Pale Dian's Feral Birth

 

Somehow, I totally missed that Austin's Pale Dian released a new record last year. I've had Feral Birth on rotation since discovering it a few days ago, and I really dig it. If you missed out on 2016's Narrow Birth, it is well worth your time, as is all of Pale Dian's music. You can order a digital copy of Feral Birth directly from the band on their Bandcamp HERE, or you can hope their label, Green Witch Recordings, does a re-press of the vinyl. If they do, it should be available at the Green Witch Shop HERE.

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Watch:

Yesterday, HBO dropped a new trailer for the upcoming second season of Álex de la Iglesia's 30 Coins, and it looks fantastic!

I love this show so much, I'm not only excited for the second season to drop in October, but to rewatch Season One beforehand. I can't wait to relive this one. Igelsia's take Horror is unlike anything else I've ever seen, with its often-comedic underpinnings offset brilliantly by the creepiest take on Catholicism I've maybe ever seen. 

 

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Playlist:

Cristobal Tapia De Veer - Smile OST

Cristobal Tapia De Veer - Black Mirror: Black Museum OST

Agnes Obel - Aventine

Pale Dian - Feral Birth

Flying Lotus - Yasuke

Mannequin Pussy - Patience

Sandrider - Godhead

Flying Lotus - Los Angeles

Sepultura - Schizoprenia 

Christopher Young & Lustmord - The Empty Man OST

Beth Gibbons, Polish National Radio Symphony Orch & Krzysztof Penderecki - Henryk- Górecki's Symphony #3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)

Explode Into Colors - Quilts EP

Pale Dian - Feral Birth

Perturbator - Dangerous Days

Exhalants - 

Slayer - Decade of Aggression

            

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Card:

• Queen of Swords - Watery aspect of Air, or the Emotional application of the Intellect

• Prince of Cups - Airy aspect of Water, or the reverse of above, Emotions honed by Intellect

• Princess of Wands - Earthen aspect of Fire, or the physical world as manipulated through the Will

I'm looking at this as a direct commentary on my creative week, which, despite some fairly major breakthroughs plot-wise, has been weak. My Emotions undermine my understanding of what I need to do to achieve my goal, I then turn around and overrule my emotions with logic, but only for a short time before the material world around me sidetracks my work and drains my Will.

I'm trying to sell this week to myself as a "recharge." Let's see if that's true.

 

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Duration:

See what I mean? This is... embarrassing. I knew I didn't clock that many hours this week, but this is insane. Granted, my folks were here for five days and I worked, but still. Inexcusable. 

This is 7/14/23 through 7/20/23. Starting today I need to re-engage.

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††† - Sensation

 

Really digging this new ††† PERMANENT.RADIANT EP, especially of late, opening track Sensation. The chorus has an epic slamming that kind of marries a slow, sensual plod ala When the Levee Breaks (not quite, but ballpark) to what sounds like the fanfare of some futuristic stadium rock. Add onto that all the swirling keys, guitars, and some cool vox FX on Chino, and you get a fantastic album-opener and lead-in to that brilliant first single, Vivien. 

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Watch:

Since it was only in the theatres for about a week, we missed David O. Russell's Amsterdam on the big screen but finally caught it on HBO Max last night.

 

This is the film that failed so hard at the box office - undeservedly so, in my opinion - that I've heard titterings about it being the death knell for anything that could be called an "adult drama" rolling out big and wide at theatres. If that's true, it sucks. I'll be sure to be more diligent about getting out to see those films on their first weekend because that might be all we get while Marvel and their clones - some of which I also am a fan of - further strengthen their stranglehold on every big screen in the major movie houses.

I think back to Autumn/Winter 2007. I'd been in L.A. a little over a year, and the Regal Cinema at the Rolling Hills Terrace on Deep Valley Drive was my perpetual weekend spot, primarily because they had a killer Soundsystem and were not afraid to turn it LOUD. That year, I saw so many great films - none of which were, if I remember correctly - genre. No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, and Charlie Wilson's War, spring immediately to mind. I can't help wondering if we'll ever see a roll-out of non-franchise films like that again. 2019 was a brief return to form; however, the pandemic may have been the real death knell for non-event films, the kind where two adults go to see a film unattached to properties or characters they are familiar with. And there's nothing wrong with big-budget, superhero blockbusters - I just hope that's not all there is to choose from on the big screen. Because I love seeing quiet, contemplative films like The Banshees of Inisherin at the theatre as much as I do whatever the next Avengers or whatever.

