Bear

One of my all time favourite punk acts, if not the favourite. I'm obviously talkign about Danzig-era Misfits and not that abomination Misfits turned into after Danzing left. With Danzig Misfits didn't make a single song bellow amazing, but as soon as he left the band turned to utter shit fom day 1. Awful! I can't choose a favourite album. "Walk Amon Us" and "Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood" are equal, while "Static Age" is a bit bellow those. All three albums are 10/10 though, but that's quite obvious.

I'm also a huge fan of Sahain and Danzig's three-four first solo albums. It's hard to say this, as the man once was a God, but Danzig really lost it. Nowadays he's but a pathetic joke.

1. Misfits

2. Samhain

3. Danzig

And a recommendation for fans of Danzig-era Misfits would be Mourning Noise. It's pobably a bit obvious, but it seems that they're sadly underrated and overseen. Mourning Noise were a punk band from Lodi, New Jersey, the same place as Misfits. Their drummer, Steve Zing, lived close by Jerry Only from Misfit, and went to school with Jerry Only's brother Doyle. They're more or less a Misfits clone, and the best one there is.

Steve Zing would later join Danzig's Samhain and The Undead, as well as play bass live for Danzing.

Mourning Noise isn't as good as Danzig-era Misfits, but they aren't far behind. Brilliant band.

Heh, it's quite easy to hear their main influence.

I'm way late to the party, but a few recommendations that I personally enjoy a lot. No idea if any of these are what you're looking for, though. I'm not into much wanky prog music so that's not what you'll find here.

Devil Doll - Devil Doll was a symphonic progressive rock band that mixes prog rock, prog metal, avant-garde, goth rock, metal and more. One of the most unique and original bands ever. Very theatrical and dramtic music topped by Mr. Doctor's amazing sprechgesang. Brilliant band. Long, long songs. Shortest song are 20 minutes long, so we're talking about a band with long compositions. One of my all-time favourite bands.

Goblin - Legendary Italian progressive rock band which are famous for their soundtracks to classic horror films such as Dawn of the Dead, Suspiria and Deep Red among others, as well as other non-soundtrack albums. Another brilliant band. Seeing Claudio Simonetti's Goblin in some weeks. I'm really looking forward to that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JpuislFVzU

Arcturus - These guys started off as a symphonic/atmospheric black metal band but got more progressive with each release. The second album, La Masquerade Infernale, is a tivoli-like avant-garde album, but it gots lots of grim vocals so I guess that's not your cup of tea. The third album however is almost free of black metal and has more of a "outer space"-influenced sound. Their fourth, and so far last album, is a lot less metalesque and moe dreamy. I love all the albums. Fantastic live band too. And they seem to be comming with a new album in 2014.

Morte Macabre - Progressive rock band that covers songs from well-known horror films, and they're characterised by excessive use of mellotron and synthesizers. With members from the Swedish prog masters Anekdoten. Lovely band, especially for a horror freak such as meself.

Nicklas Barker - This is the solo roject of Nicklas Barker of Anekdoten and Morte Macabre. He's only released one album as far as I knowand that is El Último Fin De Semana, a soundtrack to a film with the same title. Horror prog rock. The way I like it.

I change between several countries, it all depends on what I want to watch. I usually change between US (the most used one), Norway and UK. Sometimes Canada as well.

As for subs, I don't think they sub things themself,except for English language films. They just use whatever they get from the different companies. So when a film is cropped (right word?) the fuck up to 16:9 it's not Netflix' fault, but the production company's fault. And I am sure that's how it is with most subs for foreign films as well.

Edit: If you want t change you can use mediahint or Hola. Media hint gives you the choice between your own country and american, and Hola gives you the choice to change between any country in the world. Hola doesn't for when I ty to use it on US, though, but it works on everything else. Mediahint works really well and is what I use as I usually only change between US and Norwegian.

The new Teitanblood sounds magnificent after a couple of spins. It sounds like they've managed to top their debut album, Seven Chalices, and that one's a masterpiece.

It's cool that you seemed to enjoy it. Come back with your thoughts on the bands and albums later one.

I'm listening to Gloryhammer now. Ultacheesy, overproduced symphonic power metal in the vein of Rhapsody. No idea why I keep listening to it, but it's kinda enjoyable in a weird, sadistic way.

