Bear

Seen some more.

American Samurai - Considered an off-shot of American Ninja, but this film is nothing like American Ninja. This is Sam Firstenberg's (American Ninja, Avenging Force, Revenge of the Ninja, Cyborg Cop) attempt at making a martial arts tournament film in the vein of Bloodsport, Kickboxing, Shootfighter and so on. While the film itself has nothing on Bloodsport, it's one of the better in this style. It's immensely entertaining throughout. It's really violent and bloody, and the cast does a good job, even though the acting isn't good. It's just fitting. David Bradley and Mark Dacascos are both awesome as fuck here.

Invasion U.S.A. - Cool and entertaining Chuck Norris feature. It's a typical mid-80's action film, but it's just really cool and fun. Nothing spectacular, but if you grew up with this type of films you should not be disappointed.

Avenging Force - Written as a sequel to Invasion U.S.A., but as Chuck Norris turned it down it's not really considered a sequel even though Dudikoff plays a character with the same name as Norris did in Invasion U.S.A. This film stars Michael Dudikoff and the legend that is Steve James and they are both fantastic. The chemistry is immense throughout the film. One of the things that takes this up a step above a film like Invasion U.S.A. is that there's a lot of unexpected things that happens. It's one surprise after the other, even though you kinda know how the film will end. Lovely stuff!

Braddock: Missing in Action III - By far the worst in the trilogy. It's entertaining enough, but doesn't offer as much entertainment as the two first films, and especially not the classic first film. This one takes itself a bit too serious, and that's never good for a cheesy action b-film.

The Delta Force - An absolute classic and one of Chuck Norris' best films. Starts of fairly realistic actually, before it evolves into a film that relies on one huge action cliche after another. And that is by no means a bad thins for a film like this. Total classic!

10 hours ago, Kaleidoscope said:

After listening to Soulless Computer Boy I feel like I am slowly getting into Trevor Something, I guess I'm going to through the same process as you guys

Cool! I think one of the things about Trevor Something is the unique vocal approach and the overall laidback style of the music. It's very different from other synthwave acts. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I think this is a fairly decent description myself:

You have:

Outrun which is the more upbeat sound of the genre soundtrack to someone driving a red Testarossa through the dark, bright neon lit streets, often in rainy weather or in the dark: Lazerhawk, Kavinsky, Arcade High, Lost Years, Mitch Murder, Power Glove.

Darkwave which is the dark and futuristic sounds of the genre, often heavily inspired by tech-noir, neon-noir and films like Blade Runner, Terminator, Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Escape from New York and so on, films in which they would also work perfectly as soundtracks: Perturbator, Gost, Carpenter Brut, Dan Terminus, Dance with the Dead.

Dreamwave which would be the more chillout, bright, dreamy stuff which is the soundtrack to a beautiful girl dressed in very little clothes roller skating down the miami streets on the hot summer day with a don on a leash, or a cheesy 80's work out video with sexy girl dressed in bright tights and tops/bra's: Miami Nights 1984, FM-84, 80s Stallone, VHS Dreams.

This the last "sub-genre" is where I feel like Trevor Something belongs, but at the same time he just stands out very much because of the overall sound he's managed to create. Like a mix of "outrun" and "dreamave", but without really belonging to either. I don't know.

Also, you have the more sci-fi-esque stuff like Dynatron, Waveshaper, Zombie Hyperdrive and so on which I don't really know where to put. This is hard.

Anyone familiar with Ted Nicolaou's Subspecies franchise? Looks fucking stellar! I seriously need to take a look at these films. Especially the two first looks superb, but as they're form the 90's I remain a bit skeptical. But my main skepticism for 90's horror are mostly in form of what the special effects look like. Too many potential good movies ruined by awful CGI during that decade. But if it's all/mostly practical it should be neat.

I thought most people knew where I was from on this forum. And my English doesn't exactly look like it's written by someone with English as their mother tongue. Heh.

But yeah, it was hilarious. I just saw the mail that someone had sent me a PM on discogs, so I knew immediately that it was you since you mentioned you'd PM'd lots of people on discogs.

