Mikey's return

The key wizard Miguel Valadares, a happy return to FS home.
Last time Mike performed live with Forgotten Suns was at the remarkable Guimaraes Art Rock 2001.

A Great Night

A great debut for Nuno and Mike, a fantastic night for Forgotten Suns...on the photo Nuno and his red bass roaring, we had lots of fun
last night.
The line-up was Pay the Price, Senses, Strange Affair with the Night, Struggle, Flashback(new theme), Betrayed(extended version).

Reharsals

On the last few days we spend our time reharsing the line-up of songs for the S.Alquimista show (29th June). We've been deeply focused on writing new music since 8th May, so now we had to give a few extra days to get our hands on the 'older' stuff.
It's a real pleasure to play our thing with this group of musicians, we're happy to meet again our followers on a venue and we're really curious about all the surprises we have prepared for this one:)

Tip: don't miss this show!

Insideouted

Today we spend our afternoon recording the guitars tracks for 'Outside In(side)' . It's sounding pretty good and we're still on recording process. Only the solos we're left out for the next session. I took some time do double the rithym tracks on perfection with my 'Chaotic Bottom' 2nd layer of distortion and to get over all those complicated 7/4 sections, so I thanx Jo and Linx for their patience and for making them loose the Spain vs Tunisia (3-1 guys!:)

Stormy Friday

Many lightnings and thunders on yesterday's afternoon. We spend our time on studio reharsing the setlist for the Alquimista show and we listened the pre-production recordings. Next week there will be more guitars, bass and keyboards to be recorded.

Have a nice weekend

Recording guitars

15th June. Today while England was beating Trinidad Tobago on the World Cup (2-0), Jo and I were recording the guitars for 'Pinpoints'. Once again we were very happy with the overall sound recorded and we made some experimentantion with some tremolo effects and feedbacks from my cabinets.
Linx joined us on the afternoon. There will be more guitar and bass recordings tomorrow.

Here's a pic of yesterday' session.

Rain and Solos

Rainy morning in Lisboa. Yesterday was a busy day at the studio. Jo and I went there on the morning and recorded 'Flashback' guitars, I'm very proud of my new gear it really sounds amazing!!! Mike, Nuno and James (Linx) arrived on the afternoon and while there Mike recorded some blasting solos for 'Outside In(side)' theme. All solos were fantastic, he leaved the best takes as an idea.
Then I picked my 7th string guitar for 'Pinpoints', it took some time to make the verses section because it's not an easy structure and we want to achieve perfection. I had the spiritual help of 'Michael Merlin' with his incense smokes and his 'vodoo' dances along with Nuno...James and I laughing all the way.

Today the remaining 'Pinpoints' parts and 'Outside In(side) will be recorded.

Recordings - the pre production

Yesterday Sam, Linx and Jo were on studio recording the drums for 'Flashback' and 'Pinpoints'. It's the first steps at the pre-production for the album and Sammy did it sounding great!
Later in the afternoon Mike and I arrived on studio. While Linx was working on his new Helicon fx processor we did an upgrade to the final section of 'Pinpoints' with a very interesting modulation for the chorus and I managed a solo for the fade out approach we'll be doing for this one.

More work for today,

regards

Pre-production

Hi, today we got our time on doing the pre-production for the album (what we composed up to the date). We're recording almost everything direct except the vocals and we're making sure that everything is working properly. We also discuss a bit some concepts for a new song to work on next.

More posts during the week

regards

Recordings

2nd June 2006. Today we were reaharsing for the Alquimista show and Nuno recorded his bass lines for 'Outside In(side) theme, sounding tight and punchy with the guitars & drums!
As promised some days ago, here are some pictures taken at the studio while the band is composing the III album. In a near future there will be some more photos and videos; we expect to have our official website working during this week and we will have it updated with even more info about the recordings.

Have a nice weekend

Mike and 'JoAxe' at the studio

Sam and Nuno at the studio

Linx and Nuno - Solo sections

Today Sam and I were arranging the solos section(keys and guitar) for Racing the Hours. It came even better and yet more progressive than what we imagined:)
James Linx and Nuno arrived after that and we were trying to figure out how we could arrange the guitar and bass parts for the 'ressurection' section of Outside In(side); it's a part with many 7/4 and it ends on a 6/4 with our riff (it's an unisson) being completly broken...well, it sounds realy good. 'Joaxe', our tech, is a very peaceful and calm person...thank you my friend for the countless takes we needed for this one. Linx helped us by discovering the secret turn to solve this section.

