[Issue 5, August 1998]
back to the issue index
[Foreword][Story of Tarantula][IRC meeting][Interview with Betrayer][Opinions][Music disks][New URL][Interview with Dragon]
[Armagon music disk][Metal Tracker's manual][Metallion][Sending tunes][Interview with FrizzleFried][Reviews][Coming up]
[Foreword]
Because you had to wait for this Red Rain so long
I decided to make an extra long issue. Tracked Aggression 3
is finally released and in this issue we also have
Dragon's Best Of The Fans Iron Maiden cover music disk.
Four interviews with Betrayer, Dragon, FrizzleFried and
Tarantula.
Tarantula also made an ascii logo for Red Rain
which you can see above. Note that logo won't show up
correctly in all e-mail programs so if it's messy it's
not on purpose. At least Pegasus Mail messes it up
completely but unix's Pine shows it just right. And
another thing about Red Rain is that if and when you read
it offline this magazine is done completely by using
just simple MS-DOS Edit. So at least with Edit you can
see everything right what is in here.
It has been busy for me because I was at the 8 days
lasting army camp and when I came back all kinds of things
had happened. Fortunately everything is now going fine.
Only bad thing in all this is that review archive is once
again down. It's under update anyway so be patient.
More about the update just before reviews.
One more thing. Don't ask me anymore on IRC things
like when the new Red Rain will be released and so on
because you can see it from the end of each Red Rain.
That's all what I had to say this time. Enjoy
the magazine!
- Galahad
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[Story of Tarantula]
Since Tarantula suddenly sent his story with the
new Red Rain logo I decided to put it here. So people, let
Tarantula tell you his story of adventures on the scene.
"Well, I think I'd better start from the beginning...
I guess it all began when I made my first songs on my
ancient Amiga. I used a lousy program called "Sonix",
but it was really cool back then. The most horrible thing
was, that I listened to techno... Please forgive me...!
A few years later, I got an awesome 386SX/40/4
(Stop laughing, it was a fine computer at that time!). I
left my dear Amiga, and I started using a program called
"Scream Tracker 3.2". My first nickname's were pretty
embarrasing: Mafia, Brainsucker... I'm sure you don't want
to hear any more!!!
Slowly but surely my music taste started to change
towards a bit heavier direction. My dearest friend HeX
(Heikki Niskanen, if you're dying to know the real name)
started to borrow me Metallica cassettes, which I really
didn't like at the start! He kept telling me Metallica was
great, and finally I started to think the same way. I
transformed from a technohead to a huge Metallica fan, and
for a while I didn't listen to anything else but Metallica.
I also started to listen to such bands as Megadeth,
Alice Cooper, Faith No More, and so on... They were all
great (and of course: They still are!).
I finally changed MY music style too, and I can tell
you: My first metal songs were TOTAL SH*T! (Thank God
they're all erased by now!!) I used crap samples, the
songs were totally boring... Well, it was a start :) !
Then something incredible happened... I got my first e-mail
about my songs. And guess who it was: FrizzleFried! He told
me he found some of my songs from the web and asked me to
check out his webpage...
Today, I'm a 15 year old school boy who lives in
Finland, plays guitar, dreams of an electric guitar and
tries to make better and better music everyday. I've been
tracking for about 5 years now and I've done about 120
songs. I believe that lot of people are wondering "Why
the hell is this guy still using ST3??", well, there's a
good reason for that: My soundcard used to be a SB 2.0
(no stereo), but the problem is fixed now. I just got a
new soundcard a few days ago (Soundblaster AWE64 PnP,
yessir!!) and I also changed my motherboard (my cpu is
now 486DX2/66/8). So, a lot of things will change now,
for example: I will start using Impulse Tracker and from
now on my songs will have stereo. If I just had an electric
guitar everything would be perfect!
My favourite artists at the moment are: Megadeth,
Alice Cooper, White Zombie, Faith No More, Iron Maiden,
Metallica, Prodigy and Stratovarius. Music is my life!
Greets to all moshers around the world, especially metal
trackers: MAY THE POWER OF METAL BE ALWAYS WITH YOU!"
