boy is it awesome. Its heavy, technical, ambient and melodic all at the same time! It just made me want the album even more to be honest with you. 

The album is slated for release THIS TUESDAY the 28th of June. Which, coincidently, is when Evan Brewer and Francesco Artusato's solo albums come out. However this is a tentative release date as there are still a few bits left to sort out on the album. 

What makes it even more awesome is that the album has been produced by Tre Watson. This of course means excellent quality which invariably will make everyone happy! 

Sorry for the pitiful length of this post, I haven't really had time today and just wanted to share this awesome artist with you! 

Check out his Facebook HERE

And here is a link to the album sampler on the old YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87Bc7Ii7mPQ

Will post something more substantial tomorrow! Probably a review of something or another. 

Much Love guys! 

Record Label Special!

Good afternoon! 

Before we begin, just a quick thanks to the guys over at GotDjent?.com for featuring my interview with Ganesh Rao yesterday. Much appreciated! I hope you all enjoyed it too, I for one thought it was bloody interesting.

Anyway, on with the today's article! 

A few days ago, I received an Email from a guy called Mark Weller. It transpired that he is one of the head honchos over at League Records and he has asked me to tell all my lovely readers all about them. So here goes...

League Records are a newly formed label comprised of some of the members/founders of the League Of Extraordinary Djentlemen. They support all types of music and are not restricted to just Djent, they just want to better the metal community as a whole. So bands from all walks of life, including Metalcore, Deathcore and Hardcore are welcomed by what seems to me, a rather awesome new label. 

Another point Mark was very eager to make was that of their ethical stance, and for good reason. With League Records, bands come first. No bullshit with these guys, if you sign with them you are top priority to them. You are not just a way of making money. Which, incidentally, is another point League Records want to make. They are distancing themselves greatly from the money obsessed business side of music and aim to;

 " get great, reasonably priced music out there to the masses". 

This makes me happy. I hate the fact that most labels will happily charge extortionate prices for, in some cases, piss poor music. *Cough* Victory Records I'm talking to you *Cough*

Unfortunately I am unable to tell you who they have got signed at the moment as they refuse to divulge this information before the big reveal in a couple of weeks. So make sure you give League Records a 'Like' HERE and check back to the page on July 2nd when the good people at League reveal all! Apparantly the signings are "Completely different". I am definitely intrigued...

Now, I can hardly call this a "special" if I only feature one awesome label. So next up, I would like to tell you guys about Myriad Records. This is run by a really cool guy called Jaime Gamble and christ almighty have they got some good shit coming up. 

  Myriad have already secured The Schoenberg Automation to their line-up and boy have they got some other awesome bands ready to announce. I am, again, unable to divulge the information because I am sworn to secrecy but believe me when I say, it will blow your mind. 

You need to go 'Like' Myriad now because it is run by more awesome people who strive, like those at League, to bring you top quality music. HERE is a link to Myriad's Facebook.

Please go like these two awesome labels, they are doing all this shit for you guys and I really feel we should help them out as much as we can. 

Thanks for reading guys, I'll be about on the page as usual if you want to get in touch. Make sure you check back tomorrow for a feature on the brand spanking new Encircle album which is due in the next week or so! Much love people 

Exclusive! Interview With Ganesh Rao.

Hey there fellow Djentlemen! 

After dicking you around last week with the promised but not delivered interview with AOS, I am pleased to present to you an exclusive interview with my featured artist this week. The one, the only, Mr. Ganesh Rao. Sorry it's so late but I have only just got in from work. 

Enjoy peoples! 

Hey there Ganesh! Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. Firstly for all those people who haven't heard of you before, give us a rundown of what you do?

Hey Tim, thanks for this interview. I really appreciate what you're doing with this blog and wish you the very best. Well, I make ambient metal music and develop conceptual visual pieces.

You released Empyrean earlier this year, which might i add was awesome. Which came first, the music or the video idea?

Thanks! Actually, they both developed side by side. Most of the visual ideas came to me in several separate dreams. I took these concepts and developed them, then wove them together to create an abstract visual piece. Later I developed a musical theme that captured the mood and emotions which I had felt in the dreams. The aim was to recreate the dreams and have everyone experience it. Once the music was locked in, it helped see things clearly, and it guided the artistic decisions during production, filming, and post production work.

