Check out our recent interview with an artist who defies genre classification – Bleeding Raven!
For the unfortunate few who don’t know who you are, would you mind introducing your project “Bleeding Raven”?
Dean Mason of Bleeding Raven: Few? Make that the majority. Bleeding Raven is a well kept secret… like Bolton’s memoirs. Ok, so, I imagine we are supposed to get serious now so, yeah… Bleeding Raven is an ‘aggrotech’ project (I call it dungeon trash…) that grew out of another project, namely Gnostic Gorilla, which is another well kept secret. Gnostic Gorilla is more ‘Gothic’, ‘Darkwave’ and ‘industrial’. I wanted to pursue another project that was more bizarre, abrasive and especially with more creepy screechy vocals. So in May of 2019, I set out recording a new album for the new project Bleeding Raven.
In the effort of getting to know each other better – if you could be a sandwich, what sandwich would you be?
DM: What?! I don’t know. Egg salad sandwich? Ok, no… probably more like a good old Montreal smoked meat sandwich on toasted rye with Dijon mustard… mais … oui?
Tell us about your latest release
DM: So, in October of 2019, which is only few months ago, last I checked, Cleopatra Records released “Darkness Consumed” and it sky rocketed in the “WTF is This Shit Charts?” over night! No but, “Darkness Consumed” is a very wild and dark abrasive, almost disturbing album that touches upon a few subjects. The title isn’t a nod to evil or the promotion of ‘darkness’. It’s actually about the fact that somehow, ‘TRUTH’ (light) will ‘consume the darkness’ and overcome it. That’s sort of the idea in brief. I want people to decide for themselves what it can mean for them.
Here at Upside Down Shark we discuss a wide breadth of pop-culture, including music, movies, TV, video games and the like. So with that in mind, if you could have a track featured in anything, whether it be any of the above on even a wrestling theme, what would it be?
DM: “Pontiff’s Nightmare”… or “The Cry of Simeon”, but probably the former.
Name one thing on your bucket list.
DM: I’d like to get my hearing back. No joke. I have lost the hearing in the left ear completely and totally. Hearing aid not an option for this kind of SSHL. It happened in October. Very traumatic actually. I have to protect the little hearing I have left in the right ear which is at half capacity. I want to be able to hear the voices of the ones I love and the more natural sounds in life. For all intents and purposes, I’m deaf. Music is no longer an option. Especially live music, even if I wanted to do something live with a band. Music has been such an important part of my life obviously, but that’s over. That’s the future.
What would be your inspirational quote to share with the world?
DM: “F**k em if they can’t take a joke” …hahahahahaha
What does 2020 have in store for you?
DM: I hope to promote what I have out now. I also have one more Gnostic Gorilla release to be released by Cleopatra Records for 2020. I am looking at doing a lyric book with artwork and photography, but I don’t know.
Name your favourite shark (can be real or fictional)
DM: “Requiem Shark”…more specifically “The Blue Shark”.
Many thanks to Dean for sitting down to talk to us. Make sure to check out Bleeding Raven wherever you listen to good music!
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