2019
Treatment
The latest and greatest production from the krill studios. See full description here.
Treatment (Instrumental)
Tragedy By Design
For the first time in my life, I’m in a new, “real” band, and its happenings certainly cannot be kept up with on archive pages like this. However, for the archives, enjoy these live “highlights” from the first six shows.
And of course, keep up with the official Facebook page for everything else!!!
a Greater Foundation Re-Recording
New version of the cover made back in 2012. The lead vocals were rerecorded and the remainder was remixed. This was just to have a “better” version of the cover out there; it still is not quite at the same level as other recent work.
Shaped By Fire
Iron Krill’s cover of “Shaped By Fire” by As I Lay Dying.
This was a bit of a personal challenge to see how quickly (9 days!) I could make a cover after the song’s sudden release (i.e. not one that I had heard about or planned for in advance), while still keeping my production style and general process. It is also my first “release” to feature Daniela Rojas.
The whole thing is sort of like a half-joking way of saying, “see! I’m legit too!” It has some elements of seriousness because it is a true attempt to make the best sound possible and be able to at least judge honestly, with a side by side comparison, how I stack up against “real” bands when I fool around in my home studio for a few days. If I were to take it 100% seriously, it’s almost like a way of saying that I’m not just some other random guy who might be “in the local metal scene” one way or another but who doesn’t have the ability to produce things like this or who wouldn’t dare touch such a tough song. But at the same time, the video is making fun of myself by openly flaunting that I have to use programmed drums and that I practically “can’t play” the guitar solo for this song, at least not in a “live” sense.
One positive side outcome is that, in my opinion, the video became my best video production up to that point. It even addresses, though in a half-joking way as usual, the “concern” with being associated As I Lay Dying in any possible way.
Around Midnight
I joined new band Tragedy By Design at the end of February, and in May we played our first show and also released our first single “Around Midnight.”
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When the Sun Sleeps
Iron Krill’s cover of “When the Sun Sleeps” by Underoath. Here are “all” the versions for the diehard listeners.
2018
Passion and Vanity
After 2 or 5 or 7 years, depending on how you count, I finally finished the elusive project that had been kicking around in the back of my mind for a lead female singer on everything. With each song tackling a different style or subgenre, I saw it as more of an experiment in songwriting than performance on my part.
Passion and Vanity (instrumental)
New Abyss
I created this standalone track as a test of new equipment as well as to experiment with a heavier sound than usual (including my first recording using an 8-string guitar).
My first song with vocals released on my own rather than "as" Iron Krill since 2010 just because of how it is otherwise random or out of place.
Intro to Metal Guitar
I created a series of instructional videos for a beginner guitarist to walk them through the initial steps of how to begin playing and get to the "discovery phase" of where they can comfortably play, experiment, and continue on to teach themselves further.
In part, I created this to serve as a solid reference point for my methodology and nomenclature as I had only ever described to friends informally, thinking of notes entirely as a set of numbers on a given string (e.g. a "scale" could be written as "0-2-3-5-7-8-10-12"), even when composing or when transposing to other instruments, rather than using classical music theory explicitly. But I also wanted to get the practice of automated video production, show a gesture of goodwill towards anyone just starting out (I don't just want people to listen to my music and be done), and serve as the starting point or "pilot" for teaching private guitar lessons in a formal setting.
From Now On
I created a cover of "From Now On" by Basia as a father's day present for my dad, knowing it would be hilarious to hear one of his favorite songs reworked in such an aggressive way.
2017
Dormant
Surprise new song, first from Iron Krill in over four years, with a title and lyrics subtly making fun of the band's speed at doing things...
A conscious effort was made to pack "everything" into this song, practically a whole album's worth of riffs, changes, styles, features, and so on, hinting that the next album will be more symphonic than ever before.
Sahara
This cover of a Nightwish song is the first I created with a mystery vocalist who may be appearing on more - much, much, more - in the not-too-distant future. I had to go ALL OUT on the orchestra software to make this one.
Prognosis Reissue
It may sound silly to list this as a standalone achievement, but the 2017 reissue of Iron Krill's 2013 album "Prognosis" remains arguably my best finished work and is the version most frequently heard around the world, so I have to put the actual music here. It is a new mix and master from the original.
2016
Iron Penguin
After an unofficial break from music to focus on getting into the "real world," I decided to get things back up and running with Iron Penguin, an experiment where I created an instrumental album "jam session style" by recording massive amounts of content without worrying about writing or a judgmental editing process.
Being a 22-song album, I decided not to flood this page with the regular method of individual song players. Instead feel free to either use the embedded player below or open in Bandcamp, where you can read the full description or download.