markm

LOL-well let me give credit were credit is due to the Boys at blog Nine Circles-Death to the Feeble Masses....I had a brief association from our old friend Zyklonius who I've recently been in touch with in Social Media-he's still working and living in Brooklyn. 9C do these sort of Poccast streamed audio things on their website where they talk about their top 5 metal albums with their writers-just a bunch of music nerds. It's long and meandering and probably not worth most of your time, but I like hearing them talk shop. I'd never heard of Nadja and sounded interesting as I Iike most things DOOM and DRONE. No opinion yet. That was a fairly random first time listen though for me. TG is much more well versed in all things weird than I, who am more of an all things considered dabbler. I'm listening now as I get ready for work for their non metal audio stream with a newer guy and Chris-one of their main writers. He's a good guy, older guy but younger than me, prolly around Navy's age. He has a one man BM band also. We have some similar tastes. In fact, Navy might enjoy their talk about non metal. I need to check out Henry Rollins radio show one of these days: https://ninecircles.co/2023/01/15/the-nine-circles-audio-thing-chris-and-dan-k-recap-2022-in-not-metal/#more-99334

Nadja/Labyrinthine Boris/Fade

I literally cannot get through an entire Grizzly Butts review word for word. Just can't do it.

Elder/Innate Passage (22)-heard some positives about this so checking it out, finally

Yeah, you're barely 30-haha-join the club. In the spirit of Father-A not lamenting a temporary cease fire of random discussions, let me just say I appreciate your very reasoned response. Of course, I also consider you a friend and enjoy exploring topics with you on the musical spectrum. Now, how about Hunter Bidden and mishandled classified documents? JK😁

Blut Aus Nord/Disharmonium Gevurah/Gehinnom

Bat Out of Hell Vs. Love is a Battlefield. That's a tough one. I'd have to give it to Benatar.

Spent some more time wit Gaerea/Mirage. The music is very good but it's super brickwalled. I need to listen on headphones to evaluate what sounds pretty squashed in my Rav-4 which admittedly is a pretty low bar to evaluate.

Received Gaerea/Mirage in CD form today. Giving it a more thorough listen. So for later 2022 pick ups-that makes Gevurah/Gehinnom, mispyring /Með hamri, Wake/Thought from Decent, Gaerea/Mirage and I'll throw in Grimma/Frostbitten which I've had for a while that rounds up the end of 22 in black metal for me....not a bad wrecking crew I'd say. Still sorting out the albums. But think it might go something like this: 1.Mispyring 2. Grimma 3. Wake 4. Gaerea 5. Gevurah But those could be reversed any day of the week. And, 4 and 5 are really a toss up. Balancing ferocity and atmosphere and melody are the name of the game here, and with most BM in general, parsing out the balance between scorched earth and moments of darky beauty.

