Striker offers new album Ultrapower with cool rewards

Canadian shredders Striker have already a while ago decided to take their fate into their own hands and to oversee and finance all band activities on their own.

Of course that's only possible due to the constant support the fans of the band have given them over the years. The time has come now for the band to set sails for the upcoming album "Ultrapower". 

The ULTRAPOWER album cover IRL (53.549618, -113.482956) Artwork by @hasr_oner

This time with Josh Schroeder on the helm the guys decided that it was time for a change and expand things a bit. That's why they opened up a Kickstarter campaign to bring in the cash needed to get the new record to life.

By the time I'm typing these lines the goal has already been reached. But besides the reasonable prices it's still a good idea to join the campaign because a lot of cool stretch goals are still waiting to be unlocked, e.g. to have a physical copy with a bonus tracks packed in a special foil cover. So make sure to spread the word around.

Besides that the main question is: how is the music going to evolve? Well, a first teaser has already been given out with a new video single shot and edited by the band themselves.

It's a raunchy styled new track called "Best of the best of the best" that rocks with a mixture of slightly trashing riffs, cool drums, pumping bass guitars and vocals reminding me of classic days where hall effects were much more common in band performances. I think a lot of you will be very happy to hear this again.   

What would Jesus sell?

Also Metal music is often associated with darker parts of life there is in fact a sidearm that has a look upon the christian side of our music. It's called White Metal and I became most aware of it when I went to a show of Narnia.

They opened up for Dio and had this lion as a backdrop. I remember they played "The Awakening" that evening and it talked about the spiritual side and how we start to face it.

Back in present day I nearly forgot about this until this documentation knocked on my door. There are some guys out there that call themselves BadChristian. They want to take a sharp and critical look upon how Christianity is connected with (Metal) music. What is going on behind the curtains of this business? This is what the documentary will be about in my eyes. It will be told from the view of those who have been involved into this business themselves.

The campaign picture of "What would Jesus sell?", (c) by BC Media, used with kind permission

 A quote of the Kickstarter page tells more details about what this documentary aims to be:

"As the music industry has declined over the past few decades, dwindling returns have incentivized the profit-securing practice for Christian artists and labels to project an image that is often contrary their individual values.

Our goal is to craft a documentary that

    Uncovers the truth about dishonest image control
    Explores the profit motives that influence faith-based music
    Redeems the honest aspects of the industry & artists involved"

Matt Carter, CEO of Bad Christian, explains, “I’ve been involved with the Christian music industry for 15 years. There are these huge gulfs between the insiders and the consumers, and between the consumers and the general mainstream  public. This creates so many weird, interesting, and often depressing realities and stories. We are excited to bring some of it out into the light of day.”
 
The documentary is being directed by James Wightman, a long-time filmmaker for Emery and BadChristian. “Internally we’ve been brainstorming and developing this idea and proof of concept for almost two years, and it seems like the perfect story for BadChristian to be able to tell like nobody else can. Everyone involved with this project has at different times, benefitted from, believed in, and been burned by this crazy industry. The whole goal with the documentary is to tell those stories honestly, because it seems that the public is largely unaware of the inner-workings and the nature of it, both good and bad.”

Have a look at the trailer for a better idea of the project.

Currently a Kickstarter is running asking to support them on their mission. Producing quality stuff takes money no question but the team has already started to work on the project out of their own pockets. By now the time has come to go into final production stages so more cash is needed to finish things. In return there's a wide range of rewards. They go for a reasonable price that's compareable to what needs to be paid at local stores.

Chasing Dragons funding upcoming album teaser EP

Leeds, UK based Metal Band Chasing Dragons are currently running a crowdfunding campaign to help getting the cash needed to record a 3-track record, fully produced by Lee Batiuk of Regal House Studios, featuring songs from the debut album "Faction".

The EP entitled "Faction: Prologue" is meant to be a teaser to the band's upcoming first full length record that the Chasing Dragons are working on since some time. Having found a new bass guitar player in the meantime the band decided to give the album the time it needs to be a decent recording. Since the fans are waiting for new material it sounds a good idea in my ears to build a bridge to the debut record with a EP teaser.

Being a independent band the campaign has been set up to raise the money for the whole recording process as well as for creating a video to help promote the release. The goal has already been reached but there's still time to reserve your copy and help the band to get a bigger and better PR & radio campaign and produce more merchandise for their fans.

There are lots of nice goodies available at the Kickstarter page to choose from that many fans may like, amongst them singing along to one of the EP's tracks, a guest appeareance in the music video as well as music teaching lessongs for vocals or drums via Skype or also in-person. You may also go on stage with the band during their set if you decide to choose that reward. The basic download comes along for 3 GBP and the other options are of course a bit more expensive.

