Al “Ravage” Firicano , co-founder, singer and lyricist for the Boston, Massachusetts-based heavy metal / thrash act Ravage, has penned a short story which will appear in the forthcoming horror anthology, Shadows In Salem.

The anthology will be published by FunDead Publications and is available for pre-order at FunDead's Facebook page here, or via the Amazon widgets below.

FunDead released the following press release regarding the anthology: Shadows In Salem is a collection of spooky short stories set in Salem, MA. The book features many local authors, as well as authors both near and far. The book is available to the public on September 6th, 2016, and was produced right here in the Witch City! What better time to read something wicked as the fall tourist season begins in Salem! The September 6th release date gives tourists a chance to take a little piece of Salem home with them in the pages of this anthology. Look for upcoming FunDead Publications events in and around the Witch City.

 

 

 

 

Ravage, which formed in the mid 90's and whose last full length album The End Of Tomorrow was issued through Metal Blade Records in 2009, have released a lyric video for "Curse Of Heaven", a track from the band's forthcoming full-length album, Return Of The Spectral Rider.

The album is a complete re-recording of their underground cult album Spectral Rider, which was recorded in 2003 and given a limited release through Germany's Karthago Records in 2005.

Al Ravage explains, "Return Of The Spectral Rider is a complete re-recording of our old Spectral Rider album. It is a collection of songs that we loved and have always felt were very strong songs but we never got a proper studio production of them due to lack of budget, producer issues etc. The original recording was done during a very tumultuous time in the band's history and at the time I thought it might be the epitaph for the band. Eleven years later, we are still around and still playing a lot of these songs, so it was fun to revisit them. There is a raw energy to the thing because there are some songs that we wrote the music for when we were thirteen years old... there's lyrics on there that I wrote when I was fifteen. We recorded them in our own studio so we were able to experiment a bit on the production end and tweak the sound to what we originally wanted which is to have a very "real" sounding recording. The drums aren't triggered, they don't sound like a drum machine playing the drums. We didn't use a metronome, and the biggest difference is that we actually tuned up! The whole thing is in standard tuning. This is the way metal was meant to sound."

The album was recorded in Malden, MA at Hellbent For Acoustics Studios and features guest appearances by former members of Ravage, members of Iron Will, Rozamov, Black Mass, Power Glove, and Seax. Cover art has been completed by Tim Jacobus, best known for his work on the Goosebumps and Fear Street series of horror novels. It has yet to be revealed.

The recording is currently in the mixing/mastering stage and is slated for release at the end of the year on a label to be announced.

The lyric video for "Curse Of Heaven" can be viewed below: