Füneral Rain Press Cörps

Genres: Metal, Punk
Label: Ukragh Productions

I really kind of wonder what this is. I like it. But I can’t dance to it.
It’s almost like if system of a Down didn’t sell out after the first album, mixed with a bit of Weird Al Yankovik and way too many drugs. But that doesn’t even fully explain it.
Either way, if you’re in an adventurous mood and you like to have fun with your music and that can mean your choice of song titles are “David Lee Gorgoroth”, “Dirty Danzig”, and “Diabolical FullSun Hedonism”, as well as more oddities, then check out Cremaster. 7 out of 10.

I basically first met Jay Raker when I first was starting FRZ, through listening to Adrian H and the Wound’s self-titled album. I found out eventually (through interviewing Adrian H himself) that Jay was no longer part of the Wounds, and that was that.
Then one day, out of the blue, there’s an email from him in my inbox. It turns out he had seen the interview with Adrian H and liked it, and we ended up chatting. Things led to things, and now here is the interview with Jay.
As per my usual, I didn’t do too much editing to it, except to make things a little pretty and easier to read.

I guess my first question Jay, is one of the usuals. How are things going for you right now?

Things are going pretty well for me and the rest of the members of Black Market Sunday. Currently I will have almost 4 weeks off to play around with some new musical ideas.

That sounds exciting. Anything completely off the wall that fans can expect?

We are working on the live show. We need more hands on deck now. There is a lot going on in that aspect. We are creating atmosphere.
The music plays in the visual. We want a surround sound in the venue. Just like a movie. We want to make you watch.

How long have you been playing music, and what other projects have you been in? How about the rest of Black Market Sunday?

I have played music since I was 14 years old, and I have shared stages with Rob Zombie, 36 Crazyfists, The Sisters Of Mercy,Tommy Skeoch (Tesla), Pat Travers and Rick Derringer to name a few, I cant remember all the details.
Some of the bands in my history would be Black Market Sunday,The Art Of War, Carbon14, Adrian H And The Wounds, Jay Raker and The Ghost Town Riders and The Candystrippers.

Derek Henderson, our drummer, started playing on paint cans when he was around 8 years old, and he got his first kit at about 13 (he thinks). He played in Junior High (Concert Band/Jazz Band). In High School he played Concert Band, Jazz Band, Marching Band, Pep Band and had helped creating a class called Comprehensive Percussion, getting to tour the west coast playing in competitions.
He’s played/recorded in Pappy Lane, Laverl, Go Upstairs, Land Caster, The End Is The Beginning and the Jeff Zetner Band.

Jeremy Dan, on guitar, has been playing for 25 years, starting with the Sizuki Method on violin. Current bands include Black Market Sunday (guitar), The Gentry (guitar/synth/backing vocals) and Sean Wagner (guitar/keys/sax/backing vocals). Past stints in reverse-chronological order are Merrill (keys), John O’Mara (keys), Jon Garcia (keys/guitar/backing vocals), Seba (And Now I’ve Landed) (guitar), Jesse Alan Jason Trio (guitar/accordion), Lander (Tyler Stenson)(keys/harmonica/backing vocals), Fuscus (guitar/vocals), Outlet (guitar/backing vocals), Dr. Fugly (vocals/guitar), Crescent Valley (CV) Wind Ensemble (bassoon), Marching Band (sax) and Pep Band (sax/guitar), Concert Band (sax), Jazz Band (sax) and Foil (guitar/backing vocals).

Rob Oseas, bass, has been playing bass for about 15 years. His most recent band before BMS was Sweet City Slang, where he played bass, trombone and sang.

So with a band like BMS, being full of musicians who are obviously accomplished and have been at it for awhile, it is hard to write music ever? Do you butt heads or have any ‘dominance struggles’, or have you been really lucky and not had any problems like that?

So far so good.
I am the main songwriter but not a solo artist , but its kind of like Nine Inch Nails, with me being like Trent I suppose.
Black Market Sunday is better as a live group, I like playing with people in a band setting. But there cant be too many cooks in the kitchen and by default Black Market Sunday tends to be a burden of love on my shoulders. I do most of the label oriented work, but its easier with more help when you can get it and I need all the help I can get.

I guess with this question I might raise some eyebrows, but I’m going to do it anyway. I’ve already interviewed Adrian H, and he would not comment on why you were no longer with the Wounds. Would you be willing to comment?

