navybsn

Porcupine Tree - Anesthetize

Ebola - Distorted Romance Weald and Woe - For the Good of the Realm ASET - Astral Rape

Manager: Quality Control, make sure all that shit beer tastes exactly the same. Bland and unoffensive. QC: Got it sir. No problem.

Non-alcoholic beer is actually a big trend with the kids and breweries are ramping up production to match. Personally, I don't see the point, but whatever floats their boat. If I want something non-alcoholic, many better choices. But hey, for folks with legit medical reasons to avoid alcohol but still want to enjoy a beer, it's a boon.

Dharma - Bhaisajyaguru

Pretty good actually. Glad to not have enough hair for a manly man bun or grizzly adams beard too. Definitely a regional thing. I'm sure there are plenty of good variations in local areas. The mass produced stuff always disappoints no matter the style. Beer should be local, like food in my opinion.

Killing Joke - Killing Joke (2003) Coroner - Grin

I believe that is what really turned me off to IPAs. Like Surge, I won't turn down a perfectly good beer if someone is handing it to me, but they're never my first choice. Down here, breweries either try to see just how bitter they can make a beer as some kind of badge of honor or how many weird ass fruit combos can be added. It's akin to the hot wings trend, let's make these perfectly good chicken wings inedible as some test of manhood by adding 43 ghost peppers and top it with a scotch bonnet. People claim to enjoy them, but I can't see how. And it's all fine and good. Plenty of beer out there to like for everyone. Just annoying that every brewery has to have 60-75% of the menu dedicated to the same variation of style. In stores, seems that's all they carry anymore and most just suck (the ones you mentioned, Voodoo Ranger, Space Dust, 420, the list goes on). Many started out good, but over the years got bought out by conglomerates or over expanded and the quality dropped. Stone was sold several years ago and had never been the same. Everyone has their own preferences. I personally don't like German beer. Lukewarm on IPAs and Pilsners. Will never seek one out, but will never turn down a freebie.

If it weren't for beer nerds like us, we'd all be stuck with 1980's piss domestic swill for choice. Maybe just Bud Light for us yanks and Fosters for you folks on the wrong side of the planet. Be grateful for beer nerds.

As you can imagine, IPAs of all variations are prime movers in Sunny Florida. Beer menus are dominated by IPAs with various fruity additions. I do like the citrus variations (mango, orange, etc) as they tend to take the edge off the overbearing bitterness breweries tend to show as a badge of honor with the IPAs. We also tend to have a lot of Gose, Kolsch, and Pale ales. All fine, but I prefer beers I can't see through. So if it's too warm for a good stout, I want a black ale, scotch ale, or I will settle for a nice amber or honey brown. We've got a couple places here doing Czech style ales that are amazing, but you have to get them at the breweries. Will never see them on a shelf. Again, not complaining. I have access to more quality beer than I could ever need, but it's a shame to see the commercially available craft beer market essentially turn into the domestic beer market it was a reaction to years ago. Lack of choice, same bland styles, just with added costs for the end user.

Same down here. Even the big retailers have decreased their selections. Craft beer selection is getting quite stale as well. The boom is definitely on the decline. On the other hand, we have quite a few quality local breweries in the area, so I mostly drink stuff from one of them. Usually a decent selection of styles although always heavy on the IPAs. Good lord I wish that trend would die off.

Vinyl palooza this weekend. That's what happens when I go out of town and my wife leaves me alone in proximity to a record store. Went in just to grab my daughter a couple for her birthday and walked out with a stack. Bathory - Hammerheart Bad Religion - Suffer The Sound - Counting the Days Sepultura - Bestial Devastation Sepultura - Morbid Visions

Yeah man, killer shit. Saw them back in 2016 with 3 other war metal bands in a dive about the size of your kitchen. Trust me when I say that you can only take so much war metal live in one sitting. I think my ears are still ringing 8 years later... Said other bands on the bill: Abysmal Lord (NOLA) - Exaltation of the Infernal Cabal Abysmal Lord (NOLA) - Disciples of the Inferno Caveman Cult (Miami) - Supremacia Primordial Caveman Cult (Miami) - Blood and Extinction Wørsen (Jax, FL) - Grand Scheme Wørsen (Jax, FL) - Stronghold Saturnine (Jax, FL) - Shield The Light in a Veil of Darkness