9 minutes ago, ghost said:

Yeah how'd you know! I didn't send you a message did I? Haha XD

 

 

Do you think you'll be seeing Perturbator on his 2nd US tour? I'll be going to the Boston show.

Yeah, you did send me a message. So I am one of those you messaged.

Me? Well, no chance as I live in Europe.

I had a problem getting into Trever Something as first too, also because of the vocals. But there was something very unique about the music so I kept spinning the album until Miami Nights clicked with me. And shortly after I fell for the entire album. Now it's become one of my all-time favourite songs and the song I always play when I mix and drink my first gin & tonic for the evening. My friends have also made this their g&t song due to me.

You could try Noir Deco too. Was featured on at least Perturbator track that I remember. Future to Fantasy is a very good album.

Anyway, Magic Sword:

That is just way too good to be real. 

15 hours ago, ghost said:

Dang, that IS quite the offer.

I've been looking for a copy and your story gave me hope, so I just spammed a bunch of different people on discogs and I found a guy that just sold me a copy for a good price. I'm so stoked to be getting it in the mail. 
 

Have you given the new tracks off his upcoming EP a listen? I like what I hear. It's a bit different than what he's done so far, but not too far from his formula.

It's a good offer, but I haven't sold it. No idea why, because I would still have the music on vinyl after the sale+trade. But yeah, some things I just have a hard time getting rid off. Recently moved and promised myself I'd get rid of most of my VHS', but I only manage to throw away 3 of them. The rest I had to keep.

Haha! Are you Dan?

Perturbator is always great, and the new one sounds great too.

Also thinking about getting Dan Terminus on vinyl. Great release.

I'd be very surprised if anyone cared, but FLEURETY is releasing a new album. Who is Fleurety you ask? Fleurety is a Norwegian band that formed in 91 and released some amazing black metal between 93-95, before they started to move towards a more experimental avant-garde sound with their 99 EP Last-Minute Lies. One of the early bands considered norwegian weirdness, and for a reason.

Min tid skal komme is a classic and is easy to mention alongside Written in Waters, The Linear Scaffold, La Masquerade Infernale, Hail Horror Hail, Satanic Art, Heart of the Ages and so on as albums that helped push the boundaries of black metal. Experimental, often in the direction of avant-garde.

Sounds fantastic. So weird, so unique, so good.

Just keep and eye on this thread and you'll get all the news you need from me.

Posted this last month:

On 16.7.2017 at 0:29 PM, Bear said:

Some news:

 

Attic - Sanctimonious
 

The Hound of Heaven

 

Attic formed a bit later than other Mercyful Fate and King Diamond worshippers such as Portrait and Trial, but they are no less good. Sanctimonious will be their first album since 2012's great The Invocation, and judging by this song this will be no worse. The intro is 100% Kind Diamond. Could easily have been taken off a King Diamond album. The vocals are brilliant and probably the closest I've heard anyone come King Diamond. In other words, best Kind Diamond song in ages!

 

 

And for those who missed it, Trial released their third album earlier this year. Less Mercyful Fate/King Diamond-esque than Portrait and Attic, but very good tho.

 

Motherless

 

 

Thought I'd just throw out a few rcommendations for overlooked death metal releases of 2017. Just a few that seems to have flew under most peoples radar:

Venenum - Trance of Death

An album hard to decribe. Death metal with some progressive elements. For fans of Tribulation, Morbus Chron, Excoriate, Necrovore, Invidious.

Venenum - Trance of Death

Death metal with some progressive touches. For fans of Invidious, Necrovore, Venenum, Obscure Burial.

Obscure Burial - Obscure Burial

This feels like cheating, but this is a compilation of their two demos. Most excellent! Black/death metal for fans of Necrovore, Incubus, Invidious, Ensnared.

Rude - Remnants...

Old school death metal with a new sound. For fans of Pestilence, Morbid Angel, Death, Autopsy, Possessed.

Cryptic Brood - Brain Eater

Death/doom for fans of Autopsy, Coffins, Winter, Druid Lord and Anatomia.

Vampire - With Primeval Force

Epic, Castlevania-sounding death/thrash. For fans of Possessed, Tribulation, Necrovore, Repugnant, Merciless

I've got more to come.

