Tales from the Grave in Space
| Tales from the Grave in Space | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Gama Bomb | ||||
| Released | 5 November 2009 | |||
| Recorded | September – October 2009 at Grindstone Studios in Suffolk, England | |||
| Genre |
Thrash metal Crossover thrash |
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| Length | 30:56 | |||
| Label | Earache | |||
| Producer | Scott Atkins | |||
| Gama Bomb chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Metal Hammer |   |
| Kerrang! | |
| Terrorizer | |
| Big Cheese | |
Tales from the Grave in Space is the third studio album by Irish thrash metal band Gama Bomb, and one of the first albums ever to be released as a free download by a signed band. In a partnership between the band and record label Earache Records, the album was available for free download from 5 November 2009, hosted by RapidShare. The album was physically released on January 25 in the UK and Europe and the US on March 8.
The album cover was created by Jeff Jordan, known for his work with The Mars Volta. He took inspiration from classic pulp and sci-fi artists like Virgil Finlay, and the themes of 1950s horror comics like Tales from the Crypt. It was then designed into an album cover by Rory McGuigan, who styled it after a Hammer Horror movie poster.
The cover's concept was created by frontman Philly Byrne, based on the Lost Cosmonauts conspiracy theory. The cover of the album shows a skeletal cosmonaut, attached by living tentacles to a vast, abstract piece of masonry – the titular Grave – in space. Byrne described the artwork as a "sort of 'Doctor Who-meets-Arthur C. Clarke' thing [about] an alien object that absorbs whatever it encounters."
The album's inlay was designed by Rory McGuigan, imitating the pre-Comics Code Authority horror and fantasy comics of the 1950s.
Tales from the Grave in Space is dedicated to the memory of late Evile bassist Mike Alexander.
Gama Bomb released Tales from the Grave in Space as a free download available from Earache Records website on 5 November 2009, hosted by RapidShare, in one of the first official deals between a band and the one-click hosting website.Radiohead used a similar release method on their seventh studio album, In Rainbows, which was released through the band's own website on 10 October 2007 as a digital download for which customers could make whatever payment that they wished, including nothing. Significantly, Gama Bomb had the backing of Earache Records to release the record via RapidShare, a site often considered to be a threat to the music industry as it allows users to anonymously upload files for download.
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