My band's EP is out!

[Chipper173]

I decided to post this in general cause I figured it'd get more attention here. If a mod wants to move it to somewhere they feel is more appropriate, feel free.

I don't post here very often anymore, but I just wanted to spread the word that my band Existem (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Existem/152398084778202) has just released its debut, self-titled EP. We're really happy with how it came out. You can listen to/download the whole thing here:

http://existem.bandcamp.com/

It's progressive metal that fans of artists like Between the Buried and Me, Periphery and Devin Townsend will likely enjoy. It's name your price, but you won't hurt our feelings if you put in $0. We're always appreciative of anything you could give though!

Give it a listen, like us on Facebook and let me know what you think! (P.S. I am the bass player.)

[Shin Amakiir]

It's not too bad at all. You had me at "like Devin Townsend." :p I was expecting more like his Project albums, though. I'm not too fond of the "metal vocals." Sounds too angry, even though I know it's not half the time.

But still, not too shabby at all.

[TDK]

I'm liking the music. Who did the art for your album cover? That's some nifty graphical design.

[A Zarkin' Frood]

When I heard Shin complaining about metal vocals I sorta feared it had that crappy growling all the shitty newcomer bands have, but this is actually pretty good. And I'm liking the sound.

I also love how you like to break away from that little metal box you put yourselves in in some moments. I like the unexpected.

[rpgdemon]

That was growling though. It was my main complaint with the song I listened to, that put me off from wanting to listen to the others. When I think progressive metal, I think of something with more melody to the vocals, instead of screaming.

Nothing against you guys, and the instrumentals were great, but it's just not my style.

[A Zarkin' Frood]

I think I specified crappy growling. Adjectives. What we hear here is not crappy growling. Unless you're not into it, I guess, which is something I can totally understand. It's an acquired taste for myself. Sad part is it scares a lot of people away from good music that actually uses growling to its benefit. I like to name Opeth as a good example. The growls are brilliant but it's not omnipresent as there are clean vocals too and plenty of long instrumental sections. Another band that likes to mix clean with harsh vocals are Die Apokalyptischen Reiter.

Uh... okay I got a little sidetracked. Nevermind. Or do mind. Whichever you prefer.

[Chipper173]

Thanks for all the kind words guys!

About the vocals, since that seems to be the point of much discussion: Due to unreliability and general not good-ness, we sacked our vocalist during recording, and the vocals on the EP are done by one of the guitarists and the drummer. I don't think anyone in the band would really describe themselves as a "vocalist", but it gets the job done. We originally had more clean singing parts planned, but no one felt confident they could pull them off well enough to be worth putting on the EP.

It's not too bad at all. You had me at "like Devin Townsend." :p I was expecting more like his Project albums, though. I'm not too fond of the "metal vocals." Sounds too angry, even though I know it's not half the time.

But still, not too shabby at all.
Thanks! Outside of a couple parts, yeah, it doesn't sound a whole lot like him, and we tend to veer a bit more towards SYL-type stuff, but we consider him one of our primary influences.

I'm liking the music. Who did the art for your album cover? That's some nifty graphical design.
Thanks! A friend of a friend did the art for us, we love it. This is her site: http://cargocollective.com/WepanicinapeW#1034436/Illustrations

That was growling though. It was my main complaint with the song I listened to, that put me off from wanting to listen to the others. When I think progressive metal, I think of something with more melody to the vocals, instead of screaming.

Nothing against you guys, and the instrumentals were great, but it's just not my style.
Glad you like our playing, and not to sound rude or anything, but implementation of harsh vocals in prog-metal has been the norm for several years now. Unless you've been listening to only Dream Theater/Symphony X-type of prog metal, bands like those (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19UZd_DKs2Q) I've (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIPvqMbhou4&feature=related) mentioned (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f20L0msLsM) above, as well as bands like Protest The Hero (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypCdGNe3Bvs), Meshuggah (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc98u-eGzlc) and others have become the new face of the genre. As for us, we enjoy bands like Dream Theater, but want a harder, more aggressive sound to our music, and the vocals reflect that. It is an acquired taste, though, I will give you that, and we're hardly pros.

InsaneGenius, too lazy to quote you but glad you like it. We love breaking out of the box as well; we're especially proud of the jazz part in Flatline, although I'm sure any real jazz musician would turn up their nose at it. One of our guitarists is pretty good at it though, so he came up with some changes for him to solo over and we thought it really added life to the song.

Also Opeth is my fave band, good call.