Bear

Chuch Norris vs. Communism - While I do like that title, it's a bit. Or, it's very off. It could just as well have been called Sly vs. Communism or van Damme vs. Communism. But there's only two correct titles for this film and that is VHS vs. Communism, or the more spot on title Irina Nistor vs. Communis. Chuch Norris vs. Communism is about the power of film, and the way poorly dubbed VHS films gave the Romanian people a glimpse of hope and light at the end of the tunnel in their lives during the second half of the 80's. During this time a VHS deck would cost as much as a new car and it wasn't exactly something a lot of people would have, but one man bought one and started showing films such as Rocky, Bloodsort, Missing In Action, Dirty Dancing, Rambo and more, against some bucks of course, and it started something I guess we could call a revolution. And this was topped off with Irina Nistor, a woman I mentioned earlier. And there's a reason for that. Irina Nistor worked as a translator for the goverment and dubbed some films and stuff, but when given the opportunity to dub western films for a private person who made big bucks on it she didn't hessitate for one second, because this gave her the oppurtunity to take a look at western films and see the world beyond the walls of Romania. During her 5-6 years (or less) as a dubber for the poor VHS copies sold on the blac market she dubbed something like 3000 films, often as many as 5-6, or even 10, in a row. She was a voie that "everyone" knew, and a voice that for these people gave hope, pleasure and excitement. And she dubbed the entire films by herself, males, females, your ones and old ones. It's not a perfect documentary and there's a lot of subject it could've touched onto and gone a bit deeper on a few subject, but it's enjoyable and it's very funny. So it's all well! Worth checking out. Rubble Kings - A documentary about the the real Warrios that walked the streets of Bronx during the 70's when it was at its worst. Thorough archive footage and interviews with several of the gang members, old school hip hoppers and such it documents the harsh reality of that period of time, and how the gang and gang violence transformed into hip hop and how all that came together. Not perfect, and at 70 minutes it's way too short, but well worth a watch. Interesting, funny and entertaining.

i swore to myself that I wouldn't continue watching Orphan Black after the dreadful third season, but I started on season 4 yesterday and the fist episode is the best, most interesting and most enjoyable episode since season 1 for sure. Interesting.

What's the best/easiest way to convert lossless files to mp3? Any decent program where I can just drag/open all the files I want converted into the program, choose my prefered bitrate and push convert?

The Killer / Sacred Knives of Vengeance - A rippin' martial arts bomb by Chor Yuen. The storyline is familiar, and it plays like a classic Chang Cheh film, albeit a bit softer than a classic Chang Cheh flick. The thing that really makes it not feel like a Chang Cheh flick is the flashback scene, which makes the film feel a bit artistic in some ways. But the highlight of the film is the fights, the exceptional choreography and how rough and ruthless they feel. It isn't quite as bloody as a Chang Cheh film, even though it does get really bloody towards the end, but they're still as powerful as what you'd expect from Chang Cheh. The film is a fun ride from begining to end, and it never gets dull, boring or uninteresting. I really enjoyed the score too, especially when it goes jazzy. Top notch!

Hush - A low-budget home invasion film that gets almost everything right. It feels familiar, because it really is. It's a traditional cat-and-mouse type of film and you more or less know how it'll play out, but it's really well-made and super effective in its simplicity. A twist to the film is that our protagonist is completely deaf and mute, which makes it very interesting. I thought the film was really cool. Best part is when director Flanagan (Oculus) just mute the sound completely. That's when the intensity and terror is at its top in the film. An awfully simple but powerful way to do things.

Fresh Dressed - A nice little documentary about hip hop fashion, from the begining and to the present. Well, and a bit more, because it's not just about hip hop and its fashion, it's also about ambition and absorption and our need - black, white, brown, whatever - for authenticity. There's interviews with rappers, designers, collectors and people who just were a part of it all ocne upon a time. I found it very educating, interesting and enjoyable, even though it's a bit too short at 80 minutes. And I really wish it had digged even deeper into the 70's, 80's and early to mid-90's. But I really liked it. Dope soundtrack too!

