Kugel's Metal Sperg Zone

[ebin namefag]

EPs

Erect penises

are very popular in the Metal underground.
Often a 7"

Demos are also very popular.

And Demo Reel still failed.

[Le Redditeur]

People just couldn't understand the magnificent premise.

[VoiceOfReasonPast]

History will no doubt vindicate it as one of Doge's finest creations.

[Kugelfisch]

Ey, you know Pestilence.
Well, perhaps not. I would be surprised though if this album cover doesn't at least look familiar to you:

SpoilerShow

Consuming Impulse, spelled with "v" instead of "u" as a holdover of their previous and first album Mallevs Maleficarvm, spelled that way because Latin.
1989, very recognisable with the green frame and the ants. Lots of shirts were sold.

That's not actually what I want to talk about today though. Or at least not entirely. Instead I want to talk about the most shit re-recording of songs ever perpetrated by a band that I'm aware of.

This one is something all of you can partake in! It's not about the music itself but rather the incredibly shit recording and I'd like you to take a listen.

For context:

SpoilerShow

Consuming Impulse was released in 1989. A total Death Metal classic recorded by four young Dutch guys.
The most notable being Martin van Drunen on vocals, later best known for being in Asphyx, Hail of Bullets and Bolt Thrower for live shows for two years when they were in between vocalists.

The other notable member is Patrick Mameli. Mostly notable for being the only original member of Pestilence left today and being a douchebag on social media.

Martin left the band after this album, making Mameli the band leader. Pestilence released two more albums that went much more into a Prog direction which are still considered pretty good and then released nothing but mediocre or outright terrible albums.

Fast forward to 2024 when Mameli got the bright idea to take some old songs, re-record them and release the universally hated pile of shit Levels of Perception.

A plausible reason for re-recordings can be to regain the lone rights for old songs. That was the case for the Cavalera Brothers to re-record the first EP and first two albums of Sepultura.
I've mentioned those in the music thread and actually liked those re-recordings are whole lot. Those will serve as a nice counterpoint today and also to show that I don't generally hate the idea.

But that can't be the case here. The album contains mostly much newer songs of the garbage albums nobody cares for.
Unfortunately, it also contains two songs from Consuming Impulse. I actually haven't listened to that pile of shit up until this evening and it's much worse than I assumed!

The participation activity:
Please listen to this song to at least the 35 second mark. It's not about how you like the song, rather it is about the sound!
Take note of what the guitars, drums, bass and vocals sound like. Also the characteristic riff beginning at 29 seconds.



Got that?
Okay, here is the re-recording that a professional and very arrogant musician thought was acceptable in 2024:



This is not a joke! It's not even played right! I had to check the official Spotify to make sure this isn't some amateur uploading a cover. It isn't. This is the actual fucking album they put out!

Let me know what you think.

[VoiceOfReasonPast]

WTF is this? Was the song bitcrushed for a 16-bit release?

[Kugelfisch]

I don't fucking know, man. This shit sits on an average rating of 6% over 16 reviews on the Metal Archives. That's including an 88% review of some utterly delusional faggot going all >muh respect for pioneers over it, claiming its fine if you like older productions.
Nigger, the Death demo tape from 1986 has better sound!

Look at the amount of 0% reviews. One has put it quite well, stating it sounds phoned in. As in over the phone from inside a phone booth.

I heard it was terrible but I wasn't prepared for that at all! It doesn't even sound like the guitar is tuned.

[ebin namefag]

I don't fucking know, man. This shit sits on an average rating of 6% over 16 reviews on the Metal Archives. That's including an 88% review of some utterly delusional faggot going all >muh respect for pioneers over it

But as fair as I understand that Mameli guy is the only original band member left. So it's "pioneer" at best.
Also saw this on Wikipedia.

On February 22, 2024, Pestilence announced they will release Levels of Perception, a "best-of" album of re-recorded songs, on April 26.[31] Shortly after the announcement, the original cover art for the album was replaced with a new cover showing the band members, due to backlash from fans over the original cover having been made using artificial intelligence (AI).[32] This was the second controversy centered around one of Pestilence's cover artworks, following the original cover art for the band's 2018 album Hadeon, made by Santiago Francisco Jaramillo, which was nixed in 2017 after it was pointed out to have been plagiarized from several different sources.[33]

So they went from that iconic ant cover to stealing, A.I., and that lazy photo shit. LOL.

[Kugelfisch]

Mameli absolutely fucking hates and resents the cover artwork of Consuming Impulse. Actually the whole album. Before you ask, the two songs from Impulse aren't intentionally shitty-sounding on Levels for that. The entire album sounds like that.

He fucking hates that his career peaked 26 years ago and is more sick of people expecting him to play songs from that album and seeing people wear the shirt than any other Metal band is of hearing people yell "Freebird" or "Slayer" at concerts.

He's a whole lot like Chris Barnes, actually. But Barnes is another story for another day.

[RAPEMAN]

How do you make a recording in current year that sonically sounds shittier then a fourty year old one? This was done at his home studio and the studio sounds like shit.

[Kugelfisch]

I struggle to think how a professional musician of over 30 years can unintentionally fabricate a worse sound than a couple of adolescents in a shitty practise room with a tape recorde, playing the song live in 1994:



Yeah, I've heard rough and shitty demos. Damn near unlistenable ones. Of course also live recordings from shows that blew ass.
But a studio recording, even home studio, should never sound that awful. Never mind that shit isn't even properly played or the guitar tuned.

It's baffling that Agonia Records put that shit out. They are a relatively small Polish label but they have been around since 2001 and put out some pretty good releases over the years. They should know better than to send that kinda shit to press.