In this iteration of 'Music For a Hranj Day' instead of observing a single album we are going to take a look at my favorite examples of the delay effect in different songs. There's something strange about delay that, when used correctly, perfectly fits the mood that I find myself in on rainy days.

Each of the three examples below will be followed by a brief commentary on that particular song and its corresponding album/band.

1. Good Tiger – Where Are The Birds

If you haven't heard of this band yet it's probably because their debut album came out the same week as the time this post is being written. Good Tiger is a sort of supergroup containing past members from The Safety Fire, The Faceless, Tesseract, and Architects.

The delay effects used in this song combined with the brutal bass tone (thanks to none other than the Darkglass B7K) make for one seriously kickass album opening. Elliot's clean vocals also work really well to prevent the delay from being overshadowed during the song's verses. Delay is an effect that often becomes inaudible during parts when an entire band is playing, but this song does a great job of avoiding that (perhaps because of Nolly's excellent mix).

If you like what you're hearing in this example, definitely check out the stream of their full album, 'A Head Full of Moonlight' here.

2. The Contortionist - Language I: Intuition

I've been a huge fan of [The Contortionist](https://www.facebook.com/thecontortionist/) since I first discovered 'Exoplanet' and their latest album 'Language' more than lived up to expectations. With a new vocalist and new sound in general, TC has distanced themselves from the traditional "djent" sound that many listeners grew to love in 'Exoplanet'. I find 'Language' to be a less intense album in general than 'Exoplanet' while, at times, still managing to be heavy beyond comprehension.

Simply put, this is one of the coolest and most unique sounding delay effects I've heard. I read somewhere that a delay speed of 333 milliseconds is close to what you need to recreate it. The delay here is used as part of a long process of build-up that leads to utter destruction in the second movement of this song. The oddly-timed drum and bass are also there to scratch the perpetual prog itch that I live every day of my life with.

This song is a big reason why 'Language' is one of the albums I won't hesitate to play from front to back when I look outside and see dreary skies.

3. The Fall of Troy - F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X.

It's impossible to think about delay without thinking about the opening to F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X. by [The Fall of Troy](http://thefalloftroy.com/).

I saved this example for last simply because it's the most well-known example of the three I've listed in this post. This is probably the band's most popular song and it's opening riff has this magical ability to get a crowd stirring after just a few notes. Around the two minute mark in this song we hear more of the same awesome delay as in the introduction which builds up to the most chaotic of breakdowns.

I was definitely late in discovering The Fall of Troy along with the masterpiece that is their album 'Doppleganger'. Nonetheless, this is a notorious example of delay and I'm sure I'm not the only one who went out to buy a delay pedal after hearing this song.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this post and maybe discovered some new music along the way. If you liked what you read or you know of some kickass delay that you think I need to hear, hit me up on Twitter @brodan_!