Bear
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Posts posted by Bear
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^ Still way better than 0 new song.
I disagree.
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Samurai Spy - A visually stunning 60's new wave samurai/ninja masterpiece by Masahiro Shinoda, with a great cast, good, solid plot and cool action. The cinematography in this film is absolutely insane and the strongest point of the film by a long shot, and there is ALWAYS some eye candy present on screen. It's so beautiful to look at. The story might be a bit too much for some people, with too many characters and locations in too short of a time, but I have no problem following the plot, which I really like. But if you're unlucky and get lost, I think you'll struggle big time to get into it again, which means this is a film that requiers your 100% attention. Lovely soundtrack that fits the atmosphere of the film perfectly too.
Yeah, it ould pobably have been a bit longer and gone deeper into the plot and sub-plots here and there, but the visuals totally makes up for it and despite being black and white it's one of the most colourful films I've seen in a long, long time. Truely reathtaking! 9,5/10
Shinobi no Mono 5: Return of Mist Saizo - I'm not sure about the title, but it should be something along those lines. Anyway, the fifth in the series and a direct continuation of the previous one. As with the 3rd, it starts of amazingly but doesn't manage to follow it up and ends as a bit of a disappointment, mainly because the lighting is bloody awful at times and it gets hard to see exactly what happens during some of the action scenes. But other than that it's geat, fast-paced and cool. Raizo Ichikawa and Tomisaburo Wakayama ae themself alike - brilliant by both! And the plot is solid as fuck, so I truly enjoyed this film as well.
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Music-wise it's a battle between angura, eroguro and nagoya, and image-wise it's eroguro. I guess.
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Everything basically. Fuzz is a decent and catchy pop song, but other than that there's nothing of value on Shion in my ear. The songs suck, the production is boring and Tatsurou sounds unspired.
I'm not a big fan of Kuchiki no To either, but it's got a few decent songs and Tatsurou doesn't sound as boring as on Shion, but even on this album I think he'd lost most of his punch, which might seem a bit weird as I think he was amazing and at his very best just one year earlier. But I just think he'd lost much of that desperation, hurt and honesty that made his vocals so enjoyable on Zekuu, as well as his vocals sounding kinda out of place on Kuchiki no To. The production is pretty bad, though.
So Kuchiki no To at least has something for me to enjoy, something which Shion doesn't with the exception of one decent song. But neither is something I'd listen to ever again from my own will. That's for sure.
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I will pick Kuchiki no tou, but that's not because I think it is a great album. It's a mediocre album that's a lot better than the godawful Shion.
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You should try the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I love it and can't stand any of the new remakes. It's got a pretty different feeling to it.
"Fun" fact: I used to hate The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and thought it was just screaming without any real substance. This was something like 12-13 years ago. That changed with time though, and now I adore the film.
And both Scream and ESPECIALLY The Exorcist are fantastic films. The Exorcist does pretty much everything right. Brilliant film! Even the original, banned trailer is beyond cool. Had I seen this trailer at the cinema when I was around 13-16 years old I would seriously have shat my pants and left right away. It's that awesome:
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I've been recommending some albums in the past, and now I thought I'd go in a slightly different direction and recommend several albums by one band. Or, just recommend the band. This is a band that it has taken me years and years to get into, but a few moths ago I tried for the X-th time and suddenly I realised how brilliant this band is. Or, was. Along with Summoning, Abigor is one of the big black metal bands from Austria, Summoning-member Silenus was a part of the band in the period 94-98 as their vocalist. Since their formation in 93 the band has released 5 demos, 1 split (with Summoning and a few other bands), 5 EPs, 1 single and 10 fullenghts, where one is a new interpretation of an old album.