The Fate of the Furious - How many franchises reached their peak at film number fucking seven? And how many franchises only got good from the fifth film and onwards? Not many, so in that sense The Fast and the Furious is kinda unique. Four poor to godfuckingawful films before they suddenly hit the target with the exceptional Fast Five, then a small step down with the very, very good Fast & Furious 6, before they peaked with Furious 7, and now a step down again with The Fate of the Furious, but still great, great fun. Mindless and messy, but so much fun from start to finish.

This franchise knows exactly what is it, and that is mindless, over the top action that doesn't try to be anything than that, mindless and fun.

And loving the cast. Some talented actors (Charlize Theron, Kurt Russell, Nathalie Emmanuel, Helen Mirren, Luke Evans, Kristofer Hivju) , some less talented ones with lots of screen pressence and charisma (Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham), some shite ones that's still fun (Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris) and one which is just annoying and has one of the most punchable faces in the whole world of cinema. I am of course talking about Michelle Rodriguez.

Btw, Charlize Theron has never been hotter, and is currently the best looking female in the entire god damned world. Holy shit! And that at the age of 42. Hands down!

And another sequel? Heeeeeelz yeah! I'm in!

Spoiler about Littlefinger during season 7;

I have not checked if this is actually true, but if it is then it's a brilliant detail that would explain so much.

 Manos: The Hands of Fate - Or, as it is also known: "the worst fucking film ever!". Is it actually the worst film ever, though? Well, it's hard to say. But it is among the very worst and can be found at the bottom among films such as Monster a-Go Go, Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Beast of Yucca Flats, The Creeping Terror, The Horror of Party Beach and so on. So yeah, it's really fucking bad. But as it is, I just happen to love films like these. I can't get enough of them. As bad as they are, they just hit me in the right spot. They got plenty charm and are absolutely hilarious. Complete trash and I love it!

Been feeling like watching lots of 80's trash the past few days, and been watching and watched some new-to-me films from Cannon Films lately. I love trashy action films from Cannon Films and highly recommend the documentary Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films. Despite the actual quality of the films, they knew how to entertain.

American Ninja - By far the best film in the series, and while it isn't a very good film per se, I just can't help but to love it. So entertaining! It's fun how Steve James always ended up as a side kick despite being the better actor (and most likely martial artists) in these films. Steve James as Cpl. Curtis Jackson are half the fun of these films. Michael Dudikoff was such a shitty actor. No emotion whatsoever, and there's a good reason why he doesn't get to say much. Still love him, tho! The entire film is cult as fuck!

American Ninja 2: The Confrontation - A huge step down, but it's still loads of fun throughout its runtime of 90 minutes. Steve James rules, Michael Dudikoff is fun.

American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt - Michael Dudikoff did not return for the third film in the series, but David Bradley lands the role and steps the fuck up. The film itself is on par with The Confrontation, but David Bradley is a better actor than Dudikoff. But Steve James is the shit, and I love Michele B. Chan, an actress best known for her role as Mei Jan in a couple of MacGyver episodes.

American Ninja 4: The Annihilation - Dudikoff is back, but David Bradley gets to continue nonetheless. But they don't get much screentime together, and that's the biggest problem here. They should've had a shitload of screentime together. And gone is Steve James, which massively drags the film down. Still entertaining tho.

American Ninja 5 - This film is a rare case of... something. This was never intended to be a part of the American Ninja franchise, but a different film known as American Dragons. But they changed the title to cash in on the original American Ninja films. It stars David Bradley, but in a different role, and the overall tone of the film is different. It's lighter and lean a lot towards comedy and adventure, elemts which played more or less no part in the previous films, even tho Steve James was a funny motherfucker. But in a different way. Anyway, I still like it, tho the weakest of the series.

I'd say that these American Ninja films are way better than their reputation, but they're more for 80's b-film action maniacs than anything.

Will watch the connected films Lethal Ninja and  American Samurai later this week. Looking forward to it as I've never watched them before. Hadn't seen American Ninja 4 or 5 either.

