Bear

I actually recommended both Assassionation and Edelweiss earlier on this side. Both well worth digging into. I'd also recommend playing the new BMSS a lot. It's a grower for sure. Earlier releases might have bigger hits and better single songs, but as an album from A to Z I'd probably say this is their best and most consistent album. But all their releases are obviously close to perfect. Phenomenal band!

https://assassinationnow.bandcamp.com/album/seeds-of-the-master Man, this new Assassination album is so good. Black metal/psychedelic rock in the vein of Black Magick SS, just a tad blacker. This entire album rules supreme!

I'm in a thrash metal/crossover/punk/hip hop group with a friend. We just do whatever we feel like no matter the genre. In a hip hop group with said friend. I produce hip hop beats for myself, said friend, and others who wants them. I got an electronic project going on. Hilarious shit where I make everything from electro pop to chiptunes to weird danseband/polka/inspired electronica. It's closely tied to said friend's electronic project. We also have a web series connected to this. LMFAO I also have a project going where I make music inspired by danseband and polka. Closely tied to said friend's project of same style. It's hilarious. All for fun. Don't expect to get any fans, make any money or anything. We're just having loads and loads of fun with these things, drinking, recording, creating and imagining every now and then. It's all for fun, and we're both loving it.

Run the Jewels 4 is out today. Not heard it yet, but gonna go through it tomorrow for sure. Really looking forward to it.

I'm a huge fan of Kohh, although his last two albums have been highly disappointing and his earliest stuff felt incredibly uneven and immature. But Dirty and Dirt II (Side A) are both incredible, and the track Paris (Sam Tiba Remix) is just beyond awesome. The original Paris is a banger too, but the remix is a proper fucking banger. Krush Posse is a must hear. They got an incredible limited discography with only a few songs as far as I know, but they're good and they kinda laid the foundation of Japanese hip hop. DJ Krush is a must hear for anyone into hip hop. Started out with Krush Posse before he went on on his own, having a long, rather successful and impactful career. Microphone Pager were pretty damn good. A due consisting of two thirds of Krush Posse. Lamp Eye was really fucking awesome. Again these guys didn't release a lot of material (as far as I know) and it's a shame. Buddha Brand is pretty darn classic, and Ningen Hatsudensho is a Japanese classic for sure. One of the more important Japanese hip hop albums, no? King Giddra are easily among the best from Japan. Their debut album is a classic and up there with Buddha Brand's Ningen Hatsudensho for sure. Superb productions, neat flows and an overall gorgeous sound. Nitro Microphone Underground is considered Japans answer to Wu-Tang Clan, although not nearly as good. But their debut album, which is the only one I am really familiar with, is a good album. Early 2000's hip hop and a product of its time, but they really had something special. Cool stuff. I also enjoy Elle Teresa quite a lot. Japans answer to Nicki Minaj or something. Releases tend to switch between modern trap and bubble gum "trapop", but when she hits she usually hit kinda hard. THIS track is a good example of what she's capable of. Fantastic song and totally badass video. Edit: and Nujabes, but I kinda assume everybody on a forum for Japanese music fans know him. Total legend!

"Death Row" does sample Eazy-E's "Boyz-n-the-Hood", and that's a proper classic. I'd also check out Mulatto's "Bitch From Da Souf". It's less "classy", but the beat also takes a few notes from Eazy-E's classic and it's catchy as hell. But I think modern rappers like Maxo Kream, Big K.R.I.T., Schoolboy Q, ASAP Ferg, IDK, Flatbush Zombies, Killer Mike/EL-P/Run the Jewels etc. might be of interest. They have a much more mature approach to hip hop than a lot todays hip hoppers, similar to Freddie Gibbs. Not saying they sound similar tho. This track's just too good. Tech Nine's hook is beyond fantastic, and his verse is superb too. He just popped off on this track. Unrelated to the stuff above: People are seriously sleeping on Ramirez. This is the hip hop track of the year, and the entire albums is just pure gold. My only complain is that it looses that summery vibe towards the end of the album with Tales From the Guttah and Red Dot. Both songs are phenomenal, just a lot darker. But the rest of the album? Holy damn! Superb, and the productions are familiar as hell, but still super fresh. Hip hop album of the year so far. Would also recommend a lot of his stuff, but this is his best album so far. I would go as far as to put it above his collabs with Suicideboys.

