I.F.H AMMO Ver 3.0

One of the worst things just happened in my life. My mp3! Dead.. Well, losing my notebook would be 10 times worse off...

Alhamdulillah.. My blog is successfully published despite the recent quake disruptions.

*Downloads in 96kbps now avaliable. Valid till the next Ammo Ver.

IYAN'S FIVE HEADBANGER AMMOS

No.5 - Tool - Useful Idiot
Genre: Alternative/Progressive Metal

Not for the listener.. For the music enthusiast & fanatics. Hearing to Tool is like taking a long cut, which not many will like.

+ Enigmatic and dark intro riff, yet artful
+ Plain, but well-formed and controlled vocals
+ Distressing and hysterical high guitar octave sounds. Haha. That triggers your frustration anger. Headbang!
+ 30-second drum solo at 5:11minutes
+ Explosive powerchord outro
+ Tool music is so unpredictable. Thunderous blast beats or powerchords might slam you from nowhere

Headbanger's meter: Moderate to High

No.4 - Bathory - Baptised In Fire And Ice
Genre: Viking/Black Metal

Harsh vocal reminds me of Sex Pistols, but still have the barbaric warrior approach here.

+ Phenomenally awesome intro, big drums in a large hall
+ Nice old school metal main riff
+ Quorthon screams "Baptised! In!!"
+ The "Fire and ice.." chant!!
+ The choir!!
+ Another old school metal outro!!

- Hmm.. An 8 min song? Too long I guess
- Some crappy guitar solo
- Choir sings quite flat... Bah. Actually I don't mind...

Headbanger's meter: Very High

No.3 - Deftones - Hole In The Earth
Genre: Nu-Metal, Alternative Metal











Deftones are back, with their lastest album Saturday Night Wrist.

+ I just love heavy & hard songs, which has also a mellow side
+ Dreamy & futuristic ambient
+ Deftones still has the magic
+ Fiercely heavy, yet esthetic guitars
+ Elegant basslines
+ Solid drumming
+ Good thing Deftones is moving further away from its crappy "hardcore" rapping Nu-Metal roots

Headbanger's meter: Moderate to Very High

No.2 - Children Of Bodom - Hate Me!
Power/Speed Metal, Black Metal (Disputed. Some losers even call them Metalcore)


CoB has never covered either Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" or Europe's "The Final Countdown". Take note please, you metal posers.

+ Horror-flick keyboards intro (Jack the Ripper turned sherd-guitar metalhead..?)
+ Nice lick riff. Quite scandinavian
+ Neat works of guitars-keyboard collaboration
+ Fiercesome war cries "Woooh!!"
+ Swift guitar solos
+ "I don't give a f*ck if you hate me!"
+ Gruesome likewise kick-ass song!
+ Some winsome attitude by the CoB Hate Crew

Headbanger's meter: Very High

No.1 Most Listened - Cannibal Corpse - Zero The Hero (Black Sabbath Cover)
Genre: Death Metal


When I downloaded this song, there was a sudden finish. So I edited it with a fade-out. It's fine to download covered songs right...? Right?

+ A heavier version more like 80's thrash, damn much obscure (Yes. Cookie monster vocals)
+ Slow crushing doom-death style
+ Brutal heaviness, I say
+ Cool guitar solo at outro
+ Quite a simple song. A good example for the beginner metal guitarists

- What if this is an original and not from Sabbath? What the f*ck is the lyrics?!
- Repetitive to some extend.. Unmelodic..
- What? 5 other bands cover that song too?

Headbanger's meter: Very High

I.F.H Ammo Ver 2.0
I.F.H Ammo Ver 1.0

A day in a weeks break

Listening: Muse - Starlight

Today I went to Khairee's house for some electric guitar session.

Well, he wanted to learn some blues. And I have fair basics on that. I also lended a rock guitar technic book to him, which I bought about 6 months ago. But to me its too bluesy; rather than rock. Duh, rock evolved from blues music.

And its been more than a week since I blogged.

How do I feel after a weeks break from school? Damn happy at first. Then restless.

Its so hard to avoid wasting time during a holiday. But its actually a good time to waste time right? ..its the term break...

