Bear

Finally got around to watch Captain America: Civil War and it didn't disappoint at all. OK, so it's not Winter Soldier all right. This is more straight-forward popcorn-action ala The Avengers, than the thiller that is Winter Soldier. But it was a tour de force of fun from A to Å, and I wasn't bored a second. Not once did I focus on anything else than the film. Some disappointing CGI throughout the film, but a lot of the action scenes as well as humour makes up for it. There's some very un-american martial arts scenes in this film, and a few of them aren't even close to being cut to death like they usually are. Was especially impressed with Black Widow for a few scenes. Badass!
 
It doesn't have as much meat on its body as Winter Soldier, and simply lacks Winter Soldiers' depth. BUt it's all fun and entertaining. Great work!
 


 
It's good to see that Marvel have finally started to hit the spot. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War are all great and I hope they can continue keeping this level intact. I do expect them to  do so with Doctor Strange, Black Panther and Ant-Man and the Wasp. I can't wait for the next Ant-Man film. It's gonna be so good!
 
On top of that they've delivered with several series already. Agent Carter, Daredevil and Jessica Jones have been great, and my expectations towards Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders and The Punisher is extremely high. Kinda looking forward to Damage Control too, even though I am afraid it'll ned of like the disappointing Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. We'll see.

Watched Stranger Things this week and thought it was utterly fantastic through and through. Alongside True Detective season 1 this is the best thing that's happened TV since The Wire. As a whole the series is a big, fat homage to the great 80's, and while it feels very familiar, it still feels so different and unique. It feels like The Goonies, Stand By Me and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial meets Poltergeist, The Thing and Encounters of the Third Kind, with a bit of Silent Hill and Dark Souls/Bloodborne on top, mostly due to some of its visual style and atmosphere.
 
Great story, piss-fucking-cool characters, great cast and a top notch soundtrack to top it all. Brilliant!
 
 
Also watched the first episode of The Get Down just now. Thought it was fantastic. Cool, funky and groovy. I'll be quite surprised if they manage to keep this quality throughout the show, but if they do we're talking a future classic here. What an episode. A tour de force of awesome!

Watched Stranger Things this week and thought it was utterly fantastic through and through. Alongside True Detective season 1 this is the best thing that's happened TV since The Wire. As a whole the series is a big, fat homage to the great 80's, and while it feels very familiar, it still feels so different and unique. It feels like The Goonies, Stand By Me and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial meets Poltergeist, The Thing and Encounters of the Third Kind, with a bit of Silent Hill and Dark Souls/Bloodborne on top, mostly due to some of its visual style and atmosphere.
 
Great story, piss-fucking-cool characters, great cast and a top notch soundtrack to top it all. Brilliant!
 
 
Also watched the first episode of The Get Down just now. Thought it was fantastic. Cool, funky and groovy. I'll be quite surprised if they manage to keep this quality throughout the show, but if they do we're talking a future classic here. What an episode. A tour de force of awesome!

Finally got around to watch Captain America: Civil War and it didn't disappoint at all. OK, so it's not Winter Soldier all right. This is more straight-forward popcorn-action ala The Avengers, than the thiller that is Winter Soldier. But it was a tour de force of fun from A to Å, and I wasn't bored a second. Not once did I focus on anything else than the film. Some disappointing CGI throughout the film, but a lot of the action scenes as well as humour makes up for it. There's some very un-american martial arts scenes in this film, and a few of them aren't even close to being cut to death like they usually are. Was especially impressed with Black Widow for a few scenes. Badass!
 
It doesn't have as much meat on its body as Winter Soldier, and simply lacks Winter Soldiers' depth. BUt it's all fun and entertaining. Great work!
 


 
It's good to see that Marvel have finally started to hit the spot. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War are all great and I hope they can continue keeping this level intact. I do expect them to  do so with Doctor Strange, Black Panther and Ant-Man and the Wasp. I can't wait for the next Ant-Man film. It's gonna be so good!
 
On top of that they've delivered with several series already. Agent Carter, Daredevil and Jessica Jones have been great, and my expectations towards Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders and The Punisher is extremely high. Kinda looking forward to Damage Control too, even though I am afraid it'll ned of like the disappointing Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. We'll see.

This actually looks pretty fucking good to be honest. Right now I'd kill to see this live. Holy mama!

Like too many times earlier this year I've barely checked out any music at all, but the few releases I've checked out have been great.
 