What the actual fuck!? It's been no less than 16(!!!) years since Armagedda released their last album and proper, legendary masterpiece "Ond Spiritism", and 16 years since the band split. Since then Graav has kept himself busy with Lik, Ehlder, Lönndom and Graavehlder, and A. Petterson has kept himself with De Arma, Stilla, Whirling, Saiva and Lönndom. They've kept themself busy creating other quality music, but they have never reached the legendary quality that is "Ond Spiritism", which is a unique, different and fucking fantastic album. This kinda continues the sound of "Ond Spiritism", but with a lot of elements from their other projects like Ehlder and Lönndom. After one listen it doesn't sound quite as good, but that's something we could not wish for as "Ond Spiritism" is one of the best black metal albums post 2000's. But the songwriting is simlar, as is the feeling and atmosphere. The last track, Evigheten i en obrytbar cirkel, is IMMENSE by the way.

I usually shower three times a day as I work with kids. Once in the morning so I can feel nice and fresh when going to work, one as soon as I get home just to feel clean after having spent the day around spit, snot and filthy hands, and one before going to bed. If I had to choose just one, I'd pick the morning shower. So good and important for me personally.

A new metal label that focuses specifically on fantasy themed bands just posted this on their Facebook page today: It's been close to 20 years since we last heard anything from Nazgûl, which is 2002's full length De Expugnatione Elfmuth. Super epic black metal which takes the epic and bombastic elements of Summoning and blend them with more traditional black metal. Where Summoning for the most part captures the more epic and grand aspects of Tolkien, Nazgûl captures the more grimmer and darker elements of violent and destruction on Tolkien. The band is often criticized for its vocals, but I've come to love them. Super over the top, but absolutely fitting IMO. Can't wait for any new material here. Exciting stuff.

Yeah, Child's Play was a surprisingly good remake. Not quite as good as the original, which is a classic, but still a really fun and cool movie that took me and many others by surprise. We Summon the Darkness was also really cool. Shame on you, Jigsaw.

Another masterpiece by Old Tower. Not his best work, but pretty fucking amazing nonetheless. Perfect for dark fantasy reading, or as background music to dark table top games like Dungeons & Dragons or RPG video games like Diablo or Dark Souls. It really captures that vibe. Fantastic stuff.

That sounds pretty good. Very, very Watain-esque tbh. Edit: On a second listen I feel like it's almost a bit too Watain-esque. Hmm. Still looking forward to the album tho.

Looking forward to this. Really liked his The Blackcoat's Daughter and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, which both were also super slow and atmospheric. Seems to be his thing, which is really sweet.

Extraction - Extraction is the new, big Netflix movie starring none other than Thor himself - Chris Hemsworth, as well as Randeep Hooda, Golshifteh Farahani and David Harbour among others. The movie is 95% action and 5% plot and character development. So you gotta love action to be able to enjoy this. Chris Hemsworth plays a troubled mercenary, and to my big, big surprise he actually nails that role. Probably best I've seen him tbh. Just a really fine performance by him, and Randeep Hooda is also excellent. Loads of great action where actors are allowed to perform, which is always a plus. Also, that "long take" is gorgeous. Yes, I know it has several, several cuts, but it's really well made and pierced together. So far this movie has divided people quite a lot, with even huge action fans both praising and slaughtering the movie. I'm among those who ended up praising it. The 2 hours went incredibly fast. Superb!