Now for something a bit newer. I'm not sure if Tragedy was formed in 1995 and at the same time as His Hero Is Gone, or 1999/2000 out of the ashes of the now legendary His Hero Is Gone, a sludgy hardcore/crust band formed back in 1995, but what I do know i that Tragedy is fantastic. Like His Hero Is Gone, Tragedy belongs to the crust banner but they had a completely different sound than His Hero Is Gone. Tragedy is one of the first bands who spiced up the traditional crust sound with a lot more metallic riffing, lots of melody and, for a hardcore/crust band, a more progressive touch to their music making it very epic in its nature. This type of melodic crust later became better known as neocrust, and Tragedy is both the inovators and the kings of this subgenre! Bubble gum crust punk! I like all their albums and EPs, and especially the three first, but Vengeance and Nerve Damage are easily their best outputs. They perfected the genre with those albums. The Day After (off the album Vengeance) Crucifier (off the album Nerve Damage) From Ashes Rise is another band who spiced up the traditional crust sound with a lot of melody, but their earlier outputs are a lot darker and more gloomy and not really neocrust at all. It wasn't before the release of 2003's Nightmares that they would fully venture into the whole neocrust sound, and what an album it is. And to be honest this is the only From Ashes Rise release I listen to frequently. It's up there with the very best of the genre and doesn't stand back to the best releases of Tragedy, His Hero Is Gone, Fall of Efrafa and more. It's a shame they never managed to reach this level of greatness, not before nor after. Reaction I've never really considered His Hero Is Gone a neocrust band, but they were one of the forerunners of the subgenre and that's for sure. If you listen to a song like Like Weeds you'll hear the classic neocrust elements in the riffing. Blending blistering hardcore and crust, heavy-as-fuck sludge and the dark, bleak atmosphere of lots of black metal they created something entirely unique. I like everything they did, but Monuments to Thieves is where the shit is at. A total god damned classic album, from a legenday band. Probably one of the most influential punk band in recent times (post-1995). A quote from Fenriz on the band: “[One interesting thing to note is that] the style that His Hero Is Gone started with their 1998 magnum opus, Monuments to Thieves, somewhat [erased] the boundary between crust and black metal, whether they like it or not.” -Fenriz of Darkthrone Like Weeds At the time Fall of Efrafa formed in 1995 the genre had kinda died out on us a bit, stagnated to be quite honest, and all new releases was "more of the same". Fall of Efrafa took the genre into a new direction and added lots of new elements. Three albums that's very different in sound. Their debut album, Owsla, is the hardest of the three albu with the biggest d-beat, crust and hardcore influence. There's elements of post-rock and doom metal present, but d-beat, crust and hardcore is its main genres. A powerful, original and melancholic album that offers so much new to the genre. Five songs and fourty minutes. Pity the Weak! Their second album, Elil, continues what they started on their debut. But unlike the crust-influenced debut, this is a lot more post-rock influenced. Slower and more atmospheric in its nature, with a lot longer songs. But when they speed it up they venture into the classic neocrust sound with sorrowful melodies and hard riffing. Three songs and sixty three minutes. Beyond the Veil! Their third and last album, Inlé, showcased a doomier side of the band. It's darker, heavier, gloomier and bleaker than before with the crust pushed even further back. It's still present, but not nearly as much as before. This is more a doom metal/post-rock album than it is a crust/hardcore album. Six tracks and eighty minutes. Woundwort! A beast of a band who manage to breath life bakc into a dying genre by doing something completely different, yet something so very familiar. I think the band got worse with each album, but all three are fantastic albums nonetheless. I'd rate them Owsla (10/10), Elil (9/10) and Inlé (8/10). That's it for today, I guess. Or at least for now.

Hell and Back - Visually stunning and beautifully animated adult-stop-animation film that while not bad, is very disappointing. The thing that makes the film so disappointing is the jokes. It's a very joke-heavy film, but they just try too hard to be obscene and dirty. Some of the obscene and dirty jokes are fun, but too many of them doesn't hit me at all. Funniest jokes were the more subtle and stupid ones, like the one soul that tries ordering pizza. That had me in tears. But the rest is so-so. I guess you could say it's like a Suth Park-esque stoner comedy or something. I liked it, but it wasn't amazing. 6/10 Deliverance - Brilliant and a total fucking classic! Thriller that sits on the edge of horror to be honest. It's adventerous, thrilling and at times awfully bleak. Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty and the rest are fantastic. Doesn't really need to say much more, do I? Well, I don't, but I still will do it: Duelling Banjos! What a scene that is. I bet you can squeal. I bet you can squeal like a pig. One of the greatest and most disturbing rape scenes in the history of films. Awful, but in a good way.

Moonsorrow is fantastic. I wouldn't catorogize the band as folk metal myself, with the exception of their debut abum, but who gives a fuck? Excellent band! Suden Tunti is the worst song off the new record IMO. A very typical promotial/single song in many ways. Straighter and more accessible than the rest of the albums, but it's still a great song. The rest is more advetureous, more progressive and more daring. Love the album!

