*NO* Metal: Hellsinger "Stygia"

[Liontamer ⚖️]

Will need a unique title if approved -LT

Original Decision

Artist Name: Zach Chapman

Features Earth Kid on lead vocals, Gregorio Franco (who doesn't have an artist page on OCR yet) doing the harsh vocals, themanpf on guitars, and jnWake (also no artist page) on synths and keys. 

This song was made for Dwelling of Duels' April 2025 Rhythm Games Month. Originally this track was going to be even more faithful to the original, but I only know one female singer who can also do great harsh vocals and she was too busy that month to collab, so instead I split the vocals up between the leads and the growls, landing on Earth Kid and Gregorio for each, who are both fantastic. The other shift in the song's direction came mostly from jnWake, who took the keyboard parts I sent him and added several synths without ever being asked. Anytime you hear a synth in the song - echoing the intro riff, in the background of the interlude, the synth solo before the third chorus - is all stuff that he did entirely himself. That helped to give the track its own identity, and I love what it added to the song. TheManPF killed it on guitars as always, and also put up with me sending him about 20 different drafts of the mix for feedback over the course of the month, as I'm still pretty awful at the production side of things. Other than that it's a largely faithful cover, with some minor changes to the guitars, and more major additions to the drums and bass (which I played).

Since the last submission I've made a whole lot of changes to the production that I won't list out because there's too many, most of it isn't interesting, and I've forgotten half of it by now. But it should sound better. Also some more stuff added to the drums, like the ride cymbal during choruses to keep the beat. Shoutout to Seph for letting me bounce a few mixes off him for some final changes - during which I learned what sidechaining was, so that's neat.

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Games & Sources

This is a cover of "Stygia" from the rhythm shooter Metal: Hellsinger, composed and performed by Two Feathers, the developers of the game, featuring Alissa White-Gluz, the lead singer of the metal band Arch Enemy.

 

Edited 3 hours ago by prophetik music

[prophetik music ⚖️]

my vote last time centered around issues with mastering, specifically the vocal effects chain and the drums.

opening still is intense and a cool idea to intensify over time. lead guitar in the intro is very loud, and stays loud - for example, at 0:40 it's louder than EK, and at 0:50 it's louder than the drums (in fact i can hardly hear the drums there). this is the case for the whole song to my ears. separately there's still a ton of pressure in the mids. it feels to me like there's a lot of mid content in every part and it's all conflicting. compared to some reference tracks and the original, i think this is primarily the guitar being too present in the range that the vocal fundamental is, and not below it.

the unison part is a lot better, that went from being a lowlight to a highlight for me. and to be honest, this is a lot better. it's not perfect when compared to pro-level stuff in this genre (of course!), and we are a hobbyist community. so i'm not sure right now where i settle. i'm gonna come back in a few days and listen again.

 

 

?

edit 9/27: it seems like my initial impression, which was that the mix isn't there, is where i am gonna land.

NO

Edited 3 hours ago by prophetik music

[Liontamer ⚖️]

The arrangement side was previously a pass, so I'm side-stepping that and just looking at production. I'll say right off the bat, this still sounds massively cluttered. When the growling vocal word came in at :19 with no clarity, I knew this was going to be a tough hill to climb. EK's vocals at :30 sound so dry and untreated, and are getting swallowed up by the surrounding instrumentation, it really nerfs her potential impact if the vocals don't sound airier. Even Gregorio's vocals at :49 & 4:44 are really buried and I'm mainly just hearing the guitar's pushed way forward over the top of him until 1:26 & 5:03. The choruses at 1:26 & 2:41 sound noisy/cacophonous, this balancing doesn't make sense. The vocals never cut through and the guitar stuff is just massively overdriven to the point where it feels like the loudest parts are distorting. I did like the guitar parts from 2:22-2:39 & 3:37-3:55, those isolated bits were sounding aggressive without obliterating other parts. Anything texturally more busy than that was a hot mess.

Vocals are buried.
Guitars are overdriven.
Textured are cluttered.
Energy of the performances sounds strong.
Arrangement's on point.

As I lamented last time, Zach, I'm not a musician or producer, so I can't tell you how to rein this in, which disappoints me because I want this posted, it's a creative arrangement. Saying no may come off like I'm saying you're an incapable producer or a no-hoper when we all know differently; you're bold for working outside your wheelhouse. Though this doesn't need to have perfectly balanced, pro-level mixing, the mixing revisions still leave this far from where it should be; the parts lack clarity and they're not reasonably positioned/balanced. This is still promising, but it needs production TLC. I'd love us and/or DoD to hold a #workshop session where other community members work with you to tighten this up, because this deserves it.

NO (resubmit)

[Chimpazilla ⚖️]

Very cool arrangement, great performances, vocals and energy.  I love the concept!  But wow is this dense, loud and crunchy.

The guitars are indeed very loud compared to everything else.  Very wide, very midrangey, and very, VERY loud.

EK's vocals are so buried under the wall of sound.  When I can hear her, for example at 0:30, she sounds very dry, and too upfront.  She sounds too intimate compared to everything else, and that really emphasizes how everything was recorded in a separate space from each other.  EK's vocals will need some further processing, some reverb (with some predelay, like 60-90ms), and there will need to be heavy EQ cuts on the guitars and backing elements so the vocals can cut through.  You can even do this with a dynamic EQ, just make sure it sounds natural enough overall (no obvious dips).

The screamo cuts through better than the female vocal, but there are spots that even the screamo is drowned out.  Wow!

The drum work is great!  But yeah it's buried under the wall of guitars and backing elements, a good amount of the time.

In the densest areas of the track, for example at 2:41, the high mids are dog-piling so hard between 3-4kHz that it is literally shredding my eardrums.  It's just too many midrangey things playing at once, with no EQ used to let leads/vocals shine in front of the soundscape.  This is an oppressive wall of sound!

The master is driven very heavily.  The numbers look ok (-10db RMS is totally fair), but the master sounds so crispy on top as if it has just been pushed too hard.  From time to time I hear pumping in the master.  You'll want to turn every stem down by several db so you have more mastering headroom, and also make sure with EQ that no instruments are playing any stray or unnecessary subs, lows, or inaudible rumble.

This is a long arrangement, and it's pretty samey all the way through.  The instruments, vocals and energy level remain constant once established.  Having a low-energy, soft, and possibly drumless breakdown would really break up the relentless nature of this arrangement and let the listener have a break before another big section starts.  As it stands, this arrangement is more of an assault on the listener rather than telling a story.

This song has some terrific elements!  As I said the performances and instruments and vocals are all great.  But the mixing and processing are blowing it.  I suggest going back to the drawing board on the mixing.  Maybe just start with the drums and the bass, get those working well together with volume balancing and EQ, then add one element at a time, utilizing EQ and stereo placement to make sure that leads/vocals come through when they should, without sounding so buried, and without the soundscape feeling so cluttered and oppressive.

NO (resubmit)