A Sound of Thunder Presents Queen of Hell: Initium
Created by A Sound of Thunder
Born to serve in Hell, manipulated by Heaven, neither side reckoned on Cecilia's will to forge her own path of destruction!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Release Party October 10th! We have a Discord!
6 months ago
– Tue, Sep 30, 2025 at 12:44:12 PM
HAIL, LEGION OF THUNDER!
We did it! Shipping is complete for both Queen of Hell: Initium Kickstarter campaigns! But there's no time to rest. Pages for the next chapter are coming in now, and we're in pre-production for our next album. But more importantly we have a huge year-end concert and fan get-together coming up on October 10th at Reclaim Arcade in Fredericksburg, VA!
As usual here's the video update from Josh and we'll put it in text below:
FAN EVENT/CONCERT/RELEASE PARTY!
On October 10th it's our third annual celebration at Reclaim Arcade in Fredericksburg, VA! This is our year-end bash and Queen of Hell: Initium release party! Come catch us for two completely different sets, enter for a bunch of free giveaways, and play games!
Two live sets, giveaways (engraved setlists, drum heads, signed posters), Iron Maiden pinball tournament (stay tuned for details), and professional photos with the band!
Last show of the year before we lock ourselves away to work on the next album!
Queen of Hell: Initium performed in its entirety with Sebastian Ochoa guesting on co-lead guitar!
Free pinball & vintage arcade play with admission!
Mark your calendar! Yeah, you! Do it!
NEW ALBUM PRE-PRODUCTION UNDERWAY!
We've been slowly chipping away at writing and demoing a new album all year long. After our show on October 10th we have three full months off from shows and will be focusing on fine-tuning and finalizing all the songs for the next album.
On Sunday Jesse recorded his second demo bass track for the record and he really came up with something special. Think 1984 Steve Harris playing over a crazy longer ASoT song. Yeah. It rules.
We expect to have all the demos completed by the end of November and will then be forwarding everything on to our producer Kevin Gutierrez to begin planning the recording.
QUEEN OF HELL: ACT II ARTWORK IS ARRIVING!
Believe it or not new series artist JUAN JOSE RYP HAS ALREADY COMPLETED THE NEXT ISSUE OF THE QUEEN OF HELL COMIC!We told you we weren't going to Kickstart the next chapter until the artwork was done, and we were serious! This thing is looking amazing already!
Holy $#!tballs!
PATREON IDEAS WANTED!
We'll be launching a Patreon in the near future and we want to hear from you with ideas about what perks we should offer!
Kickstarter is amazing for projects like albums where most of our cost is spent in a short period. (ie. We put down a deposit with Kevin, record the album quickly, then pay the balance.) But with our ongoing comics projects we are now paying artists in smaller amounts but nearly constantly over the course of months and years. We have already put $6,000+ into the next chapter of Queen of Hell, with a lot more to go before the artwork is done. Since we're not going to Kickstart anything until the art is done, that leaves us in a bit of a bind. The regular monthly funds from a Patreon would greatly help us keep moving these projects forward.
With that in mind we'll be using Patreon to share all of the process stuff that is going on while these big long term projects are in production. But we also want to offer some fun perks, and that's where you come in. Let us know what you'd like to see!
END OF CAMPAIGN THOUGHTS...
Queen of Hell: Initium was the biggest project we've ever undertaken. And speaking of undertaking...it nearly killed us. But now that everything has been delivered we hope it's clear that we've come through the fire stronger than ever!
We've learned a lot about how to handle these bigger projects, and while we're sure there will always be new challenges and unforeseen difficulties, we're confident that things will go more smoothly on the next project. With Jesse back from Montana and our baby-faced 29-year-old drummer Justin, we have all the energy and desire we need to power us into the next chapter of the band.
Thank you so much to all of you for believing in us to begin with, for bearing with us through the challenges and delays of this campaign, and for sticking with us into this new lineup and new chapter.
And most of all thank you for helping us make our dreams come true, and for all the support you give to other creators out there as well. (We know your type. We're not the only ones you support.) Art and entertainment is a two-way street. We truly couldn't do any of this without you!
Cheers,
Nina, Josh, Jesse & Justin
500+ Shipped! New QoH art! Road report!
8 months ago
– Thu, Aug 07, 2025 at 07:59:55 AM
HAIL, LEGION OF THUNDER!
Here's an update video from Josh and we'll summarize the latest in bullet points below!
500+ Packages Shipped! (Yay!) ~400 To Go! (Yikes!)
We crossed the 400 packages shipped mark about a week and a half ago. On Tuesday we crossed the 500 mark, and as of this morning we have shipped 558 packages! (These numbers are for both campaigns combined.)
