doom blues

Freight Train Rabbit Killer release new album “The Ten Year”

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The Ten Year
The Ten Year

Freight Train Rabbit Killer is a duo made up of Kris Bruders (Freight Train) and Mark Smeltzer (Rabbit Killer). Described as a heavy doom blues American Roots opera, they have been performing since the group formed around Halloween 2013 in Kansas City, Missouri. With a decade of music performing as FTRK, it’s time to celebrate with a brand new album.

Freight Train Rabbit Killer’s third album (and second on Haymaker Records), The Ten Year, releases worldwide on June 6, 2025. The group’s signature doom-blues sound is featured with three original song narratives, a blues classic by Blind Gary Davis, and a B-Side consisting entirely of the 20-minute foggy soundscape Forest of Whispers. Conceived as a celebration of the ten-year existence of the band, the album showcases new unreleased music recorded over three different recording sessions over the band’s musical span.

The album was pressed to vinyl in three limited color variants (red, blue, and yellow) to match the haunting cover image created by Rabbit Killer. There are only 100 copies of each variant and the color pressings of the last album Hammer of Judgment sold out very quickly. As always, digital downloads are included with the album. The album is available for purchase now and will ship soon after the June 6 release date.

The two singles, “Commons Thorns” and “Mule to Plow” (listen below) have been available for streaming and purchase on bandcamp for a while, but very soon the entire album will be up on all streaming platforms as well.

2025-06-06 Freight Train Rabbit Killer Record Release at Lemonade Park
2025-06-06 Freight Train Rabbit Killer Record Release at Lemonade Park

A vinyl release party is planned for Friday, June 6 at Lemonade Park in Kansas City with performances by Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Scott H. Biram and VOLK. The vinyl record will be available for purchase for the first time at this event. It will be a great night of music and reverie, so we hope to see you at the show.

Pre-Order new Freight Train Rabbit Killer Album “Hammer of Judgment”

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Good news. The new Freight Train Rabbit Killer album “Hammer of Judgment” is now available for pre-order. It is available in limited edition opaque blue vinyl [UPDATE: SOLD OUT] and standard black. Both include a two-sided color insert and digital download. MP3s of the album are also available for purchase at this time. If you live outside of the United States and are wanting to purchase this album, we’ll need to work out shipping first – send an email to brenton [at] haymakerrecords [dot] net.

Freight Train Rabbit Killer Release 7-Inch Record Series on Haymaker Records

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Haymaker Records releases a new series of 7-Inch records by doom blues group Freight Train Rabbit Killer on vinyl on Saturday October 28, 2017. “Old Man of the Mountain” / “Maybe It’s You” is the first 7-Inch in the “Wake Snake Death Dance” 7-Inch Series and will be celebrated with a FREE release party in Kansas City, Missouri at Stockyards Brewing Co., 1600 Genessee St. #100, Kansas City, MO, on Saturday October 28 th at 8PM.

Freight Train Rabbit Killer

Freight Train Rabbit Killer

Freight Train Rabbit Killer is a duo made up of Kris Bruders (Freight Train) and Mark Smeltzer (Rabbit Killer). Described as a heavy doom blues American Roots opera – a shaman of the hills and a vigilante bent on justice, they have been performing out of their hometown of Kansas City, Missouri and on the road for three years. It’s storytelling through music, doom blues with screaming electric guitars, all accompanied by suits and masks. The 7-Inch series is a collaborative effort of Kansas City’s Haymaker Records and the groups’ own imprint Rural Grit Records and will be represented with four separate 7-Inch releases over the next year. The four 7-Inch records are a part of a greater puzzle, assembled by the band and complete with riddles, codes, and maps. The goal of this interactive game is to eventually lead the listener to a trove of artifacts revealed with the final release in the series. The hand screen-printed artwork for each volume will combine to create one larger piece of art. Through a special crowd-funding campaign, the entire four 7-Inch bundle can be pre-ordered and delivered separately at the time of release. An option will also be present for donating money to the trove of artifacts awarded to the winner of the interactive game. “Old Man of the Mountain” / “Maybe It’s You” is the first 7-Inch in the series and will be released on a limited run of 100 blood red hand-numbered copies with a limited number on black vinyl thereafter.

Freight Train Rabbit Killer Vinyl Release Party 2017

Freight Train Rabbit Killer Vinyl Release Party 2017

Freight Train Rabbit Killer will be joined by Kansas City punk rock group GASCAN for the Stockyards Brewing Co. release show on October 28th. The release party is a FREE event and will be celebrated with a special Halloween costume party beginning at 8PM. In addition to the release show, Freight Train Rabbit Killer are one of the featured performers the following night, Sunday October 29th at recordBar for SocialHeart’s Rockin’ Halloween benefit for Midwest Music Foundation. Copies of the new 7-Inch vinyl record of “Old Man on the Mountain” / “Maybe It’s Me” will be made available to the public for the first time at these events. Check out the Facebook event page for complete details on the event.

Pre-order “Old Man of the Mountain” / “Maybe It’s You” or the entire four 7-Inch bundle now!