Necrophagist - Symbiotic in Theory (cover)

The last song I haven't covered off "Epitaph", "Symbiotic in Theory", has some really strange intro riffage composed by Muenzner as well as arguably one of the heaviest Necrophagist sections ever later in the song. The first part of the solo is pretty memorable as well.
It's in C-standard because it's simply too much of a hassle to go from my regular tuning, C-standard, to E-standard with all the balancing, intonation etc. that is required, just for one or two covers.
It was recorded May 25 using a Shure SM57 (angled very slightly, aimed at the center of the left bottom speaker) through an E-MU 0404 USB 2.0 audio interface.
The video was recorded using a Sony HX100V, edited using Sony Vegas Pro 13.0 x64 and rendered as a 1920x1080 50p (same as the original footage) MP4 video using 2 reference frames, "High", 14 Mbps CBR, CUDA-encoded, with 48 kHz and 384 kbps audio.
Guitar: Jackson Warrior WRMG (with EMG 81/85).
Amplifier: Peavey 6505+ and an Ashdown Peacemaker 412A cabinet with Celestion G12E-50 speakers (one of them, the speaker used, is a Celestion V30).
Strings: Ernie Ball "Not even slinky" "Custom gauge nickel wound guitar strings" (12 16 24p 32 44 56).
Pick: Dunlop Jazz III.
Pre: 5.9
Low: 3.3
Mid: 6.1
High: 7.2
Post: 0.8
Resonance: 4.7
Presence: 7.1
If you rate it, please motivate and write a comment too. Thanks for watching!
I used the Guitar Pro tab at:
tabs.ultimate-...

[@hatsumomo535353]

I start listening Necrophagist 2-3 years ago cause of your covers. Thank you man

[@Hagroth]

I'm glad to hear it! You're very welcome mate!

[@tonynelson6805]

Great work on my fav Necro song ! Was curious if you jammed The Zennith Passage ?

[@Hagroth]

Thanks! Never heard of them, but some of it sounded pretty cool! Might check it out later.

[@Michael-xi7dz]

I love when people do guitar covers and don't hide their flaws by playing a very loud backing track. kudos to you, my friend, for allowing us to hear every single note you're playing. this is a cover done right. sooooo tired of hearing guitar covers by dudes *cough cough* Richard mauricio *cough cough* where the only thing you hear is the backing track. not shitting on their skills, but I watch covers to hear the player! great video! you nailed it

[@Hagroth]

Cheers, indeed, in the beginning when editing I kind of tend to do that but successively lower the backing track volume in relation to my recorded audio the more I listen to it. When I can't hear one of my own notes, I kind of consider that a possible miss, and I want to make sure that any notes that are actually hit, whether fully or only half-assed, are heard.

[@ieb994]

Man, i remember when this channel was called Swedish Berzerker. Rock on my dude.

[@Hagroth]

Hahaha yeah, good times! You too, mate!

[@ieb994]

@@Hagroth wow, thanks for replying! What are you up to nowadays? Are you in a band?

[@Hagroth]

@@ieb994 Haha no worries! Well, working as a software developer and still playing guitar fairly regularly, and yes, I'm in the band on the shirt in this video - Hyperion. We're currently finishing up the writing on the new album (I joined right during the release of "Seraphical Euphony", the debut) :)

[@ieb994]

@@Hagroth sweet! looking forward to the new record and wishing you lots of success.

[@Hagroth]

@@ieb994 Thanks mate, all the best to you!

[@120Kreator]

Going to share this brotha! The amount of work you put into this cover video is insane! I didn't think I would find any Necrophagist covers with this kind of quality

[@edbegley5858]

you make it look easy dude. great cover.

[@Hagroth]

Thanks mate!

[@davidp1289]

Epic!!! congratulations Man!

[@Hagroth]

Thanks mate!

[@diabolicwaste]

fantastic job man now I'm inspired to cover whole album gotta say I love the riff at 1 19 so cool and the solo has finale written all over this the only song off epitaph that I never tried learning intro scares me

[@Hagroth]

Thanks mate! Yeah, that final diminished arpeggio with the delay on it is such a crazy transition. Hehe yep, it sounds random as hell!

[@soguitar2251]

Brutal. It´s a very complicated music...Your videos are fucking amazing

[@Hagroth]

Cheers mate!

