Monday, August 13, 2012

"Hotel Interiors Present"


Somehow it struck me.

The problem with "Rivfader" was that while there was nothing wrong with the actual song, it was played in so high key that it sounded too "light" to the other´s ears. So I took an hour to re- record all the stringed instruments again in different tune (transposed, not down- tuned) and blatantly pitched manually all the keyboards. Then I added a bit more variation to the last chorus and gave it a spin.

The result was uncanny. Going from C- minor to A minor did not actually make it sound heavy -like the other songs-, but I could also go lower in the places when the original riff clearly needed it. And, if you play guitar or bass, you know how much nicer it is to be able to use more open strings.

So, I boldly renamed the song as "rivfader_demovoxVITUNKOVA.mp3" ("vitun kova" would be directly translated as "fucking awesome") and posted it to the guys. An hour later I got an SMS which said "Rivfader_VITUNKOVA on oikeesti ihan vitun kova!!!!" (...".is really fucking awesome!!!!").

Trouble well spent. Moral of the story? Sometimes you can´t see the forest from the trees no matter how far- sighted you should technically be. Also, Blodsvett was greatly appreciated. This is awesome!
Now I need some coffee and a small break from composing alone- don´t want to end up repeating myself too much. Or I might call Tundra and ask him to drop by later if he´s cured from his Czech tour hangover by then....then again, knowing him, he´ll be having the same hangover still at thursday. :D

Later, peeps.

PS: Don´t forget to participate on the question "How are YOU imagining new Finntroll- material sounding?" on Facebook!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

"Hotel Interiors Past"


"Rivfader säger, nu ska vi äta någo kyckling
Nu ska vi äta någo kyckling
Och vi tycker det är GOTT!
Och vi tycker det är GOTT!"

-Trollhorn, 2012 a.y.p.s.

Usually, there are no lyrics done before music. Then I tend to use some old shit. Like, for example mentioned earlier, one new song went in 6/8 so I just took Blodnatt´s lyrics and used them. But sometimes there´s nothing old which would fit the exact rhytm I´d want to demonstrate in "how I imagined the vocal lines to sound like". So, enter complete and utter bullshit lyrics!


This above-quoted line is the chorus of "Kyyppari" which fits like a glove. Everything is always debatable and I don´t want to give super- detailed instruction except for some certain parts where certain timing is absolutely necessary. And this part was CRUCIAL to have this certain timing, so I just took the first words that popped into my mind, twisted them a bit to match the pattern even better and that was it.
It seems that I need some lunch, I guess.

On the other hand, "Blodsvett" got completed this morning. After I spent four (!!) hours trying different things from certain point onwards, I woke up this morning and realized which of them I should definitely go with. And when I had recorded that, I instantly knew how to proceed.
Oh, and there´s a guitar solo coming up.

I wonder what people will say when this album is going to be out. It´s really hard to say if this is the same band that did Vätteanda and Svampfest, but more of the band who did Mot Skuggornas Värld. Then again, every time I start to listen to the new songs thinking if this is going to be too "straight- forward" album, I tend to be positively surprised with the lurking evilness behind.
I´m going to promise myself I´ll do some faster shit now, otherwise we´ve got too much of that groovy shit. Even though how good they are supposed to be, no- one wants to listen to an album which has only straight- forfard mid- tempo- ish punk songs with palm- muted guitars. :D
And folk! We definitely need some more folk. Luckily the three songs I´m working with are all very heavily based on that stuff. Let´s see!

I guess it´s Nexro tiem then. Seven finished songs already and studio starts in three months. Do we actually have time to think about them with the whole group and make them even more better together? I really hope so.




Wednesday, August 8, 2012

"News"


Don´t tell my boss but I accidentally Finntroll the whole day.

Nexro is completely arranged and cleaned from crap riffs until 2- minute mark and I spent the rest of the day doing a new song. (!!!) We´ll call it "Blodsvett" for now.
It started as a cheap Amon Amarth (!!!!!!!!) riffing, but evolved out to be quite sporty piece in the true Finntroll style (tm). But then that bad Amon Amarth- riff got kicked out as I started to hate it, and I replaced that with a completely new, good main riff. Today´s wisest decision.

Add that to the "upcoming list" in your head, now I gotta flee home from the office.

MOUNTAINS!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

"Visited By IRS"

(This summer has been busy as fuck, everyone being on vacation at different times, which has left us not so much time to do music together. However, something has been done indeed. So hear, hear!)