I played my disciples2 like, 3 to 4 hours a day. And went out with my old buddies 4 times since Friday. Hanging out at the snookerium, going to town..

Well, sometimes my life feels so predictable. And repetitative. Everydays quite the same.

I'm also quite sick of the same song here.

Okay, I'm heading to the school labs tomorrow to finish an assignment. Better reload my mp3 for the half an hour journey to the campus.

I.F.H.Ammos coming soon...

A session with nullified

Listening: Some ballad instrumental from Arch Enemy

Yesterday I came down to help Farid with his band. We had a coversation about this last thursday.

Farid thought syazani cannot be present, so I'm the bassist for the jamming. Well, actually Syaz came. So, he played the second guitarist.

Nullified is a growing band just like us Ensisventine. But a year older and their songs are heavier! Four semitones down. Gothenburg Melodic Death. They also play Black Metal too if I'm not wrong.

I'm also confused about the two bands Nullified and Assault. Their difference is the vocalist. Err... Why not emerge as one?

Nemesis is the heaviest song I played with them, or ever played. Two other awesome songs from In Flames. It was the 1st time I hear to them, when Farid told me to learn them. Nice.

The crew are awesome too. Nesh is a good shredder. Syazani is skilled as usual on the bass. The two vocalist mesmerised me too. Not forgetting Farid and his explosive drum beats.

I'm quite pleased to help them.

Ensis is taking a short break without Hasyim. Ensis is my 1st priority, because I'm the leader. Well, looks like I have more metal friends & contacts to share my hobbies with.

The art of being left out

Listening: Linkin Park - Runaway

Aah.. A tune from our high school days.

Another day in school, I was late ten minutes for the tutorial class. I had a CCA meeting this evening. What's my CCA?

When I answered "live audio" to my buddies, 99 out of 100 will reply "Huh? What's that?" In a nutshell, the most slackiest activity group in my school. Our meetings are maybe twice a month, once a month, or, even once in two months.

Most of all, I feel quite left out in my CCA. I know only about three or four names in the group. Well, I didn't have any real conversations in the meeting.

Azi is a good friend of mine and he was the one who recommend me this club. My close buddies like Vipin & Alfy were seldom present. Raden maybe now and then. Also the chinese guy who played chess with me, he loves classic metal like manowar and iron maiden.

Nad was the first girl I know in the club. She now prefers to chat with her girlfriend group. We used to be close. Too bad we only meet when there's only LA meeting.

So, I sat in one corner in the meeting room, listening to my mp3...

Malay buddies in nyp don't seem to have me join in their "group" or circle of peers. Looks like I'll not gonna be in an all-nyp band that I will like to form or be in.

I'm not asking for sympathy here. I'm still new in the campus.

Jamm Session 28 Nov

Listening: Queensryche - Silent Lucidity

It's been 2 weeks since we played together, a week plus since a posted a blog here. I'm addicted to the computer game Disciples 2. That's why I'm spending less time on the msn & frienster.

Our reunion jamming session quite sucks. But I'm very glad that we remain dedicated to our music. During the performance, we have like, 82% with us. Now we have about 22% of our form. I also blistered my fingers on the bass. It's been 2 weeks since I practised on it!

But this session isn't a serious one. That's okay. Of course we'll fight hard & climb up the ladder again. Hope for another upcoming gig, at maybe my school?

The ensi-hordes also found a bass for their lord. Thanks bro ajid & sir hasyim! I should treat them a meal! Not forgetting count raven idris!

Finally, I also discovered the genre that we classified are in. But I don't wanna inform the hordes or else the 'what's that?' will be on their face. Hasyim: "Binatang aper tu?"

Here's our songs, and what genre/style they are..

• Everybody's Changing - Extreme death/black metal, satanic-core (Wakaka. Jokin' here)
• Canon In C - Another sh*tty piece from us
  
• Phantom Of The Opera - Symphonic gothic metal

Current songlist:

• If I Could Fly - Power metal, 80's metal
• Moondance - Symphonic metal
• Song Of War - Heroic folk metal, progressive metal
• Children Of The Earth - Progressive metal, hard rock

Overall, we're more to the Progressive metal side. Fine examples are Queensryche, Dream Theater, Rainbow.. Know more at wikipedia.com/progressivemetal

Ensisventine: 1st Show

Listening: Europe - The Final Countdown

Thursday, 16th November 2006. One small performance, one big step for EnsiKnights. The power of four.

