Bear

There's so much to look forward to this year, bot new seasons of older series and completely new stuff. Black Sails, Better Call Saul, Fargo, The Defenders, Westworld, Taboo, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, The Expanse, Twin Peaks, The Deuce, Guerrilla, The Punisher, Inhumans and more. It's gonna be a busy year.

 

 

I'm almost done with The Get Down part 2, still very fun. Half hip hop, half disco, it sure does contain lots of good music. I'm not too keen on the relationships in this series as they seem very artificial, but the stories themself are good and the musical numbers, especially the ones by The Get Down Brothers, are exceptional. I also like the cartoonish, over the top violence, even though it's been toned down quite a bit for this part 2. But it's all fun.

Next week is Inferno Festival, my 10th anniversary actually. Really looking forward to this. It kicks off on wednesday with the club day, which means a lot of bands playing in different clubs. Which means you'll always miss out on some bands.

 

The bands I really want to see:

 

Vulkan/Pokal:

Red Harvest

Borknagar

Nachash

Tangorodrim

Furze

 

Parteateret:

Whoredom Rife

Deus Mortem

 

Blå:

Hail Spirit Noir

 

Should manage to see Nachash, Red Harvest, Tangorodrim and Hail Spirit Noir, but my main priority is Hail Spirit Noir. Nachash is a fantastic band, but they play really early. So we'll probably miss out on them.

 

Thursday:

Helheim

Venom Inc

Destruction

Carcass

Pillorian

 

Heavydeath (ends this night at Revolver, which is a short walk from Rockefeller/John Dee). We always go to these shows.

 

Helheim and Venom Inc plays a bit too early for our taste, but I would love seeing both.

 

Friday:

Anaal Nathrakh

Samael

Gorgoroth

Infernal War

Crowbar

 

Other than Samael and Infernal War I am not too interested in seeing any of the bands this day, but we'll go and gotta catch some bands. And these are the most interesting of the lot. Last time I heard Anaal Nathrakh live they were atrocious. They didn't even seem to know how to perform live. Absolute trash. Doesn't help that's it's been 11 years since their last good album, and that they since then seem to have found lots of inspiration from metalcore.

 

Saturday:

Slagmaur

Primordial

Belphegor

Abbath

Svartidaudi

 

Only metal bands I've seen live that's better than Primordial is Ghost, and I've seen quite an amount of metal bands live by now. Slagmaur is an interesting band, but they've not been very good the two times I've seen them live. But the second time was a huge improvement on the first time at least. But I fucking hate the masks they use live. Looks so cheap. Like they bought it from a kids store in October. Belphegor is Belphegor. Not a huge fan, but they've got some good albums and could prove to be good live.

 

 

Anyway, I have 48 0,5l cans of beer and a bottle of gin waiting for me at my moms house, so no matter wich bands we see or miss, the four day long party will be majestic as always.

 

First Inferno Festival without my brother who moves to the Philippines earlier this year. Will be a huge miss as he's been with us 8 of these 10 years, and we've spent an insane amount of time in Oslo with the friend we've always stayed at when we've been in Oslo. But life goes on I guess.

Thought I'd keep updating this thread with good albums that I hear.

 

Belgium's Possession have blessed us with a fantastic dem and two great EPs of violent and chaotic black/death metal in the vein of Slaughtbbath, Sarcófago, Vulcano, Sepultura and so on since 2013, and now, five years after their creation they are back with their debut album.

 

Possession - Exorkizein

A new release dealing with possessions, demonolatry and witchcraft, subjects I feel suits the raw music very well. While they once again manage to release something proper good, they still aren't close to matching their phenomenal demo. It's mainly the production which is a bit off, but it still sounds very good, and this is still highly recommended of course.

I can't stand having spare time. When I get off work, I just can't wait to go to work again the next morning. The time inbetween work is fucking awful. Then come the weekends, and I just get drunk off my mind. It's not unusual for me to drink about 60 0,5l of beers at home, and 10-12 0.5l of beer out during a weekend. Can't stand it.

