Bear

I'm working at a school and today, on "my watch" of course, one of the kids thought it would be wise to pee in a drawer. I don't know this kid too well, though, so I told someone who know him and it got dealt with.
 
 
I had to look over two rooms where some kida were playing with lego, and as I was about to check on the kids in the small room one of the kids came out and started talking to me:
 
Him: Bear, he just peed in the drawer
Me: no, he didn't
Him: yes, he did
Me: are you sure?
Him: yes, it's in this drawer
Me: what? You sure? This one *points*
Him: yes
Me: heh, ok. let me see. *opens the drawer* reaction:

 
 
 
 
Lovely.

I don't own a decent cam so the quality is fucking awful, but a picture is a picture.
 

 
Summoning - Minas Morgul
Summoning - Dol Guldur
Summoning - Nightshade Forests
 
All on tapes as you can see.

Close enough.

Close enough.

Yes, neither Fen or Drudkh are the same as Agalloch, but they do have soem of the same atmosphere IMO. Despite being very different there's something very simiar there as well. As for Drudkh you should check out more albums. The first four, Microcosmos, Eternal Turn of the Wheel and Handful of Stars are all great.
 
 
Yeah, solo project. Hope the album will come soon. Been looking forward for it for a long, long time.
 
 
Yeah, hiatus. No idea if they'll come back or not. Seems like their main songwriter, Jyri Vahvanen, is busy with another band and wants to use his time on that. Shame, if you ask me at least. They were slowly getting THERE again, and then they go on hiatus.
 
 
I think a lot of fans are disappointed with the new Blut aus Nord because it isn't as unique as the stuff they've released since The Work Which Transforms God. This is more straight forward and similar to other bands, than what most of their albums have been. It's back the roots and what they did on their first two albums. This albums gives me a bit of early Blut aus Nord feeling, a bit Drudkh feeling, a bit Cascadian black metal scene feeling and a bit of early Emperor. And I think it's understandable that the fans of their twisted avant-garde material might feel disappinted with this. For me it's their best since The Mystical Beast of Rebellion. The addition of Gionata Potenti on drums is a great addition. Fantastic drummer. Love his drumming in Macabre Omen and Nocternity.

Close enough.

Bergtatt is a masterpiece. I love it all, and I'm pretty sure this album has been over the years a source of inspiration for many atmospheric black metal bands... I really have to give it more listens, it's outstandingly awesome. Concerning the other one, when you said "ugly form of black metal" I assumed immediately that it was a raw black metal album... I'm not too fond of that genre but this time, Nattens Madrigal really amazed me. I rarely listen to that kind of black metal and yeah, I don't always enjoy something that much. Definitely one of my fav albums ever.
 
Moreover, I also tried some stuff from Fen (The Malediction Fields, Ancient Sorrow and atm I'm listening to Dustwalker) and an album from Drudkh (Autumn Aurora). I really loved these two bands (maybe Fen more than Drudkh)... Comparing them with Agalloch, their music is really different (fortunately) but it's still awesome. What I'm trying to say right there is that, up to now, I've tried many atmospheric black metal bands but I can't get bored as they're all so original, so creative (and even when it isn't that much original it's still awesome). Anyway, thanks for all your recommendations. I still have stuff to check out but I think I tried the main.     
Sure, I totally agree. So Gallowbraid is a solo project? I thought so at first but I wasn't totally sure about that... Anyway, if ever a new album is released I hope it will be something more personal, creative and surely awesome (as the first album).
 
Otherwise, two days ago I took some time to try Doombound and I really loved it. As enjoyable as the three first, but these three still special to me. I don't know, they have something that makes them unique, somehow. I think I read somewhere that the band is one hiatus right now, is that so? 
 
 
I tried some links and aside the bands I already know (only one in fact, which is Vomit. The second one is Old Funeral but I only know it by name), Molested and Cadaver really caught my attention. Gotta check their material asap... 
Btw, what a cool picture of Varg! *save picture as...*
 
I'd like to go back on atmospheric black metal and talk (once again) about Blut aus Nord as they released a new (amazing) album. 
 

