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Volitar: : Murder Mystery Mayhem
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THE "MUST HAVE" PROGRESSIVE-ROCK CD THAT INCORPORATES MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS WITH A FULL-CAST SCIENCE-FICTION DRAMA. AN INSTANT "CULT CLASSIC". BUY NOW.
Genre: Rock: Progressive Rock
Release Date: 2002
Murder Mystery Mayhem Record Label: Volitar Industries
  • Download Album (MP3) - $9.99
  • Buy CD - $12.00
SPECIAL: 30% discount if you buy more than one copy of it today!
Preview Song Name Time Format Price Select
Blast-off 1:09 $0.99
Deep Freeze 4:52 $0.99
Soul Searching 4:08 $0.99
Landing 1:15 $0.99
Gateway Theatre 2:02 $0.99
Faces 3:22 $0.99
The Secret 0:46 $0.99
Just One Look 3:04 $0.99
Machine Shop 0:52 $0.99
Nightmare 2:30 $0.99
Laser Research 0:56 $0.99
The Fire of Section 17 5:22 $0.99
Dead 5:18 $0.99
Mourning 4:08 $0.99
Desiree For Dessert 1:27 $0.99
Free 6:00 $0.99
preview all songs

Album Notes

Can You imagine what Rush and science-fiction writer, Ray Bradbury would have sounded like if they had developed a concept band together? What would happen if You were to blend the power and grace of "Rush-like" music, set it to a sci-fi story, and integrate over 150 sound effects into 1 CD?

Curious? So was Volitar creator, Andrew Engstrom. He's written songs, in the style of Rush, Nine Inch Nails and Rage Against The Machine, and blended them with an original science fiction story filled with Murder, Mystery & Mayhem and... enough saucy one liners to put Arnold Schwarzenegger to shame.

It's all on the the new CD Volitar recorded - "Murder Mystery Mayhem". An amazing adventure into the future featuring 8 songs and 8 sound effects scenes that transporting you into a 22nd century night club where You'll dance to the synthetic rock group "Dreaming Out Loud" - or wake from a nightmare to find Your life terrorized by the demented dreams of a madman. You'll take a tour of a laser research laboratory in a distant solar system and feel the power and force as Your ship blasts-off from Earth.

You've probably heard some of the best rock concept albums ever made i.e... Pink Floyd's, "The Wall" - Queensriche's, "Operation Mindcrime" or "Tommy" by The Who. You may have 1 or more of these CD's in Your CD box right now. Awesome records, aren't they? But "Murder Mystery Mayhem" is a concept CD that was created in a way that's never been done before. The angle is so different that You better prepare Yourself for a big surprise, a positively shocking one.

Jedd Beaudoin, a professional music reviewer at Ghostland.com says, VOLITAR: Murder Mystery Mayhem is an innovative blend of audio book, comic book, concept album and movie for the ears. And... Screen writer, Dave Hunsaker says Murder Mystery Mayhem is wonderfully imaginative and original... something for the new century.

3 1/2 years went into the creation and recording of "Murder Mystery Mayhem". It features the musicianship of seasoned professionals: Scott Hamilton - guitars, Ford James - bass, Andrew Engstrom - drums; keys and vocals, Andrea Mogil - flutes, John Hanson - trumpet, William "Todd" Hunt - sax, Mike Fieldhouse - congas, Dale McFarlin - dijimbe and Leslie Rostron - vocals. Volitar also features a cast of 10 actors and actresses playing 15 different roles: Becky Engstrom, Ray Imel, Joan Cahill, Tim Hulse, Carl Behnert, Carrie Arbogast, Kent Dawson, Andrew Engstrom, Ford James and Murray Damitio.

Volitar: Murder Mystery Mayhem was professionally mixed and mastered by Hollywood's Paramount Studios engineer, George Bryson and the CD's digital imagery was created by artist, Bud Curtis.

Join the Murder Mystery Mayhem cast and crew and blastoff to Volitar today!

