Bear

Some awesome news for fans of old Behemoth aka the best Behemoth:
 

Thy Winter Kingdom / From the Pagan Vastlands...
 
 
 
 
This will be released on double CD and two single LPs. I'll ty to get my hand on both LPs. Sounds awesome as fuck!

All 40 of their fans, bless their little hearts.

You should go for it. The band disbanded and no one have heard of 'em anyway.  Let's heard some music inspired by beautiful, tasty vaginal discharge.

The Raid 2: Berandal - I finally got around to watch this, and I am impressed. Everything is turned up a notch... or five. The plot is way better, the character development is better and the violence is just on a whole other level. The action is so well-coreographed and tightly executed by both actors/stuntmen and director that's even though there's a lot of fighting, it's never too much. And I consider myself to be a pretty big fan of martial arts films, and this is one of the best martial arts films I've ever seen and it's both one of the most extreme action flicks I've seen as well as the best coreographed film I've seen.
 
I just can't find anything to put my finger on, because this is such a well-made and entertaining flick. It will certainly be way too brutal and violent to some, and contain way too much fighting for others, but fans of martial arts should not be disappointed with the film. And I fucking loved the film!
 

The Raid 2: Berandal - I finally got around to watch this, and I am impressed. Everything is turned up a notch... or five. The plot is way better, the character development is better and the violence is just on a whole other level. The action is so well-coreographed and tightly executed by both actors/stuntmen and director that's even though there's a lot of fighting, it's never too much. And I consider myself to be a pretty big fan of martial arts films, and this is one of the best martial arts films I've ever seen and it's both one of the most extreme action flicks I've seen as well as the best coreographed film I've seen.
 
I just can't find anything to put my finger on, because this is such a well-made and entertaining flick. It will certainly be way too brutal and violent to some, and contain way too much fighting for others, but fans of martial arts should not be disappointed with the film. And I fucking loved the film!
 

The Raid: Redemption - Brilliant film, and even better now than my first time watching it. This is simply a modern classic. Yes, the character development isn't good at all and the story is lacking, but who eally gives a fuck about that when watching a film like this? It's a badass actionfilm with amazing action, more amazing action and it's all topped with even more amazing action. And Iko Uwais is cool as fuck. He's as cool as Tony Jaa to be honest.
 
Gareth Evans might not be a very good storyteller, and his characters are rather flat, but he nails more or less everything else on the head with this film.
 

That sounds like a good idea, but I'm not gonna do it simply because I know what I like and not. I'm very picky and selective when it comes to modern gaming, and just by looking at something I'll know if I'll like it or not. Sounds stupid? Maybe, but I know what I know.

Seeing old school mentioned here made me check this out but I don't recall old school bands basing their sound around what are essentially Korn riffs. This really sounds like a tricked out visual kei Korn. 

Oh fucking yes, this sounds good. Very promising for the new album.

Glaciation - Sur les Falaises de Marbre

1994 is fantastic, så I'm really looking forward to this. Black metal with Neige, Winterhalter, Indria Saray, RMS Hreidmarr and a couple of more guys. What an insane line-up this band has, especially now that both Hreidmarr and Indria has joined the team as well. Mmmmmh! I can't wait!

Hooded Menace is fantastic. Brilliant death/doom in the vein of Coffins, Winter and Autopsy. The band is very inspired by The Blind Dead film-series, wich is great. Gloom Immemorial is a great compilation, but I'd recommend taking alook at one of their full-lenghts as well. They're best as a full-lenght band. Dark, heavy and crushing death/doom.
 
 
The Crown used to be great, but I rarely listen to aything post-Deathrace King. It's not bad, it's not just all that great either IMO. They went in a more modern direction following the likes of The Haunted and Dimension Zero. But the two albums they released as Crown of Thorns and the two first albums of The Crown are brilliant melodic death metal IMO.

Here, here,  here and here you can read my Corman/Poe reviews if interested. It's good shit.

As most of you know, I'm quite a fan of punk and its subgenres, and the Japanese punk scene sure deserves its own thread on the forum. I guess everybody on the forum knows bands like The Stalin, Anti-Feminism, Balzac, The Piass and so on, so I won't make a big deal about those, even though I am a fan of several of those. But feel free to talk about all kinds of punk from hardcore to d-beat to crust to horror punk to grindcore to skate punk to street punk to thrashcore to psychobilly and so on, but keep it to the bands that are on the punk side. Take grindcore as an example: please do talk about grindcore, but keep it to the bands rooted in punk.
 