Their three first albums are absolutely brilliant IMO. Original and unlike every other band in the genre. One of those bands you'll recognize during a few seconds of the first song. With the release of Supreme Immortal Art they went in a more complex and symphonic direction more inspired by the likes of Emperor and geting more and more experimental with each album. I really like Supreme Immortal Art and Channeling the Quintessence of Satan with their chaotic avant-garde touch, but with Satanized (A Journey Through Cosmic Infinity) they started losing me and with the next album, Fractal Possession, I was actually completely lost. I haven't really tried the albums after, but I plan too.
Fractal Possession was the first album I checked out by the band back in 2007, and I disliked it then. I don't dislike it as much in 2014, but I am still no fan of it. Tried it again only a couple of days ago actually. With this they went in a direction that sounds inspired by newer Dødheimsgard and Deathspell Omega. While there's plenty of great riffs and melodies and awesome structures and whatnot, it just seem as if they created and album that was too straightforward for their liking and just added weird parts here and there to make it seem more avant-garde and unique. It just doesn't work for me.
But if you're a fan of black metal, this band is highly recommended, both old and new. But especially their three first albums which are all 10/10 IMO. Unique band! Perfect mix of semi-symphonic, melodic and raw black metal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fORKhwNqo3o
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Castle of Owls - When I say this film is directed by Eiichi Kudo, you should know that this is a high quality film. If you're not familiar with Eiichi Kudo, then shame on you. Eiichi Kudo is probably best known for for his masterpieces 13 Assassins (the original which Takashi Miike remade some years ago), The Great Killing and Eleven Samurai. Castle of Owls might as wellbe the finest ninja film I have ever seen, one of the best jidaigeki-films I've ever seen, and probably the best I've seen by Eiichi Kudo till now. The story is simple, yet brilliant, the actors are top notch, it's beyond visually stunning (the colours in the film look fantastic!!!), the fights and ninjaism is magnificent and it's just extremely well-made, as expected from someone like Eiichi Kudo.
It is a real shame that the remake is perhaps better known than this. Much more known I think. I've not seen the remake, but I am interested in seeing it, but I doubt it can match this film.
That is hands down one of the best shots I've ever seen on film.
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This hasn't got anything to do with horror films, but this stuff is recommended to people who can't get enough of 70's and 80's synth-heavy horror soundtracks ala Carpenter, Frizzi and so on.
Slasher Dave. Slasher Dave is 1/3 of the horror-inspired death/doom outfit Acid Witch, which is fantastic by the way, and Slasher Dave is his solo project. Released two albums so far, first which I'd say has more in common with John Capenter and the second with Fabio Frizzi, even though you can hear both of those, as well as others, being present in both albums. I think both albums are fantastic. Tomb of Horror are among my favourite albums in 2014.
Listen to both albums here:
Step into a world of horror on Halloween Night! All sanity is shattered as evil manifests itself through synthesized madness. Sequenced screams of 80's Carpenter will make your ears bleed with terror, while Frizzi-influenced interludes exhume ghastly Goblins from a graveyard inhabited by classic horror soundtracks. Slasher Dave continues his horrific journey to conjure the essence of All Hallows' Eve with yet another Halloween-themed album so terrifying, we urge you not to listen to it alone. Comprised of 13 instrumental tracks, this album exploits your deepest fears and drags you into the unknown. It is the season of the witch…and the night of the Devil. It is the unspeakable fear that is the... SPOOKHOUSE.
Creeping out of the rotting crypts, Slasher Dave returns with yet another album of unrelenting horror soundtrack lunacy. Emerging from the murky depths of the John Carpenter inspired debut album, Spookhouse, a brand new chapter of terror takes form. This time, drawing influence from Fabio Frizzi and Italian movie soundtracks, in the festering spirit of Dr. Butcher M.D., Cannibal Ferox, and Fulci classicks like Zombie and The Beyond. Elements of Goblin can also be discerned shrieking from the decrepit caskets of the rotting dead. Filled with even more frenzied synthesizer pandemonium, and introducing instruments like the Mellotron and 12 string guitar, this album manifests a much darker side of Slasher Dave's music.