Hexenslaught - Demo 2016
I wrote about this fantastic demo a couple of months back, but it actually wasn't released before august. Raw death metal in the vein of Necrovore, Incubus og Morbid Angel demos. This demo sounds like 1987, and if someone had told me this was a lost gem from the mid-late 80's I'd have believed them. Brilliant demo!
 
http://invictusproductions666.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2016
 

Joel Grind - Fatal Planet
Joel Grind (solo project of Joel Grind of Toxic Holocaust fame) started out as a band where he could release some music that didn't belong under the Toxic Holocaust name and it started with a black/speed metal album in 2013, inspired by the likes of Bathory, Sodom, Hellhammer, Bulldozer and Motörhead, before he released a raw, fuzzy and acid-drenched surf rock split with legendary Davie Allan. His new EP, Fatal Planet, steps into the world of ambient/electronica and gives us two track of synth-music inspired by the likes of John Carpenter, Fabio Frizzi and Tangerine Dream. Might be his very best release till now.
 
http://joelgrind.bandcamp.com/album/fatal-planet
 

Bewitcher - Bewitcher
Rocking black/speed metal in the vein of Midnight, Joel Grind, Bathory, Venom and more. Unoriginal as fuck, but they sure as fuck delivers some great tracks that's sure to make you headbang and get out that ice cold six-pack that's standing in your fridge.
 
http://bewitcher.bandcamp.com/
 
 
 
 
 
 
I'll come back later with a few words about Abigail's new album "The Final Damnation" as soon as I've heard it. The one track I've heard is excellent and I can not see this album not deserving a spot on my list this month. Really looking forward to this album.

Some pretty cool releases here and there for August, I was mostly content with what I heard.
 
As usual, the rules are pretty simple: you can list what releases you thought were the best, and explain why in a few sentences. You can even pick just 1 album if that's all you've got, and try to keep it to a maximum of 5 items. Feel free to add or remove any albums later if you feel like your taste has changed, etc. Oh, and try to include a sample or two so that others could peep those sweet tunes more easily!
 
Aaand here we go~
 

黒百合と影 -「臓器のノゾキ穴。」/ Kuroyuri to kage are a pretty decent band, but they really stepped up their game with this new mini album. The whole thing is just bursting with dirty, crunchy dark sounds and moods, encased in powerful little tunes. The inclusion of the re-worked single tracks was a good choice too, they sound much much better than before. One of the near-perfect indies vk releases of the year for me so far, for sure.
 

雅-MIYAVI- - Fire Bird / Who knew I'd enjoy a MIYAVI album again after the boring disappointment that was THE OTHERS? I sure as hell didn't! I was even skeptical listening to the previews, but song by song the new album won me over big time. I don't know which producers MIYAVI worked with this time, but kudos to the whole team for forging this badass sound. Partly electronic dance music, partly garage-y distorted guitar jammin', and lots of catchy songs. Perfect party album.
 

Ritual Howls - Into the Water / Immensely bleak-sounding goth rock with minimalistic synths and a biting industrial edge. To be honest, I don't remember much of the actual songs now that I think back, but it's just one of those albums that you put on when you're in a certain mood and it washes over you. Great night-time listening.
 
Honorable mentions
 
UNDER FALL JUSTICE - 醜い拒絶 / This almost made my top list. Chaotic, quirky, overdramatic indies vk  that's too ridiculous at times, but somehow still works.
Hellbringer - Awakened from the Abyss / Old-school thrash/black/speed metal. Tbh it's pretty interchangeable with a dozen other bands, but it gets the job done.

Fuck me, this is just sounding too god damned good. This could easily turn out to be the best Alcest release since Le Secret if the rest of the album is as good as the two tracks we've heard. Magnificent!

Watched Stranger Things this week and thought it was utterly fantastic through and through. Alongside True Detective season 1 this is the best thing that's happened TV since The Wire. As a whole the series is a big, fat homage to the great 80's, and while it feels very familiar, it still feels so different and unique. It feels like The Goonies, Stand By Me and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial meets Poltergeist, The Thing and Encounters of the Third Kind, with a bit of Silent Hill and Dark Souls/Bloodborne on top, mostly due to some of its visual style and atmosphere.
 
Great story, piss-fucking-cool characters, great cast and a top notch soundtrack to top it all. Brilliant!
 
 
Also watched the first episode of The Get Down just now. Thought it was fantastic. Cool, funky and groovy. I'll be quite surprised if they manage to keep this quality throughout the show, but if they do we're talking a future classic here. What an episode. A tour de force of awesome!

Yeah, Bear, I watched "The Chaser", and I love it! Though "The Wailing" has some thriller elements, it is definitely a horror movie, dealing with the supernatural and stuff.
 
There are plenty of theory videos out there about the resolution of the plot. It's damn interesting!

I'm dying to see this movie but it's not showing anywhere close to me gotta hurry up and release it on bluray.
 
Watched The Witch earlier tonight and it was great! Definitely one of the best horror movies I've seen in recent years, and I love the historical setting and accuracy. The soundtrack was great and the use of silence in a lot of scenes just made it all the more terrifying and suspenseful. There are some mighty unsettling scenes in this movie.
 