But I totally side-stepped my own set-up with my maudlin reverie. How was Amsterdam? Pretty damn good. I'll specifically say that Christian Bale is fantastic, as are all the performances. The script is a bit overly ambitious and the plot suffers from that, so there were moments where I was a little annoyed at what began to feel unmanageably dense, but those performances really anchored the film for me. 

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Playlist:

Metallica - Kill 'Em All

Metallica - Hardwired... To Self-Destruct

Zeal and Ardor - Firewake (single)

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

Lustmord - Dark Matter

SQÜRL and Jozef Van Wissem - Only Lovers Left Alive OST

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

It will require an effort of Will to make the breakthrough that will move me into the next phase of a project. 

New Zeal & Ardor!!!

 

Excited to see that, apparently, Zeal and Ardor are now on Sub Pop Records. With this kind of state-side distribution, it should no longer cost an arm and leg in shipping to order their records! Perhaps it was to celebrate that contract, the band just released a two-song single!

What a great day to wake up to! Last few days, no lie, my stress level has had me hovering at the "punch a hole in the window" stage. But I woke up a little while ago feeling fairly refreshed, and now I'm putting the finishing touches on this post, drinking coffee and listening to the new ††† EP, PERMANENT.RADIANT that dropped, counting the hours until I can hit play on Joe Begos' new flick, Christmas Bloody Christmas, now probably my most anticipated film of the year. I'd wanted to drive to Chicago to see it, but after spending $500 at the dentist over the last week, there's just no feasible way to swing that. My hope, though, is that, like Terrifier 2, it makes enough $$$ at the box office this week to see a bigger roll-out next week. If that happens, it's bound to end up here. 

If you need help figuring if Christmas Bloody Christmas is playing by you, here's the link Begos put on his IG - it literally lists every theatre the film is playing. So crazy that, with all the smaller cities its rolling out to, it didn't come to Clarksville. Our Regal, which is pretty good and had Terrifier 2 for almost a month, had the new Martin McDonough and the George A. Romero Dawn of the Dead 3D, but instead of lining CBC up, they still have Prey for the Devil? WTF?

Life is good. If you're having a tough time at any point today, stop and think about the people and the stuff you love. It will HELP!

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Watch:

New Brandon Cronenberg film? Sign me up.

 

I cannot overstate how unbelievably happy I am that we only had to wait about three years for the third film from Brandon Cronenberg. Possessor is still one of my all-time favorites, and with this cast and premise - what little of it may or may not be clear from this trailer - Infinity Pool looks likely to rank pretty high with me as well. Out January 27.

Neon is just a fabulous company, isn't it?

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Playlist:

Fvnerals - Let the Earth be Silent (pre-release singles)

Fvnerals - The Light

Final Light - Eponymous

Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell

Federale - No Justice

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

The Mysterines - Reeling

H6LLB6ND6R - Side A

Metallica - Hardwired... To Self-Destruct

Metallica - Kill 'em All

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Ask and ye shall receive your answer: I usually don't specify when I pull, but today I focused on my recent re-engagement with Shadow Play Book 2. The writing comes and goes, mostly rewarding while I'm doing it, then frustrating after. But I keep wondering if this is actually going to work. Well, apparently, if I am strong enough to persevere, I will get my outcome.

New Music From †††

I've always dug Chino Moreno's other band, †††, but for whatever reason, their music has never hit me the same way the Deftones does.

This song changes that completely.

The Crosses store is located HERE. No pre-orders up for the forthcoming album Permanent.Radiant, but you can still grab a standard black vinyl edition of the recent Initiation/Protection EP that dropped a few months back.

