Had a friend of mine send me a link about this video: THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK OF THE 21ST CENTURY (according to the author). Actually though I seriously would be interested to read this even if I feel like giving money to 5 Percenters does me no favors personally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwUUkEve4nI



All I can tell you is to keep listening to things, keep an open mind, and remember that no one really gives a shit about what music you like except you. Unless it is Marillion. I liked them when I was a teenager and a friend of mine was like "LOL Marillion" and now we both laugh about it because seriously, Marillion.

I'll save you, Zodi!

Perhaps you just need to give it time to sink in, I don't know what else to say. I view it as one of the best death metal albums period, so it's a no-brainer that I disagree with every point you made for disliking it. For me, Slumber of Sullen Eyes is pure, classy DM. Nothing more, nothing less...

Maybe we're not listening to the same album.

Meh, I'm probably just broken inside. If anyone's looking to rent a soul on the cheap, shoot me a PM.

So the debut Giant X (the new band featuring Rolf Kasparek and apparently Liam Neeson) album has shown up on certain seedy corners of the internet that I frequent. I have to hear it because of my masochistic obsession with Running Wild, but this couldn't have more warning signs plastered on it if it was printed on a cigarette carton. A post-2000 (94 for most of you heathens) butt rock album with Rolf, with a name that's eerily reminiscent of the band of misfits who got kicked out of Running Wild and summarily started a Running Wild worship band? Man there's no way this can be good. The only brightside is that at least he isn't releasing this as another Running Wild album I suppose...

This is just proof of what Rolf really wants to do, and how much I can't respect the newest Running Wild travesty.

Yeah, Shadowmaker was a pretty obvious trap to get idiots like me to buy it (which I didn't, thankfully). But even then I did like two or three songs off of it, but I think that shows more of my delusional fanboyism than any remaining skill on his part.

Anyone else notice the subtle goatse in the logo?

How appropriate.

Anywho, three songs in and it's 2-1 on the shitty butt rock to decent rocking metal ratio. The first song actually sounded like it could have been a decent track on The Brotherhood or something, but the next two so far have been bad rock songs that try to be anthemic but just end up boring. Rolf's voice has fallen so far, and the production he's been employing lately really highlights that. Dude needs reverb on his voice.

You need to review ReV like I did, BH. You'll feel more complete as a RW fan after doing so.

I always planned on doing them all someday. With my five year anniversary as a regular reviewer coming up in February and me leaving for basic training in March, I'm running out of time and have two big milestones coming up, so I'll probably do it sometime.

Update on Giant X: "Now or Never" was kinda fun, kinda metal-lite, "Nameless Heroes" was a really really awful ballad that needs to be shot behind the shed and ignored, and now I'm halfway through "Go 4 It" and it's actually pretty cool. Big stupid rock n roll song. ANA will kill me for this but it reminds me of certain Motorhead tracks, actually.

So far it's shit on the whole but there are a couple good spots.

EDIT: "The Count" is this album's answer to "Me and the Boys". Holy shit this is bad.

Maybe they are embracing their butt rock influences?

This has to be accepted as a side project for MA so we can review (bash) this.

Now there's an interesting pairing.

LOL, that's an oxymoron if I've ever seen one.

Ugh, it's in the queue right now, I put in the Moderator Notes that I'd listen and judge it's metalness to see if it's worthy of inclusion. Not looking good so far. And the side project rule is gonna be blurry here, because it was started as a new band after RW dissolved, but is now considered a side project by Rolf since he brought RW back, so who knows really?

"Rough Ride" is boring as fuck, I swear I can hear country influence in this. Four songs to go after this, and I have to be to work in an hour. This is gonna make me walk in the door in a foul mood

Unfortunately, yes. VoidApostle's family is sadly not an isolated exception.


What the hell is that supposed to mean? He targeted women, but because he hypothetically could have targeted men, it's fine...? I.... don't even


See above.

It doesnt help that he band's name is GIANT X. Im just waiting for "Giant X-hole" to pop up in a review.

You could place anything in that X though, if you take it as a String variable...

GIANT asshole
GIANT anus
GIANT penis
Hehe, GIANT foreskins.

The more I listen to Behold... The Arctopus the more I cannot wait to see them. My love for complete guitar wankery might be coming back.

Giant X album is done, "R.O.C.K." is the rock n roll version of "Thrash til Death", and it's not very good... at all. "Let's Dance" was so stupidly bad it was almost endearing, and "Friendly Fire" was just... oh lord there were some bad songs here. Definitely more rock than metal though, so a page here isn't looking too promising.