 

The new Cult of Fire track is excellent. Can't wait!
 
 
Darkthrone is releasing something new soon too:
 

 
1. Tundra Leach - 05:02
2. Burial Bliss - 04:59
3. Boreal Fiends - 05:50
4. Inbred Vermin - 05:49
5. Arctic Thunder - 04:41
6. Throw Me Through the Marshes - 05:00
7. Deep Lake Tresspass - 04:48
8. The Wyoming Distance - 03:14
 
 
 
 
I've enjoyed the fuck out of recent Darkthrone and can't wait for this. Really looking forward to this. And the namedropping of those specific albums by Dream Death, Black Sabbath, Candlemass and Sacrilege is turning me on. Hell yeah!

Friday and Saturday nights were totally killer (if a bit exhausting), since I finally had the pleasure of attending Inner Awakening Festival (8th installment), an underground black metal fest organized by some spirited individuals from my home town, bringing some interesting Hungarian and foreign bands into the two-night mix. This time, however, the event was held at a venue in Budapest, which was totally fine for me, cuz I only had to travel like 45 mins from my front door, yay. First of all, I'd like to say that everything went professionally, kudos for the amazing precision in keeping the pre-announced schedule. Such punctuality is not something I often encounter at gigs these days at least. xD I tried to see every band, even tho I had to leave about 10-15 mins before the end of the first's night show, cuz I was dead tired and tried to catch my bus. Each night's gigs began at 8 PM sharp and ended well after 2 AM, so...yeah. xDDD Anyway, here's what I saw:
 
August 12, Friday
 - Propast: Serbian black metal band who looked like haggard Santa Clauses in black KKK capes. Despite the kooky visuals, it was pretty boring.
 - Belliciste: UK-based project that recruited some local musicians to complete the lineup (this was a theme throughout the fest here and there). Cool atmosphere. Sadly, I don't remember much else, but they were good that's for sure, one of the better bands of the night.
 - Dunkelheit: Local band, killer vibes and guitarwork, especially during the more atmospheric mid-tempo parts. One of the best in the Hungarian underground currently imo.
 - Niedergang: Another Hungarian act delivering their music with extra ferocity. The actual contents were kinda passable to me tho, not one of my favorites.
 - Chaos Invocation: Too bad I was tired as hell by the time this German powerhouse came on (around 1 AM), cuz they slayed so hard! Amazing aggressive style and wild showmanship, A+ all around. They reminded me a bit of old Marduk, only a bit more technical and obscure-feeling. Great closer for the night.
 
August 13, Saturday
 - OS: A completely unknown (and probably young) Hungarian project playing pretty no-nonsense BM. It was okay (better than the first night's opening anyway).
 - Lepra: Another one of my favorites from the local scene besides Dunkelheit. Vehement ceremonious metal-attack played with conviction. Not much else to say.
 - Devouring Star: Surprisingly few people were interested in these Finns apparently, which is a total shame, cuz their dissonant off-kilter style delivered with killer precision was one of the high points of the night, for me at least. Only three musicians and so much power! The drummer was especially insane, almost jazzy in some places. Top-notch.
 - Barshasketh: The main man here is the guy from Belliciste (joined by members of other bands playing at the fest) if I remember correctly. Anyway, just awesome in-your-face stuff with a healthy dose of complexity too. Razor-sharp guitars and drumming too, excellent gig.
 - Thy Darkened Shade: I was really looking forward to hearing this technical, melodic and highly mystical/philosophical Greek project, and I wasn't let down! They really owned the stage with their dark monk-like outfits and extra ritual props. They really felt like they completely live this whole thing. A bit awkward at times between songs (lots of silence and fumbling around with instruments), but when they played they really brought the house down. Perfect last act for the event, bought one of their T-shirts too (custom-made for this very show!).
 
All in all, lots of wholesome fun at Inner Awakening. Hoping to attend next year too!
 

I'm not gonna be a douchebag about this, and as impressive as your dedication to visual kei and Jrock were, I'm not bothered about this at all. Every single time a bunch of no-bodies have formed a shitty band that never got any further than one gig they've gotten a new thread, and every single time a known Japanese rocker have thought about just having a shit after lunch you've made a thread about it. And to be honest it's just been way too much and too messy for my taste. Which means I've more or less stayed away from the entire news section. Now maybe I'll try check it out for new bands again.
 
But as I said, your work here has been pretty impressive no matter what I feel about it. Top notch dedication to the scenes at least.
 
Thanks bye

Just watched The Invitation (2015). I was very curioys about this film, and it delivered so god damned hard. I thought it was excellent, and it was different from what I'd thought. The film is slow as fuck and unless you've got tons of patience you won't be able to get through this, but it's well-written, beautifully shot, superbly acted and filled with suspense and tension. Fuck yeah, this was fantastic!
 
