Bear

I used to read quite a lot manga and watch even more anime, but I'm not as into it as before. Haven't read a manga in forever, but I still watch anime every now and then. Biggest change from before however is that I rarely watch anime's that got 50+ episodes anymore. If watching series I watch series with 50 eisodes or less, and which is already finished so I can binge them. Plus I watch more anime aimed towards older teens and adults, rather than your regular teen animes which I did before. Would read more manga if it wasn't so god damn expensive though, and I am not willing to read it on my computer. Goes for comics in general.

It is?

Tyranny - Aeons in Tectonic Interment A new Tyranny album, and their first release since 2005. Tides of Awakening is a classic funeral doom album, so I am looking forward to this very much. Should be good!

Barefoot - I have not seen the german original, but this film had an interesting concept but was just so poorly executed from the characters to the acting and pacing. It offers a couple of tiny laughs, but that's about it. Nah, but I will be checking out the original one though. Stretch - Decent thrilling comedy, but it feels like director Joe Carnahan (Narc, Smokin' Aces) is just trying too hard to make a cult film instead of focusing on making a good film. It's decent and I was entertained, but it could've been so much more than this. But the part with David Hasselhoff was amazing, though, and makes up for everything else. Easily my favourite part of the film, and is alone making the film worth your time. That was so good.

Looking forward to the new The Wolves of Avalong EP by the way. It's called Die Hard, and it shouldn't come as a surprise that it is a Venom cover. What makes me excited for it is the guests. It will feature guest appearances from Mantas (Venom) on guitar and vocals; Rob Miller (Amebix) on vocals; Mirai (Sigh) on vocals; and, Alan Averill (Primordial) on vocals. Sounds like it could be damn good. Pretty good band in general with members and ex-members from bands such as The Meads of Asphodel, Hawkwind and Arise from Ashes. It sounds like a folkier and less punky version of the first couple of The Meads of Asphodel albums. The Meads of Asphodel goes folky pagan metal is pretty acurate. Lots of guests on their two albums as well, including Roibéard Ó Bogail of Mael Mórdha, Magnus Wohlfart of Nae'blis, Petra Jadrná of Cruadalach, Verst of Instinct, Rob Darken of Graveland, Varggoth of Nokturnal Mortum, Thurios of Drudkh and Hildr Valkyrie of Folkearth as the most known ones. Pretty cool stuff. Really looking forward to hearing their version of Die Hard. Great cover for the album too.

Got a massive kick on Forest Silence at the moment.Started out as Winter of Sear Bliss' side project, but it didn't take him long before he left Sear Bliss to focus soley on this in 1997. Started out as dark ambient, but soon evolved into a black metal band, and on his team for a couple of releases he had András Nagy of Sear Bliss as well. I'm a huge fan of both the dark ambient releases as well as the ambient black metal one, and this is just a perfect band for cold, bleak days. I think Winter perfected the ambient black metal genre with his 2002 demo The Eternal Winter. The mix of his earlier dark ambient into black metal is fantastic, and it's balanced perfectly. It's minimalistic and really effective. Cold, dark and bleak. Perfect production as well. Love his later releases too, but I think the debut album are a bit too polished to be honest. The two new tracks on the EP sounds more fittingly produced. But the demo is raw and fits the music a lot better. Imagine Paysage d'Hiver, Evilfeast and Sear Bliss having a baby and you'll get what this band is all about. Such a fantastic demo! 10/10 Where Paysage d'Hiver is more like you're all alone on the moountain walking through a blizzard, Forest Silence is more like you're taking a walk through a col, dark snow-cladden forest. Two way different bands, but with a lot in common. Beautiful stuff, both of them.

Hackers - This film is probably the closest thing I've come to a guilty pleasure. It's banal, it's silly and it's awfully campy, but there's just something here that brabs a hold to me. There's just something very likeable with this film, especially if you like camp as I very much do. It's just a fun film from begining to end. I'll like this film quitea lot. I love how all Hackers looks ridiculous in this film. And they all talk in a ridiculous way. It's hilarious. Anyway, this gif pretty much sums up this entire film: Mystery Road - Incredible Australian mystery-thriller with a superb Aaron Pedersen in the lead as a lone detective trying to figure out a murder. It's very straight-forward and offers nothing new to the genre, but it's a damn fine film anyway. Captivating from A to Z. The cinematography is, despite its simplicity, amazing and everything feels really stylish and cool. Noir-inspired, atmospheric and brilliant. Nothing short of that. Everything works out real good, but it's Aaron Pedersen who is this film. He is incredible here, and his facial expressions alone is more than enough to tell a story and drive this film by itself. Yeah, no, just see it, motherfuckers! 9+/10

