A Sound of Thunder Reveals New Album and Direction

A Sound of Thunder, known to date for an eclectic brand of traditional metal, shocked fans today by announcing that the band's third album TIME'S ARROW has been indefinitely shelved.

According to frontwoman Nina Osegueda, the band has finished recording a new album entitled ADAM'S BANANA showcasing the band's new gothic, symphonic and operatic direction.  Although the reasons for the change in direction have not been fully disclosed, Osegueda hinted at a deep artistic shift: "My soul is an endless well of pain, sorrow, yearning, and love.  Also this shit sells."

A new visual style is also evident in the cover of ADAM'S BANANA, also released today.  "We want people to know that this isn't just about me," said Osegueda, referring to the prominent presence of guitarist John Swartz, drummer Chris, and bassist on the album cover.  "I'm really proud to have those people on my cover with me."

But despite the more sorrowful and delicate approach, fans can still expect a cutting edge sound and top production value on ADAM'S BANANA.  "I'm really excited about the drums on this album," said drummer Chris Haren.  "I can't wait to hear them.  I've been told they used some killer samples."

ADAM'S BANANA tracklisting:

1 - Of Tears and Feelings
2- Dream of Me (Midnight Dew)
3- Mourning Shame
4- Hard Linen (Laundry Day)
5- The Pouting
6- Sweeping to Nowhere
7- Hard as Gold
8- Breathless (Corset of Steel)
9- Lilly White (Into the Niche)

ADAM'S BANANA is releasing June 4 (North America) and June 3 (worldwide) on White Corset Records.  The album will be available in a standard CD edition, limited two disc edition with bonus disc featuring 6 songs that sound just like the others, and a limited collectors' 12" vinyl release featuring tear-colored vinyl in a lace sleeve.

Kickstarter Campaign Ahead!

And now for a serious note from the band: We've had an amazing launch and reaction to OUT OF THE DARKNESS and it's all thanks to you! We made an investment and put in the effort to bring the production upto top-quality modern standards with this album, and you have approved! THANK YOU! We will continue to tour and promote OUT OF THE DARKNESS this year, but we can't rest creatively and as many of you know... we have already started recording the next album!

We're working with producer Kevin "131" Gutierrez at Assembly Line Studios again, and promise you the same top-quality production with what we believe is even stronger material. Yesterday, Jesse completed his first bass session. We have now completed drums on 6 songs, rhythm guitar on 4 songs, and bass on 3 songs. As previously announced we've lined up a guest vocal by ex-Iron Maiden vocalist Blaze Bayley in a duet with Nina! We've also got at least one other exciting top-secret guest appearance locked in! We've started to pour the foundation for a great album, but we've got a lot of studio work left to do!

Even with all this great momentum, we've got to put work on the album on hold while we try to raise funds. OUT OF THE DARKNESS cost approximately $20,000 to produce, and the new album will cost the same. We haven't gotten our first sales report from Nightmare Records yet, and even though we know OUT OF THE DARKNESS sold well, in this age of illegal downloading we know that record sales won't even cover 50% of the production cost. We've had incredible support from Nightmare Records, but A SOUND OF THUNDER remains self-financed by the band members, and to be frank, there is a chance we won't be able to complete recording the new album without your help. Therefore, we're announcing that we'll be starting a Kickstarter campaign in the next few days. We won't be asking for charity, though. Every package will offer something of value, ranging from a simple pre-order of the CD (due early spring 2013), limited items offered only to our Kickstarter supporters, all the way up to opportunities to perform on the album, perform live with the band, appear in our music videos, and other once-in-a-lifetime fan experiences!

Keep watching this space for a link to our Kickstarter campaign...check out all the cool items and experiences that are available, and spread the word! With your support we'll make this album and take on the world together!

Best Night EVER!!

We at the Thunder would like to thank everyone who made it to our show last night at Empire. It was seriously the best show we've ever done, not just because it was at such a great venue with great support and staff (seriously...) but because of the people there. What a great crowd!! You all made it worth the sweat and many many tears it took to get to the point we're at right now.

We also hit a milestone, today. That milestone is our 2k Facebook fan reach. THANKS SO MUCH TO ALL OUR NEW FANS! It was just a week ago we were talking about how cool it would be to hit 1,500... and now we're at 2k! We promised to do something special if we hit 2k fans, so we've decided to do just that.

We're releasing the track list of our new album!!http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
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We're already working on the new album, ladies and gentlemen. Next week we're going in for drums, and we'll be tracking drums until June. Exciting, yes?? We hope you have time to enjoy Out of the Darkness before this next one is released! (Which, achem, you can still purchase from Amazon and our label, Nightmare Records!)

