India is definitely not short of metal bands - unfortunately due to the written language not many of them make it easily into Western search algorithms. Luckily one band has popped up on Future-Rocker's radar: WITHIN CERES from Goa, India.
Sounding like an epic mixture of classic European bands such as Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, and Amorphis, with a touch of Sybreed and Architects thrown in, this very contemporary sci-fi themed band could find themselves on a major European or US label metal label before too long.
Listen and buy the SKYLESS EP, below. Scroll down for Facebook link.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are proud to unveil the artwork of
our 4th single "Psychodynamics" once again designed by our really
good and talented friend Erik Kirchner Art.
The track is featuring Björn Strid ( of Soilwork ) on vocals and Dirk
Verbeuren ( of Megadeth ) on drums.
It will be available on July 17th 2020 on every digital
stores.
Line up on this track :
Bjorn "Speed" Strid : vocals
Drop : guitars and electronics
Ales : bass
Dirk Verbeuren : drums
Our drummer Kevin suffered from physical problems before the
recording, that's the reason why he's not drumming on this one. Feeling much
better now, he will be back behind the kit for our next tracks.
Is RATT's 1985 LP one of the greatest metal albums ever?
EDITOR'S NOTE: LINKS TO MUSIC CLIPS WILL BE RESTORED SOON!
Above: The infamous cover (Japanese edition) - Ratt were huge in the Far East.
Over the next few years there will be many key underground
and over-ground hard rock and metal thirty-fifth anniversaries: Master of Puppets (Metallica), Abigail (King Diamond), Into The Pandemonium (Celtic Frost), Peace Sells (Megadeth),
Look What the Cat Dragged In (Poison), Appetite for Destruction (GnR)...the list is
exhaustive, and characteristic of heavy music’s almost total dominance of the
music scene during the mid Nineteen Eighties.
However, one band that is consistently overlooked is Ratt.
Contemporaries and friends with Motley Crue, they and the Crue owned the Los Angeles metal scene at the mid-point
of the decade. With hot major label deals off the back of a huge underground
buzz, both bands pioneered a look that became a global staple ( Ratt sported a
metalized Spandau Ballet / New Romantic look, while the Crue rocked a
post-apocalyptic Kiss / Mad Max look ).
Ratt’s summer 1985 album, Invasion Of Your Privacy served as
a perfect example of band and producer symbiosis, to create a work that has
both finesse, and most importantly for heavy metal -power.
Below: Japanese artwork for album opener and second single, You're In Love.
Pic shows (L-R): Stephen Pearcy (vocals); Robbin Crosby (guitar);
Juan Croucier (bass); Warren DeMartini (guitar) and Bobby Blotzer (drums).
The album starts perfectly with the throbbing ‘You’re In
Love’ a song so insistent that anyone with a barre-chord can play the riff (
important for all the high school shredders ). Extremely catchy, the song was
understandably touted as a single off the album.
However, the album really
starts with the crushing second track, ‘Never Use Love’. This is where Ratt
separated themselves from virtually every other LA band of the time.
Never Use Love: The album really starts on track 2 - deep cuts only in this review!
Underpinned by a pulsating ‘My Sharona’-like bassline, the song is sinuous,
catchy as hell with typically excellent backing vocals, tasteful soloing, and
closes with an ominous descending riff and hanging feedback - just in time to
introduce the monstrously catchy opening guitar of ‘Lay It Down’. Again, what
differentiated the band from other sunset strip wannabes, was the groove. Once
the song locks in, Bobby Blotzer and Juan Croucier’s rock-solid and unshowy
rhythm section hold everything together, while there is still room for guitar
duo Robbin Crosby and Warren DeMartini to spar it out.
Following that is another riff-savvy street-crawling classic, ‘Give It All’, and the first side ( remember this was vinyl ), is concluded with the power ballad ‘Closer To My Heart’, which after the chiming acoustic intro, is so heavy, it probably doesn’t even qualify as a ballad.
Side Two
could be a self-contained EP – it’s difficult to discern any drop in quality
from the high standards established on Side One. Indeed, in these times of track shuffling, it’s notable that in whatever sequence the album is played, it still
feels like that’s the best sequence. There simply are no duds.
Side 2: ‘...Coz It’s So Easy To Forget’... how bloody good this album is.
There are two things that define the ‘Ratt sound’: The aforementioned
heavy guitar riffs, but also the singular and unique ‘vocals’ of Stephen
Pearcy. At the time, magazines and band alike were constantly name-checking
Aerosmith as an influence, and Joe Perry even stated that Ratt had helped to
keep the name of the embattled 1970s superstars in the public eye during Aerosmith's less popular phase ( - until
their Run DMC-instigated comeback later in the decade ). Yet it was Ratt’s
appropriation of the decidedly more metallic Judas Priest sound, with
Pearcy’s scratchy vocals borrowing strongly from Rob Halford’s mid-range, that
gave Ratt their distinctly harder - and more contemporary - edge.
The word ‘contemporary’ may seem incongruous in a review of
what many may think of as an eighties relic, yet in this instance, it is
entirely appropriate; Ratt were not a ‘retro’ band. Whereas the Crue peddled a
naive and more druggy version of English seventies glam, and Guns N Roses
borrowed heavily from even earlier rock, Ratt’s mid-eighties sonics ( thanks to
the chrome-plated production by Beau Hill ) is almost futuristic in
comparison, without losing any kind of punch.
Below: Ratt's classic line-up.
The reasons this album is very rarely cited by aficionados
of metal music are manifold. For one, it was preceded by the band’s own
metal-pop classic Out Of The Cellar, a hugely infectious – but sonically
thinner - rush of pubescent party metal. Many people even now don’t recall
anything by Ratt except their enormous chart hit ‘Round and Round’, a song
which is still paying handsomely for its writers today. Drug and internal band
friction also took their toll, which probably affected musical output,
prompting subsequent albums to be less well-received, although the band were a
strong draw right up to the dawn of the nineties.
Ultimately, Invasion
Of Your Privacy probably needs to be rediscovered, and perhaps their label
Atlantic should have given it a proper dusting-off this year, with the
producer’s supervision, that is. ( It’s difficult to tell if it would have
benefitted from a remastering, the sound is so good anyway ). Compared to the
annoying ‘tantrum metal’ of the nineties and noughties, Ratt’s Invasion will still be considered an LA ‘party’
album...but unlike many of their mid-decade peers, it’s one that didn’t
sacrifice its hard edge for pop chart accessibility.
Further reading: Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll - Pearcy's tell-all autobiography (2014)
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.
A sequel to Ickerman's Turbo Killer music video by synthwave artistCarpenter Brut, 'Blood Machines' is a crowd-sourced phantasmagoria of 80's sci-fi aesthetics and music nostalgia, co-produced by streaming service Shudder
‘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!
''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?