Crowd strength: less than 30. Wakakak, but a nice starting gig.

After a long ride in the mrt, me and Idris met up with Yazid and Hasyim at the concert band room.

I had many doubts that morning. Mostly, it's about our guitars. I have already heard to our jamming recordings yesterday. It turns out that Yazid has problems with his palm muting. Yeps, it sounded more like ''skunking", seriously.

But Yazid displayed and proved me wrong at the early mini-session. He practised hard the day and night before. Then I'm more confident that we are very ready to hit the stage. Furthermore, Yazid has the most supporters at his school. That's good!

It's a surprise that we were the first to perform that morning(from third in order). Some organising error I guess. And also I was the first to discover that we brought up the wrong, faulty bass amp on stage. Okay. Delayed by 15 minutes...

Our original intro "Song Of War" was fair, but cool. Initially I was quite stage-frighted that I didn't nailed my slide notes. Followed by "If I Could Fly" by Helloween, it went really smooth. I didn't know how my bass sounded(the amp was facing away from me), but so far the solo-part is much better than our sessions. Hasyim screamed at the pre-solo part and that is smashing!

Our another original "Children Of The Earth" had the so-called best applause from our crowd. That's so unexpected. Looks like Hasyim has the magic. Moondance went smooth too, despite some little errors from Idris. Well, he did his best. All of us made our mark. March marsilings, march!!

I only stayed to watch the 2nd band(because they borrowed my stuff...). Their guitars are fine but the vocals is far from horrible(really, really horrible). Wakakaka. The drums are a bit out of place. It sounded like swing music instead of metal at the song "The Trooper". Wow, I'm a critic. Their words after they perform is, "I off!" "I don't wanna perform anymore!" That's so not professional. But their lead guitarist was more optimistic. He performed awesome too. Now gimme back my gadget!

As the day ended, I was addicted to performing. How I wish just now was a rehearsal... Seriously, I wish we had 6 songs instead of 4. My reaction after our last number is,"What? That's all? My fingers have no blisters yet!!

Next stop, rhythm masala and practice harder!

Special Thanks To

• Allah The Greatest.
  
• Idris, Hasyim and Yazid. They believe me and in the spirit of Ensisventine!
• Coventide, their support made us larger than life
• Azam, for his huge support and allowing me to perform with his bass
• Zack, for taking the pictures
• Adilah, for watching me perform, and introducing me to her pretty friend who says I'm cute (kembangan ako... memang la aku cute Wakakaka)
• Our parents for letting us spent time practising together, and give us money to jamm
• The crew who helped us set up the stage(nak kite tolong lepas habis? rilek sua. Adios!)
• And last but not least (your name here), for reading

I.F.H AMMO Ver 2.0

I'm facing lots of damn html errors right now. To quicken up the pace, I introduced my reviews in point form.

IYAN'S FIVE HEADBANGER AMMOS

No. 5 - Cradle Of Filth - From Cradle To Enslave
Genre: Extreme Gothic Metal

+ eerie keyboard intro, COF as always
+ followed by a heavy bassline
+ start headbanging and moshing at 0:52 minutes!
+ martian style keyboards at the background
+ awesome riffs with quick bends, 1:32 minutes
+ some unexpected eerie parts when music pauses(but the keyboards); a lady sings
+ wicked harsh vocal harmony when Dani sings "What sing activities will be freed when those lights burn black..."

- repetitive pre-outro "This is the end of everything... This is the end of everything... This is..." when is this gonna end?!

Headbanger's meter: Extreme

No. 4 - Arch Enemy - Nemesis
Genre: Melodic Death

+ What an intro guitar riff! Like an alarm to call for war
+ Angela Gossow just kicked my arse
+ Strong theme of unity: "We are strong... We are one!"
+ Damn beautiful lick riff played on chorus and the slow interlude
+ Some interesting bassline ascends before the interlude
+ Nostalgic slow interlude
+ Hail Angela & Gothenburg!!