Yes, I would be willing.
First off, I do respect what Adrian H is doing and I also know that both of us can occupy the stage with great intensity; both of us are very powerful artists. There was talk of collaborating at one time, and Adrian was actually invited into Black Market Sunday and I too was as well invited to Adrian H And The Wounds. Its a mutual thing.
You should hear the original tracks of my goth bass on the Wounds CD. The mix was subdued unfortunately when time came for release.
I’m not playing with Adrian right now, and I think you can tell in the shows because its not the same.
I am just doing Black Market Sunday and Black Market Sunday is doing well.

Your current gear – what kind of instruments are you gents rocking out with? Any oddities that aren’t in the band’s sound yet?

As far as instruments and effects I use old and new technology. My main amp right now is a Fender Super Reverb. I also use a little Vox amp in the studio. I have your basic Big Muff and Analog Delay.
I wont go into too much detail on this because its pretty much in the way I hit the strings honestly. Vampire technique.
As far as guitars I use a Gibson SG and a Danelectro mostly, but now I’m playing a custom Strat given to me by Tommy Skeoch who
played in Tesla.

Are there any plans to have an extensive tour, or do commitments outside of BMS ever prevent long tours?

As far as long tours that would require us to be funded by a loan from a record company that I dont think we would come out ahead on at this point. As far as mini-tours, yes, that’s whats been the idea thus far.
We are underground but we plan on being above the ground.

So what can Black Market Sunday fans expect in the next three months? How about six?

Black Market Sunday fans can expect new music being released one by one off of our new album Regeneration. I like it this way because there is a continuous flow for our listeners instead of  “here’s the new record now, wait for two years for the next one”.

I guess my last question for the interview Jay is, if you were stuck on a desert island with a portable DVD player that played any disc format and could never run out of power, and you had one DVD and one CD for the rest of eternity, what would they be?

DVD – Pink Floyd’s Live at Pompeii. One CD, that’s a tough one. I guess it would have to be a double album and contain many different interesting tunes, so I would have to say The Beatles’ White Album.

Thanks for your time Jay. Have a good one, and I hope to hear from you again soon.

Black Market Sunday Official Site
Black Market Sunday MySpace

Giving a new twist to horror, the Afterparty Massacre, brings metal, blood and gore back to the screen! Written by Kristoff (Horrormerch.com/Spookygirls.com) and Kyle Severn (Incantation, Acheron, and other various side projects), Afterparty Massacre is one killer party with mind-blowing amounts of blood, metal and (naked) flesh!

Afterparty Massacre centers around live performances by Acheron and Incantation. During the show they encounter a mysterious female fan, that becomes a bloodthirsty killer with a voyeuristic side to her. “She loves watching and waiting for the perfect moment to attack her victims. Her bloodlust can not be contained and in the final scenes she unleashes her wrath on the band as well as the crowd until no one is left standing!”

Kristoff mentions. Plus, the soundtrack itself is a major part of this production including bands such as: 16volt, Asphyx, Cardiac Arrest, Crucifier, Denial Fiend, Divine Eve, Estuary, Fatalist, Funerus, Goreaphobia, Gravehill, Luxury Pushers, Master, Pentacle, Ventana and more! Both Incantation and Acheron are performing new exclusive songs within the movie. While Denial Fiend, Goreaphobia, Ventana and a few other bands will have unreleased exclusive tracks for this feature as well. “The music is just as important to this movie as the blood and gore.” Kyle mentions. “The music itself really makes the scenes, it really completes the soundscape for a total massacre. We plan on releasing a CD of the bands featured in the movie via Ibex Moon around the time of the release of the film as well.”

This film will be full of side stories, drunken crowds and plenty of scantly clad metal chicks with its share of nudity. “We’re going at it from all angles!” Kristoff laughs. “We’re shooting both hardcore and soft-core versions of footage here, just not sure at the immediate on which version it’s all going to end up!”

This brings up the point that there may be two different versions of the film released. “We had the idea of shooting two versions of the film for both audiences… the ones that want a darker story with all the blood and gore but not all the hardcore sex involved, and the ones that want all hardcore sex with a lighter story line and the blood and gore mixed in!” He also notes “We’ll be editing them both a bit differently to cater to both audiences. We’ll be shooting the kill scenes from multiple angles and also doing the same with the hardcore/soft-core scenes so it’s not just the same movie repackaged with ‘bonus footage’ as most movies are released today. Both versions will have different exclusive audio tracks and exclusive kill scenes in each version so it adds in a bit more to the depth of the production making it actually worth checking out both versions.”