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[IRC meeting]
R.E.D. Presents:
IRC MEETING
for all metal trackers and fans!
on channel #Metal_Militia
I got tired of just notice that some people have
visited the channel while I was away or ZXPKNOBB who is
always there is away. That's why I decided to organize
this IRC meeting so we can all see each other there and
perhaps we get some interesting discussions and/or
just talking bullshit which goes usually to really funny and
amusing chat. So everybody, come there and spend couple of
hours with us. Who knows...you may see your favorite
musician there.
Date: 19.09.1998 (dd.mm.yy)
Meeting begins:
Time:
24:00 pm (Moscow)
23:00 pm (Finland, Turkey, Israel)
22:00 pm (Sweden, Germany, Italy (CET))
21:00 pm (United Kingdom, Ireland (GMT))
16:00 pm (USA, east coast)
13:00 pm (USA, west coast)
and lasts about three hours. I will be online exactly
23:00 pm local time.
Place: SceneNet
Servers:
irc.us.scene.org (USA) Picks up a random host
in USA.
irc.eu.scene.org (Europe) Picks up a random
host in Europe.
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[Interview with Betrayer]
OK, Galahad asked me nice and politely if I would
take a couple of minutes and explain a little about
myself...Since R.E.D is a brilliant project, I thought it
was no big effort to fulfill his wish. So here goes:
I am 26 years old, and live in Gothenburg on the
south-west coast of Sweden. (Home of all the great melodic
death metal bands). I started tracking on my Atari ST way
back in the 1990's or so, and was convinced by a lot of
friends to enter a competition at a computer convention. I
chose 'Battery' by Metallica to be my first public release,
and what do you know... it won the compo! Back then, nobody
tracked metal, so I guess I won just for the choice of
musical cathegory more or less. Anyway, it was fun, and
my name started to spread a little. Of course, at that time,
Internet didn't exist, so I tried to spread songs via BBS's
and stuff, and managed to get my name out in Sweden and in
some European countries where I had friends. Things rolled
on, I continued tracking using the exact same sample set
everytime which you probably all know by now, judging
from the earlier releases. Then, it was like 1993-94, I
decided to buy a PC, and got hold of an old version of
Fasttracker, which reminded me a lot of ProTracker that
I used on the Atari. When I finally got Internet access I
realized that this was the deal.. an easy and cheap way to
spread your stuff. Out of pure coincidence I happened to
download a song by ZackmanO and threw away a mail to him
asking if he was willing to trade. It turned out he had
some of my stuff and had been wanting to talk to me for a
long time... funny thing.. I had no idea my stuff was
spread in the US.. :) We swapped a few things, many people
know we had quite a few arguments about stuff, things that
I laugh at today. Still, it was Zack's releases that made
me realize I had to do something to improve my samples,
to keep up with him. And from now on, let's switch to the
greasy details, in a more FAQ-like manner...
Q: How you make so damn good guitar samples? (What equipment
do you use?)
A: OK, basic stuff first.. my current gear is:
BC Rich guitar (Warlock model)
Marshall Valvestate Combo 40W Amp
Zoom 505 effects pedal
P200MMX with SBAWE32
CoolEdit96
Fasttracker II
So, how do I use these things? Well, first throw away
the amp... I only use my amp for "real" playing, not at
all for recording and tracking. Connect the guitar to the
pedal, and the pedal to line-in on the soundcard. As simple
as that. Recording is made through CoolEdit96. Sample
rate 22kHz, 8bits, mono. I normally just record the sample
in CE, then fine-edit it in Fasttracker itself. It's a lot
of switching between DOS and W95, but until the MODplug
tracker or similar is released in a decent version, you have
to stick with the old fashioned DOS things sometimes.
Honestly, I don't understand why there are so few artists
that can create their own samples and get them good.
After what I've been saying above, you realize it
isn't very hard to do, right?
Q: Who is your favorite tracker and why is he/she your
favorite tracker?
A: This is a tough question. I can start by saying that
I don't listen much to other people's material. Partly
because I think a LOT of the things released is crap
and partly because it just doesn't interest me. This might
sound a little cocky, but that's the way things are.
I can't deny the fact though, that Zack must be
considered one of my favourite trackers. He is the master
of leads and he sets new standards in the world of
tracking all the time. His samples are probably some of the
best you can come up with at a reasonable filesize. He has
also shown his capabilities of making music in different
genres which even further improves his status as one of
the leading trackers in guitar based music. Personnally I
don't like the later stuff he has done, but that is a
musical opinion and not important in this case.