Headbanger's meter: Moderate to Very High

No. 3 - AFI - The Boy Who Destroyed The World
Genre: Hardcore Punk


+ Nice soundtrack from THPS 2
+ This is not punk-pop
+ Amazing punkish-bass playing
+ Good octave power chords
+ Love the part sang "They said it heard their eyes but he would never know.."

- Change of direction at 1:50 minutes, after that can't understand what the heck he sang
- Too many picksliding

Headbanger's meter: High

No.2 - Iron Maiden - The Nomad
Genre: NWOBHM (if you're a metalhead who don't know what it means, YOU POSER!)

+ Epic one from Maiden, quite symphonic
+ Deserve to be in one of their compilation albums
+ Egyptian riffs!!
+ Nice drumbeat
+ Bruce vocals at his best
+ Egyptian guitar solo at 3:33 minutes!
+ A beautiful interlude.. A masterpiece!!

Headbanger's meter: High

No.1 Most Listened - Orphaned Land - Norra El Norra (Entering The Ark)
Genre: Middle-Eastern Folk Metal


+ Just as I thought Ocean Land was awesome...
+ Elegant acoustic guitar intro
+ Powerful electric guitar entrance
+ epic Middle-East tunes!
+ a very hard rock feel at 1:27 minutes
+ piano solo outro!
+ translation of lyrics here

Headbanger's meter: Moderate to High

I.F.M. Ammo Ver 1.o

Jamm Session 7 Nov

Watching: Finntroll - Trollhammaren

Finntroll - Trollhammaren
Uploaded by Groumphillator

Another change in the Ensis line-up. Our lady Liz is no longer with us. Still don't know her reasons. I don't think she has the interest to communicate with us again. Or interest with band.

I am very glad that my old buddy Azam was there for the band. We were friends since sec 1. He's our new keyboardist for the upcoming performance.

The jamming went pretty well. We didn't waste any time at all. I think this was one of the best sessions I've been to. We all did our parts with discipline and seriousness. No other songs which are out of our main playlist (sweet child o' mine?). Now that's the band I wanna be in.

Azam did learn very fast and followed close instructions. He made my day.

Yazid still had problems with his palm muting, I guess. Luckily, Azam was there to help us with the guitar set-ups and maintenance. Hasyim voice is as power-pounding as usual.

Idris, maybe a bit blur. He had some visitors at home, so he joined us late. But a job well done, he showed the thunder with using a single-pedal. Woohoo!

I was also surprised to know that Raudhah was at rythym masala too. She's a band manager I guess. A metal band. I thought she was a vocalist like Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy (I'll bow to her!).

Recalling bittersweet memories, Raudhah kind-of rejected me when I asked her out for a date. Her rejection got me so low. Damn low. I feel like a creep. I feel like crap.

But now I'm finding myself after that heartbreak. Heavy metal is my one true friend; my drug; my motivation.

Forget emo. Heavy metal teaches me to endure and fight the struggles in life. Live with power. Live with adventure. Live with passion. Live to the fullest!

Seriously, I hated Raudhah (A lot. wish I had revenge). But I realise that I should move along and forget the past. Being with my band makes me happy. I smiled as a saw her outside my jamming room.

My music and true friends are better than girl-relationship in life.

House Session Oct 31

Listening: Rage Against The Machine - Calm Like A Bomb

Nice intro bassline... Turn up the volume!

For the 1st time we jammed at my room. From evening to late-night. Yazid brought along his newly-bought black electric guitar. And his marshall amp. Hasyim with his keyboards.

We are still working on our original. It was like 50% completed, and after yesterday's session, I could say that we are on the 75% or 80% percentage.

We were working on the kick-in part, from slow to faster-paced. Yazid's method was fairly creative. But I'm sure we'll develop into bigger entrances some next day. Or next future songs. I'm satisfied, though. The most important part of playing a song is how we deliver it. Let's just stick to positivity and rockin' thunderness! \m/

Since we moved from dual-guitars attack to a single-guitar band, I completely shifted my ideas and the influences of our band.

I'm a bit disappointed about the change of our guitar system. But at the same time really, very looking forward to take on the almighty bass.

