Welcome once again to the Happy Horror mainstay known resoundingly throughout all the dark recesses of our known universe ASTerror Track Tuesday! I wanted to go off the beaten path and bring you another band you might not know of and they’re called A Lower Deep. Why might you not have heard of them? Well, from the statistics we get it appears we don’t have heavy traffic originating from Alabama, the band’s home state. And for two, you may be aware that Clear Channel pretty much owns the radio waves now and they’re not terribly great about promoting metal.
That’s where I come in! I went searching for some music and found myself in a metal kinda mood, so I crawled my way through the tentacles of Google and came across the band’s 2007 offering Black Marys, their fourth studio album. Today I’m covering the song, which is also the title track of the album which bears the same name. It’s over six minutes long in total and you’ll find the video at the end of the article, so make sure to check it out because after all if it’s on YouTube you KNOW it’s good, right?
"Black Marys" is actually a phrase taken from a series of books named The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone by Greg Keyes. In the books they refer to Black Marys when they mean terrible nightmares that are so horrific they scar the dreamer or even waking moments that transcend into, well, a black and hellish nightmare. The band intends to refer to these same events be they physical, emotional or otherwise and when you watch the video you might get the impression that I did that it’s pertaining particularly to addiction related realities where peoples lives pretty much turn into living nightmares.
The video’s imagery is very compelling and surprisingly well-crafted for an unknown band. The imagery shifts between the band performing and a backdrop of surrealistic images that feature its lead singer, Billy Mullican, suffering at the hands of his own Black Mary. Though it reminds me of other videos along similar lines, A Lower Deep definitely have their own flavor of metal to offer and it doesn’t come off cheesy or contrived.
The most inspiring point is that these guys have worked their asses off to get where they’re at. After over a decade of struggling with other lesser-dedicated musicians and bands, they came together and got to work, introducing their debut recording in 2002. Since then they’ve dedicated themselves to keeping their downloads out there and touring through the Southeastern states. They’ll be playing at the Kansas City Power Metal Festival in August of this year (2008) so if you’re in that neck of our woods I think you’ll find they’re gonna offer a terrific performance.
They’ve been described as melodic thrash and I agree with that assessment. In the video you’ve got a lot of variety from Mullican’s brooding vocals right on up to a guitar solo that will keep you quite entertained if you’re into those and really, who isn’t? I admire these guys for sticking to their art and keeping it out there for fans. Metal’s quite a bit more popular than it may seem from time to time, because despite the prevalence of hiphop and emo (both of which I enjoy, for the record), metal consistently meets the number one goal of all music genres: it sells records.
So take a look at A Lower Deep and see if these guys don’t pique your interest. If you’d like to visit the band’s well-built website head on over to A Lower Deep’s Official site or you can friend them on MySpace right here. We also invite you to discuss them and any other band you feel like in our horror forums!
Until next time, this has been GlowStormLion, threatening to blacken your mary if you don’t watch that mouf!
Welcome, once again, to the dark evil ritual of sonic madness known as Terror Track Tuesday! Now, I know in the past I’ve been touting older songs and bands, but I’m looking to change that. If you know of any upcoming releases I oughta stick my ears towards, be sure to leave a comment here or in the forums and I’ll give ‘em a spin.
This time we’ve got a hot one! It’s supposed to hit the airwaves today, July 1st, 2008. I managed to scour the tube sites and find a version to show here so I’m doing that. It’s Slipknot’s latest single, Psychosocial and they promise it’ll rip your face off. Then again, what metal band doesn’t promise that with pretty much every single they release, right? However, I’ve given it a listen and it looks like Slipknot might finally be back in the saddle. After Rick Rubin gave them a sour experience in 2004 with Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses) I never truly felt they recaptured the momentum of their first couple albums which I was a big fan of. Not quite willing to take on the title of ‘maggot’ for myself, but a fan.
If you enjoyed their big hit, ‘Wait and Bleed’ then I believe you’ll find a whole lot to enjoy with this new one, ‘Psychosocial’. It’s off the album All Hope is Gone and the band’s taken their time to craft a damn fine album if this single’s any indication. They’re leaning more towards experimentation and innovation in the thrash metal genre, but it’s nothing so far out as to be irritating. In fact we’ve got that dead-on blend of hardcore metal with quality chorus vocals that I think brings things to a new level. It’s a good deal more accessible than some of their other tracks which I’ve scared the living crap out of people with. I don’t know how a band can really sound that "scary" but I’ve played their stuff for friends and been told it was "too much" and "too evil". Obviously, none of these people delved into death metal too much or they’d know Slipknot’s not the most evil out there, but to each their own.
Now, here’s a few things I’m not sure how to feel about. For one, the band’s working with AOL (American Online) to reveal their new masks. I’m all for new masks but… AOL? Could AOL really have that many metal fans? Maybe I’m behind the times or something but I just don’t see AOL as terribly relevant when it comes to serious musical releases. That and this track was played each hour at Hot Topic. Now I’ve got nothing against that mall chain, but I know alot of ‘hardcore’ music fans just hate the hell out of Hot Topic and the "poser mallcore" crowd. I’m wondering how this marketing move will wind up affecting sales.