It's not so strong at the moment. I am barely keeping up with metal releases at the moment, and something like 70-80% of everything I've listened to in 2016 are hip hop and deathrock/punk. Heh. Cradle of Filth posted this on their facebook yesterday: Fuck yes! I am so looking forward to this release.

I see. Or not really but it's OK. I can't understand everything, even though I really want to. The next band I wanted to talk a bit about i the british crust punkers Doom, a band who despite their status as a cult band and punk legends, aren't reallyas knownas they deserved. Doom were heavily inspired by other punk bands like Discharge, The Varukers, Amebix, Anti Cimex and Antisect, bands who during their time made punk harder, heavier and more brutal. Doom however took the genre to a whole new level of brutality and intensity. Crust punk were already a thing when they released their debut album, War Crimes (Inhuman Beings), in 1987. But they helped forming the sound that we today know as traditional (UK) crust. Brutal, intense, heavy and chaotic. And the type of crut they created had a much bigger influence on grindcore, thrashcore and powerviolence. The band is best known for their first EP, the legendary Police Bastard, which is understandable because this EP is godly! Police Bastard Discharge i one of the best punk bands ever, and the endless line of bands heavily inspired by these guys shows that I am not the only one thinking so, even going as far as having pure clones such as The Varukers, Disclose and Discard, now known and discore. At the time of their early releases there was nothing quite as extreme as this. And because of the extreme, intense and brutal nature of Discharge they also ended up a massive influence for both punk and metal bands. The band is more or less cedited as the founders of the genre d-beat, and while the beat itself had be used prior to Discharge's use of it, but they kinda made a whole subgenre around the beat itself. After a handful of fantastic EPs and a powerful debut album the band changed their style for their next releases. Gone were the raw, powerful punk of the past and it was relaced with a heavy/thrash metal sound on Warning: Her Majesty's Government Can Seriously Damage Your Health and a much more accessible heavy metal/glam rock sound on Grave New World, before starting to play around with more thrash metal and crossover in later days. And this was pretty much the death of Discharge. Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing

Which is the truth. Now, they want to please as many fans as possible, but at the end of the day big production films like this is big fucking business and is all about making money. Goes for all adaptions where it's big money involved. They want to please the fans, but it's not the fans that's gonna throw massive amounts of money at them, it's everyone else. So it's those they really need to please. Which sucks of course, but that's life. That's why we need more independent filmmakers in the world, because they usually deal with smaller budgets which again give them a lot more freedom and power over their product. Andrew Leman's adaption f The Call of Cthulhu is one of the best examples on this in modern times. With a budget of 50k and a lenght of 47 minutes he made the perfect adaption of a story that no-one have dared to adapt because they saw it as "un-adaptable", but with total control and total freedom he made one of the best films ever. This is film as art and entertainment, and not as business and entertainment. Total fucking freedom!

Thought I'd go through some of my favourite punk bands with some words, a track and some shit, like I often do for some weird reason. Probably to tempt others to check 'em out, instead of just making a list: Misfits (with Danzig!) I think it's very important to add that when I say Misfits I'm talking about Misfits with Danzig. Misfits without Danzig isn't necessarily a bad band, but it just isn't very good or interesting either in my eyes. Anyway, Misfits was a horror punk band, but music-wise they visited several subgenres of punk. from pop-punk on their early releases to proper hardcore punk later on. Great and unique vocals from Danzig who also wrote the songs. What a man! Their first album, Static Age (recorded in 1978 but not released before 1997), are more on the poppy side of things, very cool, catchy and pretty unique IMO. 9/10 Their second album, 12 Hits from Hell, was another one that didn't see the light of day until years later. Recorded in 1980, but not released before 2001 and even then it wasn't poperly released. Anyway, this, for me as a fanboy, is a great album. Not their best and not essential, but still great. Music-wise they've ventured a bit closer to the traditional punk sound. Harder than before. 8/10 Their third album, Walk Among Us, which is their first released album, is top god damned notch punk. This is a fantastic release of classic horror punk. Harder and meaner than before. As with their next album it's one of my all-time favourite unk albums. 10/10 Their fourth, and in my eyes last good album, Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood, was released in 1983. This is a proper hardcore album with brilliant, heavy and hard songs, and at times they venture into more thrashy territory than other punk bands at the times. You could almost call this album proto-thrash, and it's harder, heavier and more brutal than the thrash metal albums released at the time. As I said earlier, one of the very best punk albums album. 10/10 Walk Among Us and Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood have two of my favourite cover arts as well. They look so good! There's also a lot of singles and stuff worth checking out, but I won't go through all them. But every single Misfits song written and featuring Glenn Danzig are amazing. Simple as that!

