REVIEWS AND THE ADVENTURE SO FAR

WE GOT A PLACE IN THE TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
metal-digest.com/2022/12/22/craig-oberts-top-10-albums-of-2022/

''THE GREATEST SURPRISE OF MY UNIVERSE IN 2022''
''Η πιο σπουδαία εκπληξη για το σύμπαν μου, το 2022''
METAL HAMMER GREECE, written by Kostas Chronopoulos.
www.instagram.com/p/CkoB8I3KpVC/?

''NOTHING IS SACRED IS A MASTERPIECE!''
''Το ''Nothing Is Sacred'' είναι αριστούργημα!''
soundcheck.network/posts/dorian-shroom-nothing-is-sacred/

''WHAT AN UNEXPECTEDLY DIVERSE AND GREAT ALBUM''
''Τι απροσδόκητα ποικιλόμορφο και υπέροχο άλμπουμ''
www.dprp.net/reviews/2023/035?fbclid=IwAR2caTpQWWKwdZATaI7b9tVsjH4lmqTl6iIwjroHZLEnoiAbTHCdDNKaqqY

''EXCELLENT AND HIGHLY RECOMMENDED."
outlawsofthesun.blogspot.com/2023/06/dorian-shroom-nothing-is-sacred-album.html?fbclid=IwAR3gGG8L_0dPNnbAgm2jGPLksdLfRdbAQTO7olFGndyLb2SEunv67hWpwg4

''Α TESTAMENT TO THE PERSEVERANCE AND LOVE OF THE ART, THIS. ALBUM. ROCKS.''
metal-digest.com/2022/08/01/dorian-shroom-nothing-is-sacred/

''NOTHING IS SACRED IS A RECORD THAT'S BRIMMING WITH GREAT PLAYING AND SONGWRITING.''
musipediaofmetal.blogspot.com/2022/09/reviews-megadeth-defacing-god-dorian.html

''...YOU'LL DEFINATELY WANT TO CHECK OUT THIS RECORD.''
newnoisemagazine.com/bandcamp-of-the-day-dorian-shroom/?fbclid=IwAR3njbef4A_ir8tAOMTIyrmeTTAKq4nLpgG3FldAMpQAkjGWe6DbPpIaBts

"..THEY MASTERED WHAT THEY SET OUT TO ACHIEVE."
leespeaksoutaboutmusic.wordpress.com/2023/06/26/lee-speaks-about-music226/

''IT'S BOUND TO BE APPRECIATED''
''Είναι βέβαιο πως θα εκτιμηθεί.''
rockhard.space/underground-halls-vol-116-dorian-shroom-in-grief-mortal-thrall-splintered-throne/

''THEY'VE GONE AROUND DEMOLISHING LIVE STAGES''
''Τα παλικάρια έχουν βγει στη γύρα για να κατεδαφίσουν ένα live stage κάπου κοντά σας.''
afternoiz.gr/music/eskase-to-nothing-is-sacred-apo-tous-dorian-shroom/

''ΕΧΕΙ ΝΑ ΔΩΣΕΙ.''
www.forgotten-scroll.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&p=66236


TECHNICAL STUFF AND TRIVIA (for geeks and weirdos)

Here’s how this album was made: We are all broke, but are blessed with having great friends who love us and let us borrow their stuff. On top of our obvious financial problems, we had to fight casual procrastination, lack of knowledge about equipment and common life. It all started with the drum recs.

We recorded all drum parts in the community room of the Student’s Cultural Union of Xanthi “Gefyra” in March 2020, during a Sunday afternoon right a week before the first lockdown of 2020. The drumset we used was a Tama SuperStar EFX Orange-Satin Flame with Stagg SH Handmade and Wuhan cymbals, plus a Zildjian ZBT ride hit by 5B Promark ActiveGrip drumsticks. The recording was done Glyn Johns style (the infamous “Recorderman” technique of the poor) using a kick (Shure Beta 52A), snare (Shure SM57) and two overhead mics (Behringer C-2 stereo set) that Drosos Lampropoulos was kind enough to lend us. Andreas stepped on a Gibraltar Intruder 2 double drum pedal with Remo Powersonic 22” Clear Bass and punished Remo Powerstroke 4 drumheads, plus an additional Pearl Target Series snare with Remo Powerstroke 3 Ebony Black [which means it’s as black as it gets].

The interface we used was a 4-channel Alesis io4 USB 16-bit sound card that Ioannis Paraskevopoulos (huge friend and crazy-ass-jazz-licks-for-days-guitarist) lended us a couple of years ago and has thankfully forgot about. It was a great pleasure to record drums in a roomy space where we usually play live. Sincere thanks to the delivery guy from Eilikrinia fast-food hell in Kimmeria, Xanthi, for the battering ram style knocking on the metal door that forced us to record the ending of “S7eps” one more time and was (partly) responsible for the profanities in the album outro.