 

Today I was told I most likely have to take out 2 or 3 weeks of vacation this summer. This shit is gonna be the end of me. 2-3 weeks is 1-2 weeks too much for me. If I had to choose I'd take 0 days vacation. Gonna be hard, unless I manage to talk them into giving me some work.

Just finished Narcos, season 2.  I really liked the first season, but I was very sceptical about this season and delayed watching it because I read somewhere that the first season was something like 75/25 true/fiction and that this was 25/75 true/fiction, and I didn't think they could create something as good as the first season. But I was wrong, because season 2 is a step up from the first season. Fiction or not, this season was fantastic from start to end. Season 2 is a lot more action-oriented, but at the same time it pays more focus to the emtotional side of the characters, and that's what really makes this season. I'm very surprised, but this was excellent.

 

Can't wait for season 3. And good thing is that they can so easily move this to other coutnries, like Mexico, as they seem to have stepped into fiction a long time ago anyway. Holy shit, excited for more!

Yeah. I can understand that the ex-members are angry if Papa Emeritus has kept promised money from them and stuff, not honored a contract, but when they go out with his name and their own names the way they do I get a feeling that they're really fucking butthurt and jealous as fuck on him and the reputation he's build with Ghost, as it's been known from the begining that Papa Emeritus was Tobias Forge.  No matter what has happened, this is a terrible move for them. Not the suind, but the name dropping.

 

Anyway, Ghost has three brilliant albums and one of the best cover albums ever (If You Have Ghost) to their name, and I hope Ghost wins because of this. I want more Ghost albums. Them being one of the best live bands on the planet doesn't hurt either.

 

 

 

Anyway, speaking of bands with hidden identities, fucking Brujeria comes to mind. Which is why I played through their two first albums a couple of times this week. Death metal/grindcore, and in their early days they were heavy on the secret identity thing as they performed with pseudonyms and pretended to be Mexican druglords wanted by the FBI and stuff, with lyrics dealing with drug smuggling, Mexican pride, satanism, immigration and stuff. I always thought this imagery was really fucking awesome.

 

In reality it's a band consisting of people like Shane Embury, Emilio Marquez, Billy Gould, , Dino Cazares, Jello Biafra, Raymond Herrera, Jesse Pintado, Tony Campos, Jeff Walker, Tony Laureano, Adrian Erlandsson, Daniel Erlandsson and Nicholas Barker among others. So we're talking people who are pretty known in the world of (extreme) metal, as well as punk.

 

I highly recommend their two first albums if you're into grindcore in the vein of Asesino, Machetazo, Napalm Death and stuff. Their later albums are more groove metal-oriented and I don't like them very much at all.

I don't give a shit about that to be honest. As long as the music is top notch they can do whatever the fuck they want.

16 minutes ago, Disposable said:

New Goatmoon isn't shit? You think it sounds different from what their last two have been like?

 

I only like their first and everything I've heard from their later output has been so fucking _bad_. I haven't heard this latest one, but it'd be quite the 180 if it's a sudden improvement.

 

Yeah, I would say it is. Not that I've given Varjot or Voitto tai Valhalla too many spins, but I just get this feeling that it's more heavy metal inspired, epic and way cheesier, but not in a Alestorm/Korpiklaani/Finntroll-foly vein. It's just the combination of riffs, synth and production that makes it cheesy. The cover art is pretty spot on as far as the atmosphere and feeling of the album goes.

Fuck trimming it down, because I began but got a few problems. Which do I keep and which do I remove? So I'll just post everything that's left. Someone might find some of these releases interesting, so I'll put some time and effort into the post.

 

10/10

 

Rude - Remnants...

Rude debuted with an absolute monster of an album in form of Soul Recall in 2014, and 2017 sees the band return with their sophomore album, an album that is just as good, if not better, than their debut. It sounds old school and very familiar, but as with their debut it sounds very fresh at the same time. They don't try to hide their influences, and the riffing, vocals and production reeks of old Pestilence, Morbid Angel and Death, but they still got their own thing going.

