MacabreEternal

This week: Incantation (mostly last years "Vanquish In Vengence") Chastain (debut release) Heavy Load ("Stronger Than Evil") Cathedral (mostly "Forest Of Equilibrium) Slayer ("Reign In Blood and "South Of Heaven")

And shortly after this shot was taken I bet a local church caught fire - all by itself?

Incantation - Vanquish In Vengence

Welcome aboard - I expect you have such classics as "Onward To Golgotha" and "Effigy Of The Forgotten" in your collection? Also the Master debut? "Altars Of Madness"? "Deicide"? "Left Hand Path"? Ok, I will stop now. Dammit I have had too much sugar today.

It doesn't actually say - it just mentions "the post-war years" which I am taking to be closer to the 50's than the 80's although arguably any year after 1945 is a post war year? They mention the re-enactors on the recruitment form should be ready to play any NATO member country nationality or Soviet forces. Looking more closely they mention they are using a fleet of FV 432's to stage an infantry invasion and they weren't about until the 60's to my knowledge so it maybe a decade or so after the second world war.

Currently enjoying Hooded Menace "Never Cross The Dead" and Serpentine Path S/T. I doubt Hooded Menace will ever better the crude looming melodies of "Never Cross The Dead" but that's fine by me as I can listen to this album all day. "Effigies Of Evil" is alright but I still prefer "Never.." Serpentine Path have done a great job on their debut for Relapse and it is one hell of a crushing and bruising slab of death/doom as your ever liable to pick up anywhere really. Mind you given they are in effect a super group it was sort of always going to be decent anyway.

Cathedral - Forest Of Equlibrium

I think somewhere in all this Cirith Ungol and Manilla Road should get mentions. The first 3 albums by Cirith Ungol are classics and although you have to wait until "Crystal Logic" onwards for decent output from Manilla Road what follows from that point onwards is influential stuff. Both bands are part of any metal education curriculum in my opinion.

For me the best UFO track is: z-uFp0m2xNs In terms of proto-metal or early incarnations of the music we all love there is a blog called The Day After The Sabbath which I recommend to anybody interested in this era of music. The guy who does the blog spends his time sourcing classics from all over the world and I was particularly interested in the Italian Prog Compilation he put together. He does proto, prog, early doom, trad metal etc so there should be something in there to suit all tastes with just one quick google search.

Religion, opiate of the masses.

Leatherwolf - S/T

Just completed GoW3 on XBOX 360 and was impressed at the content but thought it was all getting a bit old and samey after three games. It is still an enjoyable romp as it always was but I had no time to jump on LIVE with it as I had it from LoveFilm as part of our (soon to expire) free trial. Also played the Arkham City Batman game and thought it was great. I had feared it would be too much like the previous one but I was surprised at it's longevity and depth. The boss fights were a little familiar after a couple but the puzzles were strong enough and the ability to explore freely the map was welcome. Incidentally, bored as I was earlier I downloaded a demo of Injustice:Gods Amongst Us which is the new DC Comics beat em up. For all it's promise of mulit-tiered arenas and in depth character studies it was very much a plain old beat em up to my eyes but then again it was only a demo. I spend too little time on my XBOX nowadays - I still find myself going on for a blast of GTA4 regularly and am very much looking forward to the new one later this year.

Really? That sounds a little more in depth than your average book on tanks (I do have a thing about tanks to - he says looking at the tank calendar on the wall). I like authors who explore a subject in detail and look at linked subjects/concepts as well as fitting subject matter into a bigger picture. Robert Service does this brilliantly in his works on Trotsky and Lenin in particular. In "The Court Of The Red Tsar" Montefiore explores Stalin's henchmen in detail and looks at their personal histories and characters.

So what style are Lightless then? Sounds like a BM project (cue you telling us it's a glam rock band with symphonic influences). You are right about the place welcoming people - I recently joined having been a long time forumite and moderator elsewhere and have been pleased by the atmosphere of the place. I think there are very few active forums around full stop nowadays - certainly since Twitter and FB. Anyway, welcome aboard.

Hirax - El Rostro De La Muerte

Hello doomite. I flirt with doom every now and again but find I really have to be in the mood for it, Currently enjoying Cathedral "Forest Of Equilibrium" and Electric Wizard's "Dopethrone". I am told that Cathedral's "Last Spire" is great ending for their career btw. Anyways, welcome aboard.

Nerdy confessions in terms of reading material for me. I am a bit fascinated with Soviet era Russia (Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky..etc) Currently I am leafing through "Stalin - The Court of The Red Tsar" by Simon Sebag Montefiore for the second time. I have just finished reading "Resistance in the Gulag Archipelago" prior to that it was my second nerdy interest which is just developing in astrophysics which involved "A Brief History Of Time" by Stephen Hawking. Next on my to read pile is "The Quantum Universe: Everything That Can Happen Does Happen" by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw. I will probably have to read it twice before I even start to pick up what is being explained but it's interesting to me anyway.

The majority of my week I am in a suit or certainly a shirt and tie as I am working all week. When I do bother to change of an evening it's usually for sweat pants and a vest. Weekends is usually a t-shirt and jeans which aren't always metal orientated. I suppose the only give away would be my jewelry - I like my skull rings and recently picked up and eagle swooping for prey that caught my eye. I don't have a massive collection of t-shirts and to be honest don't go out of my way to "look" metal in particular. My metal credentials are covered by my music collection.

Ghost to me are massively underwhelming. They are a gimmick driven, mediocre at best retro occult rock band. From any interviews I have read with them they seem to be absolute immersed in the whole Satan and "end of humanity" slur. They make Glen Benton sound normal almost by comparison (and at least Benton makes decent music by contrast). I am baffled by their success and think that without the gimmick they would be unsigned and probably unheard of amongst the metal community (they most definitely are not metal).

My CD copy of Miles Davis "Kind Of Blue" arrived this week. I have also picked up Cathedral's "Forest Of Equlibrium" and Ufommamut's "Idolum". It's been a good week. Ufomammut has been the biggest surprise of the week - I love albums that create atmosphere and the sense of something building on "Idolum" is fantastic. Great use of samples and sound effects also, they have been a real find this week. I am looking to try and pick up some Chastain and some Heavy Load shortly also.

Welcome aboard.

Attack - Destinies Of War If you don't know of this record I'd strongly suggest getting your shit together and sorting your life out.

Ufomammut - Idolum