Bear

It's already posted in two threads, but one or five more won't hurt. Cover art is just sensational, as is the track. Starts off as a 80's Iron Maiden epic before it moves into more familiar territory as far as Sigh goes, but like always they've made something that's very different from everything they've done before, as well as what other bands have and currently are doing.

Love that 70's prog inspired middle section as well. Gorgeous! The ending with the Iron Maiden-esque riff and the clean vocals are the best thing I've heard all year long. Dear God!

And while Shinichi Ishikawa is still my all time favourite guitarist, the addition of You Oshima as his replacement was a work of genius tbh. You can hear he's really put his own style into this song, and both his style of riffing and especially solos are excellent. Judging from this song, he's a bit more relaxed and controlled this time around. While I did grow into loving his guitar playing on Graveward, he might have wanted to do a bit too much with the solos.

I know. It was more a response to the post directly above mine.

And yes, his work in the last 20 years has been poor, with Californication, Death Magnetic and 13 as the prime examples on how not to produce an album. It's not much music that's gone to wadte though, as only Californication actually had any good music. But it's completely unlistenable tbh.

Rick Rubin has tons of fantastic production jobs on his CV. Like, tons (Radio, Raising Hell, Reign in Blood, Licensed to Ill, Electric, Danzig, Tougher Than Leather, Danzig II: Lucifuge, Trouble and Blood Sugar Sex Magik just to mention a few of his works where he truly shines.). There's a reason why his this acclaimed and considered one of the very best producers ever, but it's also his creative side and how he made bands and artists perform their best and make smart choices as where to go next in their career. It's only in "recent times " that he's gone full retard with his productionjobs. His works in the past however. Holy moly!

Amazing song. The intro is so fucking good, and the rest of the song doesn't exactly drop in quality either. Production sounds spot on for this album too. I love how heavy/power metal-esque it is, without really bearing any resemblance to Gallows Gallery. The intro and outro sounds like classic 80's Iron Maiden, just miles better of course.

Amazing song. The intro is so fucking good, and the rest of the song doesn't exactly drop in quality either. Production sounds spot on for this album too. I love how heavy/power metal-esque it is, without really bearing any resemblance to Gallows Gallery. The intro and outro sounds like classic 80's Iron Maiden, just miles better of course.

On 9/27/2018 at 7:18 PM, geist said:

 

That’s like taking Michelangelo’s Last Judgement and saying the models are too buff so you re-draw them all with slender physiques. 

 

At some point the total package is truly no longer their own. 

Believe it or not, but some fucking weirdos actually listen to music for the sake of the music, the sound the bands or artists make, rather than the lyrical content or meaning behind the songs. Crazy shit I know, but that is actually the truth. Some people actually go so far they judge music based on the music, and not how deep or well-written the lyrics are. What a mess of a world we're living in. Complete and utter insanity amirite?

Fantastic cover art as usual from these masters of everything great. Eliran Kantor is so fucking good.

Album of the year!

New song. Great track and cover art. Should be a great album as these fucks just keeps getting better and better.

I enjoy everything they've releawed, but i think they've peaked as far as the atmospheric post-rock style goes and I hope they aim for something slightly different now. 

10 hours ago, The Reverend said:

Filled in for a sick driver this morning at work.... today my bus passengers were subjected to Celtic Frost's Into the Pandemonium and Death Angel's Frolic Through the Park

That's an album that hasn't aged very well at all. It's like they got tired of thrash metal after one single album and decided they were gonna become a MTV band. Only The Ultra-Violence and Kill as One are real! 

The band was very young at the time of this release, but the drummer Andy Galeon  was 12 fucking years old as this was recorded. That is insane! Singer Mark Osegueda was 15 years old. 

It's also pretty insane that the drummer was only 14 years old during the recording of their debut album, an album that has clearly stood the test of time and is getting better as it gets older. One of the very best US thrash metal albums of the 80's. Raw and hard, yet catchy as fuck. Just try listening to Kill as One without making a single noise. That shit is hard. Catchy as fuck and with crazy vocals throughout. KILL!! AS!! ONE!!

Mmmmh, yeah! That sounds awesome. Sounds like 70's power pop with a metallic edge. Really nice track!

Original Uroboros sounds really good. It's flawed, but most flaws are flaws that really helps the songs IMO. The re-release with a different mix is pretty much unlistenable.

