Friday 29 May 2020

STATIC-X - RESURRECTED!

Industrial Nu Metal stalwarts resurrect singer Wayne Static in tribute
for the forthcoming 'Project Regeneration, Volumes 1 & 2'




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1994: DEBUT SINGLE 'PUSH IT' FOLLOWED BY 'I'M WITH STUPID'






THE SNYDER CUT : IT'S HAPPENING

Zack Snyder is going to spend an additional 20-to-30 million dollars bringing his original vision for the Justice League movie to the screen.

Future-Rocker will definitely have something to say about this... stay tuned.

SETH ICKERMAN'S KICKSTARTER MOVIE 'BLOOD MACHINES' - OUT NOW!

A sequel to Ickerman's Turbo Killer music video by synthwave artist Carpenter Brut,
'Blood Machines' is a crowd-sourced phantasmagoria of 80's sci-fi aesthetics and music nostalgia, co-produced by streaming service Shudder 



Like that? Then go to - 








Sunday 17 May 2020

LIFE IN LOCKDOWN II - THOMAS 'DROP' BETRISEY GETS 'CONFINED'

‘I’VE STARTED A NEW PROGRESSIVE TECH
HOUSE PROJECT CALLED MESSERGEIST’

Future-Rocker talks to cyber-metaller Thomas 'Drop' Betrisey ( Obsydians / Sybreed ) about his new lockdown-inspired music project...





Thomas Betrisey has been a regular feature in Future-Rocker ever since we discovered his former band Sybreed's crushing and anthemic masterpiece 'Antares'. Since that band expired, he has been busy producing other bands, running a studio in Geneva, and performing onstage with veteran Industrial Black Metal band Samael. We caught up with Thomas during Covid-19 lockdown to find out what he was up to.

FUTURE-ROCKER: Thomas, what are you doing during lockdown? Chilling, or working on new music? Any new tracks we can include in the blog?

THOMAS ‘DROP’ BETRISEY: I've been writing lot of music, I've started a new progressive tech house project called Messergeist, and released the Confined EP on May 1st on every streaming platform as well as Bandcamp. And Messergeist is only electronic, no guitar there..!


It's beautifully cinematic..!

Thanks! 



What would be your dream movie, franchise or remake, to score?

The first title that comes to mind would be doing an electronic/dub remake of Monkey Island's soundtrack haha, my favorite game of all time. Seriously, I really think all the movies or games that I like have a perfect soundtrack, and I'd prefer working on something new. Anyway, scoring a game or a movie is definitely something I'm looking for, we will see what happen in the future.

In a previous interview we talked about your fave metal albums. What are your favourite or most influential electronic albums or soundtrack albums?

Five albums that immediately come to mind, and not in a particular order:

Front Line Assembly "Implode"
NIN "The Fragile"
Hans Zimmer "Man Of Steel"
Infected Mushroom "Becoming Insane"
Boris Brejcha "Space Diver"

I absolutely agree with you about Man of Steel. Hans Zimmer is less bombastic than John Williams, but more atmospheric. That was the first film soundtrack I’d bought in ages, and I also bundled it with Batman v Superman as well. Some great cuts on there, too.
Incidentally, the Messergeist track Gloomwash has some nice spooky female vocals on, and it reminds me of a video that blew my mind yesterday - Triptykon doing Celtic Frost’s Rex Irae from Into The Pandemonium...they did it absolutely spot-on. Have you heard it?

Ah yeah, I listened to it yesterday, sounds great! Roadburn concerts are always kinda special!

In Google translate, Messergeist comes out as 'Knife Spirit'. Or I'm assuming it's more like 'Knife Ghost'... is that closer? What's the thinking behind that?

I was browsing some names for that project, looking for some two-words compression word, when GhostKnife popped out my mind, sounded really sharp. Then, one night, a friend just translated that in German, sounded really cool and very "techno" haha. Moreover, it wasn't existing anywhere on Internet, so the choice was made. No special meaning here.


So what else have you been working on?

I've also worked on some Obsydians, one song is at the mixing stage, and the other one is getting vocals on it as we speak.



ABOVE: Kevin, Thomas and Ales of OBSYDIANS

Great, some new Obsydians music to look forward to, it's been a while. Where are you living right now, are they strict or loose with the lockdown?

I'm in Switzerland. We had a half lock down, people were allowed to go outside, respecting social distances as well as not groups of more than 5 people. Now they are slowly releasing the people, everything should get back to "normal" in one week.

When lockdown is over, what do you want to do first?

Actually not much different things, I will continue writing music and recording bands at the studio. I really hope to be able to make some concerts as soon as possible, I miss that a lot. And probably spend some money in my friend's pub as soon as it opens. 

Are you still with Samael or are your contracted duties with them now finished?

Yeah I'm still in Samael, guitar duties now..!

'Guitar duties'... that's more like it! And what about the possibility of you taking over the producer’s chair too?

Haha, Xy is the mastermind! Don't know if I'll produce, but I hope so.


