Raggedy Aneurysm

F

ormed in mid 1996 by B.W. Hocking Jr. (of Exxplorer/ex-Ashes To Ashes; vocals/guitar) and David E. Williams (percussion), Raggedy Aneurysm was a fill-in between the lulls in recording before the release of Exxplorer's Coldblackugly album; an album whose lyrical and vocal arrangements were also performed by Barry Hocking Jr. David and Barry originally got together to release the single My God Can Kill Your God in 1998. 4 more tracks would come soon after and were compiled into a subsequent demo release album titled Milk Carton Kids later that same year under the Raggedy Aneurysm. (A future recording, The Future Postal Workers Of America, was planned but no news on its release has come).

That debut as Raggedy Aneurysm, Milk Carton Kids, came across as professional, disturbing but intelligent; a less pop and more mature version of Marilyn Manson. The lyrics covered subjects concerning our modern society on issues of suicide, sexual abuse, religion and violence and its acceptance in the modern world in a manner rarely discussed by the media and without sounding preachy. A simple but dark and punk musical score accompanied it. Tracks from the release were picked up by 'Emperor Multimedia' for use on their Alliance, Recorded History and Polishing of Metal multimedia compilations in 1999, 2003 and 2006 respectively.