 

9/10

Black Magic - Demon Lord

Black Magic has gone from playing black metal on their two first demos, to heavy/speed metal on their EP and a more heavy rock sound on this one-track demo. Totally different, but at the same time it sounds Black Magic as fuck. The occult feeling isn't gone. And as for the quality of the song, this is probably my favourite Black Magic track thus far. Catchy!

 

Black Magick SS - Kaleidoscope Dreams

I've been a fan of Black Magick SS' psychedelic rock with hints of black metal since the begining, and this is by far their best release so far. It's so cheesy, but it sounds awesome. Really, really good, and as unique as it is good. Original band!

 

 

8/10

Helheim - landawarijaR

It took me many years to get into Helheim's post-Terrorveldet releases, but after years of trying I suddenly got into them a year or two ago. Their brand of viking metal and black metal is very unique, and it's always been so, but with landawarijaR they're offering their best and most unique album since Blood & Ild. It's a weird album, almost sounding avant-garde in the vein of Celtic Frost's Into the Pandemonium at times and progressive like mid-era Enslaved at other times, but it always manages to sound like Helheim. Still got lots of brass that makes it feel really epic.

 

Obscure Evil - Void Fumes

Mean and raw black/thrash metal with lots of Bathory, Aura Noir, Nifelheim and the likes in their sound. Not original, but really good. This is a compilation of their demo and EP which is fine as both releases rules.

 

Goatmoon - Stella Polaris

I've always considered Goatmoon to be as bad as they are ridiculous, and never in my wildest dreams would I dream that I would end up enjoying this. But I do. A lot actually. Nice, epic-sounding black/folk metal that's still furious, but it's seasoned with lots of heavy metal riffing here and there. Just check out Stella Polaris that out of nowhere turns into a heavy metal song, and that glorious riff gets even better towards the end of the song when there's a brilliant solo on top of it. It kinds sounds like traditional finnish black metal gone folky. As if Sargeist or Horna added folk metal to their black metal. Surprise of the year for sure. So good I will revisit their older material.

 

Front Beast - Third Scourge from Darkness

I've always been a huge fan of Avenger and many of his bands, especially Front Beast, Nocturnal and Szarlem. With Front Beast Avenger pays a tribute to the ancient black metal of the past, with mean and raw riffing in vein of Darkthrone, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Bestial Summoning, Countess and more. But there's also plenty heavy metal riffing throughout, but it's black in the vein of Mercyful Fate, Oz and Hell. Great stuff!

 

Pillorian - Obsidian Arc

When Agalloch broke up it didn't take long before John Haughm announced his new band, Pillorian, together with Trevor Matthews of Uada and SP of The Will of a Million. And even before they had released a single song to the public, they got booked for shows around the world, among them a headliner spot at this year's Inferno Festival. So how's the music? Well, very good, I'd say. Kinda sounds like a mix of the blackest of Agalloch and Uada, which should come as no surprise. But it's more traditional black metal than Agalloch ever were, but if you're familiar with Agalloch you should be able to hear influences from there. John Haughm's grim vocals are really good for this release too. I'm pleased!

 

Sale Freux - Vindilis

Sale Freux are one of a few "newer" French bands who carries the torch of demo-era Peste Noire.  It's not as medieval-sounding, but it's got that dark, gritty and french countryside-feeling to it. Would be a nice soundtrack when walking over a french battlefield with thousands and thousands of dead soldiers everywhere. Fucked up drumsound, but I like it.

 

The Great Old Ones - EOD: A Tale of Dark Legacy

Post-black metal inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, influenced by old Altar of Plagues, Wolves in the Throne Room, Fen and Deafheaven. These guys just gets better and better, and their third album is by far their best. Really powerful!

