Final Progress Report (The Day Before)

So it's the day before Cauldron of Fuzz V's release and I'm still quite hard at work finishing everything up. Rest assured it will be ready to go by tomorrow night (barring any bizarre computer incident that might happen). The album sounds good. It's a little more ethereal. Kind of "experimental" in some points.

I really made a cognoscente effort to avoid the "Verse, chorus.. repeat" thing on this album. It's there sometimes but… rarely.

I can tell you all that the album should be 40 minutes + of new material.. and I'm thinking of throwing 2 b-sides out there as well. Right now there is a guaranteed 6 that will be on the album tomorrow and I have about 5 tracks that I didn't get to use. So, somewhere down the line there might be a COFV "The Bonus Material" but rest assured these 6 (or 7) tracks will be worth the wait.

This is going to be a very doomy yet very spacey release. I'm very happy with everything. Just got some vocals to throw on tonight and I'm finished. Very minimal in the way of mixing but that's always been the COF way. I hope you all enjoy it.

BTW, Thanks so much for the e-mails and myspace messages to everyone who has written me proclaiming their excitement for the album. I'm pretty psyched too. It'll be nice to actually sit back and listen to it when it's finished.. (which will probably be around the same time you all get to hear it.. oddly enough).

Due to time constraints I am only going to be putting the album up in MP3 form for tomorrow night. The WMA (Lossless) stuff will be available the next day. (This is obviously depending on how much time I have to do this stuff. But, as of right now it's looking like the mp3's will be the way to go for tomorrow. But fear not. The WMA stuff WILL be put up. Just.. when I have more time. It is Halloween tomorrow and I have children and small animals to throw in the meat grinder.

So, seeing as this will probably be my last blog before Halloween (That won't be a press announcement) let me just say "I hope you all have a fantastic Halloween… and I truly hope you enjoy the album"… and to those of you who wrote me saying that COFV will be the center of your Halloween gathering… that's just fucking awesome.

You all rule!
Sincerely
H

The King of Lies

Scratch that, I went to the studio. Lots of progress too. Temples of Infinity and "The Start of Your Demise" are done..

Man, Temples is freaking me out at the moment. It's so.. weird.. and ethereal.. but yet.. It's hard to describe really. It starts off in a major key and then switches to minor almost immediately.. the result is kind of disorienting.. and then once you get used to it the song changes again. This will totally be a "Love it, or hate it track" I almost wanted to put piano at the end.. it's just so messed up.

Goodday today.. Maybe I'll take off tomorrow.. and then.. come in and finish everything ;)
Just figured I'd update
H

The Inevitable Burnout Has Occurred!

Well, It is day 5 of the studio mixing/mastering week and yesterday I finally hit a snag. I'm working on a couple of other tracks that I wrote that didn't finish up so easily. I'm really trying to include a wider variety of stuff. As of right now.. I have 9 tracks for the album. 4 are completely finished and ready to go. 2 are a little ways away but that will be no big deal. The others are "iffy". I'm trying to tell myself that this is a Cauldron of Fuzz album and that perfection isn't as important as the emotion behind the music. Some of these tracks are very powerful and just crazy sounding. Here is the names of the tracks I have so far.

Ritual Evolved
Demonic Wall
The Start of Your Demise
A Time Before Time
Temples of Infinity
We All Fall Down
SINsation
The Gallery
Day of Reckoning

Again, this is not a guarantee of anything here but I feel confident that I can get out these songs for the final release. (Keeping in mind that I have roughly 5 days to finish this.. hehe) I just had to take today off or I couldn't see myself making it through the whole weekend in the studio. Sometimes the walls.. they.. speak to me.. and they were telling me to get out yesterday…

I would pretty much say that yesterday was the first "wasted" day in the studio. Trying to clean up "The Start of Your Demise" was ironically enough the start of my musical demise. The good news is that this weekend is completely devoted to the Cauldron of Fuzz album (Sat, Sun and Monday).. I'll take most of Tuesday as well and at that point hopefully Wed morning I'll be done with the album. "We'll see about that".. COFV WILL be up on Halloween. I'm just hoping it's all 9 songs. If It's not.. for some reason.. (this isn't making an excuse or anything) but I am going to try my damnedest to get it finished by the end of the week and I will put the songs that ARE finished up for download. If I had to put a % rating on the progress of each track it would go…