The Warriors - Ultra badass thriller by Walter Hill. The kind of film that's so cool you'll start shouting and cheering at the screen. Walter Hill was good at what he was doing at this time, and everything about the film just screams awesome. From the way the different gangs are dressed to the way they move and to the way they they talk. Sure, it's all a bit banal and campy, but it's fucking awesome, and as I said, the attitude of the film is brilliant, so is the atmosphere. Stylish film! Awesome. Can you dig it? I know I can. The best thing about the film is the different gangs dress codes and shit. Silly and campy, but god that is so cool. All This Mayhem - A lovely documentary about the Pappas brothers, two of the best skateboarders throughout the 90's. This isn't a documentary about skateboarding, though, but an inspirational as well as a heartbreaking story about two aussie brothers who dared to dream big and archived what they dreamt of, and this document both their rise and fall. And neither of the bothers are portraid as an angel either, which is nice. The documentary is simply an emotional roller-coaster full of ups and downs, and you're doomer to get touched by it in a way or other. I'll admit that the way they bash Tony Hawk in this documentary is uncalled for, though. Should at least have let him defend himself or something. When you do something this way you come off as very butthurt. But that's just a very small part of this film, and the only flaw as I see it. But it's a very nice documentary. I liked it a lot. Starship Troopers - Do I need to say something about this? Ok, so some of the special effects haven't stood the test of time, and I am thinking about the CGI which at times is awful. But it's mixed with lovely practical effects, and it never gets too flashy, so it's something I can look past. But aside from that I am digging everything about this film. Paul Verhoeven is so fucking good!

Dust Devil - Hauting, western'esque horror by Richard Stanley. Dream-like, mellow and grim in a weird way. Great atmosphere throughout the whole film. Mystical and bleak. Gotta love that. Hardware - Stylish post-apocalyptic cyberpunk horror by Richard Stanley, and in my eyes, his masterpiece. An underrated film with lots of atmosphere, stylish visuals and a cool plot. Imagine Alien and The Terminator making a baby and you've more or less got this film. It's claustrophobic and terrorizing, nightmarish, dark and creepy. I think everything works well in this film, and it's crowned by Richard Stanley style and vision. There's a lot of similarities with Dust Devil, but I find this to be the better film. It just looks and sounds so good. A pleasure to both eyes and ears. Watch out for the cameos by Lemmy of Motorhead, and Carl McCoy of Fields of the Nephilim, as well as the voice of Iggy Pop. Very cool touches, that. It's such a shame Richard Stanley was ruined by The Island of Dr. Moreau. Imagine what he could've been today if not for that farse? Jesus. Screamtime - Low-budget horror anthology that just didn't do anything for me. I didn't expect much from it, but it still disappointed me. There's no atmosphere and it's just bad, but not bad enough sadly. Just meh.

Patch Town - Cool, campy and silly Tim Burton-esque fantasy film with a superb villain. The film is very uneven, and the pacing feels a bit off at times, and the plot has its flaws. But it's enjoyable, and the thing that really makes this film cool, aside from a cool-as-fuck-villain, is the world that Craig Goodwill has created. It's dark and cold and very much Tim Burton-esque, but still something a bit fresh. Only problem is he doesn't explore this world enough, which is a proper shame. Rob Ramsay and Julian Richings are great in their roles, and especially Julian Richings is superb as the villain. A cool villain with a lovely tone and a brilliant apperance. I loved him a lot! A flawed film, but an enjoyable one. Recommended for sure.

RoboCop - I had promised myself not to watch this, but my girlfriend really wanted to see it so I joined in to please here. It's far from as bad as I thought it would be, but still really poor. I'm not sure, but it feels as if the writer's completely missed the point of what RoboCop is all about, and they've more or less just turned it into a modern Hollywood shoot 'em up-film like a billion other films. It's just very meh. Very, very meh. Lots of poor special effects too, and RoboCop looks beyond retarded in this. What on earth were they thinking? They probably weren't. Useless film. I feel a bit sorry for José Padilha here. He should never have taken this job to begin with, no-one with respect for themselvs should, but from what I read he tried to change a lot of the script but was told no with every single idea he came up with. Shame, because he's a really talented guy and with more creative power I am sure he could've made this into something decent at least.

