kazzman

I hope that translation is off because I would say no thank you to a 35 minute instrumental from pretty much any band. Seems like a waste of Floor's vocal talent”

 

That’s pretty much how I felt about Endless Forms Most Beautiful, with the exception of a few songs. Most of the album I felt had some great moments musically, but where they took those same moments left me dumbfounded at times. A couple of the songs, like Greatest Show on Earth, did grow on me after a while, however. And I really feel like they didn’t use Floor to her full potential on that album either. I hope Tuomas doesn’t make that same mistake with Hvman : Natvre.

 

Nightwish is still my favorite band after all of these years. But I’m just not as excited for this album as I have been in the past. I dunno. Maybe I’m kinda jaded after my disappointment with EFMB?

 

I’m actually OK with the second disc being a 35 minute long orchestral track, if true, because I’ve always wanted to hear what Tuomas could do if he were composing for a film. I liked his solo album, but I’m curious to hear what he can do if he’s utilizing the talents of Emppu, Marco, and Kai as his backing band for the score.

 

I think Floor's voice might get used better on this album. It's like how Annette played it more safe on DPP but then opened it up a little more on Imaginerum. I've read in interviews that Tuomas allows Floor to do vocally what she thinks fits best. If they used Floor vocally to her full potential right away then that really leaves her with nowhere new to go on future albums. It's probably best that she just does what's best for the song instead of being "hey, look what I can do!" all the time.

 

That’s fair. And I fully respect those decisions as a songwriter. I think part of it for me was the excitement that “the old Nightwish is back” when Floor came into the fold full time so I had already set the bar incredibly high for myself.

Ok. I’ll bite.

 

Nightwish

 

1) Once (Ghost Love Score)

2) Wishmaster (She is My Sin)

3) Century Child (Beauty of the Beast)

4) Dark Passion Play (The Poet and the Pendulum)

5) Imaginaerum (Scaretale)

6) Oceanborn (Pharaoh Sails to Orion)

7) Endless Forms Most Beautiful (Shudder Before the Beautiful)

8) Angels Fall First (Elvenpath)

 

Ghost

 

1) Prequelle (Miasma)

2) Infestissumam (Year Zero)

3) Meliora (Spirit)

4) Opus Eponymous (Ritual)

I hope that translation is off because I would say no thank you to a 35 minute instrumental from pretty much any band. Seems like a waste of Floor's vocal talent”

 

That’s pretty much how I felt about Endless Forms Most Beautiful, with the exception of a few songs. Most of the album I felt had some great moments musically, but where they took those same moments left me dumbfounded at times. A couple of the songs, like Greatest Show on Earth, did grow on me after a while, however. And I really feel like they didn’t use Floor to her full potential on that album either. I hope Tuomas doesn’t make that same mistake with Hvman : Natvre.

 

Nightwish is still my favorite band after all of these years. But I’m just not as excited for this album as I have been in the past. I dunno. Maybe I’m kinda jaded after my disappointment with EFMB?

 

I’m actually OK with the second disc being a 35 minute long orchestral track, if true, because I’ve always wanted to hear what Tuomas could do if he were composing for a film. I liked his solo album, but I’m curious to hear what he can do if he’s utilizing the talents of Emppu, Marco, and Kai as his backing band for the score.

His passing is one of the hardest I’ve ever dealt with. Vapor trails has new meaning to me now.

I asked my wife over the weekend, who is s psychologist, why Im so bummed about Neils death. Ive never met him. He likely wouldnt want to have met me as he was very private. She said, its both part of your childhood thats now gone, and also pushes your own mortality into the forefront. Im in my late 40s and my kids are growing up so fast. And she is right. And it sucks.

 

I mentioned something similar to this on a post I made to my store's FB page (I manage a drum shop). I never understood why people would get so upset when a celebrity passed away until now. One of my customers commented on it and said "We don't cry when someone "famous" passes away because we felt like we knew them. We cry because they helped us get to know ourselves."

 

Both he and your wife are absolutely correct.

So uh... hi everybody. Here's the band that I currently play drums with around Pittsburgh, PA called The Fading Light. Feel free to give us a listen if you so please and hopefully you'll enjoy what you hear!

 

We recently released a live EP titled The Cabin Sessions that you can stream through all of the major platforms. Spotify, Apple Music, etc; and we also have individual videos that we shot for each song while we were recording them for the EP.