I really don't want to name any other artist, because
I'll probably forget half of the names worth to mention
anyway... :)
Q: What do you think of the current state of metal scene?
A: I think the scene has grown a lot during the last year
or so, thanks to organizations like metalmod.domination.org,
R.E.D, and the numerous compilations disks released by
various groups. Unfortunately, lots of the material
released tend to be of pretty low interest, due to one
major reason... The samples... It doesn't matter how good
the composition is if the sounds are crap. Enough said.
Q: What are your future plans about tracking?
A: I really don't know. I have been thinking of quitting
this business several times, but it's like a drug to me.
I have to sit down a couple of hours every now and then
and try something new, otherwise I go crazy. I guess my
future plans will be trying to find new solutions to the
problems I can't get around today. Basically decreasing
the filesize but improving the quality, how the hell
that should be possible... I am also thinking of doing a
collection of sample sets and put them on a CD for sale.
I get lots of requests for this, so it might just happen.
I will also try to make some more original pieces, and I
definately wouldn't mind if I got a deal like Zack's for
his participation on the N64 game...
That's it people, thanks for reading...
If you want to ask anything about my gear, tracking
techniques, or just say "hello", don't hesitate to
write a mail to niclas@breas.se or via ICQ UIN 611431.
But please, don't ask me to make a sample for you,
cause I won't...
Betrayer OUT!
niclas@breas.se
http://welcome.to/betrayer
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[Opinions]
I'd like to know what you people are thinking about
Regal Embryo Dismemberment, which we know better as R.E.D.
What do you think is good and what is bad? So send me your
opinion. The purpose of this question is that I know what
parts I should improve and what I should abandon.
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[Music disks]
R.E.D. begins to make the long waited sequel to
the Holocaust. And even more. There are two whole music
disks coming now. You can contribute to them.
R.E.D. music disk: The Gathering
This is an invite only music disk and those who are
invited have already received their invitations. I hope we
can put up the best music disk ever.
R.E.D. music disk: Virtual Decay
This is an open for anybody music disk.
Anyone can send a tune for this disk and 14 best songs are
selected. There is no size limit, no style limit, no
limit at all as long as it's some kind of metal.
Name changed because so many people demanded it.
As most of you propably know Virtual Death is a
Black Sabbath's song. So now the music disk is called
Virtual Decay. I hope you all are happy now.
Deadline for both music disks is 04.01.1999 (dd.mm.yy).
Release date for both music disks is 10.01.1999 (dd.mm.yy).
Let's track!
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[New URL]
R.E.D. pages has a new shorter URL. It's a lot
easier to remember than the current one. You don't have to
update your bookmarks anyway because this new URL is only
a redirecting address.
New R.E.D. URL: http://start.at/red
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[Interview with Dragon]
- Tell us about yourself.
Geographically: I live in Québec City, Canada.
I speak french and english.
Physically: I'm a big guy, with long brown
hair and a moustache and beard. I have a handicap called
Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy Disease, I ride an electric
wheelchair.
Mentally: I'm a strong son of a bitch, I am the
most positive guy you could meet.
Other: I love metal, as well as other music,
but it has to be rock, or medieval, or at least have some
melody. I hate DANCE, TECHNO and RAVE, and I also hate RnB.
I compose and cover music, I write a lot.
- How long have you been on the metal scene?
A year.
- Are you ever going to do other than Iron Maiden covers?
I did a lot of songs with cheap Adlib software,
from 1990-1995, which are all original material.
About 50 songs. I released only one as a mod, on
FrizzleFried's page. It's called VOYAGE INTO OBLIVION.
I've been told it's Power Metal style, but I really
wouldn't know. I will be doing more of original stuff
in the future, but I will continue to release MAIDEN
covers from time to time.
- What are your future plans?
Make a more varied Web Page, with my original
material and maybe some litterature. We'll see.
- Who is your favorite tracker (if any)?
Betrayer is surely on top of em all, but I also
enjoy a lot of Zack, Bull and tARANTULa.
- Are you going to be present in the IRC meeting on 19th
of September?
