MaxFaust

As you probably know, Norway has two official written languages, that are pretty much identical in the eyes of foreigners. "Noregs Vaapen" is a grand mal violation of the boundaries between them. (Vaapen being an archaic "conservative" form, whereas Noreg is radical "neo-Norwegian". People get killed over that shit.) It's also perhaps a point that "vaapen" in normal use will translate into "coat of arms" more often than "weapons". Context is everything. The way it is written up is best translated as "this is the real symbol of Norway" ... if you want to know what it means, that is. 
That being said, great fucking album!

As you probably know, Norway has two official written languages, that are pretty much identical in the eyes of foreigners. "Noregs Vaapen" is a grand mal violation of the boundaries between them. (Vaapen being an archaic "conservative" form, whereas Noreg is radical "neo-Norwegian". People get killed over that shit.) It's also perhaps a point that "vaapen" in normal use will translate into "coat of arms" more often than "weapons". Context is everything. The way it is written up is best translated as "this is the real symbol of Norway" ... if you want to know what it means, that is. 
That being said, great fucking album!

"Human" by Death has been on high rotation these last few weeks.

Definitely 8/10. Psychobilly is "up there" ... and Nekromantix is among the best.
But now for something completely different. I bought this on 7" in 1981 ... based only in the creepy looking cover art (it was some kind of industrial gulag death camp thing). I was expecting some kind of punk act, but what I got was much, much better ...
 

Of albums released in 2018 ... are you fucking kidding me? I'm not even up to date with the 80s yet ... it seems kind of random what I hear about and not, so it's not like I've made any informed and conscious choice based in what I've listened to and subsequently arranged in some kind of neat order ... I can only say that there are two albums that have seriously hit it home with me this year of 2018: 
There is Craft, "White Noise And Black Metal" ... it appeals to me for the same reasons that the "new" Mayhem appeals to me. There is some kind of weird "surgical chaos" vibe going on in there that I find pleasing. Very competent work with several layers of discreet complexity. The "trve evil kult" black metal kids are probably not going to like this album, but metal conisseurs, musicians and intellectuals might just find a gem.
Then there is Rivers of Nihil, "Where Owls Know My Name" ... which is one of those projects that break the form, in that it incorporates elements of various, seemingly incompatible things, such as chugging death metal riffs with a mellow saxophone solo ... which really should NOT work, but it kind of does anyway. Very interesting album, also a strangely beautiful creature.
My third mention is going to be Outre-Tombe ... but I haven't quite processed that one yet. However, it seems so far that it might just become one of my "legends". We shall see.

Not my kind of Vocals but not a bad track 5/10
 

I must admit having a problem with the very concept of "prog metal". I'm like that bird who comes flying along and then goes THUD into the window glass ... that is called 70s prog rock. While everybody else is flying merrily along, I'm stuck in the 70s. There is no getting around it. Arrested development, probably.
Only today, I was at the post office and picked up a specimen of "Pet Arts" by the Petards, on CD, ordered through Amazon. German chaps, from 1971. "Krautrock" they used to call it. Not so much any kind of metal as perhaps "heavy psych" ... with tendencies towards "space rock". (Hawkwind is the big dick in the genre of space rock.) OK that was a lot of unnececessary information ... point is, as soon as I read the word "prog" my mind goes all 70s on me. It can't be helped.
That being said, I did in fact enjoy the album "Affinity" by Haken (that's pronounced like the word "taken"). I believe they get sorted under the genre of "prog metal". It was released a couple of years ago.
 

A gift that just keeps on giving is "Where owls go to die" (or something to that effect) by Rivers of Nihil.
What a tremendous fucking album!!!

Leprosy by Death. Which is predictable, it's one of my all times.

