Showing posts with label Soulside Eclipse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soulside Eclipse. Show all posts

Thursday 8 June 2023

Soulside Eclipse "Soulside Eclipse I" (2023)

 

 Its been well over a decade since this project was first envisioned and executed upon. Its arrival feels like some form of closure, a haunting memory of unfinished business now laid to rest. On the heals of deep emotional pains, a change of direction in ones life became evidently necessary. The decision to focus on music for a sense of purpose and accomplishment became the goal. No longer would my guitar doodling and ambling forays into songwriting be an idol pass time but become a soul focus. Music had always been the freedom, a lone place of solace that always made sense. This had always felt right among the suffocating confusion.

Although I wanted to branch into many musical styles and sounds, the main "chapters", marked by roman numerals, would be the key ambition. These songs are a materialization of my most engulfing experiences as a musician. The project found itself unsurprisingly akin to Symphonic Black Metal, my youthful obsession of the time. The boundaries of extreme music paired with the diverse possibilities of synth tones created such an interesting terrain to explore, even if much of my own music fell into the typical formats and structures of that scene.

And so for this commentary on my own creation, I wish to give you a track by track insight into what was behind each song, as well as some dates and tidbits. Most important of all, I've spent the last thirteen years periodically listening and playing along to these tracks in their MIDI format. That means sounds synthesized by my computers hardware. I've had to bridge the gap with my imagination, always fearing it might not translate as I heard it. Having worked with producer Enrico Tiberi to bring this creation to life, I can put that demon to rest. I do know however, I would have tortured myself over every little detail if this production had not been in the hands of a professional. Those MIDI demos will be released soon, I wanted to share that experience and let anyone who's curious hear this music as I have done for so long.

The Curse Of The Eclipse was conjured after the inception of this album. Its name signifies my relationship to auditory emotion. As some of the brightest, uplifting vibes the record offers, it kicks things off with its glistening acoustic guitars, bold basslines and light guitar solo. This song was written to serve the albums flow, as the music creeps from this sunny start into the darkest reaches with Black Hordes Rising. Born of guitar jams and time spent toying with acoustic strummed melodies, things came together swiftly for this number with the final phases being written at different intervals.

Anxious Obscurity was born from a low point, a personal pain which hit me hard. My resolution was to turn these difficult feelings into a song. So I went home, sought out sombre chords, reveled in melancholy and threw in some aggression for the anger betrayal brings. It was a fascinatingly focused affair, simply dwelling on the emotion and finding the melodies to express it. I also wrote lyrics alongside the instrumentation. Knowledge of such will illuminate the strange cadence of the synths on this song, they were originally intended to signify the words pacing and pitch, a mix of softly sung sorrows and angered screams over the distortion guitars.

Bury My Soul dates back as far as 2004. It was among a handful of rudimentary "first songs". This one however seemed to resonate with my friends who loved the lead piano melody. That initial riff, synth and piano setup was the whole show. As years went by I would periodically return to it with complimenting additions, figuring out its trajectory and destination over much time. Although it may seem basic among more accomplished pieces on the record, that initial melody has everything I ever wanted to capture. The simplicity is its charm in my opinion and this track along with the next one, best represent the innocence of those amateurish baby steps into song writing.

Emporic Rain, not a typo, dates back to 06. Its a rather ambitious set of scaling, menacing riffs that pummel away with a fiery spirit. Paired with rather strange synths and spots of unconventional drum patterns, at least for Metal. It all converges on a grand rocking riff, laced with pianos to see it out. That ending was written many moons later. Having received a touch of polish and fine tuning over the years, its clumsy amateurish stride is still present, and one I adore. With this track I always felt the passion and vision somehow pushes past my lacking skills of the day.

With a struggle for words, The Elemental Forge is perhaps the "outdone myself" moment. Written almost to completion in 07, its had the most enduring presence. Its origins feel almost mysterious now but I know I was inspired by Dimmu Borgir's Stormblast. Trying to emulate those simple, slower paced, higher register power chords, the song quickly derailed into its own beast, exploring wild extremes with blast beats erupting from a nebula of astral synths, transitioning into rocking power chord progressions and the groovy drum pedals that kick in underneath. Its magic is a strong, persuasive one that sways me to its mercy every time!

