--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- # # # NUKEM: # # BRAIN BENEATH THE SKULL / NUNC ZEBES # # ____________________________ # # # # Composer/arranger/performer/author of this file: # # Johan T-Katiska (Bass, guitars, absent vocals) # # # # Performer/co-arranger: # # D. Sehic (Drums, guitars) # # # # CC-BY-SA 4.0 # # # --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Track Details Preface Before reading the rest you should know that I like it when bands document their music, explain their sources of inspiration/motivation, note details in the composition, put things in context, etc. This text serves this purpose and might be boring to anyone who feel that reading about music rather than listening to it is insane. A notion I wouldn't say is without merit. Regarding the title I won't say much, I urge anyone interested to know where the inspiration comes from to search for it. I'll say that the lyrics to the song is about 5-6+ years old and apart from the odd edit here and there they have remained intact. I was never quite happy with them and I suspect I'll make them more cohesive before publication. Worth noting is that the vocals would be located at the first minutes of the songs. These are not recorded. Before regarding this track as complete vocals, at the very least, must be added. Some general volume level adjustments might be in order. Since passages of vocals are sparse the relative loss of their absence is a minor one when compared to Nukem's other songs. It also makes "Brain..." an ideal candidate for this peculiar "pre-release". --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- General Notes About Sound Regarding guitar tone I think we intentionally aimed for a decent, but moderate, amount of distortion and low-end. Subconsciously I think that Defiance's "Product of Society" might have influenced a choice or two. An album whose guitar tone was deemed faulty by the band members, but it also gave it an unique bent. Megadeth's earlier albums didn't overdo distortion/low-end either. You can actually hear each instrument. Both the sound of bass and the drums were subject to similar rationales. The amount of post-processing is sparse and this is by purpose. By extension this applies to the tracks as a whole. Apart from panning and the like the only "real effect" used in a semi-general manner is some reverb. A faulty mic mandated some compression of the snare drum on this track specifically. At this point anything other that volume adjustments for the snare seem superfluous. Time also led me to hear how some dead notes are less pronounced than intended on this track. They are audible but weak. During the writing process some care was taken to make sure these muted notes were present. The albums mentioned above does a good job of this. A simple tweak could change that at a later time. To revise anything deeply will be avoided and other flaws should remain as they are. But who knows, all of it might just stay in place if that is the better choice stylistically. --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- The Brain, The Skull As people might deduce from the title this track actually consists of two separate pieces. These different but belong together, hence the slash. The first percussive rhythm parts with the odd(ish) time signature (alternating between 7/8 and 3/4), the following double-kick measures (4/4) and up until the rhythmically straight 4/4-part at ~2:50 must have been written around 2011. Apart from a couple of minor tweaks these measures seems to have stayed the same since that time period. It was written by myself, but the details were surely ironed out during the rehearsals by Nukem as an entity. The measures just before the drum fade out and after the "straight" part are hard to pin down for me. By the sound of it I would guess that these were conceived during rehearsal and mucked around with out of rehearsal for a time. Rehearsals usually took place multiple times over a couple of weeks and after that a hiatus for 1-3 to 5+ months. A mode of working that indirectly resulted in some needed gestation for the ideas. An odd detail perhaps. It still made a difference musically in the long run, so it's not completely irrelevant. To the extent Nukem was inspired by Cynic (mostly the Focus era) this would be our little take on it. The former parts mentioned are definitely Nukem's take on Megadeth's "Killing Is My Business.../Peace Sells..." and "So Far, So Good..." era. With a dash Mustaine's tracks on Mega... Megatallic... Metallica's "Kill Em All". Anyway, the parts described above is 'Brain Beneath The Skull'. --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Nunc Zebes: A place For Brains The "first" latter parts after the fade out has been around since early 2010 albeit in a crude form and it didn't appear to fit into any project I was involved with at first. The 2010 version contains a rudimentary intro and a couple of rhythm tracks. The simplicity of the melody resulted in some creative angst, and therefore made me want to "make more complex". I came to my senses when I noticed how the impulse was triggered by vanity more than any stylistic consideration. So the melody thus remain the same. The rest of the track truly was a collaboration in the full sense of the word between myself (Johan) and the drummer/guitarist (D.). While I brought the riffs to the table I think that the time spent rehearsing this track resulted in something that wouldn't have been brought to life otherwise. An arrangement I found very rewarding and satisfying since they are hard to come by. The mutual feedback nudged us in a particular direction. For better or for worse. Three thoughts about inspiration here: 1. The simple earlier parts is without any doubt inspired by my favorite video game, and the latter parts is where 2. our fondness of bands like Vektor shines through, and lastly 3. a stripped down progression or two of Iron Maiden-s "Caught Somewhere In Time" era seeps in between the cracks. An album heavily discussed at various times during Nukem's existence. These segments make up 'Nunc Zebes'. --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Now, Conclusion Apart from the two very first riffs in 'Brain Beneath The Skull/Nunc Zebes' few riffs and sections were planned in any overt manner. The 3-4 "wood shed" tracks recorded years before this release doesn't show any hint of the stuff in 'Nunc Zebes'. I'll make these available at some point. In any case 'Brain...' is the logical conclusion of letting Nukem be Nukem and this allowed us to digress from our point of departure. A point we gladly revisit on some of the other songs that were recorded in 2015 along with this one. With a somewhat cohesive history and a respectable amount of material to look back at we actually had somewhere to really go for the first time. It's hard to carve out a hole in the solid ground to sit in without any tools to do so. Anyway, these parts (with an emphasis one the latter ones) were arranged as a duo between 2011 to the summer of 2015. I can't find anything of what was composed during those years written down anywhere. I'm pretty sure nothing ever was put on paper. This seems probable since I can't remember doing it. Nukem's existence and output always was elusive.[1] Most of the composition truly was inaccessible to other people. They would have been right to state that our music only was "something that exists in your heads and nowhere else". It only occurred to me today (2019-01-25) how fitting a title this track has. --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 1. See: 'README-Nukem_Reference.txt' --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Last modification of this document: 2019-01-27