 

Bròn - Зарђала Круна

I have, over and over again, mentioned Bròn's two demos and debut album Ànrach as masterpieces, and I still do. Зарђала Круна is the band's new EP consisting of one 32 minutes long song, and it's another masterpiece of cold, atmospheric black metal in the vein of Evilfeast and Forest Silence. Breathtaking release! But as far as I know, this will be the last Bròn release with black metal elements, at least for a while. But the atmospheric ambience of these releases are amazing too, so I expect the future releases to be great too.

 

 

 

That's it for now, but I've got some other releases I'll add to the mix too. I just need to spin them a few more times.

I can't write for shit when I am on my phone. So many typos. Christ.

 

 

Anyway, just put together a "great albums of 2017" list, but I'll try to trim it down a bit before I post it as it is about 20-25 albums or so.

Alestorm's crowdfunding parody of Jari and Wintersun is hilariouus and spit fucking on. Fuck Wintersun, fuck that douchebad Jari and more than all, fuck their pathetic fans. Cancer to 'em all!

The problem with Godzilla (2014) , as far as I see it, isn't that it is an action-adventure or anything. But a  poor plot and subplot, awful characters, a shitty Godzilla design, godawful pacing and more. The entire film just feels so superficial. The characters have no personality. They have no character. They're a bunch of empty shells who doesn't offer anything at all, running around acting like idiots. The only decent character was Bryan Cranston's, and he got killed way too early. And at the end the entire film felt more like a shitty american disaster films from 1998, rather than a Godzilla film. Which is awful considering it's a Godzilla film.

 

I will add one thing tho, where I seem to have quite a different opinion than "everybody else", and that is that I like how little screentime Godzilla is given. When done properly this would've just added so much suspense to the entire film, but when they did as they did it didn't add anything at all.

 

Just fuck this film, and like the first american Godzilla it is best forgotten. I'll take any of the Japanese Godzilla films over these two anyday. Even the bad Japanese Godzilla films like King Kong vs. Godzilla, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla vs. Gigan, The Return of Godzilla, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, Godzilla's Revenge/All Monsters Attack and Son of Godzilla are more worth as they provide plenty entertainment. It's shit, but it's very fun and entertaining shit for those of us who enjoy that kind of stuff.

Shin Godzilla looks neat as fuck. Kinda looks like the best kaiju film since forever. Really looking forward to seeing it. Also like that it's supossed to be much bleaker and don't have your regular slick hollywood/blockbuster cliches, cuz that shit doesn't fit a proper kaiju film.

 

Really looking forward to the new american Godzilla too, deapite the first one being weak as fuck. Michael Dougherty is a suoerb director and both Trick 'r Treat and Krampus are modern classics. He could do something great with this.

Yes, they are. Or rather, Yoshihiro Nishimura is. He wasn't involved in directing the original, but he's got Tokyo Gore Police on his filmography, even though he's failed to deliver after that film. He's done good films, just nothing that matches the brilliance of Tokyo Gore Police.

 

 

But since we're on this subject, anyone seen Hard Revenge, Milly? Both the short and feature film? Not sure if I've seen these (probably have, but can't actually remember it), but anyone know if these are super violent/bloody/gory splatter films or if they are much more serious? They look a bit more serious on the picutres I've seen, rather than the splatterfest we're usually getting from the genre.

I just rewatched RoboGeisha and this film is still as fun and entertaining as it is absurd and bad. I don't know where to begin with this film. Cybernetic AssSwords, breast milk from hell, castle-shaped robot, bleeding buildings and whatnot. This shit isn't for everybody, but if you're into this kind of shit, then this surely will entertain you.

 

 

 

 

I feel like I've seen a lot of the new wave of japanese splatter films, but I still feel I gotta dig even deeper than what I've done. It just have to be even more gold made by these guys, or which is connected to the "genre". Don't think I'll ever find anything as good, great and brilliant as Tokyo Gore Police, Meatball Machine and The Machine Girl (in that order), but I am hoping. But these three I can watch over and over and over again without geting bored. Just... amazing!

