FatherAlabaster

Holy shit, the Jedi Mind Trick works!

There's still time for you to be your enjoyably blunt self.

Although the unique spatial phenomena your brain has generated cannot fully annihilate your hill, they cause a local distortion which renders it a gentle slope at best, perhaps topped with a wide and sweeping plateau, on which you stand, looking outward, ruler of all you survey. Then the clouds move aside, and you see in the distance a high mountain, untouched by your black hole's grim destructiveness. That, sir, is my hill.

Where did you find the full Furia album? I've only managed to find two songs from Martwa Polska Jesien but I'm loving the second one.

"Nade Mną Mgła" by Furia. ...and I love this. I hope the rest of the album is this good.

Well I read only OP's post

I'm just going to leave this here...

Furia - Grudzien Za Grudniem Polish black metal with really good melodies and vocals. This album is not as immediate as their previous album, Martwa Polska Jesien, but it's very good. More of a "post-black metal" sound (ugh, I hate that descriptor) - some big chords, drawn-out melodies, atmospheric clean guitars, even some vaguely jazzy parts.

I knew someone was going to say this' date=' I just didn't know who.[/quote'] Well, it's best coming from someone who's had experience with the experienced.

It's not entirely impossible for bands to work hard for a lot of their career' date=' but to posit a hypothetical where that kind of dedication is the norm is to assume that there'd be a market for it.[/quote'] That's a good point; market forces have even sunk their ugly claws into the rocks I usually hide under. The truth is that at any level, even as a complete amateur, being a musician takes time, focus, dedication, and money. When your money is coming from the table scraps that you've been tossed by a larger label, and the pressure is on you to offer up a consistently palatable product that will please them and move units, market forces are really working against innovation, especially when you've spent years or decades eschewing any other career, and working odd jobs so you can spend the necessary time on music. Some bands have been very successful, but I think I'd have a hard time being productive in that kind of situation. I don't think that's a discussion so much about the popularity of metal, as it is the impact of a certain business model. The good thing is, that's been changing!

Lots of good discussion on a similar topic here: http://metalforum.com/general-chat/3264-do-you-think-metal-could-ever-become-massively-popular-again.html And some discussion in other threads, throughout. Personally, I think the question is an oversimplification. "Metal" is a wide umbrella; it shades into rock and pop (and even hip-hop). I don't care for discussions about where people draw the dividing lines, because everyone puts them in different places, and they're generally uninformative, but those discussions are ubiquitous here and on other forums if they do anything for you. There's more to those other genres than you give them credit for, not least in performance and production; and I've often found metal music criticism to be guilty of exactly the flaws you point out elsewhere. I think that a lot of more obscure stuff is destined for niche markets at best - it takes a lot to be able to wade through hours and hours of abrasive garbage in the hope of finding something meaningful. And, near the top end of a reeling yet bloated industry, you have the same forces toward marketable conformity regardless of whether a band is "pop", "rock", "metal" or whatever. I think the difference between your average mainstream metalhead and a fan of pop music is in the degree to which they've invested their social identity in appearing to care about music. Underneath the battle jacket, you're just as likely as not to find a shallow appreciation for sonics and a desire to seem to be a certain kind of person; to "look the part". Witness all of the threads people have started here complaining about "posers" and "scene kids". I think of a lot of metal as being hard music for soft people; and I know just as many outsiders who regard the entire metal community as juvenile and shallow, as I do committed metal listeners who (just as mistakenly) think there's less under the surface of other scenes. And don't forget that more extreme bands seem to have a greater chance of rising farther in some smaller countries that support the arts more than the USA. Metal has been more appreciated in some places, and during some time periods, than in others. The basic point you keep coming back to is that if more people liked metal, metal fans would somehow be in danger of becoming less special. I think that's a silly concern that has more to do with self-identity than it does with music, and I say that not to poke fun at you, so much as because I think I kind of remember being there when I was younger. But for the sake of argument: no, I don't think that would be the case at all. More people investing the time and energy that a lot of metal requires could only benefit all of us: more ideas, more viewpoints, more great music. Not that there isn't already more than anyone could possibly hope to hear.

Second friend in as many month affected by cancer (this time my friends father). These - maybe predictably perhaps (?) - have been life affirming instances for me' date=' sort of in a "we are all just guests in this thing called life" moment. I spend my whole working day arguing the toss about things that have no real relevance or impact in the real world. A sort of heads up to enjoy life more and be more grateful for my lot.[/quote'] I'm sorry to hear about your friends, but I'm glad that you can get something positive out of it. I've been in similar situations. I wish them the best of luck.

