Finally decided to upload my Doom 2 Variations album from way back in 2009!  Yep, it's my re-recording of Robert Prince's original soundtrack to the video game, Doom II. Remember, with was done 14 years ago, and the guitars were recorded with a Line 6 POD XTLive.  It still sounds pretty good for digital recording tech from way back then.

The Six Staves of Isthulothugg

 The Six Staves of Isthulothugg - a new song by Dimaension X.  Not really sure what genre this fits under - it's very proggy, jazzy, fusion-y.  So Jazzy Prog-Fusion? Progressive Jazz-Fusion? Fusion-y Jazz Prog?

A Doom Metal Tutorial

Hi folks,

I have not been keeping up with posts lately, and my discography page needs some serious updates, but I did recently create a YouTube video "tutorial", very quickly documenting my process of creating my particualr brand of Doom Metal.

It's probably very incomplete, but I wanted to show the bare minimum basics of what I do to create music in this particular genre ("blackened drone doom" ???).

Here's the video:

The Pastafarian Prayer Book, Pt 1

 Here is is, kids, the Pastafarian Prayer Book, Pt 1, performed by Dimaension X.

11012020 - The Final Drone

 11012020 The Final Drone by Dimaension X This is (probably) the last of the drone series I've been working on this past year, and could be one of the last pieces of music I complete this year. It was recorded with my SX VTG Furrian Telecaster copy (all stock, single coil pickups) thru my Line 6 POD Go, with a little help from my Digitech FreQout pedal, and An Earthquaker Devices Avalanche Run and Transmisser. Time for a bit of a break, and then time to start working on some new music. 

07052020 - new music with Line 6 POD Go

Some new music recorded with the Line 6 POD Go.  I "composed" a song by coming up with a bunch of wild short riffs on the spot and crammed them all together as one long 12 minute song. Sure it's mostly metal, but there's a nice clean section in the middle with a melodic guitar solo.

Re-inventing Dimaension X

As most of you 7 readers know (that's how many folks have actually subscribed to my blog/website - suckers!), Dimaension X is in a "period of transition". I left the band that I was involved with for two years (Deadside Manor), decided not to pursue recording other bands for a second job, lost one job in January, got an older job back in April, my son moved out to his own apartment, I injured my back moving my amp, and so on. Lots of changes musically and personally.

So I have decided to take some time to "re-invent" Dimaension X.

My first step forward was to revise my tuning to Open D sus (D.A.D.A.D.E). I like playing in Drop D (mainly due to the fact that I've lost some of my barre chord strength in my left hand after I had a cyst removed from my wrist a few years ago), and wanted to try a more "open" sound that would have nice, full one-finger barre chords. I really enjoyed playing with Open C sus (C G C G C D), and recorded an album and most of an EP in that tuning, so I wanted to try it again, but in a more normal guitar range. Open D sus fits the bill nicely, being similar to Drop D, but revises the guitar scales very differently on the fretboard for solos.

Which is good because I now have a whole new set of scales and modes to re-learn. I now must re-think how I play guitar, and will discover some new things by virtue of notes being in new places. Old finger patterns cannot be used. New ones must develop. Playing old songs in the new tuning is interesting. Some of the Deadside Manor tunes sound fuller, due to having more strings ringing out in chords across the fretboard. I get why Devin Townsend uses similar tuning.

I've actually posted a video of myself trying out the new tuning. Sound quality kinda sucks, but I'm recording the video with my Nikon CoolPix camera (which is NOT made specifically for video). First thing I noticed is that I really have to lose some weight. The camera doesn't add ten pounds. Eating ice cream every night and finishing my wife's supper does. So step two is to try to drop some pounds.

Here's the video:

I'm also working on my live rig. My Line 6 Spider IV 75 is a great amp, and has served me well both in practice and live, but I really need a lighter amp to keep from injuring my back over and over lugging it around. So I am looking into options for lighter amps that will still keep up with a live drummer. Which means I may also go back to using pedals for my live sound.

And musically, I'm trying to get back into a more progressive, interesting sound. I just bought Steve Vai's new album, and am still blown away by his music. Not just his guitar playing (which is ALWAYS phenomenal), but the music itself is equal parts melodic, emotional, catchy, heavy, and downright weird. I've spent the past few years playing a much more stripped-down heavy rock with the band, and really have a yearning to get back to something way out there and unusual. Maybe revisit Burn Without Me's genre-hopping style?

Reinventing Dimaension X. More soon. See yah.

New band and more...

New band - yup, I guess that's the first big news - I've actually joined a band. I haven't played with a live band since 1994, but I decided it was time to brush up the live chops and just do it.