So says the General, so it shall be...Today it shall be WAR Ross Bay: Blasphemy - Fallen Angel of Doom Blasphemy - Gods of War Death Worship - Extermination Mass Conqueror - War.Cult.Supremacy Not Ross Bay, but just as fucking awesome, Diocletian (NZ) - Doom Cult Revenge (Canada) - Strike.Smother.Dehumanize Black Witchery (US) - Desecration of the Holy Kingdom Black Witchery (US) - Upheaval of Satanic Might Proclamation (Spain) - Messiah of Darkness and Impurity Ululatum Tollunt (US) - Order of the Morningstars demo

Yup. Hurts my feelings to not be included with the in group. And you identified option #3 - if you can't shoehorn something into #1 or 2, then it's a conspiracy/Democrats/ immigrants/poor people that are to blame. Occam be damned.

The Looney tunes down here take everything as either 1) Jehovahfat is telling us all to repent and devote our lives to him (see the recent earthquake in NJ as said evidence), or 2) that it's the end of the world and the Rapture is imminent (see any predictable natural event outside the norm a la said eclipse). Both are interchangeable and or substitutable depending on who you're talking at. I think I've personally lived through 30+ Raptures and at least a dozen extinction events.

Guess the world didn't end with the total eclipse. Either that or I wasn't in the group being Raptured. Too bad, I hadn't planned for dinner tonight and didn't really want to do any chores tonight. Guess I'll have to wait for the next predicted extinction event to procrastinate.

Couch Slut is great live. Saw them in a small dungeon of a club with Imperial Triumphant last year. Little different styles. Tiamat started as a death/doom outfit and Samael was black metal, but they do have some similarities. Also Tiamat hails from Sweden, Samael from Switzerland. Not sure how much interplay they had to influence each other, but it's definitely possible. Interestingly, they had similar career arcs moving towards a more electronic sound far from where they originated. If you dig that sound, this might be up your alley. One of my favorites along the lines of very early Samael. Serpent Noir (Greece) - Sanguis XI Sanguis XI | SERPENT NOIR | Hellthrasher Productions (bandcamp.com)

Samael and Tiamat were contemporaries. Both formed in 1987. Samael got their first EP out in 1988 with Medieval Prophecy, but Tiamat was the first to get a proper full length out (Sumerian City - 1990). Samael came in a year later with their full length Worship Him - 1991.

Elegant Gypsie > Casino, but you can't go wrong either way.

Suffering Hour - The Cyclic Reckoning - not as good as their first, but still a solid record Of Feather & Bone - Sulfuric Disintegration - fucking grind into oblivion Stygian Obsession - Form is Void - never seen anything else by these dudes but this crushes Cruz - Culto Abismal - another crushing one off (for me anyway)

Well you have an extra year to plan. Just after I bought my tickets, it was announced that the fest is bumped to 25. Good thing I hadn't bought plane tickets yet. That's truly the sickest lineup I've ever seen in the states. Here's hoping they can get their shit together for next year. We seem to be dropping fests at an alarming rate. Psycho & Oblivion Access died this year, MDF sorta died last year, the cruise has gotten to the point where I enjoy it but it's no longer worth the money. Hell's Heroes seems to be the only one growing and a pretty solid bet outside of MDF if/when they decide to put it on. Tons of mainstream fests but they can fuck off. May have to start looking internationally, like Messe de Mortes to get my fix. I've never tried Destroying Texas because it's like the week after MDF, but it's on the radar now for consideration.

Just added Metal Threat to my schedule for October, so a few decent bands in the queue. Horna (Exclusive Appearance) • Ancient Rites (Exclusive Appearance) • Kawir • Demoncy • Adorior (Exclusive Appearance) • Luctus (Exclusive Appearance) • Weregoat • Deströyer 666 • Sabbat • Desaster (Exclusive Appearance) • Death Strike (Exclusive Appearance) • Nocturnal (Exclusive Appearance) • Schizo (Main Frame Collapse set) • Grave Desecrator • Usurper • Communion • Eurynomos • Sinister (First three albums set) • Master (Exclusive Appearance) • God Dethroned • Opprobrium (Incubus) • Agressor • Cenotaph (Early material set) • Azarath (Exclusive Appearance) • Corpsessed • Cadaveric Incubator (Exclusive Appearance) • Father Befouled

Phosphorus - Sonos a Tenebrae (demo) Saw them about the time this came out with Cattle Decap and Cannibal Corpse. Needless to say they were the weakest band on the bill but still very enjoyable. Show was even on my birthday. Nice of them I think.

Sargeist - Let The Devil In