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31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat

10/2 - Barbarian

10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)

10/4 - Phenomena

10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)

10/6 - The Dark Backward

10/7 - Sick/The Beyond

10/8 - Werewolf By Night

10/9 - Something in the Dirt

10/10 - Let the Right One In Episode 1/Lux Aeterna

10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty

10/12 - Smile

10/13 - Monstrous/VHS (Amateur Night segment)

10/14 - Halloween Kills

10/15 - Halloween Ends/Ed Wood/Plan 9 From Outer Space

10/16 - Spider Baby/101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments/Night's End/Behemoth

10/17 - Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

10/18 - Random Acts of Violence/Two Witches/Let the Right One In Episode 2

10/19 - Footprints on the Moon/976-EVIL

10/20 - Alison's Birthday/Tone Deaf

10/21 - Elviria's Haunted Hills/Popcorn

10/22 - Resolution

10/23 - The Endless

10/24 - VHS 99

10/25 - Tigers Are Not Afraid

10/26 - Bliss

10/27 - Deadstream/Host

10/28 - The Convent

10/29 - Lot 36 (GDT's CoC ep. 1)/George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead/Return of the Living Dead

I had completely forgotten that Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities landed on Netflix this past week. Totally blown away by the first episode. Directed by GDT's frequent Cinematographer, Guillermo Narravo, Lot 36 is not for the faint of heart. I'm really digging this darker tone Del Toro's work has had of late (it's always been dark, but I feel like starting with his Nightmare Alley, there is a fatalistic streak that's just nasty enough to be titillating, but not far gone enough to be mean.)

The list of Directors GDT enlisted for this is pretty fantastic as well, so I'm thinking every episode will be an immediate classic.

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Read:

Sometime in the past week and a half, I sat down and did my annual reading of Rick Spears and Rob G.'s Teenagers From Mars.

I really can't love a comic more than this one. A light-hearted tale of small-town pandemonium against comic books and youth culture, I'm always shocked to remember this originally came out in 2003, as it seems a product of the 80s or early 90s, which I think is when the story takes place.

Either way, this one is such a friendly amalgamation of all the things I love: Comic Books, Horror Movies, and Punk Rock, and although it doesn't take place on Halloween, with its zombie face-paint party and grave-robbing subplot, it certainly feels like it does.

Unfortunately, I still can't find my copy of my other annual Halloween read, James O'Barr's original graphic novel The Crow. So many of my books remain packed until I buy bookcases, so this year, I will have to push that reading off. 

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Playlist:

Electric Wizard - Wizard Bloody Wizard

Bexley - Female Hysteria (single)

The Cure - Seventeen Seconds Deluxe Edition*

The Nukes - Why Things Burn

Cough & Windhand - Reflection of the Negative 

Various - Joe Begos' Bliss Playlist

Zombi - Shape Shift

Pilot Priest and Electric Youth - Come True OST

The Misfits - Static Age

* I don't normally denote deluxe editions here, but I have to say, the live tracks that more than double this release's size are fantastic. 

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Trust my inner vision during the process of finalizing this current project I'm working on will bring it to fruition. 

Another reminder that we're down to the last hours to get in on Grimm's Kickstarter for The Art of the Bound Tarot hardcover art book. Back the project HERE.

New Music From Fever Ray!

This dropped a few days ago and I totally missed it. New music from Fever Ray, and if what I read is accurate, this track reunites Karin with her brother Olof, effectively making this a The Knife reunion!

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31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat

10/2 - Barbarian

10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)

10/4 - Phenomena

10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)

10/6 - The Dark Backward

10/7 - Sick/The Beyond

10/8 - Werewolf By Night

10/9 - Something in the Dirt

10/10 - Let the Right One In Episode 1/Lux Aeterna

10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty

10/12 - Smile

10/13 - Monstrous/VHS (Amateur Night segment)

10/14 - Halloween Kills

10/15 - Halloween Ends/Ed Wood/Plan 9 From Outer Space

10/16 - Spider Baby/101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments/Night's End/Behemoth

10/17 - Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

10/18 - Random Acts of Violence/Two Witches/Let the Right One In Episode 2

10/19 - 976-EVIL

10/20 - Alison's Birthday/Tone Deaf

10/21 - Elviria's Haunted Hills/Popcorn

10/22 - Resolution

10/23 - The Endless

10/24 - VHS 99

10/25 - Tigers Are Not Afraid

10/26 - Bliss

10/27 - Deadstream/Host

Deadstream has been on my radar for a while, but when I saw the trailer at this year's Beyondfest, I felt certain the film wouldn't be for me. Movies that feature influencers/youtubers as unlikeable protagonists who eventually receive a comeuppance don't usually make up for actually having to follow them through the first act-and-a-half. I wrote a bit more extensively about this in my Letterbxd review HERE, but suffice it to say, I ended up really liking this flick. 

