OMINOUS GRIM-The vocals and keyboards are done for “The Rebellion” and “The Fury” and have been sent to Ominous. Once he receives the card, he’ll do the final mix. He still needs to do the guitars and bass for “As the Fog….” and also the 1st bounce for “Ravens”. Once this is done, he’ll send the card back to me and I’ll do the final preparations for the finished songs and then the vocals and keyboards for the unfinished ones.
Yesterday I finished the drums for “The Crowning Thorns of Guilt” and will be working on the drums for 2 other songs in the coming weeks.

OBLIVION WINTERS-It appears that recording will be pushed back for Somber Nightfall because I agreed to work on the drums for 3 new OMINOUS GRIM songs. Once these are finished, I’ll resume with OW.

OMINOUS GRIM-Ominous has finished the drums/guitars/bass for one of the new songs. Also, the drums for the song “Ravens” will have to be re-recorded onto the recorder. Ominous is currently working on the guitars and bass for the songs “The Rebellion”, “The Fury”, and “As the Fog…”.

OBLIVION WINTERS-Work will most likely begin next week on the drums for the songs “Somber Nightfall”, “Confined By Time”, “The Weeping Shadows”, and the instrument song “The Next Mourning”. I will also be searching my old riffs for material to fill out the rest of the songs on the album Somber Nightfall.

OMINOUS GRIM-The drums are finished for the songs “Ravens”, “The Fury”, “The Rebellion” and “As the Fog…” and will be on the recorder today. Once this is achieved, I will make the appropriate backups and then mail the card to Ominous on Monday. Also, Ominous is getting the hang of his drum machine and is currently working on the drums for the new songs. UPDATE: The drums are officially on the recorder now and the backups were made. All ready to mail to card…

I have decided to have two pseudonyms for my writing projects. Benjamin Stone for contemporary/thrillers/mainstream and Sebastian Winterbourne for historical fiction/history nonfiction etc… If I decide to write any fantasy/sci fi books, I might have to invent a new pseudonym.

I have managed to get nearly an entire SPELLGHAST song written these last few days. So far it’s sounding pretty good. Dark, a slight bit progressive, angry and a bit strange. I have 8 guitar riffs so far… The forthcoming SPELLGHAST album A Murderous Omen should be interesting. Ominous has a few songs written already and I have a feeling that this will be the darkest SPELLGHAST yet.

Work will begin on the new OMINOUS GRIM album Godless soon. It’s hard to find the time nowadays… I haven’t decided yet where to start. We might just start with the old songs. That would be easier. I’ll have to see what Ominous thinks. All I know is that Ominous is chomping at the bit to start recording again.

Ominous has sent me the new raw OMINOUS GRIM songs and they sound excellent. Very complex and dynamic. I’m quite impressed with the new sound. They’ll be a bitch to program the drums for, but well worth it I’m sure. The next OMINOUS GRIM album Godless, will feature 5-6 new songs and 5-6 re-recordings of songs from the early album As the Fog Rolls in for the Slaughter. Should be a great mix.

I should be placing the Digitech Metal Master on ebay any day now.

Just spoke to Ominous last night and he informed me that he just purchased a Zoom G2 guitar pedal. He’s happy with it so far. Both the Metal Master and the Pocket Pod failed to work out. I’ll probably end up selling my Metal Master and the Smart Media card I have left over from the old recorder. If all goes well, I might try to eventually buy a G2. It seems to be more versatile in regards to programming user patches. Ominous will be sending me an SD card with new raw songs very soon, so I hope he gives me a sample of the G2 on there.

Geez… I haven’t posted for a while. The reason is that I’ve been working on the whole pedal situation and the Digitech Metal Master has been far from impressive. In all honesty, I’m quite disappointed and am losing hope. It’s too powerful for my amp, sounds like garbage while direct recording, too noisy while mic-ing amp and shorts out my amp because it’s too heavy. Ominous is currently experimenting with his Line 6 Pocket Pod and I’m awaiting the results. If it turns out to be the answer, I’ll sell the Metal Master on ebay and then try to buy a Pocket Pod as soon as I can. This whole thing has been incredibly frustrating. Another option is to buy a DI box and hope that it makes the sound better for direct recording. At this point, I’m not willing to even bother with recording until this issue is resolved.

In other news, I’ve been creating some pretty cool album covers using the program called Gimp, which is a free open source imaging program that is very similar to photoshop.

OBLIVION WINTERS-The titles for the next 4 albums have been determined. 1) Somber Nightfall, 2) Downpour, 3) Some Like It Cold, and 4) Winters In Oblivion

When do kids stop being total gremlins? Is there no end to their’ energy levels? Wow. I need a Na-cation/Ja-cation haha. At least they’re actually playing with each other today…

I ordered a Digitech Metal Master and it’ll be arriving some time next week! Ominous already received his, and so far so good.

DAEMONIC SHADOW-I have the music for nearly a whole new song written. I might add a riff or two, but for the most part it’s just about done.

Loving Utah so far. The thunderstorms have been a nice surprise.

I have officially moved to Utah. So far I like it here. The people are so nice and the view is majestic.

Another new project has been formed…. YULETIDE STAG is my new acoustic winter/nature music project. Keep in mind that by “winter” I don’t mean “christmas”. I was inspired to create this project by my new access to nature and the oncoming prospect of snowfall. It snows about 30-50 inches a year here.

Possible breakthrough!!! I will be getting a Digitech Metal Master distortion pedal in the near future, which I’m hoping will allow me to sound better recording guitars directly in into the recorder and also have a better and more dynamic distortion. Direct recording will be a big plus, as I won’t have to mic the guitars anymore and can rest assured that nobody will be able to hear me recording (which is a big deal to me). I have a good feeling about this pedal. Ominous just ordered one online, so I’m waiting to hear what he thinks of it… So needless to say, recording will be on hold until this is resolved. I have some money saved on amazon.com, so perhaps I’ll order the pedal off of there.