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!