8 hours ago, Kelrya said:

Lol you would hate mathcore then (Converge, Botch, Vein, early Norma Jean, etc.) Personally I love it when it’s done well but it’s not for everyone.

 GTFO with that shit, dude. I love Converge, Botch abd old Norma Jean, but I agree with Saishu.

Neon Maniacs - A mid 80's slasher that actually did something different. Feels a bit like a mix of regular slashers like Halloween, Friday the 13th, The Burning etc. and Hellraiser. It's pure cheese from beginning to end, but it's really fun and really charming and totally underrated. Sadly it had lots of problems during production and was never really finished, so there's a few easy solutions towards the end and you don't really get a proper closure, but it still works. Would've deserved a sequel or three tho. Totally recommended!

Hell House LLC - Cool found footage flick with good atmosphere and a good plot, but lacks some character depth and a likeable character. But it's a fairly good flick tbh.

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel - Starts off fairly well, but as soon as it gets going it kinda slowly starts taking a shit on the original film and towards the end it turns into a proper fucking shitfest and a mess of a film that takes away all the mysticism and WTFs of the original. A big meh.

Flora - Cool idea, poor fucking execution. The acting is really fucking bad, the look is super modern which makes the flaws in the cinematography shine tbh, and it's 20-30 minutes too long. Some of the shots just drag and drag, but they got nothing interesting in them whatsoever. They're boring. Shame, cause the concept of the film is really interesting. A huge meh!

This is interesting. Sigh is gonna participate in a Death SS tribute, and considering how fucking amazing their Bathory song was I cannot wait to hear their contribution to this. I hope they've made it very Sigh-esque, like they did with the Bathory cover.

There's some other interesting bands here too. I already know a few of them (Denial of God, Watain, Bulldozer, Evil Spirit, Anael and Procession), but I am really keen on hearing some of the others.  L'Impero delle Ombre, Sacro Sanctus, Il Segno del Comando, Epitaph and The Mugshots feat Mortiis could be interesting too. Especially Il Segno del Comando, Sacro Sanctus and L'Impero delle Ombre.

But of course, Sigh is by far the most interesting here as they can be able to match the original song.

Yes, they started dropping that with time. Chthonic is a band that's been slowly changing with every record. It's not like they suddenly changed their sound drastically with a single album to get more popular and break into mainstream. It's been a very natural change as they slowly incorporate more and more melodic death metal riffing and less and less symphonic elements with every album.

If we're going by your definition here, unless I am completely misunderstanding your point that is, then bands like Sigh, Enslaved, Solefald, Immortal, Bathory, Emperor, Burzum, Darkthrone, Mayhem, Graveland, Drudkh, Primordial, Nokturnal Mortum, Arghoslent, Krieg and so on are sell outs too, as they at one point or more in their careers all changed their sound and made more accessible and "mainstream" music. Difference is that all of these bands changes their sound massively within the spawn of one album, while Chthonic have transformed slowly and naturally for 20+ years.

So yeah, I don't really get what you're saying here and I hope I am misunderstanding your point.

I'd love see a list of your 10-20 favourite black metal acts tho.

The world needs way more stuff in the vein of Samhain, She Past Away and Horror Vacui.

Bye.

4 hours ago, Sickle said:

the deluxe edition looks awesome but sadly this band it's not as good as it used to be, for me chthonic and carach angren are in the same genre: "meme black metal", at least chthonic drop some awesome tunes in the past

How is Chthonic "meme black metal"? And which albums/songs are you referring to?

That acoustic version is about a billion times better than the original track, but that doesn't come as a surprise since Timeless Sentence is their best album alongside Takasago Army. Their acoustic stuff sounds so much better, authentic and powerful than their black and death metal stuff.

The Island at the Top of the World - Old Disney-produced fantasy-adventure that is right up my alley. It's a fairly known story about a pair that goes out to find a hidden island to find a missing son, and that meats different people and challenges along the way. Really nice-looking film with beautiful sets and special effects, and I didn't mind the story and characters either. It's flawed, but very fun nonetheless. Superb score too.

Paul - I'm a big fan of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and I also like Seth Rogen a lot so it was about time I got around to see this. E.T. meets Roadtrip. Simple enough and fairly straight-forward, but it was really fun. Not the best Pegg and Frost film, but very good.