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Well, it's a torture porn with the most important ingredients, but it's a lot different from Saw, Hostel, A Serbian Film and so on. It's frustratingly dark and bleak, and desite all its violence it is not the violence itself that makes it a disturbing film. Unlike Saw, which is fun with all of its creative kills and blood, this isn't fun in that way. It's not silly in the same way as most other tortue porns. It's just deeply disturbing in a great way.
i was let down by The Collector. Not bad, just not very good either. Gave it a 5/10 and never bothered with The Collection.
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New Marduk song as well: https://soundcloud.com/centurymedia/marduk-rope-of-regret
As for Varathron, I'm a massive fan myself and thought this new one was the best since their 1995 classic Walpurgisnacht. But they've got a long way before they reach the magnificence of His Majesty at the Swamp and Walpurgisnacht which is not only among the best greek black metal albums ever, which in all honestly says hella lot, but two of the best black metal albums EVER. The compilation Genesis of the Unaltered Evil are also worth a purchase. Fantastic comp with demos, and EP and the split with Necromantia. But the whole split is recommended. The Necromantia side is fantastic as well.
And I can never talk bout Varathron without mentioning Hail, which sounds like a mix of Varathron's His Majesty at the Swamp and Beherit's Drawing Down the Moon. Such a great album.
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What the fuck did I just waste my time on?
Also, judging from that clip the drums sounds AWFUL.
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Ninja III: The Domination - The third and final films in The Cannon Group's ninja trilogy, and the most ridiculous of the three. I mean, this is so fucking over the top and it won't take you many minutes to find that out. The first ten minutes of the film consists of a ninja assasinating a man and his girl, before an army of cops starts chasing him. The ninja being a ninja he slays a shitload of cops with different weapons before he gets shot... 100 times and continues to fight and do his shit. A beautiful telephone linewoman and aerobics teachers finds this injured man and receive a sword - and so it all begins. That's just during the first ten minutes. This film has ninjas, possessions, exorcisms, floating swords, vengeance from beyond the grave, a beautiful lead and Sho Kosugi. And awesome fights. Do you need to need more? No, you do not. Watch this masterpiece!
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Innerspace - This is one of the films everybody loves when seeing it at a young age, and I was obviously one of them. So when rewatching this last night I was very excited to see if it had stood the test of time, or if it was en embarrassing piece of shit in 2014. And not only was I excited to see if this was good in 2014 because I loved it as a young, but also because I've grown on to become a HUGE Joe Dante fan over the years. Piranha , The Howling and Gremlins are three FANTASTIC films, and I adore Small Soldiers as well. One of my all-time favourite directos, despite not having too many movies to his name.
And guess what? Innerspace hasn't gone sour one tiny bit. Still absolutely fantastic and I can understand why this won an academy award. Ok, so some of the visuals do look a bit dated, but everything else is fantastic and both Martin Short and Robert Picardo are beyond fantastic in this film. It's not the film that keeps you gigling from A to Å like Dumb & Dumber or anything, but when it provides some laughs you'll have a hard time stop laughing because it's absolutely hilarious. Very good film!
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And there are also vk fans who refuse for whatever reason to listen to anything else but vk. So what? This "snobbishness" isn't even something peculiar to vk - just take a look at people who exclusively listen to classical music, or trance, or hip-hop, or whatever - and in my view, not necessarily something "bad".
There's nothing wrong with it, but there's a HUGE difference between only being into hip hop/metal/punk/classical music/whatever and only VK as I see and have experienced it: people who listen to VK tends to be into a SHITLOAD of genres (nu metal, metalcore, progressive metal, rock, pop, electronica, goth, punk), so it obviously have nothing to do with being close-minded as far as the music goes, because they're usualy very open-minded and tend to enjoy plenty of genres. So this quite obviously have nothing to do with the music itself, but something else. The image? Or maybe they feel unique listening to VK? I wouldn't know. If they, like the hip hop, classical music or metal fan only are only into one genre it would've been something else, but they're not. They're simply not into just one genre, they're into a scene and enjoy plenty of different genres, unlike the one that exclusively listens to hip hop, which is one genre.