Ritual Evolved 75%
Demonic Wall 75%
The Start of Your Demise 40%
A Time Before Time 95%
Temples of Infinity 50%
We All Fall Down 95%
SINsation 95%
The Gallery 80%
Day of Reckoning 100%

As you can see there is still some work to be done but it's nothing insane. Nothing that I haven't done in years past for the COF albums. I'll probably design the webpage for this project today…. Who knows.. I might as well get something done.

BTW, I got the new Electric Wizard today…. I don't know what to think of it. It's different that's for sure.
Hope all is well… and thanks for the continued support
Sincerely
H

More about the New Fuzz Album

Hey everyone,

Trying to make sure to keep everyone up to speed on the progress of the new Cauldron of Fuzz album (Which will be available on this webpage www.planetgemini.net at 8pm EST on October 31^st 2007) now with that blatant self promotional plug out of the way I am going to take a little time to talk about some of the songs that I've got coming on here and where they are as of right now in the production process.

 

1. Ritual Evolved:
   Right now Ritual Evolved is done musically I just need to work out some vocals and maybe a few guitar harmonies for the track. It's about 7 minutes long and it's very "tribal" sounding. While I would call it "Riffy" per say it is very "invoking". This was the first track that I ended up writing for the album. It just came out and I thought (well that was fun) from there it just grew heavier and heavier. 7 minutes in and the song is crushing until it finally builds to a big finish. I really enjoy this track and I think you will as well. A little different from the past Fuzz Ritual songs that started off the COF albums. This is not as guitar driven.. but very guitar heavy. You'll understand what I mean when you hear it I'm sure.
   
2. Demonic Wall:
   Demonic Wall's drums are done and bass are finished I need to layer guitars over it. Vocals are done but not perfect so I'll probably sing them over again. Another slow tempo'd song. Very doom laden (as is most of the tracks on this album). It features my high pitched screetchy voice (which I'm sure will THRILL those of you who can't stand it…) hehe but what can I say.. it serves the song well. Demonic Wall is all about the main Riff.. it's got this riff that you would imagine being in Sabbath's Volume IV album just much much heavier. (think Under the Sun and I think you'll have an idea what this track sounds like)
   
3. Temples of Infinity:
   This one is finished with the exception of the ending which contains a spacey clean solo track that I haven't recorded yet. It's once again mid tempo to slow.. and actually contains some tribal drumming in the middle that sound very strange. Followed by this "rolling" bassline and it just strikes me as odd for a Doom band to experiment with these different sounds. The song is fairly straight forward with a nice mid tempo groove double timed in the middle and end. No chorus on this track but like I said there is a look of weird musical things going on here. This will be the track that people either love or hate. However, one thing that surprises me is the people that listen to my music are usually very open minded to new styles and music. So.. I hope you all enjoy it.
   
4. A Time Before Time
   This song can be heard at my Myspace Page www.myspace.com/planetgeminidoom for those of you who haven't heard it yet. It's finished but might get a guitar harmony at the end. Not 100% sure yet I guess it depends if time permits.
   
5. The Gallery
   A song just basically thrown together off of an A Minor progression. Sounds very dark and evil. The songs meaning was discussed in the last blog post I did. All in all it's a good track. Finished with the exception of vocals
   
6. We All Fall Down
   This song also can be found at my myspace page www.myspace.com/planetgeminidoom it is a little bluesy in a way. Just straight up riffage… vocals were secondary here but it was a fun track to record. The middle part needs fixing on the demo and maybe a little harmony on the guitar but that's always the last thing to go on for me
   
7. Day of Reckoning
   this track to can be found on my myspace page. So what are you waiting for.. go.. now.
   

So there are 7 days left to the release of the album and I still have a fair amount of things to do. But nothing that will hold me back from the release. I should have at least 7 songs and I'd like to add one more (a fast original)… I also wouldn't mind ONE more song that I've been kicking around for a while called "Iron Voices"… I think it would fit well. All in all this is going to be a very very doomy release. Heavy.. lots of riffs.. (in the key of A for some reason… guess I got tired of B and E… )

Not long now. I may end up doing a whole new webpage design for this release but I'm not sure if I'll have the time. I'd rather spend more time on music than webpage art at the moment.