Hannie Caulder - This went right into my top 10 western films when I first saw, and I still think it's excellent. Quite different from all the other western I've seen, and it feels really fresh. The film is directed by Burt Kennedy who's known for his westerns, among them the fantastic Support Your Local Sheriff!, and Hannie Caulder is a typical Burt Kennedy film even though it's more spaghetti western-inspied than his earlier films. The film isn't Oscar-worthy in any way, but it's got a good script, great dialogue, fantastic cast, monsterous and bloody action sequences and some funny moments, as well as really nice characters. The chemistry between Raquel Welch's character (god, what a woman!!!) and Robert Culp's chaacter is amazing, and both characters are good as well. I really like how Raquel Welch's character grows, and I really like how Robert Culp' haracter shows some weaknesses, as well as how smart he is. And then we have Christopher Lee of course. What a man! Hannie Caulder is a rape & revenge western, and it's fast-paced, fierce and brutal. It's just fantastic like. And this film must've been a huge inspiration on Tarantino for his Kill Bill films? I can see a lot of Hannie Caulder in Kill Bill. Fun fact: this is the only western Christopher Lee did. By the way, take a look at this: Christ almighty! Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry - Cult film directed by John Hough (Twins of Evil, The Legend of Hell House, Escape to Witch Mountain). It's a car film made the way they were supossed to be made. The film is basically a huge car chase, but it's so well-done. The car chases are filmed in such a way that you can just feel the power of the cars throughout the film. It's just filmed in such a sexy way. Good cast as well. Peter Fonda, Adam Roarke and Vic Morrow are all fantastic, and while Susan George is pretty poor acting-wise in this film, she brings the right type and right amount of attitude to the film which makes her great as well. The few dialogue-driven scenes were very impressive as well. Totally recommended if you like cars, car films and car chases. You don't see such powerful car chases anymore. It's beautiful!

Sounds awesome! I'm happy to hear that Carpenter Brut does more than just laptoppin' away.

The release that's supossed to be the best, and if it it's a totally unknown band I'll go with the one with the best artwork. Don't give a shit if it's an album, EP, single or a compilation.

Went to a neofolk/ambient/industrial gig called Blå Ild yesterday. Was great. I arrived just in time to see the second band, Solstorm, in action, and it was amazing. Folk with members from Vemod and Ghoul-Cult. A nice, calm and atmospheric gig that really pleased me. Very enjoyable. Looking forward to the band's first release sometime soon. Next up was Peter Bjärgö, but me and my mate went to grab some beers and sit down after five minutes as this didn't give us anything at all. Dark . ritualistic ambient. Last band of the evening was Of the Wand and the Moon, and they truly impressed. A band that should be familiar to all fans of neofolk. Was very nice! Was a cheap gig as well.

I fucking love autotune.

Gekisei is one of the best songs ever. Masterpiece! Bear out.

A few very good bands there. Would've really loved to see Thulcandra. Great Dissection-worship to the core, but good Dissection-worshipto the core. Would also be happy to see Impaled Nazarene, Antropomorphia, Saille and Evil Invaders. Pretty sure Impaled Nazarene is pretty up and down live these days, but they still released classics like Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz..., Ugra-Karma and Suomi Finland Perkele, so it would be interesting to see them live.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qf3wC9qLMg This is such a good album.

