Death Of The Celts

How good is Death of the Celts on a scale of 1-10?

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wickman said:
Death of Celts (and The Parchment) are prime examples.
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Yeah, I deleted the post...we were under the DOTC thread anyaway,haha. Yep, I agree, as times the sound is changing in a weird way.
 
wickman said:
I don't have the CD or vinyl (yet!), only streaming (Spotify/Tidal high-res). Love the album. Holy mother of god it's a good album

BUUUT can someone please check if the same crazy distortion, crackling noises is on the physical version as well as on the stream? It's bugging me out like hell and I wonder how Caveman Shirley and the guys can let this slip out of QA.

Listen to Death of the Celts from 7:20 to 7:40 on decent pair of head phones. The same in The Parchment from 5:03 to 5:50. Sounds crap and I hate it! Can't listen to these songs.

It does sounds better in the low-res mp3-versions though (high res is horrible) and possibly on speakers.
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I don't have a physical version to compare to but I did want to chime in to say yeah, it sounds horrendous. It's incredibly distracting and really takes away from the music. It's some of the worst I've ever heard, reminds me of Rainier Fog by Alice in Chains. Genuinely baffles me how these tracks got out the door the way they are. Such a shame.
 
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Crimson Clown said:
I don't have a physical version to compare to but I did want to chime in to say yeah, it sounds horrendous. It's incredibly distracting and really takes away from the music. It's some of the worst I've ever heard, reminds of Rainier Fog by Alice in Chains. Genuinely baffles me how these tracks got out the door the way they are. Such a shame.
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Yes, it's all over the album, but much less on the first volume (CD 1). But the last three tracks are so bad that I pretty much consider them non existing. Which is a bloody shame. I cannot for the life of me listen to them without getting distracted by that crap, so I just turn it off.

Oh, I just got my hands on the CD and (sad to say) it's exactly the same problems there as well. I was hoping is was only streaming versions, but it's on the physical as well :mad:.
 
wickman said:
Death of Celts 7:20 - 7:40 (and The Parchment 5:04 - 5:50) are prime examples.
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I think that there is something strange going on around 7:20 onwards on The Parchment too. Something like an unintentional muting on the guitar or something. This is what I meant by not liking the sound clarity on the album. I mean that most songs got so m any guitar layers and details that are getting lost in the muddy sound/production/mix...whatever it is called. Adding the mistakes I hear at points once more...well...maybe just maybe they could also try a fresh set of ears after all this years.....anyhow I love the album!!!!
 
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Gk1 said:
I think that there is something strange going on around 7:20 onwards on The PArchment too. Something like an unintentional muting on the guitar or something. This is what I meant by not liking the sound clarity on the album. I mean that most songs got so m any guitar layers and details that are getting lost in the muddy sound/produciton/mix...whatever it is called. Adding the mistakes I hear at points once more...well...maybe just maybe they could also try a fresh set of ears after all this years.....anyhow I love the album!!!!
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Yeah sure, one can point out problems with the mixing or levels, that's a matter of personal taste. These problems are serious errors in the production if you ask me. It's crackling, distortions, clipping, popping, static noise that shouldn't be there and (for me a least) ruins these songs. I listen on my head phones (I don't have any good speakers). But if you're using ordinary speakers (or car stereo or radio) or on a low res mp3 then I think you won't hear it.

I tried listening using the lowest quality setting in Tidal (or Spotify I think) which is like 96 kbps and sure enough, the distortions pretty much disappeared, but of course, the sound quality is worse due to extreme lossyness.
 
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wickman said:
Death of Celts 7:20 - 7:40 (and The Parchment 5:04 - 5:50) are prime examples.
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Thanks for making me hear that bud!

But seriously, yeah it's weird. It's also weird how the volume suddenly drops at around 8:00 for the next part.
I "found" a flac version of the album and it sounds better than spotify but the clipping is still there. It's not egregiously bad, but it's not amazing that this happened, especially with how good the album sounds generally.
 
