The Album

I had a lot fun making this album. I started in 2008 and with a few delays got around to finishing in September 2010. Most of these songs were in the works for awhile, though some came up at last minute. Creating these songs myself is quite a challenge, though I enjoy it. It was fun having Keeb, Chaz and Pam help on some songs.

beejay - 10.9.2010

  1. Satanic Mechanic

    The inspiration for this song came from a guy I used to go to school with and play in some bands with. I heard he recently painted "Satanic Mechanic" on his van. I wanted the first song to be really dynamic and be changing quickly with purpose. I came up with this song pretty late. The bridge part is the most fun and challenging part of the song.

  2. Back Fat 952

    This quick little punk / thrash tune is catchy with a nice heavy outro. I have had a problem with having to photoshop certain guitar hero's back fat. This is one of my favorite songs to play and is fun all around. I had put togther 3 similar riffs from about a decade ago with some new parts I come up with to complete the song.

  3. City of Robots

    I wrote this song about Pittsburgh being the robot capital. Someday, I think that there will be many robots helping humans throughout the world. I wanted this song to feel mostly robotic, though have a few elements break out that sounded a bit more natural and human. Using two guitars, one solid strummed and the other synchopated, gave the verses a more dynamic feel.

  4. Launch, Adapt Colonize

    This was the last song to be finished. I have put together a few old riffs that I have working on into one grand / epic song. At almost 9 minutes long, it really doesn't feel that long to play. Each part realy has a place in the song with some nice transitions. I really like the middle part of the song that starts with clean guitar and then builds layers up, and morphing into something really beautiful, before going back into some death metal. I experimented with a good amount of orchestrated strings and horns in this one, in the intro and throughout the bridge parts.

  5. Age of Insanity, Fear and Rage

    This instrumental piece, was created by programming some synth background noise, then drumming over it. This song was really fun and relaxing to play on the drums. Mixing it was even more fun, adding bass hits was a blast. I love to play this one in my car with sub. It is a nice break in the album.

  6. DCLXVI

    I had been working on this thrash-type song for a few years. The chorus parts have a punk feel to them, especially with the little box scale lead. The structure of the song has not changed at all over the years, though some guitar leads and synth effects have been changed. Also lyrics / vocals were added to this song compared to the instrumental version years back. I made sure to keep some nice bass hits throughout the song.

  7. Medycyna Alternatywna

    I wanted to create something punchy and latin. I started this one by laying down a drum beat. Then Keeb and I recorded some percussion instruments. The background noise was recorded while i rode my bike to the store and back. Medycyna Alternatywna is Polsih for Alternative Medicine.

  8. Lokalizacja

    This song (Location) was put together with a few funk riffs I had been working on over the years. After collecting these parts and then organizing them with varitions, I found myself, limiting a few parts and dumbing down a few parts to give the song a more relaxed feel. The idea for this song, is that no matter how much tracking technology we have available, not much can be done physically without actually being at a location.

  9. Atak Kodeksu

    I randomly came up with this song (Attack of the Code) a few months before the recording was over. The premice, is about code on the internet creating more code and sending it out like weapons. The music is very heavy and fun to play. The synth intro is a fun way to get ready for the drums and guitar intro.

  10. Time Traveling Ships

    This song game about from some synth and piano first, then some drums. After Keeb put some vocals on it, the songs seemed liked it needed some guitar and bass. It is the most unexpectant interesting song on the album to me.

  11. Tectonic Plates

    Inspired by earth's plates shifting; I had been working on this main riff for a year or two, when some additional beats came into play. Then it was simple to come up with the other stringed parts. The lyrics came late, but quick and were really fun to do. This song is pretty fun and high energy.

  12. Sped

    This short industrial song was meant to be a quick break during the album. In under 1 minute, the song goes through a few variations in beats and lead synths, just leaving me wanting more when it is done. The small little bridge part feels sort of like a case chase.

  13. Ad Trickery

    In world full of ads, I felt like making a song based on advertising products and short life span. This song sound a lot more like rock than any of the other songs on the album. I had my friend Chaz of Four Star Riot play some leads on this song. I had been playing the main two riffs for about two years and starting working on the structure about a year ago. The lyrics came pretty easy and were really fun to do.

  14. Appetite for Addiction

    I actually had been working on this song fully in the same structure for a good two years. The only things had I really worked on a lot late, were singing the vocals which I wrote about a year ago. In recent months I also added some sound effects, influenced by some old friends who got into some bad things.

  15. Czarny Otwory

    I programmed this track to be the "Black Hole" of the album, giving a 360 of some flavors of the album. There are many beats that stick to the time signature, but a few times, a couple layered parts start early and overlap in a really neat way. I love listening to this song and thinking about the universe, time and existence.

  16. 180

    I had been working on a few riffs for this song for about a decade which was meant to be more of a radio-friendly song. I had ended up re-writing the structure about a year ago and adding more chaotic one-off parts as well as abandoning the traditional verse-chorus-verse format. I had my wife Pam sing the lead vocals, which she wrote. It turned out really awesome for the last "real" song on the album.

  17. Urban Sanctuary

    This song is meant to be the "hidden track" or outro of the album. You'll notice a bath tub running in the background to some little beats and some guitars and bass with effects. It really relaxes me to listen to this song and leaves me wanting more.