We have a good one for you this week, folks. As promised last week, we have the return of the first (Side)Showcase band (before we even titled it such), Goathanger, and a review of their debut full-length. Also returning to the ‘cast, we catch up with “friend of the show” Byzantine where we discuss what is happening with their new crowd-funded album and the fun times to be had in West Virginia. Around all of that – if you couldn’t figure it out from the episode title – we have three other releases we cover too. So get get on in here and get listening!
Reviews: Goathanger – The Hook (independent); Goatwhore – Constricting Rage of the Merciless (Metal Blade); Origin – Omnipresent (Nuclear Blast); Sonic Syndicate – Sonic Syndicate (Nuclear Blast)
GO HERE to back Byzantine‘s PledgeMusic campaign for To Release is to Resolve
If you want your band (or your friend’s band…or that band you just saw at the bar) featured on the show in a (Side)Showcase, send an email to Brian at Brian@thesideshowpodcast.com.
Origin – Omnipresent
Goatwhore – Constricting Rage Of The Merciless
Goathanger – The Hook
Sonic Syndicate – Sonic Syndicate
The Sideshow Podcast 
80s Judas Priest guitar from Goatwhore? I haven’t listened to it yet but I will be very soon (thanks!).
And you guys had the exact same notes and rating of the Goatwhore album, just as you guys had the same rating of the same beer that you drank at the same time on Friday? As Nick said, you do share a brain.
Nick mentioned power violence. The recent album from ACxDC is a decent album that you may want to check out if you are in the mood for some new power violence.
Cool interview with Byzantine. Is that the first two time interviewee?
While I haven’t heard either the new Goathanger or the new Origin, I’m a little surprised that Nick said that Goathanger has better production based on volume alone. Haven’t you guys had discussions before about “the loudness war”? Just because someone has loud production in order to grab your attention doesn’t necessarily make it better. In fact, you guys (and most people) argue that these loud albums are just compressed into a smaller dynamic range.
I can’t remember if that was “on air” or not, but Brian and I had a conversation about ACxDC this weekend and were thinking about looking into it.
Yeah, that’s the first repeat interview we’ve done. Glad you liked it!
As far as Goathanger vs. Origin on the production issues, it is not on volume alone. The volume is an obvious difference, for sure, but it the Origin album sounds thin and lacking any depth/low end in comparison to everything else we listened to this week.
I still hold my convictions to be true about the loudness war. Not all parts of all songs need to be normalized to the loudest possible points, however there is a standard that goes the other way as well. It is not “user friendly” to release an album that it is significantly quieter than the established norm. Having to constantly ride your volume knob to listen to things at an average volume sucks. That was my problem with Origin.
Also, I only used Goathanger as the example because they are a smaller, unsigned band. The volume issue of Origin holds true when compared to everything else we listened too. As a unsigned artist myself who just finished mixing his first album, I know first hand that it is very difficult to achieve a satisfactory mix that ISN’T pushing everything too loud or too hard, but also comes across at a common volume. That is what the fine art of mastering is for and it is a skill that develops over years of learning on honing your craft. As I do not have that experience and could not achieve those goals myself, I just delivered my final mixes to a skilled engineer to do the mastering on in hopes of bringing the overall output up to a standard level. All I’m is saying is: I’m impressed by an unsigned bands ability to have such a perfectly balanced album, especially compared to a band who is on a decent sized label with 6 releases under their belts.