Going to Trondheim Metal Fest in the begining of October. There's three club stages on Thursday, and regular stages inside on Friday and Saturday, at a Hotel nearby. The lineup isn't the best I've ever seen, but it should be fun anyway. Saturday is the main reason for me and my brother going. The lineup is below, the bolded is what we'll see and the italic is the ones we'll probably have a look at: Thursday: Blood Stage (Kultursenteret ISAK) : Strandhugg, Akarusa Yami Doom Stage (Familien) Sahg Tombstones Scornful Black Stage (Fru Lundgreens) Iskald Trollskugge From The Vastland Legends Stage (Good Omens) Överhead Battery Baghera Friday: Sabaton Between The Buried & Me Evile Cirkus Maximus Khold Rotting Christ Betraying The Martyrs Nergard Crucified Barbara Hellish Outcast Hamferd Tellus Requiem Maiden Norway Saturday: Stratovarius Suspiria Korpiklaani Primordial Aura Noir Anaal Nathrakh Tankard Dødheimsgard Skálmöld Attan The Hate Colony Anthem - Dio Tribute Mambo Kurt. On thursday I am going mainly to get a look at From the Vastland, an Iranian black metal band that's pretty cool. And while I am there I'll probably have a look at Iskald as well. Trollskugge seems to be an embarrassment to the black metal scene, but since I am there I might have a look at it, ptobably just for the laughs of it. Friday doesn't really have any interesting bands. The Khold isa band I've seen a handful of times and they deliver each time, and it's been some eyars so I am looking forward to that. I can't stand Sabaton, but they're known as a fantastic live band so I'll give them a chance live. Rotting Christ was awful at Inferno, but being a fan I'll give them a new chance. I've not heard Hamferd as far as I know, but they seem interesting enough. And Between The Buried & Me and Circus Maximus I'll have a look at just because both they are I am there. But saturday is the reason why I am going, and more specific Primordial. I've missed out on Primordial a billion times now, and with them being among my favourite bands I'm happy to finally getting to see them live. Aura Noir is amazing both on record and live, so that's interesting as well, and while Tankard's been shit since the mid 80's, they're legends and look a great live band. Dødheimsgard is amazing, but their gig at Inferno was bad but I am ready to give them a new chance. Anaal Nathrakh was great one upon a time, but they're been awful for ages now and live they seem even worse. But I am there and they're there, so I'll give them a fai chance. Korpiklaani is a ridicolus band, but their first album was OK and they're probably hilarious live. Stratovarius is Stratovarius. If they play a lot of older songs it could easily be a cool gig. But do they play mostly old though? I'm not so sure. Anyway, it should be a nice weekend. And Primordial will make it worthy of all my money anyway. Amazing on record and the band is known for being even better live. From the DVD and various live videos, few human beings seem to have such a massive stage presence as A.A. Nemtheanga. His powerful vocals doesn't exactly make him any lesser either. The only complainment is that they'll probably only get 45-50 minutes, and that they'll only play six songs, all from the last four albums. But with all albums being masterpieces it's totally forgiven, even though I'd love to hear something off the first two albums. The best god damn vocalist alive in 2015. God! God! GOOOOOOOOD!!!

Dead Silence - James Wan's second film, and while it was not a new Saw, I always found it charming in many way. It's very easy to see that it' made by the same person who made Saw, because it does feature any of the same elements - directing-wise that is. While not amazing, it's a charming film with some nice atmosphere, and it's obvious that it is made by someone with a love for horror. Wan's weakest film but still good fun on a wednesday evening. A few of the scares are poor, and some of the special effects are awful. Godawful that is. But as I said, it's good fun.

Been playing this a few times lately and I've been quite impressed by it. A nice mixture of progressive death metal, occult rock with touches of black and death/goth rock. It's got some proper death/goth rock feeling throughout the album. I have also been revisiting Morbus Chron's final album Sweven lately as well, after been really disappointed after its release. But it's working way better now. Progressive death metal much in the vein of the two last Tribulation albums. Not as gothy and more Opeth-esque in its acoustic work, but if you like newer Tribulation you sure should check it out. If you like death metal you should simply check out their debut album, Sleepers in the Rift, which still ranks on my top 10 all-time favourite death metal albums. Masterpiece of another dimension! Also, after listening to this a few times daily for a week or so, the band announced their split and end of the band. What a shame.

I am looking forward to the music, but that's gotta be one of the worst outfits I've ever seen. Looks like a poorly designed Final Fantasy villain with awful hair.

If you are not familiar with giallos I would strongly advice you to check it out. I'd go as far as to say that giallos are to slashers what Celtic Frost is to black metal, Kreator is to death metal and Buck-Tick is to visual kei. But compared to slashers, giallos tend to be smarter, more stylish, sexier, more colourful and way more complex. But it is the crime element is what really sets the genre apart from regular slashers, though. But the genre is also very known for their unique soundtracks. Goblin are perhaps the most known band to score giallos, and they also happen to rank among my favourite bands. Unique prog rock that is both great and fitting to the films. Other artists that's known for their giallo soundtracks are Bruno Nicolai, Ennio Morricone and Riz Ortolani, all great composers with an ear for mood and atmosphere.

I think Friday the 13th (10/10), Friday the 13th Part 2 (9/10), Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (8/10) and Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (8/10) are all great and worth seeing. But again, do check out classic giallos. Giallos are a must!