The next album happens THIS YEAR
Hey there,
it’s your industrial music buddy, B.D.
I want to let you know, on behalf of elitefitrea, that:
IT’S HAPPENING
This year, we are finally recording our long-awaited follow-up album, starting this February. That’s only ten days away.
In support of this, we are launching an Indiegogo campaign, Starting today. Right NOW.
We have a goal of raising $20,000 to produce the fullest expression of what will become our MEGA-OPUS: a 23-track industrial opera, featuring our own Doom-instrument, inspired by Mick Gordon’s work on Doom and Doom Eternal, and containing over 2 hours of epic, soul-searching industrial music the likes of which you have never heard.
The album will be completed this year, hell or high water.
Here’s a quick run-down on the campaign:
The Perks
I’ve also created some very collectible perks for this campaign that you may be interested in:
collectible card
at the $4 level, I’m printing 4x6 inch “prayer” cards, with the elitefitrea logo in labyrinth or classic versions. This is a very low-entry point to support the album and share a piece of its creation.
digital Downloads
$10 and $30 contribution levels entitle you to copies of the album in both low and high def, respectively. This amounts to buying the album in advance.
Collectible Cards
custom VIP Bundle
At the $100 Level, you will get a VIP bundle severus branding elements. Instead of white ink, Cardinal Red will be used. VIP Bundles contain:
2 t-shirts
2 CDs
1 poster
1 Pop Socket
Custom Guitar Pedals
At a $500 contribution level, I will build you either an ABC/B selector switch guitar pedal (a design I invented), or I will make you a custom Fuzz pedal. They will be branded with a “CRŸNJ” logo. CRŸNJ, short for “cringe,” is my nascent guitar pedal line.
one creative decision
At the $1,000 level I will give you one creative decision on the album. I will retain veto power in which case you will get to make a different decision. Your name will also appear as a producer credit on the album.
a doom instrument channel
At a $3,000 contribution level, you will get all of the other perks, plus one of the channels from the Reaper, the very same units that were used on the album.
There are four channels:
Channel 1: Boss Power Stack -> Ibanez Mini Tube Screamer -> Death by Audio Evil Filter -> JHS Pastrami multi-fuzz
Channel 2: Electro Harmonix Memory Toy -> Fuxx Fuzz -> Rainger minibar liquid analizer -> Earthquaker devices Transmisser Reverb
Channel 3: ProCo Rat -> Rainger Gated Reverb -> MXR Univibe
Channel 4: Bastl/Casper Dark Matter -> Moog DFAM
Become an archangel
the $5,000 contribution level Includes almost every other perk, and immortalizes your role in both the creation of the album, as well as into the mythos of the the band itself, by having your likeness commemorated in angelic form, depicted as slaying a demon of your choice, with a weapon of your choice.
This image will also become part of the album art.
Lastly, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all your support over the years. I hope you’ll check out the campaign and help make this album a reality!
Best to you all,
Black Diamond
Frontman
ｅｌｉｔｅｆｉｔｒｅａ
Black Diamond
Hello readers, my artist name is Black Diamond now.
Black Diamond
Frontman
ｅｌｉｔｅｆｉｔｒｅａ
ＴＨＥＣＵＬＴ is live
ｔｈｅ░ｃｕｌｔ
░ｉｓ░ｌｉｖｅ░
ｅｌｉｔｅｆｉｔｒｅａ has created an online community you can join. It’s called ＴＨＥ ＣＵＬＴ and it’s great.
Sign up at 【ｇｏ．ｅｌｉｔｅｆｉｔｒｅａ．ｃｏｍ】.
There’s no cost to join.
Heavy Music Network Interview
Sliptrick reached out to me asking if I’d be interested in answering questions for a book about freedom of speech by a website called Heavy Music Network. I’m not sure when it’ll be published or in what form. I don’t know who Heavy Music Network is, but some of their images are pretty dope.
Here are the questions & my answers. -B
HMA: As a creative person and given the current political climate. What are your thoughts on free speech?
Free speech is probably the foundational human right. It is that on which all others are built upon. If you take it away, all the rest will disappear. Throughout history, speech was controlled in order to control people as resources. As slaves. In The Cheese and the Worms, a peasant farmer didn’t believe in God, which undermined the authority of the Catholic Church to own the land he farmed and paid tribute to. He only really kept barely enough to feed his family by law. The church punished him, humiliated him by forcing him to wear a bright red shirt at all times marking him as a heretic, and ultimately, imprisoned him until he died. It's a true story. Speech is a threat to illegitimacy, especially illegitimacy in power.
HMA: Would you say that freedom of speech is really essentially freedom of thought?
It’s more than freedom of thought. Under a tyrannical regime, for instance, you would of course be free to think anything you like, yet unable to express yourself to your full potential. A part of you would be imprisoned or restrained. It is true that talking can sometimes clarify your thoughts. But conflating the two is misguided.
It would be more proper to say that freedom of speech is like a freedom of movement. For instance if there was debate over “freedom to walk” or “freedom to see.” There has never been a government that curbed “freedom to see” or “freedom to use your arms.” Speech is more like moving than thinking. Speech is what manifests your thoughts as reality.
But it’s even more than that. It is one of the few things humans can do that animals cannot do. To restrict freedom of speech is to dehumanize. Restriction of speech is a fundamental building block of dehumanization, or perhaps its smallest divisible unit. Needless to say, I am against restriction of speech.
HMA: Works of art often depict world events and analyse social, cultural and political issues. Are metal music and art spearheading this, without compromising on political correctness, hate speech and censorship?
Generally speaking, I would not say that it is spearheading anything at the moment. It is a culture that has historically embraced freedom of speech, thought, and a willingness to offend and disgust. But at the moment, I don’t see it. I have personally received more support from random religious people than people in any metal scenes around me. These are the sorts of people who would have been against heavy music in the 90s. The metalheads are nowhere to be seen. I don’t know what they’re doing.
HMA: Considering metal ways of expression and content i.e. death metal, black metal, porn-grind, anti-religion, etc. Isn’t the case that if it wasn’t for freedom of speech, we would not have the ability to experience and essentially have the ability to create, share, sell, distribute the music that we support and love?
Yes, that’s a rather obvious thing to observe, isn’t it? The sad fact is, metal fans are going to lose heavy metal. Cowardice reaps but one reward.
HMA: Is there a line to be drawn between what is permissible and what isn’t? And what kind of people would you have to police it?
A line? People can draw their own lines. I am not a statist by preference, and I don’t believe in statist policies. Perhaps in a free society you might have a venue that only plays a certain genre of music, or something like the better business bureau that has a list of “approved” music. But that’s different from going out of your way to prevent artists from making their art, or from imprisoning or dehumanizing people for their statements. And that’s not even addressing those who make ironic statements which parodize a given perspective. People can no longer distinguish between parody and authenticity anymore. It’s truly pathetic. As pathetic as someone who can’t distinguish between shit and food.
HMA: In your country, do you have political or religious restrictions on free speech?
Yes. I live in the United States.