Found footage films are a dime a dozen, however, when done right they may be the last corner of Horror capable of truly frightening me. I'm not talking about jump scares or gross-outs, I'm talking about the Magic that occurs when a film truly inspires sustained and palpable fear in me as a viewer. 

 

After this and the To Hell and Back segment they did for V/H/S/99, I can't wait to see what Joseph and Vanessa Winters do next.

 

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Watch:

Servant's fourth and final season lands in January, and they've dropped a trailer. I'm posting this, but probably not going to watch it.

Damn, I love this show. Hope it goes out with a "Bang."

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Playlist:

A001 - Necro (single)

Type O Negative - Origin of the Feces

The Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose

The Veils - Total Depravity

Fever Ray - What They Call Us (single)

The Knife - Heartbeats (single)

The Knife - Full of Fire (single)

Various - Joe Begos' Bliss Playlist

Electric Wizard - Dopethrone

Electric Wizard - Wizard, Bloody Wizard

Bad Looks - Bad Looks Single

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

The results I'm after will only be achieved through a combination of Will and Emotional detachment/clarity.

Also, only four days left to get in on Grimm's Kickstarter for The Art of the Bound Tarot hardcover art book. I'm throwing down today, you should too if you dig the art on these glorious cards. Back the project HERE.

Smile

 

I completely forgot about the fact that a new album from The Mars Volta dropped back in... early August? Really? Holy smokes am I behind. Having only heard the one other single I posted sometime back in late June/early July, I have no context for the album, however, this particular song as a single? Not a criticism, but definitely a head-scratcher. I can only imagine the impetus for this may well have been the images for the video. Either way, I'll be making the full plunge into the entire album later today. 

You can order the new, self-titled album from the band directly HERE.

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Watch:

I headed out to the local Regal Cinema last night to cross another recently released Horror film off my list. To my complete and utter surprise, Smile is absolutely fantastic. 

No disrespect to first-time Feature director Parker Finn, who totally knocked this out of the park. My misgivings with the film had to do with the trailer - I just thought it looked like something this totally is not (which is why I'm only using a poster here)!  

Smile is creepy, atmospheric, and, at times, genuinely frightening. Sosie Bacon's frenetic terror at seeing something no one else can makes Elizabeth Moss's in the 2019 Invisible Man look almost calming. We basically watch anxiety and fear eat a woman alive for an hour and a half, and it's glorious for all its moments of, literally, sheer terror. HIGHLY recommended in a theatre, as the score and sound design are top-notch.

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31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat

10/2 - Barbarian

10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)

10/4 - Phenomena

10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)

10/6 - The Dark Backward

10/7 - Sick/The Beyond

10/8 - Werewolf By Night

10/9 - Something in the Dirt

10/10 - Lux Aeterna

10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty

10/12 - Smile

I'm not being completely accurate with the days while I was in LA - there wasn't time every day to watch movies, so on other days when we top-loaded extra flicks, I've taken generous liberties and spread them around to fill in the gaps. From here out, however, it's day by day!

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Playlist:

Ritual Veil - Wolf in the Night EP

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Final Light - Eponymous

Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim

Sylvaine - Nova

Miranda Sex Garden - Suspiria

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses 

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Staying grounded can lead to healthy returns, both emotionally and economically.

Yellow Veil Remasters Calvaire!!!

 

Having meant to listen since it dropped last week (is that right?), I woke up at our Air BnB in Dayton, Ohio and walked over to get coffee at Ghost Light with the new Daptone Records band Thee Sacred Souls. So this song was not only my first impression of the album, but the day and the city of Dayton, five and a half years since the last time I visited. It was perfect. You can order the elf-titled album HERE. 

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Watch:

In honor of the fact that Yellow Veil just announced an HD remaster BR of one of the lost French Extreme flicks:

 

I really enjoyed this flick, and can't wait to revisit it. Must be going on 17 or 18 years since I saw it last, back when I ordered the disc through the mail via Netflix's old business model. Director Fabrice du Welz's other film from that early 00s period, Vinyan, has long been a favorite of mine, and although both Vinyan and Calvaire are lumped in with the New French Extreme, I feel that's a bit of a misnomer, as neither even begin to approach the extremity present in other films of that 'genre.'

You can read more about the Yellow Veil unveiling on Bloody Disgusting HERE.

