FAITH FACTOR - Against a Darkened Sky

Awesome recent power metal release featuring ex-DEADLY BLESSING vocalist. Lots of great songs on here and good playing. I especially enjoy the album finale, "Ascend Unto Heaven".

I've listened to this one a lot more than pretty much any recent metal release that I've heard in the last 4 years.

Good album, I give it a lot of play. Some hints of Fates Warning though not as technical.

I was a bit dissapointed in it at first. But it has grown immensly on me.

It`s on my want list.
Love his vocals in Deadly Blessing, so i`ll give this one a chance even if i`m not sure the songs are as good as DB.

Got this album. I have yet to hear all of it, though.

How much is it being sold for? Where can i get one?

I really like it.I'm impressed with their songwriting and musicianship.The only downfall to this album in my opinion is the minor production flaw.

Troublezone wrote:

How much is it being sold for? Where can i get one?

They are on Retroactive Records, so anywhere they sell their products, like CDBaby and The End, I guess.

Troublezone wrote:

How much is it being sold for? Where can i get one?

I'll sell ya my copy! PM me if interested.

Listening to it right now.

Based on what I've heard of it so far: 8/10

I still don't have this one because I'm not entirely keen on Ski's vocals. There are spots where he sounds like he's going off-key, but I'm not entirely sure if he's just doing a dissonant approach on purpose, or just what's going on. "Keep It True" is a killer track, however, so I'll probably pick this one up at some point.

Sweet - gonna pick this one up.

Hopefully before I see them at cornerstone.

My major gripe with this album is the production. Haven't heard the complete album though, so it's pretty hard to judge. I did really enjoy Ascend Unto Heaven.

MetalFRO wrote:

.....There are spots where he sounds like he's going off-key...

I hate to say it cuz I like these guys, but I noticed it too and was really surprised to hear it considering how hyped his vocals were by lots of people. He's a great singer, but it seems odd that they didn't catch those spots and redo them before the release unless they were intentional. BUT with that said, this is still a cool disc.

I still haven't heard this yet. I've been meaning to get it.

Rex wrote:

MetalFRO wrote:

.....There are spots where he sounds like he's going off-key...

I hate to say it cuz I like these guys, but I noticed it too and was really surprised to hear it considering how hyped his vocals were by lots of people. He's a great singer, but it seems odd that they didn't catch those spots and redo them before the release unless they were intentional. BUT with that said, this is still a cool disc.

To tell you the truth, I'll take the real "out-of-key-sometimes" vocalists, with their own unique sound, geniune feel, and killer voices, over the studio products with pitch control and overdubs written all over them, any day!

Quote :

To tell you the truth, I'll take the real
"out-of-key-sometimes" vocalists, with their own unique sound, geniune
feel, and killer voices, over the studio products with pitch control
and overdubs written all over them, any day!

Agreed 100%!

I only heard a couple of notes that sounded shaky on the whole disc. I'd like to hear what Rex and Fro are talking about, give me some specifics.

Dang, you want us to sit down and take notes on the entire disc? lol I don't have that kind of time. Besides, its not like we said the entire thing sounded off key. Just some spots here and there that surprised us based on the amount of hype you and some others have given to him. You said it yourself even.

kmorg wrote:

To tell you the truth, I'll take the real "out-of-key-sometimes" vocalists, with their own unique sound, geniune feel, and killer voices, over the studio products with pitch control and overdubs written all over them, any day!

That's silly. That's like saying you're rather see a painting with an obviously distracting flaw vs. a painting that has everything the way it should be. Or a photograph that has red eye instead of one that doesn't, or a......you get the point.

On a LIVE album, I can agree with that wholeheartedly. But not on a studio release.

Quote :

That's silly. That's like saying you're rather
see a painting with an obviously distracting flaw vs. a painting that
has everything the way it should be. Or a photograph that has red eye
instead of one that doesn't, or a......you get the point.

I have to disagree. If you Pro Tools up a vocalist to the point that it is flawless, then the human element is almost taken out of the music, at the very least the feeling will be lost. Art is the same way, I'd much rather look at someone's hand drawing than something some kid threw together on Photoshop in an hour because it's the easy way to do it.

Rex wrote:

Dang, you want us to sit down and take notes on the entire disc? lol I don't have that kind of time. Besides, its not like we said the entire thing sounded off key. Just some spots here and there that surprised us based on the amount of hype you and some others have given to him. You said it yourself even.

kmorg wrote:

To tell you the truth, I'll take the real "out-of-key-sometimes" vocalists, with their own unique sound, geniune feel, and killer voices, over the studio products with pitch control and overdubs written all over them, any day!

That's silly. That's like saying you're rather see a painting with an obviously distracting flaw vs. a painting that has everything the way it should be. Or a photograph that has red eye instead of one that doesn't, or a......you get the point.

On a LIVE album, I can agree with that wholeheartedly. But not on a studio release.

Eh, music is in it's truest form in a live setting. Thus a studio recording that captures what the band sound like live is prefered, imho. That said, there are VERY few studio albums that sound very alive. But I stand by my statement. I just prefer it to sound real instead of processed. Nowadays metal albums are so cut and past, twanked and triggered, it's not even funny!

I have to disagree. If you know something is out of key, instead of using protools to fix it, why not go back and do another take to get it right? That's all I'm saying. You guys are the ones throwing in the aftereffects. I'm saying, DO IT OVER, not APPLY FIX-UPS.

Rex wrote:

I have to disagree. If you know something is out of key, instead of using protools to fix it, why not go back and do another take to get it right? That's all I'm saying. You guys are the ones throwing in the aftereffects. I'm saying, DO IT OVER, not APPLY FIX-UPS.

Ah, so when you make a "mistake" in one of your pictures, you scratch it and start over? If you get the red eye in a picture, you take the picture again?

Hell yeah. "START OVER" might be a bit strong, but yes, I do re-do the part with the mistakes. Quality control.