Requiem

Gorgoroth - 'Quantos Possunt Ad Satanitatem Trahunt' Fantastic Infernus written album, played at loud volume. Hail Infernus, the true master of Gorgoroth.

After perusing the extensive and opulent book shelves at Castle Requiem, I'm managed to located the two books in question. I have: 'Liber Al Vel Legis (The Book of the Law') Redwheel/Weiser 2004, Hardcover, Red with Gold font on the cover. Contains facsimiles of Crowley's original handwritten draft at the back. 'The Book of the Goetia - or The Lesser Key of Solomon the King', Softcover, Martino Publishing, Mansfield Centre CT, which is a glorious facsimile of the 1903 edition, containing all the charts, chants. They're so evil I think I accidentally summoned three daemons between taking the books down and writing this post.... Hail Crowley. King of indecipherable books that suckers still buy in the 21st century!

Bathory - 'Blood Fire Death' The final black metal album from the mighty Quorthon before he invented viking metal. This is a very good album, but I don't love it as much as a lot of people do. I prefer the debut and 'Under the Black Mark', but it's still a classic, obviously.

When the Bible was first translated into local languages and printed via Gutenberg's infernal machine, a lot of this mysterious forced trust took a different shape. Religious belief didn't disappear, which is really interesting - it just encouraged a new form of worship. You do see cults everywhere. Mankind was born in tribes, so it's little wonder tribes still prevail, albeit ideological ones in 'progressive' western societies. Also, regarding Crowley's books: I have a couple and gosh they're hard to read. Largely gobbledegook and claptrap. I was hoping for a little more coherence. Maybe I have the wrong books.

Twilight Force - 'Dawn of the Dragonstar' What a glorious and engaging epic of power metal this is.

Restless, this sounds like an amazing trip. I've always wanted to go to Japan, but alas it hasn't come up on the cards yet. It's definitely next on my list of new countries to visit, but I don't think it's on the radar at the moment unfortunately. When do you leave? Also on my mind is that this is the last night with the Castle to myself, and that's ok because I'm kind of growing tired of the metal lifestyle. It's been good and hey, I'll have a few vinos tonight, but I'm looking forward to regular life beginning again. I'm doing Feb Fast as well, which I do most years. Not sure if this is a thing outside Australia, but it basically means you go without something all through February, usually alcohol. So I'm doing alcohol and junk food. My body is going to thank me.... But tonight, it's still January....

Wintersun - 'Time 1' I bought the special mediabook edition of this back when it came out and it's really cool. While I like the epic tunes and the Japanese(!) theme running throughout the music, I initially found it all a bit too plastic/digital sounding. I've long since come to peace with it and can really enjoy this. In fact, unlike a lot of people, I prefer 'The Forest Seasons' and 'Time 1' over the self-titled debut. By the way, did Wintersun ever get around to building their own studio with the bags of loot they acquired through crowdfunding?

Windir - 'Arntor' Hail Valfar, the true windir.

Check out 'Arntor' too. Amazing album with the best intro ever with that accordian!

Anorexia Nervosa - 'Redemption Process'

Forefather - 'Steadfast' Yes, this is awesome!

1. That's a great Forefather album. I went through a phase in the early 2000s and bought a few of their albums. I think this is my favourite. Actually, that was when I stopped following the band for some reason, and I see that the next album 'Steadfast' has a huge score on Metal Archives. I'm downloading it now on Apple Music. Let's see how it goes. 2. Hmmmmmmm no. If you're ever in Australia, I'll show it to you though.

I haven't listened to that release in ages. Thanks for the reminder.

I'd love to hear why these bands are floating your emotional boat right now. Care to elaborate, thou drinker of deepest rouge vin? (and all of the posters who think that just listing bands makes for interesting reading....).

Batushka - Litourgiya Seems legit that these two will stay together for several more albums....