Could you explain the meaning of the video?
This abstract piece is really intended to evoke feelings and emotions like as if it was your own dream, rather than being understood. I think 'understanding' involves logic and facts, where as 'feeling' involves a higher degree of subconscious effort. Each person will 'feel' it differently based on their own personal experience in life, their memories, their cultural backgrounds and their state of mind. And everyone is able to experience these feelings and extract a meaning from them internally. It's like walking through a maze without a map. It's exciting when you don't know where the exits are. It can be fun or frustrating, but that leads each person to ultimately find a unique pathway to the exit. And the pathway that each person chooses is absolutely valid and correct.

How did you go about filming Empyrean? What was the creative process?

The creative process was that of experimentation and trial and error. Once I had a rough concept, I asked my friend Jonny Greenwald if he'd be interested in the project, and he agreed to work with me. He brought with him his amazing photography, storytelling and technical skills and together, we developed the piece further. We had never done anything of this proportion before, and that led us to spend a lot of time in the studio experimenting and testing different ideas, constantly failing and learning new things from our failures. It took us about four months to prepare for the actual shoots. However, once we had done all the preparation, we became extremely confident and experienced in dealing with the technical challenges involved in such projects. Filming it became a very natural task and everything moved ahead very smoothly.

You released Empyrean as a solo artist, are you also part of a band?

I've been in a few bands before and played some small gigs. Unfortunately I was never part of a group that I felt matched my wavelength. I ended up either suppressing or stretching myself to match the expectation of the other members. It was fun and educational while it lasted, but I started to feel frustrated as I couldn't freely do the things that I wanted. So I've decided to stay a solo artist for a while and exhaust my inner creative spirit. It's a very cathartic process and extremely rewarding. There's no one to tell you what to do and you just go by your own instincts and learn from your own mistakes.

What can we expect in the coming year from you?

More experimental music attempting to blend Hindu music with ambient metal. Maybe audio/video podcasts on updates regarding my video album.

It has surfaced you are producing a "video album". Could explain what that will consist of and why you decided upon it?

Yes, the debut music video album titled "Forbidden Circle" will be ready by May 2012. It's an album entirely drawn upon dreams and the subconscious. It will have four, maybe five tracks thematically linked to Empyrean. There will be a video piece for each track, and Jonny has agreed to continue working with me on all of them. Quite a few artists have agreed to collaborate on this, although we haven't started production yet. Igor Omodei and Matthieu Romarin from Uneven Structure have agreed to contribute ambiences, heavy riffs and vocals. David Maxim Micic and Jakub Zytecki will bring face-melting guitar solos to the mix. Grayson Cain will lend us his prowess in industrial ambiences. Tom Still from Invocation will share powerful riffs. And Patrick Browne of Dawn Heist will add deep vocal sweeps. I'll soon be setting up a Kickstarter page where people can contribute to the project and make it happen. Contributors will get several interesting rewards including limited edition DVD/BluRay, t-shirts, behind-the-scene access, source tracks and mix-session files, concept artwork, posters etc. I really hope we get a lot of support, because making videos like Empyrean is extremely expensive!

Who are your influences as an artist?

I feel my ambiences are largely influenced by David Gilmor, Steve Wilson, Air, Buddha Bar. My guitar inspiration include Steve Vai, Dimebag Darrell, Michael Amott, Mattias Ia EkLundh, Fredrik Thorendal, Keith Merrow, B.M. Sharp. Melodic and compositional influences I'd say Prem Joshua, classical Indian music, movie OSTs, I really enjoy following music that has a strong narrative element. Visually & conceptually, I love and adore the works of Darren Aronofsky, Adam Jones, Mark Romanek, David Lynch, Tim Burton, James Jean, Salvador Dali.

Are there any plans to go on tour with the music you have written?

Someday, yes!

Finally, is there anything you would like to say to the readers?

Follow your intuition. It's been working all day everyday your entire life to give you the ability to make the best decision. And dream as much as you can, it's the best drug, and no one can stop you from using it.


Big thanks to Ganesh there for taking the time to talk to me! 

Make sure you head on over to Jonny Greenwald's site as he helped make Empyrean possible!  Link is HERE. And check out the official Forbidden Circle Facebook page HERE.

Was originally going to post this tomorrow but thought fuck it. Hope you enjoy reading! Good night folks.