With regrets, we're coming back around

[Jerjo]

While we're waiting, anything to share on the boring shit only music nerds care about: gear used, writing process, any new influences, bathroom facilities at the studio, etc?

[bjoneill74]

While we're waiting, anything to share on the boring shit only music nerds care about: gear used, writing process, any new influences, bathroom facilities at the studio, etc?

What gear stuff are you looking for? Keyboards? John would have to answer that, but I'm sure I could guess about half of it.
Everything else I can probably handle.

Writing process was long. Personel changes, life milestones, surgeries etc.
It really started coming together in the last 2 years though.

Bathrooms here at my home/studio were repeatedly destroyed!

[Jerjo]

Guitar stuff would suit me just fine. The tone on Harvest Aorta is sublime.

[bjoneill74]

Guitar stuff would suit me just fine. The tone on Harvest Aorta is sublime.

Wow.. Harvest is 7 - 8 years ago.
It was mainly an Ernie Ball Music Man 7 String through a Mesa TriAxis and 2:Ninety power amp out to 2 Mesa 4x12 cabs. I used a Line 6 Mod Pro for modulation effects and an Eventide Eclipse for time based stuff.

The recording rig was a bit of a hodgepodge of stuff. Mackie Board into a Mackie SDR 24 and light pipe into a Lynx card. Mics were Shure 57's (on guitar cabs).

On the new one the converters and monitoring were different. I largely used the same guitar rig, but refined it a bit with effects. I have also acquired new amps that were used throughout.

Fender Bassman reissue and a Vox Ac30.
Most of the guitars were the Ernie Ball again, but I also used a G&L ASAT S and a bunch of acoustic guitars (mainly on track 3)

[battema]

You want fun facts? You get fun facts:

Discordance is made primarily from two bits, one of which predates Ephemeral Sun:

• The opening riff is actually something Charlie used to play to "irritate" Rain Fell Within at practices, and in the early days of Ephemeral Sun. I took the riff as a challenge, that anything could be worked into a musically-viable phrase in the right context.
• The heavy riff and guitar solo at the end have been in use since 2010 as a live "opener" for Springsong. The heavy riff was actually a different-sounding riff that Brian played as a solo on someone else's record but when I heard it, had a strong Opeth feel with a few adjustments (played lower, distorted, etc.).

What We Should Have Said has also been around for a while, and was actually played @ Progday in mostly-complete form. This might actually have the most overdubs as well, especially in the second half. The working title for this one for a LONG time was 'Death Begets My Hairy Sorrow.'

The main riff in Lord of Hounds came from a demo I did many moons ago, but slowed down and made doomier, as is the ES way. The middle "softer" choruses are Charlie's. The long outtro guitar solo was something we improvised together. Of all the parts on the album, the main riff was hardest for me to learn as I play the riff with the left hand and the organ lead with the right.

Kill Shelter was the last song to come together. Several of the parts came from me, a few from Brian, quite a bit formed with everyone jamming together. Structurally I was thinking about Heart of the Sunrise with this one; not so much in sound, but in the idea of a fairly progressive song compacted into around 10 minutes.

There is another fairly-long tune that we call Fusion that was being worked on (in fact, we played it at Progday and a few other shows too). It needs a bit of work though and the other songs started to feel "of a piece together" so it was left for a rainy day.

Originally this album should have featured a song about summer, to complete a theoretical 'Four Seasons' song cycle that has been threading through our albums since Broken Door. The idea was to then do a show of those songs together as a suite ("Fall Betrays the Earth," "Winter Has No Mercy," "Springsong" and the 4th tune that doesn't exist yet).

I didn't mention Tim in the direct "writing" credits above. To Brian's point about things starting to really come together about 2 years ago, that is almost directly because of his return to the band. He is able to hear our existing bits and quickly work up complimentary parts. And some of his fills are as crucial as any other melodic element in the songs. He absolutely shaped the final feel of the album, in a big way.

The title of the album came to me a few years ago, when I was in a low point and having some trouble getting past a few things in life. The idea was a mix of projection and anthromorphism, as if the things that hold us down, haunt us, make us doubt ourselves, could somehow manifest as a single "thing." I don't think I actually sprang the title on the band until less than a year ago though.

My rig is almost entirely different from the one I used on Harvest:

Moog Slim Phatty and Minitaur
Roland Fantom X6
Hammond XM-2
Alesis QSR
Korg MS2000

For the interludes and whatnot, I also used my Eurorack system, a small granular sampler and a few software synths from Arturia and Spectrasonics. I also used this super cool device called a Tocante Karper (http://www.synthtopia.com/content/20...ocante-karper/) in a few spots.

I really, really hope that if we decide to do a fourth album, it won't take seven years this time

[100423]

Thanks for the info, John. I like that 'nerdy' stuff.
Looking forward to hearing the whole album!

[battema]

Won't be long!

Next week, we'll "officially" announce the album and have links for various preorders. We'll also debut the opening track 'Discordance' in (mostly) full. I begrudgingly concede that I might need to make the announcement slightly less self-derogatory than usual...

[Scott Bails]

Next week, we'll "officially" announce the album

Wait....so none of this was official??

[bjoneill74]

Wait....so none of this was official??

All fake news!
Unofficially official?

[progeezer]

"I'M COMING!!"

Betcha thought I was done at my age.

To Progday, that is.

[NogbadTheBad]

Sweet, will be good to see you there.

[battema]

"I'M COMING!!"

Betcha thought I was done at my age.

To Progday, that is.

Crap...now we have to put in the effort to not suck. So much for just coasting through this on our good looks...

[Jerjo]

Love the behind the scenes information. I really do like the guitar tones that Brian got this time around. That opening riff on Discordance is a challenge but it does set the scene, the journey to a space between light and dark.

[bjoneill74]

Love the behind the scenes information. I really do like the guitar tones that Brian got this time around. That opening riff on Discordance is a challenge but it does set the scene, the journey to a space between light and dark.

Much appreciated!

[battema]

Love the behind the scenes information. I really do like the guitar tones that Brian got this time around. That opening riff on Discordance is a challenge but it does set the scene, the journey to a space between light and dark.

God dammit...DO. NOT. FEED. THE. GUITAR. TROLL.

[progeezer]

Hey O'Neill - how have you taken this shit all these years?

[battema]

YOU HAVE THAT BACKWARDS, GEEZE

[bjoneill74]

Hey O'Neill - how have you taken this shit all these years?

That's a good question. It's tough to be abused like this.

[Jerjo]

It just occurred to me that Kill Shelter would be a great name for a metal band.