Moth Into Flame

[messenger]

As a fanboi, I wish Kirk would go outside the box a bit with his solos and really experiment. Who knows though, this is only the second song we have heard. I don't mind the wah, or even the blues riffs, etc. but just don't want him to stay in that vein for every song. I'd like to hear a "Struggle Within" type solo or "Fade to Black", etc.

The issue could be that in order to do that he or James would have to compose an interesting rhythm track for him to solo over. I think that's the key to great solos (sometimes). Otherwise he's kinda stuck having to solo over E...again. Just a suggestion for Kirk.

Great point.

 

[romanianreaper]

As a fanboi, I wish Kirk would go outside the box a bit with his solos and really experiment. Who knows though, this is only the second song we have heard. I don't mind the wah, or even the blues riffs, etc. but just don't want him to stay in that vein for every song. I'd like to hear a "Struggle Within" type solo or "Fade to Black", etc.

The issue could be that in order to do that he or James would have to compose an interesting rhythm track for him to solo over. I think that's the key to great solos (sometimes). Otherwise he's kinda stuck having to solo over E...again. Just a suggestion for Kirk.

That is true. I think people underestimate that exact thing. I think Kirk did a good job on those though so don't get me wrong.

As an aging guitarist myself, I get that these guys have a life outside of the band and pretty impressive that they are putting out great music still.

 

[TheWhiteShadow]

As a fanboi, I wish Kirk would go outside the box a bit with his solos and really experiment. Who knows though, this is only the second song we have heard. I don't mind the wah, or even the blues riffs, etc. but just don't want him to stay in that vein for every song. I'd like to hear a "Struggle Within" type solo or "Fade to Black", etc.

The issue could be that in order to do that he or James would have to compose an interesting rhythm track for him to solo over. I think that's the key to great solos (sometimes). Otherwise he's kinda stuck having to solo over E...again. Just a suggestion for Kirk.

That is true. I think people underestimate that exact thing. I think Kirk did a good job on those though so don't get me wrong.

As an aging guitarist myself, I get that these guys have a life outside of the band and pretty impressive that they are putting out great music still.

I noticed some of EVH's greatest solos are on top of an impressive chord progression that resolves to a nice finish. Even the song Jump goes to a different key so when it comes back it's pretty awesome. So I think Kirk did a good job considering. It shouldn't be an excuse but I'm surprised James and Lars aren't putting any effort into that, unless they think guitar solos are just throw away parts of songs.

 

[ejecta]

Yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaha!

 

[shadowdevourer]

There is a making of video out on youtube for "Moth into Flame". You can see the old mesa mark IIc+, diezel vh4, mini rectifier, eet fuk mx, a natural finish vulture, the ouija and more !!!

 

[dfrattaroli]

I don't hate Kirk. I'm rooting for him to do something new...ANYTHING NEW.

The guy plays lead guitar in arguably the biggest band that ever was.... he's missing an opportunity IMO. (and has for a long time)

The rest of the band tries stuff at least.

As for folks with a problem about opinionated posts.......welcome to the Internet.

Opinions are fine...it is the same comment year after year after year that gets old. Nobody can talk Metallica without bashing Hammet. Nobody can mention Alice in Chains without some RIP Layne...he was the best bullshit or revert better yet that Nickleback sucks. Too predictable, try harder. I am sure if Kirk was coming to all the haters hometowns they would be clamoring for the meet and greet/selfie/autograph line like an excited virgin in a brothel full of hot women and having just downed a bottle of viagra.

Everything on this forum is old: the members, the Charvels, the flavor-of-the-month-amp bullshit. All of it. See you dudes tomorrow.

 

[BrentSSL]

I really like this song can't stop listening to it

 

[romanianreaper]

I don't hate Kirk. I'm rooting for him to do something new...ANYTHING NEW.

The guy plays lead guitar in arguably the biggest band that ever was.... he's missing an opportunity IMO. (and has for a long time)

The rest of the band tries stuff at least.

As for folks with a problem about opinionated posts.......welcome to the Internet.

Opinions are fine...it is the same comment year after year after year that gets old. Nobody can talk Metallica without bashing Hammet. Nobody can mention Alice in Chains without some RIP Layne...he was the best bullshit or revert better yet that Nickleback sucks. Too predictable, try harder. I am sure if Kirk was coming to all the haters hometowns they would be clamoring for the meet and greet/selfie/autograph line like an excited virgin in a brothel full of hot women and having just downed a bottle of viagra.