If you say run - I'll run with you!
If you say hide - we'll hide (hide, hide, hide, hiiiideee...)!
Because my love for you - could break my heart in two!
(Daaaaaa...)
If you should fall (Daaaaaaaaaaa...)
Into my arms (Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...)
And tremble like a - floooooooowweeeeeeeer!

Chose general anesthesia for my wisdom teeth extraction. After the IV needle was inserted and I was hooked up to monitoring devices, I was laying down for a good few minutes wondering when the hell they were going to start the surgery until I realized had gauze in my mouth. Very cool experience. I was pretty disappointed I didn't end up all loopy like this girl, though. That was the one thing I was looking forward to experiencing.

Wow, GA? Quite interesting man. The reason I say this is because I have a peculiar condition with my wisdom teeth. They are horizontally placed under the gums and they were extending slowly but have kinda stopped. This was about 4 years back though. I still have the x-ray I had saved on my photobucket. It hasn't posed much of a threat but if it does, I'll have to get them extracted as well.

Anesthesia is fucking weird. When I was about to get my appendix removed, they had me count backwards from 100 to 1, and by the time I started and finished the operation was over.
Still the worst birthday dinner ever, but it was pretty cool either way.

Getting GA for wisdom teeth extraction is actually the norm here in America. I went with GA because I'm sort of a sissy, heh. I had horizontal wisdom teeth too; they were getting pretty close to the nerves, which would've caused some problems if I had not acted sooner. All four of my wisdoms had bad decay on them too due to them being impossible to clean (two were under the gums).

Anesthesia is pretty weird. I vaguely remember opening my eyes for a little bit and hearing my teeth being cracked, but I'm not even sure if I was dreaming.

Oh damn, I better wish mine stay dormant forever. I didn't know GA was a norm for those procedures. I figured since it wasn't that big a surgery, GA wouldn't be advised. But I get why anyone would be a sissy regarding this. I'm a fuckin' pussy when I have to pay a visit to the dentist. I've already gotten two RCTs =/

So Gargoyle are working on yet another new album. Already in the studio. Jesus christ guys, do you ever stop?

Last time I went to the dentist to get a cavity filled they way overdid the anesthetic. I was out long enough to be able to show up at a party a couple hours later and get the "what the fuck is that kid on" looks.

That's what I love about Japanese bands man. They are always releasing tons of music. It's great.

You're doing it again, Sentinel will be among my next purchases.

They've not taken a single break though, like god damn. They've released something EVERY SINGLE YEAR. No hiatus, just constant touring, recording, or filming. This'll be their 16th album in 26 years of existence, not counting EPs, demos, or compilations (which, in Gargoyle terms, is almost never a compilation but a shitload of re-recordings)

They obviously are cyborgs or something.

30 more minutes til the weekend. Cannot wait.

*The word toxik in your signature catches my eyes.* *clicks on your blog out of curiosity* *scrolls down to see the "Think This" score* *leaves*

stalkiinngg yyooouuuu....

I first came across II a couple years ago while shopping at Aquarius in San Francisco, but I remember not liking what I heard at the time. I think the drum programming was bugging me and the Aquarius fanboy-froth review wasn't helping things. Anyway, I forgot about it for a while, then crossed paths with Spectral Lore again on their split with Underjordiska, which I checked out on the basis of the cover art alone, and was really pleasantly surprised by an unexpectedly beautiful, immersive collection of atmospheric/ambient instrumental work. Forgot about Spectral Lore altogether again, then stumbled across some samples of Sentinel a couple days ago. Sounded really promising, will definitely be consuming a lot of the stuff he's got up on Bandcamp this weekend.

Been sampling the hell out of Sentinel, and was completely engrossed by the sprawling, hypnotic nature of it - vast stuff indeed. For something else soaked in brittle, overwhelming atmosphere in a black metal context starmere, give Evilfeast a listen. I kind of like this quite a bit...

I've been listening to Christopher Amott's last solo album. It's actually pretty decent considering I don't really care about Arch Enemy. 99% based with some very good guitar work. Amott is a decent singer too.

BastardHead is entitled to his opinion, even if it's a ridiculous one

Hmm...I've given Lost Horizons of Wisdom a few spins in the past and recently looked into Wintermoon Enchantment. I can't say Evilfeast does much for me, even though I think he does what he does respectably. A lot of the time his stuff rides this awkward line of almost being really awesome and also being tiringly familiar-sounding (i.e. Burzum worship + Emperor knockoff + big keyboards = ehhh). Kinda falls into a generalized grey area for me, though at least on the pleasing side of that spectrum.