Which channel? Which server? Which whatever?
I'll try to make it.
- Hmm...for Canada it would be irc.us.scene.org and the
channel is #Metal_Militia. More accurate times etc. are
in this very same issue. What do you think of the current state of metal scene?
What is good and what is still in need to be fixed?
Too much musical talent, not enough vocal talents.
At least, you have great vocals and music from METALLICA
and IRON MAIDEN, but James and his compadres are gettin'
a bit soft. JUDAS PRIEST and their new vocalist stink
less than Rob Halford's solo project, but they still stink.
ANTHRAX is okay. I think the european metal scene is cool,
at least it's original, but here in America, it's pretty
poor. Aside from DIO, there's not much going.
In order for metal to really get going again, GRUNGE
and ALTERNATIVE must lay off or die!
- Are you going to make more music disks in the future (Iron Maiden or
others)?
Probably.
- Thanks for the interview
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[Armagon music disk]
New Armagon music disk is in progress now. It's
open for anyone and this time it's a cover only music disk.
Reminds me that Tracked Aggression 2 was supposed to be
cover only music disk too but wasn't such thing after
all. Well now we have a cover music disk coming. Visit
Armagon's web sit for more information.
http://www.nettilinja.fi/~vlintula/ArmagoN/
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[Metal Tracker's manuals]
Palergir is assembling info for a trackers-manual
(and important :)
He's looking for good hints on metaltracking.
For making samples, composing, sound etc.
From metal-trackers and listeners.
Please mail to : jan@treestar.nl
If wanted I will send a pre-release.
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[Metallion]
I got feeling from Morhan's page that he has quit
tracking entirely. Bull corrected me and said that he just
has no inspiration right now. Metallion homepage has not
worked for a while now but let's hope they get back soon.
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[Sending tunes]
If you want your tune to be reviewed in this
e-magazine please send mail to our main reviewer ZXPKNOBB.
Tell him the URL to the file you wish to get reviewed like
http://xxxxx.xxxx.xx/~zzzzz/yyyy.zip and so on. If you want
to send articles or advertisements then send them
directly to me.
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[Interview with FrizzleFried]
- Tell us about yourself.
Hmmm....well, I am a 26 year old white boy from
San Diego California. I am 6'4" tall, 265 lbs, have
blue eyes and short brown hair. I currently work as a
sales associate for a local newspaper. I enjoy alot of
things in life, with metal mod writing being one. I also
like to socialize with people, ride motocross, listen
to real music, work on my truck (1996 Ford Ranger), and
just have a good time.
- How long have you been on the metal scene?
I have been listening to metal since birth. My
father was a classic rock freak (CCR, BLACK SABBATH,
DOORS, etc). I love classic rock, all kinds of rock,
metal, thrash, punk, etc. But I also like other music genres
as well, Raggae, Rap, Classical, etc.
I got into the METALMOD Scene in about 1991 when I
got my first PC (386DX33mhz). I discovered MODFILES,
and then metal modfiles. I think ZackmanO was one of
the first metal trackers I heard. I was hooked!
- Who is your favorite tracker (if any)?
My favorite tracker is Betrayer. There are others
out there with more talent, and better samples (not many,
but a couple), but Betrayer tracks the songs I like the
most. He is one KICKASS tracker.
- What are your future plans?
Live life to the fullest...
- What do you think of the current state of metal scene
(what's good and what is in need to be fixed)?
I have seen the METALMOD scene grow especially
the last 2 years. There are new trackers comming out
left and right. Unfortunately (and expected) these trackers,
being the newbys they are, ususally suck for a while until
they get some hours under em, but they will get there.
I have also seen the number of QUALITY trackers increase.
Just two years ago you would be hardpressed to find anyone
close to the talent of ZackmanO (who, unarguably is one
of the pioneers of the scene), now there are a NUMBER of
people tracking WELL TRACKED, and WELL SAMPLED songs.
I see nothing but good for the scene in the future if we
all just contribute a little.
- Why we still see metalmod.domination.org updates so
rarely?
ONE WORD: Laziness. See, I have alot of
stuff going on in my life right now, most of which are
not computer oriented, and it takes alot of my time.
