This is my fourth album, recorded between 2006 and late 2007. My personal favourites include 'Operation Wendigo', 'What did Daniel think he was?' and 'Princes of the Dreams', although the latter was plagued with technical issues and looking back, some of the vocals could have been better performed.
All songs were recorded 8-track except where noted, and 'Black Mass in B Minor' from the DMFA Radio Project which was done in Audacity.
The cover art was again drawn by Luke Turner, who graciously provided the Operation Wendigo image from his comic, Foxfire Chronicles. This can be found in the booklet, linked below. Additional art by Keaton. Guest vocals on 'Daniel' include James Rolls as Dan, Catherine Willington as Mab and Tara Rolls as Alexsi. Guest vocals on 'Sheep' by Sam the Narrator.
A PDF version of the cover with full lyrics and liner notes can be found here:
dougtheeagle.com/ferret/ferret.pdf
Notes on the individual tracks:
'Operation Wendigo' was conceived on Christmas 2006, with subsequent rerecordings all the way up to November 2007. It is based on Luke Turner's webcomic, in which five strangers are kidnapped and transformed into were-creatures as part of a clandestine government experiment. The final version was recorded across two sychronized 8-track tape machines and remains one of my favourite songs on the album.
'Apocalypse in 4/4' is a sort of twisted apocalyptic vision in which Jesus was cloned by some evil genius to make an army. Just a strange idea I had while walking home one night. No drugs were used here, honestly.
'Shadow over Merthyr' was an attempt to replicate the music and atmosphere of the fantasy-metal band, Bal-Sagoth. Only set in Wales.
'Princes of the Dreams' was a cover/collaboration of a song by xss, which was inspired by Amber William's DMFA webcomic. Music by xss, performed by me. Lyrics by xss, with modifications by Tezkat and myself. Sadly he has recently withdrawn permission for distribution via Jamendo - I guess that's always the risk with collaboration. In any case, the singing could have been better.
'The musings of Jakob Pettersohn upon the time when he was once known as Johan Cross' continues the DMFA-inspired Jakob Pettersohn saga.
'My wicked life with the Hattifatteners' was, believe it or not, inspired by 'The exploits of Moominpappa' by Tove Jannson.
Moving swiftly on, 'Sheep are Satanic' is actually no better, being inspired by a walk on Mynnyd Maen. Later I realised it bore a strong resemblance to Pink Floyd's song. Damn. Either way, Sam, your local friendly speech synthesizer really cannot say "soy" or "soya". Workarounds, which took some effort to find, include "soh ya" and "ssoyer". While "ssoy" works, "ssoya" does not. But that's not the point. It's more fun to point and laugh when the word comes out as "schwrrrr".
And finally we come to 'What did Daniel think he was?' inspired by that heartbreaking moment when Daniel, adventurer and protagonist of Amber William's DMFA comic, discovers that he's really a demon, he's going to live for thousands of years after all his mortal friends have died, assuming he's not hunted down and slain by other adventurers as a monster. Guest vocals come from the DMFA Radio Project, which I do as a sideline.
#12 this weekPancake Ferret 