2009 now. Nestled somewhere among the peak of my drug abuse and self disregard, in the early hours of a substance fueled party I found a song emanating from within. What started as guitar doodling quickly funneled into a vivid vision, lavished with multiple synth tracks, pianos, guitar solos and more! Like a man possessed I commanded the computer in the room for many hours until the sun rose, writing all the instrumentation into Guitar Pro, the software I used to compose then, and still do to this day. I imagine a few touch ups came in among the following days but this rapturous plunge into darkly majestic wonder simply poured out of me in a single night. It seems it was a moment of Arcane Pandemonium! Perhaps... I made that up just now, the song name just simply sounded cool, in fact it was originally called Imperial Wizardry, a joke name. The later originally being called Diabolical as well. When first committing the music to a file name, I just throw down the first thing that comes to mind and decide on a proper name later on.

The record has steadily grown deep and dark, this next beat dares to venture further. Written in 08, Black Hordes Rising started as an exercise in extremity, a dare to be wild and cunning, pushing my writing to new heights. Deeply inspired by Emperor's Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk, studying its composition gave me all sorts of ideas and new takes on song writing. That clearly manifested here. I also got to throw in that guitar fret tapping lick as the song transitioned into a pummeling grind for its outro. That one had been in my arsenal for quite some time. The track also housed a ridiculous inhuman blast beat that had to be creatively substituted for this record, you will get to hear the original idea when the MIDI demos are released. The attached synth at the end is known as "conspiracy", a doddle from learning FL Studio that I found really captivating. It serves as a curious oddity to break the mood before our final track.

Written in 09, My memory of Ensl is strangely foggy. Or at least writing the guitar solo is. The name comes from a musical session where I was trying to emulate chemistry from an Enslaved song. In my futile attempts, I fumbled onto something totally different, a series of discordant riffs with a lovely warm uplift from the baseline. The song cruises through these riffs in a repetitious notion, reveling on the throbbing drums. The flushes of lead guitar, its eruption into a solo and looping outro gave the whole song such a beautiful character. Its place at the end is perfect, pivoting from the Symphonic Black Metal template into its own Shoegazing stride to see out the record with a climax echoing some of the vibes laid out at the records opening.

And there it is, a track by track breakdown of the record. Where do we go from here? I just don't know. What initially suspended this project became the very thing to finance it. All the other paths that could of been walked, who knows what musical creations it would of led me too. What I am certain of is the great weight that's been lifted. Strangely, It doesn't matter to me how far it reaches or if people love it as much as I do. There is a great peace in just knowing it is out there in the world for others to discover. Why I could never be content with keeping it too myself is a question I have no answer for. What is expression if no one else hears it? Perhaps that is the reason why.

Sunday 9 August 2015

Soulside Eclipse "Forgotten Conquest" (2010)

 
It was over five years ago now that I made my first record. At the time I was working an active job that gave me lots of time to think. Times were changing and I decided to take my own music seriously. I invested money into a new computer and audio equipment for music production and set out to turn the large collection of songs I had written over the years into a series of albums. During the composition and production of the first record I stumbled into the world of Dungeon Synth, a microcosm genre of ancient, mystic songs packaged in low fidelity. My intrigue into this music quickly had me writing melodies and songs which hastily grew into a full length. I made the decision to follow other musical interests alongside my "main series" of records, with some electronic songs developing into an album too. Unfortunately it was not long after this record that youtube started to take a big portion of my time. It started as a hobby, something to break up the continual indulgence in music, eventually becoming more and more engrossing. I then hit a point where it was viable for youtubing to become a job and at that time I ended up leaving the music behind, with plans to return to it again sometime. I left behind a lot of unfinished work but managed to write two full length records, of which this one saw release.