I wanted to respond to some of GG’s statements after a post where I initially questioned his desire to weigh on anything and everything that pops into his head. I started it, so to speak and figured it was worth addressing some of the points he made. The initial exchange was in the-what are you listening to now? I believe this is the appropriate thread. I sat on it for a few days, so here goes….. GG, we have a long history dating back to Metal-Fi. you’ve always asked for a straightforward pull no punches style so I know you’ll take this in the spirit it’s intended. I had meant to respond to a couple of your posts but didn’t have time to last week and wanted to gather my thoughts first. Goatmaster General Said: It is lamentable that this is how I have come to be seen by some of my forum colleagues, as this cranky irascible guy with the bad attitude who hates everything, the proverbial old curmudgeon shaking his fist at the skies. I don't see myself that way of course, not remotely, but I suppose it's understandable how others might get that impression, especially if they only know me by my internet persona. A question to start off with-kind of a non sequitur-what exactly is an internet persona? I know your IRL persona to a limited extent having met you in the flesh and I agree that your internet persona as you call it, your doppelganger as it were and the real man (behind the mask?) whom I met are two entirely separate things. My impressions after meeting you were of a guy who is fairly low key and not the oversized, opinionated, borderline obnoxious personality you sometimes present online. Internet persona: I find this a curious distinction. Most of us that post, I don’t believe, separate our two selves. Now, I may present more articulately online as I can choose my words and use the U of Google, but I’m pretty much the same guy- just Mark whether online or IRL-not “Marky Mark” btw, that's just annoying. I am (I’m Me). From time to time it does occur to me to make a conscious effort to restrain myself and bite my tongue. A little self editing would not be a bad thing. When we M-F outcasts came to the forums here, I wondered and hoped you and Dead might have learned from your time at M-F; behavior that I am convinced played a role in the exodus of posters from M-F and your subsequent ousting from the Vortex, all of which I was witness to. Taking accountability for my own verbose tendencies, I'll add that I may have been part of the downfall of M-F as well. But, clearly, a small group of posters rehashing and repeating the same points over and over became redundant and a turn off to a number of the so called non goat crew. In fact, some of our better "friends" who left told me so privately. It was disappointing to me as I had found a nice home there with some great guys who enriched my listening and I think was entirely avoidable. Dead, who has been conspicuously absent as of late, seems to have tempered his rantings but in your case, I am wondering if the old adage is true, that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. As an older dog myself, I’d like to think that I can still learn a few and adapt to my surroundings and try not to beat dead horses or repeat stump speeches ad nauseum. But I can assure you I mean no harm. My aim is simply to entertian. We're all friends here, right? A little prodding shouldn't be such a big deal. If we can't have a free exchange of ideas among our metal forum comrades then what's the point? I don’t doubt that you mean any harm. You blurt without thinking things through that much. You are absolutely entertaining. Certainly, we should be able to exchange our ideas as long as the exchange includes tolerance and respect for different personality styles. It needs to be said that there is a difference between joking between friends and put downs and insults. Personality differences aside, I think you lose sight of the fact that we all come here for different reasons. Sometimes I feel you want to force your expectations on the rest of us. Surely you realize, others don’t necessarily want to interact online in the brash way you do. Most people want to join a forum to share their interest in music, get some recommendations and call it a day. I’m prone to long discussions myself as evidenced by this post. That disclosure aside, this next point may sound a little harsh, but I think there’s a kind of arrogance thinking that anyone’s opinions are so fascinating that everyone would want to read everything you write. I’m often thinking, does he really think anyone is going to take the time to read all this redundancy? He’s said this 100 times before. And, IRL, I don’t think you behave this way. It’s bizarre to me. I have observed that most civilized people in our society allow themselves to be guided by the old adage: if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all. But that's just not me. For better or worse I'm gonna give you both barrels, the bad along with the good. Naturally I expect others to do the same (because who doesn't love reading a good rant or witty quip about some shitty band?) although clearly most of us aren't prepared to go that route and prefer to stay quiet and keep their more negative thoughts to themselves, as is of course their perogative. Sure, ranting is amusing, and at the end of the day you, I and anyone else can behave any way we like within the parameters the moderators set. Personally, I'm one to comment about genres or albums I don’t like that are being hyped, but generally, I’m more inclined to comment on a band or album that I DO like than I dislike, especially if it’s an album someone loves. I just don’t take pleasure in shitting on other peoples’ music because as you’ve written, music is something that makes you feel something, it’s emotional and most people have deep personal connections to their favorite music. Look we’ve had a lot of great dialogue and we’ve had our share of disagreements. I enjoy having an internet metal community as you do. You present yourself in your “online persona” as a highly opinionated individual. So, no, I'm not prepared to go your route as you stated above. We each have our own route. If I seem to get riled up from time to time, it's not because I'm "butt hurt" as you like to say, it's because I find overly opinionated people difficult to stomach and frankly exhausting to be around. They suck all the air out of a room or forum. I have enough challenging personalities in my personal life and at work. It's not the way I choose to interact with people here. This should be an enjoyable experience, a way to share and learn about music, and not (for me, anyway) to engage in endless chest beating, adolescent pissing contests. We are grown men.

I've been enjoying Knob Creek Rye small batch.

I bought my first pair of running shoes last year. Pretty entry level with a lot of cushion. I've got arthritis and meniscus partial tears in my left knee and a bakers cist. Doc said surgery wouldn't really help. He gave me a few shots of cortisone I've been hitting the weights a bit at an actual gym since December. It feels OK but running bothers it some. And squatting, sadly. During the pandemic I bought a bench press and dumbbells up to 40 lbs. now. I'd like to get dumbbells up to 55 or 60 for benching. But I can do a good bit with 40 pounds except for heavier DB pressing. Finally back at a semblance of a gym. I've been sore as shit this past week. As I'm teaching at a community college I can work out with the students when classes are in session and now they've made gyms at local community/recreation centers free which is nice, even though the equipment is limited and dated. But I just need the basics. The recreation center I've been going has some cardio machines and strenthening machines but I prefer free weights. Luckily it has a real bench press but no curl bar or squat rack which is fine since I've given up squatting for now. I think I'll start doing some leg presses which is better than nothing. Actually, did some light deadlifting for the first time in years..just 3 sets of 6-8 reps and only 133-155 lbs....girl weight LOL-but after not doing any of the basic power moves during Covid, it did a number on me. Man those deadlifts recruit so much of your body it's nuts. But the left knee gets tweaky running. Once I'm warmed up after 10-15 minutes the discomfort subsides. I'll sometimes go out for about 30 minutes just 2.5 miles or so in my neighborhood just for some cardio and alternate jogging and walking-HIT style. Sometimes I'll use the high school track as its cushioned and do 8-10 quarter mile laps. I like being outside for exercise if I can. If I'm in the 'hood I'll do more of the running up hills to get the ticker going. The running shoes definitely help. And, I'll throw on a knee wrap/sleeve which helps a little. Truth-I hate running. I'd rather lift any day of the week than run.