I don't hate being on the bass. In fact I love it. I have lots of bass inspirations. The undisputed Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath, Tim Commerford from RATM, Metallica's Jason Newsted, and more (Yups I know guys. Cliff Burton is more f*ckin awesome in Metallica. But Jason uses the plectrum like I did).

As for the band, I look into superior one-guitar bands, like Van Halen or System Of A Down. They play single-guitar to the superb levels, equivalent firepower to two guitars (Stratovarius and Nightwish too, one guitarist and a keyboardist working together. And Coventide deserves some credit here too! They rule!). Of course these one-guitar bands don't play boring all power-chords from start to end, these smart one-man-show guitarists juggle from riffs to licks to solos. And of course, excellent palm-muting and variations!

Eg. Of excellent one-man show rock guitars (w/o keyboards...)

• Van Halen - Ain't Talking Bout Love

• Van Halen - Panama

• System Of A Down - B.Y.O.B

• Motorhead - Ace Of Spades

Many, many more.. Feels like talking more here... Ok back to my homework.

The New Ensisventine Site Is Out!

[[ENSISVENTINE]]

Jamm Session 28 Oct Pt.2

Listening: Nightwish - Phantom Of The Opera

Back to the chronological playback, 2nd half.

• 49min: Me back to the guitars. Idris practising the double-pedalling on our original song. Still working on the song.

• 52min: Take 2 children of the earth. Really horrible! The guitars were everywhere and Hasyim's vocals were err... Sharp? The drums too... Pause!

• 56min: Take 3. Omg Hasyim's voice still like an old man whining! And then the tempo was like sh*t!! Suddenly we changed from 80bps to 160bps... But the double-pedal part at 2nd pre-chorus was better, at least...

• 60min: Me back to the bass... But I trial run it with my distortion pedal. Woah. Nice. Sounds like Cliff Burton. So fierce. Heheh. Yazid practising ska on the guitars(?). Idris practising double pedal. Next number please...

• 66min: Other songs. Sweet child 'o' mine. Hasyim on the clean guitars, and the vocals of course. Hmm. Yazid's solos and main riff still needs to improve... I think his tunings are still not accurate lah. Hasyim also try to solo but anyhow shoot one. We had fun though! Heheheh

• 71mins: Canon second try. Mistakes here and there again... Duhh.

• 74mins: Helloween song again. Solo part with bass solo(?) Solo-to-bridge part errors again.

• 79mins: Phantom of the opera. He trying on 2nd vocals. Of course I cannot la! I cocked up at my singing part. Hasyim: "Hey beb, mana ko punya bass?" Restart please.

• 80mins: Take 2. Hasyim's vocals as tarja are really amusing me! Wakakaka. Takleh angkat! And then apek jamm says: "10 mins left!"

• 84mins: Take 3. Yazid's turn to sing as the phantom. Not bad. Idris a bit lost in the song. Me too. How many keys are there again?

• 89mins: Take 4. Last song. Yazid's guitars too fast here. The muting also sucks. But his solo parts are fine.

• 90mins: Session over!

Overall comment: NEEDS ANOTHER SESSION! Duh. Let's keep trying guyz! :)

Jamm Session 28 Oct Pt.1

Listening: Jamm session recording

A simple jamming session at rhythm masala. 90mins. Four of us. We are trying to get back to our music. It's been a while since we practiced our songs "plugged".

And I've forgotten my solos to the helloween song. Is it on the 7th fret? Or the 9th? Sh*t.

By the way, I'm moving on to bass now. Iman caused too much trouble for us. I'll deal with that later. Let's talk about the session first shall we?

I've recorded the whole session to re-listen it, just like my senior band member told me.

Playback... Chronological

• 1min: Setting up. Tuning the guitars...

• 10mins: Still tuning... Oh dear, Yazid's effects pedal got prob. Noisy. Then suspect one of my cables are faulty. Duh. No need to use pedal lah. Stick to one cable...

• 15mins: The 1st song. Helloween. Trial run. Me and Yazid on guitars, Hasyim on vocals and bass. And then, alamak. 30 seconds into the song, I called for a pause. I think Yazid's strings are out of tune.

