New reissue by Latter Reign

On Jan. 1, Roxx Records will be starting the preorders for the album Latter Reign "Live For The Day".  They already have the CDs in stock, so you will be able to receive the disc before the actual release date of Jan. 14.  They are a classic hair metal act.

Here is their only video that they did back in the day:



While the sound quality of this clip isn't great, it will give you a better diea of what Latter Reign sounds like.  I am sure that Roxx will be doing a lyric video as usual of this release.  I know that they did a full cleaning of the original files and a full master for CD and digital formats.

Really looking forward to hearing this.  I suspect I would have been a huge fan of this demo back in the day.  Hope they were able to clean it up quite a bit.

Lots of potential but I want to hear what it sounds like on the reissues.

Staybrite wrote:

Really looking forward to hearing this.  I suspect I would have been a huge fan of this demo back in the day.  Hope they were able to clean it up quite a bit.

Black Rider wrote:

Lots of potential but I want to hear what it sounds like on the reissues.

Just knowing it is that classic late 80s sound is enough for me.  I think Roxx does a great job with demo reissues, so I am going to order this as soon as it is available.

Interesting, I read the email this morning and searched on YouTube but only found the same ones you did. 

I also found this which might be someone entirely different but I didn't like this at all. Nothing like the songs above:

This one wasn't any better

As I understand it, there are several groups through the years that have called themselves Latter Reign.  Unless you can trademark your band name, it is bound to happen unless your band gets super well known.  Then, you might get people to let go of a name since there would be real confusion.  If no one has gotten super popular or trademarked the Latter Reign name, I could see how multiple artists would have called themselves that.

Of course, a simple internet search with any potential band name nowadays could help reduce that possibility without totally removing it.

Oh man.  This almost sounds worse than the original demo on the video Alldat posted.
It would be a cool album to own, but if the rest of it sounds like this I think I might be so disappointed in the sound that I never listen to it.

Wow you're right. Something sounds off. I assume all they had to remaster this was a cassette. I think I'll pass after initially thinking about ordering it. Maybe if I hear more but the production (or lack of it) kills it for me.

Staybrite wrote:

Oh man.  This almost sounds worse than the original demo on the video Alldat posted.
It would be a cool album to own, but if the rest of it sounds like this I think I might be so disappointed in the sound that I never listen to it.

MikeInFla wrote:

Wow you're right. Something sounds off. I assume all they had to remaster this was a cassette. I think I'll pass after initially thinking about ordering it. Maybe if I hear more but the production (or lack of it) kills it for me.

I have to agree that something DOES sound off and that it doesn't sound quite right.  I am betting that they did this from a well worn or aged cassette, or lower quality MP3s made from a cassette.  The bass is too strong for the rest of the production.  A little de-essing could have helped with those cymbals.

I will order it, but I will be seeing what ol' alldat can do to it to make it more audibly appealing to me.

On the bright side, this could easily have been the Christian version of Dokken.

Regardless of the Roxx video, I went ahead and ordered this when I woke up.  I know the band has a few more releases that they are hoping to bring out.  Supporting this now will help insure that.

I received my CD today.  It sounds as bad as the promo video.  It sounds like their original sound source was a poor quality cassette ripped to 128 kbps MP3 and then remastered.  This is not how you do a reissue.

Good to know, I will skip this release. Crossforce was a bad sounding disc as well.

alldatndensum wrote:

I received my CD today.  It sounds as bad as the promo video.  It sounds like their original sound source was a poor quality cassette ripped to 128 kbps MP3 and then remastered.  This is not how you do a reissue.

Well that's a bummer.  Hopefully if they release additional music it will be of much better recording quality (or source material).

Staybrite wrote:

alldatndensum wrote:

I received my CD today.  It sounds as bad as the promo video.  It sounds like their original sound source was a poor quality cassette ripped to 128 kbps MP3 and then remastered.  This is not how you do a reissue.

Well that's a bummer.  Hopefully if they release additional music it will be of much better recording quality (or source material).

Yeah, even it's just rerecording the old material I'd be up for that because it seems like it has potential and modern production and recording would make it sound better.

MikeInFla wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

alldatndensum wrote:

I received my CD today.  It sounds as bad as the promo video.  It sounds like their original sound source was a poor quality cassette ripped to 128 kbps MP3 and then remastered.  This is not how you do a reissue.

Well that's a bummer.  Hopefully if they release additional music it will be of much better recording quality (or source material).

Yeah, even it's just rerecording the old material I'd be up for that because it seems like it has potential and modern production and recording would make it sound better.

Exactly!

To be honest, I feel like Roxx has sold an inferior product.  I almost want to ask for a refund as this sounds like a crappy Retrospect bootleg CD.  The inserts are nice, but the sound is so bad that they should not have released this at all.

That's disappointing. As stated, I felt the same way about Crossforce. Was initially excited to hear something I had never heard before and it sounded like it was from an old cassette tape as well. Played it once and never again. 

Hard to believe if Roxx was working with the band that they couldn't come up with better source material. If that's the case they should've held off, recorded something new and threw in the "cassette" as bonus tracks. But I get it - studio time costs money and getting members together takes time.

alldatndensum wrote:

To be honest, I feel like Roxx has sold an inferior product.  I almost want to ask for a refund as this sounds like a crappy Retrospect bootleg CD.  The inserts are nice, but the sound is so bad that they should not have released this at all.

I was afraid if that, serious bummer.

I am almost certain that this was taken from a less than superior sound source.  If you try to clean it and remove unwanted noise, the decay of the cymbals worsens until you get a weird sound like the speakers are under water.

So, I tried taking this and doing my own remaster.  I pulled back the lower end frequencies and boosted the highs.  The cymbals aren't quite as bright as a new recording would be, but they do sound more real.  There isn't quite as much bass in this now, but still more than enough to be enjoyable for me.  The guitars sound brighter and more 80s sounding as they should with an older recording from that generation.

I am going to give my version a spin later today and see if I have made it listenable.  If it is, I will share with anyone who has actually purchased this and isn't too pleased with the sound.

Ok, even trying to remaster this myself didn't help. I actually just made the sound issues I was already hearing worse!

alldatndensum wrote:

Ok, even trying to remaster this myself didn't help. I actually just made the sound issues I was already hearing worse!

Oh man that really stinks.  I guess it was just a horrible source recording.