Yeah, that's kinda what I thought. Heard it's a very good one, though. As for Fast & Furious, do you like all the film? I only like Fast Five (not seen six yet), which desn't havemuch to do with F&F. It's a completely different type film.

With that said, I am not into racing or anything either. I don't give a fuck about the racing part in films, which means they'll need to have something more. Only driving doesn't do it for me.

That's two amazing films, Jigsaw. Old horror are really my cup of tea, thouh I can understand it not being too funny or interesting to others.

Underworld - This is such a good and underrated film in the vein of Resident Evil. Ok, it's got less horror and more fantasy, but you still get that RE feeling from it. Vampires, werewolfs and humans in a lovely mix. It's just 120 minutes of badassery. And you just can't get enough of Kate Beckinsale running around in those tight-fitting latex clothes. What a woman.

I'm probably the only one, but I didn't like the production at all. Overproduced and unfitting.

Ah, I see. Thanks. That's not what I wanted to hear, though. I wanted it to be entertaining cheese. But isn't Rush a bit different kind of film? I've not seen yet.

It's a bit sad to say, but I can't think of many good car films post-2000's. Death Proof, Fast Five, The Transporter and Death Race (way inferior to the original Death Race 2000!!!) are the ones I can think of.

Shape of Despair are good, but not among my favourites. My favourites would probably be Funeral (first album and their demos), Fallen, Thergothon, Evoken, Nortt, Elysian Blaze and Skepticism.

Funeral and Fallen are of the more tragic and sad kind, Thegothon, Skepticism and Evoken are of the more dark, moss-ridden Lovecraftian kind and Nortt and Elysian Blaze are of the black and depressive kind.Love them all, and they'e all quite different from eachother. So if you don't like this you should still try that, if slow music are your type of course. But funeral doom are one of the genres I really understand that people can't get into. Funeral doom and drone.

Amazing album. Brilliant atmosphere, and those vocals, man. Those damn vocals. Mmmh!

I've seen both Fullmetal Alchemist and Brotherhood already. Loved both.

Just checked FMA and you can choose between Japanese or English dub, and English or no subs. So at least that one's subbed.

Yeah. Not "OMG SO FUCKING MUCH", but some. Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Samurai Champloo, Trigun, Trigun Badlands, Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne, Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, D. Gray-man, Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings, Dance in the Vampire Bund, Black Butler, Hero Tales, Chaos;Head and more. As I said, the anime selection is not all that, but they've got some. But they'll coem and go. Hopefully they'll add on to their anime film selection sooner or later. With some bigger titles, and hopefully older classics.

Gonna check out Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne. Looks interesting. Tech-noir. Should be right up my alley.

Don't you love cheese like me, boy? And I am adding this great Aaron Paul quote:

I just want to do something, even if it's just a small little indie, that really makes me excited, that's very story-driven, character-driven and doesn't need those big explosions or car chases.

 

Heh. People change pretty fast, eh? I guess he didn't get the roles he was hoping for and shit. But how's the film compared to ther car films? Is it like the 4 first Fast and Furious films, is it like the 5th, how is it compared to Bullitt and the original Gone in 60 Seconds? What type of film is it? I'm kinda keen you see. There's just not enough goodcar films anymore. Fast Five was badass, though. Was nothing like the previous F&F films. It was basically The Italian Job (the original) meets Ocean's Twelve. The diector said something a while back that sure turned me on:

 

Waugh chose to shoot all of the stunts in Need For Speed practically, with real backgrounds and no visual effects. Part of his vision was to pay homage to the classic car films of the 60’s and 70’s, namely the 1968 Steve McQueen classic Bullitt, which relied on nothing but adrenaline and pure stunt-car driving to create thrills. That meant to green screens, no CGI – just a man and a car.

 

“When you watch [Bullitt], there was no music,” said Waugh. “It was just 18 minutes of motor noise and great tension, and no CG. I think that was really the focus when we made this movie. It was looking at that, and trying to figure out, why do we still quote today, a movie 50 years ago, as the best car movie of all time?”

No green screens and no CGI = OOOOH YES!!!

Let's just be honest. We can all agree that Bullitt probably are the best car film of all time, and none of us expect such greatness from Need for Speed. But these quotes are nice anyway. Very nice. Hope they managed to get it somewhat right.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse - Is this a very good film? No, not really. But it's an entertaining action film wrapped in a somewhat mediocre sci-fi-horror costume. It's just 85 minutes of action with monsters and a really sexy Milla Jovovich.

