It was challenging to point to just ten records that influenced my writing of Ultraviolet. In the end, I was only able to whittle my choices down to eleven albums. I would be remiss to not mention the influence of literature on this album as well, for I was as inspired by fiction authors like Richard Wagamese, Alistair MacLeod, Alissa York, William Faulkner, and Harper Lee as I was by actual lyrics/lyricists. 

Strapping Young Lad: City

A number of different Dev releases could make this list but it is likely “City” that has influenced me the most when it comes to vocal style. The balance of clean and heavy vocals that Dev finds on this record, along with the greatness of the general sounds he creates with his voice, make this a piece that continues to influence me. When I was writing Ultraviolet, I often went back to this record, specifically “All Hail the New Flesh” and “Detox”, as I believe that the singing in those songs is some of the greatest in the history of metal.

Norah Jones: The Fall

This may seem like a strange choice but the lyrics on this record really influenced my writing in the last few years. Her use of metaphor and her word choice were examples that I drew upon. She uses words like ghosts, castles, knights, and other fantasy related terms while keeping the stories she is singing rooted in reality. She is a princess and she is looking for a prince across a great bridge that leads to New York City. It is poetic, intelligent, and awesome, and it definitely influenced my lyrical choices this time around. Norah Jones creates great emotion with her words, and I believe this to be her best work thus far. 

Rainbow: Rainbow Rising or Long Live Rock n Roll

My go to record for Dio is usually Holy Diver, however it is some of the more fantastical early lyrics that influenced my writing here. Rainbow had such great song titles. Pieces like “Stargazer”, “Starstruck”, “Kill the King”, and “Rainbow Eyes”, pieces that I once sort of saw as cheesy, became pieces of inspiration for Ultraviolet. For many years I really tried to steer away from the Dungeons and Dragons style of lyric writing that Dio and Maiden normally engaged in, looking more to bands like Madball and Sick of it All for inspiration. This is not to say that I did not enjoy that side of heavy metal, it is just that sort of thing never felt right for Misery Signals. MS was this angry, reality based thing that was always very personal to my life, and a lot of that Dio style stuff did not seem to fit.

About halfway through the writing process of this record, I noticed that words like stars, ghosts, spires, kings, and muses were repeating, and rather than running away from that heavy metal stuff this time, I chose to play with it and sort of make that a motif of the record. The songs on Ultraviolet are still reality based but there are references and allusions to mythology and fantasy throughout the album. It’s basically my attempt at what Norah Jones does so well on “The Fall”. It was a lot of fun working with this stuff in the end. 

Converge: You Fail Me

I consider “Last Light” to be one of the finest pieces of heavy music ever written. The piece is so lyrically and vocally heavy that it will always be something I look to when I am writing or recording heavy music. It is desperate and pissed and inspiring and beautiful. 

Buried Alive: Death of your Perfect World

As far as a heavy vocal sound is concerned, Scott Vogel is someone who I have always tried to emulate. His vocals on this record are really great and are some of the heaviest around. When I’m trying to get my voice to sound heavy, I try to scream like Vogel does on this record. I figure that if I can sound half as pissed as Vogel does here, then we are in a good spot.

Shai Hulud: That Within Blood Ill Tempered

Geert has been a huge influence on my sound in the past and was again someone I looked to while working through Ultraviolet. His blending of talking, shouting, and screaming, and his ability to build intensity with his voice, make him such an important figure in metal. He is also this mysterious, legendary character, and that certainly adds to the appeal. I think he is the coolest and I think this record is a masterpiece. 

Poison the Well: The Opposite of December

The vocal and lyrical components of this album greatly influenced me when I was a younger fellow and I would be wrong to not mention this work.  I cannot overemphasize just how important the talking parts on this record are to the development of my singing style. Jeff’s vocal choices largely shaped how I wrote the early Compromise and Misery Signals material. The desperation that Jeff is able to convey on that record is something that I tried very hard to emulate when I started out and something I still look to. The balance of singing, talking, and screaming that he found here is also so amazing. This is such an important record.

Grade: Under the Radar

This is really important for me on a number of fronts. It is both lyrically inspiring and vocally inspiring. Though I don’t really sound like Kyle Bishop, his balance of clean singing and screaming on this record is something that shaped me from a very early age. The lyrics are also very influential as he was one of the first lyricists in metal that I heard screaming about love and being very open and honest.

It is really emo and became a pretty typical style in the years afterwards, but what Kyle did here was raw and real and had a big influence on me. The last line on Ultraviolet is “I love you” and that is directly influenced by the lyrics on “The Inefficiency of Emotion”, the opening track on this record where Kyle is screaming about love. Great lyrics, great record, great band. 

Concrete Blonde: Concrete Blonde

Johnette Napolitano is such a gifted lyricist and one that I have paid attention to since a very young age. This is one of my mother’s favourite records and one I heard a ton growing up. It is also an album that seems to have influenced me more than I was even conscious of.  I was listening to this album the other day and noticed that in “Song for Kim” Johnette sings, “Hold on, hold on, because there is good/Hold on, I know that you can fight”.

In “The Tempest” you might notice I scream, “Hold on, hold on, I know that you can fight/Hold on, hold on and overcome the night”. I did not intentionally rip Concrete Blonde off but I guess I did in the end. “Song for Kim” and “True” are personal favourites on here and both are pieces that really influenced how I see lyrics. 

 Led Zeppelin: Houses of the Holy

I could pick most every Zeppelin album to be on this list as they have all played a huge role in my musical development. Titles like “Over the Hills and far Away”, “The Rain Song”, and “The Song Remains the Same” are examples of absolute genius. It is insane how many amazing songs are on this record, each with lyrics that most of us can only dream of matching.  

Deftones: Diamond Eyes

Chino Moreno is one of my all time favourite singers, and alot of the cleans on Ultraviolet were influenced by what he does. If the other 4 or 5 songs that we have left over from the Ultraviolet sessions ever come to light, there is a much greater, more obvious Chino influence on those pieces as those pieces were largely the more experimental works from the sessions and thus ended up being more experimental vocally as well. I cannot think of a modern day singer that has had more influence on what I deem good and cool.