Finished Black Mirror, season 3 today. The third exceptional season of a TV-show that's different and completely unique as far as modern TV-series goes.

 

Both San Junipero and Hated in the Nation are among the best episodes in the series so far, if not the best.

 

San Junipero showed a total different side by ditching the grey environment and bleak atmosphere in favour of something colourful, cheerful and positive. A very uplifting episode in many ways, and a real pleasure to the eye. This was visually stunning.

 

Hated in the Nation are so far one of the most thematically relevant stories of the series so far. A top notch thriller clocking in at 90 minutes, making it the longest episode of the series so far. The storytelling here is much more traditional and familiar, but it's really nicely done throughout.

 

What a series. Holy shit! Brilliant! I have no problems understanding the hype or cult status. Deserved!

Some exciting news for fans of good music:

 

Triumvir Foul - Spiritual Bloodshed

Their demo is a masterpiece and one of my favourite death metal releases in recent time, and while the debut album didn't quite manage to deliver the same magic, it's still excellent. Dark, mean and filthy death metal with hints of classic american death metal (Autopsy, Necrovore), as well as classic Swedish death metal (Nihilist, Dismember), as well as recent stuff like Teitanblood, Swallowed and The Haunting Presence.  Bith members also delivers quality music in Ash Borer, Serum Dreg, Urzeit and Uškumgallu.

 

Dødsengel - Interequinox

Dødsengel have manage to create quite the name for themself in the underground, and with releases like Mirium Occultum, Alongside Choronzon, Ecstatic Horror and two and a half hour long masterpiece Imperator it's easy to understand why. We're talking black metal much in the vein of Hetroertzen, Nightbringer and Saligia, but with their own twist to it all.

 

Evil - Rites of Evil

This Japanese horde plays mean and evil black/speed/thrash metal in the vein of old Sodom, Bulldozer, Abigail, Sarcofago and Vulcano.

 

Aek Gwi - Hideous Dreams

Dark and eerie South-Korean black/ambient. Very horror-esque atmosphere, a bit like early Pyha. Top quality band!

 

Really looking forward to all these. Should be goooood!!

 

 

 

 

So Heretoir just released a new album. I kinda thought they had split up to be honest. I was really into this band back when they released their debut album back in 2011, but since then they only released a compilation back in 2012. I can't say I have listened to Heretoir a lot since 2012-13, though. Probably not a single time. While the debut album was good musically, the production is just way off. But back then I was really into the whole black metal/depressive rock scene with bands like Amesoeurs, Lantlos, Lifelover, Apati, Dopamine, Dernier Martyr and so on, and the vast majority of these type of bands really pleased me.

 

Anyway, with their new album, The Circle, Heretoir seems to have really found themself. The production is miles ahead of the debut album, and they seem to have much more control over what they are doing. They seem to know exactly where they want to go with their music, unlike with their debut which is a bit all over the place. It has a lot bigger focus on the black metal-side of things, and the black metal sounds a lot better. It's not original or anything, but it's good. Clearly draws a lot of inspiration from Alcest, Amesoeurs and Lantlos, and I am also tempted to say Les Discrets. Will be playing this a lot in the time to come.

 

Beautiful artwork by Fursy Teyssier and brilliant vocals by Neige on Laniakea Dances (Soleils Couchants), which is by far the most Alcest-esque song on the album. It also happens to be the best song of the album after one listen.

Started watching Black Mirror yesterday and right now I just can't get enough of it. Just three episodes left. I've always enjoyed the anthology format, and especially series which is just a bunch of short films, and not entire seasons. And this series is doing it really well, much like a modern-day The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. It'd diverse, with episodes covering different genres (drama, horror, thriller, black comedy), with different type of atmosphere and whatnot, but at the same time it's all conected through everything being sci-fi at the botton and thematically based around technology. Great satire all around, and overall very bleak and dark.