 

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Playlist:

Ozzy Osbourne - Patient Number 9

Joy Division - Substance

Joy Division - Still

Melvins - Stoner Witch

Pinebender - Working Night to Wolf 

Rough five-hour drive from Clarksville to Dayton. I mean, the drive last weekend to Chicago was longer but 100% enjoyable. Last night, we left at 4:00 PM  and didn't arrive until 12:00 AM. Lots of down-to-one-lane construction on I-75 and terrible roads to boot (not as bad as AZ or NW, but still). Here's the playlist that got me through my oft white knuckling:

Idles - Joy As An Act of Rebellion

Revolting Cocks - Linger Ficken' Good

Ministry - Psalm 69

Miss Piss - Eponymous

Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

Diabolic Majesty

 

Holy cow - a new Revocation album dropped! Haven't heard the entire thing yet, but a couple songs in, I very much digging Netherheaven, which you can order from Metal Blade Records HERE.

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NCBD:

A big haul this week for NCBD. Let's dive right into it:

Gonna have my hands full with this one for a day or two, but that's some great reading. 

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Watch:

How the hell do you talk about this movie without actually talking about it? The trailer is one of the best I've ever seen, as it shows you so much that wets the Horror Whistle, but tells you absolutely NOTHING about the film, and after seeing this one yesterday, I want to tow the exact same line.

Barbarian's trailer indeed tells you little about the movie. In fact, it actually tells you less than I thought going in. There is so much here, so much that makes it not only my "film-to-beat" for 2022 but also, one of my favorite Horror Flicks in recent years. And make no mistake, this is no "psychological thriller." Nope. This is pure, unadulterated Horror. There are some gnarly ideas and images in here that make for an often revolting watch - in the best possible way, of course. 

 My suggestion - go see it on the big screen if you can. I may be going back for a second time tonight. My only regret will be that I can't go in blind a second time.

 

The fact that this is Writer/Director Zach Cregger's first feature blows me away. Mr. Cregger is now on my "See anything they make" list right next to other indie filmmakers like Ti West and Joe Begos.

 

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Playlist:

NIN - Pretty Hate Machine

NIN - Broken EP

NIN - Burn (Single)

NIN - Dead Souls (Single)

NIN - The Downward Spiral

Ministry - Land of Rape and Honey

Idles - NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

The Afghan Whigs - How Do You Burn?

A001 - Nyctophobia EP

Forhist - Eponymous

Revocation - Netherheaven

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Card:

Sometimes you have to be an asshole to get things accomplished. 

Pixies - Dregs of Wine

 

This one had me with the opening spoken word segment, dipped a bit, then picked way back up at about 2:20. It's been really interesting watching the Pixies pick back up and add to their legacy. I'd still REALLY like another Frank Black, Black Francis, or Catholics album (that'd be my #1 want), but Pixies have continued to evolve. Most bands like this just swim in circles and relive their glory days. Not these guys (and gal). 

The new album Doggerel is out on September 30th; pre-order HERE.

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NCBD:

Kind of a big week for NCBD. Here's my planned haul:

Not sure I'll be keeping up with this new Alien series; I dropped off the previous one after the first story arc, figured I'd grab the #1 and reassess. 

This new Ghost Rider title is really hot and cold with me. None of the issues have been bad, but a few were spectacular. Wolvie guest-starring so soon isn't really a good sign in my book, but both titles share Ben Percy as a writer, so maybe that's all it is. Either way, c'mon Ghost Rider - "Thrill Me."

I LOVED that last week, Gerry Duggan had the opportunity to write an X-Men issue that didn't solely deal with Judgement Day, which, as I suspected, is beginning to wear on me. I'm hoping the same for this lastest issue of Immortal X-Men. I'd really like the Sebastian Shaw issue to deal with Shaw's place in the bigger picture of Krakoan politics.

Still having lots of fun with this Moon Knight series. 

And talk about lots of fun. This one is just fantastic (pun intended).

This wins "Cover of the month" award, for sure. 

Tried and true, that's IDW's TMNT. 

Of the two books I began simultaneously earlier in the year that bear more than a little resemblance to one another - A Town Called Terror and West of Sundown - West of has ended. Or at least, the first arc has. I enjoyed that book, but I'm not 100% I'll be back if it returns. The same can be said of this one; it's not bad, I'm just not convinced. We'll see; this issue is most likely ending the first arc, so I'll do a re-read and make a decision then.

