Thanks guys. Yep, trading out the drum kit for the old one that sounded right (Just a process to run my drums through Reaper. wish I could use SSD samples in Kong...)
Appreciate the vocal compliments, but I'm just not as good a good singer as I once was. I'll push a bit, but honestly, it's my voice and I can't even hear when I'm off. I'm just too used to hearing it. The only way for me to hear my voice "off" is to turn them up in the mix and listen to HPs sitting on the desk. It brings out the problems. I'm just going to have to work with Neptune a bit more. Lot of work to polish that particular turd.
I'm still wondering if I should shut down the Polar effect (doubles up and down a couple cents, hard panned for a fuller, "Ozzy" like vocal.) I really like the tone of that effect and the way it makes my voice sound, but I think it might be what's giving the "constantly flat" problem that people are kicking about. Maybe instead of a couple cents up and down, I could do up and up (er). Instead of -5 and +7, I could do +3 and +7 and see if that helps.
Dave, by "direction", do you mean I should write heavier tunes, or you like the lyrical direction, or something entirely different? I LOVE English...