And now... without further ado... the track list for album #3!!

Album 3: Untitled
Release Date: Unknown

1) Goth Prom
2) The Blood Vomit Polka - guest vocals by Weird Al Yankovic
3) Boromir's Vengeance
4) My Disease - guest vocals by Blaze Bayley
5) Suck It (Because You Like It You Dirty Filthy Whore Man)
6) Ascension of the Azure Unicorn
7) The Sorrows of Sadness
8) Discovery II (The Final Frontier)
9) Heeding the Glorious Quest of Templar Steel
10) Taco Diver

Out of the Darkness Announcements!!

Thanks for sticking around so long, Thunder fans! We finally have a press release to share with you, as well as a CD release show date, tour dates, and more!

Keep reading for all the info!

From Metal Underground

Less than a year after self-releasing the band's first album, "Metal Renaissance," A Sound of Thunder will now release a second full-length album, "Out of the Darkness," on March 27th, 2012. The 10 track album is being released through U.S. independent label Nightmare Records. The band's publicist issued the following press release:

"Relatively new faces in the metal world, A Sound of Thunder is fronted by powerful lead vocalist Nina Osegueda. Lead guitarist Josh Schwartz and drummer Chris Haren founded A Sound of Thunder in 2008. Nina joined in 2009, and was followed by bass and keyboard player, Jesse Keen, in 2010. In less than two years, A Sound of Thunder recorded and released an EP, a charity single benefiting the West Memphis Three, and a full length self-produced album. They have performed throughout the US, and opened for such high profile bands as Accept, Sabaton, Firewind, Primal Fear and Doro.

"Assembly Line Studio's multi-platinum award winning engineer and producer Kevin "131" Gutierrez (Shinedown, While Heaven Wept, Deceased) produced the album, providing a crisp, heavy, modern sound for the classic metal compositions. The 10 track album plays like a love letter to all that is metal, encompassing traditional heavy metal, modern power metal, prog and classic rock, with timeless songs that could have been written in 1971, 1991 or 2011.

"The songs for Out of the Darkness were written and arranged by Josh Schwartz and the rest of A Sound of Thunder, with lyrics written by Nina Osegueda and Chris Haren. Legendary Raven front-man John Gallagher also appears, performing a duet with Nina on the title track Out of the Darkness."







"John Gallagher was so awesome to work with," says Nina Osegueda of her experience with the legendary metal front man. "I learned a lot from him in the short time we were in the studio together, and I really respect his skills and experience which shine through on this track."

A Sound of Thunder will embark on a tour to support Out of the Darkness in the spring. Confirmed tour dates are below, with more to be confirmed soon:

March 31 - West Springfield, VA - Empire (formerly Jaxx) (Release Party)
April 14 - Frederick, MD - Krug's Place
May 14 - Des Moines, IA - Vaudeville Mews
May 15 - St. Paul, MN - Station 4 (with Sabaton)
May 18 - Joliet, IL - Mojoe's (Ragnarokkr Metal Apocalypse)
May 19 - Nashville, TN - TBD
May 21 - West Springfield, VA - Empire (formerly Jaxx) (with Sabaton)

The album's track listing is as follows:

01. The Day I Die (8:31)
02. The Night Witch (5:37)
03. Kill That Bitch (3:56)
04. Murderous Horde (5:56)
05. A Sound of Thunder (4:46)
06. Out of the Darkness (4:24)
07. Calat Alhambra (8:18)
08. Fight Until the End (6:29)
09. This Too Shall Pass (5:08)
10. Discovery (8:36)







Tickets for the album release party at Empire on March 31 are on sale now!

(For multiple tickets, please add the full name of everyone in the "notes" section so that your names will be added to the guest list in case you lose your ticket!)

International fans can pre-order the album via Nuclear Blast.
Click here to get your copy!

Summer 2011

Wow, sorry it's been such a while since we updated this! Things have been very busy, with the Thunder..

Last week, we recorded a song for our new album. We recorded with the magnificent Kevin Gutierrez, over at Assembly Line. We totally recommend them; very professional, and we think you'll agree that the product turned out great! ..when it's out, that is! We're not sure when we'll have the next album finished, but we'll be sure to give you updates. This will be the 1st CD we've come out with that has been recorded digitally (with a producer, no less!), and we're really looking forward to it's release.

Recording will continue throughout the summer, which is why we've got so few live dates.

Tomorrow, we're playing at the Bourbon Street Ballroom. We'll be going on at 10:00PM, and next door, Celldweller, and our friends, Machines of Living Death will be playing as well. So come check us all out, and we'll be sure to give you a good time! Nina has even promised hugs to all of ASoT's Facebook fans.