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Read:

With a surprising number of "Gloryhole Horror" flicks hitting streaming lately (2, but still, that's quite a bit considering the subject matter, eh?), The Horror Vision held a very Special episode: our Glorious Gloryhole Death Match. One of the unexpected joys of doing that episode (there really were no others), was discovering the H.P. Lovecraft/Hazel Heald novella Out of the Aeons, which has never been in any Lovecraft collection I have previously owned. I took a brief respite from Sandy Macnair's Carspotting to read about the origins of Ghat (see Glorious, the winner by far of the aforementioned death match) in the Cthulhu Mythos. 

Out of the Aeons is available on Kindle for $0.99. First published in 1935 in Weird Tales, I'm really having trouble believing I'd never heard of this one before. 

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Playlist:

Revolting Cocks - Linger Fickin' Good

The Cure - Carnage Visors

The Cure - Faith

The Verve - Eponymous EP

Type O Negative - October Rust

Type O Negative - World Coming Down

High On Fire - Blessed Black Wings

Godflesh - Post Self

Godflesh - Pure

Type O Negative - Origin of the Feces

The Afghan Whigs - In Spades

The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen

The Afghan Whigs - 1965

The Twilight Singers - Blackberry Belle

Calexico - Garden Ruin

Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry

The Afghan Whigs - Do the Beast

Idles - Joy As An Act of Resistance

Ginger Wildheart - The Year of the Fanclub

Miss Piss - Self-Surgery

Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spin

Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Everything this morning is about approaching things with balance, adaptability, understanding and a keen eye. So something needs a closer look it would seem...

Afghan Whigs - I'll Make You See God

I was holding off on listening to the singles The Afghan Whigs have released from the upcoming How Do You Burn, however, I'm seeing them this coming Saturday night, so I broke down and started getting to know them. Being that the album drops this Friday, September 9th, I'll have all day to listen to it. So far,  really great stuff. Not sure it will top In Spades, but that would be quite the feat. 

New Dead Cross!!!

 

More new Dead Cross! I'm digging what I'm hearing from this second album more than I did the first, can't wait to hear the entire thing, which is out October 14th on Ipecac Recordings. Pre-order a copy HERE. 

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Watch:

This dropped yesterday:

 

As far as Teaser Trailers go, I think this is perfect. Of course, there's the part of me that wants to see more, but really, I'd rather wait and get it all at once in my first viewing. Hey, it's gotta be better than most of the Dimension sequels, right? Let's hope this 20th Century Fox/HULU pairing the Mouse has going will turn out another unexpectedly fantastic sequel, like Prey.

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Quote:

"Having made the world lousy, imagine ye are of significance to Heaven?"

                                                         - Austin Osman Spare, Anathema of Zos: The Sermon of the Hypocrite

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Playlist:

Soundgarden - Super Unknown

Various - Every Day (Is Halloween) Playlist: Small Cat, Big Yard

Suburban Living - Always Eyes EP

Suburban Living - Cooper's Dream EP

True Widow - As High As the Highest...

Nirvana - With the Lights Out

Nirvana - Lithium single

Suburban Lawns - Eponymous

Ministry - Moral Hygiene

Ministry - Everyday (Is Halloween) The Lost Mixes

Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen

Small Black - Cheap Dreams

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Card:

I returned to the Raven Deck this morning, and The Hermit sprung out at me:

Second time this week, so I pulled a clarifying card from my Thoth:

So I have some work to do, and isolation will definitely be a part of it. 

Something In the Dirt

 

From the forthcoming album The End, So Far available on September 30th. You can pre-order the album HERE. I like the video a lot more than I like the song, but I've always been hot/cold with these guys. Still, they've evolved over the years, and that definitely means something. 

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Watch:

The teaser trailer for Benson and Moorhead's new film Something In the Dirt dropped yesterday. Here'sn our first look:

 

I really can't wait for this one. These guys are Aces in my book.

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Playlist:

Various - Every Day (Is Halloween) Playlist: Small Cat, Big Yard

Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle

Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind

Tangerine Dream - Ricochet (Live)

Corrosion of Conformity - No Cross No Crown

Forhist - Eponymous

Somnium Nox - Apocrypha

Fen - Epoch

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Card:

Lots of big ideas, but I have to narrow my focus for a bit to accomplish what I want. 

As usual, the cards are pretty spot on. I'm writing again - been going to local coffee shops after work. I have quite a few short stories on deck, and part of the "following the inner voice" here is figuring out which ones I want to allocate for the free Kindle book I'm aiming to publish shortly before Halloween, and which ones I want to submit. 