 
I tried Memoria Vetusta III - Saturnian Poetry as soon as I was aware of its release, and I loved it. I saw a lot of fans saying being disappointed but I really don't see why, they may be comparing it to the two previous MV (or maybe their oldest stuff) but I haven't listened to MV1 nor MV2 yet, therefore I can't say if it's so. I can't even give a constructive opinion since I only listened the album once, but I'll definitely do it when I'll be able. In short, for a first listen I really find the album mindblowing and I dig it.

Ryutaro Arimura. Because.

Death Side is badass. I'm thinking of buying Bet On The Possibility LP.
 
I also like Kriegshög, Framtid, Disclose...
 
Just checked out Zouo and Kuro and they sound sick too.

Been spinning both Thou Shalt Suffer and Old Funeral on repeat since yesterday. Both are fantastic.
 
Thou Shalt Suffer is Samoth, Ihsahn and Ildjarn's first proper band, before Samoth and Ihsahn went on to form Emperor and Ildjarn formed Ildjarn. The album is way better than anything Emperor ever did to be honest, and on par with Ildjarn's best albums (Strength and Anger, Forest Poetry, Hardangervidda). This is one of themore unique death metal release of its time. Haunting and atmospheric with a bit of synth here and there which properly adds to the atmosphere. In many ways this is death metal with the atmosphere and feeling of black metal. Imagine old, old Emperor remade into death metal. Quite unique actually.
 
 
Old Funeral are more standard death metal in the vein of old Morbid Angel, but awesome as fuck. Abbath and Demonaz of Immortal, Varg Vikernes of Burzum and Jørn Inge Tunsberg of Hades played in this band before moving towards black metal with their other bands.
 
Both recommended for fans of old school death metal with great, lo-fi productions and lenty of charm.
 
This old picture of Varg Vikernes during his time in Old Funeral is also one of the coolest pictures ever:
 

I've made a list with my favourite death metal releases for both the Swedish and Finnish scene, and even though Norway never had much of a death metal scene and more importantly not a specific sound, I thought it would suck not to do one anyway because there came some very good death metal releases from Norway in the early-mid 90's.
 
1. Darkthrone - Soulside Journey
2. Old Funeral - The Older Ones
3. Thou Shalt Suffer - Into the Woods of Belial
4. Mortem - Slow Death
5. Cadaver - Hallucinating Anxiety
6. Vomit - Rotting
7. Darkthrone - Goatlord
8. Molested - Blod-draum
9. Cadaver - ...in Pains
10. Amputation - Slaughtered in the Arms of God
 
Good stuff.

Two. Ulver released Bergtatt, which is their folk-influenced black metal with a lighter approach to the genre, and Nattens Madrigal wich is a grim and ugly form of black metal.
 
But Gallowbraid should please you. Agalloch clone to 1000. Drudkh plays atmospheric black metal with some folk. I like all, but their first four and Microcosmos and Eternal Turn of the Wheel are masterpieces. Great, great band!

I'll just treat this as a regular Sigh thread.
 
 

Taken at London Dungeon in 1994. It was our first tour outside of Japan.
 
 

And that's the thing. Church of Misery have had something like 7-8 guitarists, 4-5 vocalists and a few drummers. So Church of Misery losing a few members don't say much. It might take time to get the new members aboard, but that shouldn't be too hard for a band with Church of Misery's status. And throughout Church of Misery's history, there's never been a unique guitarist or drummer. They've all been replaceable. Tatsu's bassing however, it 70% of this band's sound. So as long as he stays, as we know he will, it won't be a problem.

Finally, after much customs-related hassle I managed to get the two new SPEECIES albums in the mail, plus JUBILEE's album (that I've been searching for like a year... turns out Sadie doesn't read his FB messages too often, lmao) and a ton of stickers for both bands and for what looks like...a biker gang?? XD Oh, and there's a super weird privilege CD for the SPEECIES albums that is literally a recording of 6-year-old Sadie singing a song. xDDD
 

 
Can't wait to listen!

I went to my first double feature at the movie theater yesterday, and as already said I watched Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens and Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht. What an awesome experience. They both looked, and even more impotantly in enie Symphonie's case, sounded massive.
 
Also, they started off with a "trailer" for Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht. I thought they had put on the wrong film at first, but it was just a "trailer". Majestic, haunting music over some well-plased stills from the film. Worked extremely well and sent chills down my spine.
 
