Bear

I am almost tempted at voting Nightmare because of all the shit Gazette have released after Gama (except for a few good songs on DIM), but I'l go with Gazette because unlike Nightmare, they have several really good releases in their discography.

 

 

I was never really able to get into Nightmare and really dig it. I've only heard the stuff up until Killer Show, and none of the albums are bad. But none of them are amazing either. Always uneven with some good songs, some fillers and only a couple of really, really good songs. Decent band, but not more than that.

 

Gazette, up until Gama, were really good, and Disorder and Cockayne Soup are among the best albums in the scene since its birth. The four other EPs, as well as all the singles before the overrated, awfully boring Reila, are very good.

 

So the choice is simple, really. But Nightmare have never reached a low like Gazette dig with NIL, and the band would walk further down the abyss with albums such as Stacked Rubbish, Toxic, Division and Beautiful Deformity. So Nightmare are the most even out of the two (from what I have heard), since everything is listenable. But Gazette has the best released behind them.

Then you should start with Dopethrone. But IMO you can't go wrong with Electric Wizard, so no matter where you start you'll touch upon something good.

 

 

Been trying to get into Gotsu Totsu Kotsu several times, but I never end up going back to them. Love the concept (which is the reason why I checked them out to begin with), but that's more or less it. Not bad, but it doesn't give me much at all.

It depends on what you're looking for.

 

Their debut, Electric Wizard, is a straight forward trad. doom album in the vein of the classics.

 

Come My Fanatics... is slower, heavier and borrows a lot from sludge and stoner as well.

 

Dopethrone is often considered the band's best album. It's even slower and heavier than Come My Fanatics... and sounds way more massive and psychedelic.

 

Let Us Prey is a more experimental album, and their most experimental to date. Not saying much, though.

 

We Live is less experimental, and more back to basis. My second favourite just after Witchcult Today.

 

Witchcult Today  are my favourite ElWiz album. It is recorded with vintage audio equipment from the 1970s, and it is very easy to hear that because production-wise it's 100% 70's.

 

Black Masses is a continuation of Witchcult Today. A bit more mellow maybe?

 

Anyway, I'd rate 'em like this:

 

1. Witchcult Today

2. We Live

3. Black Masses

4. Dopethrone

5. Come My Fanatics...

Guys wo whine about being friendzoned are just butthurt, because they got rejected by a girl and instead of dealing with it, they keep complaining and feeling superior for no reason. No one is entitled to date another person. No matter if they're male, or female.

 

F A C T !

 

I hate every single human being who uses "friendzone" in a serious manner.

Cool! I'm happy someone else liked it a lot.

Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle - A mini-series consisting of three hour-long episodes covering everything from the begining og the superheroes and the creators influences, until today and all the films based off superheroes. Obviously, they're trying to cover 75 years in thee hour, so there's a lot missing. But if you are like me, someone who loves superheroes, but doesn't know too much about the origins, then this should entertain you. It contains interviews with creators and artists, historians, film directors and even a couple of actors that has played superheroes (Batman and Wonder Woman) and much more. This was really good!

 

Europa Report - Deent found footage-sci-fi that's decent, but nothing more. I hate a lot of the camera effects in the film. It just gets too try-hard to be honest.

 

Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain - Great fantasy-adventure that's got a lot in common with Big Trouble in Little China aka the best film ever made, but that shouldn't be surprising as Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain was the main influence on Carpenter when he made Big Trouble in Little China. No Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountan = no BigTrouble in Little China. It's very over the top, especially on the special effects, and while some will tell you that it hasn't stood the test of time, I will have to politley disagree as the special effects are the best thing about this film together with the main actors. Crazy film, and that's in a good way.

 

The Conspiracy - Found footage-thriller/horror that actually feels original, and is very well done. Lots of cliches, but that actually helps this film a lot IMO, and it never feels as if I am watching a film with actos. It feels like a documentary, and it gets creepy as fuck. It really did put me off. Effective stuff.

THe cover of the upcoming Electric Wizard album:

 

Not their best yet, but it's cool allright. Very cool.

 

New song: http://noisey.vice.com/de/blog/electric-wizard-i-am-nothing-listen

 

 

Awesome song, and they seem to have kept their word as well. They said they would go away from the 70's sound they've had on these last two albums and more back to Dopethrone territory, and so they've done. This is heavy as fuck. Sounds massive!

Been spinning Vintersorg's Naturbål a lot lately. With Cosmic Genesis, released in 2000, Vintersorg moved away from his well-known folk metal sound and stepped into progressive territory, and lyrically he moved from nature and paganism to cosmos. While there was still elements of both the folk and black metal sound in the music, it was a huge change and while a good album, it's inferior to the three albums relesed before it. With each album he got gradually worse and reached a low with the progressive The Focusing Blur. Not bad, just not very good either.

 

Then came Solens rötter and we were promised an album that would be back to the roots with folky metal and lyrics in Swedish. Well, it was a bit folkier, and it had Swedish lyrics, but it wasn't much about it that reminded anyone about the good, ol' days of Vintersorg. With that album I stopped checking out his new albums. He also got gradually more annoying vocal-wise, and went to become awful in both Vintersorg and Borknagar (both bands got worse with each release anyway, so it did not matter).

