DAR - Hard Crash
31Track #2 for "Solitude Of Mind"!
So, back in 2014, this had actually been the very first song that I wrote and recorded for this EP.
While SoM holds a special place in my heart overall, "Hard Crash" was the crucial spark that got everything rolling. If not for this song, I don't know how everything else would've turned out. Heck, I'd go as far to say that we might not even have this channel or the rest of my catalog (as we know it) if not for this particular song.
I'll save more of the story and details for the vid description of the "Full-Album" video. That being said, this was the song that I wound up making after experimenting and finding my tone. Said tone with my Strat would continue on until I got my Ibanez. Then from thereon its been small adjustments to this signal-chain over the past decade.
Not only guitar tone, but this was a big turning point in my style. I had demos here and there that had "my sound", but for a while, I was really headed toward a lighter and poppier sort of style. Not super light or anything, but it was a bit different to what I have now. Some elements of that sound made their way on to Cyclic Divide's poppier-sounding tunes (for example: Always Right, Remember, and Sweethearts).
This change in style was mainly out of spite towards the horrid, failed online band experience that I had in the first half of 2014. I wanted to distance myself greatly from that lighter sound. Along with my guitar tone, I also changed up my drum samples and some other things to move further from the old sound.
However, a change in tone and drums wasn't enough. I wanted "something with balls", I wanted tracks to have attitude and energy. Of course, I didn't have it in me to go super brutal black metal or anything, so instead I wound up taking what I already knew, and tried going heavier with it. The result being what I (and a good friend of mine) jokingly dubbed "Aluminum Metal", since its like "light-metal". Several years ago, it made my day when a random comment had also used "aluminum metal" to describe my style when it came to one of my Doom covers!
The original Hard Crash was admittedly a bit repetitive, but the energy and spirit were there for sure. That's why its been great revisiting and recreating this song. This is pretty much what this song should've been back then, just that I didn't have enough experience at the time.
To deal with the repetitiveness, I wound up changing up the main riff a little bit at times. I've also introduced some new double-tapped leads to add a bit more flavor to the sound. The solo remains mostly intact, with just a small change towards the end of it (the bit from 3:30-3:35). This time around my Ibanez is handling the clean/dirt parts, along with the rhythm and main riff. The Strat gets to reprise its role for the solo, as well as for the new double-tapped parts. There's just something special about that bell-like tone on the neck pickup when combined with double-tapping. Chalk it up to Strat and single-coil magic, I suppose \m/!
Bass guitar stuff is more subtle and simple. Main standout would probably be the new bass bit that plays in the 2nd half of the intro. I also wound up throwing a tube-screamer plugin at the top of the effects-chain for giggles... something I should try doing more often from now on actually!
I've also changed up the drums in some parts, and also added drums to the 2nd half of the intro. During the verses I added some ghost notes that wound up giving this shuffle sort of vibe at times. Helped to add some spice to the usual 4/4 beat!
Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this recreation of yet another one of my classic tunes! Took me a bit longer than I thought to get this one done. Mainly since I got stuck when trying to come up with those new double-tapped leads (those parts threw my brain for a loop, until they eventually became muscle-memory). That, and Hard Crash had been one of my early songs that I've always wanted to "fix up". Definitely very happy with it now! ~DAR
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