Shant Hagopian's personal blog – Semantic Saturation
I was at the Sons of Apollo show in Montreal yesterday and met the legendary keyboard player Derek Sherinian who played on my debut album Solipsistic and also plays on the new album Paradigms. What an amazing show it was, full of surprises! And here I was, wondering what were they going to play for two hours or so. Silly me.
Here, we were joking on how the new Semantic album will blow your brains out.
Yesterday in Sons of Apollo, today in Semantic Saturation. None other than your beloved keyboard virtuoso Derek Sherinian will be the special guest one more time on the new album “Paradigms”
Derek is extremely excited to be part of the new release, he is constantly following up with me on the progress. His keyboard parts are delicious and will make your face melt, I know cause it happened to me and I paid a fortune to have it fixed by a plastic surgeon.
I will announce the bass player next week. Stay tuned!
-Shant
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Montreal, Canada (September 6, 2013) – Progressive Metal project Semantic Saturation to release isolated instrument tracks (Jam Tracks) for the entire album “Solipsistic” through their website at www.semanticsaturation.com/jam
Musicians will have access to download WAV files of both isolated instrument Stems and Backing Tracks from the original record, for all nine songs from the debut album. Additionally, guitar players may download Guitar Tabs and Guitar Pro 6 files; which are carefully transcribed by guitarist Shant Hagopian himself.
Jam Tracks of two songs “Stardust” and “Lost and Found: Insanity” are currently available through the webpage above, and more songs will become available in the very near future as soon as they are transcribed.
Musicians will have access to Stems and Backing Tracks of *all* instruments in one song by using a single KeyCode. Key Codes are obtainable through www.semanticsaturation.com/jam.
Once a Key Code is used it cannot be reused to unlock Backing Tracks of other songs. To download the Backing Tracks of additional songs you will need more Key Codes.
“Solipsistic” was released back in January 21, 2013; featuring special guest Keyboard virtuoso Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater), drummer Virgil Donati, Bassist Ric Fierabracci, special guest Andy Kuntz (Vanden Plas) vocals, and guitarist (founder) Shant Hagopian. The release was followed by a plethora of positive feedback and high rated reviews from acclaimed Web ‘Zines and Magazines like “Prog Magazine” and “Prog Archives”.
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We’re featured on the homepage of the Canadian music and entertainment website “The Scene Magazine”
The article features the track Stardust from the debut album Solipsistic, with a short review and a rating of 4/5 -Too Hot to Trot
The new single Stardust from Montreal based Semantic Saturation is a fabulously produced track that evokes strong imagery in the listener.
Fantastic musical sensibility provided by a stellar line up including Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater) help to make this track a stand alone masterpiece.
The band released their debut Solipsistic in January of this year to rave reviews:
” If you are an instrumental Prog Metal lover, this is the first masterpiece of 2013 and a real must! ” – Power Prog
” The music will come to you and slap you hard in the face,
a sweet punishment, painfully delicious. Music that goes beyond magic and reality, a prog-fairy-tale.
Passion, wisdom, crazy theory… Solipsism. ” – Lady Obscure
” I can verify right now that ‘Solipsistic’ is the epitome of progressive rock/metal. The album is boundless, and will forever stand the test time. Absolutely brilliant and well worth the wait. Do not let this one slip by. ” – Metal Buzz
The sheer brilliance created by this unique line up make Solipsistic an album that should be on your radar.
Shant Hagopian (guitars)
featuring:
Virgil Donati (drums)
Ric Fierabracci (bass)
special guests:
Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater – keyboards)
Andy Kuntz (Vanden Plas – vocals)
source:??http://www.thescenemagazine.ca/semantic-saturation-stardust/
Joel Rittberg from “Danger Dog Music Reviews” published a review about Solipsistic yesterday July 29, 2013. Joel loved the album so much he gave it a score of 5 out of 5!
Here’s the full review.
Semantic Saturation: Solipsistic
Instrumental Progressive Rock/Metal
5.0/5.0
Website Facebook
by Joel Rittberg, 07.29.2013
Semantic Saturation is the project of Shant Hagopian. He is a guitarist from Canada, who has played with other musicians throughout other parts of the world. What we have here is his self-produced debut.
Ambivalence starts off this disc, with a very heavy groove riff, that leads into an awesome melodic lead, that becomes an instrumental version of a verse. The entire song builds upon this melody, and each time leads itself into a new part of this six minute plus opener. Make Believe, shows off Shant’s amazing melodic songwriting skills. This song feels part-Rush, part-Dream Theater in its ability to change tempos. A great keyboard/guitar trade off at the two and a half minute mark, showcases the extremely talented Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater and many others) on keyboards. Sherinian and Shant go at each other, like its a heavyweight boxing fight, trading blows.
Lost and Found Insanity has a very cool keyboard melody that repeats throughout this intro, that reminds me of an old eight-bit video game. With a very warm guitar lead that joins the song a minute in. Around the minute and a half mark, Shant shows you his project is not about how fast he can play, but how great of a songwriter he truly is. The next song Stardust shares the same common melodic sensibilities as Lost and Found Insanity. Blessing in Disguise will remind listeners of John Petrucci from Dream Theater, especially the 2000, Metropolis Part 2, Scenes From A Memory. Its a truly beautiful melodic piece of instrumental progressive rock. The last twenty seconds again, showcases his idea of less is more, substance over quantity of notes played.
Armchair Activist, has a very Surfing with the Alien Satriani meets Passion and Warfare-era Steve Vai, a solid rocker, that showcases Shant’s abilities. This is probably the most technical song on the disc so far in my opinion and it also showcases a short break between drummer Virgil Donati and bassist Ric Fierabracci. Point of Singularity is a beautiful clean guitar and atmospheric keyboard piece that introduces a melodic guitar solo near the last minute of the song, that takes the song to new heights. This song would not be far out of place in an old sci-fi movie, with its keyboard tones.
Time Is An Illusion, is another masterpiece like Make Believe, without writing the same song twice. The last song, What if We All Stop, is the only song that features vocals. Those vocals are provided by the very talented Andy Kurtz of the German band, Vanden Plas. The open features a beautiful melody with Kurtz’s vocals coming in. The song turns into a full on prog-a-thon halfway through, and its definitely a welcome addition, to the instrumental tracks before it.
Solipsistic is an amazing piece of art. It’s a journey of musical emotions that reaches amazing heights, that brings us back down to earth when its ready too, not any sooner. Easily recommended for fans of Derek Sherinian’s music, or for those who appreciate instrumental guitar music, that isn’t about how fast you can play through every song.
source: http://www.dangerdog.com/2013-music-reviews/semantic-saturation-solipsistic.php