 

This one is my personal favorite song to play titled "On My Own" -

Hey everyone. It's been many years since I was last active on here, but felt like I needed to come back and say a few things in the wake of Neil's passing. I spent a lot of time during my teenage years on this very forum while I was in the high point of my Rush obsession. But as I grew, life pulled me away and I became less and less active on the forums. But anywho, I wrote this following blog entry on my store's Facebook page and wanted to share them with my fellow Rush fans.

 

"What else can I say that hasn’t been said already? Neil Peart was the reason why I’m a drummer today. The impact that he had on my playing as a teenager still resonates with me to this day. Growing up, there wasn’t a day where I wouldn’t listen to Rush. As the years went by, we drifted apart (see what I did there?). My musical tastes and influences changed and grew. I sparsely would listen to Rush anymore, but still made a point to pay attention and listen to Neil’s drumming every time I did.

 

I still remember the first time that I had knowingly listened to Rush. I was sitting in home room during my sophomore year of high school. This would have been around 2002/03. At that point in my life Wuv from POD was my drumming hero. But one of my classmates turned to me and said to me “you play drums, right? Well, have you ever heard of Rush?” Up until then my 15 year old self hadn’t. He handed me his Walkman and in it was a copy of Retrospective I. I put on the headphones, pressed play and “Spirit of Radio” starts blasting in my ears. I’m blown away. I couldn’t turn it off. After that came “Freewill” and hearing the drum and bass groove underneath Alex’s guitar solo was unlike anything I had ever heard in my young life. I had to learn everything there was about this band. I burned a copy of my friend’s CD and took it to my next drum lesson. For weeks my teacher and I would break down a new Rush song. I would take weekly trips to FYE in the local mall and buy a new Rush CD every week until I had all of them in my collection. I would digest everything I heard. From the intro groove in “Animate” to the drum outro of “Lock and Key” and the double bass fury of “One Little Victory” there wasn’t a song that Rush composed that didn’t have some kind of impact on me (well… maybe everything except for Test for Echo, save for a couple of songs). Shortly thereafter, Rush released the concert DVD Rush in Rio. I would spend countless hours digesting the drum solo “O Baterista.” Unlike many rock drummers, Neil wasn’t just playing blazing fast double bass and doing mindless drum fills and calling it a drum solo. He was playing a musical composition. To this day, there are still very few drum solos that really get my attention. His were always some of the ones that did.

 

When Rush announced the R30 tour in 2004, I was excited beyond belief. It was the first time that I would get to see my heroes in person. Since then, I never missed a tour. Even when Rush announced the dates for the R40 tour in 2015, I knew I had to see them and road tripped to Columbus with friends. I didn’t listen to Rush as much as I once had during that time in my life, but I would have been doing myself a disservice if I didn’t make the trip to see them. Looking back, I’ll forever be grateful that I did. Throughout the concert, as I’m watching it, I knew in the back of my mind that it would be the last time that I would ever see Rush play again. Even during the drum solo(s) that night, I kept thinking to myself “this is the last time I’ll ever get to see Neil Peart performing.” Little did I know…

 

I’m usually not one to get emotional or tear up when a celebrity passes away. Personally, I never understood why people would over somebody whom they’ve never met in person and had only seen through a camera eye. Until yesterday. I lost it. I turned on the radio after work on my drive to my rehearsal space to see if they were doing any kind of tribute to Neil. Sure enough, “2112” comes on and there I am balling my eyes out while driving down Route 28 during rush hour traffic. It was like a part of me was gone.

 

Rest In Peace Neil. Even though we never met, thank you for everything that you brought not only to the instrument and music, but to my life. You were the catalyst that began my discovery of so many of the amazing drummers and bands that I love. Without the influence you had on my drumming as a teenager, I can honestly say that I probably wouldn’t be where I’m at today."

Here's a couple of shots from a gig a few weeks ago. The rest can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/pages/JJ-Digital-Images/83952531405?ref=hnav

 

 

Ha! Awesome. I can't really say I know him. We've only interacted when we've needed to transfer gear between each other's stores.

The Kerope Zildjians play like a classic K Zildjian from the 50's (something that Zildjian tried to do with the Constantinople line for years). What's also interesting is that they are not labeled as a crash or ride cymbal. Just 18", 19", 20" and 22". The philosophy behind that is so that the individual player decides what they are using that particular cymbal for. My store manager just ordered the full set of these for his personal collection because we both were blown away by these cymbals when we heard them.

 

Meinl Byzance is currently my personal favorite line of cymbals that are available today. The thing that I love about Meinl is that they are the only company (other than Sabian) that makes a cymbal for every single playing style imaginable in my opinion. Sabian comes very close to this with their custom shop though. I fell in love with the Byzance Vintage Pure rides they just came out with too.

