Welcome to the story behind my first album, Apocalyptic Dreams. Released in December 2013, this 12‑track instrumental metal journey blends traditional heavy metal riffs, melodic hooks, and fiery yet melodic guitar solos—without drowning your ears in nonstop shredding.
🔊 Listen While You Read
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🎯 What Is Apocalyptic Dreams?
This 12-track instrumental journey marries classic heavy metal intensity—think Metallica and Joe Satriani—with the soaring melodic tones of European power metal like Sonata Arctica, Nightwish, and Evergrey.
- Balanced solos—melodic, expressive, and fast, but never overpowering the core rhythm riffing.
- A mix of emotional and edgy hooks woven throughout riffs, progressions, and solos that stick with you.
- Ambient-driven textures, using clean and reverb-drenched guitar passages to add emotional depth and atmosphere where you’d usually expect keyboard or synth layers.
📋 Apocalyptic Dreams Track List
Released December 2013
- Redemption
- End of Days
- Facing the Guillotine
- Apocalyptic Dreams
- Dark Forces Shall Bow
- Out There
- Mission: Terminate
- Legion of the Underworld
- As Iron Sharpens Iron
- Fire and Ice
- The Healing
- The Epicist
Listen anywhere: Find it on your favorite platform
🛠️ The Making of Apocalyptic Dreams
Alright, here’s where I take you behind the scenes. Looking at this from a high level, it all seems fairly simple, and I like to keep things simple. But man, there was a huge learning curve that presented some challenges.
🎧 Adapting to Computer-Based Recording (Painful!)
This was my first time using a DAW—My only recording experience was back in the late-90s when I had an old school Fostex DMT-8 hardware recorder.
Now I had to learn something completely new – how to record on my laptop with a PreSonus AudioBox USB (I didn’t even know what an interface was before that). I started in Reaper, then moved to Studio One Artist (later upgraded to Pro). There were many frustrations and mistakes made, but I eventually figured it out.
🎸 The Search for Tone (and Sanity Test)
Dialing in the guitar sound drove me nuts. I started with a Line 6 POD XT Live and experimented with amp sims like LePou’s Legion and a few others (this was 2009, and amp sims were somewhat new). I upgraded to HD500 when it was released. Although the tones were much better, I was now going down a new rabbit hole of sounds. Kinda like starting from scratch.
The real breakthrough came with the HD 500 ENGL Fireball (Angel FBALL) in the HD500. That tone fit my vision for the album perfectly. Some clean and ambient parts came from HD500’s Fender clean tone with the HD500 ‘Particle Verb’ reverb (love this effect!). That’s what I used to replicate those ambient sounds you get from keyboards. Again, this is where my influences from bands like Nightwish and Evergrey came in.
🥁 No Drummer? No Problem
I didn’t want to use a basic drum machine or program—those just didn’t feel right for the vibe I was going for. But hiring a real drummer wasn’t in the cards at the time (tight budget and all that). After a ton of searching, I came across Beta Monkey’s Double Bass Mania (I used versions III and IV). These are real drum samples played by real drummers, and they sounded killer.
The challenge? Sifting through hundreds of loops to build full drum tracks that fit my riffs and progressions. It was time-consuming, but also kinda fun—it felt like piecing together a metal puzzle. In the end, I was blown away by how natural and aggressive the drums turned out. It gave the album the punch it needed without sounding overly programmed or robotic.
🎚️ Mixing & Mastering
Mixing felt surprisingly smooth. I used KRK Rokit monitors and tested on headphones, laptop speakers, and in the car. I’m not one to layer guitars on top of guitars. My process is simple. I record two rhythm guitars and hard pan them. Then I have my bass and lead tracks up the middle (except the harmonizing solos you hear; this was not a pitch shift effect – I recorded both leads and hard-panned those).
In the end, I decided to send the project for mastering. Mike Olson (JMO Services LLC) did an incredible job—his ears polished the album into something I’ll always be proud of (thank you, Mike).
🧰 Gear Snapshot
- Guitars: Mainly the ESP M‑1000 Deluxe, though I used my Ibanez RG1570 on some ambient parts
- Bass: Dean 5‑string through Studio One plugins (I just built my own effects chain with EQ and compression)
- Interface: PreSonus AudioBox USB
- DAW: Studio One Pro (this was the FIRST Version!)
- Amp Sim: Line 6 POD HD500 w/ ENGL Fireball for the metal rhythms and leads, Fender for the cleans and ambient sounds
- Monitors: KRK G5 Rokits
- Drums: Beta Monkey Double Bass Mania loops
- Mastering: Mike Olson, JMO Services LLC
Crafted with minimal gear, in a small apartment-turned-studio over two years. Every note was written, recorded, and mixed by me in the living room. I’ll always be proud of this album.
❤️ Special Thanks
- Candy – Always believed and supported my dream—couldn’t have done it without your love
- Mike Olson – Mastering wizard and great friend
- Family & Mentors – My parents for supporting my musical interests from the beginning, my early mentor Ron Goodman (RIP, you were one of a kind), Ronnie Miller (you helped my dad pick out my first guitar and introduced my to Joe’s Flying in a Blue Dream, which had just come out at that time and to this day gives me chills), Uncle Fred, Will Pufall (RIP, it was so great playing music with you on stage all those years), Jon Castillo
- Close Friends/Old Bandmates (The Guys)– Eddie Gray, Tom Sherman, your feedback drove this forward
🧠 Why It Matters
This was more than an album. It was my initiation into writing, recording, and releasing music independently. I navigated technical challenges, guitar tone hunts, drum workaround, and perfectionism. Every step shaped how I teach and create today. If you’re diving into recording your own music, I hope this story inspires you to keep moving forward, no matter what.
🔗 Want More Metal Motivation?
Dive into my second instrumental album, Heavy Metal Workout — a hard-hitting 12-track record built specifically for lifting and pushing limits in the gym. Check out the story behind it and what gear I used here:
👉 Behind the Scenes: Heavy Metal Workout (2016)
Keep it Metal,
Jason