I'm at the point of listening to most of my 2022 music in playlist form. I grabbed Gevurah from Zack's list. I've seen it elsewhere online but prolly wouldn't have grabbed if Zack hadn't lobbied so hard for that album. Really good. Also ordered Gaera and that will do it for me. Cept, I'm also liking Faetooth-it's female fronted witchy, folksy dreamy girl doom and not nearly roaar enough for many here but it's quite nice for what it is.

I was totally unfamiliar with Alexonfire. Guess they were kind of a thing in the 90's-early aughts-posthardcore. But, I'm kinda enjoying their 2022 release-Otherness. Way melodic psychedelia-pretty straight up alt hard rock to my ears....not hearing a lot of "core". Emphasis on the word "post"-I'd say slick and radio friendly apply-haha-but in much better a way than you'd actually hear on FM radio....er, not that I really ever listen to the radio but will occasionally listen to a random song on the Baltimore rock station 98 rock. Undeath/ It's Time to Rise from the Grave-I keep going back to this one thinking it's overhyped-it's not the be all and end all, but it's consistently enjoyable with replay value. To Surge's recent point, I need to back and listen to their debut from 2020.

Kampfar – Til Klovers Takt Autarkh-III (Roadburn Redux)

Moving Pictures is one of my favorite (I'm going to call it hard rock) albums of all time. It's literally the only Rush album I've ever heard in it's entirety but it's an amazing album.

Yeah, just one album and that EP that I didn't buy but have heard. Seems like it's longer than that but I'm opposite with you. Dawn to Fear was just OK for me-it didn't really connect. TLRN is a big step up for me....but it may just be time/place and the fact that I spent more time with that album during the first part of the year than just about any other. Since, I tend to hedge bets and buy more at the end of the year, invariably the albums I actually do buy closer to their release dates, get more time spent by years end.....and you know how CoL take time to really ooze into your bloodstream.

Yeah! I should do an Immortal discog run through soon.

Hungus coming through as usual! I look forward to seeing if there is another Profane Order buried in your list.

Florist/Florist-beautiful intimate folk/folk rock album from 2022-one of the better examples I've heard in the genre although I don't go out of my way to look for old school pure folk. This one intersperses ambient interludes with a compelling female vocalist backed by a band. Yes, on the one hand, why should I care about LMP on the other Elvis is a cultural icon my parents grew up with and I well remember when he died. I remember listening to 45's in my grandmother's house (Hound Dog, Let me be your Teddy Bear, Don't be Cruel, Jailhouse rock, Love me Tender, all that shit) that my mom and her sisters had from the 50's in Tennessee when we would visit in the 70's as a kid. And, LMP was 3 years younger than me. Bummer.

I was feeling that way after Mariner up until Long Road North which took a few times to sink in but very much enjoy.

Nine Circles has 3 new 22 EOY lists off the presses with some of the fine album that have been prominently featured in the lists here urging me to overspend in late December and early January including Zyklonius who used to post with us occasionally at M-F who was a great resource and metal bro of mine back in the pre M-F days over at Head-Fi with the likes of Alex and Ferday. Man, the six degrees of metal separation goes back way deep. https://ninecircles.co/

I did mine at 27 and thought I was going to die-haha-sorry RelentlessO--I'm sure you'll be fine just make sure you don't take more pain meds at one time like I did and then run out and feel like someone took a jackhammer to your jaw...oh, and mine were impacted and I got a minor infection---ugh-worst Spring Break ever.....S break from hell more like.

I dig it. I've been going through albums I saved on my BC wishlist. Not sure why I saved it-maybe an end of year list or might have been off my feed. I'll save albums I see you, Hungus, Zack , Navy own. In fact, I grabbed Nocturnal Triumph that I saw on my feed from last January. I noticed it was on your 22 list. I've been playing it all year-it's good-based on the fact that you bought it and I know the underground stuff you own I usually enjoy--I've got a pretty good batting average getting albums that way.

Predatory Light/Death and the Twilight Hours (2022)