Missing in Action - This film was actually shot after its sequel Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (shot back to back) and was supossed to be the sequel, but the producers saw more money and quality in this and just changed the titles and made this the first one. And it was the right decision if you ask me. This film draws more or less all inspiration from the script of Rambo: First Blood Part II which was floating around in Hollywood at this time, but that doesn't matter. Rip-off or not, Missing in Action is one hell of an action film and is one of Chuck Norris best, coolest and most entertaining films. Badass!

Missing in Action 2: The Beginning - This is a slower film than the first and with a lot of emphasis on plot, unlike the first one which is mindless action from start to end. That isn't to say that this is a clever, well-written film of course. Because it's trash, it just so happens that it's a bit more focused on characters and storyline. Doesn't come close to the first, but it's still lots of fun. Soon-Tek Oh is awesome as the main villain!

Will watch Braddock: Missing in Action III later. Looking forward to it.

Yeah, that Droid album is neat and very unique. I do have a hard time comparing it to Vektor, tho, because musically and stylisticly it's just way different. They do carry many of the same progressive elements, but it's really different at the end of the day.  They're as much speed metal as thrash, and they really do embrace their prog and space rock influences and braid it perfectly into the mix of speed and thrash metal. Spacey, progressive speed/thrash metal.

The last time I talked about them I said something along these lines: imagine Megadeth being heavily inspired by Voivod (87-89), Realm, Yes and Ash Ra Tempel instead of Metallica, or something along those lines.

Not sure I've heard Tchornobog. Will check it out for sure.

What is dungeon synth, you say? Dungeon synth is a form for ambient that draws heavily from black metal and dark ambient. But I'll stop there and just quote a wiki instead:

Quote

Dungeon synth is a genre of music characterized by its strong use of atmosphere and melody to create a sonic reality usually pertaining, in concept, to the fantastic or historical periods.  The genre draws influence from the Dark Ambient music genre, while encompassing musical structures that are relatable to medieval and folk music.  Many artists within the genre have been known to draw inspiration from a variety of other musical styles such as film music, video game music, and classical music.

 

 

The genre emerged in the early 1990s from the (Norwegian) Black Metal scene and was "founded" by Artists like Varg Vikernes (Burzum), Mortiis (Emperor), Wongraven (Satyricon) with their side-projects and extended the tradition of many Black Metal bands having atmospheric intros and outros or in-between tracks on their albums. In this upcoming new genre, full albums were made of only this characteristic sound. Another huge impact was also given by the Austrian Black Metal scene with projects like Pazuzu & Die Verbannten Kinder Evas. Today the genre is a world of its own with many artists from all over the world, some still being connected to the world and aesthethics of Black Metal and some with a completely self-contained approach.

Everyone knows I'm very much into black metal, and while the music itself doesn't resemble black metal, the atmosphere sure do and I can't think of a genre closer to black metal than this. Which is probably why I've become such a huge fan, and in recent year the genre have seen a massive revival with a shitload of new artists popping up everywhere. So I've really gotten into the genre beyond Mortiis, and grown familiar with lots of new and old artists.

I don't expect this thread to be popular at all, but if you like 90's black metal and listen to that type of music for the atmosphere I am sure you'll find this very interesting and enjoyable too, tbh. And it's the perfect soundtrack for an evening of tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons and other fantasy games.

Some of my favourite dungeon synth releases:

Mortiis - The Song of a Long Forgotten Ghost

Mortiis - Født til å herske

Mortiis - Ånden som gjorde opprør

Mortiis - Keiser av en dimension ukjent

Mortiis - Crypt of the Wizard

Wongraven - Fjelltronen

Thangorodrim - Taur Nu Fuin

Thangorodrim - Dagor Bragalloch

Thangorodrim - Towers Of The Teeth

Old Tower - Spectral Horizons

Old Tower - The Rise Of The Specter

Old Tower - Remembrance of the Lone Enclave

This youtube channel uploads an incredible amount of dungeon synth, both old and new: The Dungeon Synth Archives

7 hours ago, Zeus said:

That's that lack of direwolf budget for ya.

I would not say that. One of the things Game of Thrones has done well throughout the series is the use of CGI. They've never gone full retard with it. At least not very often. Even the scenes which are 90% CGI it's usually looked good, much of it because they've used CGI for the unimportant parts, and kept the important parts real.

