New Megadeth in June of '13

I love Megadeth, I have even defended Cryptic Writings and Risk on here as I think that they contained good songs, even if the style wasn't to my taste, but I think that the band have been on the decline since United Abominations and so far this doesn't fill me with any hope of being a good Megadeth record. S.D is right, his voice sounds horrible!

I really hope that I'm wrong and it turns out to be fantastic.

But is it thrash.

Probably no more and no less thrash than any of his post risk albums. Unless you're just being a smart ass. In that case I totally fell for it. Touchè

Nope, no smart-ass antics here; you discerned correctly

yay discernment!

I've been kind of a smart ass today myself... It's fun See... especially when wigglin to wake up dead

You, my friend, are enjoying those smileys quite a bit.

Yes, yes I was enjoying them quite a bit. I kinda wish I could blame it on too much beer or something, but nope... What your seeing is my own stone sober, whacky insanity bubbling to the surface via keyboard. Sometimes the various voices uo there just get the best of me...

DevZor wrote:

Yes, yes I was enjoying them quite a bit. I kinda wish I could blame it on too much beer or something, but nope... What your seeing is my own stone sober, whacky insanity bubbling to the surface via keyboard. Sometimes the various voices uo there just get the best of me...

But what happens when there is too much beer? Use all the smileys!!!

BTW thanks for posting that video, it's still one of my favorites and used to scare me as a kid.

I'll no doubt pick up the new album shortly after its release, but the title track has me apprehensive.

The hooks are there. I find the song catchy enough. However, Dave's voice sounds weak. I can understand that and don't fault him for it. However, when you have weak vocals it should be compensated for by some killer riffs. I'm not getting that from the music of this track or the mix. But I'm still planning on getting the album since I'm a megadeth fanboy.

Perhaps the problem isn't necessarily Dave's voice, which has never been very strong, but how it's being mixed and put waaaaaaay up front over the instruments. I always felt like his older albums had him immersed in the mix a bit more which helped camouflage his weak spots. Plus I hear more compression on his voice in the clip. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

corplhicks wrote:

Perhaps the problem isn't necessarily Dave's voice, which has never been very strong, but how it's being mixed and put waaaaaaay up front over the instruments.

Bingo, even as recently as UA, the mix helped blend his voice into the songs better. Now it seems to sit on top and is more of and interruption to the sound as allowed to part of it. I wonder if bringing it up in the mix is because he's been having more trouble projecting when he's singing in the studio lately. That makes sense to me, less volume produced naturally means more compression and stuff needed to give it the lunch they used to have.

But I'm not a producer so I'm pretty much talking out of my (that one was for you corplhicks. (That came out way more than I intended ))



SMILEYS

DevZor wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

Perhaps the problem isn't necessarily Dave's voice, which has never been very strong, but how it's being mixed and put waaaaaaay up front over the instruments.

Bingo, even as recently as UA, the mix helped blend his voice into the songs better. Now it seems to sit on top and is more of and interruption to the sound as allowed to part of it. I wonder if bringing it up in the mix is because he's been having more trouble projecting when he's singing in the studio lately. That makes sense to me, less volume produced naturally means more compression and stuff needed to give it the lunch they used to have.

But I'm not a producer so I'm pretty much talking out of my (that one was for you corplhicks. (That came out way more than I intended ))



SMILEYS

Ah, the dreaded ass shake . It's cool man, you're just being merry! ('merry' is strangely the name of the gay smiley)

S.D. seems to know a thing or two about the science of sounds, maybe he'll echo our opinion. What you're saying is exactly what I'm thinking.

My point was that the sparse musical arrangement in that tune makes the voice center-stage, it's the main focal point. Due to that fact the weakness in Dave's voice becomes more apparent because there really isn't anything else going on in the arrangement to focus on.

Quote :

less volume produced naturally means more compression and stuff needed to give it the lunch they used to have

That's not really accurate, a good microphone can pick up someone whispering and with normal mixing you can boost the level as high as you want it.