• 16mins: Re-tuning...

• 21mins: Helloween take 2. Me making the "keyboard sound". The guitars sounded very fierce. Too loud I guess. Hasyim's mic needs more volume here! Then came my solo part... Hancur sak. My notes are anywhere. Then Hasyim did not listen for the bridge part. Everybody halted. We need to adjust the guitar volumes...

• 26mins: Take 3. Solo-to-bridge part still needs improvement! Hasyim's "If I could flaaii..." sounds like 'whining' more then singing. Heheh

• 29mins: Take 4. Me switched to bass, Hasyim only on vocals. Here comes the big change... Hmm. Not bad. But bass needs better timing. Also, a one-man guitar sounds more empty here. We'll have to work on this. Skipping the solo part for this time...

• 35mins: 2nd song, phantom. Hasyim's vocals in the intro made us burst into laughter. It sounded like Tarja's grandma instead. Take 2 please!!

• 36mins: Take 2. Yazid's guitar sounds punkish! Needs adjustments here. My bass parts still not perfect. Drums a bit here and there...

• 41mins: 3rd song, canon. Hasyim the on second guitars. And it's horrible! Open chords on full heavy distortion? Ahem. Next please.

• 43mins: Our original song's turn. Our 1st try on "plugged". Actually it sounded more punk than metal... Needs more touch up here! The solo was ok here. But later on the second pre-chorus, Yazid palm-muting riff was horrible! Please tell me when is the next session...

• 45mins: Half time! Not that there is half time during the session, but I need to take a break while typing this post... Heheh

To be continued part 2...

Ensisventine: Updates

Listening: Iron Maiden - Prodigal Son

Ensisventine's personal site(?)
Out soon. Yazid, hasyim & idris will take care of that. Pending.

Next sessions
It'll be long after hari raya, maybe 2 weeks from now. The Hordes are currently and will have a busy month ahead.

Upcoming performance
Performance at Hasyim's campus on mid-November. Soon to be confirmed.

Updated songlist
Children Of The Earth the full version later to be completed. More composes from Hasyim. Not planning of ANY new cover songs. The number Memories is further delayed.

Guys, we'll have to meet up to discuss future matters.

A high school ambition

Listening: Filter - Where Do We Go From Here

I was on the way to school on the mrt. As I listened to my mp3, I did my usual, trying to picture a certain scene and a scenario for every song. One of my natural hidden hobbies I guess.

Then suddenly, a deep thought struck me. I remembered what I really wanted to be. An ambition since my later high school period.

A music video director. Something under the music industry. And at that time, I aimed for Audio Engineering at SP. Or Media Studies And Management. Wow. I never felt such regret before. Now I'm in a wildcard IT course that I was forced to like.

Well, I was 5 points behind from be qualified into Audio Engineering. And my english was ONE grade behind from entering MSM. A "B4" and a "B3" had such great difference.

I don't feeling like talking about this sh*t anymore... Don't wanna sink with my own regrets...

It was my 1st visit to NTU. We took a taxi from boon lay. The distance from the entrance we went through to the auditorium was like one kilometre. What a big patch of land. We almost got lost with the taxi driver.

We got a gaming keyboard and a $100(not per person. Duhh) cash voucher, all from PD scientific. Their comment is: "We liked the concept of your keyboard a lot. But the presentation was lousy!" Heheh... Well at least we won the top 4. I'm not upset at all. But very glad that the Pentagon was one of their favourites. Thanks to my project buddies. A unique idea of us, but at a very last minute finish.

I was tired and down with regrets. But later that night Hara called me on the phone and I was so surprised. I didn't know she was gonna call me! Well, we were so far apart in terms of distance. But I turned happy because she cheered me up. She cares for me a lot.



Her newest pic. Woah. She's so pretty...

School Reopens

Listening: Placebo - Because I Want You

Here we go again... Another new beginning. I wore my favourite slipknot jacket to school, and caught rashes!! How sh*tty. My arms are very itchy. I think it's been weeks since i brought it to laundry.

Trying my best to pay extra attension to the lecture... I slept twice yesterday!! At the computer lab and during the lecture...

