For the Thorns of Dark Roses release, Douglas experimented with a different time signature on each of the five songs. 6/4, 11/4, 7/4, 5/4 and 4/4. Each song consists of vocals, electric guitars, grand piano, keyboard bass and full drum kit arrangements. The guitar tones are mostly clean and the changing meter throughout provides a fresh variety to the overall feel of the album."Facing the Ages" as well as"Whispering Nightingale" were mastered from stems by Shaun Morris 2016. The remaining three from full mix. The album was composed, performed, tracked and mixed by Douglas Jay Hertel 2016 using Logic X. The electric guitar used on all 5 songs is a Paul Reed Smith.