Re: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3
I like the rhythm guitars, but I think it'd sound cooler double tracked - one rhythm guitar part exactly the way you have it, mixed with a significantly brighter rhythm guitar track - maybe with the mids scooped a little bit on the second track so the rhythm guitar isn't too overpowering. Cool riffs - I'll actually check out the original song.
For the leads in the intro, I think it hit the ear wrong too like Lampy. Personally, I think it was the lack of vibrato that makes it sound harsh and not like smooth lead playing. You're primarily a bass player right? Because I know sometimes it feels weird going from an instrument that's almost always purely rhythm, with straight precision/no vibrato being important over to a very lead-orientated instrument where different techniques suddenly become mega-important. It kinda reminds me of Kirk Hammett when he tries to play slow - I like his lead work in the studio, but sometimes his vibrato is really sloppy live - it's almost not there at all, and when it is there it's usually only oscillating at microtones while he varies the intensity with which he bends the string back and forth. It makes it obvious he's a speed player and a bit out of his comfort zone on slow leads. Some players with *excellent* vibrato (and they all have different vibrato styles) are Brian May (
Here - anyone's vibrato will improve just from listening to Brian May), Tony Iommi (you can really hear it on songs like Junior's Eyes/Hevean and Hell/Over and Over), Yngwie, Satchel (any solo), Randy Rhoads (Mr. Crowley), Glenn Tipton (Beyond The Realms of Death),
Hank Shermann/Michael Denner, Uli Jon Roth/Michael Schenker/Rudolf Schenker/Mathias Jabs (watch a Scorpions solos compilation), etc.