Bushwick - Decent enough modern action-adventure with Dave Bautista. I liked Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion's first film, Cooties, but in Bushwick their lack of experience shines through. It's OK for what it is, but it looks and feels cheap as fuck. What I will give it however is that the camera work is excellent at times. Several long shots, no anooying camera shake and it's got some sweet-as-fuck and clever camera moment here and there. But that's it. Was entertained for its 90 minute playtime, but it's not a film I'll watch again.

Eliminators - Alright action film with Scott Adkins, Stu Bennett and James Cosmo. It's really stupid and all that, but it was fun enough. Some nice action and martial arts scenes, and it's always refreshing when you see the camera man step back for the action scenes and give you a decent overview of what's happening, instead of all this shaky close-up shit we've gotten for the past two decades. Scott Adkins is always badass though. Have to give him that.

Party Night - Slasher highly inspired by the classic 80's stuff, but nothing in this really works. It looks way too digital, the kills are lackluster, the characters are as boring as they get and the actors are godawful. Aside from a really good poster, there's nothing good or entertaining about this tbh. A big fucking meh.

Don't Leave Home - Incredibly slow-burning, dreamy, minimalist and non-narrative horror film about faith, religion and guilt that is all about atmosphere and mood, and less about characters and storytelling. So if you don't feel the atmosphere and mood, this will become a total snoozefest quite early on. So in that way it reminded me quite a lot of the underrated gem I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House from 2016. If you like that, you might like this as well. If you disliked I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, chances are you'll dislike this too. Atmospheric and moody piece. I thought it was truly excellent.

Nah. It's not gonna get dated in that way because the action is sweet and brutal, and that's the strenght of the film, and you've got a few memorable characters as well. It'll either be looked upon as a decent action-horror film or simply considered a cult film in a the decade or two. It's not gonna be considerd ato masterpiece, but people will remember it as a cool enough film.

The themes the film deals with might get dated some time in the future, like it has done in other films both bad, decent, and great (as in the countless amount of cult and classic films with dated plots and themes). But the themes of racism and similar shit are quite relevant as of now.

Simple as that.

The First Purge - The fourth film in the franchise is the first not to be directed by James DeMonaco, and is a prequel. And while the story or characters isn't any better, it's a much more entertaining movie than the three others IMO. Really fast-paced and action-oriented with some really good action scenes, but is also features less elements of horror. But the action is good, and the countless references to Trump is kinda hilarious (you pussy-grabbing motherfucker!).  Not a great movie, but fun nonetheless.

And don't care about the countless 1's and 2's on IMDB. They are quite obviously butthurt (semi-)racist Trump supporters. Lulz.

The Toolbox Murders - Bought this on DVD, so had to rewatch it. And I am obviously talking about the original 1978 film, and not the remake which is rather poor. Graphic violence, nudity and weirdness. Yeah, sure it can be called misogynistic, but it's a fucking exploitation film. Shit like that doesn't matter. Starts off as a really nice and brutal slasher film, then transforms into some really weird, psychological crime-thriller. Slow at times, but fun and kinda creepy because of its weirdness.

Surprised to find out that this is a serious band. Thought it was a parody tbh.

Mandy - 2018 is the year that just keeps giving as far as films goes, and Mandy is the last film to truly impress me. After having impressed a lot with the sci-fi horror Beyond the Black Rainbow in 2010  (which I reviewed a few months back), Panos Cosmatos returns with another exceptional and unique film. If you've seen Beyond the Black Rainbow you kinda know what to expect, because Mandy is a weird-ass flick much in the same vain. First hour is syrup-slow and rather out there in an artsy ways, where the main object obviously is to create atmosphere mostly via the use of creative lighting, smoke and some weird-ass effects, because the plot is thin and very much familiar. And Panos Cosmatos is not afraid to use his time, and he's not afraid to let a scene just go on and on without doing anything to it. But the film is visually stunning beyond words, it's over the top violent and extreme and it features a Nicolas Cage who's never been better. That's just one hell of a performance by a man long forgotten. Performance of the decade perhaps?

A fucking beats of a film. By far Nicolas Cage best performance and film ever. FOTY!!!

Fun fact: There is an axe in this film, and the design of the axe is based around the F in Celtic Frost's logo. How fucking badass is that? Exceptional-looking axe too.

Panos Cosmatos has hit two homeruns in two attempts. Clearly the most exciting new director out there atm and one to keep an eye on for sure.