I compose, play, and record all the music myself. I play all the instruments including rhythm, lead, and acoustic guitar, bass, piano, and programming on drum machines and software samplers/sample collections.

 

 

I have been playing and writing music since I was 12 years old. In 1996, I joined a band called FATE with two friends of mine. After some time, we had written several songs and I was really enjoying it. I liked the direction the music was going, but I also wanted to write some music that was a little different from the straight-forward Heavy Metal style that FATE was writing. I wanted to compose music that sometimes had Metal-influenced guitars and percussion, but also involved piano, organ, and a lot of orchestral/symphonic instruments like strings, brass, woodwinds, tympani, orchestral percussion, choir, etc... like a full traditional symphonic orchestra, but one where the guitars and drums are in among the other instrument sections, taking no precedence over any other, but rather being just another part of the bigger ensemble, and I wanted it to be all instrumental. My partners in the band didn't want to do any instrumentals or pieces that were too long. As a result, I remained in FATE and kept writing music with them, while also branching off into my own new musical direction as a side-project. After a couple of years, FATE had come into their own, after the addition of the bassist's brother on second guitar. We started playing a lot of local gigs and continued to write more music. By this time, I had composed quite a few pieces of music myself as well. I decided to attempt a double album with a concept story. I continued with composing more pieces for the concept album and writing the story, but at the same time I had become afflicted with a deep depression. My depression affected every area of my life, including my solo music, but most significantly it had a negative impact on FATE as well. Ultimately, I ended up leaving FATE voluntarily. I did so for many reasons, but for two reasons primarily. The most important of which being to climb my way out of the downward spiral into which I had fallen. The other reason being to focus on my own music. Initially, leaving FATE sent me further down into my depression, but it was something I had to do to get well again. I personally believe in Nietzsche's saying, "what does not kill me makes me stronger." After about a year, I finally succeeded in climbing out of the pit of despair. In October of 2003. I had mostly completed composing my concept album and was still in the process of recording it, as well as a few new pieces for the next album. Then I got a phone call from a friend of mine who had gotten together with a couple of musicians and wanted me to come play guitar with them to help them out in writing some music until they found a permanent lead guitarist. When I went to rehearse with them everything clicked and I officially joined in a permanant position. We then called ourselves Crucible and started writing music. Getting with Crucible helped me a lot on a personal level and on a creative level as well. Working with Crucible also got me back into a creative zone that I hadn't completely been in for quite a while. As Crucible wrote more music, so did I for my own project. Then in August of 2004, I was asked by my FATE brethren to rejoin the band. I happily accepted, but it was short-lived. We were back together for only a few months when we realized that none of us had the time it takes to dedicate ourselves fully to the band. The members of FATE have since decided to pursue other things, but the good that can be taken from it is that we were able to mend fences, and I remain great friends with them, so it all worked out in the end. Crucible continued on, writing more music, performing at many venues, and building a solid fanbase. We were together for over four years, until June 8th, when I played my last show with them. After a few months of intense deliberation, I decided to leave Crucible to pursue other things and to make my solo music and my comic book my sole focus. My time in the band was truly great. I had a wonderful time, made some great friends, and learned a lot from my many experiences. But now I will be forging ahead on my own with my solo project. What is any life without the pursuit of a dream?

 

 

Matthias - Guitar (rhythm,lead,acoustic), Bass, Piano, Programming
The Magnum City Philharmonic Orchestra
The Magnum City Symphonic Choir

 

 

My solo project is a marriage of Baroque and Romantic and Classical, Modern Film Scores, Symphonic, Heavy Metal, Gothic, and Industrial. All the songs are instrumental, heavily orchestral, and tend to be very long and involved, with a lot of changes. Heavy Metal guitars with Orchestral instruments. When listening to my music, a few words people often tend to use to describe it would be "epic" "powerful" "dramatic" "heroic" "majestic" "inspiring" and more. No one who has heard my solo music compares it to anything else, however many have said that it sounds like an action or super-hero movie score. One listener said it could be the score to the next big Arnold action movie. Another listener dubbed it "Superhero Metal." I liked the name, but I don't think my music fits into any genre classification.

 

 

My musical influences fall mainly into three genres; Heavy Metal, Classical, and Film Scores. When I first decided to pursue my solo project, my inspiration came from my favorite elements of these three genres of music. I wanted to take the power and intensity of Heavy Metal guitars and percussion, the equally powerful symphonic orchestra of Classical and Film Scores, with it's ability to be huge and grand and powerful, or to be soft and beautiful, or dark and mournful, and sometimes all of these at once. I try to take those elements of music and utilize them together in harmony, rather than just having it sound contrived and clumsy. Heavy Metal bands that I like and have inspired me creatively are Megadeth, Metallica, Testament, Savatage/TSO, Iced Earth, Dream Theater, Queensryche, Circle of Dust, Overkill, Believer, Samael, Die Krupps, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and more recently Killswitch Engage. Many Classical composers also influence me. A few of them are Beethoven, Chopin, Berlioz, Offenbach, Carl Orff, Mozart, Greig, Wagner, Mussorgsky, Holst, as well as many others. Film Scores are what I often find myself turning to for inspiration. Film Score composers like Basil Poledouris, James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith, Don Davis, Brad Fiedel, Trevor Rabin, John Debney, Danny Elfman, John Williams, Alan Silvestri, John Ottman, Steve Jablonsky, and Hans Zimmer have had a great impact on my own music. I also sometimes draw influence from Gothic, Industrial, and New Age music as well.

 

 

Guitars: White Jackson King V KV1 with EMG 81/85 pickups-tuned baritone, Black Jackson Kelly KE3 with EMG 81/85 pickups, Black Jackson Rhoads Flying V RX10D with EMG 81/85 pickups, Black Jackson Rhoads Flying V RR5 with EMG 81/85 pickups, Black Jackson King V X10 with EMG 81/85 pickups-tuned baritone, Schecter Hellraiser C7 seven string with active EMG pickups, Rogue 6-string acoustic, Mitchell 12-string acoustic, Cort GB24 Bass
Other Gear: Crate GX1200H Full Stack, Johnson J-Station, Digitech RP-10 running in stereo through two Behringer Ultra-GI100's, Zoom RythmTrak 234 Drum Machine, Treeworks TRE35 Chimes, Echo Layla 3G A/D and a Behringer Ultragain PRO-8 ADAT interface with Event 20/20 monitors sitting on Auralex Monitor Pads, Behringer Powerplay Pro-XL HA4700 Headphone amp with a pair of Sony MDR-V900 and two pair of Sony MDR-V600 Headphones, Behringer T1953 Tube Ultragain preamp, Behringer MIC200 Tube Ultragain preamp, Behringer Autocom PRO-XL MDX1600, two Behringer Multicom PRO-XL MDX4600's, Behringer Eurorack MX3242X mixer, MXL990 condenser microphone, Audix Fusion series, D series, and i5 drum mics, a pair of MXL604 condenser mics, a pair of MXLV63M condenser mics and all Mogami Gold cables and Mogami Platinum guitar cable, LENRD Bass traps and various Auralex treatment products, Tranzport wireless DAW control, E-MU XBoard49 MIDI controller and a Korg padKONTROL MIDI controller.
PC: Sony VAIO VGC-RA840G with dual 2.8 ghz processors and 2 gigabytes of RAM, 250Gb and 1Tb internal HD's, and a WD 500gig My Book external drive
Software: Sony ACID Pro 7.0, Sound Forge 9, CD Architect 5.2, Vegas Pro 9