I absolutley LOVE this piece and can't wait to hear what the vocals sound like on it.  The only thing I'd add, and it 's one of those things that'll either sound amazing or completley rubbish, is maybe a few strings during the chorus, even if its only towards the end of the song.  Then again it may just be me being too much of a fan of strings sections in accoustic/rock songs. 
Brilliant bit of music here though.  Will wait for the final version with vocals to rate.
Kobeshi

oh and swordfish I'll let you know...

the drums were played entirely using a keyboard and Native Instruments Battery. I used alot of tweaking with battery to get the most 'realistic' drum sound I could by tweaking the mics. I then EQ'd it a little and applied careful compression to fatten them up.

I like to use compression as a music tool rather than just to control peaks. For that reason the kick/snare were compressed together with a longer attack time to allow the initial 'attack' to come through - whereas the cymbals/hats were compressed separately with a faster attack time in order to curb those pesky transients. I used a very loose quantize to keep a 'live' feel, and then a really nice fat reverb that gave some space to that kick and the snare.

I'm glad you liked the drums they took me alot of time in the sound department and they are the first drum sound I've really been happy with.

Thanks all

This is good, but then the original work in progress was good too so I would be seriously disappointed if you'd screwed it up!!!

The drums are awesome.. impressive that it was all done on a keyboard.
I preferred the bass a little more forward in the mix, and this is especially true now the drums are in there as I think the kick could do with a louder partner.
Don't like the sound of the distorted guitar.  It sounds electronic and "fizzy" - a warmer, simple overdriven guitar would sound better to my ears.

Looking forward to the vox on this one