Drive - Steve Wang directed movie starring Mark Dacascos, Kadeem Hardison, John Pyper-Ferguson and Brittany Murphy. First off, despite only Mark Dacascos having a semi-big name, the cast here is phenomenal, mostly due to the all-around chemistry between the lot of them and the fact that the characters are likable and fun. Mark Dacascos is Mark Dacascos, and he's always awesome. Kadeem Hardison adds som fun to the buddies. John Pyper-Ferguson is the corny-as-hell villain, who also adds some fun comedy. And Brittany Murphy is just hilarious. Shame her role isn't much bigger. The fight scenes are surprisingly well done, and the overall tone is nice. It's a buddy cop movie, without a cop. Basically Rush Hour before Rush Hour was a thing IMO. Steve Wang, the director, is the same who directed Guyver and Guyver: Dark Hero. Anyway, this film was just awesome!

Taken 3 - Taken is a modern classic and the second is alright, albeit really weak compared to the first one. Taken 3 is one big, fat mess, with some of the worst direction I've ever seen. Every action scene, be it hand to hand combat, "gunplay", chase scenes at foot or in a car. It's all cut to a billion small pieces where it's absolutely impossible to see what happens. It's absolutely awful. The story itself isn't worse than your run of the mill action-thriller, and both Liam Neeson and Forest Whitaker delivers. But the movie is cut to death. Jesus christ.

Hellripper - The Affair of the Poisons This black speed metal bands just keeps getting better with each release, so this new album can't come fast enough. Should be awesome!

First impression is that a some of the metal parts are much "weirder" and complex than previous records, but their signature mix of psychedelic rock and black metal is still very much present and it doesn't sound like anyone other than HSN. The synth sounds amazing, and that middle part with the synth intro and then lead guitar is outstanding. Great track!

Die Farbe - This is a German adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's The Color From Out of Space, and it's a damn fucking good one. I've been looking for this film since around 2013 or so, but I have been unable to find it. However, browsing through tubitv I just happened to come across it and just had to watch it. Like I said, this is an adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's The Color From Out of Space. It's black and white, for most part, and for most part it looks gorgeous as well. There's a couple of scene towards the end that should've been better, but we're talking small flaws that really doesn't cause any damage to the film as a whole. Fantastic atmosphere, beautiful cinematography and superbly acted. Very different from Richard Stanley's The Color From Out of Space btw, so it won't hurt anyone seeing both. Two very different type of movies. Both amazing tho. Luz - Luz is a horror movie made as a thesis project by Tilman Singer who wrote, directed, edited and produced the movie. This is the type of movie that'll bore most people to death, but those who get it will be put into something similar to a trance. Clocking in at 70 minutes it's a pretty short film and it is more about atmosphere than plot. The overall visual style of the movie is gorgeous and it's hard to not think of European directors like Dario Argento, Mario Bava etc., but even more impressive is the sound design. The sound design is absolutely NUTS throughout. A real fucking pleasure to the ears. But it's made as a homage to european horror cinema of the 80's, and I think it manages that really well. It felt like I was watching an 80's horror movie. Gorgeous stuff!

Oh dear god. Dolly Parton's original "Jolene" is absolutely magnificent, but this is just out of this world. Holy fuck!

Unknown Soldier - 3 hour long finnish war-drama. It's based on a book about WWII, and has already been filmatized two times. Not sure I've seen either of those, but I might have. Anyway, Unknown Soldier is a movie that is uneven. At it's best it's intense, brutal, dramatic and awesome, but despite its three hour long playtime it doesn't flesh out its characters nearly enough, and when the movie ends the only character you only feel like you know is Rokka, who feels a bit too much like a comic book character. But this is the type of movie a country like Norway would not even dream of producing in the 2000's, and if they did it wouldn't be 1/10th as good. So well done to Finland, yet again.

