Friday, May 2, 2025

Mammoth - The End


The song is a bit polished for my taste, but this video put a great big smile on my face. Directed by Robert Rodriguez, with Effects by Greg Nicotero, this is a damn good time. 

You can visit Mammoth's site HERE for merch and tour details.



Watch:

I am a HUGE fan of the Flesh and Blood season of the Horror anthology series Slasher. I tried the follow-up season and couldn't make it very far, and although I recently realized the original seasons are still on Netflix, I've yet to find the time to go back and finish the first Season - which I liked when it first hit streaming - and give two and three a chance. 

Despite this herky-jerky relationship with Slasher, Flesh and Blood made enough of an impression that when I saw Bloody Disgusting post about this new upcoming anthology series by the same creators, I was intrigued. After watching the trailer, I am in!


Hell Motel starts up on Shudder June, 17th. If I remember correctly, Slasher's new episodes drop weekly, not altogether, so if that carries over to this, that's something to look forward to for sure!




Playlist:

Ghost - Skeletá 
Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon
Deadguy - Work Ethic EP
Various - Learn to Relax: A Tribute to Jehu
The Bronx - The Bronx (I)
Alcohol Funnycar - Time to Make the Donuts




Thursday, May 1, 2025

The Endlessly Fascinating Riddle of Neptune's Eye

I've made it a mission to fully engage with Blut Aus Nord's Disharmonuium series again. These guys are so out there sometimes - and I mean that in the best way possible - that I still don't feel like I have a grasp on some of their work. And Disharmonium: Undreamable Abysses/Disharmonium: Nahab feature chief among those albums that confound the living hell out of me.

Back in 2018, while reviewing The Dillinger Escape Plan's final album, Disassociation, I mentioned that their music often feels like encountering an extra-dimensional being that I can only grasp in vague cross-sections. That doubles for Blut Aus Nord when they are at their most experimental. The confluence of Industrial and Black Metal on these albums is astoundingly obtuse - this is the kind of music Lovecraft's protagonists occasionally describe hearing in the presence of the Outer Gods. They set a precedent for that with 2011's The Work Which Transforms God - the album that originally drew me to them. The Disharmonium series, however, really pushes that sound into new places. Dark sonic plaguescapes of an almost ungraspable nature. This sounds dramatic, but it's not. Listening to these albums, it's hard to hold onto the music for very long at all; the drums form an omnipresent backdrop upon which the guitars and keyboards (?) bloom and evolve like blood droplets in hot water. Miasma is a word that springs to mind. I'm gearing up for a session where I smoke up and sit in the middle of my floor between my speakers, just concentrate to the best of my ability on the music and where it takes me.

But I haven't found that time yet. 




Play:

New Metroidvania Moadra looks BAD ASS! Some of these graphics align nicely with what I discussed above regarding Blut Aus Nord, so I couldn't pass up following up with this.

 

This one is hitting multiple game platforms later this year, but, of course, as of now, I'm still only interested in the Switch, so I'm glad to see Nintendo included in the rollout here. You can read more about the game and the other consoles over on Bloody Disgusting HERE.




Watch:

A week or two ago, my good friend and Horror Vision Cohost Tori posted a trailer in our podcast group chat. The trailer was for a movie I had not heard of at the time, HIM. I started watching the trailer and had to wonder why she had posted a football-centric film that looked akin to Any Given Sunday.

Then, at about the 41-second mark, the trailer changes. What follows revealed what is now one of my most eagerly anticipated films of the year.


I hate football, but I love films that defy categorization and expectation. HIM appears to be a film that will do both. I've seen this trailer three times now, and where that would normally drive me fucking crazy, each time I just marvel at it, thinking, "What the absolute fuck is this about?"

I don't want an answer. I just want to see it.

Produced by Jordan Peele, this is Written by Zack Akers & Skip Bronkie and Directed by Justin Tipping - three people I am wholly unfamiliar with, making this even more of a mystery.




Playlist:

The Cops - Free Electricity
Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
Melvins/Jello Biafra - Sieg Howdy
Black Sabbath - Sabotage
Bluekarma - The Communication
Blut Aus Nord - The Work Which Transforms God
McKinley James - Live!




Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.


• Six of Cups
• Four of Wands
• Eight of Cups

The joy of completion can lead to inactivity. Keep active. 

Good advice for someone who just finished one book and is pretty hot on the next. Keep it going; don't rest on your laurels.