Borealia Manifesto?
Okay, so as I look further and further into the future, the style of music I want to achieve with the next incarnation of Borealia is becoming clearer and clearer. I can visualize in my head exactly what I want to accomplish with my future band's first album. A lot of this is just technicalities that you, the average, non-musical human being, probably won't understand, but this could give you a good opportunity to get into my musical head, and figure out what's going on in there:
- First, most important feature is that all of the albums will be narrative concept albums, with stories revolving around particular anime series' stories. If proper rights to contain direct references to a series cannot be acquired, the references will be more properly "veiled" in order to avoid copyright infringement, but still be identifiable to fans of said series. I'm probably going to start with an ABe work such as Haibane Renmei or Serial Experiments Lain.
- Musically, I am looking for a "typical 2000s progressive metal" sound in the vein of bands like Pain Of Salvation, Riverside, Axamenta, post-Scenes Dream Theater, Devin Townsend.
- To differentiate myself from those other bands and create a sort of "musical calling card", most of my guitar parts will revolve around jazzy chord progressions involving a lot of 9th, 11th, and 13th chords, often revolving around several tonics, even in the course of a few bars. Typical power chord riffs will largely be eschewed in favour of pedal point riffs, and single-note melodies. Whenever a "power chord" must be played, it'll usually be peppered with an additional 9th.
- The guitar solos will be more reserved than other contemporaries in the genre. Most of this is due to my inability to perform several "shred" techniques like sweep picking, or speed-picking scales. Most of the solos I play will contain a lot of legato and soulful string bends. Perhaps a noticeable Allan Holdsworth influence will finally make itself known? For the most part, the solos will be slow and memorable, but I will occasionally indulge myself with a bit of speed.
- The keyboard parts will be largely textural, rather than melodic, much like Riverside or Pain Of Salvation, with the occasional emphasis on piano parts and organ solos. Synthesizer solos will be a rarity, but when they do happen, they will be reserved just like the guitar solos, and possibly performed on my Korg DS-10.
- Drums and bass will form a rather integral component of the sound. Our eventual drummer should at the very least be schooled on odd meter, but preferably some background in polyrhythmic experimentation would be nice. I'm also looking for someone that can play from a written piece of music, and doesn't always just "go by feel", implying a level of preciseness that I find lacking in most drummers around here. The bass lines will typically not follow the guitar parts, and I would not mind having a bassist capable of playing either a fretless bass or a 6-string bass. The bass lines should be distinct from the guitar riffs wherever possible.
- The songs will typically be long... perhaps with some tracks approaching 20+ minutes in length. Multi-movement suites will be a mainstay of Borealia albums, much like Rush's albums from the mid-70s. Every album should contain at least one epic-length suite. Despite this, there should be no distaste for composing shorter pieces. Each album should also contain a couple of "possibly-single-length" songs, if not for the purpose of making promotion of the albums easier, at least to make parts of a Borealia album easier to digest.
- The songs should typically "flow" with one another, without giving the illusion of an album being TOO homogenous. Segues between tracks are not entirely necessary, but can definitely aid in tying together the tracks.
- At least one of Borealia's albums should have a bookend piece: a song that both opens and closes an album. For examples, look at Pink Floyd's "Pigs On The Wing", "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", and Dream Theater's "In The Presence Of Enemies".
- The best albums end (or climax) in a gong crash. FACT.
- All songs should be written collaboratively. Even if one member basically directs the other members, everyone should be able to have their say on how a certain section of a song should be attacked. Of course, to make the above points retain their validity, the other members of Borealia are likely to be like-minded people, musically.
