Tales From The Grave In Space
Encyclopedia
Tales from the Grave in Space is the third studio album by Irish thrash metal band Gama Bomb
, and one of the first albums ever to be released as a free download by a signed band. In a partnership between the band and record label Earache Records
, the album was available for free download from 5 November 2009, hosted by RapidShare
. The album was physically released on January 25th in the UK and Europe and the US on March 8th.
. He took inspiration from classic pulp and sci-fi artists like Virgil Finlay
, and the themes of 1950s horror comics like Tales from the Crypt. It was then designed into an album cover by Rory McGuigan, who styled it after a Hammer Horror movie poster.
The cover's concept was created by frontman Philly Byrne, based on the Lost Cosmonauts conspiracy theory. The cover of the album shows a skeletal cosmonaut, attached by living tentacles to a vast, abstract piece of masonry – the titular Grave – in space. Byrne described the artwork as a "sort of Doctor Who
-meets-Arthur C. Clarke
' thing [about] an alien object that absorbs whatever it encounters."
The album's inlay was designed by Rory McGuigan, imitating the pre-Comics Code Authority
horror and fantasy comics of the 1950s.
Tales from the Grave in Space is dedicated to the memory of late Evile
bassist Mike Alexander.
, in one of the first official deals between a band and the one-click hosting website. Radiohead
used a similar release method on their seventh studio album, In Rainbows
, which was released through the band's own website on 10 October 2007 as a digital download for which customers could make whatever payment that they wished, including nothing. Significantly, Gama Bomb had the backing of Earache Records to release the record via RapidShare, a site often considered to be a threat to the music industry as it allows users to anonymously upload files for download.
Gama Bomb frontman Philly Byrne, a self-proclaimed fan of file sharing
, said, "We're giving the album away for free as a natural progression. It's an open-handed gesture that reflects the room the download revolution has created in the music business [...] taking away the many restrictions of a physical-only traditional release opens us up to a new and wider audience. More people will hear the music and enjoy it and talk about it, and if that leads to them helping us out by buying a t-shirt or coming to a show, so be it."
In an apparent vindication of this decision, bassist Joe McGuigan has said that despite it already being given away for free online, the physical copy of the album actually sold more than copies than the band's previous album Citizen Brain.
magazine awarding it four Ks and Metal Hammer
magazine giving it a rating of 7/10. Due to the novel nature of the album's release, advance review copies were not made available to journalists.
, D.A.R.Y.L, video game The Last Ninja
and Don't Look Now
among many others. Album track We Respect You alone features mentions of High Spirits
, Steve Guttenberg
, singer Tane McClure
and actors Michael Biehn
, Michael J. Fox
, Ronny Cox
, Christopher Lee
, Kurt Russell
, Gary Busey
, Christopher Walken
, Christopher Lloyd
, Peter Falk
, Jean Claude Van Damme and Bill Paxton
as well as directors John Hughes, John Carpenter
and Bruno Mattei
.
Half Cut, an Irish slang term meaning 'drunk'. The five track EP features material recorded during and after the Tales From The Grave In Space sessions, was produced by Scott Atkins and engineered by Morgan Dunne.
Gama Bomb
-Beginnings: 2002-2005:Gama Bomb formed in Newry 2002 and soon built up a loyal following in their native Ireland and the UK, which they consolidated with a rigorous touring schedule and frequent forays into self-released recording. The band first gained attention with their demo The Survival...
, and one of the first albums ever to be released as a free download by a signed band. In a partnership between the band and record label Earache Records
Earache Records
Earache Records is a heavy metal-oriented record label based in Nottingham, UK and New York, USA. It helped to pioneer extreme metal by releasing many of the earliest grindcore and death metal records in the period 1988-1994.-History:...
, the album was available for free download from 5 November 2009, hosted by RapidShare
RapidShare
RapidShare is a one-click hosting service that offers both free and commercial services. Operating from Switzerland, it is financed by the subscriptions of paying users...
. The album was physically released on January 25th in the UK and Europe and the US on March 8th.
Artwork
The album cover was created by Jeff Jordan, known for his work with The Mars VoltaThe Mars Volta
The Mars Volta is a Grammy award winning American progressive rock band from El Paso, Texas. Founded in 2001 by guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López and vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, the band incorporates various influences including progressive rock, krautrock, jazz fusion, Latin American music, and...
. He took inspiration from classic pulp and sci-fi artists like Virgil Finlay
Virgil Finlay
Virgil Finlay was an American pulp fantasy, science fiction and horror illustrator. While he worked in a range of media, from gouache to oils, Finlay specialized in, and became famous for, detailed pen-and-ink drawings accomplished with abundant stippling, cross-hatching, and scratchboard techniques...
, and the themes of 1950s horror comics like Tales from the Crypt. It was then designed into an album cover by Rory McGuigan, who styled it after a Hammer Horror movie poster.
The cover's concept was created by frontman Philly Byrne, based on the Lost Cosmonauts conspiracy theory. The cover of the album shows a skeletal cosmonaut, attached by living tentacles to a vast, abstract piece of masonry – the titular Grave – in space. Byrne described the artwork as a "sort of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
-meets-Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
' thing [about] an alien object that absorbs whatever it encounters."
The album's inlay was designed by Rory McGuigan, imitating the pre-Comics Code Authority
Comics Code Authority
The Comics Code Authority was a body created as part of the Comics Magazine Association of America, as a tool for the comics-publishing industry to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. Member publishers submitted comic books to the CCA, which screened them for adherence to...
horror and fantasy comics of the 1950s.