1. Prologue

Did you know that I have 142 game music soundtracks, of which roughly 25% are official soundtracks and the rest ripped out from game files? My most beloved soundtrack is the game music rip from World of Warcraft, containing every single musical snippet ever existed in the game.
Which are a lot. 1722 files, to be exact. I usually put it on shuffle when I´m driving my car and enjoy the orchestral soundscapes of Azeroth while trying to not to lose my temper in that usual traffic jam.

So, why am I telling you this? Because I spent one week of my summer re- arranging, polishing and tidying my collection and uploaded it into a cloud where I can stream the right into my mobile phone or tablet. Some might say I´m insane, but I´d rather use the term "enthusiast". My wife tends to lean on the looney description, though. Good thing I´m already married; if you´re not, I suggest you still keep on pretending you like her music collection and "are bored with yours right now, so just put on anything you want, honey" for now.

No, that wasn´t what I supposed to tell. I was supposed to tell you some updates for the new Finntroll album, that´s right! Routa has made one semi- ready song now, and me and Tundra finished one of Tundra´s half- made song. Or rather, buttraped it with Balkan influences! (Yes, we´re apparently Trollfest now. Or Finnfest? Trolltroll? Nevertheless, I´m sure you will like it. In fact, I´m pretty sure it has some potential hit material within.)

2. To the point, Batman!

Speaking of hit material, I´m starting to be convinced this is actually going to be the best album we have ever released. Apparently 65% of the material is now written, and each song has turned out to be almost better than another, having individual hooks and melodies to remember and they all groove like David Hasselhoff on poppers.

To wrap it up for you, in May we had:
 

  1. Rivfader (ready)
  2. Marilyn (ready)
  3. Rocklolbster (old version which was ready at that point)
  4. Nexro (total mess, not nearly finished)
  5. Tomboijohnson (somehow later this became Jorma and...Jorma, well, disappeared?)
  6. Jorma (??? :D )
  7. Soutu (same situation in May and in August)
  8. Tonttuparaati (killed in action)
So, what has happened? It´s August and we have.....

Ready songs (5 pieces):
  1. Rivfader
  2. Marilyn
  3. Rocklolbster a.k.a new title, "Piraattilolbster" (new version, complete but needs demovocals* recorded and that´s it)
  4. Halkodisko
  5. Jorma (or Tomboijohnson??) a.k.a new title anyway, "Kyyppari" (complete but needs also demovocals*)
 *(I´m going to the office at Saturday to do the vocals, which means that they are 100% finished demos then)


Not ready songs, but certain when finished (3 pieces):
  1. Nexro (60% complete, main melody finally nailed, arranging is a mess, absolutely no more riffs needed)
  2. Routa´s song a.k.a new title, "Kiguli" (70% complete, arranging is a mess still, need to sit down with Routa and Tundra)
  3. Soutu (40% complete, not sure if it´s good until the point it stops and nothing is written since. Main riff is awesome, though.)
Uncertain (3 pieces):
  1. Tonttuparaati (this has been done to death, turning it into 6/8 shuffle made it sound like the first Covenant album. Maybe I´ll do it, maybe not. Probably not.)
  2. Samin uus, a.k.a Tundra´s new song (no idea of the process, I just know he´s doing "something")
  3. Punkki  (a.k.a Routa´s (unheard) punk song which might fit combined with one punk melody- idea I have.)
3. Epilogue

We´re probably going less synth, less producing and polishing this album, and aiming more towards a rougher production. The package you will hear will be much simpler this time, as the arranging and synthetic ear- candy in (especially) Nifelvind is pretty much unbeatable for us. So, while others paint themselves into the corner, we´re eating our way out of it. And yes, you can draw parallels to Kivenkantaja- Verisäkeet- leap if you will. Or even Now, Diabolical, if you will. We are skipping the "11th ending of this riff is having a different crash cymbal here" and "let´s add a third synth bass here to emphasize that seventh quarter- note of that riff on the last round". Instead, we´re bringing you mountains.

MOUNTAINS, I SAY.

This album shall bring them to you. And to Mohammed. Be warned.
(In fact, it will probably split Mohammed and whoever stands there in fucking half. Hey, he asked for it after all, according to that phrase.

MOUNTAINS!

MOUNTAINS!

THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUM...oops.