Most importantly:
- None of these are "set-in-stone" rules, and can be broken whenever myself or a fellow bandmate deem appropriate. If I do manage to learn "shred" techniques at some point, I will probably reserve a spot for them in a guitar solo. We'll probably engage in some synthesizer wankery. We'll probably do an album of songs no longer than 5 minutes in length. Whatever works for us at the time. This is just a guideline as to the style of music I have in my head, and we reserve the right to deviate from this whenever we see fit to. The only set-in-stone rule I want to continue with every album is the anime-themed lyrics. It may be a gimmick, but dammit, I think my band is entitled to a gimmick! XD
- First, most important feature is that all of the albums will be narrative concept albums, with stories revolving around particular anime series' stories. If proper rights to contain direct references to a series cannot be acquired, the references will be more properly "veiled" in order to avoid copyright infringement, but still be identifiable to fans of said series. I'm probably going to start with an ABe work such as Haibane Renmei or Serial Experiments Lain.
- Musically, I am looking for a "typical 2000s progressive metal" sound in the vein of bands like Pain Of Salvation, Riverside, Axamenta, post-Scenes Dream Theater, Devin Townsend.
- To differentiate myself from those other bands and create a sort of "musical calling card", most of my guitar parts will revolve around jazzy chord progressions involving a lot of 9th, 11th, and 13th chords, often revolving around several tonics, even in the course of a few bars. Typical power chord riffs will largely be eschewed in favour of pedal point riffs, and single-note melodies. Whenever a "power chord" must be played, it'll usually be peppered with an additional 9th.
- The guitar solos will be more reserved than other contemporaries in the genre. Most of this is due to my inability to perform several "shred" techniques like sweep picking, or speed-picking scales. Most of the solos I play will contain a lot of legato and soulful string bends. Perhaps a noticeable Allan Holdsworth influence will finally make itself known? For the most part, the solos will be slow and memorable, but I will occasionally indulge myself with a bit of speed.
- The keyboard parts will be largely textural, rather than melodic, much like Riverside or Pain Of Salvation, with the occasional emphasis on piano parts and organ solos. Synthesizer solos will be a rarity, but when they do happen, they will be reserved just like the guitar solos, and possibly performed on my Korg DS-10.
- Drums and bass will form a rather integral component of the sound. Our eventual drummer should at the very least be schooled on odd meter, but preferably some background in polyrhythmic experimentation would be nice. I'm also looking for someone that can play from a written piece of music, and doesn't always just "go by feel", implying a level of preciseness that I find lacking in most drummers around here. The bass lines will typically not follow the guitar parts, and I would not mind having a bassist capable of playing either a fretless bass or a 6-string bass. The bass lines should be distinct from the guitar riffs wherever possible.
- The songs will typically be long... perhaps with some tracks approaching 20+ minutes in length. Multi-movement suites will be a mainstay of Borealia albums, much like Rush's albums from the mid-70s. Every album should contain at least one epic-length suite. Despite this, there should be no distaste for composing shorter pieces. Each album should also contain a couple of "possibly-single-length" songs, if not for the purpose of making promotion of the albums easier, at least to make parts of a Borealia album easier to digest.
- The songs should typically "flow" with one another, without giving the illusion of an album being TOO homogenous. Segues between tracks are not entirely necessary, but can definitely aid in tying together the tracks.
- At least one of Borealia's albums should have a bookend piece: a song that both opens and closes an album. For examples, look at Pink Floyd's "Pigs On The Wing", "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", and Dream Theater's "In The Presence Of Enemies".
- The best albums end (or climax) in a gong crash. FACT.
- All songs should be written collaboratively. Even if one member basically directs the other members, everyone should be able to have their say on how a certain section of a song should be attacked. Of course, to make the above points retain their validity, the other members of Borealia are likely to be like-minded people, musically.
Most importantly:
- None of these are "set-in-stone" rules, and can be broken whenever myself or a fellow bandmate deem appropriate. If I do manage to learn "shred" techniques at some point, I will probably reserve a spot for them in a guitar solo. We'll probably engage in some synthesizer wankery. We'll probably do an album of songs no longer than 5 minutes in length. Whatever works for us at the time. This is just a guideline as to the style of music I have in my head, and we reserve the right to deviate from this whenever we see fit to. The only set-in-stone rule I want to continue with every album is the anime-themed lyrics. It may be a gimmick, but dammit, I think my band is entitled to a gimmick! XD