Guitars were recorded in five tormenting stages:
1. Acoustic guitars tracked by Kostas with a sweet old USA Martin D-16GT Gloss Top Dreadnought with an AKG mic borrowed from and set by Fokion Karadimoglou. We ended up having an acoustic background in all tracks.
2. Principal tracking for rhythm parts using a rig and employing the generosity of tech-savvy angel George Papadopoulos (ex Red Chariot - ex Genus Hydra) his ears, his Blackstar Preamp, his “FRANK” custom pedalboard of doom (LPB1-Crybaby-plus plus plus] and his quiet 004 dorm room in campus building C2. We liked the result and kept Kostas parts for “Panic Attack”, “Waste No Time” and “Birdman” at 90% as originally recorded.
3. Home-cookies style solo recordings took place for Kostas guitars with a 1997 Yamaha Pacifica 112V aka “Ophelia” on a Steinberg USB sound card borrowed from Mitsos Ioannidis, and then additional solos with a 2020 model Charvel Pro-Mod DK24 HSS 2PT Red Ash aka ''Evelyn'', through a Focusrite Scarlett 4i4. As far as pedals go, Kostis also used Audio Designs J-Rockett Melody EQ and a J-Rockett Touch Overdrive (yeap that’s a call for sponsorship there, if anyone’s listening). Kostas also rewrote the rest of his parts with this setup.
4. Tsompanidis mostly tracked his guitars in his parent’s place with his trusted ESP LTD EC-1000 Vintage Black (non serviam, Sakis) paired with a Boss Katana 50 MK2 raging-madness-packing “home” amplifier using the default Boss software with almost zero processing, apart from a religious SCOOP.
5. Then -God- finally some layering guitar parts were tracked with a PRS SE Standard 24 VC beauty by Panos Papas (ex Verba Volant - ex Flying Drop) and a Randal RH200 amp with a Harley Benton cabin and a Sennheiser E906 mic. The guitar parts recorded with this setup are heard in “Lightning Bolts” and “S7eps” and you can tell.

Bass was recorded with a Mexican immigrant Fender JazzBass 70’s Anniversary with Hybrid Slinky 45-105 strings by Ernie Ball, through a Hartke BassAttack VXL Preamp D.I. then straight to the Alesis io4. Some effects done with a questionable Zoom MS-60B and a Digitech bass synth wah envelope filter which you don’t really need to worry about because we buried it in the mix. Melitos has waived his right to admit he wrote his parts under the direct threat of physical or any other kind of violence.

Vocals were tracked in hardly 3x4m student bedrooms, using an Audio Technica AT2020 and a Shure SM-58, while layering for heavier parts was done in Gefyra’s studio where Chris could scream as loud as he needed to. He made a rough edit for his vocal parts with a 4i4 3rd Gen Scarlett, listening through ATH-M40x, then tried a few pre-mixes in order to choose VSTs and settings. Most of the vocals are processed with CLA Vocals Judy-Judy-Judy preset and minor adjustments. From the original pre-mixes, vocals for “Lightning Bolts” were kept in the final mix.

Backing vocals were tracked at home as well, using a T-Bone mic with surprisingly nice high end, while sore throats after growls were cleaned with home-made tsipouro. We never let Chris listen to the raw audio.

Marietta tracked her mesmerizing vocals for “Unknown Love” in her apartment in Thessaloniki, using (and we wish we were making this up) a USB Behringer mic straight into Audacity. We choose to believe she did more than one take.

Lyrics were written in blood, using tears to thin it out when it sounded a little too cheesy.

Keyboard parts are all digital programming by Kostis and Melitos at home, while arguing really hard over their VSTi collections for the right to choose. They wish to inform you that nobody was hurt in the process and the chainsaw thing was just a prank. Also, if we are ever joined by a keyboard player, sorry in advance mate.

Melitos mixed with an 2017 HP laptop with 1HP left, listening through a Samsung MM-430D home cinema set. At some point, Kostas brought his Presonus Eris E4.5 monitors and saved the day. We mix mostly in totally legit Cubase 5 with every VST plugin carrying the initials of our lord and savior CLA. Mixing took place over two long years of procrastination in a bedroom in Xanthi, also known as Tower 35sqm Studio(s). The view up there was great, the seagulls were intimidating but didn’t eat anyone and the neighbors were friendly and mostly uncomplaining. Andreas and Kostas directed the mixing process by trying to describe how they felt things should sound, battles were fought, and then the last man standing had his way for Afternoon #457 of 1250 - Repeat tomorrow. Shout-out to Xanthi Fire Department’s finest for putting out that blazing balcony fire, just one week before the final mastering process and saving Auntie Yannoula along with this album’s fate.

Actual mastering was not even attempted, who do you think we are, Mazonakis? Basic gain-staging with CLA Mixdown set in default settings is what you hear. Oh, and by the way, “mastering” was done in a car.

So, that’s it, our debut album was a 100% DIY adventure. We didn’t work smart and we didn’t work well, but we really tried our best to work hard on this.

In the end, everything was done with care and love for one another and adoration for High Goddess Creativity. We are quite the simple dudes; we just want to play and share our music. We wish we could have done more, sooner, better, whatever, but this is all we can give, and not a milligram of our souls less. And that must count for something.

Respectfully,
Dorian Shroom