Bear

It depends on a lot of different things. It depends on the band, the genre and my first impression. I'm also more of a full album/EP person, so I play entire records from A to Z. But for most part I give every single new album I listen to at least 5 spins. Don't really have time to give each album 20-30 spins anymore, however I did in my youth when I had more spare time and got a hold of less albums. Now everything is available online and I simply don't have enough time to give all the albums the time they really deserve. Which is a shame, but that's life in 2018.

But some of my favourite bands/artists (Sigh, Kagrra, Blood Freak, Goblin, Devil Doll, Gost, Carpenter Brut, Bathory, Summoning, Misfits, Paysage d'Hiver, Lifelover, Fall of Efrafa and more) are all bands I had to work hard to get into. None of these were artists I appreciated at first even though I found several of them to have a really interesting sound, and I had to spin one/several of their albums a lot (like 20+ times) before I started appreciating the music. Blood Freak and Lifelover I even despised at first and for years I thought they were absolutely shit. Would be close to vomiting whenever I heard a single tune of either bands. But one day they both kinda stuck and my opinion had changed. Huge fan nowadays.

Same with TV-series. I don't give up on a TV-series after 1, 3 or 5 episodes. I'll give the TV-series an entire season to grow on me. Might not end up liking it, but something like Black Flag turned out to grow into one of my favourites TV-series from season 2 and onward. But I was not impressed with the first season. Glad I did continue though.

Game Night - A new comedy that actually feels fresh. It don't really offers anything new to the genre, but it's un-sentimental and more or less free of romance and shit. Instead it focuses on jokes and the crime aspect of it, and when it jokes, it takes the jokes all the way out. It doesn't always deliver hilarious jokes, but nothing comes off as half-hearted or anything. Memorable characters, memorable jokes and memorable dialogue. It's a mainstream comedy, but it's done right. Really enjoyed this!

Mainstream comedy done right.

Goon: Last of the Enforcers - Unoriginal story and all aside, this is a worthy sequel to one of the very best sports and comedy films of all time, Goon. Seann William Scott is once again amazing in the lead, and it's just got something about it that I really like.  What drags it a bit down is Jay Baruchel's immature directing and script. It's a bit too much of the usual Jay Baruchel/Seth Rogen/James Franco/Jonah Hill humour. Now while I do actually enjoy that type of humour quite a lot, it feels a bit misplaced in a film like this. But I truly enjoyed it anyway.

London Has Fallen - More of the same as Olympus Has Fallen, but I can actually enjoy these films quite a lot. You just have to completely turn off your brain and laugh of it, make fun of it and all and it'll make for some decent entertainment. Silly and over the top. And Stupid as fuck.

Black Panther - Up there with the best of the best in MCU so far. The last third gets a bit generic and boring with fights we've seen a few times too many already, but everything before that, from characters and dialogue to story, acting and visual style is very good. A really enjoyable film!

Top notch soundtrack too!

Evil Dead Trap a classic as far as Japanese horror films goes, and a cult film with the rest of us exploitation and horror maniacs. I know that Toshiharu Ikeda has stated that he does not like horror and that he's not seen any Dario Argento or Sam Raimi films, but I don't buy that at all. There's just too many elements of giallo and classic Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, as well as elements Sam Raimi got known for, for it to be merely a coincidence. It's so obvious that he's seen some of these films, even if he wasn't a fan.

A Japanese giallo film. Simple as that.

Not metal, but because of one of its members I'll just post it here. Psych pop/rock featuring Chris Reifert (Autopsy, Death) and comedian and musician Dave Hill. It's fairly generic, but it sounds good. Together Alone is an especially good track. Reminds me of a light-hearted Blue Öyster Cult. Really sweet!

This cover made me quite curious for the new album. Looks a bit old school tbh.

The Beastmaster - Old school sword and sorcery film from 1981. It's a total fucking cheese fest, but as I cannot get enough of films like Conan the Barbarian, Krull, Excalibur, Legend, Dragonslayer and stuff I just can't help but to love the shit out of this. It's just really fun throughout. Great stuff!

I watched Lurker in the lobby: the Best of the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. Volume I yesterday which is an anthology/compilation that features 10 short Lovecraftian films. I think all these were gathered and screened at a Lovecraft film festival i 97-98 or something. Two films around 20 minutes each, a handful of films around 8-10 minutes and a few really short ones. Like with all anthology films with a certain number of films the quality is a bit up and down, but at its best this shit is exceptional.