 
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens - A most people know I consider this to be the best horror film ever made. It's the most haunting film ever made, and to me, the most scary film ever made. It doesn't surprise you with jump scares or anything, but Max Schreck is absolutely terrifying, intimidating and threatening as Count Orlok, and F.W. Murnau knew exactly how to create a creepy, mystic and thick atmosphere, and together these two elements (Max Schreck and the atmosphere), together with the nightmarish, cold and wicked visuals creates something extremely scary, at least to me. As with many horror films during the late silent era (last 15 yeas of it) it's very nightmarish and wicked becaue of how it is shot, and this is something of a lost art. I don't really know what to say. Majestic, mystic, dark, cold, creepy, evil, scary. That's the words I'll use to describe this film.
 
Th soundtrack, which is extremely important for the film, isn't the best soundtrack out there. But they've got one which manage to tell the story by itself, and together with the film it just strenghtens every single image throughout its 94 runtime.
 
Every single shot with Count Orlok in it is absolutely fantastic and could be used as the coolest oster ever. Most memorable and scary scenes ever. Being a silent film you'll have to talk alot with your body language, and I think Max Screck did this perfectly. Best thing ever!
 
This film is is the prime example of what a symphony of horror is. This film IS horror. Grim, eerie, dark, cold and terrifying.
 

 
 
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht - Based on the same story as Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, and it pays obvious homage to the mentioned film, but it's still a very different film. Unlike in Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, Dracula here feels less terrifying, intimidating and threatening, and comes off as a hurt, lonely and haunted creature with a lot of sadness buried on the inside. Doomed to immortality with no such thing as love in his life. That's what I'd say the main differene is. This isn't so much a symphony of horror as Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, despite its very grim, cold and dark atmosphere. Klaus Kinski is amazing as Dracula, the soundtrack is MASSIVE and everything is great to be honest.
 
It's simply a more beautiful film than Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, but it lacks the pure horror and terror from it, and despite Klaus Kinski's brilliant performance and look, he isn't quite as good as Max Schreck, nor does he look as good. Or move around as good, but he didn't need to either. But I love his body language. The way he talks, the way he moves his arms, the way he runs. It's amazing.
 

Had the pleasure of witnessing the awesome natural force known as Swans on stage last night.
 
The opening act was Pharmakon, a.k.a. some tiny blonde-haired gurrl who went mental for half an hour on great slabs of noise often generated from her breaths and screams, but she had some primitive percussive aid as well. Sometimes she got down and walked around the audience while screaming, it was a bit creepy but a good noisy intro to the gig I guess.
 
Then came the stars of the evening. At first, only two members of Swans were on stage, riling up the atmosphere with some noisy dulcimer 'n' cymbals droneyness, and then gradually the other musicians made their way up and took their places. Honestly, the first 20 mins or so were a bit taxing but once I "got into the groove" (i.e. getting used to all the repetition and slowly blooming aural pieces) it was pretty sweet. The band sure is a presence of its own. I loved the building of tension and the fluctuation between quiet and extremely loud parts. It had a kind of tribal vibe to it, totally massive. We applauded them for like 5 mins in the end, haha (rightfully so: the gig lasted for almost exactly 2.5 hours!). Excellent night.
 
Here's a random vid:
 

Went to see Die Antwoord last night, killer show, huge killer crowd, everything was just awesome. Dancin' and jumpin' a-plenty. It was insane.
 

 


 

October might be over, but my love for horror is still present and I'm not gonna stop watching horror films just yet.
 
The Vampire Lovers - Erotic and extremely sexy vampire flick from 1970 with a stunning Ingrid Pitt in the lead, with suport from Peter Cushing, Madeline Smith, Kate O'Mara and more. Gothic Hammer horror with plenty of atmosphere and nudity. My kind of horror. It's pretty daring for its time, openly flirting with lesbian themes, and feels fresh because of its romance, without being anything like Twilight and such. Great atmosphere, beautiful girls, good acting and superb direction. I really liked this film!
 
Ingrid Pitt might not be Barbara Steele, but god she was fantastic. Great actress, beautiful and very seducing. She was made for this kind of roles.
 
 

Thanks for the information. Just finished listening to "Ashen Eidolon" from Gallowbraid and it's totally the kind of sound that I was looking for, I'm a little disappointed because it's sounds maybe too much like Agalloch but nonetheless it's still a fucking masterpiece. Thanks for that band. Otherwise, I read that they'll release an album this year... Are there more news?
Anyway, now I'm gonna continue my listen and try the other bands. 
 
