Hey all! Been a while. Obviously I'm in the NGUAC as of right now, awaiting judging. But in the meantime, I have something of an... important thing to talk about.

Trigger warning: Depression, anxiety, and suicide.

I'm not going to write out everything again; I've already talked about what's been going on the last couple months in this video, so if you want to get an understanding of all that's happened, go watch that. But in summary of that half hour video, I began a steady descent into a deep depression the likes of which I've not experienced before, and hope I never experience again. I had panic attacks at a very regular pace, with barely any moments of peace. Even got close to actually killing myself more times than I'm willing to admit, even in that video.

To call the last few months rough would be an understatement. I would have probably posted quite a bit more music if I hadn't fallen into this deep depression. The idea of making music seemed impossible for a time and I quite honestly didn't find joy in almost anything. Various days I went by not even going into my studio, let alone playing guitar or recording any music. New Dawn was something I'm surprised I finished enough to put out, because it was born out of the lowest lows I could ever experience. It was tough, but I'm still here, and still kicking.

I don't really have anything else to add. Just remember to look after your friends. You don't know what they're going through.

All the best and take care!

~Zach (AlphaStorm)

Hey all! Time for a few new pieces of information about my music!

So, in terms of writing my next album is done. I'm waiting to figure out a vocalist and lyrics (for people who may want to help out: I need someone who can sing in a range like Spencer Sotelo does in the Periphery song Absolomb, which is VERY high, AND can do a good scream... happy to pay if needed tbh, doesn't necessarily have to be male either). I have nine tracks, some of which are completely re-recorded and remastered, and in some cases re-written songs that I've posted to Newgrounds before. It's just under an hour of music which is far less ambitious than Vengeful was.

I'm proud of myself for actually writing some pretty good tunes for this next album, which I'm calling Insert Coin. Various cool things will be happening, and I'm excited to share it... but vocals and final mixing must happen first. I intend on doing full instrumental guitar playthroughs of all the songs on my YouTube channel, and a couple music videos for the stronger songs. Plus, a full live performance of all the songs for after the album comes out, which may or may not just be me on my own, we'll see.

Aside from that, working and recording, that's my life. I have a final version of Roaring Call of the Dark Ones that I will be officially releasing to streaming services fairly soon. That aside, nothing else particularly special to report. Keep an eye out for videos on my YouTube channel, and very occasional music posts here, but that's kind of all I have to say!

Thanks!

Stay classy!

All the best and take care!

~Zach (AlphaStorm Music)

Hey everyone! I'm going to be absent for the actual day of New Year's, but didn't want to miss my traditional obligatory New Year's update, so here we are! What's gonna happen next year?

Well, to be honest, I'm not really sure yet. I've begun working on the far less ambitious follow-up to Vengeful Spirit, but that still probably isn't going to be ready for another full year. It's mostly all material I've had for a while, but some songs I'm outright re-writing, while there's one new original idea I will be adding to it. So, it's going to take me a bit to finalise the album as a whole, plus being my first solo record to have vocals on it means... practice or hire a vocalist! Likely the latter since I'm not a particularly good vocalist.

Aside from the album, I'm not entirely sure what the future of this page holds. I have a bunch of original pieces I need to finish, like Friendly Enemies, but I've been in a massive writer's block phase as a result of Vengeful taking up all of my time. Hopefully now that it's done, I can focus more on new original ideas. Maybe I'll actually be able to hop into the NGADm or NGUAC if I have solid enough ideas to write new music.

Something I can say for sure will be happening though is I will be doing a brand update hopefully before the year ends if the art gets finished in enough time. I've become close friends with @GoodBoiSpiffy who drew the art for Vengeful Spirit, and he's been working on updating my dragon character for a slightly more friendly brand image. As cool as the dragon I currently have is, I think he needs a bit of updating, so my brand will be adjusted, and Spiffy is drawing it! Hopefully it'll happen soon, but who knows.

Also, in terms of life updates... how do I put this? Well, I've not exactly been honest with you or myself about the person I am. I mean, I do try to make my profile be about the music and almost never touch on my personal life, but I've had a realisation about myself. I am gay... that's where I'll start with this. I've known I was at the very least Bi since I was fourteen, but the journey of self-discovery is a long one, and I have a very confusing diverging sexuality type deal, where I am romantically only attracted to men, but sexually bi. Like I said, confusing, and as a result I find it easier to call myself gay. And when you couple it with living in a fairly conservative part of the United States under fairly progressive parents, problems arise.

What I've come to learn is that I have harboured an internalised homophobia and self-hatred toward myself, as a result of the people I grew up surrounded by being quite conservative in their views. So, here, I'm saying it: I'm gay. It's who I am, and I cannot hide it anymore. This of course means nothing for my music, but I do want to get that out into the world at least somewhere, in a little bit more public a fashion. I am gay, and that's okay!