This thread is for all punk no matter what type or country. But I'd like to hear why you only listen to japanese punk on a regular basis?

I've been massively into all types of punk for 15+ years and thought we should have a place to discuss punk. This thread is simple, discuss everything punk-related. The punky side of grindcore and deathrock is included. I don't have time for a massive OP right now, but I'll come bak later to talk punk, post songs and all that. That's for sure. I like all types of punk, but I tend to lean more towards the harder and more brutal sides of the genre. A small list of my favourite punk-related bands: Misfits (with Danzig!) Samhain Doom Amebix Framtid Masshysteri Bad Religion Death Side The Explited Tragedy His Hero is Gone Fall of Efrafa From Ashes Rise Mourning Noise Raein I will come back later today and add a youtube link to each of these bands, plus more, with their best song(s). Because these bands rule! Now, discuss!

Raw Meat/Death Line and Marebito is the ones to go with for sure. Fantastic films! The latter is a very Lovecraftican film. It's neither an adaption nor a homage, yet there's something so very, very Lovecraftian about it. I need to rewatch both soon. Damn! But does it have to be set to (mostly) a subway, or can it be subterranean horror in general, where the majority of the film is set to the underground (subways, caves, tunnels, sewers, whatever)? Also, there's a norwegian horror film coming that looks fairly nice. A ghost film by Reinert Kiil who made Hora/Whore back in 2009, a film I wasn't very impressed with, but it was a cool addition to the nrowegian horror/exploitation scene, a scene that's been dead since... well, forever. However, Huset/The House, his new film, looks like it might be something good. The few pictures I've seen indicate a low-budget, yet gorgeous looking horror film with magnificent cinematography. I hope it lives up to the few ictures.

My brother is coming up in about 11 days and will bring the WiiU and Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze with him as he knows both me and my girl loves Donkey Kong, so I started replaying Donkey Kong Country Returns together with my girlfriend. We're having a good time, but it can be really frustrating when you partner isn't nearly as good as yourself, but I see that as a positive thing. Frustration when gaming is great. Another thing I like about this is that when you play with a partner the game will feel a lot harder and much more stressful, which cause my hands to get awfully clammy(?) at times. But I love the stress in some levels. The rocket-ride levels is fantastic by the way. A bit to easy, but so much fun. The only negative sidesto the game, as far as I am concerned, is that a partner who isn't as good as yourself will drain your lives. Which sucks when you get to the harder levels, as your partner will end up fucking you up pretty bad. But it's still all fun! And my video card/graphics card (or what the fuck it is called in english) died on my a few weeks back. I really hope my brother brings a new one with him, because we miss playing games on the computer. Wah!

Hell Night - Awfully underrated slasher with Linda Blair and Vincent Van Patten from 1981. Even though it's old it doesn't offer the subgenre anything new, but it's vey effective in its simplicity and I do find the cinematography and atmosphere very nice. As I said it doesn't offer anything new and if you've seen a few slashers you know how it'll play out, but if you're a fan of slashers there's no reason why you shouldn't see this.

Went to see Lee "Scratch" Perry & Mad Professor at Blæst, one of my favourite venues, yesterday. Dub-legend Mad Professor entered the stage at 10:30 and did his thing for a few songs, among them Pharrell's "Happy" which was cool as fuck and totally got us into the mood, before Lee Perry entered and did his thing. Now, he's not as much a vocalist as he is a shaman and performer these days, and he can't sing for shit, but he's 80 years old so that's not expected either. And his role simply isn't to sing good or anything. He's an eccentric guy who's there to there to make you feel good with his presence, his wonderful tone and childlike and magical fascination with the noises he produces with his mouth, doing all kinds of shit. And some of the tracks didn't even sound like they do on record, but who gives a fuck? I enjoyed myself to death, and so did my girlfriend. Late concert start on a monday is so fucking fucked up. The gig lasted from 10:30 to 12:20, and our last bus home comes by Blæst at 11:15. So we obviously missed our last bus and had to go home with a "private/illegal" taxi. Which sucks. Had it started earlier we could've gone home with the bus for $3.80, but we had to pay $57 for a ride home, which I consider a lot but it's probably $44-50 cheaper than a normal taxi. Christ.