The Night King is a good example of this, and how to properly use CGI to get the best results. He's not entirely CGI, but 98% prosthetics with just a bit of CGI to get the finishing touch. 99,9% of Hollywood blockbusters nowadays would've made him entirely CGI.

This here is a great example too, even though it's not looking perfect:

Again, in a Hollywood blockbuster the special effects woulda been entirely CGI, while in Game of Thrones it's 80% practical effects and 20% CGI for the face. It's just a nice example of how to do things.

Now there's times where they've gone a bit over the top with the CGI, but that's more the exception rather than the rule in Game of Thrones.

But as far as CGI goes, it's never been the CGI itself that's the problem. But how it's been used. Same as with auto-tune, programmed drums, drum triggers/samples and so fucking on. As long as you don't go full retard there's no problem with it, and same goes for CGI. "CG is a very specific tool, like a hammer. It is good for certain uses, but when you wish to saw a board a hammer is useless.". This quote is spot on. There's a reason why the CGI in 1993's Jurassic Park may be the best CGI ever, and it's not because they had the tools we have today. It's entirely because of how it's used in the film. Perfection! In recent times Mad Max: Fury Road comes to mind as a superb example of how to use CGI. Thing there is tat most people don't realize that the film is FULL of CGI, but it's just that the majority of the important things are the real deal.

I could come up with a shitload of examples here on how not to use CGI. I Am Legend?  The original look of the zombies are absolutely brilliant, but for some reason they were dropped in change for the godawful CGI we see which in turn make the zombies look like something from a poor Playstation 2 game.

Another example here is the remae of The Thing. They made som extraordinary practical effects for the film, but again they were either dropped for or overlayed with some cheap, poorly made CGI. Not a great movie to begin with, but when they took away the practical effects they completely fucked the film over. Had they kept all the practical effects the way they originally were, this film would've been remembered for 100 years. Now it was forgotten in 2 becase there's nothing unique or anything in it. But as far as I know, both writer Eric Heisserer and director Matthijs van Heijningen were both totally against CGI and shot the film with practical effects, but as CGI is the trend the studio went over their head and decided to change it, probably because it's what was trendy at the time. But it's weird as CGI is about 5-10 times more expensive than practical effects.

But enough with CGI talk. I could probably go on forever here. Sorry for the off topic.

A couple of recent re-discoveries or whatever:

Agnostic Front - Cause for Alarm

Agnostic Front is a band that should be perfect to my taste, but for some reason it never clicked with me... until now that is. Gave this album a new chance the other day and it just clicked. A brilliant mix of hardcore punk and thrash metal, but without becoming a regular crossover thrash band. Which is weird, as crossover thrash is a mix of thrash and hardcore punk, but this album is kinda 70/30 hardcore and thrash, but without actually mixing them together. You have hardcore parts and you have thrash metal parts, but no parts that's a mix of the two. And there's acertain rawness to the album that is phenomenal.

Cardinals Folly - Holocaust of Ecstasy & Freedom

I'm not sure I've actually heard this album before, but I heard their two first EPs once and could not get into it. But this is just magnificent.  It's heavy and stuff, but catchy as fuck and full of great riffs and passionate vocals. I can hear elemts of bands such as Reverend Bizarre, Saint Vitus, The Lamp of Thoth, Lucifer's Fall and The Wizar'd in both riffs and atmosphere. But you won't have a problem telling the band apart from the mentioned ones.

Looking forward to giving the rest of their discography a chance too.

I thought this was a really good season finale, and as for the complaints, I think they are understandable. I've enjoyed the season from start to finnish, but there is no denying the fact that this is a different Game of Thrones in in the 5 first season. The drama that made the series one of the best series ever are gone in exchange for standarized action-adventure with one fantasy cliche after another. But tbqh, I don't mind even though the quality has falled quite a bit.

This last episode however was back to old standards if you ask me. It was more than just your average fantasy-action.

Btw, I'm both surprised and impressed by the CGI this season. I think it's really well-done, and from the looks of it these dragons will actually look more than decent in 10 years, which is something I don't say often about CGI.

Wait. You don't like either You're Next or The Guest? That's a big "what the fucking fuck?" for me tbh.

