mellekramer.nl » music

Release date, Artwork and Album Teaser

melle — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:29:21 +0000

Yes, finally we have a date: Point of Infinity is set to be released on 20-09-2010 on Candlelight Records!

Above you can see the artwork for the cover of the album. I can promise you: the rest of the artwork is absolutley breathtaking!

In the meantime, watch the official album teaser via our youtube channel – or below, because that should also work fine.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Interview on Buddhism and Metal on BOS Radio

melle — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:24:04 +0000

The Boeddhistische Omroep (Buddhist Broadcast Foundation) asked me for an interview on Buddhism and Metal and how the two could be combined. Of course I said yes, and the interview will be aired Saturday 16 januari between 15.00 and 16.00. After that it will be available from the archive on the BOS website.

Augustus update (Obsidian)

melle — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:46:34 +0000

Na een geslaagde avond tijdens het NKG 2009 brak de vakantie aan. Voor de meeste mensen betekent dat even helemaal niks doen, of juist heel veel doen, maar vooral niet werken. Voor Obsidian lag dat even anders. Er moest nog behoorlijk wat gebeuren op album gebied maar ja, menselijk als we zijn moest er natuurlijk toch nog wat vakantie tussendoor gevierd worden.

We hebben elkaar dus afgewisseld in het keihard werken en broodnodig niets doen. Vooral Robbe en Simon hebben zich de tandjes gewerkt aan de productie van de nieuwe plaat. We hebben nu een goeie pre-productie mix liggen en we zijn klaar om de volgende stappen te zetten. De vakantierust is over en we gaan er weer keihard tegenaan.

Een concrete releasedatum voor de plaat kunnen we nog niet noemen, dat hangt op dit moment nog van teveel factoren af. Wel staan er inmiddels twee shows in de planning, in de N201 in Aalsmeer en in de Popei in Eindhoven. Tijdens die shows kan je in elk geval een goed verfriste setlist verwachten met de nodige nieuwe nummers.

Check ook:

Shows and updates

melle — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:07:00 +0000

Dosa Jhana rehearsal 1
The first rehearsal with Dosa Jhana was great! We had a good time and also we managed to play through all the songs without a lot of trouble. Of course there where a couple of glitchy things on the road, but we pointed them out and we know aht to do. so, I dare to say that not a lot will be standing in the way of a mega cool performance supporting the almighty Cynic!

Obsidian shows
Next we have some show coming up with Obsidian: one the weekend after the Cynic gig with Dosa Jhana and another one in November in Eindhoven with Model 101 and Misantropicana.

Project 'Psyclus'
Next to this all, I've finally started a project in which I'm trying to create music out of some rhythmic ideas that have been floating in my head for some time. I've been wanting to do this for quit some time, but I hjust never got to it. Now I finally did and I found Sjaak (Obsidian) and Kees (Sphere of Souls) willing to help me out on respectively guitar and bass. Also Ewell (Industrial Passage) and Tobias (Sacrilegious Mind) have been helping me with converting two texts I've written into a soundscape and a synthesizer loop, both of which I will be using in the project.

One of the main goals of the project was to create music in a way that feels natural to me, which means not per se by writing out stuff, what you could call more on a traditional way. I already started to try out some different ways, as you saw by for example writing a text that contains a strong image and having others reflect musical images or patterns of that, or by tossing up a rhythm or a phrase and jamming a song structure out of that.

Anyway, things are looking very good at this moment as we are a pretty good part into the first song. It has a good basic structure and I'm working on the drum parts right now.

As you can see things look good and nice and it's all very inspiring! It seems like there's a whole new phase happening and I enjoy it very much: I've been waiting for stuff to pick up like this and I'm very, very happy that it finally does. Thanks to all my good friends helping out and working with me. Cheers!

Dosa Jhana and supporting Cynic

melle — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:20:27 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I got a call from Steven, a long time friend in music and baseball (yes, that's way back folks!). He has a Buddhist metal project going on and they somehow arranged to be the support act for Cynic as they do a special show in the p60 in Amstelveen on September 6th.

That's of course totally outrageous and cool, both playing with Cynic as being a part of a project that combines both Buddhism and metal It made me remember the article I wrote for Nathan some time ago, about Buddhism and Metal. It seems that these two elements are coming together more and more and is is very cool to be a part of it.

So check out the official Dosa Jhana myspace page to hear what they are up to. I feel terribly honoured and excited about the whole thing and I'm really looking forward to making it happen!!!