The Desaster album sounds very nice indeed. Easily their best since Angelwhole IMO, maybe it'll even grow past that album with repeated listens. It's been years since they sounded this raw, dirty, agressive and at the same time epic, like on their first two-three albums. They're leaning a bit more towards their roots for this release, and I really like that. The toms sounds a bit odd though, but I'm not bothered by them or anything.

Going to a ceoncert with Lee "Scratch" Perry & Mad Professor tonight. Lee "Scratch" Perry is one of the true founders and godfather of both reggae and dub, and Mad Professor is one of the big dub artists throughout time. I'm not sure how this gig will play out, but it's supossedly a two hour long gig which seems like a hella long time for Lee "Scratch" Perry who's now 80 god damned years old. Anyway, I'm stoked for this gig. I guess it'll be awful to get up at 5am tomorrow, though, but I'm sure it's gonna be worth it.

It's taken quite some time to gather three releases for march as I barely have checked out any new music in 2016, but I am finally there and ready to join in on this topic. Blood Ceremony - Lords of Misrule Blood Ceremony started out as a doom metal band and their debut album was very much a straight up doom metal album, but since then they've released three more albums and with every new album they takeb huge steps away from the doom metal-side of their early sound and walked deeper and deeper into the world of psychedelic and folk rock. The band already had a unique sound to begin with, and especially their second full-lenght, but with each release they've also become more unique and found their own unique and original sound. Lords of Misrule sees Blood Ceremony at their most rockish, but they keep the Hammer Horror-inspired atmosphere and there's something very folk horror-esque about their sound, and now more than ever. I just can't help but to think of films such as The Wicker Man, Blood on Satan's Claw and The Devil Rides Out when listening to this masterpiece. It's a bit early to tell, but after 10 listens or so I am confident that this is their best album till now. Flower Phantoms Ripper - Experiment of Existence I wasn't very impressed with Rippers debut album, Raising the Corpse, to be gin with, but with time I've really rearnt how to appreciate that album which made me really stoked for their follow-up, Experiment of Existence. And I was not let down at all. Ripper continue what they started on their debut, meaning furious death/thrash heavily inspired by the first few records by bands such as Kreator, Destruction, Sadus, Sepultura and Possessed. Fariyl straight-forward stuff, but it sounds great. Deadly riffing, angry vocals and great bassing. One of the things that truly helps set this apart from other death/thrash bands of today is the bass-player. There's something very Steve DiGiorgio- (Sadus, Death), Roger Patterson- (Atheist) esque over the bassing at times. Very cool stuff! The Alpha Orions Davie Allan & Joel Grind split What a surprise of a release this is. Three years after the release of Toxic Holocaust mainman Joel Grind's The Yellowgoat Sessions under the name Joel Grind, he returns with a split with surf rock legend Davie Allan. The Yellowgoat Sessions was a black/speed metal album heavily inspired by Bathory, Venom, Bulldozer, Sodom, Midnight and more Motörhead, so that was what I expected from the next Joel Grind release as well. But this is pretty far from black/speed metal. This is sleazy, acid-drenched and fuzzed-out bikersploitation-influenced surf rock. Both artists contribute with two instrumentals each. The Davie Allan-side is pretty classic surf rock Davie Alan-style, heavy, catchy and fuckin' awesome. The Joel Grind-side leans a bit more towards metal, but without losing the surf rock-feeling of it all. A very cool release! CHeck out Davie Allan's Recycled and Joel Grind's The Invisible Landscape here! Next month will be easier as I've already got three fantastic albums ready. Yay!

The Witch looks magnificent from the few pictures I've seen, and as you I have massive expectations. Robert Eggers, director of The Witch, is currently remaking Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens. Not very keen on this. There's just absolutely no need for it. If he's as talented as I think he might be, he should focus on original scripts and films, or remakes of lacluster films with great potential such as Brothers Grimm or Sinister. Filmmakers need to realize that there's no need to remake classic films. 99/100 atempts are god damned awful, and if they're not god damned awful, they still end up being a waste of time. Ugh.

Found out by accident that French "rural black metallers" Sale Freux already released a new album and EP in 2016. The snare is very off as usual, but for some reason I don't mind the awful snare sound they've gone with on severla of their releases. It somehow fits their music IMO. It's so weird. Sounds fantastic, though. There's something aout that rural, far remote countryside-esque feeling of the music that just speaks to me. Raw, dirty and melancholic.

https://future80s.bandcamp.com/album/trans-am Perfect music for warm days with lots of sun and even more cold beer. This music is just made for days like these.