Bands like S.O.B., Napalm Death and Extreme Noise Terror played a type of grindcore that belongs in this thread. These guys basically played hard, brutal punk with metal influences, unlike grindcore bands such as Impetigo, Terrorizer and Repulsion who were more on the metallic side and played and more death metal influenced grindcore. Same goes with metalcore and whatnot too. You get the point.
 
 
 
 
 
 
I'll start and post some of my favourites from the Japanese scene throughout the time:
 

Gauze
 
Formed in 1981, Gauze turned out to be one of the most influential Japanese punk bands of all time, if not THE most influential band from the punk scene in Japan. The band is recognized throughout the underground punk scene in the whole world to have released two of the best hardcore albums of all time with 1984's Fuckheads and 1986's Equalizing Distort, and the band proved to have a massive influence of the scene in Japan, as well as underground scene all over the world. So the band did get lots of recognition, but far from what they had deserved IMO.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR1f17xEzSo
 

S.O.B.
 
Another highly influential band, but unlike Gauze this band had more influence on the grindcore scene throughout the world, and grindcore legends Napalm Death, Brutal Truth and Carcass have all told lots about the influence S.O.B. had on them, Lee Dorian, vocalist on Napalm Death's two first albums, have always been open to how the band borrowed a shitload of S.O.B. riffs for their 1988 masterpiece From Enslavement to Obliteration. Lee Dorian and Shane Embury even went on to play on 1989's Thrash Night EP. The band started out as a brutal and fast hardcore band, before evolving into a pure gindcore band with 1990's What's the Truth?. Their debut EP Leave Me Alone consists of 9 songs, clocking in on 09,16 minutes, and their debut album consists of 18 songs, clocking in on 19:42 minutes. Too short? Nah. With the intensity of the bands music the lenght are more or less perfect.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Eib9a4GM5M
 

G.I.S.M.
 
G.I.S.M. are robably best known for their strange live shows where Sakevi did plenty of strange things, like running into the crowd with a chainsaw, attacking front rows with a lit flamethrower, beating random concertgoers with a club, and firing gun shots on stage with a revolver, as well as attacking journalists and photographers who try to approach him. But beneath this, we find one of the early metapunk bands, blending hardcore and heavy metal into one raw, dirt mix. Their second album saw the band leaning more towards heavy meta, though, with close to no hardcore left in their sound. It's a great album, but not close to as good as their debut, Detestation.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twFu0ZABwvk
 

Disclose
 
Disclose are one of the hundreds and hundreds of Discharge clones, but unlike all the other clones, this band is actually more or less just as good as the original. Disclose plays d-beat and sounds like a fuzzy and distorted version of Discharge, and for someone who worships the altar of Discharge it's impossible not to love this band. There's not really more to say. Fantastic band!
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv7-ziKfbIQ
 

Framtid
 
This band here, is one of my all time favourite hardcore bands. Framtid isn't a very productive band, and during their 20+/- year long career they've only released two full lenghts (16 and 21 minutes long), a few demos and a few split releases. So yeah, not very productive and it took them 11 years from their first to their second full lenght. But who gives a fuck when the quality of what they're releasing is as high as it is? Two genius albums and two of the best in the genre. Raw, dirty and brutal hardcore. This band is hardcore hell!
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPJ07f4V6q8
 

Zouo
 
There's not too much info on this band around, but what I do know is that this band played top notch hardcore. Dark and dirty, with obvious G.I.S.M. influences, though the hardcore side of G.I.S.M. Fantastic band!
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bavbNYSA8_s
 

Death Side
 
Pure hardcore with fantastic leads and great riffs and vocals. Not as raw or ugly as some of the other mentioned here, but just as good as most of them.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1gJHPGoPS8
 
 
 
Other great bands to check out:
 
Unholy Grave
Deathpeed
Kriegshög
Outo
Gudon
Electric Funeral
Crow
Paintbox
D.B.S.
Ghoul
Kuro
Nurse
Disarray
The Rustler
Swindle Bitch
Kyah
Mental
D-Clone
Forward
Confuse
 
and
so
on
 
All these are well worth checking out IMO. Great bands, al of them.