[@Trohawkk]

fuck covering a song like this. mad respect

[@mbsilveirabr]

Their best song.

[@EntreMetido]

symbiotic in C-ory awesome bro!

[@Whosagoodboi]

Woa man great job. mad skills man

[@ginglebaws]

Mean ass cover dude love it!!!!!!

[@Hagroth]

Thanks man :)

[@kevinberstler]

Great job, man. This is such a sick song. I definitely understand the hassle of changing tuning on a guitar with a floating bridge.

[@driftwood-c4g]

Superbly done!

[@Trohawkk]

gotta be the hardest song man holy shit

[@francismcalister7811]

Excellent job, man! Also, you should be an example to all those who consider writing something in the description, that was amazing as well.

[@Hagroth]

Thanks mate! Haha yeah, I use the same stuff every time so I can just reuse that huge specification with some minor modifications :)

[@tomsxe]

Amazing!

[@nicklucero448]

Fucking perfect man!

[@Hagroth]

Thanks mate!

[@pluki7]

I'm still amazed that you could find all those notes by ear.

[@Hagroth]

Thanks! I didn't learn this by ear, though. When no accurate tabs are available, it's a painstaking process but slowing the song down helps a lot :)

[@diabolicwaste]

+Hagroth the official tab book is downloadable for free type it in Google no accurate tabs my ass oh well to late your already finished

[@Hagroth]

Read my comment one more time, would you?

[@OmniscientVirtuosity]

He didn't learn that by ear dude lmao. Smh

[@fligustier]

за подпевки палец! Младец!

[@squiresuzuki]

Really good! Only general suggestion I have is to spend some hard hours / months working on your pinky. Seems it wants to go far from the fretboard any chance it can :)

[@Hagroth]

Thanks! Hahaha yeah :P

[@DeathsOnset]

Fantastic playing yet again man! How long did this take you to learn btw?

[@Hagroth]

Thanks! I can't remember, maybe 5-7 hours or so?

[@OmniscientVirtuosity]

You play real well and it's cool. But is that sound really what you are looking for? I don't think the tuning being a step down from D is a problem, but those high mids ruin a lot of the covers for me. Your sound is pretty clean. But it's not dark or that heavy. Is that just a KZbin thing or is that the sound you are Dialing in? By the excellent description and settings for the peavey you listed, it seems desired? But after listening to the Megadeth and now this, I think you should be able to he a better time/sound? Great playing

[@Hagroth]

Thanks! It's probably the tone dialed in, simply. I just dialed pretty arbitrarily until I thought it sounded all right in the room, but of course that's not the same as what the mic picks up. I take it you hear too much of like 1 kHz - that sort of sharpness/harshness?

[@vladmihalca6402]

Nice guitar...

[@derekkollias4669]

what was the most difficult cover of this album?

[@Hagroth]

Hmm... the solo of "Epitaph" was pretty challenging at first, and "Ignominious and Pale", "The Stillborn One" and "Seven" have some really nasty riffs.

[@marshalllawrence1643]

how do u even go about learning something like this ?

[@Hagroth]

Well, I use Guitar Pro and with Necrophagist you have to learn it measure by measure pretty much haha. Usually, I'll use Guitar Pro's Speed Trainer feature to be able to, starting very slowly, loop a section over and over while increasing the speed. Also, I use the Pacemaker plugin for Winamp which is fantastic - it allows me to change the pitch and tempo in real time, so I can play along to the song at any speed. With Necrophagist I always have to play a song a dozen times at slower speeds before I get so used to it that I can eventually play it fairly cleanly at the original speed.

[@marshalllawrence1643]

Hagroth nice. i always knew guitar lro was worth it. what do u suggest would be the easiest necro song to learn first?

[@Hagroth]

Yep :) Hm, I think the first one I learned was "Fermented Offal Discharge", and the riffs in it are fairly simple for a Necrophagist song, and it's not a hundred riffs with a million different combinations like in the other songs IIRC haha. I guess it'd be a good choice! "Stabwound" is another one without too many riffs, though it's not exactly the easiest.

[@marshalllawrence1643]

Hagroth nice i think i might give it a try! have u ever used the website songsterr for learning songs ? it is similar to guitar pro and offers premium for 10 dollars a month

[@Hagroth]

Haha nah, no way I'm paying 10 dollars a month when I've got Guitar Pro :P