Want to now more about Volitar? Download "The Making of Volitar", Volitar's companion E-book for (PC)!!! Get the inside scoop on the people, places and events that transpired while making this Epic concept CD. In-depth articles, cast pictures and exclusive web access are some of the many highlights this E-book contains. And... "The Making of Volitar" is absolutely FREE.

Paste this link into your browser's window http://www.volitar.com/themakingofvolitar1.2.exe

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REVIEWS

"Murder, Mystery, Mayhem" - a concept CD in the grandest sense...
author: Tony Stasiek
The Facts: "Murder, Mystery, Mayhem" is a concept CD in the grandest sense, detailing mining-moon owner Trevor Braiden's (played by composer Andrew Engstrom) trip to the planet Volitar in the year 2117, a GWAR-informed monster named Enox (also Engstrom), nitranium ore sex and an entendre-spewing romantic interest. Think somewhere between Dio's "Magica" and Cloven Hoof's "Dominator." Partially operating on state and city grants, Engstrom took 3Þ years and nine helpers to create a dialogue-heavy prog-rock opera, with each track intended to mimic a different genre. Oh, and Volitar is from Juneau, Alaska (we're the closest CD-review source, Engstrom says). Highlights: "Faces," which sounds like Public Image Limited inside the Star Wars cantina; the dead-on sound effects that indicate a spaceship liftoff as well as cryogenic freezing; and the line, "It is amazing what you've done to this old theater, transporting it from 1942 France and turning it into Volitar's hottest night club. Congratulations to you." Right back atcha.
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Volitar - A massive undertaking impressively accomplished.
author: Joel Reynolds
(AK Artist) Volitar - "Murder, Mystery, Mayhem" Art opens you up to new vistas of what is creatively possible - be it in terms of emotion experiences, materials for manipulation, or modes of production. We all 'understand' that the computer has radically changed music creation and production. But then you encounter something, like Volitar, that makes you REALLY begin to understand. Juneau's Andrew Engstrom, with assistance from Becky Jo Engstrom, has created a whole sci-fi fantasy world, the planet Volitar, with all the history, mystery, intrigue, and big-letter emotions (Love, Greed, Fear,...), you'd expect from a serial publication or movie (one naturally thinks of Star Trek or Star Wars), and turned 'em into 0's and 1's on a CD. The concept album is not new, but I've never heard a movie on CD before. They haven't just inserted dialogue between songs, making speech secondary to music, or vice versa. Rather, it's all here, made into a coherent whole. Music blurs into sound effects and scene settings, which create visual backdrops (in your head) for dialogues and actions (in your head), leading to character and plot development both via speech and songs. A massive undertaking impressively accomplished. Kudos to all involved, and to the arts councils which supported its creation. It will be interesting to see what this evolves into. And what other creations it spawns through example.
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MMM is supremely cool
author: Chris Boyd
Thanks for "The Making of Volitar." I'm very impressed and think to myself, what an excellent way to document and detail a career and/or projects. MMM is supremely cool, I've listened to it about four times in the past day, and really dig on it. The trumpet on Deep Freeze makes me feel so elated, I mean that combination does rock, and I wish there was more of it. The drumming is excellent too, it's one of the first things I took note of. Kudos on the packaging, I like the artwork, and your photos I like a lot too (complex and hot Doctor Lear!) and it's nice to have some images for the story, but so much left up to imagination as well. What a fun and enjoyeable album. I appreciate your hard work, and the depth of your commitment to making your music. I hope to hear more from Volitar in the future. Regards, Chris
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Incredibly impressive piece of work
author: L. Athey
The CD showed up today, incredibly impressive piece of work all the way down to the packaging. To me, it sounds like a mix of Tears For Fears, Pink Floyd (with a much more aggressive guitarist) and Queensryche. There are some things that I still haven't outgrown, one of those things are bitchin powerful sound systems. So, I had to test out the CD on the stereo in my pickup (my 4WD bass bin) and it about rattled my freakin teeth loose. That's a tell-tale sign of a good drum mix to me... :-)
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