War on Peace and Happiness

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There is a word document that can be used to make a booklet,

archived with two images for the cover and back track list, get it here

Commentaries:

• War on Peace and Happiness    The title track for the album was actually the very first song we did.  However, nobody had realized what it would lead to, indeed, the notion of a whole album of DOZ songs wasn't even on the cards.  Now, after all other songs have been done, we re-recorded this song, making sure it was the most extreme of them all.  This song features no less than 8 layers of guitar takes, and sounds insane.  Everyone agrees that this is a strong piece and fitting for the album opening.

• Throne of Darkness    The second track that we did was better planned, and features the addition of dual vocal styles.  It has a number of lovable highlights, including the hilarious laugh at the end of the first section, and some great vocals throughout the later stages of the piece. 

• Eternal Abyss    This track was recorded initially with just two members, though the drums were reworked by Logan at a later stage.  I have to say that Eternal Abyss is easily my favourite.  It has a doom metal theme, which isolates it in an album of mostly melodic death, and the sheer charm of the arrangement of the mix is just awe-inspiring.  If you only listen to one DOZ track, make it Eternal abyss.

• Chalice of Malice    It was only until Chalice of Malice that the 'Reaper' and 'Destroyer' vocals fully realised their roles.  This is an excellent performance all round, and features a recording of me gargling water into the microphone.  Listen out for it, this is a big turning point in DOZ production with a number of ambient effects coming to the fore.

• The last of which is Death    The only track that actually features a live drum recording and extensive mix, the last of which is death sounds quite subdued and different from the other tracks.  The drum part was not pre-rehearsed so it sounds quite drab and 'nu-metal'.  We plan to rework it closer to album completion, but it will be available in its current state.  The song features a lovable hook that can be heard in the opening sequence of the song - we've had that little ditty floating around in our inventory of musical chops for about 6 years.

• The Champion Korg    This extremely epic track took a lot of work in the midi department before recording.  It features the 'Herald' - and extra vocal style that we have taken to using that allows us add a greater narrative to Zoldon's exploits.  The song tells of an epic battle between the forces of Zoldon and the representatives of peace and happiness, in which Zoldon's champion, Korg - is summoned to slay his enemies.  The song itself is packed full of highlights, but to save space I will only mention the best - 1) the wardrum in the intro, followed by the maniacal beginning of the riffage, 2) the keyboard solo 3) The cataclysmic warped herald voice before the song ends (plus laughter).

• Forgotten Deity    This is an intermittant piece designed to explain the nature and status of Zoldon as the god of heavy metal, residing in the dimension of metal.  The musical theme here is christian worship music, only without the christianity, and pure full on DOZ ass-kickery.  Excellent track.  Features samples from the original Conan the Barbarian movie.  Don't miss this one.

• Imminent Suffering    Another intermittant track designed to introduce the song 'The occurance of suffering'.  We'll be doing that one next.  This one is a hectic conglomeration of craziness.  Another Sample from Conan is featured.  Good stuff, even has a plucked violin and grand piano.  Good work by the Destroyer on the line 'now for the suffering'.... great stuff.

• Lifeslayer    Lifeslayer is a magical sword that Zoldon must obtain in order to benefit his war on peace and happiness.  This song tells of the quest to find the sword.  Features a new vocal character, the Prophet.  Don't miss the sample of arnie saying "you took my fathers sword... argh!".  Other highlights include a moment where the mic was left on, and we have the destroyer saying "I'll fuckin kill you ...bitch!"  Sidesplitting.

• The Occurance of Suffering    This piece comes directly after the track 'Imminent suffering', and is a musical depiction of the sadistic interest of Zoldon.  We sampled a couple of lines from 'Conan the destroyer', in which Arnie' makes a comical comment (suffering related), and some screams from the movie 'The Punisher'.  Overall the track is very melodic, probably the most so among the album titles.  It is also quite technical in places.  There weren't many points of interest on the recording side, so mainly a status quo song from the Doz crew.