One of the best films of 2015. Highly recommended.

Cradle of Filth - Dusk... and Her Embrace - The Original Sin
After 21 years the original recording of Cradle of Filth's Dusk... and Her Embrace finally sees the light of day, and what an album it is. Recorded in 1995 by the same bunch who did The Principle of Evil Made Flesh it's a lot different than the version we got in 1996. It's darker, meaner, blacker and less gothic, with a grimmer, more lo-fi production and a very different sound. The biggest difference would be Dani's vocals which is very, very different from those on the 1996-version. It's flawed, but the flaws just strenghten the whole album IMO. A fantastic album!
 
Satan's Vomit - Back to the Beginning
Old school black/speed metal in the vein of old, old Bathory and Hellhammer. Ripping stuff that ends with an excellent cover of Exorcist's Black Mass. Just my cup of dirty tea.
 
Breidablik/Jordsjø - Songs from the Northern Wasteland
Split release between progressive folk-rocker(s) Jordsjø and "nature synther" Breidablik. This shit is perfect for a walk in the forest or up in the mountain. Excellent again from Jordsjø, and Breidablik was a pleasant surprise.
 
 
I expect Sauron's "Conquest Through Attrition" and Salem's Pot's "Pronounce This!" to make this list too, but I haven't heard 'em yet. Expect them to be good, though.

I'm not gonna be a douchebag about this, and as impressive as your dedication to visual kei and Jrock were, I'm not bothered about this at all. Every single time a bunch of no-bodies have formed a shitty band that never got any further than one gig they've gotten a new thread, and every single time a known Japanese rocker have thought about just having a shit after lunch you've made a thread about it. And to be honest it's just been way too much and too messy for my taste. Which means I've more or less stayed away from the entire news section. Now maybe I'll try check it out for new bands again.
 
But as I said, your work here has been pretty impressive no matter what I feel about it. Top notch dedication to the scenes at least.
 
Thanks bye

I'm not gonna be a douchebag about this, and as impressive as your dedication to visual kei and Jrock were, I'm not bothered about this at all. Every single time a bunch of no-bodies have formed a shitty band that never got any further than one gig they've gotten a new thread, and every single time a known Japanese rocker have thought about just having a shit after lunch you've made a thread about it. And to be honest it's just been way too much and too messy for my taste. Which means I've more or less stayed away from the entire news section. Now maybe I'll try check it out for new bands again.
 
But as I said, your work here has been pretty impressive no matter what I feel about it. Top notch dedication to the scenes at least.
 
Thanks bye

I love this subject, and a lot of the good film's already mentioned. Coherence and Time Lapse are both excellent, and sadly a bit overlooked. Highly recommended!
 
And here's a bunch of other films I feel is a bit overlooked, forgotten or underrated:
 
Los Cronocrímenes (sci-fi thriller/horror)
Time Bandits (classic fantasy film you never hear anyone talk about anymore. Fantastic film!)
The Time Machine (1960) (sci-fi-adventure. Another classic that seems to be forgotten. Masterpiece!)
Time After Time (sci-fi adventure, a forgotten semi-classic that should be huge. Brilliant!)
Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen's romantic comedy is his seminal work IMO, but it's somewhat forgotten. Praised when it came, but no-one seems to care anymore. I don't get it, brilliant!)
La Jetée (drama, short film. Classic!)
Triangle (sci-fi mystery)
Returner (Sci-fi action)
 
Now films like Time Bandits, The Time Machine, Midnight in Paris and to some degree Time After Time are films a lot of people have seen and all, but I still feel like they, despite they're status, is somewhat forgotten. Neither have gotten the praise they deserve in newer time. I think it's really weird.
 
I'll come back with more.

Quantum Leap (the cultest of the cult!)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (a lot better than you'd think)
Life on Mars (UK) (first season especially is exceptional!)
Voyages!
 
I'd also recommend checking out the films Planet of the Apes, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes, as well as the 1973 TV-series Planet of the Apes and the animated series Return to the Planet of the Apes. Lots of time travel stuff and shit. Great films, great series.

I'm not gonna be a douchebag about this, and as impressive as your dedication to visual kei and Jrock were, I'm not bothered about this at all. Every single time a bunch of no-bodies have formed a shitty band that never got any further than one gig they've gotten a new thread, and every single time a known Japanese rocker have thought about just having a shit after lunch you've made a thread about it. And to be honest it's just been way too much and too messy for my taste. Which means I've more or less stayed away from the entire news section. Now maybe I'll try check it out for new bands again.
 
But as I said, your work here has been pretty impressive no matter what I feel about it. Top notch dedication to the scenes at least.
 
Thanks bye