Purchasing Old albums

[The Essence of Conviction]

Hey guys, after becoming a massive fan after "Deathanity," it's time to collect the back catalog. I'm interested in getting the Odin's Court EP, Driven By Fate and Redriven by Fate. I've already seen I can get the DVD from the website so I'll save that for last. Let me know guys!

[OdinsCourt]

I'm going to sticky this, because we've actually gotten some emails, messages, etc. elsewhere asking similar questions.

First off, it means a lot that you like us enough to get the back catalogue. We're truly flattered!

With that said, here is the history...

• EP: I'll be honest - we had no idea what we were doing. I was the only one who had ever recorded in the studio before, and that was in the days of 4-track analogue bouncing down with a very different music style. We went to a studio on a limited budget. The music itself was actually not bad, but the vocals were a bit harsh at times (to say the least). Only 100 or so were made, and I think most are probably in trash cans. I do have a small handful in my personal collection just for history, but they aren't to leave my hands (and aren't even for my ears).

• Driven by Fate: We knew more of what we were doing. Through the EP/Demo, I learned a little about Cubase. We recorded at the same studio as the EP (the owner is a good, knowledgeable guy and a friend - KMH Recording), and I was more involved with the mixing. The vocals were much improved (if you can believe it), but still quite rough. There were 14 songs, and we tried for something "bigger" than the EP/Demo. There are plenty of CDs left, but again, we weren't really ready to be "out there" yet. We did make a lot of CDs professionally, though in hind site, maybe that wasn't the best idea. I have lots of CDs in my attic (probably melting or something).

• ReDriven by Fate: Due to my location in Southern Maryland (SoMD), there aren't a lot of proficient musicians that are into the style of Odin's Court combined with the personality and schedule to be in the band. So through lineup changes, I ended up with 3 newbies, which pushed back the new songs John (Drums) and I were working on. John and I being the only ones left from the "old" days, decided playing out was enough for the time being. We eventually decided to rerecord the major 8 songs from DBF that we played live. Instead of all the layers we had on DBF, I decided to go for a more "live" configuration. To add something special (and something I always wanted to do), we added a bunch of acoustic stuff. This was a good learning process for me, as it was my first major effort in the studio entirely on my own. I invested in some software and equipment, and mostly time. This was our best sounding yet, though really, we still sounded mostly amateurish IMHO.

• Deathanity: I did A LOT of reading, investigating, playing, investing, etc. in my knowledge and assets for my studio. I learned so much between RDbF and Deathanity. We also took our time on this and I went over everything with a fine tooth comb. I was quite picky. The result is a superior sounding album, and honestly, the first one that really makes us truly proud. I think the sound quality stands up to comparable bands in the genre. The song writing was also very different from DBF, as I wanted us to do something "BIG" compared to the old songs that were more stand alone in feel.

• Special "Album" to Come: With all that history, I figured folks who checked out Deathanity may be interested in hearing some old stuff. So, proactively and before Deathanity came out, I started working on a RDbF remix/remastering. I'm also rerecording the vocals. You can hear one song on our MySpace ("His Dark Materials"). I've got the music mixed for 7 others. I'll start the vocals soon. The plan is to offer mp3s for sale through our website and MySpace, and maybe even have some CDs burned for those who prefer to have someting to hold (and use the same packaging from the original RDbF). I'm thinking it will be the exact same songs/order as RDbF, but I may do a couple of extra alternate versions for fun too.

So there you have it. Stay tuned. I'm thinking some time in August or maybe early-September the remix/remaster of RDbF will be ready. We joke that this will be Re-ReDriven by Fate (kind of like Metallica's Garage Days Re-Revisited. At any rate, it won't sound as great as Deathanity by any means (the guitar tone is especially inferior), but it will be something that you can listen to and enjoy.

[SavinoPalumbo]

Very well put Matt. I would agree with everything Matt said here. We were pretty happy with Redriven when we put it out, but nowhere near as happy as we are with Deathanity. I'm not recommending you DON'T purchase Redriven by any means. It's just good to be aware of the circumstances surrounding the recording before you listen to it. His Dark Materials is still one of my favorite tunes to play live. I would recommend you check Redriven out, then listen to the His Dark Materials redux on Myspace after hearing the original. Then you can look forward to the Re-redriven whenever it comes out!

I'm really glad you enjoy Deathanity so much by the way! We all worked very hard on it, and it's a pleasure to see that someone out there is benefiting from it. Thanks!

[The Essence of Conviction]

Wow, I can't believe I got stickied! Finances are a bit tough but I'm willing to pay for any of the band's history so I'll let you guys know. No matter how bad you guys might think it is!