Besides that, I'd like to talk a bit about Battlelore as I said some weeks (months?) ago that I was going to try their stuff... Well, I've tried all their discography except their latest album, Doombound. I really enjoyed their first three albums which are totally awesome but sadly, the rest didn't had the same effect on me, less memorable imo. Plus, I dunno what you think about that, but I feel like their sound went weaker over the years (precisely after their 3rd album). They're still an awesome band though, even if I appreciate them it's basically because of their first three masterpieces (the 1st being my favorite one), it's undeniable that their strength are their lyrics. That said, I still gotta listen their latest album. Anyway, thanks for sharing this awesome band with us!

Here's the full listfo the horror films I've seen this month, with scores:
 
October
 
1. John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns (9/10)
2. Event Horizon (7/10)
3. Stage Fright (2014) (7/10)
4. The Howling (9/10)
5. Ringu (9/10)
6. Ringu 2 (5/10)
7. Blood Feast (8/10)
8. Tremors (9/10)
9. Opera (8/10)
10. A Nightmare on Elm Street (10/10)
11. The Quiet Ones (2014) (7/10)
12. Deliver Us from Evil (6/10)
13. Poltergeist (8/10)
14. The Cat o' Nine Tails (8/10)
15. The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears (8/10)
16. The ABCs of Death (6/10)
17. V/H/S (8/10)
18. Oculus (4/10)
19. Shutter (8/10)
20. V/H/S/2 (8/10)
21. Witching & Bitching (6/10)
22. The Legend of Hell House (8/10)
23. The Woman in Black (8/10)
24. Grave Encounters (7/10)
25. Tenebre (9/10)
26. White Zombie (8/10)
27. The Black Sleep (8/10)
28. Witchfinder General (10/10)
29. A Field in England (8/10)
30. Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (10/10) / Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (9/10)
31.  Madhouse (8/10) / The Asphyx (7/10) / Halloween (10/10)
 
 
This was a fun ride, and with the exception of a few films it's been a very good month for horror movies. Seen a bit over half of these from before, and the other half are new to me. I'm good at picking films, that for fucking sure.

Neither. I find both to be equally awful. I don't listen to this band outside of 13's Reborn and their earliest singles and EPs, however I do still give every new release a proper chance. Don't know why I do this, as it's been pretty obvious for some years that they'e not gonna make anything for me again. Everything after the mediocre self-titled album contains close to no good riffs, and if there's any good riffs there they're hidden behind an awful production, boring vocals, borings drumming and dreadful electronic elements. Yeah, not my cup of tea.

I totally agree with you about Gal's physique. While I do like Gal Gadot, I think that she doesn't have the right body type for the role as of now. I understand that Hollywood prefers a certain body type on women but you can't let a size 32-34 girl play Wonder Woman, unless she's properly muscled. Wonder Woman is a warrior with wide shoulders, muscled arms and firm thighs. She's always been like that and I absolutely adore Wonder Woman so unless Gal is required by directors to muscle up I'm going to feel a little bit awkward about her appearance as such. I'm not that big on the uniform either. I mean if both Batman and Superman keep sporting their original uniforms, why can't Wonder Woman?

Halloween - What other film than Halloween could have been giving the honor of ending my October-horror fest? None. The best slasher of all time, and one of the best horror films ever. It's just too fucking good, this. Everything is perfect here to be honest. Brilliant. A masterpiece beyond words.
 
It's interesting how this was Jamie Lee Curtis' first film, but also her best performance and her best film ever. The Fog is second, and she did well in many years after. But the purity just suited the role so well. It was a perfect match. And she was beyond beautiful back then.
 
And Donald Pleasence. Faaaaaan-fucking-tastic!
 

 
 
 
 
Good night!

Falloch are awesome imo, I really loved "This Island, Our Funeral" even if I still prefer "Where Distant Spirits Remain". Concerning Ulver, I tried all their stuff (which I find totally mind blowing) unless their 90's era (don't include Kveldssanger, I loved that one). I think I read they had recorded only one black metal album, is that right? Anyway, unless Falloch and Ulver, I don't know any of the bands you mentioned so gonna try them all and maybe give my opinion if I got some free time.
 
Thanks a lot, dude.