SYBREED: 'YES, WE ARE ON GOOD TERMS'


SYBREED / OBSYDIANS / SHADOW DOMAIN  are some of the most-read articles on Future-Rocker. There's a great picture of you and ( ex-Sybreed vocalist ) Benjamin Nominet from last summer, on Facebook. I know this is a totally obvious thing to ask, but the fans will kill me if I don't: You are clearly on friendly terms with each other... did you chat about doing a music project or perhaps even a proper Sybreed reunion?


Below: For one night only!
Thomas & Benjamin reunite half of Sybreed...for a cold beer!
Photographed in June 2019.



Yes, we are on good terms, we are doing a few music things together but nothing Sybreed-related for now. I've recorded him last week as a guest on the new The Erkonauts record that I'm producing right now, and it reminded me of some great memories. I will also work on his new project, I won't say much for now, won't reveal his new plans yet, keep looking, haha.

Thanks Thomas, good luck with the new projects, and stay safe!

Cheers, man!

LISTEN & BUY THE 'CONFINED EP' HERE:



FOR EXCELLENT MUSIC AND STUDIO UPDATES, THOMAS ON FACEBOOK

OBSYDIANS ON FACEBOOK


Saturday 16 May 2020

LIFE IN LOCKDOWN - ZARDONIC INTERVIEW

''THE QUESTION IS, WHEN WILL THIS REALLY BE OVER?''




Here at Future-Rocker, we thought we'd do what everyone else is doing: reach out to friends and checking they're okay. Covid-19 lockdown is the first global shared experience since the World Wars, so it'll be fascinating to see how everyone handles the sudden change of lifestyle.

First up, is Venezuelan Metal Drum n Bass overlord, ZARDONIC. We caught up with the hyperactive artiste to find out how he's occupying his time.

It's an obvious question, but...what are you doing during lockdown? 

I definitely can get no chill, so I am always working or finding a way to put my time to good use. Even at home with nothing to do, you can only play video games and watch Netflix for so long. So I have done everything in my power to expand my network of contacts and at the moment enjoy working with several new clients in need of soundtracks, mixing, mastering and remixing services. One of the highlights of my career is being able to create the soundtrack for the sequel to the topseller hit Superhot VR. The new game will be called Superhot: Mind Control Delete, and it is now available on Early Access via Steam. No idea on soundtrack release dates yet, but being involved with such a powerful, fun, caring team has been a very enriching experience for me. They definitely don't work like most other people do, and that's the key to their success!





Besides that, I have done remixes for Lisa Miskovsky (Mirror's Edge), Liv Sin, Satan Takes A Holiday, Skarlett Riot, Smash Into Pieces ( see above ), Shining, and I am currently working on the mix and master as well as guest music for the soundtrack of the new indie game Hellbound, produced by Argentinian developers Saibot Studios. This game is EVERYTHING I wanted in a game. Fast paced first-person-shooter, blood, gore, magic, it's literally a 90's kid's wet dream. Imagine Hexen, Duke Nukem 3D, Serious Sam, Doom and Quake mashed together with modern visuals. No story. No objectives. No bullshit. Just good ol' shooting through hordes of respawning demons to get the yellow, blue and red keys all the way to the next level. There's a free-to-play survival mode available right now and a demo of the first level. Mind you, it's not easy and quicksaves are out of the question. That's something you get with the full version only. But it will be frustrating unless you know what you're getting yourself into. You should check it out!



Also, since the last Friday of March I had two new remix singles released which are leading up to the release of The Become Remix Album. It comes with 10 new remixes of the tracks from the 2018 album Become, including my own VIP version of Takeover together with Fickle6 of The Qemists adding new verses to it, as well as remixes by Code: Pandorum, Sadhu, Vigilante, Pythius, Voicians, Merikan, Enduser, Sinister Souls, Shadow Sect and Hocico. Four of those remixes will also come with their own instrumental version, so that's fourteen tracks total.


You escaped your troubled homeland Venezuela - where does Zardonic choose to set up his Base of Operations, and are they strict or loose with the lockdown there?

I'm in Burscheid which is a small town in the province of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. That's where Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Münster and Wuppertal are, so even while I am in the suburbs, I am very close to a lot of major cities and that makes movement super easy for me. Things here are done a little differently because of the culture. So while some activities have come to a halt, people are simply keeping their distance and wearing masks and gloves everywhere. Supposedly everything should be over in a couple weeks, but we will be required by law to wear protective masks. Air travel is obviously out of the question, which is driving me crazy. If I didn't have the blessing of working in the studio with such amazing people, I don't really know what would become of me. I am extremely thankful for this because I didn't know I was preparing for such a situation.

When lockdown is over, what do you want to do first?

The first question is, when will this really be over? You know? We have no idea what the hell is really happening. I personally don't even know what to believe anymore, but I guess I hope to be able to get my tour back on track. I had a whole tour planned for this year to promote the Remix record with a lot of dates cancelled / postponed, and it was planned to be done together with Fickle6 who has been doing a wonderful job. He knows how to keep people excited and I love hanging out with him. So hopefully we'll get to that. But I can't think about what I'll do until I know when. If I think too much about what I want to do after the lockdown, it'll be like a daily reminder of the things that I can't do right now. And that drives me insane. Better focus on what I can do now, because there's not much else we can do, can we?

 You can pre-order the BECOME REMIX ALBUM here.


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ZARDONIC EXTRA!