Iceni

I hadn't looked at the lyrics...I've been doing that less and less because I largely can't be arsed. That being said, I did see he apparently supported Satanism so I doubt I'd care for what he has to say. That being said, the music is fairly unique and he also looks kinda like one of my professors. "Maximalism" by Amaranthe. Definitely their weakest output so far.

"On The Shores" by Ihsahn. Yet another band I need to explore more thoroughly.

"Burden of Truth" album by Circle II Circle. It's taken me a while to appreciate this one, but man this is a great album and man does it suck that the band isn't this good anymore. This band comes from the creative milieu revolving around Savatage that involves Jon Oliva's Pain and Trans-Siberian Orchestra and expertly combines the strongest elements of each band. The whole album has this wonderfully and distinctly American sound that synthesizes the saccharine with the technical and comes off as honest and unashamed.

I might end up in Pittsburgh depending on how grad school applications and finances work out. How d'you like it there?

Even if that's true he sure doesn't seem play it very well or doesn't choose to given the option of full creative control. His solo album was such worthless dross that the marketing copy almost exclusively talked about the man himself and didn't occupy itself very much with praising the music. I heard someone say it was influenced by Tom Waits, which is a little bit like saying a 12-year-old's clumsy rendition of Chopsticks is "influenced" by Jordan Rudess. I wrote a couple reviews for Metal-Temple this year and that album probably got the worst score I ever issued. I realize this is somewhat off topic but I figured it was a relatively germane response pls don't exile me Mr. Abra Macabra Eterna

Redemption Adora Vivos Persuader Aletheian Threshold

"Liberation" by Katatonia on a cool dark evening riding the train home. This seems like the right atmosphere.

ayy man you back Revelations of Rain is good. Pretty consistent band out of Russia. https://revelationsofrain.bandcamp.com/

Got a lot to be thankful for. I got to spend about 6 days or so of Thanksgiving with my best friend, meaning this was my first really good Thanksgiving in about 3 years and one of the only good Thanksgiving celebrations without my family. I also got an offer for an internship with a journal of Christianity and international affairs, which will be essentially full-time pay - meaning I can quit my humiliating department store job. Gonna take the GRE again since my quantitative score needs work, but I got promotional emails from the Fletcher School at Tufts and the Josef Korbel School at University of Denver, so clearly I'm doing something right. That all this should happen at the end of a year that I largely wasted is an enormous relief and has been really motivating. Hopefully I spend 2018 at this internship before embarking on grad school and the future writ large.

I like Freak Kitchen's lyrics too, even if their music is kinda bland.

Beginning the "Croire, Decroitre" album by Unholy Matrimony, Vladimir Cochet's third project, because apparently I cannot slurp enough of this man's dingaling. It's cool so far. Pretty strong techy black/death.

The song of my people Haaaaaartbeesport DAM, is'n lekker DAMM

Fancy X-Men symbol.

We've definitely brought them up before in a number of threads. I didn't know they were that influential though.

That doesn't sound like a cross so much as the X-Men symbol.

I could go for that. Still making my way through "Fragmentary Evidence" by Augury and it stuns me how good this is. I remember thinking it was OK when I first heard it but I really hear the melodic elements now and that's helped a lot. Clean vocals work wonders and this bass is sublime. They're apparently coming out with some new material next year, definitely looking forward to it.

Aha! Just saw Equipoise raving about them and might have given it a shot. Name seemed like a red flag but I'll try it.

@welkyn This is an interesting notion and a plausible anthropological explanation, but I think politically it's way off. As for thugs getting into power, that shit was a lot more common during the bygone period you're describing than in the modern era. Nowadays politics does not attract that breed of person as often. I went to a school rife with aspiring politicians. They aren't thugs. They're a bunch of Pharisees, but I could beat up at least half of them. For the most part, thugs now end up as goons for these folks and only become politically powerful in the third world or Eastern Ohio. As for the 'plastic system of control' - are you referring to the nation-state?

I've got the same problem with horror movies and alcohol. Generally can't stand either but I've lost count of the number of times people have implied I'm an underdeveloped simpleton because of it. Anyway, I saw The Exorcist recently and it wasn't anywhere near as frightening as I expected. They all but telegraph the scary stuff so you're good and ready when something odd happens. It's pretty funny in a number of places, especially early on then the demon's making Reagan act like a CoF fan. That being said, there are some impressively disconcerting parts of the movie and I did like those. Overall not bad and I did enjoy seeing so many shots of my campus throughout the movie.

Good Lord, that's dreadful. I'm sorry to hear that. Well, you're not bothering us in any case so don't deactivate your account here. Plenty of folks on this forum, myself included, have vented over less.

ayy man New Mexico native here

Gareth Katana, itinerant shepherd swordsman. I miss Lost In Thought.

Take this as a perspective from a guy with no academic musical background and an abortive interest in playing guitar. I'm more a fan of the 'verse' sections than the recurring melody since the former struck me as more oblique than the latter. Interplay of lead and rhythm was good, particularly for the former - you made the best use of the very clean production by having snappy intricate leads. The slightly unexpected chord changes also did a lot to distinguish the piece. Like I said before these two elements interacted very nicely. I am certainly curious to see how this fits into the broader context of the album.

Yeah, this is good too. You might like Excruciating Thoughts if these drums catch your fancy. I gotta get you some recs, my deficit's getting embarrassing. You heard Nephilim's Howl? They sound kinda like Locust Leaves, Convulsing and Obsequiae.

"Fuck Yeah, Floppy Guys!" by Axis of Awesome.