New Pixies! Vault of Heaven

 

New Pixies! From the forthcoming new album Doggerel, out September 30th. You can pre-order HERE.

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NCBD:

Well, we won't have our automobiles until the end of the month. This has become the final challenge with the move, as otherwise, I feel as though we're pretty settled in. Last weekend I rented a car, and I'll probably do so again Friday, so I guess this is what I'll be grabbing at Rick's Comic City on the 12th:

Issue 6 was the Legacy #900. It was cool, but a total departure from the "Street-Level" Spider-Man that has me loving this new book. I also have never given a toss about Norman Osbourne, as he was well and truly dead in the 80s when I read Spider-Man, and thus, not really a factor in any of those stories. But I'm digging this enough to keep coming back for me... for now.

I'm hesitant about following all of these. I've dug the X-Books that tie in and Judgment Day #1, but Eve of Judgment was not for me. I just can't get into The Eternals. So, if this one focuses on them, I'll be skipping it. 

I'll be picking up the #1, but remain hesitant on adding this. Great timing, though, what with Prey winning over the hearts and minds of Predator fans everywhere. 

I just realized A Town Called Terror is ongoing! I had been laboring under the idea this was limited series, and that it was developing too slowly for there to be any satisfying story arc here. This changes everything!

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Playlist:

U.S. Girls - Half Free

Forhist - Eponymous

Blanck Mass - In Ferneaux

The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night

Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta I – Fathers of the Icy Age 

Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II - Saturnian Poetry

Explode Into Colors - Quilts E.P.

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Card:

Back to my Thoth Deck, which I realize I've been neglecting a bit. Continuing with the 3-Card Spread, which I'm thinking will be the norm from here out, I'm seeing a lot of somewhat chaotic but 'soft' forces at play for the day. Nothing huge will happen today, but emotional waters run deep and the same inspirations that help build my personal world, could also potentially damage it, especially in light of what may be a fascinating revelation. 

Hmm. This feels like complications are brewing in the house, and I can only look in one direction for that. K's Mom started out really good and positive, but this not having our car thing is making her squirrely. I mean, it's making all of us squirrely, but one thing I can definitely say is, as Perry once observed, "Elderly are like children." It causes her to act out. Which can be frustrating, to say the very least. I'm taking this spread as a suggestion to shore up my personal Dominion and follow my better nature, despite whatever happens. 

A Line of Shots... Much Needed

 

Moving is hard. I mean, like, REALLY hard. But it's one of those things in life you just have to do, so I put my head down, charge through night after night packing (endless, endless) and drink. But maybe beer isn't enough...

New Afghan Whigs! How Do You Burn is out September 9th (My Mom's birthday!). Pre-order your copy HERE.

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Watch:

Over the last few years, I've actually become quite a fan of the John Wick flicks. Sure, Part III wasn't quite up to snuff with the first two, but you can tell every shot of this series is executed in a way that lovingly expresses a weird, violent beauty. Now, part IV:

 

On my birthday, no less. Will it live up to the others? Well, with Keanu, Ian McShane, and Lance Reddick returning, it will at the very least scratch the itch the other entries in the series instigated.

 

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Read:

When I did my NCBD post this week, I forgot about the new Daniel Warren Johnson book I didn't even realize was out.

I have no idea what this book is about, and I don't give a toss about wrestling, but it's DWJ and in picking up the first issue on Butcher's recommendation, of course, it's f*&king GORGEOUS. I don't know what it is exactly about Johnson's art that connects with me so much, but I feel like he definitely grew up with similar influences, and those influences come through in everything he does, whether it's Beta Ray Bill or this.

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Playlist:

Ozzy Osbourne - Degradation Rules (pre-release single)

Black Sabbath Featuring Toni Iommi - Seventh Star

Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror

Journey - Greatest Hits

Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh

Brenton Wood - Brenton Wood's 18 Best

Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy

Soundgarden - Superunknown

On Vinyl:

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Orville Peck - Bronco

Eldovar - A Story of Darkness & Light

Jerry Cantrell - Brighten

Anthrax - Among the Living

Ghost - Impera

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Card:

Acceleration. No shit. Tearing the house apart, going through every single thing we own. Convincing a family member to get rid of things that sat in a storage space for 40 years. And I'm driving out of LaLaLand NEXT SUNDAY!!! So yeah, things are moving really fast.