Along with the overdose on blood, metal, booze and sex comes the sideshow aspect as well. “We’ve ‘hooked up’ with a suspension crew and we’re bringing in a few friends of ours to do up some fire/piercing/grinding performances as well.” adds Kristoff. “We wanted to bring in these dangerous aspects within this subcultre that don’t always get the most attention. We’ll have guys suspended by hooks flying through the air, girls fire breathing, girls with split tounges, guys with all sorts of different body modifications and performance piercings everywhere! Having this dangerous attraction will be a great addition to this movie for sure!”

“It’s a really fun project that I’m looking forward to be a part of!” mentions Kristoff in talking with him about the film. “Having worked with Rob Rotten on Texas Vibrator Massacre (Metro Video/Punx Productions) I definitely learned a lot from that experience and wanted to give horror movie making a go for myself.” He also adds, “Plus when Kyle approached me about making a movie with all the bands that wanted to be part of such a huge soundtrack, we sat down with a few existing ideas I had and we elaborated on them to create this production.”

The film is to be shot this February, with a tentative May release date in open markets. “With Incantation playing the Maryland Deathfest, we figured this would be the absolute best time for the release. Tons of black/death metal, lots of blood, lots of naked chicks, it’s an ideal release date for this movie!” mentions Kyle in regards to the release of the film.

With the release of the UNRATED version for the Maryland Deathfest, Ibex Moon will be distributing the “cleaner” version of the film. On the other side, Punx Productions is on board to release the XXXTRA FLESH (adult) version as well, “Rob Rotten is great to work with and when I mentioned this idea to him he was hyped to bring this in line of his other horror releases (Texas Vibrator Massacre/Porn of the Dead) and being involved wherever he could.” Kristoff mentions.

Look for both the UNRATED and XXXTRA FLESH versions of the movie plus the CD soundtrack for the Afterparty Massacre due out in late May.

((Credit goes to Cassandra Baun))

Genre: Thrash, Metalcore
Label: Metal Blade Records

For those of you who thought that Total Brutal was going to be it for Austrian Death Machine, you were wrong. Just one short year after the release of Total Brutal, Tim Lambesis and Ahhnold present Double Brutal! This two disc album is pretty much more of what you experienced in their first album: songs set to themes that were inspired by Arnold Schwarzenegger, guest shredders, comedic interludes, Ed Repka cover art and the like. Stand out tracks like “Let Off Some Steam Bennett (Commando)” and “It’s Simple, If It Jiggles It’s Fat (Pumping Iron)” dominate the track list, so at least this time the songs are mostly catchy and fun, as apposed to it being half and half like last time. At least, that’s what the first disc is all about. The second disc features seven covers that somehow tie into a Schwarzenegger movie, like Metallica’s “Trapped Under Ice” for Batman & Robin or Goretorture’s “Tactically Dangerous” for Commando (sucks that the use of a drum machine was needed for that one… the vocals are pretty awesome though!) Most of these are pretty decent. Others, such as the immortal classic “Hell Bent For Leather” (for T2, I’m sure you assumed), just don’t translate as well. Overall: Double Brutal still isn’t bad for a guy that guy messing around in the studio. Unfortunately, Double Brutal isn’t going to wow anyone who wasn’t a fan of Total Brutal, but it’s definitely going to please the rabid Austrian Death Machine fans. Now I’m left to wonder if there’s a “Hercules In New York” single in the works…

8.5/10

Austrian Death Machine On MySpace

Originally posted at E-MetalSpace

Genres: Deathcore, Metalcore, Technical Death
Label: Sumerian Records

Progressive death metal. Death core. Tech-death. Whatever you call them, one thing is for sure: Born Of Osiris is where it’s at when you want crazy song structuring. A Higher Place is Born Of Osiris’s (I refuse to refer to them as BOO) sophomore album and thankfully, it avoids the myriad of sophomoric mistakes that lots of younger bands tend to make. Instead, Born Of Osiris take a familiar, yet fresh approach (for them) by adding several (technically) melodic twists to their songs. The vocals never go clean, and they never needed too anyway. They bounce from the main vocalist to the key-man, harsh metalcore screams (which sound a little too close to Mark Hunter’s from Chimaira) to deeeep death metal growls with seamless transitions. The dual guitar scheme is just as tight as ever and take the newer melodic tones to dizzying heights (“Put To Rest” and “Elimination” are key examples of what I’m saying). The technical drumming however has taken a bit of a break in place of a more simple (metronomic), yet catchy beat provider. Overall, A Higher Place may not seem like one to rabid lovers of The New Reign, but I think A Higher Place works for them.

8/10

Born Of Osiris On MySpace

Originally posted at E-MetalSpace