My very bad habit is sleeping at the lecture theatres. Why? Because it's so cold and the seats are DAMN comfortable. So much better than my own bed. Plus most lecturers speak in monotones. How can I avoid sleeping man? Even most of the time they faded the lights while using the projector! Help me!!

Then the next day, I got unexpected news. We won the 4 best gaming keyboard designs in DES! I was shocked. And proud of my group buddies.

At first they announced:"..pentagon... bla..bla.." At that instance, i tried to recall... What's the shape of our design again? Err.. I could hear alim asking himself in confusion, "Pentagon?"

Just before i could remember it... My name was announced "Muhammad Sufiyan, Tan Wei Chen, bla.. bla..." All of a sudden, i was caught by surprise. And then I began to grin. Overjoyed. I pat my buddies on the back as the everybody applauded at us. Some of us even laughed at ourselves.

We could still remember the day of presentation. We were late on finishing the A1 board. We were outside stapling the pieces in a hurry. At that time I was disappointed because I don't time we did a good job. Very upset. But lucky my good friends kai lin and meow thyeng were there to comfort me. It's very caring of them. Yups, girls are very caring and soft-hearted people. Some.

Session 14 Oct

Listening: Search - Melayar Bahtera

We are currently working on a new song. Children of the earth was nicely written, I am glad; confident that hasyim will be our main lyrics composer and contributor. I see a brighter future for us to go on.

I'm still working on multiple licks and solos for the song (And also some sh*tty errors at my posts! Duh). I had strong new ideas. And we could play it in several ways.

Hasyim's falcetto vocal style was parallel to european power metal-like. And at lower pitch, can awesomely sound like Dave Mustaine too! But importantly I wanted it to be more gothic-themed sound. We shall work on that. Iron maiden's new tracks on A Brave New World and Dance Of Dance are fine examples. Whatever it would sound, I want it exciting and epic for us!

Coming soon.. A blog specially for ENSISVENTINE itself...

My Top 5 Most Listened Headbanger Songs

IYAN’S 5 HEADBANGER AMMOS

Specially to all you heavy rock and metal fanatics out there.. reviewed!

No.5 - My Chemical Romance - Thank You For The Venom
Genre: Post-hardcore

Two years ago… MCR were so damn irritating with the whiny and annoying vocals. And of course the black and red tie attire which every emo and POP-punk wannabe (ahem, poser) tries to imitate.

Though now I like the melodic punk band because of their metal-influenced sound and their multi-guitar harmonic melodies.

The intro to this song is mind-blowing and I definitely salute their guitarist who nailed and came up with it. Excellent use of palm muting. Harmonic guitars riffs, drums and the rest are MCR-style as usual. Gerard Way is also at his usual with his hyper scream-drenched, emotional driven choruses. The 25-second guitar solo is quite awesome. One of MCR more darker themed and metallic tracks, like Give 'Em Hell Kid.

Headbanger’s meter: High

No.4 - Stratovarius - Stratosphere
Genre: Neo-Classical Metal

A powerful neo-classical metal instrumental song introduced by my band member. It’s hard to forget the impressive intro, fantastic speed playing between a keyboard and a guitar. The bass is also outstanding.

Then at 01:44 minutes is the slower part, but the song still remains exciting. The interlude guitar solo has a lot of quality with reverbs. Reminds me of Malaysian slow rock music (jiwangan). And then again returns to the swift keyboards and guitars, followed by a slow descending guitar alongside the bass in the outro.

Lastly the guitar ascends in a burst of speed to end the whole piece in classical style. Everything ends in less than 5 minutes, not too lengthy. Great stuff.

Headbanger’s meter: High

No.3 - Trivium – Like Light to the flies
Genre: Melodic metalcore

I’m new to listening to Trivium, but there’s a lot more to come I’m sure from this top-notch metalcore band. Actually watching this music video is more thrilling than listening to the song itself.

The first guitar riff is heavy, and the second one is more incredible and heavier. Matt Heafy turns to his magnificent clean vocal on the pre-chorus. The melodic guitars lick kicks in on the chorus. One of my two favourite parts of the song is at the beginning of the bridge. Just as I thought everything ends on 3 minutes, it kept rolling and the tempo slows down to a more breathtaking and crushing rhythm.