Now you can pre-order All Hope is Gone (and I intend to) on Amazon right here which is where I get my albums from. They’re also touring right now with the Mayhem Festival, put on by Rockstar (energy drinks, not the game company). They’re the headliners, matter of fact – that’s a festival I can’t say I’d mind seeing! The album’s going to drop on August 26, 2008 so be sure to check here in case I get lucky and wind up reviewing it. Below you’ll find a YouTube video where you can hear the whole song, also!
So, until next time this has been GlowStormLion doing his best to corrupt those of you with even an ounce of purity left in your dark fluffy hearts.
As a kid, "heavy metal music" was strongly forbidden in our household. Growing up, the only real exposure I had to it ended up being whatever the cool neighborkids blared from their cars in the summer. See, my parents had seen this little video called Hell’s Bells with some of their religious friends and firmly believed all loud music to be unquestionably Satanic. Obviously, I too lived in terror of becoming possessed if I listened to it. It wouldn’t be until my senior year of high school, during my brief stint in a religious school, that I’d see the video for myself and realize what a crock it truly was. Pretty hilarious stuff now that I’m old enough to know better.
This time when I saw the Hell’s Bells video, though, it made me seriously admire this guy Ozzy Osbourne that they kept mentioning. Brief bits of music were played and I got hooked. The video had the reverse effect on me, oddly enough. That day after school I went online, loaded up Napster and grabbed every Ozzy song I could find. Of course, during the whole RIAA panic I deleted my vast collection, but I do intend to re-buy the track once I have a proper iPod. This song, Mr. Crowley, was one of the ones I loved the most. So if you’d care to grab the mp3 for yourself, Amazon has it. That link leads to the album version and let me tell you, Blizzard of Ozz (the album the song comes from) got a kickass cover!
Looky:
Pictured: Ozzy in a cape, crosses, skulls, what more could you ask for from the Prince of Effin’ Darkness?
Now, a little forewarning. The song’s from the 80’s, in case that’d bother you. It’s got a terribly rad guitar solo that got hammered out by an angry Randy Rhoads after Ozzy told him the first guitar solo he’d come up with wasn’t good enough. This one turned out so awesome that Guitar World Magazine ranked it #28 in their list of top 100 guitar solos. It’s been covered by Cradle of Filth, Moonspell and even The Cardigans – if you can believe that. It even makes a brief appearance in the game Guilty Gear XX – as part of her win pose, the character I-No performs a brief bit of the solo from Mr. Crowley.
As to what the song’s about, well, it’s intentionally cryptic. Obviously it’s referencing one Mr. Aleister Crowley, a famous British occultist from the early 1900’s who’s been called the "Wickedest Man in the World." However, Ozzy pronounces the man’s name incorrectly, it should rhyme with "crow", like the bird not sound similar to "plow". Betcha didn’t know that!
So, there’s all sorts of interesting lore for this tune and that’s why I thought it’d make a good Terror Track. Here’s a fan made video if you feel like taking a peek, courtesy of our friends on YouTube:
If the creepy pipe organs at the beginning don’t win you over, then Ozzy’s soaring vocals and that undeniably awesome guitar solo shall!
Tune in next Tuesday to see what I’ll be diggin’ up! Until next time, I’m GlowStormLion, pretending that I’m a lot younger than I probably really am by listening to My Chemical Romance and Death Cab for Cutie.
I’m proud to introduce a brand new weekly feature to Happy Horror: Terror Track Tuesday! Each week I’ll be bringing a new legal mp3 that you can download, as well as linking to the single and album from whenst it came. I’ve waited a long time to be able to cover music on our site, so I’m quite stoked about this.
What will we cover? Songs from horror movie soundtracks, for one. We’ll also include darker music from all kinds of other genres such as rock, metal, industrial and certain strains of hip hop. My goal is to expose you guys to some different sounds out there while at the same time satisfying my own craving for horror themed and inspired tunes! Here’s hoping you end up finding music you can dig on. Without further babbling from me, let’s hit the first track.
I chose Living Dead Girl by Rob Zombie to consecrate this new weekly feature. Quite simply it screams horror to me. For one it was in Bride of Chucky (click HERE for my review) and for another, it references plenty of other horror movies in its lyrics. If you enjoy heavier music, this one might be right up your alley. I’ve enjoyed the song for years since it first hit the radio in 1998 and I got to see it performed LIVE, as well. It’s a hell of a grinder and just look at that CD cover, wouldja? Oh, by the way, that’s Sheri Moon Zombie, Rob’s wife there in the bikini.
So that’s it for this week. Tune in next Tuesday and see what I’ll be bringing. Hazard a guess by leaving a comment if you’d like. If you make a good suggestion I may just take it, so be forewarned!
which is where I get my albums from. They’re also touring right now with the 
