Obscura: Omnivium

This is the German quartet, Obscura.

They've just released Omnivium which is a worthy release because 2 of the most talented players in extreme music are in this band.

One of them is the fleet fingered Christian Muenzner (yes, he endorses Ibanez). His techniques & choice of notes are sublime.

The other is the unquestionable, fretless bass wizard, Jeroen Paul Thesseling. Sounds familiar? That's because you've heard him before in Pestilence's Spheres album.

Omnivium is an interesting release because you might deem them repulsive after hearing the opening title, Septuagint; it's too metal-core. Think Shadows Fall. But that's the initial brush with all things intense & technical. Persevere & you'll hear the Morbid Angel & Cynic influences in the mix but these lads aren't doing the cut-paste in terms of ideas. They hold their own & Omnivium proves to be a redemption of sorts especially after you've heard its predecessor, Cosmogenesis. This is definitely one of my favourites for 2011.

The cracked tale

Someone bought an Ibanez guitar like the model you see above, returned to the shop a month later demanding some compensations because according to that individual, there were cracks at the areas indicated. According to the individual also, the seller (in this case the shop) didn't inspect the instrument closely & let this one slipped through the transaction. I believe the shops here can measure up against such claims but should this be a case of an after-market deal, do you think you can protect yourselves adequately from such circumstances especially when there's absolute insistence on the buyer's part that it's your oversight exclusively?

PS: This account wasn't aimed at any individual, just a common anecdote in promoting awareness.

Nevermore @ SG

Catch Jeff Loomis in action (yeah!!) this June 23- that's NEVERMORE's date here. Early bird package: $55 ticket + complementary t-shirt, available at:

INOKII

Far East Plaza

#03-30

Ibanez RGD321: Duncanized

 

Seymour Duncans in my Ibanez RGD321:

• Neck: P-Rails
• Bridge: Dimebucker

 I have expressed my acceptance of the Ibanez VK humbuckers which were default units in this guitar (& my ex-RGD320) but in this fixed bridge setting, they sound deeper than I'd like them to be (especially with the detuned nature of the RGD & its extended scale length). I've messed around with EQ settings & pickup height but that excess growl was ever-present. So the VKs made way for the above pair which added more clarity to the mix while retaining the rich bottom end. Wiring is courtesy of Beez (as always).

LTD series 330: New for (Spring) 2011

More new LTDs for Spring; these are the Series 330 models- the most affordable LTDs with active pickups which are in-house ALH-200 models.

Also - this is an auspicious date!

made it for J :D

Amptweaker: Tight Metal (Part 3)- Control knobs/ switches scrutiny

Let's take a look at what the Tight Metal has to offer...

• A: Battery switch- turns your battery on/ off. If you own this pedal & find it dead one day, check if you actually turned the battery power off... Happened to me but that was on Day 1.
• B: Volume- One of two distortion-affecting knobs. So in addition to raising/ lowering volume, this one acts like an amp's master volume control, shaping your distortion as you make yourself heard. It gets frustrating if you wish to retain the higher volume aggression at lower volume settings- not quite available.
• C: Tone- A universal understanding; counter clockwise for more bass, clockwise for added treble. The sweep on offer is healthy, this is the other tone-affecting knob. In addition to a variety of voicings, the tone knob lets you have more aggression towards the treble end but it's what I call a frequency illusion; we tend to 'hear' more aggression this way but it's actually the top end being more sizzling. Towards the bass pronouncement, you can achieve a smooth, fat tone; one of the best supplements for fluid legato licks.
• D: Gain- From very tame to very ferocious, nothing new, yes? But the distortion here is saturated enough if you couple it with the right volume level, eliminating the need for an additional distortion booster. The Gain voicing is also very amp-like, at upper levels it sounds more like an angry amplifier than an external distortion provider.
• E: Tight- Simply put, it is the 'scooper' knob, dial in your preferred midrange levels accordingly. This is best tweaked with the tone control (naturally); too much bass from both sources & you're in for some ill-definition but some of us would like it for its pseudo-fuzz properties. I find the Tight control affecting my lower-strings chugging more than the Tone counterpart.
• F: Mid-Thrash switch- The other scoop activator but the difference here is that this switch doesn't accentuate the bass when you reduce midrange; you hear more midrange or less.
• G: Gate-Chomp- We, humans, call it 'noise gate'. As it is a flick feature devoid of any other offerings, you set it to an extreme threshold upon activation. This means, if your pickup's output is wimp-grade, your signals won't go through as easily/ notes picked with lesser intensity would be abruptly cut off. Maybe that explains the 'Chomp' level.