Not gonna say much, but I'll throw a few words out:

The Music of Erich Zann (1980) - I've reviewed this before and it's not any less good now. And exceptional film which really nails the Lovecraftian-vibe, even though it's not the most faithful adaption here. 9/10

The Outsider (1994) - Didn't like this at all. The look of it were awful, and the way it was set up was boring. 4/10

My Necronomicon (1997) - The shortest film on the anthology, and it's actually very good. Looks a bit cheap, but it's cool. 6/10

McLaren (1997) - Like My Necronomicon this isn't an adaption, but a Lovecraftian film. Didn't like it at all. Looked awful, felt awful. 4/10

The Outsider (1993) - Damn! This was awesome. Dream-like expressionistic film which feels a 100% Lovecraftian, and it feels very 1910-20's. It's only 6-7 minutes long, but it takes its time, builds up and keeps an eerie atmosphere for its entire runtime. 8/10

From Beyond (1997) - Very enjoyable and faithful adaption. 7/10

The Hound (1997) - Alongside The Outsider (1993) this is the most Lovecraftian film of the entire thing. Shot in black and white with an audio-book styled narrator on top it just feels very Lovecraftian. Great atmosphere, cool setting and so on. 8/10

Cthulhu Wore Tennis Shoes (1996) - This was, as far as I know, a school project and it's by far the worst film on this. It's a parody, and it's dreadful. It's only 5 minutes long, but it took forever for it to end. Garbage and the worst on the anthology.

And it all ended, by reasons unknown, with two music videos from the Lovecraft-inspired rock band The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. Which was meeeh.

You'll find this up on youtube. Totally recommended for fans of Lovecraft(ian films).

The Copy-Writer - A random short film that popped up as a recommendation on youtube. Decent, Lovecraftian film, but it lacks a few things. But it was decent entertainment.

The Fisherman - Another film that popped up as a recommendation. Jaws meet Alien? Not really original or anything, but it takes its time to tell a story about a lonely fisherman in Hong Kong who isn't doing too well. What makes this so damn good is the fact that it spends more time on characterization than the entire Transformers franchise together, using a lot of its time to let us get to know the fisherman, who he is and his backstory. The film also looks really awesome! Totally recommended!

How about you try to read a post before you decide to reply?

And? None of us have said there isn't. You can be both generic AND good, as generic doesn't equal bad. But the fact is that the vast majority of VK bands are immensely generic no matter how much you love or hate them, so stating that you don't like non-Japanese VK bands because they are generic makes no sense. They're no more generic than 80-90% of the VK bands these people love themselves.

How many non-Japanese VK bands has there been so far, over the past 10 years? 50? Guess what, I can 50 Japanese VK bands formed in the past 3 years that's as bad as the worst of the bunch. But when there's 50+++ new VK bands forming every single year some of them are doomed to be good. But there's a lot more bad bands formed, than good, and there's hella lot more generic bands formed, than original.

This is basically like when people in the 90's bitched about how many good black metal bands Norway had compared to Denmark and how Denmark fucking sucked. But Norway had 200+ more black metal bands formed during the 90's. So of course Norway was doomed to have more good bands, and a better scene. It's natural. Just like Germany had a much better thrash metal scene than Norway in the 80's. But again it's natural as Germany had something like 220 more thrash metal bands formed during the 80's. Get my point? Japan having good VK bands, as opposed to the west. But it is only natural as Japan has around 45614581434631 more VK bands in general.

But we weren't discussing that. We were discussing people throwing "generic" towards the non-Japanese bands, even though the majority of the Japanese bands they like are generic as fuck too. It's silly.

And just for the hell of it. I have yet to hear a non-Japanese VK band I like. In fact I think they're all godawful. But not because they are generic or not Japanese or anything like that, but because they make music that I simply find awful. But again, I think about 95% of all the newer VK bands formed over the last 10 years that I've heard is equally bad. And just as generic. Same shit really.

The Unnamable - Horror flick loosely based on H. P. Lovecraft's short story by the same name. The entire film is a bit Lovecraftian, a bit Sherlock Holmes-esque and a part standard 80's teen flick/slasher. But Charles Klausmeyer and Mark Kinsey Stephenson's chemestry, Katrin Alexandre's portrayal of the monster, the monster design and the special effects makes this a very fun film. It's not very good and all that, but it's very, very fun. And I love the monster. She's fantastic!