As far as image goes, it's quite important to look good/cool/whatever to gain attention to themself and make people check you out, and this goes for all genres. I check out band because of their image, and I check out albums because of their cover art. But I don't judge the music itself because of either things, that's when it gets stupid IMO, when someone "choose" to continue listen to band A because they look better, despite liking the music of band B way better.
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It's more a term than an actual genre, but if you talk to someone who's into horror, they'l know what torture porn is and they'll be able to mention a few films within that "genre". And yes, there's people out there who love watching violence, blood and gore, and I am one of them. But I don't like everything just because it's got blood and gore. I really like some of the Saw films, really dislike a few of them. Hate the Hostel films, DESPISE A Serbian Film and so on. But I can mention more sick films I enjoy, than dislike. I'm a sucker for it, both the realistic stuff as well as unrealistic stuff.
I love brutally bloody violence, gore and whatnot on the screen, and I love MMA (fighting) and such as well. But when it comes to real life violence (aka violence where there's no doctors to take the call, no ref to tell them what's OK and what's wrong and so on) I'm not a fan at all. Can't stand that. Seeing people fight when going out a saturday night properly disgusts me. But when it comes to film it really can't get gory or bloody enough for me.
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Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th - I'm home sick today and my girlfriend went to work, so I finally got enough time to myself to watch this documentary. 400 minutes of everything Friday the 13th, from the first film to the remake, including the TV-series. There's interviews with directors, actors, producers, special effects-guys, componists and some Alice Cooper, as well as deleted scenes, pictures, stories and more. This was one hell of a ride, and don't be scared of the lenght - it doesn't even feel half as long as what it actually is.
This documentary is simply essencial for every fan of Friday the 13th out there, be it only the first, a few of them or all. Well, this is a must-see for Friday the 13th fans, and one that general fans of horror should see. Magnificent!
10/10
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It's about Japanese bands, but when Poison Idea and Integrity mention you as a huge influence you've done something very right.
With that said, I also prefer The Execute to G.I.S.M. Still dig G.I.S.M. though. But I just can't see past G.I.S.M. There's something very special about their music.
Another band that deserves a mention is Effigy. Crushing crust/thrash metal in the vein of old Sacrilege and Axegrinder. Despite being active from 1989 to 2007-2008 or something they only released two short EPs, as well as spits with Apärät, Häväistys, Acrostix, Zoe, Disturd, Hellshock and Abigail. They were also included on an Amebix tribute with Acrostix, Raw Gauge, Age, Life and Zoe. One of the very few tribute albums I've found myself listening to over and over again over the years. So they don't have too much material on their hands, but what they have are excellent. Someone should re-release all their stuff on vinyl.
From Hell/ Grinding Summer Massacre
Magnificent band. I even own a zipper hoodie from this band. No idea where I got it from.
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Shinobi No Mono 4: Siege - Back on track! The first three films were based on the Shinobi no Mono novels by Tomoyoshi Murayama, and starred Raizo Ichikawa in the role as Goemon Ishikawa. This is the first of the films in the series to be based on original screenplays by Hajime Takaiwa, the same man who was the screenwriter for the three first films. Raizo Ichikawa continues in the lead, but this time as another character called Saizo Kirigakure, who is on the opposite side of his first character Goemon Ishikawa. One of my alltime favourite actors Tomisaburo Wakayama is also present in this film, after being absent in the last film, Shinobi No Mono 3: Resurrection. Both are fantastic, just so that's said.
The film starts off as a proper slow burner, and while very good and interesting, it takes some time before it properly starts off. But when it does it's like getting kicked in the stomach. Everything is taken a bit further here and the ninjas are closer to what we think of when hearing the word ninja in 2014 than what the previous 3 films were, and every single time there's some ninja action on screen it looks fantastic. Stunning work. The story is top notch as well as the beautiful cinematogaphy, though a bit too dark in places.