With "Thirteen" I hated the mix because they simply put the voice too loud and I found it distracting to the point where I just gave up on listening to that record. The guy who is mixing their records now evidently feels the vocals should be REALLY out front in the mix, if Dave likes the way it sounds then I guess it's fine. I don't have to like it or buy it though.

See, I was talking out of my wazoo. Indeed that all makes sense.

S.D. wrote:

My point was that the sparse musical arrangement in that tune makes the voice center-stage, it's the main focal point. Due to that fact the weakness in Dave's voice becomes more apparent because there really isn't anything else going on in the arrangement to focus on.

Quote :

less volume produced naturally means more compression and stuff needed to give it the lunch they used to have

That's not really accurate, a good microphone can pick up someone whispering and with normal mixing you can boost the level as high as you want it.

With "Thirteen" I hated the mix because they simply put the voice too loud and I found it distracting to the point where I just gave up on listening to that record. The guy who is mixing their records now evidently feels the vocals should be REALLY out front in the mix, if Dave likes the way it sounds then I guess it's fine. I don't have to like it or buy it though.

So, if I'm reading this right, it's two-fold: composition and production. The former makes sense; maybe we can all agree that Dave's voice worked best when he was in his root element, technical thrash? I can see where the complexity of his arrangements back then cast a shadow over the vocal delivery, which worked.

Just heard the song Super Collider and gotta say it really blew worse than I ever thought it could.

Lurideath wrote:

Just heard the song Super Collider and gotta say it really blew worse than I ever thought it could.

Yeah, I heard it on YouTube last night. I'm hopin' to God that it was a rough mix (or a copy with really crappy audio quality) and not the final album version, cuz it sounded godawful.

The song was ok, nothing great. But again I question the band or label's decision to release such an underwhelming track as the lead-off single. Isn't the idea of a new single supposed to get people excited about a new release?

I hope there is better stuff to come.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

The song was ok, nothing great. But again I question the band or label's decision to release such an underwhelming track as the lead-off single. Isn't the idea of a new single supposed to get people excited about a new release?

I hope there is better stuff to come.

Dave's band...Dave's label...blame Dave.

Just heard the title track the whole way through with moderate expectations. I'm just confused here. This is almost like a three-chord rock song. The mix is muddy as you can barely pick out what each instrument is doing. The lyrics are generic. It actually sounds worse than anything on Risk. There's nothing dark and menacing about it. It's certainly not thrash. Very confused over here.

I finally got around to listening to the full song, it's very pop-oriented but doesn't have the polish to be completely successful. It sounds like a demo of a song that needs more work.

This next part is going to irritate everyone....

In my head I kept thinking that either a horn chart or a keyboard part (or both) would make it more interesting (I know, blasphemy, but it sure as hell needs something...I think you could put together a slammin' arrangement with 3 brass & 3 reeds). Dave also needed to bring in a couple more vocalists for the chorus, that could actually be a pretty cool section but having Dave cover all the parts doesn't quite work.

No problem with those suggestions from me. I thought the harmonica parts in train of consequences we're awesome. Throwing in the odd elements thats outside the box can really work wonders if done right. take johnny cash's "ring of fire" for example. The spanish horns really added something special to the song.

Im sure, however, upon hearing some tr00 cOuntr33 fans cried poser false!

S.D. wrote:

I finally got around to listening to the full song, it's very pop-oriented but doesn't have the polish to be completely successful. It sounds like a demo of a song that needs more work.

This next part is going to irritate everyone....

In my head I kept thinking that either a horn chart or a keyboard part (or both) would make it more interesting (I know, blasphemy, but it sure as hell needs something...I think you could put together a slammin' arrangement with 3 brass & 3 reeds). Dave also needed to bring in a couple more vocalists for the chorus, that could actually be a pretty cool section but having Dave cover all the parts doesn't quite work.

No irritation here. This makes absolute sense, because it brings out the vibe of the song and would keep it from being so boring. If he could do what you're talking about and release the album under a different name...even keep the album art, as pretty as it is to match this style...and he's onto something. But doing it all under Megadeth? This is one big wtf, I say.

I like it but i agree that it sounds unpolished. SD is right - it is more poppy than normal.

Listened to the title track a couple of times again last night. Dave sounds constipated.