This is my first all pure audio song and performance.  No MIDI or synths of any kind.  Finally.  The lyrics are more of an abstract fantasy theme.  The vocals are a bit more buried in the mix on purpose, since I think the music needs to stand out more to get all the parts.  Definitely turn it up if at all possible.  
 
I welcome all criticisms.  Thanks for listening!  
 
Update: In response to the mix critiques I lowered the drums to take some bite out of the hot snare, raised the vocals a tad, brought the bass a *little* more upfront, and raised the electric guitars a little in the second verse.  I really think the vocals are right where they need to be.  
 
The Darkening - Mix Updated 3/1/2016

That hits you like a ton of bricks right out off the starting line.
 
Not my cuppa genre tea.... but well done and nicely recorded.
 
Tons of energy in there.

Serious Rock Opera!!! And, damn, that drummer's a BEAST!

VLV, nice effort.
 
I like the song, and the guitars, and the change at 2:00.  Very interesting piece, I would elaborate on that thing at 2:55 and at 3:06, because it is the song, a nice chorus thing, and then you could float it over the other parts towards the end.
 
I'm nit sure if there were a few timing issues right at the beginning.
 
Cool
 
Jess Q. Screed

Drums sound awesome but they overpowered everything else. Drop the snare by 2 DB and trim the high end eq on it. And dip out the entire drum mix around 1400hz to give the vocals some more room,

jamesyoyo
Drums sound awesome but they overpowered everything else. Drop the snare by 2 DB and trim the high end eq on it. And dip out the entire drum mix around 1400hz to give the vocals some more room,

I'm actually having a bit of a time with this drum sound, overall.  I can't trim the snare only.  And I can't pick on the hats and cymbals and trim them down a bit like I would like to.  I only have a left and right record input on my sound card so I'm going left and right out of the mixer into a compressor to give it a generalized squeeze and limit before it hits the hard drive.  
 
Even when I turn my overheads off, just for testing, the hi-hats are too strong.  Still tinkering...but I'm at a loss at the moment...
 

twisted6's
Serious Rock Opera!!! And, damn, that drummer's a BEAST!

 
Thanks for that.  I'm very out of practice but it's coming back.  
 

Jesse Screed
I'm nit sure if there were a few timing issues right at the beginning.

 
The opening fill is off a bit but lands right on time so I left it because I liked how disorienting it felt.  A studio mistake that I have grown to like.  Other than that, yeah I'm a little rusty still and trying to get it back.  
 

Guitarhacker
That hits you like a ton of bricks right out off the starting line.
 
Not my cuppa genre tea.... but well done and nicely recorded.
 
Tons of energy in there.

 
Exactly what I was looking for.  Energy.  That was precisely the end game on this one.  I miss playing real drums and the energy transfer they can provide.  

Voda,
 
Cool song throughout.   My kind of harder rock with the interesting harmony choices:)   Love the guitars and drums.   Just bought the Chris Lord Alge video and project mix tutorial offered by Slate Digital and the drums remind me a bit of the CLA style.   Drums may be a hair hot but they sound great..
 
Regards

Is that you on the guitar and the drums? Overall I'd say it's pretty tight! That kind of versatility impresses me.

I know you pushed the vocals back purposely, but I personally would prefer them more up front and less processed (so that they more or less inhabit the same space as the rest of the band), but that's just my opinion.

And hey what's wrong with synths? 😄 They make audio too! 😎

Great job voda. Do you have more?

wow Voda - you know I'm a fan of your style - great job on this one - it must have been a b1tch to mix but you did a great job on it. I agree with jamesyoyo - the snare could just be trimmed back a hair

markno999
Voda,
 
Cool song throughout.   My kind of harder rock with the interesting harmony choices:)   Love the guitars and drums.   Just bought the Chris Lord Alge video and project mix tutorial offered by Slate Digital and the drums remind me a bit of the CLA style.   Drums may be a hair hot but they sound great..
 

Glad you liked.  I'm definitely a hard rock, metal kind of fella.  
 

rgalbraith
Is that you on the guitar and the drums? Overall I'd say it's pretty tight! That kind of versatility impresses me.

I know you pushed the vocals back purposely, but I personally would prefer them more up front and less processed (so that they more or less inhabit the same space as the rest of the band), but that's just my opinion.

And hey what's wrong with synths? 😄 They make audio too! 😎

Great job voda. Do you have more?

Yes sir, I have to play all the instruments in this twisted atmosphere that is my recording studio.  Thanks for the comments.  Nothing wrong with synths, my friend.  Nothing at all.  I'm just more of an instrumentalist type and I like the feel and sound of human performance and nuance.  Plus...oh my god..I'm so done with the aggravation and pain of trying to make synths sound like humans are playing.  It's been burning me out...
 
I have no more like this song, really, because this whole thing just hit me a week or so ago.  I had an epiphany, after almost 30 years of writing and recording....I know what I want and need to do now and I now have the experience to do it, I think....
 

daryl1968
wow Voda - you know I'm a fan of your style - great job on this one - it must have been a b1tch to mix but you did a great job on it. I agree with jamesyoyo - the snare could just be trimmed back a hair

Thank you too, man.  So glad you liked it.  I usually can tell if I've got some decent performance going on, but I can't always tell if I've come up with a good overall thing to listen to, ha ha.  That's kinda important with what we do, huh?  
 
Thanks for listening.