Uzumaki - Slow burning and weird Japanese horror based on Uzumaki by Junji Ito. It's weird as fuck, slow, and full of gorgeous details that'll keep you on the edge of your seat, despite not being scary, suspenseful or anything like that. It's just super atmospheric, weird and unique. Twisted, without being super violent or gross? Anyway, great movie with a really nice Lovecraftian atmosphere. Karuto / Cult - One of Kôji Shiraishi's (Noroi: The Curse) many low-budget horror movies, and this too is a found footage type of horror, like many of his movies. It's interesting, contains some really cool ideas, and I like the CGI. It's obviously low-budget, but it's used in a way that makes sense. It's weird and fake, but it feels like it has a place here. This too has a Lovecraftian feeling to it, but around halfway in or so we're introduced to a character that feels super corny and out of place. His looks, the way he's played/acted, the way he's written. It feels really off, and he just doesn't fit the mood at all. As soon as he steps in it feels more like a parody, and it's a shame, because everything else is pretty damn good. Ginger Snaps - Re-watched this. Superbly written and directed, fairly well acted as well. It's a really damn impressive film that's fun and all, but that isn't quite as good as people say. I thought it was way better 15 years ago. Now the flaws (such as the acting) comes through a bit too well. But it's good, and I really do understand why it's so highly rated, especially among proper feminists (aka the ones that fight for equality between the genres, and not just calm themseves feminists so that they can degrade all men "without feeling bad" aka sub-fuckin-humans). Just didn't work quite as well for me personally.

Black Dynamite - The series sequel to the modern classic that is Black Dynamite, starring martial artist and action actor Michael Jai White. This follows the movie very close in tone and subjects, with the main cast replacing their roles from the movie. This is fucking incredible! They make fun of black people and black culture, white people and white culture, asian people and asian culture etc. etc. etc. There's not limit . They fuck with everything and everyone, and it's a god damned pleasure. Both seasons are absolutely genius through. Hilarious as fuck! Narcos: Mexico, season 2 - Finally finished this. Took me a long time tbh. Not because it was bad, but because it wasn't nearly as good as the first season, and it felt a bit more complex, and much deeper rooted in drama than crime. It just lacked something. And it sucks that Pablo Acosta, the best, most interesting, funniest and most likable character in the season didn't get more screentime than he did. Fantastic character which was insanely well acted by Gerardo Taracena. That an Oscar worthy performance. Insanely good, guys! So season 1: 9/10 Season 2: 6,5/10

Slave to the Grind - Been wanting to see this for quite some time and when it just popped up on youtube I could not resist. The timing was good as well, as I've been listening to a shitload of grindcore lately. This goes through the history of grindcore and jumps from country to country, while also talking a bit about goregrind and stuff. It's pretty damn good, but an hour and a half long documentaries about genres of music, movies or whatever will always feel a bit short as you can only squeeze so much into 90 minutes. But it's good, loads of good anecdotes and shit. Fun stuff. I thought they maybe spent a bit too much time on grindcore's own version of G.G. Allin, Seth Putnam of Anal Cunt. But it's fun hearing the different views on him. From people having him and the band stay with their family while on tour, and only having good things to say about him, to people who celebrated his death, which such a low and disgusting thing to do no matter what you feel about him. Anyway, highly recommended. Midnight Family - Documentary about a family that runs a private ambulance, and their struggle to cope with things as they're not the only thing. So they have to race other private ambulances to get to pasients, to earn a bit of money. And then there's the cops as well. It's a pretty dark docu, but it's super interesting and intense. Liked it a lot. Afro Samurai: Resurrection - I loved the series when it came, but never got around to watch this shit. But I finally did it and it did not disappoint. It's basically one long action scene, but that is something I really don't mind. It's dark, kinda twisted and fun. Top notch soundtrack by the one and only RZA with friends as well. Code 8 - A different type of superhero movie. Really cool concept and it's well-made and all, but it felt just a bit short. Could probably have been 30 minutes longer. But it was cool, looked great, felt great etc. Good stuff. Flying Guillotine 2 - The first of two sequels to 1975's The Flying Guillotine. It's very much a rehash of the first one, but with a few updated elements. Not quite as good, but still damn fucking awesome. Some proper good fights throughout like, and some incredibly likable characters and traits. Super!

Watched Todd and the Book of Pure Evil: The End of the End which is an animated movie meant to end the whole saga of Todd and the Book of Pure evil as the show was cancelled after just two seasons. SO they took a lot of the ideas for season 3 and 4 and made it into a movie, and because of that this feels a lot like a four episode long feature...which is what it is. Thought this was really good, really funny and really absurd. Incredibly likable stuff. Thumbs up for a fine ending.