Behind the Chaos
The tracks are presented in the order they were recorded. Here
are the tracks with the year recorded, and some background behind
them
DISC 1
1)Thief of Souls :4-track demo recorded in 1988
About a month shy of his 21st birthday Scott Mapes (alias, MD)
stepped into Jim Rieske’s home recording studio armed with only his
guitar. The bass line and drums had to be programmed. Luckily, Jim,
an excellent musician, picked up quickly on the 9/8 main riff. (This is
one of MD’s SIMPLE songs).
There is only one guitar track, so it doesn’t sound as heavy as it
would with 2 rhythm guitars.
To this day, Scott’s first guitar solo on the song remains one BDC’s
favorites, described by Mr. Bell as “pure fire unleashed “.
Though it may not sound like it, the idea for the song was sparked by
the bible verse “Then the one sitting on the cloud set his sickle to
work on the earth, and the harvest of earth was reaped.” (Revelations
14:16)
2) Equal Opportunity Destroyer: 4 track demo 1988
2 rhythm guitars beef up the sound. The drums and bass are still
provided via programming.
3) Negative Charge (The Highest Price, Part III) 4-track demo 1990
The same recording process as before. MD had discovered Yngwie
Malmsteen a couple of weeks before recording this one. And in the
fumble-fingered-yet highly energetic-guitar solo, one can hear the
attempt at alternate picking…but it’s just not quite there. Two more
solos were tracked, both of which had more articulate playing and
better not choices. But neither had the right feel or attitude. The song
is being re-recorded and revamped for the forthcoming B.A.M.
4) The Measure of a Man (The Highest Price, Part I) 4 track demo
1990
Written-starting with the bass line- the in the wee hours of the
morning after Scott saw his first Rush concert on June 14, 1990 (not
that it’s noticeable or anything).
The first recording where MD got brave enough to trying playing a
real bass. (the bass that was provided was huge, even for a bass).
5)Hidden Truths-1993
The first song recorded in digital. (8 tracks) Also, the fist song with
David Bell on drums. Originally released on “Crinkum-Crankum” as
Conflict Theory, before it was discovered the name was already
taken. (Crinkum-Crankum: Anything full of twist and turns)
6)The Black Heart of Business (Part 1 of The Corporate Greed
Trilogy)
Recorded during the “Crinkum-Crankum” session.
7)Ghost Rider
Recorded during the “Crinkum-Crankum” session. What seemed like
a good idea (a heavy metal-western song) didn’t quite pan out,
largely due to the fact that automated computer mixing was not
commonplace at the time, so it had to be mixed “on the fly”.
8)Manual Circuit Override (The Highest Price, Part II)
Recorded during the “Crinkum-Crankum” session. Released on
“Mapping the Labyrinth” edited and sped up. Here it is presented as
originally mixed.
9)Laughter’s Mask
Recorded during the “Crinkum-Crankum” session. Inspired by the
movie "Punchline".
10) From Here to Eternity-1993
The first song recorded with just acoustic guitar and vocal.
11) Québecois Rain-1993
Recorded on an analog 8 track, with Scott and Dave both playing
“drum” parts with a keyboard, which didn’t turn out very well.
However, the tune is presented here for historical/comparison
purposes. (Sorry, no bonus points for guessing where the lyrics were
written!) 1213 Galt-ouest Sherbrooke, to be exact.
DISC 2
1) Québecois Rain-1996
Compared to 3 years earlier, a big step forward. Dave is playing real
drums, Scott’s vocals are starting to show improvement, and though
the bass line is essentially the same, some popping and octave jump
are thrown in. The guitar solo is also one of Dave’s faves.
2) Nanji-1996
There was originally supposed to be a sax solo on this, but
unfortunately, the schedule never worked out. Luckily, the chord
progression where the solo was going to go works fine without a lead
instrument over it.
3) Crying-1996
Proof that you never know when inspiration will strike: Scott was
sitting at s stoplight when he saw a guy walking down the sidewalk,
caught in a terrible downpour. The guy looked miserable of course,
and the first two verses popped into Scott’s head almost immediately.
To this day, it’s uncertain what musical category this falls into.
4) Reflections-1996
Hastily recorded guitar/vocal piece.
5) If
First song recorded at Monastic Chambers. Before the vocals could
be recorded, someone at Scott’s job sprayed an excessive amount of
disinfectant in a small room, causing his throat to tighten to the point
where he could barely speak. It took almost two months before he
could speak normally, and wasn’t quite recovered when the vocals
were finally recorded. This also marks Scott’s first attempt at double-
tracking a guitar solo. Dave plays the acoustic guitar on this one.
6) Have a Nice Day…(Always!)-1998
This was practiced for two years before attempting to record it. Two
complete run-throughs of bass and drums were recorded, and the
first one was determined the best take. This is a stepping stone
because 1) When it was first presented to Dave, he commented
“There’s no way I’ll ever be able to play that” 2) When practice
actually began to happen, the structure stayed the same as the
original basement tape, but Dave made suggestions that contributed
to the energy of the song as well as smoothed out some of the odd-
metered riffs, while still keeping them in odd time signatures. These
suggestions affected Scott’s future compositions by constructing odd-
metered riffs to be more in a groove (but not always).