My next-door neighbor's band, "The Screamin' Barfys" broke up, or the guitarist was kicked out, or left, or a little of both, due to personality and musical conflicts, etc., so the left-over band, Clint, my neighbor on bass, Jamie on drums (also the drummer for Musclecah!!), and Dan of vox asked me if I'd be willing to step in and help out.

Since I've known these guys for a while now (Clint does live right frickin next-door!), and helped record their first album/demo, I said "sure." And it's been a blast. Really.

Where the Barfys' sound was more like 90's grunge-meets-hardcore, we're a bit more classic/traditional/early heavy metal/hard rock-meets-classic punk rock. If the Sex Pistols, Motorhead and Rollins Band fell into a blender ... well, that's kinda what we're trying. Maybe mid-to-late Entombed with clean singing?

We're pretty much sticking to all-original material (eleven songs written so far), and perhaps an odd cover tune or two if we ever get around to it. Dan has most of the lyrics done, and we're refining things as we practice. I'm also working on demo recordings as we progress, so we can do full versions when we're ready. I'd personally like to try recording the whole band live to capture that "energy."

Oh, we still don't have a name yet.

More news ... new toys - since my Schecter sounds so great with the GFS Mean 90 pickups, I've been oggling other stuff at the Guitar Fetish website, and finally gave in to my G.A.S. disease (Gear Aquisition Syndrome). In the clearance/blemish section, I found a very cool guitar, a Xaviere XV-870 Darkside Edition on sale for a ridiculous low price, plus I had a 15% off coupon code, so I dove in, along with ordering a set of Lil Killer Rail pickups for it. The guitar is basically a Strat-copy, but it looks like David Gilmour's strat, the black one with Maple fretboard and white hardware. It will hopefully be ready in less than a week. Can't wait to crank that thing with the new pickups. I already gave it a test-run with the band, and it really sounded great with the original stock pickups (which are GFS Vintage Alnico Staggers), but I had to adjust the amp and effect settings for traditional single coils, which tend to be a bit thin and trebly. But it did sound great, so these new pickups should really kick butt.

I also upgraded the firmware in my Line 6 Spider IV 75, so I added a bunch of new effects to an already great amp. They finally included their great simulation of the Tube Screamer, which I use all the time in my POD XT Live. There's also a bunch of new delays, and other stuff that I just haven't gotten around to yet. Gotta live Line 6. Yeah, I'm a walking advertisement, but I love their stuff.

And in other Interwebs news - I cancelled/closed my Myspace pages, including the Moroghor and Burn Without Me pages. I am still online here (duh, obviously), and Moroghor and Burn Without Me still have their regular websites where you can still download their albums. I just found that I totally lost interest in Myspace. I guess the new un-named band might still make a Myspace page when we're ready, but for now I'm done. Hmmm. I think I'll probably cancel my account over at last.fm, too.

New Toys Update

Wow. That's how everything sounded when I jammed with my next-door neighbor's band with my new amp and Mean 90 equipped Schecter.

The Mean 90 pickups sound great - they do sound like a cross between a single-coil and a vintage humbucker. Granted they do hum like a single coil would, but not as much as you would think. Very clear and crisp, yet with plenty of crunch. I had the pickups installed at Wavelengths Pro Audio Studios by Dianne Redstone, who is also a guitar instructor at the facility. I highly recommend this place to anyone looking to have their guitar adjusted or setup, pickups installed, etc. Very professional and not expensive.

The Line 6 amp performed well beyond expectations. I don't think I even had the master volume up to "ten-o'clock"(there are no actual numbers on any of the control knobs) and it was PLENTY LOUD. There were a few moments when the drummer got really loud, and I may have gotten drowned out a bit, but other than that, it sounded real good.

So all has ended well with these new toys, and I have kinda started a new band with these guys. We're writing a bunch of tunes, hopefully recording them, and then we're gonna try to get some local gigs in Worcester. More on that in later posts.

My new toy

Yup, I bought myself a new toy, kids. A Line 6 Spider IV 75 Watt amp.

Here she is:

75 Loud watts of output into a custom 12" Celestion Speaker - hundreds of built-in presets, 64 user locations to store your own sounds, and I also bought the FBV Mk II Express pedal control board so I can switch thru 4 of the presets at at time.

Can't wait to really play this thing loud and test it out!!!

I am also looking into replacing the stock pickups on my Schecter Omen 6 with some GFS Mean 90's, which are a humbucker-sized version of a vintage P-90 pickup. This may drastically change the sound of that guitar, but I want something with a bit more clarity and "spank", as opposed to the loud, but kind of dull sound I get now.

Any opinions on pickups, let me know whatcha think.