 

On it's worst (The Waldo Moment) it's really fun, at its best (Fifteen Million Merits, Be Right Back) it's absolutely mindblowing. And the rest of the episodes are much closer to Fifteen Million Merits and Be Right Back, than The Waldo Moment as far as quality goes. Says it all really.

 

Gotta point out that White Bear was fantastic. And please tell me I am not the only one who gets a folk-horror feeling of this one? At times it made me think of The Wicker Man, Kill List and so on. Did not expect that.

Sure, but that goes for all countries. Though, I can imagine it being much more of a thing in asian countries like Japan and South-Korea. But that doesn't take away all the fabolous actors in Japan, both of the past and present. Watch films like Twilight Samurai, The Hidden Blade,  Love and Honor, Dolls, Love Exposure and Departures and tell me that's not some serious, top class acting.

 

I cannot praise Twilight Samurai enough btw. Well, all of Yoji Yamada's Samurai Trilogy (Twilight Samurai, The Hidden Blade,  Love and Honor), but Twilight Samurai is the highlight of these three fantastic films. Everything about it, from the way it is shot and set to how it's told and acted are just beyond superb. Beutiful!

That's a bit of a tough one. Or, it kinda isn't. But it depends a lot on what you like. I could go on recommending Seven Samurai which is one of the greatest films ever as far as story, directing and acting goes, but unless one is actually into jidaigeki and is up for a four hour long epic adventure drama it's easy to become a bit biased, which would probably make it a bit harder to appreciate the greatness of the film.

 

But fuck that, I will recommend it anyway:

 

Seven Samurai (Toshirô Mifune and Takashi Shimura)

Harakiri (Tatsuya Nakadai)

The Sword of Doom (Tatsuya Nakadai)

Lady Snowblood (Meiko Kaji)

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (Tomisaburo Wakayama)

A Colt Is My Passport (Joe Shishido)

Sonatine (Takeshi Kitano)

Twilight Samurai (Hiroyuki Sanada)

Samurai Reincarnation (Sonny Chiba)

 

 

Just to mention a few, and I've tried to mix it up a bit as far as genres and stuff goes. Some of these, especially Harakiri and Twilight Samurai, might be way too slow for many, especially Harakiri and Twilight Smurai, but they're absolutely brilliant films with top, top actors and performances.

 

Should also be noted than Tomisaburo Wakayama, Meiko Kaji and Sonny Chiba which are fantastic in a different way than e.g Toshirô Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai, which is the reason why they played in way different films too. And so on.

That's quite surprising, I have to say. Especially the years 60's through the 70's they had an immense collection of fantastic actors, and many whom I personally consider to be among the best actors ever.

 

60's and 70's Japan

20's and 30's America

50's through 70's England

20's Germany

 

These countries in these eras produced the best actors IMO. Now don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean that these countries have been weak outside of this eras, or that other countries didn't deliver great actors, but during these times these countries just couldn't stop pumping out brilliant actors, one after another. It was amazing.

 

 

I am also a huge fan of Takeshi Kitano, both as a director and actor. A huge, huge man in the world of cinema IMO. And I will have to admit that he is the only reason I am gonna see Ghost in the Shell, because everything else looks like complete dgshit in this film, judging by the clips and images I've seen. But I am drawn to the film becuase I love the shit out of Takeshi Kitano. I kinda hate that.

 

 

I can't wait to see this film. Supposedly a big, fat homage to 60's horror and I am hearing rumors that it nails absolutely everything from direction og cinematography to acting, atmosphere, set and costumes. It sounds great and I have faith that this can match the very best of post-80's horror films, and I expect it to be up there with The House of the Devil and The Call of Cthulhu. Can't fucking wait!

 

Mirai's been learning to play the flute for the upcoming album, Heir to Despair, and it's really cool to see him already play it live.

5 hours ago, Flame-X said:

While Takashi Kitano as Aramaki fits well in the physical department, I'm not sold on the acting. Then again, Japanese acting has always felt subpar to me

 

Are you serious?