 

Btw, your friend wouldn't happen to be Elvis Katic, would it?

Well, it is a plastic kit. Can't imagine how it sounds because I couldn't play them. I did play the Rotodrums. I played some other hand made drums but didn't take any photos of those. They were ok. The Crush kit is attractive looking. It's hard to tell from the picture because of the interior lights but the finish has branches in it too. Totally aesthetic. The lights faded berween colors on about a 10-15 second interval across the spectrum of blues, purples and pinks/reds.

 

The Crush kit has a very flat, but punchy tone to it. It works best if you are going for a gigging kit where you get nothing but attack with very little resonance with the drum.

 

A couple friends of mine did the rack and wraps/illuminations for that kit. The guy who does the rack goes by the name Mr. Sawbladehead and he does all these crazy hardware designs and configurations (most recently Ray Luzier's rack system for Korn). Great guy to work with if you have several grand to drop on a hardware design. He also does microphone stands and other types of instrument stands/holders. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mr-Sawbladehead/111828748843766

 

The drum head, wraps and LED illumination for the kit was done by a company called Drumstatic. They mostly do custom drum heads (notable artists include Kiss, Korn, Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Five Finger Death Punch & Kamelot), but have just recently started getting into custom drum wrap designs. Casey (from drumstatic) also did the illuminated heads for the Pearl kit and most recently collaborated with Chad Smith on the kit he's using for the Super Bowl. Prices are very reasonable too for any drum head artwork you want done (starts at around $45 for a head). http://www.drumstatic.com

 

On a side note, this year seemed to be the year for cymbals at NAMM. Crescent partnering up with Sabian, Sabian's new Players Choice winners (the only ones I liked were the Frequency Hats btw), tons of new Meinl models; but Zildjian stole the show in my opinion with their new Kerope line. These cymbals sound absolutely amazing and are a must have for any serious cymbal junkie (like me) and any jazz drummer.

Thanks guys. :)

 

@Launch. Yeah you could say that, haha. I picked up a gig with a symphonic metal band called Second Empire. When I'm not playing with them I'll be doing fill-in or session work around town whenever I can. Gotta pay the bills somehow, right?

 

Hey Kazzman, I think my guitar player knows you and Second Empire. Mike Moscato? He is the guitarist for my Rush tribute band here in Pittsburgh. Check out our website if you haven't see it yet. www.distantsignals.net

 

Yep... I know Mike. As well as your singer, Dave.

from the new DVD:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47e_961OQWE

 

9:20 <3

Kazz, how is that Holy China treating you? Ive heard that it is absurdly loud. Ive been thinking about picking up the 21" version of it. Is it clangy at all or is it all attack?

 

Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier man.

 

It's very loud and has a very quick attack. If you like a china with a quick attack and a fast decay then you'll love this one. To give you an idea of how the 21" sounds here's a clip from a drum clinic we did at the drum shop I run with Ray Luzier from Korn back in April:

She's actually one of my current favorite drummers right now. And not because she's hot... I'm trying to work with her management about getting her to come out to the drum shop I run to host a clinic with us for sometime next year.

-Fountain of Lamneth

-The Necromancer

-Rivendell

-Madrigal

-I Think I'm Going Bald

Arg am I alone in thinking the Anette era spawned the best ever Nighwish music? I love the early Tarja stuff, but I don't see how they coukd ever better the last two albums! I ADORE DARK PASSION PLAY!!

 

DPP and Imaginaerum are both great albums in their own right. To me, Nightwish hit their peak in 2004 when Once was released. Tuomas had finally figured out the direction he wanted to take the musical styles and songwriting in with Century Child and he expanded on this with Once. And he fully knew what Tarja's vocal ability was capable of doing, so - as J2112YYZ said - he was able to craft the music around her voice.

 

Dark Passion Play is a great album and "Poet and the Pendulum" is still one of my top 10 Nightwish songs, but both that and Imaginaerum don't have that same atmosphere that Once seems to have. But each to their own.

 

Floor is the vocalist that everybody wanted Nightwish to hire when they first fired Tarja. I got to see her with them last year and just with the energy that she brought to the band it was like I was watching them back in 2004 all over again. And when they went into "Ghost Love Score" the whole place was just in awe. This pairing needed to happen. And thank god it did.

Their next album is gonna be amazing now that Floor is their singer.

 

At the very least it will be their best since Once or Wishmaster. If Tuomas lets Floor contribute to the songwriting and lyrics then they will undoubtedly be the best band in the symphonic metal genre.