Anybody got Netflix here? Which anime's worth watching there?

I don't care. I hope they've made something good. The same old, but good > new and bad.

New Primordial Track As You’ve Never Heard Them Before!

 

Proving that there’s far more resonance to be gained from the folk/metal alliance than a knees-up and songs about beer, Drudkh mainman Roman Sayenko has gathered eight bands from across Europe, asked them to delve deep into their musical heritage, reinterpret it for a compilation album that gives voice to the timeless and unifying nature of traditional music.

 

Released on May 23 (May 27 in North America) via Season Of Mist Records, One And All, Together, For Home features the likes of the UK’s Winterfylleth, Ireland’s Primordial, Norway’s Kampfar and Ukraine’s Drudkh themselves as you’ve never heard them before.

 

http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/exclusive-new-primordial-track-as-youve-never-heard-them-before/

That is amazing. I mean, the whole concept is amazing (kudos to Roman), but this track, man. Amazing. Alan Averill is becoming a greater vocalist by every year.

Primordial plays the original version of this track before their concerts. The original is very nice too.

Cool. Looking forward to this.

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse - The second installment in Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse trilogy, and it came 10 years after the first one. It's still black & white, but not silent. So it might be more apealing to some. This film is about 2,5 hours shorter than the first, so the pacing is more steady, and overall faster than in Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler. It's also darker, taking influences from both horror and fantasy, unlike the first which is more straight up mystery-crime. Which one's the better? None. I don't know. I can't choose. Both are brilliant. All hail Fritz Lang!

A Lonely Place to Die - Mediocre thriller without much of a thrill to offer. It lacks atmosphere, intensity and likeable characters. The last 25 minutes or so were pretty good, though.

Vengeance - I saw the cool poster and decided I would watch this. Then I saw the director was Johnnie To and my expectations got really high as always when it comes to this man. And wha do I get? A bloody amazing crime thriller with a badass Johnny Hallyday in the lead role.

This is the third film in Johnnie To's "trilogy" consisting of The Mission, Exiled and this. I love both The Mission and Exiled, and I thought that was just as good as Exiled, if not better. They all are connected by the same themes, which would be brotherhood and loyalty as a couple of theme. So there's not really anything new under the sun here. But it's so well done. Artistic noir-inspired crime thriller with great acting from everyone, especially Johnny Hallyday who's also got a badass weird look about him.

Johnnie To is a huge fan of Jean-Pierre Melville, and especially his film Le samouraï. And that really shiens through int his film. Lots of Le samouraï-vibes throught the film, as well as a few Memento refrences. Johnnie To

wanted Alain Delon, the lead actor in Le samouraï, to play the lead here, but Alain Delon thanked no and Johnnie To was recommended Johnny Hallyday, whom he had never heard about. But he went with him and it worked really well. Great performance!

Dirty Pretty Things - Solid thriller about the treatment and the exloitation of illegal immigrants. A very good film.

The American - Bloody great thriller with George Clooney in the lead. This film gives of plenty of Le Samouraï-vibes as well. It's a slow one with little dialogue and lots of atmosphere. I really, really liked this one. I checked it out because of the poster that looked really late 60-70's like.

Street Thief - One of the better documentary-styled films I've seen, I think. A thriller about a documentary team that follows a thief around while he does his. The concept isn't original, but the whole thing is so well done it actually feels original. That's impressive.

The Escapist - A very solid prison thriller that  changes between being really intense and a slow-burner. Good and smart.

Dr. Mabuse the Gambler - Early 20's Fritz Lang silent black & white masterpiece, that is about 4,5 hours long. What the heck am I suppossed to say about this film? This film just has to be experienced. Masterpiece! Fritz Lang was a directorial God. Simple as that.

Fritz Lang are one of the best and most impressive directors of all time. If you haven't seen any of his films, do yourself a favor and see a couple. Unless you've got a horrible taste you'll feel grateful to yourself you did. What a brilliant man!

True Detective, season 1 - I'll just jump straight to the point; best season ever made for a TV-series. Simple as that. Nic Pizzolatto, the brain behind the show, and Cary Joji Fukunaga, the director, takes TV-series to a whole other lever never seen before. Gritty, southern noir with rich dialogue, acting on a level we've never seen it before (Matthew McConaughey) and a smart, interesting and dark plot. I've never been so creeped out with a single film or TV-series in my whole life. This is, hands down, hat off and whatnot, beyond everything elsle out there. What more can I say? I know it. Bloody!Fucking!Brilliant!

