Blue Sunday
Listening to Baroness’ Blue Record and dreaming of giant stone monoliths to climb and stand triumphantly upon.
Also…
I love it when she talks dirty.
Helloween - “Halloween”
The true majesty of this song is in the album version, which is over 13 minutes long. It contains a multitude of guitar solos, a variety of movements and a call and response section between the lead singer and a demon (probably not an actual one). Still, the video version has its perks.
Listen: Witch, “Rip Van Winkle”
All I want to do this Halloween is lock myself up in my room with some whiskey and horror movies and music that sounds like this. Or, go to the parade in the Village. Haven’t decided yet.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Lift up your +3 Sword of Wounding, and sing along.
My interview with Jeremy DePoyster of The Devil Wears Prada
Christian Metal always seemed like an oxymoron to me.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Goatwhore - “Lair of Nostrond”
I used to be really afraid of spiders. I still am, but now when I see one (as long as it doesn’t see me first), I’ll stare at it a while until I get freaked out enough to look away. Black metal has the same effect. In small doses it’s fascinating; longer exposure is suffocating. Luckily, Goatwhore understands the importance of brevity and drinking the blood of virgins.
Death Angel interview for Submerge Magazine
Bay Area thrash metal is some of my favorite metal that doesn’t deal with dragons. It’s very punk, thematically, but with a lot more shredding. I was worried this interview wouldn’t happen. I was able to conduct it and write it up in about two hours before running cross-island to work lights for a play.
The Land of Ice and Snow
Legend was playing on the big screen at the foot of the stage when we entered Irving Plaza for the Dragonforce show. Not even at comic book conventions have I ever felt so comfortable in my nerdiness. On the floor, and on the balcony, nerds packed in for a dose of triumphant metal. Conversations ranged from the merits (or lack thereof) of Nightwish to roleplaying games.
A venue change caused us to miss the first band, but I wasn’t too interested in seeing them anyway. We did however make it in time for Turisas, whose power I was completely unprepared for. Their arrival was heralded by a speech over the PA about feasting and fighting. After the first song, the lead singer said they were from Finland, I remarked, for my ears only, “Of course you are.” If the songs weren’t about battles, they were about drinking, or drinking during battles. Or elves and trolls and forests and shit, I’d bet.
The band itself was striking to behold. It was as if Legend had spilled off the screen and into real life. They were clad like barbarians, faces covered in black and red war paint. A violinist looked danced around like an overgrown hobbit. A guitar player with a long braided beard stood ominously in the shadows. There was a woman too, a sort of Valkyrie princess playing accordion. It was hard to tell if she was truly attractive or not as far back as we were, but I’d like to think she was. I’d also liked to think she was the kind of fiery lass whose heart could only be won by the mightiest hunter, who could bring for her the finest pelts of the most feral beasts; whose dowery wasn’t jewels or good, but an enormous feast of roasted ox. But then again, I like to think a lot of things that have no basis in reality.
Other than that, I drank Newcastle from the can for the first time. It seemed flimsier than the bottled version. And Dragonforce melted my face.
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