Everything on this forum is old: the members, the Charvels, the flavor-of-the-month-amp bullshit. All of it. See you dudes tomorrow.

LOL! I'll admit that I'm one of the worst at living in the past. If it was up to me, I'd wear sequin trench coats like Jake E. Lee and spin around with a Charvel.

 

[petejt]

From Guitar World interview:...
"I always think I can make my sound better. So you get every amp company in the world coming in with their latest product, including prototypes of things that haven’t even been built yet, and at first it’s like going to guitar heaven. But then I start plugging everything in, and by the time I whittle it down, I’m back with my Eighties Mesa/Boogie “crunch berries.”

It sure doesn't sound anything like the MOP or Justice era live or studio stuff.

And I still think his tone sounds bad. Too dark and muddy. If you dig it cool.

I agree. The first thing I though when I heard both this new song and Hardwired...to self-destruct" was "I don't hear any crunch. It sounds too soggy. And there's some annoying rattling..."

I do like the song. But what draws me to any song is the guitar sound. It's why I'm a sucker for early '80s New Wave, I'm hooked on that flanged and/or chorused guitar sounds.

But in this case it's not grabbing me. Something in the guitar sounds is putting me off. I don't here that "seethe", that edge.

Maybe James IS using that MarkIIC+ But he's not setting it to "crunch", or somehow it's buried so deep in the mix you can't hear it.


The same happened with the Death Magnetic album. During the studio documentary they did, his guitar sounds were AMAZING. So much top-end sizzling crunch! But with all that brick-wall mastering and whatever way they mixed it, it did not fully translate through to the final master mix. This new tone, at least in the YouTube clip, sounds even muddier, too 'clean'. The edge has been burred off. Maybe it's YouTube's shitty compression?
I am glad that it isn't "Recto Muddy" though. Ugh, I hate that sound. It can stay buried in the late 1990s-early 2000s.

It's weird. It's like with the live recordings- sounds soggy and too rounded. Yet I heard James' guitar straight from his speaker when I saw them live about five times during 2010 then again at a music festival in 2013- and that definitely was crunchy, crunchy on the top end and thick in the low end.



EDIT: I just heard it through the stereo. It does sound thick and kinda crunchy. I do like it...however I can still hear something clouding it in the midrange, something masking the IIC+. It's like the mids aren't distorting. Would it be the Diezel? I dunno...

 

[petejt]

Is James doing double-tracking for this new album using the different amps?
Or just playing through a multi-amp rig in one track?



Just to compare- this is just one amp and it sounds shitloads crunchier and heavier:

 

[BrentSSL]

Hahahaha recto muddy

 

[misterspockyall]

Love the Roland JC-120 "head" in the making-of video.

 

[petejt]

Moth into Flame has been growing on me a lot as a song.


But tell you what- hearing it like THIS is bloody awesome! :

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Love the AJFA version.. this is where Metallica lost their edge. The old school tones and lesser production is what gave them the edge!

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Is James doing double-tracking for this new album using the different amps?
Or just playing through a multi-amp rig in one track?



Just to compare- this is just one amp and it sounds shitloads crunchier and heavier:

Never thought of myself as a Boogie man but man these amps sound great!

 

[squealie]

Is James doing double-tracking for this new album using the different amps?
Or just playing through a multi-amp rig in one track?



Just to compare- this is just one amp and it sounds shitloads crunchier and heavier:

That does sound great. I just tried to replicate that with my go-to Mk2C++ preset on the Axe. Came close but ultimately it was flat in comparison.
That thing sounds phenomenal.

 

[Marc_Nitschke221B]

The wah is back!

Nice!

I love the Wah though... You cannot have enough wah... I with kirk on that one

 

[Speeddemon]

Love the Roland JC-120 "head" in the making-of video.

Proud owner here!

The JC-120H takes pedals like a champ and the amount of LOUD it can conjure would probably even have impressed Lemmy.

 

[jkdsteve]

Is James doing double-tracking for this new album using the different amps?
Or just playing through a multi-amp rig in one track?



Just to compare- this is just one amp and it sounds shitloads crunchier and heavier:

That does sound great. I just tried to replicate that with my go-to Mk2C++ preset on the Axe. Came close but ultimately it was flat in comparison.
That thing sounds phenomenal.

Were you playing the AXE through a power amp and cab though?

I'm having fun with my AX8 but in looking at other peoples patches, seems to rely on a great IR and some fairly involved combinations of PEQs or Filters to and sometimes FX to get that oomph or real amp factor...when going direct or into monitors.