...but I still manage to get a number of hours in on the
computer each week, but when i am on, I am either
writing a song, cruizin the net, or playin a game.
I have no real excuse for not updating the page more
often other than laziness. Lately I have not been
getting many new songs to update the page with
(though thats cuz of TA3 i think).
...also TA3 is comming up, most people sending in
songs are sending em in for TA3, and I am trying to get
my tune done by the deadline, as well as working on a
tune for the up comming R.E.D. music disk, but thats all
excuses. Im lazy. SO SUE ME. Do you want more timely
updates? THEN I NEED AN ASSISTANT. If yer interested
in being my assistant, and updating the page at LEAST ONE
TIME A WEEK, email me if you can do it... frizfry@home.com
- Tell us about Tracked Aggression 3 (your thoughts about
it and what it's like compared to the previous TA music
disks)?
NOTE: This is as of JULY 28th, i do NOT have
all the entrys yet, but this TA3 is looking to be a bit
different than the last two. I dont have as many
veterans submitting their tunes this time for one reason
or another. So far, only Corpse & Bull are the only vets
with a song submitted, all other tunes are from newbys.
Therefore the disk will most likely have a number of new
faces and new styles on it....we shall see!
- Will there be Big M Awards 1998?
Yes, there will be an award at the end of 1998.
I dont think ill call it the BIG M AWARD, I plan on
putting a little more effort into it this time, and unlike
last time, I am going to allow ANYONE to submit ANY SONG
of theirs for ANY CATEGORY (not just what was on my page).
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[Reviews]
All reviewed songs are available at
http://start.at/red
Review Archive with ZXPKNOBB
Unfortunately Red Rain review archive will be
off-line until the first week of September 1998. However,
it will be back with more stable server.
All (almost all) reviews are done by CruxHumanus,
ZXPKNOBB and Galahad. New miscellaneous information
sections have been added to provide some background stories
of some of the mods and whatever.
New system behind Review Archive will be:
Linux operating system (previously it was Win95).
Online 24 hours a day / 7 days a week.
T3 connection.
Hundreds megs of disk space.
Due to this update new reviewed songs will be
available on the archive when the new system is up and
online.
So be patient and you'll be satisfied.
Singles
Mhian - Zack
Score: 85
Location: Review Archive when it's up again.
When the tune starts it sounds like that we have
some joke in hand. There's clarinet and flute mixed with
metal touch. As we have used to hear from Zack all the
samples are high quality and tracking is superior. I
listened this for the first time and I couldn't do much
but smile. For the first time I hear a live guitar solo
in Zack's tune but it doesn't sound bad at all I just
got an strange feeling because it's not the usual way
for Zack. Song is full of energy but the vocals made
me wonder. English vocals would have been better maybe.
Somewhere in the middle of the song the style changes
to light jazzy kind of which rocked a lot. There is some
heavy distorted guitar in this one too so the whole thing
stays together quite well. Very good experimental and
different song. To the question "more like this one or
more like the old stuff?" I would say that I want both
if it's possible.
I also downloaded MP3 version of Mhian and it
was even better played live. I listened Grits and
one psycho song where this Melissa were singing and well
I liked that one most so go get it at
http://members.aol.com/bookemdnno.
Face The Pain - Morfeus
Score: 66
Location: http://free.polbox.pl/m/morfeus (not working)
http://metalmod.domination.org/music/Fthepain.zip
Morfeus's 'Face The Pain' may not be a masterpiece, but it
sure is worth your download time. It starts up as a pure
death tune, and transforms into black later on. This
transition happens again during the song, although they are
not as smooth as they could have been. Solo guitars are
poor, but the rythem and everything else were done very
well. Good track overall, with stuff that has to be
improved.
Rust - Morfeus
Score: 77
Location: http://free.polbox.pl/m/morfeus (not working)
http://metalmod.domination.org/music/Rust.zip
A very heavy tune, with clean samples (Betrayer's). A very
good tracking job by Morfeus. A fast paced tune, with a
slow part in the middle of it and weird ending. This is
definiately worth putting in your collection.
*Misc Info: Morfeus names himself as Morghlith.
This is his first heavy tune.
He refers Betrayer as his master. (???)