 

On a side note... I'm curious to see footage of Floor and Tarja's duet this weekend at the Femme Voices of Metal Fest.

I've been playing for a group called Second Empire for the past year now. You can check us out by going to www.secondempireband.com and you'll be directed to all of our social media pages. We also have uploaded the songs from our EP to the website for you to stream. We're also hoping to have our debut full length album released sometime in the spring.

 

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Thanks guys. :)

 

@Launch. Yeah you could say that, haha. I picked up a gig with a symphonic metal band called Second Empire. When I'm not playing with them I'll be doing fill-in or session work around town whenever I can. Gotta pay the bills somehow, right?

Next ones for me are this Monday. I'll be starting off with the Butcher Babies (who are opening for Danzig) at Stage AE in Pittsburgh and as soon as they're finished, fly over to Altar Bar a few blocks over to catch The Winery Dogs. Should make for an interesting night.

 

After that I'll be seeing Icon For Hire on Nov 15th and then Korn with Rob Zombie Nov 25th.

Has anybody ever heard of these guys? I tried searching for a thread and didn't see any results come up so I figured I'd create one.

 

Fans of Kamelot may be familiar with these guys since Kamelot's new vocalist, Tommy Karevik, is also the vocalist of Seventh Wonder. They are a 5-piece Prog Metal outfit from Stockholm Sweden. Up til now, they've released four albums and are currently in the studio working on a fifth. They will also be one of the headlining acts at next years Prog Power Festival in Atlanta, GA and will perform their concept album Mercy Falls in it's entirety.

 

 

For more information, you can go to http://en.wikipedia..../Seventh_Wonder for a brief history of the band. Recommended albums would be both Mercy Falls and The Great Escape

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sRDa-xTfwg.

 

http://www.metal-archives.com/images/7/7/6/6/7766_photo.jpg?2559

Let's see...

 

Korn - The Paradigm Shift

Icon For Hire - Self titled

 

That's all for this week.

Wow... so it's been a while since I've set foot in here. Here's the current set up that I'm running (I'm a gear nut so forgive me):

 

DW Collector's Series with Titanium Sparkle Finish-Ply

 

10x8, 12x9, 14x12, 16x14, 22x18

 

Also in the picture is a 14x6 Tama SLP G-Bubinga snare drum.

 

Cymbal list (all Sabian):

 

10" AAX Splash

10" AAX O-Zone Splash

14" AAX Stage Hi-Hat Top

14" AAX X-Celerator Hi-Hat Bottom

18" AAX V-Crash

18" AAX Aero Crash

18" AAX X-Plosion Fast Crash

19" AA Holy China

22" AAX Omni

 

DW 9000 series hardware and pedals.

 

Head and Sticks (All Evans and Pro Mark)

 

Clear EC2 on tom batter side (pictured are clear G2's)

Coated G1 on rack tom resonant side

Coated G12 on floor tom resonant side

Clear Gmad on kick batter

Ebony EQ3 on kick reso

Coated Power Center Reverse Dot on snare batter

Clear Hazy 500 on snare reso

Puresound Super 30 snare wires

Pro Mark Ray Luzier 757 signature sticks

 

If it was indeed legit, it was most likely a custom shop. The lathing and hammering on the bell also match up with that of the Paragon line (except for the large white strip around the edge of the cymbal, but this is probably due to the extra two inches added to the diameter of the cymbal). The owner also probably had Sabian re-ink the cymbal to include the Paragon logo. This is evident due to the lack of Neil's signature on the underside of the bell (Sabian does this on all of their signature or artist designed cymbals).

QUOTE (The Owl @ Feb 1 2011, 10:45 PM)

QUOTE (Snakey @ Feb 1 2011, 10:19 AM) Not going to bother with prestiging as i can't be arsed to go through the whole thing again just to get the weapons i like best. Apart from that i really enjoy it and as soon as Sony get the bugs fixed it will be more enjoyable. Anyone on ps3 can add me,Ric4003. Message me and tell me you read this on TRF. I added you, but letting you know.... I don't play with Killwhores..   Sure its okay if you go 42-3 in a match, but leave that for TDM, you step into an objective game you play the objective... I cannot stand losing and seeing that a teammate runs a 23.0 KDR, but does not get one capture in Domination.... or any captures in headquarters... I guess I'm one of the few guys who can rack up the kills and capture objectives at the same time then...   I downloaded the new maps this morning and I'm really liking Berlin Wall and Discovery the most. I haven't played the new Zombies map yet so I can't comment on it at the moment.