By the way, this isn't a whodunit series. That's not what matters here. It's all bout the character development, the atmosphere and the mood.

The Haunting of Helena - I told my girl to choose a film on Netflix that we could watch, and despite everything that's on Netflix, she chose this one. What the fuck? How is that even possible? Awful film. Awful, awful film. Fuck this shit!

Man of Tai Ch - This is the directorial debut of Keanu Reeves, who's also playing a big role in the film. It's surrisingly good. Not amazing, but entertaining. The action works very well, but it really lacks the spectacular fight scenes that a lot of other films within the genre has, and that's a major problem.  But it was good, and Keanu Reeves is already a better director than actor.

The Thirteenth Floor - I don't get the hate for this. Cool sci-fi-noir with a really cool plot. The visuals weren't as good as they ought to be, and the ending was poor, but other than that it was very enjoyable.

Resident Evil - This film has stood the test of time surprisingly well. The main problems ae the special effects (CGI!!), but there's not too much of them here anyway. It's just a badass action horror flick which captures a lot of the atmosphere of the games. Milla Jovovich is just too badass and way, way, way too sexy.

Michelle Rodriguez is the opposite. Boring actor and she hasn't got the looks to make up for it. Meeeeh!

Soylent Green - Good, but a tad disappointing sci-fi-noir from the mid 70's. It just feels a bit outdated and lacks atmosphere, and that's a shame. Really is, because the plot itself ain't bad at all. Very interesting and cool.

Strange Days - More sci-fi-noir, and this time it's the real fucking deal. The mystery and plot is there, the mood and atmosphere is there and the visuals are there. Brilliant concept that somewhat reminds me of Blade Runner, though not nearly as good on any level. But still amazing!

Ran is an amazing film, but it's nothing like The Brotherhood of War to be honest. Two very different films. But Ran is an Akira Kurosawa film so it's obviously pue quality, but not even close to his best.

And you are right. No idea what I was thinking there.

I've seen The Brotherhood of War twice and it's a good film, but it wasn't as good on the second viewing as on the first. It's a bit too sentimental to be honest. But it only went from 8/10 to 7/10, which is still a good score for a good film.

You could also check out Assembly and Welcome to Dongmakgol which are two other South Korean war films. Not actually seen them myself, but they are on the endless watchlist that grows bigger by every day. But I've been recommended those to films several times, and people seem to enjoy these two a lot more than The Brotherhood of War. Fucking South Korean cinema, man. Quality!

It's not often I say these words I am gonna say now on this part of the forum, but I am really looking forward to this album. Judging by the bands' last three singles they seem to have stumbled into a weird pattern in "recent" years:

Withering to Death. = great 8/10

The Marrow of a Bone = awful 1/10

Uroboros = amazing! 9/10

Dum Spiro Spero = bad 4/10

But I really, really like Rinkaku, The Unraveling and Sustain the Untruth (in that order, and I am only talking about the original songs, not the shitty remakes and live recordings and whatfuckingnot), and that makes me really excited for this album. I've got some serious expecations.

Flash Point - Standard actionfilm with Donnie Yen that comes off as a post mid-90's Steven Seagal film... until it's 30 minutes left and Donnie Yen suddenly steps into familiar territory and becomes badass as fuck, in that way we've got to know him over the years. Insane choreography where Donnie Yen takes in use his interest in MMA. This film is worth watching entirely because of it's last 30 minutes. If you don't care about hand-to-hand combat you there's better films to watch, but if you, like me, are a fan of hand-to-hand combat you'll love the last 30 minutes.

Valhalla Rising - I didn't like this the first time I saw it, but I decided to give this film another try today. It's a Nicolas Winding Refn film afterall. And I am glad I did, because this time I really, really liked it. Slow, calm, dark and gloomy film with an atmosphere as thick as the fog in act III and a Mads Mikkelsen in form. It's a slow burner for sure, but it's a really good one. Act III was also my favourite in the film. That atmosphere, boys. Fabolous! Not Nicolas Winding Refn, but no one expects that anyway. Fantastic director.

This song took me by surprise:

This should be an album to look forward to for fans of black/folk metal. The part that start around the 7 minute mark is just beautiful. Love it!