I shall consider this a hypothetical "desert island" thing ... and with some pain-in-process select ten classics, but I refuse to arrange them into a hierarchic order (as that would give me a headache). They are all equally worthy, and it's all my taste, no objectivity even vaguely attempted ... which means there will be no accounting and no explanation. Oh, and just one album per band. Shit's gotta be difficult, right? Or at least painful. 
Mercyful Fate - Melissa
Motörhead - Overkill
Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality
Iron Maiden - Killers
Judas Priest - Sin After Sin
Witchfynde - Give 'Em Hell
Budgie - Never Turn Your Back On A Friend
Diamond Head - Lightning To The Nations
Hackensack - Up The Hardway
Lucifer's Friend - (self titled)
 
 

Aye. I am. Which is probably why all those black metal boys like me so much.
There's nothing admireable about the human race. We're basically just stupid monkeys, not even smart enough to recognise the good shit that we've got. So we fuck it up and turn it all to worthless crap. Again and again, with the idiot dance of "success" and sieg heil to the industry and corporate mindlessness. 
BTW ... the word "occult" means hidden. As in hidden from sight, from the obviousity of rational thought and logic. In many ways, sex is occult ... because it's a thing that's hidden and feared, something that everybody has to figure out for themselves, what it means and how they wish to relate to it, but it's an important thing to most people so it will not be denied.

It's an interesting psychological quirk, this idea that whenever some person does something really nasty, this somehow reflects on everything else that they have ever done, or will ever do again. The taint somehow becomes transcendental. Case in point, Gary Glitter, that I not very long ago got chided for mentioning among "important glam rock artists" ... because he too got arrested for possessing abuse documents of a paedophile nature.
Nowadays, you rarely hear the word "child pornography" in Norway. I've been one of many people that back in the late 80s started a campaign against that very concept, under the rationale that pornography is something that depicts legal activities between consenting adults, and that there can be no such thing as "child pornography", there can only be documentation of abuse, or evidence of a crime, to be exact. A crime I, like most sane parents, think is even more horrific than murder.
Which is why I have no sympathy whatsoever for those who explain themselves with being "just curious" (as is often the case). My tolerance level may be high and all, but there are some hard limits, and this one is non negotiable. 

It's an interesting psychological quirk, this idea that whenever some person does something really nasty, this somehow reflects on everything else that they have ever done, or will ever do again. The taint somehow becomes transcendental. Case in point, Gary Glitter, that I not very long ago got chided for mentioning among "important glam rock artists" ... because he too got arrested for possessing abuse documents of a paedophile nature.
Nowadays, you rarely hear the word "child pornography" in Norway. I've been one of many people that back in the late 80s started a campaign against that very concept, under the rationale that pornography is something that depicts legal activities between consenting adults, and that there can be no such thing as "child pornography", there can only be documentation of abuse, or evidence of a crime, to be exact. A crime I, like most sane parents, think is even more horrific than murder.
Which is why I have no sympathy whatsoever for those who explain themselves with being "just curious" (as is often the case). My tolerance level may be high and all, but there are some hard limits, and this one is non negotiable. 

That's generally called ritual magic. The point is "intellectual decompression".
People do it in many ways. Playing loud music and headbanging is helpful for dealing with edgy emotions. It's an outlet which is separated from the actual context those feelings exist within (that's what makes it ritual), but it's quite real, that fact notwithstanding, so that it works according to its purpose, without being the purpose in and of itself (that's what makes it magic). 
Some thoughts on "Optimistic Nihilism":
 

This is abso-fucking-lutely correct. What y'all young ones may not think about right now is ... where does this leave me 30 years down the road? As a time travelling reporter who's been there and seen that, I can inform you that you stand to gain exactly fuck all by giving up your independence of mind and body. Those who did invariably became old and fat and boring. Yeah they got some money, a bit of job security and a fine car or whatever, but they lost their souls. Keep that in mind, boys and girls. This battle isn't over until they start shovelling dirt down over your cold dead body.

No matter how high your quality of life may be, you're still going get old, get sick, and ultimately die.
That's like the most predictable thing of all.
As for Buddhist metal, I'd look to Japan. If Hindu (which is to Buddhism what the Catholic church is to Lutherans) does it, I have been quite fond of Rudra -- name for the Hindu storm god, like Thor or Zeus -- for quite some time.  
The blazing chariot refers, of course, to the scene from the Mahabharata, when Krishna tells Arjuna about the futility of life, death and suffering, also known as Bhagvad Ghita. (Relevant to the subject matter.)
 

Leprosy. Classic album by Death. A must-have in any reasonably cultured home.

Leprosy. Classic album by Death. A must-have in any reasonably cultured home.