Obsidian en ICHAOS op NK Grunten 2009

melle — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:48:14 +0000

[Van de Bazart website:]

"Het NK Grunten is niet compleet zonder brute metalbands. Niet minder dan Obsidian en ICHAOS zullen deze avond optreden. Eveneens als vorig jaar moeten de grunters hun zangkunsten zowel a capella als met een band tonen. Van te voren hebben ze een keuze kunnen maken uit een aantal nummers die ze aan het instuderen zijn. Obsidian zal naast een optreden ook de rol van begeleidingsband op zich nemen. Na de strijd om de begeerde bloedbokaal zal ICHAOS de avond afsluiten met een daverende show.

Obsidian staat voor zware grooves, beukende ritmes en hypnotiserende melodieën met een polyritmische twist: death metal in de breedste zin van het woord. Obsidian speelde reeds in grote Nederlandse zalen zoals de Melkweg en Paradiso in Amsterdam, de Mezz in Breda en de P60 in Amstelveen, onder andere als support voor bands als Textures en Gorefest.

website: www.obsidian.nu

ICHAOS is een viermans death metalband met Harry van Breda op vocalen, Joost van der Graaf op bas, Rory Hansen op gitaar en Koen Herfst op drums. Koen Herfst is ook bekend van Bagga Bownz, Cypher en Xenobia. Brutaliteit en intensiteit vormen het uitgangspunt in de muziek van deze band; vorm en muzikaliteit zijn hierin altijd verweven. Sinds april 2009 laat ICHAOS waar en wanneer maar mogelijk van zich horen om toeschouwers op te warmen voor hun debuutalbum.

website: www.myspace.com/ichaoscommunity

Nk Grunten 2009 wordt gesponsord door Excess Studios, POP en Popunie. De winnaar kan uitkijken naar een microfoon met inscriptie en twee dagen studiotijd in de Excess Studios.
De inschrijvingen zijn nog steeds open! Maar wacht niet te lang, vrijdag 5 juni a.s. is de laatste dag dat je een mail kunt sturen naar nkgrunten@haagspopcentrum.nl. Doe dit onder vermelding van je naam, adres en telefoonnummer en laat Nederland trillen door je megagrunt!"

Gig update

melle — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:44:54 +0000

Check the shows section for added gigs and write them down in your calendar!

And of course, tell all your friends and bring them with you.

And buy a T-shirt.

All of you!

Obsidian Studio Report 1 – Drums

melle — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:12:36 +0000

For your leisure, ladies and gentlemen: the first official studio video report featuring the recording of the drumparts!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Enjoy and let us know what you think!

Studio – Day 5

melle — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 20:50:20 +0000

It's pretty funny that this five days of recording end with me having to wait for the train for 25 minutes in the rain at Rotterdam Noord station. But I do so with a mighty content feeling!

We re-did some tracks (26 and 25 for those who speak Obsidian) which ended up much tighter and more 'in the groove' them the earlier takes, which is really cool!

Today we where joined by Gerben who say this recording session come to a successfull ending. And we celebrated it with a nice Chinese diner and a couple of Black Adder episodes.

It's done (for my part) and for anything, the drums are going to sound killer! Thanks to Hans of the Excess studios for the help and the nice atmosphere to work in.

Stay tuned at the Obsidian website and myspace pages for the official studio video report. And now I'll only have to wait ten more minutes for my train to arrive…

Cheers!
Melle.

Studio – Day 3

melle — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:24:07 +0000

This was a very tough day in the studio's. We started of recording the drums for one of the most merciless tracks of the upcoming album and it really was quite a fight! But, thanks to the ever so kind and loving help of Simon and our USB-gnome Robbe, I managed to pull it of!

After that we had a long break with a short visit to the nearby Feedback Musicstore (just for fun) and we started the recording of another track (nr. 27). That went pretty smooth and we wrapped it up at around half past six and headed for Amsterdam, to enjoy a nice night at home.

Still two tracks to go and that means we have a lot of time to check and recheck everything we did and to re-record some things when we think it's needed. One thing is for sure: it is really really nice to have the luxury of time during recording, no stress at all and all the headspace and room to get into playing, really enjoy it and to relax! Great!

As promised: three little snapshots of the aforementioned personae and a bit of video (all from mobile phone, so do not expect any World Press material ).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Cheers!
Melle.