In June, we'll be rocking out with Loudness. They're on a US tour, and we're directly supporting them at Jaxx! Doors open at 7:00 PM, but we'll be on around 10. There are 4 openers; The Maiden Project, Dirty Passion, War Machine, and Seelow Heights. This is actually gonna be a pretty big tour for Loudness, who's entire band is made up of their original members, with the exception of Munetaka Higuchi, their drummer, who passed away in 2008. Their line-up is now: Minoru Niihara on vocals, Akira Takasaki on guitar, Masayoshi Yamashita on bass, and Masayuki Suzuki on drums. If you can't make the show in Springfield on June 3rd (which will make us sad), check out their other dates! Again, pretty big tour, and very impressive!



In July, we continue writing, recording and practicing. Then, we'll be taking a trip to Chicago for a pretty big show! Dame-Nation is another female fronted metal festival, much like Flight of the Valkyries. Dame-Nation, however, is in Chicago, so this will be the farthest we'll have travelled for a show to date! Dame-Nation is currently getting some pretty big press, as you can see from this article in MetalSucks.net: HELL HATH NO FURY: DAME-NATION FEST VS. THE HOTTEST CHICKS IN HARD ROCK TOUR. We're pretty darned excited to be taking part in a show so far out of the DC area, and we hope the Chicago folks will enjoy us. Plus! We will be sharing some of our merchandise space with a good friend of ours, Jason Pike. Jason is a local artist who runs Lad Named Felix. He makes a lot of the goggles and jewelry you see Nina wearing on stage. He'll be selling some of his wares at the show, so if you're a fan of gorgeous jewelry, make sure to stop on by! And buy a CD, while you're at it!



Waaaay off in the distance, we're also booked to play with the Project Independent 2011 tour. We played this show in 2010, in Richmond. This year, we'll be at Jaxx again, as direct support for their headliner, Aghori. Metal Sanaz will be hosting, and we're looking forward to a good night of kick ass metal! Here's the tour schedule!



As always, thanks for sticking around with us! We hope you're enjoying Metal Renaissance, and we look forward to bombarding your ears again, soon!

Workin' hard!

Well, this blog has been dead for a while, so it's time for a little update!

We updated the news on our website, but there hasn't been a lot of insight as to what's been going on with the band's innards for a while. Currently, we're working on getting that $%&*ing album out for you folks, which isn't as easy as it looks! Everything is recorded, mastered, and ready to go.. but the art work is still being completed, so once that's done, BAM! PRINT! CUT! DONE! And the album will be in your hot little hands.

Meanwhile, we've already begun working on a layout for album numero dos! While Nina still wants to name it "The Dragon Album", the name is up in the air. We've already recorded 1 song at another studio, and we may be sticking with it for the 2nd album. We really enjoyed the amount of control that digitally recording offered, despite how much we love the old-school sound of analog sound. We've got 3 more songs nearly finished, as far as writing and arranging goes, so get ready for something stronger, harder, faster, more intense. It's gonna be a good ride!

In 2011 we're going to be doing a little less gigging, a little more recording. Our first year together, we played out a lot, which was fun, but gave us little room to write. This year will be different, so while you might be seeing less of us on the road, you'll be seeing more of us in the studio. Our live show will only improve, and we're looking forward to improving our staging and performance in front of our beautiful fans! We've created a new intro for you, we're utilizing keyboards now, and come 2011, we'll have even more surprises in store, so make sure you get ready for some epic performances because our 2nd year together is gonna be nothing but an improvement from the first!

FoTV is a HIT!

Oh man, Flight of the Valkyries East was AMAZING. Seriously amazing! I was so impressed by all of the people who performed, and all of the people who came to support them. It started off a bit slow, but it totally picked up once the sun went down! I was proud to be a part of such a great night.

Here's a list of all the bands who performed. They were magnificent, and you should really give each and every one of them a listen!


Black Widow USA (traditional heavy metal from Baltimore, MD)
http://www.blackwidowmetal.com/

Operatika (symphonic power metal from New Jersey, USA)
http://www.operatika.com/

River Runs Scarlet (melodic metalcore from Pittsburgh, PA)
http://www.riverrunsscarlet.com/

A Sound of Thunder (traditional metal with power metal influences from Washington, DC)
http://www.asoundofthunderband.com/

[geist] (j-rock and death metal blended in Baltimore, MD)
http://www.myspace.com/geistband

Suhgarim (heavy metal with soul from Columbia, SC)
http://www.suhgarim.net/

Dying Design (industrial gothic metal from Baltimore, MD)
http://www.myspace.com/dyingdesign

Cassandra Syndrome (gothic symphonic metal from Frederick, MD)
http://www.cassandrasyndrome.com/