KVR Audio

Jnv · Post by **Jnv** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 5:21 pm

Licorna - The awakening !
-------------------------

Ok, here I go...

A week ago, 2 guitarists and myself (as a bass player) decided to make a song that would use all the clichés of Symphonic Metal bands : good vs evil concept, solos, continuous double bass drumming, crap synths... You may disagree with this description of course

. Please don't feel offended by this song if you're a Symphonic Metal fan ! Just consider it some kind of.... tribute

All this was done in a week end, with pauses. I just added some extra hours to polish the sounds. We had a lot of fun doing it, so I wish you'll laugh a bit too.

Recorded with Tracktion.
Sounds font player : XS-1.
VST Plugins : free ones, especialy those from Kjaerhus Audio.

The intro and end speeches are in less good quality because I had only my crap mic at this moment. And I guess there're a few grammatical mistakes... Sorry about it ! If we have a bit of success, I will record them again

Here's the mp3 (7'11mns, 6.54 Mbs) :
www.julien-nevo.com/licorna.mp3

(BTW, 'Licorna' comes from 'Licorne', which in french means 'Unicorn').

Here are the lyrics and the 'storyline' :

Old man's beginning speech (voice=me) :
--------------------------

'Enter, and listen to my tale, my friend, for I have to spread my knowledge...
A long time ago, our kingdom, ruled by the good king Eddinas, was once again threatened by the evil sardonic forces of Sakhramörh...
In this dark time and age, the only power that could erase this source of evil was the oldest and mightiest legend among all legends.... The Power of Licorna !!!'

*The song begins - Main theme.
*Then, we can hear the princess. While she was sleeping, Sakhramörh's dragon captured her from her tower. Sakhramörh wants to get a son with her... !

Princess (voice=me

--------
Sleeping in the Tower,
(He) Brought me out of my dreams.
Spread his wings, took me away in a whisper...

Sakhramörh (voice=Pierre Antoine, lead guitarist)
----------
When the dragon is back,
I shall assure my reign,
For in his claws lies the Princess of Eddinas !

Princess
--------
I want to see the Prince's eyes again,
I want to feel the Power of Licorna !!

* The Eddinas' army attends to battle against Sakhramörh to get the Princess back. A battle begins between the two armies. Even though the good guys seem to be winning, the Dragon comes and the good army is forced to retreat.

* The scene then takes place on the battlefield, after the fight. Dead bodies are everywhere, a thick mist fills the air. A survivor stands on a hill and contemplates the desolated landscape...

Soldier (voice=me)
-------
Look into the sky,
How could things go so wrong ?
Praying for my brothers' souls...
How could we change our fate ?
Leaving this world full of hate...

(solo)

Drowned into my thoughts,
Struggling between live and death,
I beg the gods to invoke Licorna !!!!

* His prayers have been heard ! Winds begin to raise, thunder is coming... A lightning strikes the ground, and Licorna emerges from the Earth ! The final battle has arrived... Licorna vs Sakhramörh...

Licornian Mantra (vocals=Pierre Antoine, me and Pierrick (second guitarist), using a french/russian spelling)
-----
Krash noukaya Valash no Profilé
Kobaya swak zé Pramine.
Rask ar chapak Noumayoff Volodine
Ergo flask fluum Licorna !!

End speech
----------
... And Licorna destroyed Sakhramörh, and so were the dark forces.
The peace returned to the lands, and never Sakhramörh were heard of anymore...
You must believe in this power...
... for when the evil strikes... Licorna will come to save us... again...

The End !

Don't hesitate to tell me what you thought about this song !

t-willy · Post by **t-willy** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 6:21 pm

very cool idea. loved all the sound effects. the vocals were not my favorite. very theatrical and fun to listen to though. not bad for a weekend.

lates

t-willy

Sielsynth · Post by **Sielsynth** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 7:10 pm

I thought this was kinda fun as well, I hope the vocals were meant to be a spoof because I laughed the whole time. The music though was pretty good.
Definitely good for just a weekend.

püRe · Post by **püRe** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 8:21 pm

Oh how I laughed at the old man part...sorry...

Oh wait, there's the rest

Sorry, everything is great but vocals are plain funny (well the first ones...acting type...), dunno if it's supposed to be like that...

Jnv · Post by **Jnv** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 11:26 pm

Thanks a lot for your replies.

Yes, the vocals and lyrics were of course meant to be funny. Well in fact I didn't want to sing the princess part but my sister was on holiday so I couldn't count on her

.

cyanogen · Post by **cyanogen** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 11:55 pm

Cliches or not, I really enjoyed this! Don't worry about the high vocals on the Princess' part. King Diamond made a career out of it.

Roman Empire · Post by **Roman Empire** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 2:55 am

Ok I know that often it´s forbidden to take things ment for fun serious, but I really liked many of the things in this alot!
So my negative stuff first:

The sound is as if taken directly from the mixer during a live gig, very dead.
The structure is too chaotic. I know that it often is like that in this kind of music, but then there´s a better balance between the parts.

But I liked the melodies, chords and lyrics and *some* of the vocals

I know the lyrics are supposed to be for fun and a kliché, but I dont really mind klichés too much becaus I prefer people to think with their heart and not to try to be original only for the sake of being original; that often becomes dishonest.
And even if you seem to have put the klichés there on purpose as a joke, the words are too good to be a parody on something, you actually seem to mean it

Which is nice of course, and why I like that part too.

Nice surprise - let´s have some more of this!

Jnv · Post by **Jnv** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 10:30 am

>The structure is too chaotic. I know that it often is like that in this kind of music, but then there´s a better balance between the parts.

Indeed. The fact was that we lacked time to develop them further, and to make proper transitions. And so much bands don't even care about them that we thought it was good to do the same

>And even if you seem to have put the klichés there on purpose as a joke, the words are too good to be a parody on something, you actually seem to mean it
Which is nice of course, and why I like that part too.

What a striking comment

. The fun part of making such joke is to try to do the thing seriously. So when we sang we indeed tried to do as if we really meant what we were saying. So it's a kind of 'honest' song after all....

Roman Empire · Post by **Roman Empire** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 12:11 pm

Jnv wrote:
Indeed. The fact was that we lacked time to develop them further, and to make proper transitions. And so much bands don't even care about them that we thought it was good to do the same

Ok, maybe times have changed.. I actually haven´t listened to this kind of music for like a decade, except for having the latest King Diamond album in heavy rotation for some weeks. I noticed he had become much more chaotic too than for example on Abigail, but I felt it was justified by that he´s less melodic now. You guys have too many nice melodies to be chaotic

Jnv wrote:
What a striking comment . The fun part of making such joke is to try to do the thing seriously. So when we sang we indeed tried to do as if we really meant what we were saying. So it's a kind of 'honest' song after all....

Very nice - intelligent humour! I think 1 out of 20 trying to make a parody of something fail because they actually hate what they´re making the parody of, and the hate comes down to not understanding what they hate.
But anyway - nice track, and if I say that you after all love this kinda metal more than hate it, I aint too wrong, am I?

Licorna : Symphonic Metal Reborn !!