My point of view on this record is obviously going to be a unique one since I created it. Each song holds vivid memories, stories and a uniqueness no other music can create, so for me this record is very special and its not possible to approach the same way as my other blog posts. Therefore this will be an insight into the story behind each track and the concept of the record.

"Forgotten Conquest" Is no cryptic title, each song represents a part of a tale devised by my inspiration for imagined mythology and ancient nostalgia. The record starts with "A Journey Begins", fittingly the very first Dungeon Synth inspired song I wrote. It sets the tone of impending wonder and ambition as the songs rises with a building of anticipation towards the main melody sung through triumphant horns that signal the start of a new conquest across the seas for a civilization looking to expand their territory and wealth. "Eternal Myst" was originally written for guitar and was adapted to suit the record as the song to soundtrack the beginnings of the voyage as a thick fog rolled in across the oceans between the two continents. Its my least favorite song on the record, mainly for the lack of care the instruments received in production, and perhaps the writing to which is a little monotone and lacking depth at times. The song ends with the sounds of stormy seas, thunder, the horns of despair and the cry's of men as I took my first ever attempt and creating a vivid image of events through sound. The conquest is cut short as a kraken like creature attacks the ships in the fog of night.

"Drowning Tombs" dives into a world of eerie ambiance as we follow the one survivor, a prince,  through the wreckage of ships and bodies as his consciousness drifts into darkness at the wake of horrific events. The song unravels with spooky sounds, rain and deep noises that set a tone for the decent into darkness as our prince comes to terms with whats around him before passing out, overwhelmed by the horrors of his slaughtered people. Drifting through the night our prince awakes in a mysterious underwater "Cave". This writing of this song was a turning point in the records production, the sound pallet used and the chemistry of the instruments made its way into other tracks and gave me a huge motivation to finish the record. The songs eerie and wondrous feel signifying the beauty of the caves explored as dazzling melodies sparkle in their reverb soaked glory. The song turns to a darker vibe as our prince overcomes the beauty of the cave and realizes the reality of his situation. "Snow" shifts gears drastically to a slow and hazy drone of synth that signifies the princes escape from the cave onto the freezing planes of snow of an unknown continent. This song and the next are inspired by some of the early ambient works of Burzum and attempt, and succeed in my opinion, to create thick and stiring emotions through droning minimalism and simplicity of melody, using minimal notes to form melodies that build gently into grander beings. The princes journey across the barron planes leads his consciousness into darkness as "Withering Visions" takes us through his drift from consciousness as he losses touch with reality within himself. The song dives further into minimalism and creates an empty and sparse atmosphere above the underlining beat of his heart playing often with just two melodies and tiny amounts of background noise.

It was on a day of great inspiration I wrote the next piece, my job had me working alone in the woods for a day and the nature gave me these melodies that came so easily when I returned home to write. "Heros End" has the prince coming back to consciousness in a lush and green forest having escaped the snowy planes. At the midpoint of this song it turns to a dark and despairing melody echoed over sorrowful synths as out prince discovers the dead body of his farther, the king, who also escaped the wreckage. I especially love this part of the record as the two instruments repeat over and over, the reverbs continually increasing and amplifying the emotion as every passing second deepens the reality of his fathers death. The record ends with "Ice" a lengthy, sorrowful track of repetition that has the prince walking back out onto the planes of snow, knowingly walking to his own death. On his last legs he comes to terms with all that's happened and finds a moment of peace as he accepts his fate and chooses to die with the memories of his life he cherished most. Its in this final melody the record comes to a close and the prince passes away.

The record holds up well to what I wanted to create, and it continually inspires me to create more, which is something I will get back to one day. Looking back on the record there are one or two songs that could of received more attention. Some of the pianos get a little stiff in their repetition and in a few moments a lack of depth, or layers take away from the immersion the melodies offer. On the flip side, songs like Cave, Snow, Wither Visions and Heros End really hit the mark and I am very proud of what they turned out to be. Every now and then I have to go back and listen to the record, its like a therapy and writing this blog was therapeutic. I just want to say thank you if you took the time to read this all. The album is available for download here and streaming here. If you want to let me know your thoughts you are more than welcome to comment below.