More work for tomorrow.

20 days balance

We used 20 days on studio (weekends offwork included) to create new songs for the upcoming album. At the moment the balance is very positive and encouraging due to the quality of compositions.
This is a 180º approach to the previous albums though it is obvious for the followers of Forgotten Suns' career that there's references of the individuals in each and every song. So far we're at the point of having 4 songs finished - Flashback, Pinpoints, Racing the Hours and Outside In(side) - and a half of another song that has the album's title and we're not going to reveal it yet...

We are using some days to reharse for the Alquimista show on 29th June where we will experiment one of two new songs and also tracks from Fiction Edge/Snooze albums.

This is the image of a griffin, Forgotten Suns' new symbol. I think the griffin is enjoying our work so far, aren't you Grif?:)

RACING THE HOURS pt.2

29th May. This afternoon was the most inspired and productive since we started the composition for the 3rd album; we took a seat on the "producer's chair" and listened carefully to all the parts we've done on 'Racing the Hours...Sam and Mike didn't enjoyed that much of my hard rock riff approach for the verses on this song.
Immediatly I picked on my 7th string and started to find another path to the song...I enjoyed the lyrics and the rythmics of Linx for this one, and he kept part of it intact for my joy but all the verses were completly upgraded, and what an upgrade:)
The song is absolutly devastating and breeds metal everywhere! It has now a middle section for a keyboard solo and a final section for a guitar solo, the track runs around 6:30m.

we were at our best level today!

more news soon

WOKE UP THE WORLD TODAY...

...that's the beggining of chorus' lyric for the last song of the album. Today the five members were together working on the song structure (the instrumental will be a separated part). Nuno's work playing along with Sam on this song is extremely important for the groove and I really enjoy the acoustic 7th string guitar approach on the verses. Linx made more lyrics and Miguel did a good work on synths for the 2nd verses, the chorus on this one is something between Within Temptation/Evanescence. We recorded it all just to don't forget all the passages.

Mike recorded some more interesting ideas...news songs?:)
until next week,
Richie

ALBUM TITLE...

Today Mike, Sam and I went into the studio and while we're turning our gear on I played some arpeggios on my 7th string and we look to each others knewing immediatly that we had a new song to work on.
Sam was already doing his grooves and I kept pulling out riff after riff and developing new sections for the song; Mike was doing his laboratoire research on synths when Linx arrived.
He listened to the ideas and suggested that this song should be the one to be baptized with the album's title (that will be unrevealed until we can). This song is divided in 2 parts (the song part and the instrumental section), in the vein on Strange Affair with the Night meets The Final Sentence though with a different approach on all instruments. There's a lot of influence of Mettalica's 'One' and 'Evanescence' on guitars and 'Pain of Salvation' & 'Tori Amos' on the vocals. This will be probably the closing theme of the album.

RACING THE HOURS

We arrived at the Studio today around 14:30, we seated on the 'producer' chairs and we listened carefully to what Sam and I did on the last session...Linx loved it and we went for a debate about the concept for this one.
We agreed on making a song about the rush and the speed of the current days, of how people live for the instant minute and how the system can absorve your soul, use it and spit it out empty.
We baptize the song: 'Racing the Hours'

We had the instrumental for the intro and we jammed the first verses until we got a good groove on guitars/drums; then Linx wrote a cool lyric and we got the machine moving...the ternary riff on guitar is pretty close to Mettalica's 'One and it works, sounds perfect. Chorus is a killer as usual for this album, we have 4 songs rolling and 4 great chorus.We're on the right path.

Work goes on tomorrow, next post will have some pics from the sessions.

regards
7hawk

New song on the making

19th May. We have 3 songs completed and around 15 minutes of music almost finished, we have 1/4 of the album composed. We are very enthusiatic about this new album, it will be really different from the previous Fiction Edge and Snooze and way more into the actual progressive metal scene.
Sam and I got to the studio once again, after a short ride on his bike to get there, we immediately start droppin'out ideas for a new theme...half an hour jamming and we got almost 1:30 minutes of a song structure which reminds me a cross between Symphony X, Tool and Rush. It simply rocks!

