I've really been getting back into black metal and now that I've met a really awesome girl who's into it to I'm thinking of starting a band with her. This is just a sample of something I recorded really quick but shows off my general style. I'm really influenced by french romantic black metal (I actually wrote the lyrics in french) and Wolves in the Throne Room-esque stuff.

Comments on anything would be nice. Although this is a short clip I plan to use this basic template production wise for everything. The thing I'm most worried/shy about is my vocals as I rarely do any kind of vocals though I kind of feel like black metal vocals are my forte.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/58130629516148fc/

Essentially sounds like Darkthrone with the guy from WITTR on vocals. Not bad at all. Very Transilvanian Hunger-esque except faster, less atmospheric, and better produced.

Sounds competent, if a bit standard. The vocals are a bit weak, a little work on that should help.
Since it's only a short sample of music, I don't know how the rest of the song would go. If it's blastbeats all the way through, it might get boring, since it's been done many times before.

I guess it's all about what you want to achieve with music. If you want to make some enjoyable music, then it seems like you have a good potential to do that, but there's nothing groundbreaking here. That's okay, if you're not aiming for it, but keep it in mind.

0:55 could do with some looking at. The vocals seem to boom into the microphone, and not in the good way, like you just blew into it or something. You said you did this quickly, I guess if you had more time you would fix it up or something.

Potential, I suppose. I liked it.

Most of the songs are probably going to be significantly slower. I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel here and do something utterly groundbreaking. Black metal is a pretty derivative genre in itself though.

I don't know if this is actually going to be one of the songs, I like the riffs but it is almost too Darkthrone/Mayhem-esque (which is weird because I rarely listen to Darkthrone). I would like a lot more atmosphere and I'll be working on that once I started focusing on writing actual songs.

I may throw in some keyboards here and there. I'm just gonna have fun with it.

And yeah that was me breathing into the mic by accident because rather than setting up my condenser I just used my computer mic for a quick recording. totally kvlt

And if you're going to go the drum machine route, you should utilize it in a very stark and lifeless way. You don't need to make it sound like a real drum kit. You kind of achieved this.

I thought it was very Darkthrone/Mayhem like the others, I thought the vocals were very raw sounding in a good way, I liked it. Record more stuff.

This is pretty decent stuff right there, man. I'd push the drums a little further down the mix, though, they seem to stand out a bit. Also, i might be alone in this opinion, but i feel keys would ruin it.

Really? I thought the drums were actually a bit low, you can't even hear the ride cymbal at all in the first section and the toms are inaudible.

Nice method for scoring with girls

Jokes aside, I like the sample. Dirty, raw production, which is a plus in the given genre. And don't worry about your vocals, they fit the music quite well. Keep writing stuff!

Oh, and it's good that you are aware of the fact that you are not making anything new. I hate it when simple ten-a-penny raw black bands tag themselves "experimental" or "avantgarde".

When I was recording it I thought it actually sounded too clean so to get a dirty sound on the guitar I maxed a slight reverb track so it was JUST clipping on the center channel.

Also, this girl is a really good singer, and I've always fancied the idea of raw black metal with occasional female vocals or something. It helps that she's also a bass player.

The good: Nice attempt. Nowadays when I hear the words "bedroom BM" I usually expect some inaudible guitar mumbling and drum sounds made using pillows.
The meh: Nothing new.

Vocals are OK btw.

It's probably the way they sound, then, not the volume of the sound itself. I dunno, they just feel a bit too 'prominent'. Could be just me, though.

I'll hop the bandwagon and will also commend your vocal, it fits the raw sound perfectly.

I think the snare is a little too 'poppy' if that makes sense

I think it's actually quite good. You should just stick with that sound and make the music, don't worry about what others think.

the guitar is fuckin evil but the vocals definitely need to be powerful, they seem pretty weak.

The guitars are quite good, and though I don't care for the persistent drum wall in most cases, it goes well in the song's context.