Tales from the Grave in Space is dedicated to the memory of late Evile
Evile
Evile is a thrash metal band from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. Their debut album, Enter the Grave, was produced by Flemming Rasmussen at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark and was released worldwide in 2007 by Earache Records to critical acclaim by fans and critics...
bassist Mike Alexander.
Promotion
Gama Bomb released Tales from the Grave in Space as a free download available from Earache Records website on 5 November 2009, hosted by RapidShareRapidShare
RapidShare is a one-click hosting service that offers both free and commercial services. Operating from Switzerland, it is financed by the subscriptions of paying users...
, in one of the first official deals between a band and the one-click hosting website. Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
used a similar release method on their seventh studio album, In Rainbows
In Rainbows
In Rainbows is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was first released on 10 October 2007 as a digital download self-released, that customers could order for whatever price they saw fit, followed by a standard CD release in most countries during the last week of 2007. The...
, which was released through the band's own website on 10 October 2007 as a digital download for which customers could make whatever payment that they wished, including nothing. Significantly, Gama Bomb had the backing of Earache Records to release the record via RapidShare, a site often considered to be a threat to the music industry as it allows users to anonymously upload files for download.
Gama Bomb frontman Philly Byrne, a self-proclaimed fan of file sharing
File sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multimedia , documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented through a variety of ways...
, said, "We're giving the album away for free as a natural progression. It's an open-handed gesture that reflects the room the download revolution has created in the music business [...] taking away the many restrictions of a physical-only traditional release opens us up to a new and wider audience. More people will hear the music and enjoy it and talk about it, and if that leads to them helping us out by buying a t-shirt or coming to a show, so be it."
In an apparent vindication of this decision, bassist Joe McGuigan has said that despite it already being given away for free online, the physical copy of the album actually sold more than copies than the band's previous album Citizen Brain.
Reception
Tales from the Grave in Space was well-received by critics and fans like, with Kerrang!Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
magazine awarding it four Ks and Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer is a monthly heavy metal music magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing, and in several other countries by different publishers. Metal Hammer articles feature both mainstream bands and more unusual acts from the whole spectrum of heavy metal music...
magazine giving it a rating of 7/10. Due to the novel nature of the album's release, advance review copies were not made available to journalists.
Pop culture references
Tales from the Grave in Space's lyrics and lead guitar work reference Withnail & I, the Amok Time battle music from Star TrekStar Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
, D.A.R.Y.L, video game The Last Ninja
The Last Ninja
The Last Ninja is an action-adventure game developed and published by System 3 in 1987 for the Commodore 64. As the first in the Last Ninja series, it set the standard for the unique look and feel for its sequels: Last Ninja 2 , Last Ninja Remix and Last Ninja 3...
and Don't Look Now
Don't Look Now
Don't Look Now is a 1973 thriller film directed by Nicolas Roeg. Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland star as a married couple whose lives become complicated after meeting two elderly sisters in Venice, one of whom claims to be clairvoyant and informs them that their recently deceased daughter is...
among many others. Album track We Respect You alone features mentions of High Spirits
High Spirits
High Spirits may refer to:* High Spirits , a Broadway production based on the Noel Coward play Blithe Spirit* High Spirits , a comedy starring Peter O'Toole* High Spirits , a book by Robertson Davies...
, Steve Guttenberg
Steve Guttenberg
Steven Robert "Steve" Guttenberg is an American actor and comedian. He became well known during the 1980s, after a series of starring roles in major Hollywood films, including Cocoon, Three Men and a Baby, Police Academy, and Short Circuit.-Early life:Guttenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, the...
, singer Tane McClure
Tane McClure
Tané McClure is an American singer, actress and film producer.McClure was born in Los Angeles County, California and raised in Hawaii. She is the daughter of actor Doug McClure. She sang in a Latin jazz band, Sweet Honesty, in the mid-1970s, and moved to San Francisco towards the end of the decade...
and actors Michael Biehn
Michael Biehn
Michael Connell Biehn is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in James Cameron's science fiction action films The Terminator as Kyle Reese, Aliens as Cpl. Dwayne Hicks, and The Abyss as Lt. Coffey. He has also acted in such films as Tombstone, The Rock, and Planet Terror...
, Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
, Ronny Cox
Ronny Cox
Daniel Ronald "Ronny" Cox is an American character actor, singer-songwriter and guitarist.-Personal life:Cox, the third of five children, was born in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, the son of Lounette and Bob P. Cox, a carpenter who also worked at a dairy. He grew up in Portales, New Mexico...
, Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
, Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
, Gary Busey
Gary Busey
William Gary Busey , best known as Gary Busey, is an American film and stage actor and artist. He has appeared in a large variety of films, as well as making regular appearances on Gunsmoke, Walker, Texas Ranger, Law & Order, and Entourage...
, Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...
, Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Allen Lloyd is an American actor. He is best known for playing Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy, Uncle Fester in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values, and Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He played Reverend Jim Ignatowski in the television series Taxi and more...
, Peter Falk
Peter Falk
Peter Michael Falk was an American actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the television series Columbo...
, Jean Claude Van Damme and Bill Paxton
Bill Paxton
William "Bill" Paxton is an American actor and film director. He gained popularity after starring roles in the films Apollo 13, Twister, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic...
as well as directors John Hughes, John Carpenter
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
and Bruno Mattei
Bruno Mattei
Bruno Mattei was an Italian film director, screenwriter and editor who gained a cult following for a wide variety of exploitation films that covered many genres, ranging from women in prison to zombie films...
.
Half Cut
On the album's physical release in January 2010 a limited edition double CD version featured the bonus EPExtended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Half Cut, an Irish slang term meaning 'drunk'. The five track EP features material recorded during and after the Tales From The Grave In Space sessions, was produced by Scott Atkins and engineered by Morgan Dunne.