Musical influences
You've come to the right place to find out more about my musical influences and learn a little bit more about my musical biography.
Early years
My passion for music started early, although I didn't have the opportunity to educate myself and find the music that really struck my heart. In the early years there was no internet to help with the discovery of all the cool music, so I was pretty limited in terms of the music I had at my disposal.
I discovered Roxette as my favorite band and I held their music very dear for many years. So far, I had been listening to mostly radio music, mainly influenced by the musical taste of my parents, but Roxette changed that for the first time. top
Teenage years
In my teenage years when the internet became a thing, I finally had a good opportunity to discover more and more music. As I learned more about what other cool music was out there, I ventured into the Punk Rock direction. Bad Religion, Pennywise and several other bands were early influences. Other bands I liked were Guano Apes, Die Happy and some others aiming in the Crossover direction.
A game-changing discovery for me was Dream Theater in 2000. This was when I finally found my core genre. I absolutely loved their music right from the start and listened to all of their albums up and down for months on end. I loved the virtuosity, the complexity and emotion conveyed by their music. Their music felt like a revelation, it sparked my imagination, motivated me to listen closely and to discover all those little nuances. This complete involvement with music moved me in ways I had not known before.
My musical preferences never shifted much again since then. While Dream Theater still remained my favorite band, I found more and more bands that won my favour. Just to name a few in chronological order:
- Symphony X
- Kamelot
- Opeth
- Pain of Salvation
- Tool
These bands defined and shaped my musical taste more and more. They opened the doors to other Metal genres and made me expand my tastes and embrace other musical approaches.
Along with my passion for music came my passion for audiophile-grade equipment. Over the year's I've grown to like different headphones very much. The process of acquiring new gear, enjoying the different sound signatures and rediscovering my music library in an all-new sound became a hobby of mine. My audiophile inclination sure helped me in the creation of this album, as this hobby made me develop an ear for technical nuances and an understanding for what constitutes good sound. top
What's up today?
Nowadays I'm still listening to a few core bands, but I've diversified my range of the Metal genres I like quite a bit. I've enjoyed albums from so many artists, it's hardly possible to list them all. Just a few notable examples:
- TesseracT
- Periphery
- Karnivool
- Panzerballett
- Scar Symmetry
- Lamb of God
- Chimaira
- Evergrey
- Sevendust
- Subsignal
- Porcupine Tree
- Riverside
As of late, I've been enjoying Djent very much. A recent development is that I've also grown to like Dubstep (Zomboy, Skrillex and a few others), as well as some other Electronica quite a bit. So I certainly don't listen to Metal exclusively, I also have some playtime for Jazz, Classical, Singer/Songwriter or others, but that's clearly a small percentage.
I've always liked soundtrack music, one especially notable exception being the Battlestar Galactica soundtrack. I absolutely love the combination of many instruments from musical genres all over the world into one seamless, unique and absolutely sweeping ensemble. This musical style has had a great influence on my music as well.
I'm continually looking for new and interesting ways to expand my musical horizons, but certainly the core sound of Metal remains hard to beat for me. top