> Death of Celts 7:20 - 7:40 (and The Parchment 5:04 - 5:50) are prime examples.

Mega said:
Thanks for making me hear that bud!
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I'm truly sorry about that, I am. Just wanted to check if I'm the only one hearing it.

Bloody great album otherwise and Maiden should be listened to live anyway so! I'll wait for a Remastered version, lol (Metallica/Death Magnetic....)
 
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Gk1 said:
I think that there is something strange going on around 7:20 onwards on The PArchment too. Something like an unintentional muting on the guitar or something. This is what I meant by not liking the sound clarity on the album. I mean that most songs got so m any guitar layers and details that are getting lost in the muddy sound/produciton/mix...whatever it is called. Adding the mistakes I hear at points once more...well...maybe just maybe they could also try a fresh set of ears after all this years.....anyhow I love the album!!!!
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First I want to say that I am ecstatic about this album. I absolutely love it from start to finish. That said, the only thing that is a negative to me is the production and it is a distraction and takes away from the impact of the greatness of the album. Your description of “getting lost in the muddy mix” is perfect. The guitars are not clear and “muddied” in many areas throughout. The vocals too. They are too low and kind of mushed in with everything making it difficult to understand the lyrics often. I went through the previous 16 albums to compare and this one is definitely a very noticeable difference. Book of Souls maybe slightly similar in the mix but not nearly as noticeable. I hate pointing it out but it’s not subtle and it can take away from the listening experience. Other than that, what a brilliant album! I can’t stop listening to it over and over.
 
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This sounded totally pointless, on Friday, upon first listening. On the next day, I did put the album for a second spin and things started to fall into place, although, that happy major key riff sounded outta context, but, the historical value and the soundtrack nuances started to make it sound better. What I find interesting is that I never listened so much Peter Hammill's influence on Bruce as in some songs on 'Senjutsu', but, specially on this track; also, the final solo section is an obvious nod to Emerald (they should've made more back to back soloing, on that part). There's an identical 'The Clansman' riff after the 'happy' one, but, it doesn't take away from the song; maybe, if it was 2 minutes shorter, it'd work much better. I like the intro, 'cos, despite it has a formula, the notes sound very nice, adding a great mood. It is a cool song, anyways and it might gets better as listenings happen.
 
wickman said:
I'm truly sorry about that, I am. Just wanted to check if I'm the only one hearing it.
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There seems to be digital distortion in some solos. I especially hear it in Dave's grand solo on The Parchment.
Was this an artistic choice, or a huge blunder? Heard it too @Yax ?
 
Forostar said:
There seems to be digital distortion in some solos. I especially hear it in Dave's grand solo on The Parchment.
Was this an artistic choice, or a huge blunder? Heard it too @Yax ?
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Volume two (CD2) is lousy with distortions, but CD1 seems relatively free from it. For me, I can't listen to the last songs on my head phones :-( Anyway, there is a pretty interesting thread about Senjutsu noise problem on the audio review forum where they dissect this crap in detail.
 
wickman said:
Volume two (CD2) is lousy with distortions, but CD1 seems relatively free from it. For me, I can't listen to the last songs on my head phones :-( Anyway, there is a pretty interesting thread about Senjutsu noise problem on the audio review forum where they dissect this crap in detail.
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They also mention Still Life, I took a listen (Spotify, 2015 remaster) and sure it's there, around 3:20 when the solo starts :oops:
Is it the remaster's fault, or was it there from the start?
 
frus said:
They also mention Still Life, I took a listen (Spotify, 2015 remaster) and sure it's there, around 3:20 when the solo starts :oops:
Is it the remaster's fault, or was it there from the start?
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I must be deaf or stupid, I listened to that part three times in a row and I have no idea what you or the people on that forum are talking about.
 
It's best heard on Death of the Celts, 7:23 onwards, left channel especially (where Dave's solo guitar appears), headphones recommended
On Still Life it's very faint, and may be dependent on the release, but this is from Senjutsu CD
 
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