Requiem

Trick or treating with the two vampire children. I'm going to be in a Batman costume I think and one of them will be a witch. Not sure what the eldest girl is choosing to do with her costume. It's really picked up in our street a little more each year, with last year being a full on trick or treat fest, so this year I'm going to put some decorations up out the front of Castle Requiem and make a big deal of it. It's going to be really fun. When I was a kid Halloween in Australia would have been unthinkable, but I'm all for it now with my children.

Dimmu Borgir - Eonian Dominion - Interface (finally got a copy of this 22 years after it came out and I first heard it. To be honest, it's pants, but as it's a doomy Peaceville release from 1996 with Michelle Richfield's vocals and a guest performance by Aaron from My Dying Bride, I really did need it in my collection).

Tomorrow night is Dimmu Borgir live in my city. I'm really looking forward to it for three reasons: 1. I love Dimmu Borgir and their latest album 'Eonian' is one of my albums of the year. 2. I've never seen them before. In fact, of my many favourite bands, it's really only Amorphis and Dimmu Borgir that I haven't seen before of bands who are still active and touring. After tomorrow night it will down to one band to go! 3. I'm really looking forward to getting out of the house and hanging out in the city with a few beers. I know I've only just returned from France, really, but I'm ready to get out and have a beer.

Not that I can recall in the last few times I’ve seen them. It was a real Maniac/Blasphemer album so I’m not sure what the passion would be for it from the current lineup who are mostly content to knock out tracks from ‘Deathcrush’ and ‘De Mysteriis’ exclusively. It was also special because it was one of the first proper yet intimate shows I’ve seen and the band were larger than life. Nowadays I’m less easy to impress...

Huge doom/stoner show at the metal pub tonight with a huge $50 entrance fee! Church of Misery headlining. Never heard of them, but I think they’re Japanese. Quick beer in the bar room then moving on. Pantera currently on the speakers by the way. A huge playlist now that we’re three pints in and it’s taken me nearly an hour from starting this post to now. Hail Pantera. Hail Metal Forum.

Black Sabbath - ‘Paranoid’ Black Sabbath - ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’

Get some British into ya! Hail to England. Apart from purchasing a plethora of (self)indulgent foods and booze, I’ve been buying some exciting gifts for the child vampires awaiting daddy’s return from French aristocratic necks.

An eclectic mix tonight. Currently To/Die/For - ‘Jaded’

Bordeaux, France, 2018 At the Gates. Black Metal Architecture. Night of Lights and Darkness. Requiem Contemplates the Deep Channels of Time and Anti-Cosmic Pathways. Baudelaire Night Parks.

Rotting Christ - last two albums. Ancient anthems of other aeons. They’re at their peak in my opinion.

Last weekend in Bordeaux. How do I leave this lifestyle for an Australian summer of infernal heat from the enemy sun? No time to contemplate. The night, she calls me - an irresistible mistress. I, your slave, obey.

MaxFaust is a great hit at family barbecues.

French red.

Led Zepplin are an important band in rock history - direct plagiarism aside - but I would hardly categorize them as the alpha that all other omegas are footnoted by. That's just ridiculous. They're part of a continuum that involves dozens of artists and developments. Personally I'd rather listen to the Beatles and Sabbath.

Children of Bodom - 'Follow the Reaper' Seriously, what an exciting album. I have a lot of respect for these upstarts. This album is one big piece of metal candy and I'm sucking it hard.