September Mourning releases lyric video and expands Kickstarter campaign

The first time I heard about a collaboration between a metal band with the world of comic characters was way back in 1996. Iced Earth released their "The Dark Saga" album, a concept record about the world of Spawn which also was used as a front cover of the album. I liked the record also it was much softer than the very heavy previous effort "Burnt Offerings". The addition of emotions and more variantions in the songs made it interesting for me.

September Mourning makes a different approach. It is not "only" a character in a comic universe but also a woman who performs under the same name and appeareance a combination of dark alternative Hard Rock. The music part of the project has just released their "Children Of Fate" lyric video from their upcoming EP due out this fall.

The character of September Mourning is a human-reaper hybrid, who feels the need to give some human souls a second chance, and thus toys with Fate. The real human artist carries positive passions into her music constantly encouraging their fans to have “the courage to embrace their passion… to allow yourself to follow your heart and not be a slave to your fears. To know that the only boundaries that exist in our lives are the ones we allow.”


Currently a Kickstarter campaign is up and running to help bring September Mourning's story from the stage to the pages of a comic book. An amazing all female team has been assembled to bring the story to life. The first issue has already been written by Mariah McCourt, illustrated by Summeye Kesgin, and conceptualized by Emily Lazar (September Mourning) & Marc Silvestri.

At the time I'm typing these lines the project was able to reach their initial Kickstarter funding goal for the first issue of the September Mourning comic book in under 72 hours! The first stretch goal of $20,000 has been announced.

When the stretch goal is reached, every person receiving a print or digital copy of September Mourning #1 will now also receive a corresponding digital and/or print copy of September Mourning #2 with a new Summeye Kesgin cover. This is a completely separate comic and continues the story of September Mourning. This exclusive cover edition will only be available through Kickstarter.

The #2 issue is not a separate pledge level, it's a stretch goal added to all who receive #1. So you can pledge other levels or spread the word about the campaign to your friends to help push over the $20,000 pledge level. You can make a pledge on September Mourning's Kickstarter page HERE. 
 
A pdf version of the comic is available for 5 Dollar including a free download of the song "Children of Fate". The prices for a  physical copy start at 15 Dollar. Just check the link for more details.

If you'd like to connect with September Mourning make sure to see the Facebook page or have a eye on Twitter or check in at Instagram.

Acrassicauda offering free and early download of first single to Facebook supporters

As I wrote some time ago legendary ex-Iraq Thrash band Acrassicauda is currently raising funds for the recordings of the first album. So far the campaign has already helped the band to get nearly half of the amount they need to reach their goal.

However there is still a good part of the money to be fund in the remaining time of 9 days. In support of the campaign the band has decided to offer the first single of the album entitled "Gigamesh" to everyone who shares the post with the link from their Facebook page for free download once the song if done of course. If that's still not enough you may be happy to read that this gift will be given to the supporters at a very early point, 10 days prior to the official release of the single to be exactly.

If you want to support the band diretly with a pledge you can do so at the Kickstarter campaign page.
The band's new to you? No probelm just check out some songs below from their first EP "Only the dead see the end of the war".
 

Free EPK from ReverbNation.com

Acrassicauda starts Kickstarter campaign for the first full album

Remember the article I posted some time ago about Acrassicauda, the one and only Metal band from Iraq by that time? They struggled for their life but refused to give in or up and always pushed on forward. I think making music helped them along the way.

By now the band found a way to escape the cruel everyday living in Iraq and made a odyssey from Iraq over to Syria. where they even had to struggle with more problems. Finally the band could set over to America where they live now. In the meantime they recorded a first EP with producer Alex Skolnick (guitarist from Testament) entitled "Only the dead see the end of the war" and made a video for "Gardens of stone".

Currently the band has written their first full length record. They are now ready to go for the recordings but are in a similar position like many other artists without a record company. So they decided to use Kickstarter to raise funds for all the production steps needed.

As for the concept of the record the band writes on Kickstarter:

"(...) The new album pays homage to the ancient Mesopotamian civilization using the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient poem written in the Acadian language in the 3rd millennium BC, originally inscribed on 12 tablets in cuneiform script. Delving into themes of exotic journeys, life and death, love, the divine, success and failure, the Epic of Gilgamesh has much in common with the experiences of the band —it is a humble yet honest comparison. The LP is an ode to the modern Iraq, a home from which they are exiled today.(...)"

You can use from a wide variety of pledge levels, raging from 1 Dollar for a download of the actual single over to download options of songs or the full album up to some nice Merch packs that include nice stuff such as posters, shirts, DVDs, personalized rewards, band equipment and more with the album.

Check out the video to find out more about what the band has in mind with the album and head over to Kickstarter if you like to support this outstanding Thrash 'n doom metal band. The band also has a own website so click over to see more detailed info on the band. You can also connect through Facebook to stay in touch with them.