I haven't kept up with music at all this year and I haven't heard many Japanese albums. Only one I can think of is Evil. But my favourites as far as I can remember would be these:

Rude - Remnants...

Rude formed in 2008 and released their debut album Soul Recall in 2014, an album that happens to be one of the very best death metal albums post-1995. So my expectations were extremely high for their new album Remnants... This time around they sound a bit less Pestilence-esque than on their debut, but there's still many touches of classic bands like Pestilence, Death, Autopsy, Morbid Angel and Possessed in their sound. It sounds old school and familiar, but at the same time they've really found their own sound with this album and added a few new twists. Superb album! Not sure if it's better than Soul Recall, but it's amazing nonetheless.

Black Magick SS ‎– Kaleidoscope Dreams

Black Magic SS gives us another taste of their unique brand of occult psychedelic rock, and once again it's almost too catchy. By far their best piece of music till now, and I'm one of those who couldn't stop praising any of their other releases. This band is as good as they are unique.
 

Quote

 

Drift away into the night of

everything that you will need

Drift away into Kaleidoscope Dreams

 

Wampyrinacht - We Will Be Watching. Les cultes de Satan et les mystères de la mort

I'm a huge fan of the 90's Hellenic black metal scene, and whenever a band comes along and release something that sound like it was written and released in 1993-94 alongside classic albums like Thy Mighty Contract, Crossing the Fiery Path, His Majesty at the Swamp and Eumenides I'm just totally into it. Now Wampyrinacht isn't a new band at all. They formed in 1995, but since them they only released a demo in 96 and an EP in 1998, and this album was actually written between 95-99 and recorded between 00-02. So it's not a new band at all, and not a new album in that sense. Riff-wise there's a lot of classic Hellenic black metal riffing similar to old Rotting Christ, Varathron and Necromantia, as well as nailing the atmosphere of those times. But it's not just rehashing or anything. It's new and it's unique, and most importantly it's absolutely brilliant.

My three picks of the year I think.

Modern garde, Violet harenchi and Gekisei are Merry's masterpieces as far as I am concerned, with Modern garde being one of the very best VK albums of all time.

I'm not too fond of cover albums and shit, but the two cover songs on the Gekisei single are stunning and ever since that release I've always wanted to hear a full album with Merry playing that type of music, either a cover album or something original in that vein.

Edit: I actually forgot to add that I easily can recommend every single Merry album bar the last one which I haven't heard. I think all albums are fantastic, but Modern garde is just way, way ahead of theo thers. So there's that.

Another legend gone in form of Tobe Hooper. He was never the most consistent director around, but he's got plenty of great films to his name.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Eaten Alive

Salem's Lot

The Funhouse

Poltergeist

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

Tales from the Crypt episode Dead Wait 

Body Bags

All these are amazing, with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Salem's Lot being my favourites, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 being one of the most underrated films in history of film. Such a great film, but as it's way different from the first one people simply writes it off as trash. Sad but true. It's a film everyone should give a fair chance. It's a great film and as a sequel it makes very much sense as well, one just have to open up a bit about the whole TCSM universe.

My Name Is Bruce - IO realized it had been 10 years since this gem came, and decided I had to re-watch it. My Name Is Bruce is cult hero and b-film legend Bruce Campbell's own tribute to himself tbh. He's embracing his status and using it for all it's worth in the film, and that's much of the reason why it's so damn good. It's got a strong 80's horror-comedy feeling to it, and it's campy as fuck. But that's all nothing but a pleasure to me, and the films is as smug and silly as it's fun and charming.

Bruce Campbell should not only be a fucking president, he should be THE world ruler.

Epic metal band Holy Martys released a new album too, their first albun since 2011's Invincible. Their earlier outputs up until their second album was mostly about ancient Hellenic history, mythology and warfare, their third album was about the Japanese samurai and this new one is about The Lord of the Rings. I'm really digging the themes tey cover, and I like how the music has always changed to fit the lyrical themes.

Their earlier outputs was very epic and majestic.

Their third album about the samurai was faster, powerful and catchier.

This, their fourth album is slower, darker and more epic again.

The music fits their themes very well IMO. New album sounds cool too, but far from as catchy as their previous stuff. Will take much more time to get into this one than their previous albums.