Given the artwork and general theme, I think I'll clumsily deadify everyone's name as I go.
Dead Rutherford
No name deadification required!
Full-on Spinal Tap action, or at least that's how it feels to me. Overall well produced, with a few timing problems, but it gets old after a while. I really like how the drums sound. Shame about the stumbling at the end. Needed to be funnier lyrically or more serious musically, but had no full committed to either end of the spectrum.
Johnny Gravepoint
Has everything a decomposing body needs, except a hooky chorus, and that's sorely missed. Vocals surprisingly well recorded for you, so either you've finally bought/borrowed a good microphone, or you've found a great way to use that tie-clip one. The little guitar break really pleases me. With stronger beats, a better chorus and the vocalist from Gorillaz, this would make a great Gorillaz song.
Zombie L
Strong opening, especially percussively. I like the Zappa-esque vocal arrangements, but your vocal execution isn't nearly tight enough to pull it off; just sounds sloppy. It's a shame you went high on that right channel in the chorus around 1:05, I wish you'd stayed low like the first half. Stops feeling clever around 1:42.
I have a laundry list of things I wish you'd done:
- bring the vocals in sync throughout
harmonize the second half of the chorus as you did the first half
cut (exorcise? heh) everything from 1:42 to 2:02
end the song at 3:24
when you transition to different vocal approaches (i.e. singing to speaking, or when they overlap) change the panning and vocal effects to differentiate the segments more
But I nitpick to this extent because I love, and would love to hear the reworked piece. So far, the only one I listened to twice
Ross In Peace
Sounds like the band is playing in the next room, too much reverb overall. An intriguing use of additional instrumentation sprinkled throughout, and basically solid, but I miss the cleverness and directness of last week's entry (which, as you know, I loved). Acoustic guitar and deadpan delivery only works if the material shines through, and I know you can write that kind of material.
Luke Deadly
Like Ross, sounds like the band is playing in the next room, too much reverb overall. By 0:40, I want to you not be playing the guitar any more ever. One minute in, and I skipped past the Clearpoint Pause to 2:17. Instrumentals can conceivably get my vote, but they have to be extremely well-conceived and apropos; sadly, this one doesn't fit the bill for me.
Neil Thrun and the Doom Fairies
No name deadification required, which is good, because I'm running out of ideas.
Got right to the point lyricly, eh? Not a lot of structure or energy backing the concept, and I can't quite pin down why I don't like it very much (not very useful feedback, I know, sorry). Lyrically I was giving you a shot, but you lost me at feeding tube.
Incidentally, where were the Doom Fairies? I was distinctly promised Doom Fairies!
Deadbody
(I crack myself up)
I want to like this, and I think your arrangement is terrific (even if your strings are painfully MIDI). I think you need another vocalist, however, or -- and this is my preferred choice -- you need to realize you have a good voice and should be using it with more confidence. Here it sounds much too timid; I want to hear the same confidence as your arrangement carries. That vocal treatment at 2:00 grabbed my attention, in a good way. Not suggesting you carry it throughout, of course.
However: ten minutes? Good lord. Seriously, better if it's three to five minutes, then go have a nice walk in the park.
Noah LaGhoulin
(yeah, I'm running out of ideas here)
Fundamentally solid, but I feel like I've heard this song many times before. Also sounds like the vocalist and musicians are phoning it in. Nothing special about the song to pull it out of that energy pit for me.
The Deadlights
I like the instrumentation choices and the arrangement, except for the guitar, which just annoyed me. Your vocals worked for me arrangement-wise; next time record them closer to the microphone and make them more distinct from the background noise (louder and wider, perhaps).
Shame that lyrically, nothing really going on here, except some kind of generic poem. Remember: twelve perfect words repeated with confidence beats an entire song of mediocre lyrics any day of the week, at least for me. Also, the drop at 2:16 feels arbitrary.
At the end of the day, though, I love the percussion and string plinks, so I did listen to the first part of the song again to hear 'em.
Tombstone Cowboy
Very nice opening! Here's hoping the rest backs it up...are you really playing guitar, or is that a MIDI guitar? My money's on MIDI. Uh oh, it's drifting into some kind of traditional Japanese song, and I suspect is an instrumental. Suddenly I'm having John Tesh flashbacks. Oh crap, it is an instrumental, and it's losing me. I guess you can't make something sound ancient if it's done with this much MIDI.
Son of Svengoolie
Is that chanting a sample, or did you make that? Certainly the most intriguing opening of the bunch, please oh please oh please turn into a song -- YES! A trebly mix, almost sounds mono, and I want the chorus to have really wide guitars soaring around everywhere, but that's all production quibble nonsense. Can't remember the last time I caught myself unconsciously headbanging, but did just now. Oh snap, this is a LOVE SONG? not sure, but if so, even better. I'm not going to read the lyrics to see if I'm wrong. You win.
Add a bridge, record it in stereo, and send me a copy of the album. I'm listening to this while I read through and revise my comments for this fight.
- - - - -
Son of Svengoolie takes it for me, although
Zombie L had it 'till the end, and as always
Johnny Gravepoint pleased me very much.
'Cool your burning thighs', 'ancient skull'? *smirk* I'll put it down to second language syndrome 