I recieved a package in the mail today which means I'll post a new picture and as always I'll go with awful quality:
 

 
Sigh - Gallows Gallery (black vinyl)
Sigh - Gallows Gallery (blue vinyl)
 
 
Belated christmas present to myself.

I'd recommend all of Roger Corman's Poe adaption, with the exception of The Raven. I think they're all fantastic. Maybe a bit too over the top an dramatic for some, but I'm a huge fan and I love them. Vincent Price and the sets alone are more than enough to make them fantastic (even though he doesn't feature in one). And they all, except for The Raven, look like a million dollars. Roger Corman is so underrated, but these films shows his massive talent, a talent that sadly got pushed away in favour of his talent for business and money.
 
Talking about these films makes me so damn excited.

Tokyo label INTERACT RECORDS (focusing on hardcore music) has a handful of "INTERACT COLLECTIVE" compilations up for totally free at their Bandcamp. An impressive array of random obscure HC bands, about 1/3 Japanese stuff.
 
http://interactrecords.bandcamp.com/
 
(5 compilations = more than 150 tracks ayyy xD)

I spent my near years eve going to the cinema with my girl watching The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies, then went home for some beers before we left to the stable to take care of the animals there. Well, my girlfiend did most of the work while I spent my time there cuddling with the three ponies and the cat. Those ponies are the cutest animals ever.
 

What We Do in the Shadows - OMG this movie was so much fun!! I'm usually very suspicious of horror comedies because it's a mashup that's easy to mess up but this one was just awesomely hilarious. Granted, it isn't so much horror as it is a terrific mockumentary about a house of weirdo vampires and their various "adventures" leading up to an annual ball for the creatures of the night. Highly recommended!
 
The Resurrected - I've been meaning to check this out because of two reasons: 1. loose adaptation of a Lovecraft story, 2. supposedly awesome special effects. Well, they sure did deliver on that second aspect! Some very killer creature effects there. The movie itself was okay-ish, at most times 'almost good' but not quite there. The acting was kinda ridiculously bad at times, haha. Anyway, decent horror.

Holy fuck, Effigy is good!!! Just started listening to them. dat guitar sound is making me feel things... 
Also: random horror soundtrack samples, I can hear youuu~ ;D

Fantastic cover art. Thought the debut album was OK, but a bit lacking. It felt very rushed, and some parts came of as hastly thrown together with no thoughts behind it at all. This new song was a lot better. Airly, post-rockish Austere-esque depressive black metal with great drumming. And vocals.
 
Those hyena cries have grown to become a pretty big part of the genre, so I'm very, very fine with those. Quite a big fan, and I think it's a style that reeks of desperation and pain. Some bands, like Silencer and Down in Solitude, took it way too far though. It just ended up being hilarious. A fine joke it was.
 
 
Edit: You could also hear this type of painful and desperate creams as early as 93-94 with bands such as Forgotten Woods, Burzum, Nidhoggr, all bands who are considered the fathers of depressive black metal along with Strid, Bethlehem and Abyssic Hate. All these bands had a massive impact on the genre, but Forgotten Woods, Burzum and Nidhoggr started the crazy vocal-thing. Bethlehem took it all a massive step further with their fantastic Dictius Te Necare. Over the top and crazy vocals. A bit too much for many, but perfect to me. One of the best vocal performances of all time.
 
So it's something that has a part of the music, even if a lot dislike it.

A couple of songs can be heard here: http://gruesomedeathmetal.bandcamp.com/releases
 
 
Basically an old school Death tribute band with Matt Harvey (Exhumed, Dekapitator) among others. Really loooking forward to this album. Just pure Scream Bloody Gore and Leprosy worship - nothing more, nothing less. Awesome!

A couple of songs can be heard here: http://gruesomedeathmetal.bandcamp.com/releases
 
 
Basically an old school Death tribute band with Matt Harvey (Exhumed, Dekapitator) among others. Really loooking forward to this album. Just pure Scream Bloody Gore and Leprosy worship - nothing more, nothing less. Awesome!

New Venom song. Pretty cool actually.

I'd give I Believe In Me a few more listens. It's a great poppy rock album IMO. Inferiority Complex and Gallows however I'd thrown in the garbage bin right away.

I'd give I Believe In Me a few more listens. It's a great poppy rock album IMO. Inferiority Complex and Gallows however I'd thrown in the garbage bin right away.