Mushroomhead: Beautiful Stories For Ugly Children – new album

MUSHROOMHEAD's new album is entitled ‘Beautiful Stories For Ugly Children’ and is being released today, September 28th, 2010 through Megaforce Records. The album was produced by co-founder and drummer Steve “Skinny” Felton and mastered by Roger Lian at Masterdisc, New York City. With statement made by MUSHROOMHEAD keyboardist “Shmotz” (Tom Schmitz) in mind: “MUSHROOMHEAD never draws a line without blurring it first” - go and buy the record.

MUSHROOMHEAD formed in 1993 in Cleveland, Ohio. It was meant to be a side project since its members played in various local bands at the time; they even wore blacks masks in order not to be recognized. Few  years later and MUSHROOMHEAD became one of Cleveland's top local attractions: masks, costumes, pseudonyms and theatricals its members used, became part of the group's lure and intrigue. MUSHROOMHEAD's self-titled debut album was released independently in 1995 as were its followers, ‘Superbuic’ (1996) and ‘M3’ (1999). The band than signed with Eclipse Records in 2000 and released its next album, ‘XX’, the following year. AllMusic's Alex Henderson described the album as: “[one of] the most ambitious alternative metal releases of 2001” and MUSHROOMHEAD's music as “fresh and risk-taking and as creative as their [band’s] image”. The effort sold over 300,000 copies. Universal Records released the group's last cooperation with singer “JMann” (Jason Popson), 2003's album entitled ‘XII’. ‘XII’ debuted at number 40 on American albums chart Billboard 200 and sold 400,000 copies worldwide. New singer “Waylon” (Waylon Reavis) got enlisted in 2004 and the following year MUSHROOMHEAD self-released, self-directed, self-produced and self-edited its first DVD (Filthy Hands label) entitled ‘Volume 1’. The band returned to Megaforce Records to release ‘Savior Sorrow’ in 2006 which reached number 50 on the Billboard 200, with sales estimation of around 125,000 copies sold worldwide. Thom Jurek (AllMusic) commented: “MUSHROOMHEAD build their tunes from grooves and themes. They use rhythm as a composition. Yeah, they still wear masks, they still create a mystique which would be worthless if the music itself weren’t so damn compelling. True: if BAUHAUS had come to birth in 2006 instead of the late '70s, they may have sounded like MUSHROOMHEAD do in ‘Savior Sorrow’. Beauty, chaos, tension, and fierce guitar and keyboard interplay create a taut instrumental attack that is both multitextured and dynamic. Vocals, strings, whispers, and guitars - both acoustic and electric - entwine classical themes with the spirit of rock's past in a quiet, unsettling song [‘Embrace The Ending’] that is as well-crafted and beautiful as it is deranged.”

Follow-up: Video for ‘Come On’ - first single from MUSHROOMHEAD's new album has been banned from TV but you can watch it right here, courtesy of Megaforce Records. The video was directed by David Greathouse (also known as “House”) and produced by Robert Kurtzman's Creature Corps. Bloodier and uncensored version of the clip can be also found here (Creature Corps).

MUSHROOMHEAD features: Jeffrey Nothing – vocals, Waylon – vocals, Gravy – guitars, Pig Benis – bass, Shmotz – keyboards, Skinny – drums/percussion, ST1TCH – turntables/samples/electronics and Lil’ Dan – percussion