According to BackerKit there are 489 packages to go, so we are more than half done.
The remaining packages should in general be simpler and faster to pack than the earlier packages, and Josh is dedicating more hours to shipping to wrap this up a.s.a.p. So in actuality we should be closer to done than the number of packages indicates.
If you have received your stuffPLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT so the folks who haven't know not to worry!
Addresses have been locked for a few months. If you need to change your address please message us directly and we'll change it for you!
MINI-TOUR WRAP UP!
Our 3-show mini-tour went amazingly! Sebastian Ochoa joined us on second guitar in Towson, MD. The crowd loved it and it felt great to play some of the twin guitar parts from the records! New York was insane as always. And we pulled out a save in Herndon after a powerful storm and some sideways rain blew out the electrical panel!
(photos below by Stories Told by Terry)
Legion of Thunder member Greg T. won the wood engraved setlist on July 29th! We'll be doing one of these for every upcoming show. Watch our Instagram reels for the password to enter the drawing before each show. Bring the password to the merch table to be entered and we'll pick the winner at the end of each night!
UPCOMING SHOWS 8/23 & 9/8!
AUGUST 23 - BRIMMING HORN MEADERY - MILTON, DE (with Bastion's Wake)
SEPTEMBER 8 - SONGBYRD MUSIC HOUSE - WASHINGTON, DC (with Crypta)
QUEEN OF HELL ACT II UNDERWAY!
Juan Jose Ryp is working on the next issue of Queen of Hell right now! Josh just reviewed the first 11 pages of layouts and sent back his notes today! Juan is known for working extremely fast and is expected to finish the first issue in late August or early September!
Juan will be working on some other projects before returning to complete Queen of Hell Act II, so we won't be recording that music or running that Kickstarter until next year. We're not going to present the next chapter of Queen of Hell until the comic art is completely done! We'll never run another Kickstarter where we don't have control of the schedule - you can bet on fast delivery next time!
While Juan is working on Queen of Hell behind the scenes, we'll be working on a completely separate new album!
Here's one of the page layouts we just received from Juan Jose Ryp. This is a rough design to plan the basic design of the page. It will then be completely redrawn in detail for the final comic. The next chapter is going to be AWESOME! And wait 'til you hear the music we cooked up to go with it!
That's it for today, Legion! Josh is off to load up on more boxes this morning, Nina is off for a vacation this weekend, and the rest of the band will be having an instrumental rehearsal this weekend and working up a brand new intro for the new album and future live shows! We're excited! THUNDEEEEEEER!
Cheers,
Nina, Josh, Jesse & Justin
Artist's Edition Demo & Upgraded Comic Files!
9 months ago
– Mon, Jul 14, 2025 at 02:38:05 PM
HAIL, LEGION OF THUNDER!
Thanks so much to everyone who joined us on the live stream last night! If you missed out you can watch the whole thing on replay now. We'll link it below. But first...
COMIC FILES HAVE BEEN UPGRADED FOR ALL BACKERS!
At approximately 4pm EST today we switched out the digital comic files with new, larger, higher resolution files. (Thanks to the backers who pointed out that the versions we sent were a little too small.) This applies to the standard (non-layered) versions of the comics which were sent to all backers!
If you haven't downloaded your comics yet you don't need to do anything other than claim your downloads as usual. You should have an e-mail notification from BackerKit linking you to the digital music & comics!
If you downloaded the comics before 4pm today (Monday, July 14th) you have the older, lower resolution versions. You can get the upgraded comics by going back into your BackerKit survey, or linking from that e-mail notification, and downloading the comics again! (Send us a message if you have any trouble and we'll link you to your survey!
DIGITAL ARTIST'S EDITIONS SENT TODAY!
The Digital Artist's Editions were add-on items only available on this campaign. They are ultra hi-res layered versions of the comics which will allow you to view the raw pencil art and unlettered color art on separate layers.
These files were about 500mb each and had to be sent as download codes which you will redeem at the band website. Notifications with unique codes were sent out today. Let us know if you have any trouble!
To enjoy these files you'll need a PDF reader capable of viewing layers like Adobe Acrobat. Here are some screenshots showing you how to use the files in Acrobat. The process should be similar in other software.
Open the file in Acrobat and find the "Layers" icon on the right.
Here's a closer look at the "Layers" icon.
Click the text under "Layers" to open the list of file layers.
Each file has three layers: final letters, colors, and linework.
De-select "Final Letters" to see the unlettered color art!
De-select "Colors" to see Mike Ratera's raw pencil art!
These are hi-res files so feel free to zoom way in and appreciate the art!