 

I accidently came over his promo video for Lågornas rov and it was such a surprise. Once again he was playing around with folky black metal with a progressive and symphonic touch, and it was by far the best song he had done since Ödermarkens son. The album is amazing, and VIntersorg finally sings good again as well. The album feels like the natural follow-up to Ödermarkens son. Well-written and interesting songs with lots of catches, fantastic choruses, a production with a few, lovely faults and great vocals. His best album since Ödermarkens son, and perhaps even better than that, and it feels like a natural follow-up to Ödermarkens son, without him just copying himself. It's new and fresh, yet so familiar.

 

Because of this I also decided to check out Jordpuls and Orkan, and he got more and more back to his roots with each album. Both which are decent, and both song-wise and vocal-wise he's gradually gotten better with each of the four last albums. None of them are nearly as good as this, though, because this album is fantastic.

Tape:
Dracula - Open Graves at Midnight

Vinyl:
Tokyo Blade - Tokyo Blade
Hin Håle - Beyond

 

Daaaaamn, the Tokyo Blade vinyl is seeeexy. Or, the whole package is sexy as fuck. Beautiful.

A recommendation for all of you who loves old school gaming:

 

Shovel Knight

I played this at my brother this week. It's a retro action game wich, due to different reasons, brings video games like Super Mario Bros 3, Megaman, Castlevania, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Duck Tales to mind, without being a copycat in any way. It takes element from all these games and makes it into something new, fresh and unique, and despite it being modern (as in the creaters doing things that wasn't possible in older games), it gives you the feeling of playing, looking and listening to an old game. The gameplay, story, humour, visuals and soundtrack is all top notch.

 

I haven't played through it yet, but I've gotten pretty far and it is nothing short of genius. 10/10 wihout any doubt whatsoever.

 

Perturbator - Dangerous Days (splatter)

 

I got home a few days so I finally got to open the package that had been lying around my house waiting for me to get home. The album is great and the whole thing is just really well done. It's so fucking sexy. I miss a booklet, innlay or something like that, but everything else is top notch as always from Blood Music. Quality label. Sooooo sexy!

 

 

 

I've also bought some tapes:

 

Sigh - Scorn Defeat (single tape version, I already own the 2xtape version)

Orcustus ‎– Anthology  (2xtape)

Obtained Enslavement Centuries of Sorrow (2xtape)

 

Great releases.

Any fans of Old Man's Child here? I've had a massive kick on this band/project lately. For those not familiar with the band, Old Man's Child is Galder's (of Dimmu Borgir fame) baby, which he started out with some friends in the late 80's under a different name. Old Man's Child is a melodic black metal band that at time have been flirting with the symphonic side of black metal, without getting to much into that. And unlike so many melodic black metal bands, these guys always manage to remain black metal at heart. While always being Galder's baby, Old Man's Child ahve had other members and session members such as Tjodalv (ex-Dimmu Borgir), Nicholas Barker (ex-Dimmu Borgir and ex-Cradle of Filth), Brynjard Tristan (ex-Dimmu Borgir), Gonde (Minas Thirith), Aldrahn (Dødheimsgard), Gene Hoglan (ex-Death and Death Angel) and others. So he's had some great musicians helping him out as well.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlnvncBA904

 

Superb band! It's a shame Galder uses all of his time with the inferior Dimmu Borgir nowadays. Rewally a shame.

These Amazing Shadows - These Amazing Shadows is a documentary that uses the National Film Registry as a platform to show how important films are as a reflection of our culture and heritage. It's a documentary about the importance of films. It'sa great film, and you'll get interviews with members of the National Film Registry, directors, actors, critics, journalists and all that. It's a great film, and a film for anyone that sees films as something more than just your saturday entertainment toget through a boring evening. It's a tad short, though. There should've been way more info on the pictures. More people should have talked abou each film and decribe as to why they are as important as they are and so on. Great film.

 

The Slanted Screen - A film about Hollywood's racism (yes, I'll go as far as calling it racism) towards asian americans in the film industry, both in treatment (or lack thereof) of asian americans and how they are portraied. I was shocked at the info about The Replacement Killers, the one The O.C. episode and Romeo Must Die. Truly shocked. Eye opening stuff. This too is too short, clocking in at 60 minutes. Would've wanted more interviews with different people. But it's a good one for sure.

Lynch all the way. Better songs, an overall better sound where everything fits well and not overproduced to the point where it becomes unlistenable. Even the very few Deathgaze songs that shouldn't suck, because the songs itself are actually allright, sucks because of their choice of production. CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLIK < Deathgaze's bass drum sound. Fucking typewriter "bass" drums. Annoying band!

Vidoll. They were good for many years before they went just decent. Phantasmagoria never made a single listenable song. Pathetic band.