Discordant Spirit - Warlord
Score: 80
Location: http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/humperdinck/356/
Dspirit2.zip
A short, straight out metal tune that begins with bass
guitar. Somewhat reminds of Warlord's previous track,
"The Undertaker." Fast and heavy tune with killer drums.
The guitar samples were horrible but overall, it's a
typical good ol' headbanging song.
Eternal Damnation - Violator
Score: 75
Location: http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/humperdinck/356/
Vi_damnd.zip
This track is nothing new, yet it is still good. Beginning
and ending is a bit boring but very nice deathish part in
the middle. Samples weren't too bad, and tracking is
nothing innovative but it's still a rockin' song.
*Misc Info: Violator admits: "shit quality" voice
samples.
Music disks
First Year - Dark Stellar
Score: 40
Location: http://www.dlc.fi/~pmm/Fyear.zip
- Boulders (M.Salmi)
- My Heart Will Stop (M.Salmi)
- Melancholy (M.Salmi)
- Stellar Theme (M.Salmi)
- Tuomitut (M.Salmi)
While you'd be expecting for something grand from a
disk with such a title, Dark Stellar's 'First Year' doesn't
have much to offer. There were only 5 songs with horrible,
horrible samples. The songs seem to stop in the middle
several times, a lot of rests and pauses.
All the songs were just the authors old songs from his
beginner tracking days, that he backed up somewhere and
refound. Why did they release these old, experiemental
works as their disk? This disk was made to sound like
weird, experiemental songs. The author catogrized it as
experiemental metal, although it doesn't much like metal,
but some bad industrial stuff.
Poor disk, poor tracks and tracking. If you are looking
for some headbanging metal, this is not it. But if you are
curious how weird the songs could get, this is the one for
you.
Best Of The Fans - Dragon
Score: 86
Location: http://www.netrover.com/~rickhal/webdisk.htm
- n Of The Cross (Dragon & Hakan Jerning)
- Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner (Betrayer)
- Where Eagles Dare (Cadaver)
- Futureal (Cadaver)
- No Prayer For The Dying (Holyblood)
- Invaders (ZXPKNOBB)
- To Tame A Land (Malekith)
- Only The Good Die Young (Palergir)
- Afraid To Shoot Strangers (Dragon)
Our Iron Maiden cover-man, the Dragon, along with Hakan
Jerning, has organized this fine product. This is a-must if
you are an Iron Maiden fan, and you won't get dissaponted
even if you've never heard Iron Maiden before.
Since the participation was open to anyone, there were
some new faces in metal mod scene, like Malekith and Holy
Blood, both doing great jobs, proving themselves to be
good trackers. Of course, there were some veterans, like
Cadaver and Betrayer.
Overall, this album is great, and tracked in the most
professional way, keeping the songs very close to original
recordings of Iron Maiden. We thank Rick and Hakan for
organizing this wonderful music disk. Only bad thing is
that, it's not zipped into one file, and you have to
download song by song. The good thing is that it is
availible in 1 zip from RedRain archive. The bad thing
is that RedRain archieve will not be online until September.
*Misc Info: Named after Iron Maiden's own compilation
album: "Best of the Beast"
Release date was delayed about 4 times
and 3 weeks since original due date.
Tracked Aggression 3 (Hymns Of Brutality) - FrizzleFried
Score: 89
Location: http://metalmod.domination.org/music/ta3.zip
- Blocked (Corpse)
- Cuddles (DimTim)
- The Call Of Ktulu (Herb)
- Lies In Ignorance (Palegrir)
- Morphing Into Primal (Betrayer)
- Sub (Adde)
- Driven (FrizzleFried)
- Death Waits (Galahad)
- The Mirage (Bull)
- Forgotten Pilgrimage (Tarantula)
The third installment in the FrizzleFried's "Tracked
Agression" music disks series has finally made it,
feauturing a wide variety of talented trackers from all
around the metal scene.
While "Hymns Of Brutality" may not beat the original
"Tracked Agression," it sure overcomes "TA2."
The disk starts with a superb Corpse's tune, "Blocked,"
with great samples this time (It was about time, Corpse).