The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter - Less Lovecraftian and more teeny, this film is too long and has a few silly moments that drags it down. Charles Klausmeyer and Mark Kinsey Stephenson's chemestry is once again great, but Kit Fredericks' portrayal of the monster isn't nearly as good, the few attempts at proper humour is cringy and it lacks a lot of what made the first film so good. But don't get me wrong, it was a decent watch. 

Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft - The basis for Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft isn't one singular story, but a mash up of elements of different stories. So it's not an adaption or anything, but it's 100% Lovecraftian and truly brings forth everything that makes Lovecraft so damn interesting and good. And in that way it's one of the most truthful Lovecraft films I've ever seen. Christopher Heyerdahl is nothing short of brilliant as H.P. Lovecraft himself.

The End of the F***ing World is one of the best new shows in recent years. Holy fucking cow! Eight 20 minutes long episodes of pitch black UK humour. Fantastic character development, story, direction and cast. Damn! So good.

Damn, Beliar soudns so good.

Really liked the singing live too. Gave off a proper goth rock feeling.

New Carpenter Brut is out on his bandcamp. Not as violent and mean as his previous works, and perhaps a bit more melodic and easy to the ear. But it sounds really good.

Kristoffer "Garm" Rygg of Ulver and Arcturus, Kvhost from Beastmilk, Grave Pleasures and Hexvessel, and Ole Alexander Halstensgård of Paperboys and Ulver are among the people who contributed to the album as guests. Jaime Gomez Arellano who's helped recording/mastering/mixing albums from Angel Witch, Amulet, Fen, Dread Sovereign, Ghost, Inquisition, Paradise Lost, Oranssi Pazuzu, Primordial and more have also contributed to the album.

Sadie did hardcore and melodic death metal? Got any examples on this?

Dark Waters - Damn, what a movie! Lovecraftian horror with a strong Dagon-vibe (the film, not the actual story by Lovecraft) with beautiful direction. The first thing I thought when the film finished was that Mariano Baino had a massive talent. His entire direction, especially the use of light, dark and shadows, as well as the use of sounds and such is nothing short of brilliant. The story, and especially the way the story is told is really good as well. Just, fuck me. What a film!

On 7.2.2018 at 7:46 PM, Vercingetorix said:

When were most artists' B-sides ever good? I think I've only ever found one single (I forget who by) where the B-side outdid the title track.

But does a song have to outdo the title track to be good? Like can't albums with more than one track be amazing because there's usually one standout track that's better than the rest?

Well with these two new songs there's no doubt that Primordial is doing something different on this album. I love the riffing on this song, even though it sounds a bit weird. A.A. Nemtheanga is singing way too good as usual.

Been listening a lot to witch house lately, but I can't really find many good albums. There's a track here, a few tracks there and so on, but I much prefer mix-tapes and shit like that, than whole albums by artists. Just like with italo-disco. It's a single song-based genre in my eyes, as opposed to dungeon synth, black metal or progressive rock which I feel is a lot more album-based.

Anyone got any recommendations for artists/albums/songs that sounds very witches sabbath-esque/ritualistic/pagan/shamantic or something? 

Continued on my folk-horror journey and re-watched three films, as well as seen a new one. The re-watch of the two found-footage films was very interesting.

Hollow - I used to like this a lot, but it wasn't quite as good or effective this time around. The film's setting, to the rural English country side, is very nice and the ancient evil is very cool. But sadly the ancient evil, the folklore, isn't given much time on screen at all. Instead the film focus on our two couples and their problems, which would've been fine if it wasn't for the fact that they are all massive, unlikeable douchebags and you just want them to die as soon as possible. Went from an 8 to a 6.

The Borderlands - Another low-budget found footage flick, but this one does more or less everything right. The setting is really nice and you can't but think of The Wicker Man and similar films. But what truly makes this film what it is is the fact that director Elliot Goldner blends horror and comedy in a truly magnificent way. Neither ever gets in way of each other. And the film itself is as intelligent as its characters. Really enjoyable, and close to one of the best found footage films ever. Went from a 6 to 8,5. Almost a modern classic!

