I love Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, and all Mike Patton's projects. And Zombie projects as well. They just don't often bring the keys to the forefront, so what you're saying is you might want to have your keyboardist take a backseat and jump into things for a measure or 4 or whatever and drop out. Apply where necessary, have her sing backup vocals or something to occupy her. I dunno. Oh and I'm not sure which Strapping Young Lad's songs I should recommend right off. I'll think on it, flip through them, hit youtube and get back to you.

I don't really like keyboards in metal, but some bands can pull it off, like Faith No More. Fear Factory was good with keyboards on Demanufacture, but the other albums after were just trash because of how techno-y they got (overuse of keyboards, electro beats and cleaner vocals).

So yeah, if it doesn't sacrifice heaviness, then yeah, keyboards are fine.

"so what you're saying is you might want to have your keyboardist take a backseat and jump into things for a measure or 4 or whatever and drop out. Apply where necessary, have her sing backup vocals or something to occupy her."

Yeah, when you say it like that it doesn't sound too inviting, does it... but in these particular songs when the sound is constant - or when she mimics the guitar rift - it sounds really hokey. Maybe its the choice of sound on the keyboard - we've tried it with piano / organ / strings...

It's just the way it is. Either it will work out or it won't. I moreso suggest trying to get her not to compliment the music but juxtapose it. See if that might make for nice sounds?

Thanks for all your help and suggestions, guys... especially Mrd00d. Played our first set with the new keyboard player and worked out fine... All came together at the last minute. If I get a decent enough recording I'll post here on day.