Blog Posts

Iberian Doom, Darkness, and Despair...

13/5/2017

The Spanish doom metal band Evadne are releasing a new album, 'A Mother Named Death' this coming June, which features virtual orchestral and choral arrangements by yours truly at orchestralmetal.com.

These symphonic elements are complimented with synth and piano parts created by Sergio Peiro Molina at SP Estudios, who produced the album.

The instrumental track '88:6' is a reference to a psalm in the bible that reads 'You have put me in the lowest pit, In dark places, In the depths". Collectively we have striven to capture the darkness and despair evoked in this tragic text.

Click on the album artwork below to visit the band's facebook page for more info and media regarding this release.

I Loved it All - New Music from The Gift (featuring strings programmed by Jon Phipps)

6/4/2017

New music from The Gift (Portuguese cinematic synth pop) featuring virtual strings programmed by Jon Phipps, mixed by Flood, and produced by Brian Eno: Check it out!

Check out the new album from The Gift on iTunes, by clicking on the album cover below:

New Music from Germany's 'Gods of Violence'...

3/2/2017

In October of 2016, Jon Phipps was commissioned by the producer Jens Bogren to add war-like brass and orchestral percussion to this thrash song by Kreator, who's new album 'Gods of Violence' reached number one in Germany's official album chart today.

This bonus material was published by Decibel Magazine as a special vinyl release. However, it can also be heard below, via there SoundCloud page.

Click on the album cover below to find out more regarding this chart-topping mosh-monstrosity!

The Hour of the Nightingale is Almost Upon Us...

29/10/2016

Here's a sampler of the Trees of Eternity album, 'Hour of the Nightingale', which will be released on the 11th of November. The occasional shades of orchestral colour on this album were created by yours truly at orchestralmetal.com.

The album was produced by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios, Sweden.

This is the second full song to be revealed by the band, who were formed by Juha Raivio, guitarist for Swallow the Sun (Finland), and Aleah Stanbridge, who made a guest appearance as a vocalist on 'Under the Red Cloud' by Amorphis in 2015, and 'New Moon' by Swallow the Sun in 2009. Tragically, Aleah lost her life to cancer earlier in 2016, so the album stands as her haunting and moving epitaph.

Click on the image below to visit the bands Facebook page:

New Material from Trees of Eternity, featuring Cello Arrangements by Jon Phipps

23/8/2016

This is the first song to be released from the new album that Trees of Eternity will be unveiling in November, on Svart Records. It was produced by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios, Sweden, and features a mix of intimate and symphonic string arrangements brought to you by Jon Phipps at orchestralmetal.com.

Moonspell & Jon Phipps: The Portuguese Pre-Production Process

28/6/2016

At the beginning of June, 2016, I went to Lisbon, to pre-produce new material with Portugal's finest goth-metal masters, Moonspell.

Over the course of four long days, four new songs were refined from their raw potential materials into dark monoliths of metal might and majesty.

Along the way, additional orchestral colours were conceptualized and virtually manifested to embellish and enhance the band's core sound, resulting in songs that sound huge and heavy.

Watch this space for further developments with this project, as the mysteries of its dark purpose unfurl over the months to come...

If you would like to hear my previous work with Moonspell, check out their 2015 album 'Extinct' on my portfolio page.

For more info on the band, visit their official facebook page.

Black Metal Session Guitar

29/5/2016

Black Metal Session Guitar

In the gloaming months of 2015, amidst the grip of a frost-bitten winter, I performed a blizzard of guitar parts for Andrew Lavender, who is a very talented producer and multi-instrumentalist from the UK. What Andy wrote for the bridge and chorus of this song was great fun to play, with it's dramatic chord inversions, fast-strumming, and jangling dissonances.

Check out my guitar contributions in the sample below:

Perhaps you've written some awesome guitar riffage for your own music, but you're having a difficult time recording some sections? If so, feel free to get in touch to discuss receiving guitar tuition from me, or whether you would like me to record those tricky parts as a session musician for your project.

You can hear more of my guitar playing and see some of my tuition materials on the transcription page.

Creepy Chord Combos (Chromatic Mediant Relationships)

11/5/2016

Creepy Chord Combos
(Chromatic Mediant Relationships)

Have you ever wondered how the harmony in fantasy film music, adventure game soundtracks, or symphonic black metal works? Do you want to create a similarly lugubrious atmosphere in your own music?

If so, here is a theoretical explanation of one commonplace family of chord progressions that can bring about that foreboding sound-world you are looking for.

Chromatic Mediant relationships are pairs of chords that are either major or minor thirds apart, creating dark moods and a brooding feel, but at the same time maintaining a loose sense of tonality.

Chord sequences like this tend to lend themselves to chromatic melodies that twist and bend through the changes, lines which could sound totally out of place in a more functional harmonic context.

This sort of harmony can be heard in 'The Lord of The Rings' soundtrack by Howard Shore, and in the music of bands such as Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, and Cradle of Filth.