All in all a fantastic film and the second best, if not THE best, in the series so far.
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And were they really so influential? Apart from Sakevis gruff vocals later bands adopted (FREEDOM, HEADLESS etc. comes to mind), I'm just not hearing much of their sound otherwise in bands of the time. I'd say most took their influence from THE STALIN and THE EXCECUTE and stuff like that. I have to confess that I'm pretty much only knowledgeable about 80:s japanese HC/punk stuff, so maybe bands of the 90:s and 00:s were more influenced?
Yes, I'd say they were. Not huge like Discharge or Amebix anything, but having a pretty big influence on the underground metal and hardcore scene, especially considering they played a type of metal punk that was way ahead of its time. Poison Idea are one of the bands citing G.I.S.M. as a big influence. Dwid of Integrity and Sean of Rot in Hell also mention G.I.S.M. as a huge inspiration. "We listen to the wisdom of Sakevi Yokoyama and Pentti Linkola, not the fripperies of Belladonna and Mustaine". Heh.
But more than being a musical influence, I believe G.I.S.M., along with bands such as Plasmatics, Amebix and Sacrilege, was very important in "uniting" the two communities. Suddenly it was cool to like both metal and punk, and suddenly you had both metalheads and punks going to the same gigs.
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Dir En Grey have been amazing for year's and year's, people always complain every time they come out with an album, it's either not heavy enough or it's too heavy or they copied a previous release of their's.
I just don't know what people want from them
People just want him to screech and scream on every album but when he does do something heavy and full of scream's everyone still complain's. Nothing seem's to impress anyone anymore
give the band some respect every now and then, maybe they aren't "heavy" enough for you but at least give them a chance and base the album and song's on the beautiful singing and not the stuff that doesn't exist that you wish did!
1. People have different taste, ad therefore there will always be people complaining about the newest release. This isn't unique for Dir en grey, this happens for every single band out there.
2. People want music they enjoy, and what they enjoy are different from individual to individual. Simple as that.
3. No, people don't just want him to screech and scream on every album. Again, people want something they enjoy. Some people want something hard or brutal, while others want something soft and catchy. Again, this differ from individual to individual. Someone, or most actually, don't care as long as it's good.
4. Why should people give a band respect, if the band doesn't do anything to satisfy them? I can respect Dir en grey for Missa, Gauze, Macabre, Uroboros and most of their other release, but there's no chance in hell I'll respect them for the abominations that is The Marrow of a Bone, Dum Spiro Spero, the awful re-recordings or their live performances. Why not you ask? Because I think they're fucking shit, and there's no way I am gonna pay any respect for what I consider shit.
Anyway, everything will always come down to personal taste. I don't give a fuck if the upcoming album is hard, heavy, soft, catchy or whatever as long as it's actually good. And that's what everyone wants; something THEY consider good.
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How exactly do you think G.I.S.M. are overrated? They've got the status they've got for three reasons:
1. because of the cool music.
2. because of Sakevi being a crazy motherfucker.
3. because they did something that at the time was incredibly unique, and proved to be a massive insiration for bands to come.
I mean, I can fully understand people not enjoying their sloppy-ass metalpunk, but how people can see them as overrated is beyond me to be honest.
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Also, Sigh are back in Studio Moopies and are now recording the upcoming album.
And for all P lovers: Blood Music will re-release Gallows Gallery in a standard version now. Will be up for pre-sale from next week. The original is a beauty beyond words, so I am looking forward to this. Will grab one meself, two if there's two different colours as I expect it to be.
This is what the first press looked like:
Was limited to 200 copies, with a black one limited to 100. So 300 in all.
THE HIP HOP THREAD!
in Global Music General Discussion
Posted
I have no idea what you want, but becaue you mentioned "return of the boom bap" I will just have to throw this one out there:
Fantastic album.