7) Uroboros-2001
First song contributed by Dave. This was actually going to be on a
CD project for the other band that Dave was playing in at the time
(Hence, Scott Freeman on vocals), and Scott Mapes was asked to
play bass on it. This ended up being the opening track for Mapping
the Labyrinth. It originally didn't start out with drums either. But when
MD was at the mixdown session, he heard the drum track by itself
and thought, "Whoa, that's cool!" and had the engineer copy a couple
of measures and paste them to the beginning of the track. And voila!
A new, drum-solo intro without having to lug a set of drums back into
the studio.
8)No Place to Run-2001
Another more commercial piece. Although it’s obvious a drum
machine was used, Dave did help with the programming.
9)Something Else
Yet another slightly commercial offering (in an odd-meter sot of way).
Dave’s drum kit for this was a bass drum, snare drum, high-hat and a
cymbal. The guitar solo on this is one of Scott’s favorites (and also,
the lead tone he’s most pleased with).Not so pleased with the bass
tone, however, as there is some intricate stuff going on, but you can't
really hear it as the bass tone is a little muddled.
10) From Here to Eternity-2002
Same song as the ‘93 version, but better guitar sound and Scott had
developed better vocal ability than on the original
11) Conspiracie en Rouge-2002
The harmonies were unintentional. Scott sang the whole song at
different pitches to see which ones worked best. In fact, the lowest
ones were only done with the intent of being a warm-up! But, it was
decided to use all the tracks, as it would be something a little out of
the norm (as if the 8 different time signature changes in the middle
are normal)
12) Reflections-2003
Same song as the ‘96 version, but much better guitar sound (double-
tracked nylon string) and a huge leap in vocal abilities.
13) The Battle of wolf 359 -home demo 2003
Just a quick demo with 2 guitars recorded on Scott’s 8-track. The
guitars are a little off in a couple of spots, but the recording does it’s
intended purpose of demonstrating the piece.
14) The Battle of Wolf 359-Synthesised Orchestral Version-2003
More of an in-studio experiment than anything.
15) Snowblind- guitar/vocal basement tape-2006
A demo of one of the songs from the forthcoming B.A.M. Described by
Dave as “probably the heaviest thing” Scott has written, this is also
demonstrative of the general direction of Skovol Unit’s official
sophomore release. While not every song will be this heavy, and
some will have soft passages, there won’t be any ballads.
are the tracks with the year recorded, and some background behind
them
DISC 1
1)Thief of Souls :4-track demo recorded in 1988
About a month shy of his 21st birthday Scott Mapes (alias, MD)
stepped into Jim Rieske’s home recording studio armed with only his
guitar. The bass line and drums had to be programmed. Luckily, Jim,
an excellent musician, picked up quickly on the 9/8 main riff. (This is
one of MD’s SIMPLE songs).
There is only one guitar track, so it doesn’t sound as heavy as it
would with 2 rhythm guitars.
To this day, Scott’s first guitar solo on the song remains one BDC’s
favorites, described by Mr. Bell as “pure fire unleashed “.
Though it may not sound like it, the idea for the song was sparked by
the bible verse “Then the one sitting on the cloud set his sickle to
work on the earth, and the harvest of earth was reaped.” (Revelations
14:16)
2) Equal Opportunity Destroyer: 4 track demo 1988
2 rhythm guitars beef up the sound. The drums and bass are still
provided via programming.
3) Negative Charge (The Highest Price, Part III) 4-track demo 1990
The same recording process as before. MD had discovered Yngwie
Malmsteen a couple of weeks before recording this one. And in the
fumble-fingered-yet highly energetic-guitar solo, one can hear the
attempt at alternate picking…but it’s just not quite there. Two more
solos were tracked, both of which had more articulate playing and
better not choices. But neither had the right feel or attitude. The song
is being re-recorded and revamped for the forthcoming B.A.M.
4) The Measure of a Man (The Highest Price, Part I) 4 track demo
1990
Written-starting with the bass line- the in the wee hours of the
morning after Scott saw his first Rush concert on June 14, 1990 (not
that it’s noticeable or anything).
The first recording where MD got brave enough to trying playing a
real bass. (the bass that was provided was huge, even for a bass).
5)Hidden Truths-1993
The first song recorded in digital. (8 tracks) Also, the fist song with
David Bell on drums. Originally released on “Crinkum-Crankum” as
Conflict Theory, before it was discovered the name was already
taken. (Crinkum-Crankum: Anything full of twist and turns)
6)The Black Heart of Business (Part 1 of The Corporate Greed
Trilogy)
Recorded during the “Crinkum-Crankum” session.
7)Ghost Rider
Recorded during the “Crinkum-Crankum” session. What seemed like
a good idea (a heavy metal-western song) didn’t quite pan out,
largely due to the fact that automated computer mixing was not
commonplace at the time, so it had to be mixed “on the fly”.
