Album Notes

I'm Adrian Van Meter, and one day I decided to put together an album. I wanted it to rock pretty hard and be punchy, angry, and fun, with a few old songs but mostly the new stuff I had been writing. Then, a little while later, it appeared. This is my scream rock / metal album from 2003, "Veteran".

The vocals are generally the first thing to notice. In 2003 I was 17 years old and just beginning to sing and write lyrics, and though this is evident in "Veteran", my friends who'd heard my previous unreleased works tell me the vocals are a real step up from those. It's easy to tell I'm a new vocalist in this album, but the vocal tracks are still confident, colorful, emotional, and on key without any use of pitch correction or shifting. The album features screaming on a few tracks as well, and even a growl or two.

I recorded all drums, bass, and guitars sequentially for this album. The sound might be labeled "nu-metal" because it makes use of booming downtuned guitars, trashy bass guitar, heavy drums and angsty lyrics. I was also trying not to play as many solos, though a few ended up on the album anyway. I thought the mix was a highlight- the drums are free of excessive compression and the kick and snare literally punch you in the face. The mix is loud and really bassy but still balanced across the spectrum- to this day I only use a flat EQ setting when listening in reminiscence.

The disc was pressed through Oasis (oasiscd.com) and it looks super ritzy. Each copy is polywrapped and has full-color inserts and four-panel booklets. The CD itself features color silk screen printing underneath sharp black lettering. If you like this kind of music I'd say the CD is worth buying, in part because you would be directly supporting an artist with more good things on the way. At the time of this writing I have another album in the works. Thanks for reading, and if you're interested in what I've been doing lately, a link to my website (labeled "Adrian Van Meter music") is over there to the left.