FatherAlabaster

Thank you so much. Our cat isn't herself, but she's hanging in there. Taking her in for another checkup tomorrow actually. I don't foresee us missing this neighborhood too much, we're really looking forward to the change.

I know, right? Fucking nuts, it really does feel like no more than a few months when I think back on it. But yeah, it'll be exactly three and a half years at the end of January.

I was recently turned on to Nachtlieder - another solid one-woman BM project with session drums. There are some vicious riffs in here, tough-sounding vocals, blastbeats for days, etc. Songwriting is not 100% my thing but it's definitely great when I'm in the mood. The first one I heard was "The Female Of The Species": "Lynx" is badass as well:

I will say, nothing quite drives home just how goddamn filthy my son's hands are like scrubbing 3.5 years worth of accumulated grimy handprints off the walls with a bucket full of Magic Erasers so we can get our security deposit back. Kids are gross.

I have not heard the new Swans, but it's good to hear a recommendation for it, I'll definitely make time for it. I'm a huge fan of the old stuff but haven't kept up with everything from the reincarnation period. I loved "To Be Kind" but find it such an immersive experience that I rarely can put aside the time to listen to it. I also got turned on to Metallica through MTV. That "One" video was unreal at the time, huh? My dad brought home a tape of "Ride The Lightning" one day and that was kind of it for me. My copy of "Justice" was dubbed from a friend in some weird order to fit as much of it on the tape as possible, and it still cut off on one side halfway through the solo on "Frayed Ends Of Sanity". Still probably my favorite Metallica album. I also have a "path not taken" cassette, in my case "Appetite For Destruction".

I'm excited. Within the past week or so, we've bought a second car and found a bigger apartment in a quieter neighborhood. Lots of work to be done, but things might actually be looking up.

At this point I'm guessing he joined the circus.

I, too, drank most of the beers last night after band practice. Up til 3AM. Oopsie.

Death - Human Obituary - Cause Of Death

Holy crap. Sean Reinert has died at the age of 48. RIP to one of metal's great drummers. Think it's time to go put "Human" on.

Thorns - s/t Fleurety - Min Tid Skal Komme

Akercocke - Renaissance In Extremis

Swans, early 40s, "Justice" as a gateway cassette. Fuck yes.

It was more of a studio track for them, they kept calling it "the interlude". Plus those two that we played were already 40 minutes by themselves. And yeah, the sax lends a great vibe, I really wish we'd been able to have that at the show.

Not even Rainer's vocals on "Dictius Te Necare"? Marco sounds great but Rainer's always been the classic "I just swallowed a meathook covered in Drano" Bethlehem vocalist for me.