Apart from the chord progressions which are underlined (chords from the same key, that share two notes), there are dramatic tonal contrasts between each horizontal pair, brought about by the chords only sharing one note.

The chords couplets that share a box in the chart are the inversion of each other (the same progressions turned upside down).

The chart only gives examples starting on C or C minor: don’t forget that any one of these sixteen pairs could be transposed anywhere chromatically, and also that the chords could be embellished with harmonic extensions.

Something I like to do is combine two examples a tritone apart, resulting in some really rich yet thrillingly dissonant hexatonic harmonies.

Rules are there to be learnt then burnt: you are only limited by the breadth of your inspiration and the depth of your imagination (unless someone else is in charge, of course!).

Instrumentation, performance techniques, and texture (as well as dynamics) also contribute to the manifestation of these ominous timbres.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more maniacal insights into theory, composition, and orchestration coming soon.

As requested, here are a few references to demonstrate what these sorts of progressions can sound like:

Emiliana Torrini / Howard Shore - 'Gollum's Song'

Intro / Verse

G#m - Bm
(Chromatic Mediant Relationship, minor 3rd)
Cm - D sus 4
( iv - V in Gm, with suspension and resolution on the D, then between D and B there is also a C.M.R (major 3rd this time)

B - Bm
(tonic major-minor pair)
Cm - D sus 4
( iv - V in Gm, with Suspension + Resolution on the D )

Chorus

[Gm - Bm] x2
(C.M.R major 3rd)

Cm/^7 add 6
(from C melodic minor)
D sus 4
( iv - V in Gm, with S+R on the D )
Cm - D add♭9
( iv - V in Gm, with S+R on the D )

Dimmu Borgir - 'The Serpentine Offering'

Orchestral Intro
Gm - E♭m
(C.M.R major 3rd, starting in the dominant key of Gm)
Gm - B
(C.M.R major 3rd, then tritone substitution of F with B, leading into the tonic key of Cm)

Orchestral Theme
Cm - E - Cm
(C.M.R major 3rd)
Cm - A♭m - Cm
(C.M.R major 3rd, then i - iv to the sub-dominant key of Fm)

Band Theme / Chorus
Fm - A - Fm
(C.M.R major 3rd)
Fm - D♭m - Fm
(C.M.R major 3rd, then C.M.R minor 3rd into D)

Interlude
D diminished riffage + chromatic trills

Verse
E♭5 - F#5 - E♭5 - F#5 - E♭5 - D5

Pre - Chorus
Cm - A♭m
(C.M.R major 3rd)
Cm - E
(C.M.R major 3rd, then tritone substitution of Bb with E, leading into Ebm)

Vocal Solo (sung by Vortex)
[ Gm - D ] x 4
E♭m - Gm
(C.M.R major 3rd, vocal in Eb major)
then
(C.M.R minor 3rd)
B♭m add 9 - Fm (iv - i in Fm)
E♭m - Gm add 9
(C.M.R major 3rd, vocal in Eb major, then tritone substitution of C)
F# - Cm - D (iv - V in G minor, same as in Gollum's Song)

Bridge
D diminished dissonant arpeggios, #11's and ♭9's

Tritone substitutions also tend to add a great deal of tension and a feeling of unease to a chord sequence: i'll post another blog specifically on that topic in the near future.

Often, the most effective harmonic cocktail for this kind of music comes from mixing up different kinds of progressions, so that the music doesn't get too predictable or repetitive, whilst at the same time maintaining an ominous and sinister vibe.

Click on the image below to see a transcription I made of the orchestral sections of the song back in 2010:

New Amorphis coming soon, featuring Jon's orchestrations

10/8/2015

Amorphis - 'Under The Red Cloud' - Out in September!

In May of 2015, Jon went to Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden, to orchestrate string arrangements and additional orchestral parts for the new Amorphis record, which was produced by Jens Bogren. This album will be released by Nuclear Blast on the 4th of september, 2015, but until then, the first single can be heard here:

This is the only track on the album which Jon did not contribute to, but it does contain a fantastic guest performance from Martin Lopez (ex-Opeth) on percussion, as well as some great sitar playing from the band's guitarist, Esa Holopainen.

Jon Phipps meets members of Death, Spiral Architect, & Manitou in Oslo

19/4/2015

Jon Phipps meets members of Death, Spiral Architect, & Manitou in Oslo

Jon Phipps ventured to Oslo, Norway, where he hung out with Asgeir Mickelson & Øyvind Hægeland (Spiral Architect), Max Phelps & Steve Di Giorgio (Death), and Ole P Fredriksen (Manitou).

It was an incredible show, and having the chance to meet these inspirational musicians was amazing for Jon, who has spent years listening to and being influenced by their music.

This picture was taken backstage at Vulcan, on the 21st of March, where Death performed with Loudblast, Abysmal Dawn, and Massacre.

However, that's not all that happened in Oslo, but the rest, for now, is a secret!

Watch this space for the grand reveal later this year...