More news and photos next week

PINPOINTS

When we finished to balance the drums and guitars on 'Flasback' theme we decided that it was good enough to leave it right were it was and to keep the progressive instrumental in the pocket for future songs...then Linx suddendly put his hands on piano and gave us the intro chords of...'Pinpoints'. Nuno and Sam got the engine going and the guitar solo breaked in...wonderful!We instantly knew we had a fantastic song, a single. Today(18th May), Sammy, 'Jo Axe' (our thech) and I went into the studio, we organized the sections to build the whole theme and we composed a new bridge section inspired on a Fates Warning approach. Mike and Linx arrived later and we finished the structure; the song is based on a love relation & the distance between both 'pinpoints' ...amazing job guys!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINX

We celebrated Linx' birthday with a great reharsal:)
Nothing better than making music and everyone having a big time. Nuno joined in and we didn't loosed much time on passing him the Flashback riffs, he controled it very fast and still got time to invent new riffs and bring new ideas...I really enjoyed his idea for the guitar 'rap' section before the 2nd chorus, that's team work!

With the bass running around the riffs it sound more prog-metal and that's super for what we intend for the this album.
Mike is making a more rythmical approach on keyboards and Linx' melodies are even catchier and simple.
I'm playing with my grey nickel 7th string and a Vetta 'Triple Rectifier' sound only using some delays and analog chorus effect on the rap section.

Next week we will work on the instrumental section and reharse for the Santiago Alquimista Concert scheduled to 29th June along with Miosotis band.

until there, best regards

FLASHBACK - DAY AFTER

The main idea behind the story of 'Flashback' is the moment described by many of those who had their life in danger and saw all their lived moments passing by in a glimpse right before their eyes.
We got all those ideas from the previous day but when we worked with Sammy it happened a fantastic chemistry and we got tons of riffs and sounds for the theme...this is pure band composition and magical moments happening.Unforgettable.

So we had a good intro, verses and an intro for the instrumental section. It's sounds huge!!!

Reaharsal with the 5 together to happen tomorrow, Friday 12th May...

FLASHBACK

Mike and I got together with Linx at 3:00 pm and we start to work on a terrific riff that Mike created on his Novation Supernova. This riff sounds pretty cool and spooky by using the pitch will and a filter effect to creat a lot of suspense. I had the 1st vocal line on my mind since the first time I heard the riff...

Some experimentation and some jamming, but we only got it all cristal clean after a break for some coffe and toasts; we really saw the whole picture of the song by breaking the riff in two rythmic sections and Linx made the 'chorus' on the spot while digesting his sandwich at the same time:)

We got upstairs to the studio and we worked those lines.
The guitar power chords came to me in seconds and damn if sounds good!!!

We were anxious to get along these ideas with Sam on the next day...

BACK IN STUDIO FOR THE III

After 4 long months struggling in a forced 'coma' we finally got the time to build a new studio that allow us to compose, reharse and record on our own works.
Nothing will ever be the same, we took our time to fill out all the rack spaces with tons of new recording gear and we also improved our individual set-ups (this means new sound for the new album!)

OUTSIDE IN(side)
On 2nd May we did a quick brainstorming to schedule our agendas; we're fully dedicated to the 3rd album and to improve the concerts' performances. New members on the band means double work, but hey, we got some of the best progressive musicians of the portuguese market on our ranks for free, why worry?:)

Day one was meant to refresh the 'Outside In(side)' song, Sam and I got all the structure defined and Mike was pulling out a great line for the 'chorus', it's in fact one of the best Forgotten Suns' 'chorus' ever made. We made some new arrangements on the song structure since the last time we played it on the previous studio.
Now it's perfect!
Bass lines from Nuno are also pretty advanced for this one; vocals are really good but yet not finished and keyboard work is about 30% done. This is due to the fact that the keys' work represent a different role on this song, we imagine it like Mike working some sound samples on the background instead of doing lots of harmonies like the usual neo-prog approach.
Ah, there's a keyboard and guitar solo on this one, not to miss:)

all for now
7Hawk