Wake Wood - A modern classic! The setting makes it hard not to think of films like The Wicker Man and Don't Look Now, but Wake Wood is no copy and it stands firmly rooted on its own two feets. Nice, old-school folk-horror based upon atmosphere rather than regular scares, and it works really well. The mysticism of it all really makes it into something different. Superb film!

Black Death - Well, this isn't exactly a horror film, but it's so deeply rooted in horror that I think it's fair to take it in this film. Black Death came a year later than the overlooked gem that is Solomon Kane, and delivers much of the same fun as the mentioned film. With a strong cast, a great visual style and a superb story Black Death delivers both brutal violence, characters and story depth and strong performances. Great atmosphere all around. Highly recommended folk-horror adventure.

Blair Witch - Adam Wingard, seen as the new hope of low-budget films just years before this film, completely lost it. Holy fuck, this is bad. He just completely missed what the original was about, and he completely misses what makes a horror film frightening. This is complete and utter trash.

Demon Wind - Decent enough horror-chesse that was pretty fun up until the climax, a climax that was nothing short of god-awful. It was so long it felt like it took a forever to end, and it was cheap, silly and stupid as fuck. Didn't like anything about the climax. But the first 3/4th of the film were fairly enjoyable. But the climax really took me out of the film's atmosphere. Such a shame.

Am I the only one who find it hilarious when people bash western VK bands for being generic, yet 98% of the VK bands they listen to themselves are just as generic?

Saw Mortiis live yesterday and it was magnificent. I did not know what to expect from the gig, but the re-interpretation of Ånden som gjorde opprør was really good. He managed to capture that old school dungeon synth feeling with it, even though there was some differences from the original recording. It was nice, and it worked much better live than I would have imagined. Incredible atmosphere! 6/6

Thought Svartsinn did well to, though he does not belong in this thread.

Was a big amount of people from other European countries at this gig to. Heard a lot of Germans. Which is cool. Going from Germany to Norway to experience Mortiis live at a small place like Good Omens.

So both Arnold and David Hasselhoff are confirmed for the King Fury sequel. How fucking cool is that? Cannot wait for this to happen!

A Ghost Story - A slow, romantic ghost story about love, loss and existence. This is a ghost story but it's far from being horror. It's a drama with elements of romance and fantasy. It is very slow, but also very soothing and nice. It's not for everyone, but if you enjoy artsy film this might be for you.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation - As a new film was announced if I realized I had not seen this yet. Rogue Nation is more of the same as Mission Impossible goes, as like with every single film in the series with the exception of the second one, it's better than its predecessor. Mission Impossible is something as a accessible, mainstream blockbuster series that just gets better and better with each film. Can't wait for the next one!

American Satan - Watched this with some friends as we got drunk before a concert, and what an embarrassing film. The reason we watched it was because it was said to be a very "metal film" produced by a big metal label who wanted to produce films for metal people. But there's nothing metal about this. The artists in the lead roles are from shitty bands like Black Veil Brides and Asking Alexandria. And this film was just as bad as those bands are. John Bradley and Malcolm McDowell are good enough in their roles, but neither able to save this from getting the worst possible score from me, namely a 2/10. Complete and utter garbage made for human trash only. Fuck off!

Thor: Ragnarok - I've said it before and I can say it again: Marvel just keeps getting better and better. From a bumpy start with lots of mediocre films that were all more or less the same, they've started taking chances and taking the different characters into different paths. Ever since  the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier they've just been taking chances, and films like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange and now this just offers something different in the world of superheroes. You could also add Agent Carter, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and The Punisher to that list. Thor: Ragnarok is one hell of a hilarious film, but aside from being hilarious it also adds a lot more depth than previous films. Both to the story, the world and the characters itself. Good film and on par with with mentioned films and series.

Wolf Warrior - The cover features a quote from a review saying "breathtaking martial arts" and it has Scott Adkins in it, so I thought to myself that this just had be something amazing. Well, it wasn't. It features some decent action scenes, especially sniper scenes early on, but for most part it's a really bad film. Super patriotic Chinese film which is all about CHINA RULEZ, EVERYONE ELSE SUCK!!!. There's barely any martial arts in it, and the little that is ain't more than mediocre at best. It also features some of the worst CGI ever seen. Them wolfs, man. Holy cow! Heard that the sequel is supposed to be a billion times better, so looking forward to that one anyway.