Nevertheless, I am excited to see what 2024 holds! Aside from crossing two decades of life (hey Newgrounds, I'm not 13 anymore), I will hopefully be broadly expanding upon my music! Here's hoping at least...

Thanks!

All the best and take care!

~Zach (AlphaStorm)

IT'S OUT LITERALLY EVERY WHERE! VENGEFUL SPIRIT IS AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING! HERE'S THREE LINKS!

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3e68ZxkxLqyhEjo65ptCFe

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/vengeful-spirit/1718413934

YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mfojl8bbpJ3nJoTnBQxn3r2ET8UVgQSl0

It is with incredible excitement that I formally get to announce Vengeful Spirit!

A project that has been more than two years in the making is now finally seeing the light of day! The initial idea was based on what it would sound like if I had made a video game soundtrack; I developed a small world with a few characters and wrote music around those characters.

Vengeful Spirit releases the 12th of December everywhere! Singles will release on Monday and Thursday of the next two weeks on my YouTube channel!

Here's the announcement video!

VS is a go! Stay tuned on my YouTube Channel, I'll see y'all on the 20th!

Hi! It's been a while! I've got some explaining to do and some news for youse!

So, I've not posted pretty much anything new since August. The flow of original ideas dried up, largely as a consequence of YouTube and Uni taking priority over any updates here. However, I've finished the weekly uploads for my YouTube channel and am now going to be largely focusing on actually finishing stuff to its fullest potential. Even still, all I'll be posting here is original content, but I'm hoping there will be A LOT more of it... or at least... some more of it. There's plenty of projects I have and plenty of ideas I just need to get finalised.

My one main hope is that I'll actually finish Vengeful Spirit this year. I'm retracking all songs and writing a couple new ones that up to this point I've not had written yet. I did have to pull back on some aspects, as it was simply too ambitious for its own worth. I intend to still have a real drummer on it, but I'm creating a backup version with programmed drums in case it simply isn't going to be finished or anyone has to back out. My goal is to release it between October and December of this year, but it could end up coming out sooner than that. Only time will tell, I suppose.

However, as of this moment, I can't even work on new music, let alone publish it. My computer is out of commision for a hard drive upgrade, and I'm waiting to get it back. My old drive seemed to be having early symptoms of hard drive failure (it's an almost five year old drive, so it's nearing the end of its life anyway), and I wanted to replace the drive before I end up actually losing the data. All seems to be well at the moment, but I'm just worried about losing some or all the data on the old drive in the transfer.

But, as it stands right now, I don't have anything else new to report. Most updates I ever do from here forward will probably have the same beats: school and work have taken precedence and I have a ton of ideas I'm hoping to share.

That's it!

Thanks

Best and take care!

~AlphaStorm

Hi there! Time to update! Every Windows User's worst nightmare! Here's what's happening over the next few months.

So, to get things underway, I've entered the final stages of production for Vengeful Spirit, my metal concept album based around video games. And by that, I mean all the songs are written, I'm just re-recording them with better takes, and am finalising mixing and mastering. Plus, I'm getting a REAL drummer to do all the drum parts! For the first time since I started making music, I'm releasing something with REAL DRUMS! Now, this comes with the consequence that... well, I've already uploaded a few pieces from this album here already, but not to worry, the old pieces will still be up, they'll just be titled with (OLD MIX) just so you can see the albums development from its earliest stages back when I released Dark Heart almost a year ago (in fact, will be a year ago in ten days) to what it's final outcome ended up being. That said, they will not be released on the final album, so enjoy some Newgrounds exclusive content!

Now, this album will probably not be done for several months to come, as I balance a 9 hour work-day I chose to do (no one is forcing me to, I don't even technically have to), and then starting up college again in late August, all the while making YouTube videos. Plus, Alec, who's the drummer I mentioned has his own extremely busy schedule, as he's a fresh graduate, and is now out on his own to make his own income. It'll be a slow-burning process but will come with what I hope is my best album to date, and is even better than the rather chaotic and loosely defined album that was Zodiac. I'm shooting to hopefully have it done by the end of the year, but I'll either have overestimated or underestimated the goal. We'll just have to see, I guess.

Anyway, part two is that I've changed what's going to be happening this year. I mentioned at the start of the year that I'd remaster old tracks... well, that's not happening anymore. I figured retreading old ground wasn't all that worth it, and my time would be better spent on new projects. So, I'm focusing exclusively on new original pieces and I'm really excited to share some of this stuff. I have a project I've been working on with some friends which I think is my best song PERIOD. I hope you'll get to see that soon, but it depends on when we can all get together to track it. We'll see, I suppose!

And... that's it. That's all I have to say. See y'all soon!

Best and take care!

~Zach (AlphaStorm)

Hey there everyone! A belated happy New Year! Let's make this year the best we can make it with our limited abilities! Now, I'd like to talk a little about the future of this page.