Blazing drumming, killer guitars, and even a piano part,
while all that being spiced up by some vocals. Then,
follows "Cuddles," a great death track by DimTim. Herb, an
experineced song-cover man has done Metallica's "The Call of
Ktulu," which was done closely to the original, with killer
samples and tracking. "Lies In Ignorance," a superb speedy
black tune by Palegrir, a relatively new tracker to the
scene, is done very well, but lacking some sample quality.
The next one, done by the king himself, Betrayer, is another
masterpiece in his repertoire, this time it is "Morphing
Into Primal" of In Flames. Somewhat experimental, with very
interesting solo guitar lines is Adde's "Sub."
FrizzleFried's "'Driven' is yet another trashy tune,
awesomely tracked, in the usual Frizz's style.
A brutal death tune, "Death Waits" picks up at the spot
where Galahad left his previous tune, "Repent," with very
over-sampled instruments. "The Mirage" is a great tune,
with a great drumwork in it, much like the guitars, done by
Bull, of the Metallion duo. The final track on the disk is
Tarantula awesome new track, "Forgotten Pilgrimage."
Tarantula's back with a new samples, to produce this ass
kicking fast tune, with fantastic solo work.
This one was well worth the waiting time... and TA
series are essential to all metal mod trackers.
Editor's note: I raised the final score by one
point because Corpse's song is just about best tracked
death metal tune I have heard so far. Keep going Corpse!
Finally we got superior song from you.
*Misc Info: FrizzleFried's track's instrumental lists
still says the same stuff that was on
Betrayer's "Desperate Cry." "Fuck!" says
FrizzleFried on #Metal_Militia.
The correct zip file you get is the 3rd
version. First 2 had bad CRC check
errors. If you have one of the first 2
versions, you must download again, or
hope that pkzipfix will fix it correctly.
Rainbow Storm - Dark Stellar
Score: 52
Location: http://www.dlc.fi/~pmm/ds-rs.zip
- Stellar Theme (Kosmikko)
- With Northwind I Ride (Kosmikko)
- Searcher's Song (Kosmikko)
- Rainbow Storm (Kosmikko)
- Sky Waves (Holycow)
- Jupiter Probe (Kosmikko)
- Brownie (Andy)
- The Funky Base Heavy (Holycow/Mass)
- Fade Away (Kosmikko)
Dark Stellar music disk Rainbow Storm is finally
out to the public. Actually it was out already when
Red Rain issue 07/1998 came out but we didn't had enough
time to review it properly. So here we go.
Stellar Theme was presented in the First Year
collection which is reviewed in this issue too. With
Northwind I Ride has been released as a single preview
before and it still sounds quite bad with all note
clashes and non-metal feeling. Seems like all tunes
on this disk are some kind of weird mixes of little
bit of metal with extremely bad samples and some
ambient synth sounds. Searcher's Song is no exception
and Rainbow Storm neither. If I remember correctly
this kind of distorted guitar samples I last time heard
was back in 1994 or so. Wake up it's 1998 now! Sky Waves
by Holycow won't make the disk any better and Jupiter
Probe is about the same. Anyway now comes the surprise
which somewhat saves this music disk. Brownie by Andy is
pretty good one with catchy riff on it. Too bad it
has pretty low quality samples too. Then it goes really
weird again with Holycow & Mass tune The Funky Base
Heavy. Fade Away outro by Kosmikko ends this rather
confusing music disk. They call it metal but I call it
messed and fucked up instrument experiment.
[Coming up]
In the next issue you will see...
- Interview with Zack.
- Interview with Corpse.
- Interview with Jeppe.
- Trackers in test (Impulse Tracker and Fast
Tracker).
- Scythe's short story
- R.E.D. info update (about #Metal_Militia)
- Maybe even the Metal Tracker's Manual.
Red Rain issue 09/1998 will come out 13.09.1998. (dd.mm.yy)
back to top
Red Rain (C) 1998 Regal Embryo Dismemberment
Staff:
Editor: Galahad - E-mail: galahad@netppl.fi
Reviewer: ZXPKNOBB - E-mail: ZXPKNOBB@vt.edu
Reviewer: Ackers - E-mail: ackers@wpi.edu
Reviewer: Crux Humanus - E-mail: mgak@hotmail.com
R.E.D. web site: http://www.netppl.fi/~galahad/red.html
Progressive Aggression web site: http://tkim.campus.vt.edu/PA/