My French teacher really seems to have taken a shine to me. That's good' date=' I need to improve my grades in the language...[/quote'] We need more details! Is she a redhead? Does she listen to Evoken?

A few years ago, a friend of mine and I made this snowman in a graveyard in Queens, for a goof. He just sent me this pic:

You've got the hill, but you're still unhappy. Your intensely competitive nature won't let you stop striving, even though there's no other goal in sight, and that internal pressure slowly unbalances you. One day you see what seems like a taller hill in the distance, and you set off to conquer it, only to discover it was a mirage. You die of old age, still searching for the way back. About that time, I finish the dishes, and mommy lets me back out to play King Of The Hill with everyone else. My hill.

Burzum - Sol Austan' date=' Mani Vestan[/quote'] "Unicorns Dance In The Northern Woods":D

I've never lived in any one town more than six years' date=' though that's not really under my control...[/quote'] This has been a trend throughout my life as well. I lived in a lot of different places growing up, mostly NY state and NJ, and I'd probably been to ten different schools before we moved to North Carolina. Then, I lived in the same city for about ten years but my family still managed to move five or six times. My 20s were even worse; one year I had to file tax returns in three states. I think the apartment my wife and I have in Brooklyn now is the place I've lived the longest, but she hates the city, so this one's temporary too. I haven't had a place that felt like home since my first apartment when I was a teenager.

During the time it takes you to type that, tectonic forces slowly push the hill you've claimed back under the earth's crust. You, your computer, your college, and all the land it stood on are completely eradicated. Meanwhile, these same forces raise newer, taller hills elsewhere on the planet, one of which I claim. My hill.

It's the second night in a row of temps around 6F in NYC. The condensation on the inside of our windowframe has remained frozen all day.

I can see your chin. Poser.

No, that's a good look for you.

The great Neptune, angered by your mistreatment of me, commands the sea to rise and cover your insignificant hill. You're dragged to the bottom of the sea, where your skeleton is destined to become a real stumper for archaeologists of the far future. I'm granted release from the land of the dead, and return to find a new hill. My hill.

You wake up at your desk in surprise, only to have your knuckles severely rapped by a horde of angry English professors. You are put in detention, where you have to write the word "bury" over and over until they're all satisfied. My hill.

Hedningarna - Karelia Visa Scandinavian neofolk goodness with two Finnish female vocalists. It took a long time for this CD to click with me, but it's been a favorite for years now.

Spring roll' date=' first meal all day. Will be eating sesame chicken, broccoli and fried rice later, with a grape soda.[/quote'] High cuisine for college, no?

Although you beat me in the door, you trip in your eagerness to reach the top of the hill and stumble into a pit of broken O'Douls bottles, quickly bleeding out. My hill.

It's weird, I feel like my accomplishments are mostly things that I hadn't set out to do; I never thought I'd be married, let alone have a kid. But I have to say taking care of my kid is one of the most fulfilling things in life, right now (as much as I need a break every now and again). The albums I've recorded with Black Harvest and other bands are accomplishments, I suppose, but only in a personal way; I occasionally hear from someone who's listened to my music and found some meaning in it, and that's what I appreciate the most. I can't consider graduating from art college to be an accomplishment, because in the intervening years, I've only done a few paintings, and I've been so focused on music that I haven't even attempted to establish myself as a working artist. I'm frequently bitter about the amount of time and energy, not to mention money, I've spent on what might seem frivolous to a lot of people, especially when I see very little financial return. But I keep making music because I'm not myself without it, and I'm trying to paint my way back out of the box I put myself in. As much as I haven't done many of the things I "wanted" to do, I can't help but notice how little my underlying goals have changed since I was a 13-year old high school kid; and at the same time I'm always reminded of something one of my older friends said years ago, when I asked him whether he was proud of the music he'd done in the past. He said he supposed it was cool to have done certain things, but that he cared a lot more about whatever was happening right now than he did about the things he'd done in the past. I feel the same way. I'm lost unless I have some goal, some project to work on. I'm frequently scared by the thought that I might have already done the best art or music that I'll ever do, and that's part of what keeps driving me to make them better.

My goal is to hopefully one day listen to more than five bands.