I've been a friend of the weed (mostly in the form of hashish) since 1976. My consumption has been up and down, though. It really peaked after I decided that to quit drinking alcohol (after having been a moderate to heavy drinker all my adult life), but has since evened out ... to the point of living a mostly sober lifestyle now. No drinking, no drugs, no nothing, really, except for the black coffee. Which is a whole different kind of trip, to be honest. Being sober is a really fucking psychedelic thing. Seriously.
However, should I feel like smoking some weed, that's "allowed". I don't think I'll ever drink again though.

I'm listening to what's pretty much porn for guitar enthusiasts ... recorded between 1969-1972, released in 1973, re-released 20 years later ... and a massive influence on a lot of hard rock bands that came later:
Wicked Lady - The Axeman Cometh

Man, this is a looooong thread ... that took some time to get through. But it's also a very interesting one. I'm going to throw in a band that Euronymous was fervently championing for a while ... before his life came to such an untimely end. They weren't heard of for the longest time, but are out with a (relatively) new one now, called Planet Satan. Their sound will NOT appeal to everyone ... but if you like the thin and noisy guitar mix thing, this might just work for you. Oh,and yeah, they use a drum machine ... which I suppose makes them somewhat "industrial". Ladies and gentlemen, this is Mysticum (possibly my personal favourite among BM bands, from any time or "subgenre"):
Another great band that should be mentioned among the old guard from the 90s is Windir, although they may not be much known outside of the Norwegian scene. More melodic and "viking" than Satanic, really ... but it ought to appeal to those who like Ulver. Or at least, so I think. This is Journey To The End:
 

It's an interesting psychological quirk, this idea that whenever some person does something really nasty, this somehow reflects on everything else that they have ever done, or will ever do again. The taint somehow becomes transcendental. Case in point, Gary Glitter, that I not very long ago got chided for mentioning among "important glam rock artists" ... because he too got arrested for possessing abuse documents of a paedophile nature.
Nowadays, you rarely hear the word "child pornography" in Norway. I've been one of many people that back in the late 80s started a campaign against that very concept, under the rationale that pornography is something that depicts legal activities between consenting adults, and that there can be no such thing as "child pornography", there can only be documentation of abuse, or evidence of a crime, to be exact. A crime I, like most sane parents, think is even more horrific than murder.
Which is why I have no sympathy whatsoever for those who explain themselves with being "just curious" (as is often the case). My tolerance level may be high and all, but there are some hard limits, and this one is non negotiable. 

Indeed I do, Sir. With your location listed as Italy, you might find it interesting to hear that I got into philosophy by way of Lucius Annaeus Seneca ... because of a misunderstanding. At the point in time when I bought a text collection of his (in Norwegian, simply titled "Various Writings") I believed it to be some kind of Native American thing (the Seneca indians, I think they are/were located somewhere in upstate New York, possibly Canada) but it turned out to be something by far more older ... and yet it was a voice of such clarity that I was floored. No bullshit, no lame ass excuses, no pitiful whining, just straight to the fucking point. 
For this reason, I'm partial to the Stoics. They never let you down like that. If we move on to more modern times, I'm quite the Schopenhauer man. Although I can't really say that there's any philosopher that I actively dislike, come to think of it. They all have some kind of something which has the power to fascinate me and tickle that old grey whistler between my ears. 

Hello. I've been into this shit for a really long time. Seriously. It wasn't even called "metal" back then. It was hard rock, or heavy rock ... hell, even glam rock. But it was basically the same idea as it still is: Crank up that fuzz and play it LOUD. I got into Sabbath in 1972, Kiss in 1975, Pistols in 1977 ... and, finally, Motorhead in 1979. That was a game changer. Then followed the NWOBHM and all that. The rest is history. I've always been on the dark and dirty side though. I still am. I guess in this respect, I never grew up (I can remember it was considered "immature" to be into the hard and heavy stuff at the ripe old age of whatever comes after you turn 20). To which I can only say STFU, dufus, this is ART, not a fucking political statement about respectability and living the burgeoise dream. I don't need anybody's permission or approval, I just LIKE this shit. Capisce? Oh well. Times change. But the song remains the same.