Holy smokes - the New Ghost album Skeletá is out on April 25th! Pre-order HERE!!!
I definitely haven't loved everything this band has done, but I root for them. Impera was easily my favorite since Infestissumam, and although I'm not crazy about this new song right off the bat, I can say that about two of the 'singles' on Impera. Regardless of my off-the-cuff opinion, the songwriting is here. STRONG melody on the chorus and a pretty ripping guitar solo. I don't love the video, but then, videos I do love are rare. I will say since Tobias Forge's sense of humor has infiltrated the band and all its ventures - it's on full display with this video - I long for the days when they felt a bit more ominous. But then, that was bound not to last. He's funny and always well-spoken, but I guess I prefer a little more solemnity to my Satanic Metal.
Either way, SUPER psyched and I love that Ghost has taken to announcing their albums like two months out. It's literally right around the corner.
NCBD:
Small pull this week. STILL waiting on a bunch of books Diamond never shipped to filter in, so maybe some of those will arrive. Otherwise, this is it for NCBD:
Solid Batman werewolf series that reminds me of something we might have found in an arc of the late 80s/early 90s Legends of the Dark Knight series.
Read:
So, I started reading Grant Morrison's Multiversity again. Back when this hit the monthly comic shelves in 2015, I tried for about four issues and gave up. I didn't really admit that I didn't like it, but my life was undergoing escalating turmoil and I was cutting down on my monthly spending in favor of saving my arse, so Multiversity got cut and I never really looked back.
But then I think, is this just me at this moment? You know the feeling; you tire of something, let's say an album or movie or comic book. Not just tire of it but grow disgruntled toward it. This isn't that weird inevitability that some things you love when you're a younger person you will grow to hate for idealistic issues. No, this is the fan inertia I had for GM wearing off a bit and me realizing the stuff I love from him - other than his masterpiece, seven-year Batman run - is his non-IP stuff. Especially non-DC IP, because the DCU is a deep well of superhero stuff that makes me cringe more than it makes me excited.
I've committed to finishing this book, but man, at this stage, I think it's going to be very tough. Part of my issue is also very much what makes Multiversity a masterpiece accomplishment: when I was younger, the appeal to the Big 2's continuity (well, for me, the Big 1's) was the endless continuity to investigate. I mean, if felt like you could never get there. And with Batman, Morrison read every bit of continuity for one character and synthesized it into one spectacular narrative that incorporated all of it. That's what he's done on a larger scale with the entirety of the DCU, starting with his JLA run, into Earth 2, Seven Soldiers, Final Crisis, and finally Multiverity. As my cohost Mike brings up several times in the episode, this was the final word by the man who was on staff at DC for several years as their "Universe Consultant." That means it's amazing; it's a Mozart concerto of comics, but one I have very little time or bandwidth for in my life at the moment. Maybe never again.
Part of that, then, forces me to reflect that some of my inability to joyously engage with this book is I've gotten fucking lazy. It's not a good thing to reflect on, but I try to be self-aware of the zero-point fluctuation level. So there's really no failing with the artist, just the reader. Damn, when I started this, I didn't expect it to come out like this.
Playlist:
Morphine - Yes
Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain
The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
Nothing - Guilty of Everything
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Led Zeppelin - Presence
TVOTR - Young Liars E.P.
The Raveonettes - Blackest (pre-release single)
Ghost - Satanized (pre-release single)
Drab Majesty - An Object in Motion
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Queen of Pentacles
• Ten of Pentacles
• II: High Priestess
Low bandwidth. Lots of Feminine energy, which is almost always a good thing. Earthly matters. Fertile interests.