Dear Good Bands in Need of a Bassist, Please Hire Ryan Martinie Away from Kurai, Thank You

Mudvayne’s hiatus continues while Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett continue their groundbreaking work with Hellyeah. Unfortunately, that means that the other members of Mudvayne who aren’t busy alcohaulin’ ass, drummer Matthew McDonough and bassist Ryan Martinie, have free time on their hands. I have no idea how McDonough currently fills his days, but now Martinie has returned with a new band who, disappointingly, are not called Shaken Not Stirred, but, rather, Kurai. (The band asserts that the word means “To achieve a state of mind in which you become one with your art;” About.com says it’s Japanese for “dark; gloomy; be ignorant; be a stranger; somber.” Interpret as you will.)

Missed opportunity of a moniker aside, I was actually interested to check this out, ’cause regardless of what you think of Mudvayne’s music, Martinie is undeniably a very talented bass player. Alas, alack, Kurai just sounds like a terrible Korn wannabe (not that Korn were ever good to begin with). I suspect this can be explained by the fact that the band also features Abel Vallejo, who was a drum tech for Korn, and Scott Von Heldt, who used to be the guitarist in a band that shares a name with a member of Korn (that would be Head). I mean okay that’s probably not the real reason this sounds like such drek, but cut me some slack, I’m a blogger, not a research scientist.

ANYWAY, if you’ve made it this far and you still care, you can check out Kurai’s new single, “Breaking the Broken,” via the below lyric video. It will appear on the band’s self-released EP, which comes out December 17.

[via The PRP]