This year will make six years since I made this page and also started making music... that's mental. It doesn't feel like all that long ago, but at the same time it does. With that being said, there's been an obvious drop off in my posts on this site compared to even three years ago, and part of the reason for that is just that the music I'm making now is so different and requires so much more effort than what I was making three years ago. So much more time goes into sound design, recording, mixing, and mastering that the average time it takes me to make one song has doubled (from four to eight hours, for example), and that number is slowly getting bigger, the more I learn. My longest time on a project to date was forty hours.

Not only that, but also my Video Game Metal Covers on my YouTube page, a separate job, AND college have sucked up any time I've had to make stuff with the express intention of posting it to Newgrounds. And I'm not posting any more songs for Vengeful Spirit, which my last six songs have been from, since it's not anywhere close to done, and I want to keep a level of secrecy. So even though I have a solid eighteen other tracks I could post, I'm holding off until the album is done.

That said, I will be posting a little bit more this year. I go back and look at old tracks I've made and think, "I can do better." So this next year is going to be a little bit more active. I'm going to be rearranging, remastering, and reworking a bunch of old songs, and will also be working on some new ones. I've got such a different workflow now, so I think this is going to be an interesting experiment to show my growth and development as a musician and producer. This also means that EDM stuff WILL be returning. There will still be rock and metal, though.

I'm excited to see what this year gives and interested to see if I can find any new ways to write some of the music from my past. And I'm excited to show off a few other new ideas I have. So, won't you join me in heading for the future?

Best and take care!

~Zach (AlphaStorm)

So… it’s that time again for me to complain about Geometry Dash. And this time, and for the time being, this will be the main post on my page, just so as many people see the message as possible. So, let me explain my stance for those who aren’t aware.

First off, I used to be pretty deep into GD. I’d even gotten pretty okay at it (beat Supersonic which I’m still very proud of actually). However, in early/mid-2018 I began my process of distancing myself from Geometry Dash after an indirect push from another artist who will remain nameless. I had come to realize the actual toxicity I was setting myself up for, being as deep in the community as I was. And as of now, I realized most of my mental issues at the time had stemmed from that same toxicity. So, I’ve never been happier now that I stopped playing it.

But, of course, I’m not the only one who played it, and occasionally I get comments about GD on my music (mainly remixes of popular songs in GD, but sometimes on originals). And I’m fine with these comments for the most part (now). I’m glad they enjoyed the song at least, but wish they’d contribute a little more than “I want to use this in GD!” But, overall, I can deal with them.

But then come the more antagonistic ones. I’ve only seen one, and another which I see as antagonistic but I know wasn’t meant to be. The first was a complaint about a song I posted after I distanced myself from GD, in which they flamed me and gave me a low rating because they couldn’t get their few minutes of fun in GD. I’m not joking, I believe that’s on my Electrodynamix 2 remix.

The second came today on my “At the Speed of Light” remix, and is what pushed me to make this post. Now, the choice to disable GD use is a conscious choice on the part of the artist. They CHOSE to disable GD use, whether they knew what it was or not. Finding a workaround for getting a song into GD is NOT okay, and you’re going actively against the wishes of artists who knew what that meant, such as myself. In other words, please don’t find a workaround my decision. I disabled use for a reason, and would rather not be associated with GD.

I understand the irony that I’m making a post about it when I don’t want to be associated with it. It’s not lost on me. However, this will also probably be my final post about GD. I need to lay this hatred I have for it to rest, and largely have done. Getting these comments every so often is annoying but manageable until I get the comments that remind me why I left GD, such as the two I mentioned here. It shows me that there are still parts of the community (which is actually the core of my hatred for GD) that are no different to when I left them.

If you want to know strictly what my reasoning is: I do not want to be associated with Geometry Dash because when someone famous inevitably finds my music and uses it in a popular level, I won’t be a musician anymore. I’ll be a GD musician. And that’s not what I want to be. It happened too many times. Some embrace it, some don’t, and I would be guilty of being in the latter group. And as such, in order to save myself and you any grief of dealing with this, I’m making a strong statement right here of distancing myself from GD.

So, in summary, please don’t use ANY of my music in Geometry Dash. Don’t even try to find workarounds to getting the music into Geometry Dash. I do not want to be associated with it in any capacity. I’m apprehensive to lend my music to any other rhythm games and that’s largely Geometry Dash’s fault. Well, the community’s anyway.

Please understand, it’s not out of spite. It’s not out of sheer anger. Think about what you’re doing complaining about my choice to disable use from my perspective in future. Stop and think there may actually be a reason I disabled use. If every one of you did, I wouldn’t be here making this post to try and get that message across. If every one of you did, I probably wouldn’t hate the GD community as much as I do.

However, that said, don’t attack either of the people who made those two reviews I mentioned, if you also hate GD in any way. That doesn’t really make things better. You’re honestly making them worse. Passive action, in this situation, is a valid way to handle it.

Thanks for reading. I’m honestly tired of GD, but I shall persevere, and hope those of you who questioned my reasoning will honor my wishes.

Best and take care!

~Zach (AlphaStorm)