 

Thanks again guys
and keep in touch
H

Cauldron of Fuzz V: Information

Well, I am very happy to say that Cauldron of Fuzz V is written and just being polished now for the October 31^st release (at 8pm EST) on www.planetgemini.net . I know, I know.. I'm already plugging away but you'd be surprised I've actually gotten a few e-mails from my myspace friends that have never downloaded a Cauldron of Fuzz album before so they are unaware of the process. So.. yeah… just for clarification the album is downloaded on the official webpage NOT a myspace, virb or any other page like that.

The album's tracklisting is as follows (so far)

01. Ritual Evolved
02. Demonic Wall
03. Temples of Infinity
04. A Time Before Time
05. The Gallery
06. Day of Reckoning

As of right now the album is about 40+ minutes. I have a couple extra songs that I've recorded but I just want to be sure that I am giving myself a big enough window to get the album done for Halloween. If I finish mixing and mastering early (which there is a very good chance of this) I may add another track or two. This album is very downtrodden, slower.. more loud than "The Path" ep. I wanted to clearly make a disctinct difference between the two. This is a Cauldron of Fuzz album and should be just blaring guitars and lots of loud Heavy Metal.

Some of the song lyrics have really surprised me. The track that I've just recently named "The Gallery" is a great little story about an art gallery that the devil presides over. He enlists a painter to the paint the picture of people he's never met. He goes into this trance and closes his eyes.. envisioning the person he is to paint the person painted then loses their soul to the devil. The thing is that after he paints 5,000 people the 5,000^th person takes over the gallery and becomes the new painter… and the first picture he paints is the previous artist.

I love when music comes together like this. This album was written and recorded so quickly that it really does feel fresh. It's what I enjoy most about having my own studio. I love recording other bands and working on my own projects.. but, I really excel in improvisational playing. I always have.

The album will be released on time. Feel free to check out 3 tracks on the Myspace page http://www.myspace.com/planetgeminidoom and any comments or questions can be sent to me via my e-mail address hellion@planetgemini.net.

I hope you are all doing well and thanks so much for the support
Sincerely
H

Planet Gemini - Cauldron of Fuzz V: Sometimes it Comes Back

Well THAT didn't last long... I know I said last years Cauldron of Fuzz was the final installment... but... I've changed my mind. With WICKED giving me such greif I figured I would just have some fun and write some music.

Here are the details
I started the project on monday.
I'm giving myself till the middle of next week to write the album
I have 4 songs recorded

01. The Wretched (8 Minutes)
02. Temples of Infinity (9 Minutes)
03. A Time Before Time (10 Minutes)
and a cover of Pentagram's "Day of Reckoning".

Basically I'll be in the studio everyday this week and whatever gets recorded is going to get released. Even if it's just what I have already.


For those of you new to Planet Gemini
The album will be free to download via my webpage
http://www.planetgemini.net

Cauldron of Fuzz V: Sometimes it Comes Back will be available at 8pm on October 31st (as the COF series always is). Here is a little more info about the Cauldon of Fuzz project for those curious.

Cauldron of Fuzz projects consist of material that is mostly improvised. It's basically glorified jam sessions the vocals are not really written out. I just turn the music on and sing whatever comes to mind.

This is the 5th installment of the series and will be the 2nd Cauldron of Fuzz that I've written myself (I also wrote 3 pretty much by myself all the time). It is about a "Jammy" as one guy can get. I record the drums and basically hone a riff around it. Then I re-record the drums to punch with the riff.

I'm done this for one reason really. I know a lot of people out there are looking forward to some new Gemini and I really have to buy more time for Wicked. So I hope this album will appease you all.

