ARGHOSLUT / MARTIAL GARRAGE

"no comment about it?"

tar-skinned negroid is a fucking killer song - riff at 1mn is brilliant
ghost of flossenburg has good moment in the end of the song
this tracks are just excellent
martial barrage side is great too, especially with artic seat (with some nile-esque riffs)

@niktu :: did you get some reviews or feedbacks about this split?

Generally many good feedbacks. There is no surprise with the Arghoslent side, it's good as usual. MB side could have got a better production but well their songs are interesting enough I think. A promising band that deserve all attention.

for aghoslent i'm mixed..first two tracks are good but not my dope, and tar skinned and ghosts of montebourg are more charged in thrilling riffs

MB is really in the shadow of Arghoslent imo. This split would have made a better effect for MB if done on separate EPs I guess.

GrafvonFeigur wrote:

MB is really in the shadow of Arghoslent imo. This split would have made a better effect for MB if done on separate EPs I guess.

since when do you listen to Death Metal?

Well, I am not an amateur in the genre indeed. Arghoslent really opened my eyes on the potential of what can be done in this musical style. MB is for me not well mixed enough to make a proper opinion, that's why I guess that it would have been more remarquable on a separate EP. If some people are willing to introduce me some Death Metal bands in the quality of Arghoslent i'd be pleased to discover anyway.

ok, well perhaps in all things there is more than what meets the eye but I can understand, that in a myspace/ image ridden society it is perhaps more diffult to grasp what is not visually defined, hence "what you don't see does not exist". In this specific case, and fortunatly, there is more to ARGHOSLENT and MARTIAL BARRAGE than just music. Not only is this split about the union of a similar musical genre but it would appear to unite both bands under a similar ideology, sadly lacking in most bands. Perhaps you have also overlooked Apparitia Recordings as an ideology ridden label with values such as Discretion, Art and Knowledge which Sacrificia Mortuorum, Hakuja and Epheles all possess and have in common.

Out of courtesy for the bands and Drakkar, it would probably be best to refrain from questioning the split's legitimacy when unfamiliar with the bands' background.

No one in the bands ever considered this to be a "band a vs. band b" split, or one of the many splits where both bands sounded almost exactly the same. Arghoslent has several other splits out, and sound next to nothing like Stargazer, Morbid Upheaval etc.

i'm expecting an arghoslent / mystifier split, both bands covering old gospels songs

Foutez le champ Monsieur Ebola!

I don't have the split, but Martial Barrage's demo. What i hear there is that they play formidable death metal, but the sound / production is rather poor and wrong done in several points (strictly from a technical side).

A real fan of Martial Barrage and or death metal itself can overlook and ignore that as their skills are brilliant, the image is "mature" and the songs are well written.
But of course, a better production would fit more to the band. Especially when doing a split with a band like Arghoslent.

Hopefully we have a decent recording budget for the next album.

This is certainly not a question of budget, but a question of producing / mixing / mastering skills of the studio guy(s).
People who do not understand extreme metal music in general, can not produce a proper album, even with the best studio equipement.
It is really a question of feeling for the music itself. A friend of mine owns a studio, where mostly extreme metal bands go to, because he really knows what he is doing, being a black metal fan and musician himself.
Several of his clients also have record deals or got them after recording with him.

He often complains about the fact, that there are bands who are decent musicians and good songwriters, but their record got fucked up in the end because of the producers and sound guys lack of skills.

So in fact a good studio does'nt have to be expensive, it is more or less a question of skills and feeling for what style of music the band wants to record.

So try to find a studio with extreme metal expirience, or record the tracks in a mediocre studio and afterwards send the files to someone who knows what he is doing.

I agree with you, but talented guys end up asking quite some money which is normal imo since a good production need hours of work. A good job must be rewarded.

There is also untalented studio guys who ask insane prices for having a shitty studio job.

That's true, so i think listening to albus that were recorded there and getting in contact with bands who recorded in the certain studio is indispensable.

From the view of a label i think it is always the question, if a certain band is worth paying them studio budget.But if the musicians are good and the music is well written with "mature" lyrics, then i think the album sales will certainly cover the costs.