Special thanks to Rafer Roberts who is not just a fantastic author but specializes in print and digital file prep and created these layered files for us!
The Digital Artist's Editions were add-on items. Free unlayered digital copies of the comics were provided to all backers. The layered files did require extra time & money to create, so we offered them separately. They're not for everyone, but if you'd like to dive deep into the artwork you can still grab these versions on our private pre-order store here:
LIVE STREAM SHENANIGANS
Here's that live stream link as promised. Can you count how many drinks we had? (Hint: too many!)
Ok, that's it for today Legion! Josh is getting back into shipping mode this week, and we're preparing for our next shows, so come see us if you can get to any of these!
July 25 - Towson, MD - The Recher - Opening for PLUSH (ASOT WITH TWO GUITARS!)
July 26 - Brooklyn, NY - Lucky 13 - ASoT Headlining
July 27 - Herndon, VA - Jimmy's Old Town Tavern - Jimmy's MetalFest
Cheers,
Nina, Josh, Jesse & Justin
Live stream TODAY (including Private Listening Party Reward) and DIGITAL COPIES SENT!
9 months ago
– Sun, Jul 13, 2025 at 10:32:31 AM
If you're on both Queen of Hell campaigns, this update is a duplicate of today's update on the music campaign with one major exception:
Backers on this campaign who are getting the "Private Listening Party" reward, take note THAT LIVE STREAM IS TODAY AT 5PM EST! We've sent the private link in two previous Kickstarter updates that were limited to your reward tiers, so please check those updates for the link!
On to the update.....
HAIL, LEGION OF THUNDER!
It's digital release day! Many of you have received your physical items already, but today you all get digital copies of Queen of Hell: Initium - both the comic & the music - so we wanted to take the opportunity to thank you again for choosing to come on this adventure with us!
This is not our first concept album or our first comic, but publishing an entire comic series turned out to be the challenge of our career so far. To be honest the road got extremely rough for a while there. But here we are basking in the light at the end of the tunnel, bruised but not broken, and delivering something we're very proud of. We suggest you take a victory lap yourself for helping make it happen. Initium truly wouldn't have been possible without your support and patience. THANK YOU, LEGION OF THUNDER!
Now get reading and listening: you've only got a few hours until the live stream!
Live stream release party is coming up later today at 6pm EST! (Private stream for comic campaign backers at 5pm EST.)
We'll be live on our Youtube channel at 6pm EST today for a one hour stream, doing a "VH1 Storytellers" (does that date us?! yikes) style playthrough of the Queen of Hell: Initiumsongs, drinking some good beer, answering questions, and probably gushing a lot about Superman which Nina and Josh saw last night! This will be our first time every performing two of these songs, and we'll do it while drinking, so come watch the train wreck!
Watch (or get a reminder when we go live) here:
Digital Downloads Available NOW in Your BackerKit Surveys!
Digital music and comics were made available overnight! Everyone should have an e-mail notification linking them to their goodies, but if you can't see the e-mail you can also access your digital copies by logging into BackerKit and going into your survey for the Queen of Hell campaign!
This was our first time using BackerKit to deliver digital rewards and some of the item names are a little wonky! We thought they were for our internal reference, but you will see them in the notification e-mail.
A few notes on the digital downloads:
Some digital copies of the comic are named for physical print copies in the notification. That's because we are giving free digital copies to everyone if they ordered print copies. You are still getting your print copies!
Digital copies of the Demons bonus CD may show up named "Demons digital music 1" or "Demons digital music 2". Those are so named for two groups of recipients. There are not two parts to the Demons digital music. If you got either version you got the entire bonus album.
The Digital Artist's Edition layered comic files were too large for BackerKit's system. For today, so that everyone can participate in the live stream if they want, we have sent the smaller standard (non-layered) digital comics. We'll arrange an alternate delivery method for the Artist's Editions soon.
The Complete Digital Discographies were also too large for BackerKit. Look for those in the next few days.
The complete Queen of Hell: Initium EP was sent in 320kbps MP3 and 16.441 WAV formats. 24.48 WAV was too large for BackerKit but we will make that version available soon. These ones may not be automatically sent to everyone since they are so large, so make a mental note that they may be "by request".
We'll be back in shipping mode this week and available to work out any kinks in the digital files, so let us know if you find anything wrong and we'll beat those files into submission. That's how it works, right?!
Time to get ready for rehearsal and our live stream! Hope to see you tonight, Legion!
Cheers,
Nina, Josh, Jesse & Justin
Private link: Online Listening Party this Sunday!
9 months ago
– Thu, Jul 10, 2025 at 12:53:35 PM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