You're all the best and thanks so much for the continued support.
I'll post more on the album as it progresses
Thanks
H

*sigh*.... The fact of the matter...

*LATE SEPTEMBER WICKED UPDATE*

Hello everyone, I hope that your summer was as productive and non-stop as mine was and I am truly sorry for lack of updates to the site. However, as everyone around me is noticing I've been burying myself in the studio a lot lately. I wrote about 4 or 5 new songs all of which came out very refreshing and clean sounding. But we'll get to that in a little bit.... first of all onto Wicked.

A lot of people have written me asking why I haven't taken pre-orders yet. Hell, I've even had a couple people just send me money already for Wicked (which I have returned).. the fact of the matter is until Wicked is 100% ready I can't release it and I don't want to release an album that is under 1 hour long.

So here is the whole situation as it stands.
I have 8 tracks on Wicked that I am completely satisfied with.
The album is clocking around 48-52 minutes (I'm unsure because I still have a little trimming to do on the tracks). I would like the album to be 65-70 minutes. The way I see it is like this. A lot of you spend your money on PG music and I want you all to have the most value as possible.

So I have a few choices that I have been toying around with.
1) releasing Wicked as download only for now and then working on it and revising it for pressing with the bonus songs. It would basically get all of the bullshit out of the way, get the album out there for everyone to hear.. and because it is more of a "temp" release I wouldn't be so anal about the production values..

2) just hold off Wicked until the album is truly done.

I have to be honest. In the time that i've spent harping on Wicked's "perfection" I've accumulated enough material to release another album. A word of advice to bands out there NEVER NAME YOUR PROJECT UNTIL IT IS FINISHED!. I have done this two times.. and both times it has bitten me in the ass.. (Diabolic and now Wicked). The issue with Wicked.. is.. I've already got the coverart made up.. I've already got the ads ready to be placed.. I've got everything out there already. I wish that I could just flush everything I have and start over... however, I know that I would be flushing the best material I have ever written.

So my dilemma is quite huge actually. I'm not entirely sure where to go from here... Wicked NEEDS to be released but I am afraid that there is no way it is going to be released in September. Which means.. I will NOT be giving another release date for Wicked until the album is 100% finished.. All 70 minutes of the album are recorded, mixed and mastered... Because I do not like letting down anyone who looks forward to these things being released.

I'm still quite unsure about what to do. I can tell you that my new material is quite aggressive. Not as doomy persay.. but tons of groove and dark, evil lyrics... (Think Mercyful Fate meets Black Sabbath meets Deep Purple... which is kind of what I think Supergod was like)... I've been a big fan of chanting lately (ala Ian Gillan, Dio) in songs.. I don't know.. some shit I'm coming up with sounds quite creepy. I have one track entitled (Summoning My Demon) and it's just tribal drumming with a high guitar line.. and bass thumping with the drums... and this tormented chanting and lyrics "I know where he goes... The devil watching over...etc" even I get quite spooked at the places these tracks are going. Once again I keep writing tracks to finish Wicked but they end up being their own thing. Older listeners of the band probably remember this happening in 2004's Diabolic and 2005's Oblivion... I'm just too a point where everything new is so good I'm not sure where to go from here.

As always I value your opinions so please feel free to e-mail me.
and thanks so much for your patience.
Every time someone writes me about Wicked and I tell them I'm not sure about it.. I get a reply like "dude take however long you need to get the album perfect. I'll be getting it whenever it comes out" to me that is so humbling.. people are ready to buy this album basically without hearing much of it.. just based on my prior work.. Fucking amazing I tell ya!.. and mostly that's my major concern.. while I must admit I write music for myself (and would do it if only one person listened to this stuff) I never want to let down the people who have followed me for years and years...

I thank you all so much for your support
and understand on this matter.
Look for new demos soon in the next coming weeks.
I've got a lot of new stuff I'm really looking forward to throwing out there.
Maybe even another free EP in the near future (cough cough Halloween perhaps)...

Again you are all the best
Sincerely
H