The thing my friend complains about, that there are often things done wrong that would not need so much time and that are really just a question of technical understanding.

Also if the raw recorded material is of good quality you can increase the sound with a few
steps done right.

He used to digitalise old demo tapes from his tape trading era and the results were quit cool.

Browsing through this thread, I'm somewhat failing to grasp the logic and relevance of comments of some of you here.

But anyway, on the subject of the demo sound, I can't remember it was 'that' bad. Of course, it could have been improved, but somehow, I'm liking that recording the way it is. And I would nail this statement even more when it comes to the CD. The sound is very special, but it fits the compositions well, IMO, and that materializes in a very particular output. I wouldn't imagine that album with the clear and powerful production of the split tracks, for instance.

My 2 cents only, of course, but it's in the end always up to the bands themselves to decide what is best for them.

@l'autrichié : j'ai le camp libre

i totally disagree about MB production
i think it fits perfectly to the band (excepting cymbals that are very weak), cause it gives a special texture to their music (death voice sounds like a fucking goat on heat)
it will be really sad to get a big and clear (and sterilized) sound...atmosphere won't be the same..but as said by the romanian guy before, it's all the band decision

did you see the split was put on deezer?
http://www.deezer.com/fr/#music/arghoslent-martial-barrage/send-forth-the-best-ye-breed-443773
ghost of tatoumboureg!

Ebola wrote:

@l'autrichié : j'ai le camp libre

i totally disagree about MB production
i think it fits perfectly to the band (excepting cymbals that are very weak), cause it gives a special texture to their music (death voice sounds like a fucking goat on heat)
it will be really sad to get a big and clear (and sterilized) sound...atmosphere won't be the same..but as said by the romanian guy before, it's all the band decision

did you see the split was put on deezer?
http://www.deezer.com/fr/#music/arghoslent-martial-barrage/send-forth-the-best-ye-breed-443773
ghost of tatoumboureg!

The "art" in producing is giving a well fitting sound without making it sound clear and sterilized.

I receive my copy last week.

Well, Arghoslent side is pure Arghoslent : Killer riffs and totally epic songs. I don't really like the MB side, it's not bad at all but after Arghoslent, there's no comparison.

Indeed, it's a great release !

L´Autrichien wrote:

The "art" in producing is giving a well fitting sound without making it sound clear and sterilized.

of corpse, but we both know what mean nowadays "good production"
and as said before by niktu, people able to do this are few

I disagree with you. "Good Production" means, "well fitting" Production for me. A feeling for the band's music and the musical genre is inevitable. As said, this is also no question of high end equipement or the latest virtual equalizer and most expensive sample database.
In the end it is all about the feeling and taste for the certain music.
It's the same with cooking. Spices that fit to pork do not fit to chicken.

In my opinion, I do understand why this record is a whole. When listening to the CD version (the vinyl one may create an artificial barrier betweent wo parts not welcome here it looks), I don't get a shock when MB part starts.
Of course, the music isn't the same, but the music flows all along the record.

At least we have here one of these records that are a whole, and not a collection of tracks. It transpires not only in the music but also in the booklet, etc. Maybe some people here were confused by the vinyl edition where you need to change the side of the record to listen to MB's part, but they need to listen to the CD version to figure what I mean.

By the way, MARTIAL BARRAGE's work is impressive on this record, especially when one considers that the kind of music they play music can easily turn into a mechanized fest with no subtlety, a wrong the band avoids with the complexity hidden behind the aggression, and with the integration -not the addition- of soli into the songs.

EDIT : Reformulation, correction of grammar errors.

L´Autrichien wrote:

I disagree with you. "Good Production" means, "well fitting" Production for me.

sure, but on a demo record, I don't think the production work is the most important part. It is a demo, not an album or an EP. So if a band has a bad production on a demo tape, I won't blame as long as it's not totally unaudible... edit : or that the prod totally wastes the songs.

about the split the ARGHOSLENT part is excellent without surprise and the MARTIAL BARRAGE, maybe a bit more difficult to get into at first listen, but I'm currently listening to it and I like it : very brutal stuff but quite complex, they seem to have huge skill and know how to use it.

I would be curious to listen to their other releases.