Laraine all the way. Their 90's stuff were pretty good as far as I remember. Versailles have never made a single second with good music. I can't decribe with words how much I dislike Versailles and their awful brand of power metal.

Exist Trace by a long shot. Danger Gang never did anything for me. Not bad, just not very good or interesting either.

Yes. I love the madness that urrounds the film. How it portrais what your brain can do if you believe in something. Awesome stuff!

Cool! I really liked Rise of the Planet of the Apes, so I am really looking forward to Dawn... Should be good.

 

The Hands of Orlac - Had a reunin with this masteriece the other day. Fantastic film. Atmospheric, moody and mad. It's way more easy watching than Robert Wiene's über classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, both visually and story wise. Especially visually. It's not as dream-like and colourful as Dr. Caligari. It's a very staight forward film like that. But it's a great film, and well worth watching for horror maniacs who likes old horror.

 

The Big Doll House - Another reunion, this time with cult classic The Big Doll House. Pam Grier, Sid Haig and other awesome actors. It's not a very good film, but it's still a great film. Very standard WiP (women in prison) with lots of skin and titties, eroticism and some violence. Great stuff! Jack Hill, man. Love that guy. Made some fantastic films.

Plus I can't take anybody seriously if they are trying to convince me Symphony of a Vampire is power metal mini-album. THE FUCK!!

 

You don't have to take me seriously, or believe me when I say it is power metal, but anyone with a slight knowledge of the genre will hear that it is power metal. Simple as that really.

I haven't tried many of those bands but Kamijo is rock. Megaramonia is quite a stretch to say that they are power metal, I consider them just metal same for D, Jupiter and Versailles.

Even then, you listed less than a good sample size to actually determine what a certain genre would sound like. Jupiter, Versailles, D, Megaramonia don't sound like each other at all.

No. All the ones I mention are power metal. I know because I've heard all of them. I've only heard Simphony of the Vampire, but that EP is pure symphonic power metal and therefore I consider Kamijo power metal. Unlike Kamijo, Megaromania does bring in more elements from other genres to their music, but the band are rooted very much in power metal.

 

I never tried to show anyone what a certain genre would sound like, I just thought your comment on VK power metal were a bit silly since someone like me, someone who doesn't like much modern sounding power metal bands at all, easily could mention more than a handfull VK power metal bands. Was nothing more to it.

 

 

 

On topic: only heard Lycaon which are awful. Doubt Calmando Qual can be any worse, but since I only heard one I won't vote.

There is probably less than a handful of VK power-metal bands.

 

 

Really?. Jupiter, Versailles, Megaromania, Kamijo, Ruiza, Ancestral, Candy Drugers, Hikoboshi, Orochi, Falaris, Sex Virgin Killer, Vertex and Nameless One are a few of the ones I've stumbled upon, and I don't even look for these kind of bands as I don't like the type of power metal most of these are playing. People into this type of music could probably mention a lot more than this.

I don't have high standards at all to be fair, but it just didn't grab my attention. I wasn't entertained by it. It kinda reminds me of The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Returns, which both shares the same problems as Iron Man to me. Can't stand any of 'em. I can see someone running around in Iron Man and Batman suits, but I don't get any Iron Man or Batman feeling from them. This doesn't necessary mean that it's bad, though. But it doesn't help. I like Judge Dredd with sly, but as soon as Sly takes off his helmet it doesn't feel like Judge Dredd anymore. If he had kept it on it would've been an even better film, because it would've given away a Judge Dredd feeling. Not a very good film, though. But nostalgia keeps me attrackted to it.

 

I'll also add that I am a huge Robert Downey Jr. fan. Love him, but he didn't do much for me in Iron Man. Just like I love Christian Bale, but he didn't do it for me in the last two Batman films.

Vent to a garage sale and picked up a few vinyls today, most of them I choose because of either cover or title.

Negerkvartetten fra Rhodesia - Negerkvartetten fra Rhodesia (synger negro spirutals og afrikanske sanger på stamspråket)
Industrials - Voodoo Island
Twiggy Bop - Don't Forget
Philip Bailey / Little Richard ‎– Twins
Rebel Sisters - Breaking My Heart
M.C. Hammer ‎– (Hammer Hammer) They Put Me In the Mix
Steely Dan ‎– You Go Where I Go
The Miracles - Love Crazy
General - Heart of Rock
Sequal - Sequal
Dead or Alive - Youthquake
Break Machine ‎– Break Dance Party

Break Machine seems like a good hit. Sounds great!

 

In my eyes there's no doubt whatsoever that someone like Yngwie J. Malmsteen just loves to show of and adds things to his albums just because he loves to show off his skills, and not because they add anything to the music itself. I consider both Rising Force and Marching Out as masterpieces, and I fucking love me some Yngwie. But let's be honest, it's obvious that a lot of the solos on both albums are there just for the sake of being there, and a lot of them are long just for the sake of being long, and a lot of them are technical as fuck just for the sake of being technical as fuck, and not because they add anything to the songs themself, because they don't. But don't get me wrong, I love it and a lot of there obviously is there because they add something extra to the music.

 

 

Fantastic!