The first solo was brilliantly metal but my other favourite part is when Matt took the lead on the second solo. His bends and hammer-ons are epic and no doubt this is the greatest solo I ever heard from an American rock band since the Guns N' Roses in the early 90’s. There’s also a clean guitar part in between the two solos. Not forgetting the hard-hitting and mighty stand-alone ‘D’ powerchord by Matt right after his solo. Trivium are the new heroes in american metal music. They rule.

Headbanger’s meter: Very High

No.2 - Helloween – Heavy metal (Is The Law)
Genre: Power/speed Metal

A not so famous 80’s heavy metal anthem but it surely kicks ass. Very traditional European kind of power/speed metal. Sounds like Iron Maiden on steriods. The double bass drumming throughout the song overwhelmed me. The speed guitars are combined with fine harmonies. The electrifying vocals are high soaring and the basslines at the middle is absolutely sick. Though the singing was not so ‘English’.

Still, not all heavy metal songs can be named 'anthems'.

Headbanger’s meter: Very High

No.1 MOST LISTENED: Job For A Cowboy – Entombment Of A Machine
Genre: Deathcore

I knew this band from a “spongebob turned metalhead” video at youtube, with their song Knee Deep, very nicely edited. You need to be ‘extreme’ here or else you’ll end up pressing the ‘Stop’ button in less than 30 seconds. Trying to get the exact words for the song kindly not needed.

Check out the ear-piercing scream at 00:24 minutes. I’ll feel like shrieking here too! Maybe not in public if I’m hearing this on the go. Followed by a fierce blast beat. And another 10 or 20 more.

Not forgetting the evil Egyptian riff at 02:32 minutes. Now I like bursting into wicked laughter as if I had ruled the whole world. And then another ruthless final riff, which slows down dreadfully at the outro. Now I felt dying a painful death after the superhero totally kicked my butt and stopped me from my evil plans. Duh. I wanna start all over again.

Headbanger’s meter: Extreme

Need these tunes on your mp3? Recommend of any better headbangin' songs? Contact me y'all!

See ya again the next 2 weeks with more!

Folk/Viking Acoustic Sound Tuning!!

Listening: Ensiferum - Lai Lai Hei

Specially for my ensi-mates hasyim and yazid, or anyone else reading and is on the (acoustic)guitars!

As we know, our band tuning is DGCFAD (2 semitones down from stardard EADGBE).

To get this special tuning (CGCCGC), from DGCFAD...

• 6th (thickest) string: detune lower, 2 semitones down, octave to the 4th string [D -> C]

• 5th & 4th string: remains unchanged

• 3rd string: detune lower, 5 semitones down, exact same sounding to the 4th string [F -> C]

OR

uptune higher to G note(original in standard), which makes CGCGGC, an alternative. [F -> G]

• 2nd string: detune lower, 2 semitones down [A -> G]

• 1st string: detune lower, 2 semitones down [D -> C]

Enjoy! If it sounds terrible.. Try again! Peace out ;]

Session 11 Oct

Listening: Sublime - Santeria

First session since last week. The weather was bad. The haze gave me flu and throat irritations. My head felt heavy. I was not at my best.

It's good that hasyim came not so long ago since i arrive at the bus stop. He showed me his best punctuality. The yazid and iman were little late.

Hasyim introduced me a new song for the band. "Children of the earth". I'm proud that it was all fully finished yet structured. No reason to the reject the song here. This would be no. 6 on our number list. Lots of touching-up needed to sound heavier etc.

However, no. 4 and 5 were far from ready (moondance and memories).

For your info guys, i listed out the songs in order of importance and to be completed.

1. Phantom of the opera
2. If i could fly
3. Sweet child o' mine
4. Moondance
5. Memories
6. Children of the earth

Feel free for comments and suggestions, guys. Peace out.

A 1st Voice

Listening: Helloween - Heavy Metal (Is The Law)

This is my new anthem! Yeah! \m/

Greetings guys. The ensi-lord here. This blog is specially for the mighty band of ours & for the lord(me). Lets keep the rockin dream alive!