8)Manual Circuit Override (The Highest Price, Part II)
Recorded during the “Crinkum-Crankum” session. Released on
“Mapping the Labyrinth” edited and sped up. Here it is presented as
originally mixed.
9)Laughter’s Mask
Recorded during the “Crinkum-Crankum” session. Inspired by the
movie "Punchline".
10) From Here to Eternity-1993
The first song recorded with just acoustic guitar and vocal.
11) Québecois Rain-1993
Recorded on an analog 8 track, with Scott and Dave both playing
“drum” parts with a keyboard, which didn’t turn out very well.
However, the tune is presented here for historical/comparison
purposes. (Sorry, no bonus points for guessing where the lyrics were
written!) 1213 Galt-ouest Sherbrooke, to be exact.
DISC 2
1) Québecois Rain-1996
Compared to 3 years earlier, a big step forward. Dave is playing real
drums, Scott’s vocals are starting to show improvement, and though
the bass line is essentially the same, some popping and octave jump
are thrown in. The guitar solo is also one of Dave’s faves.
2) Nanji-1996
There was originally supposed to be a sax solo on this, but
unfortunately, the schedule never worked out. Luckily, the chord
progression where the solo was going to go works fine without a lead
instrument over it.
3) Crying-1996
Proof that you never know when inspiration will strike: Scott was
sitting at s stoplight when he saw a guy walking down the sidewalk,
caught in a terrible downpour. The guy looked miserable of course,
and the first two verses popped into Scott’s head almost immediately.
To this day, it’s uncertain what musical category this falls into.
4) Reflections-1996
Hastily recorded guitar/vocal piece.
5) If
First song recorded at Monastic Chambers. Before the vocals could
be recorded, someone at Scott’s job sprayed an excessive amount of
disinfectant in a small room, causing his throat to tighten to the point
where he could barely speak. It took almost two months before he
could speak normally, and wasn’t quite recovered when the vocals
were finally recorded. This also marks Scott’s first attempt at double-
tracking a guitar solo. Dave plays the acoustic guitar on this one.
6) Have a Nice Day…(Always!)-1998
This was practiced for two years before attempting to record it. Two
complete run-throughs of bass and drums were recorded, and the
first one was determined the best take. This is a stepping stone
because 1) When it was first presented to Dave, he commented
“There’s no way I’ll ever be able to play that” 2) When practice
actually began to happen, the structure stayed the same as the
original basement tape, but Dave made suggestions that contributed
to the energy of the song as well as smoothed out some of the odd-
metered riffs, while still keeping them in odd time signatures. These
suggestions affected Scott’s future compositions by constructing odd-
metered riffs to be more in a groove (but not always).
7) Uroboros-2001
First song contributed by Dave. This was actually going to be on a
CD project for the other band that Dave was playing in at the time
(Hence, Scott Freeman on vocals), and Scott Mapes was asked to
play bass on it. This ended up being the opening track for Mapping
the Labyrinth. It originally didn't start out with drums either. But when
MD was at the mixdown session, he heard the drum track by itself
and thought, "Whoa, that's cool!" and had the engineer copy a couple
of measures and paste them to the beginning of the track. And voila!
A new, drum-solo intro without having to lug a set of drums back into
the studio.
8)No Place to Run-2001
Another more commercial piece. Although it’s obvious a drum
machine was used, Dave did help with the programming.
9)Something Else
Yet another slightly commercial offering (in an odd-meter sot of way).
Dave’s drum kit for this was a bass drum, snare drum, high-hat and a
cymbal. The guitar solo on this is one of Scott’s favorites (and also,
the lead tone he’s most pleased with).Not so pleased with the bass
tone, however, as there is some intricate stuff going on, but you can't
really hear it as the bass tone is a little muddled.
10) From Here to Eternity-2002
Same song as the ‘93 version, but better guitar sound and Scott had
developed better vocal ability than on the original
11) Conspiracie en Rouge-2002
The harmonies were unintentional. Scott sang the whole song at
different pitches to see which ones worked best. In fact, the lowest
ones were only done with the intent of being a warm-up! But, it was
decided to use all the tracks, as it would be something a little out of
the norm (as if the 8 different time signature changes in the middle
are normal)
12) Reflections-2003
Same song as the ‘96 version, but much better guitar sound (double-
tracked nylon string) and a huge leap in vocal abilities.
13) The Battle of wolf 359 -home demo 2003
Just a quick demo with 2 guitars recorded on Scott’s 8-track. The
guitars are a little off in a couple of spots, but the recording does it’s
intended purpose of demonstrating the piece.
14) The Battle of Wolf 359-Synthesised Orchestral Version-2003
More of an in-studio experiment than anything.
15) Snowblind- guitar/vocal basement tape-2006
A demo of one of the songs from the forthcoming B.A.M. Described by
Dave as “probably the heaviest thing” Scott has written, this is also
demonstrative of the general direction of Skovol Unit’s official
sophomore release. While not every song will be this heavy, and
some will have soft passages, there won’t be any ballads.
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