XL/RZ

 

Anthrax's fan-chosen live album XL dropped yesterday, and while you can tell Joey is struggling a bit on some of the songs, overall this is a blast. Love these guys, can't wait to see them at the Paladium at the end of the month, my outro show from LaLaLand. What a great way to exit, eh?

 

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Watch:

I have to tell you, all the way until I hit play on the new trailer for Rob Zombie's The Munsters remake, I assumed I would hate what I saw. You know what though? This looks visually fantastic and fun as hell:

 

I also appreciate the fact that it's a love story? I mean, part of why I assumed I would not give a lick about this film is I had a really hard time imagining what RZ would do with this property - he hits the same note with his stuff so often that I just couldn't imagine a departure. That's not a complaint - despite regular complaints and disappointments, I generally like most of what he's done cinematically.

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Playlist:

Metallica - Master of Puppets

Perturbator, Johannes Persson and Final Light - Final Light

Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance

Baroness - Gold and Grey

John Cale - Black Acetate

Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

Anthrax - XL

Telekinetic Yeti - Primordial

Bexley - Eponymous

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Struggle? Oh yeah. Getting some people to start packing is like trying to get a liar to tell the truth. Still, the card reminds me not to give up, and that even when I feel totally immobilized, there will be a new card tomorrow (unless this one resurfaces. That would make me cry).

The Bagman Cometh

Heaven is an Incubator posted the new album by Spain's Calderum. I'd never heard of these guys (this guy?) before, or the idea that anyone was meshing Black Metal with Dungeon Synth. I mean, talk about a sound you didn't know you wanted but you've been anticipating for years!

You can pre-order the Vinyl like I did, or the cassette from Death Prayer Records in the UK, just head over to Calderum's Bandcamp HERE.

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Write:

I just posted a story called The Bagman Cometh over on the Horror Amino app. I had a lot of fun doing this one, and a longer version will ultimately be included in my forthcoming FREE short story collection Its Soil Be Murder. To read the current version, go HERE. 

The piece is a mashup of random pictures from my phone, all used to prompt the story. I really dig this one; it plays with the whole Creepy Pasta/Urban Legend thing, while also bringing back a character from a short story I wrote waaaaay back in the early 00s but still need to publish. Maybe I'll put that in the Free Collection as well.

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Back:

Hasbro Pulse began a new Haslab campaign yesterday, and unfortunately, I caught wind of it early enough that I have about a week to struggle with whether or not to cough up $299 to back this:

Christ. One of my all-time favorite figures, the HISS Driver, working treads and the kicker? That fucking working beacon. 

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Playlist:

Calderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands

Krallice - Demonic Wealth

Black Sabbath - Eponymous

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Undreamable Abysses

Ruby Friedman Orchestra - Fugue in La Minor (single)

Pink Milk - Ultraviolet

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Various - The Void OST

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Card:

Reminding me to make completely 'Scientific' decisions tomorrow at the home inspection; I must not succumb to emotion for or against the move. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, we go back to LaLaLand and start a new plan.

No More Lives To Go, Elvis.

 

One of my most anticipated albums dropping this year is Greg Puciato's sophomore Mirrorcell. I pre-ordered this as soon as it was announced a few months back, despite the fact that I wasn't sure where I would be living at the time of its release on the first of July (I used my parents' address, but there was speculation that they might move to TN as well). Regardless, our trip is more than halfway done now, we made an offer on a house that the seller accepted, so once the inspections and everything go through, I'll be able to lift that pre-order ban. Regardless, the album hasn't shipped yet, but Bloody Disgusting broke the news that Mirrorcell dropped early on Puciato's Bandcamp.

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Watch:

On Saturday, K and I took my parents to the local AMC to see Baz Luhrmann's Elvis. I am NOT a Baz Luhrmann fan. Perhaps I shouldn't say that, because I've never actually been able to sit through one of his movies. I find his childish little "Look how anachronistic I am" proclivities to be infuriating, and the fact that he may be made the first good visual adaptation of my all-time favorite novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, only to eschew the Jazz music that is central to the book's themes for Hip Hop makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs directly into his face. I never bothered seeing that Gatsby (friends who did warned me to save myself, that the beauty of its visuals would only drive me crazy played under the soundtrack), but I'll say, this Elvis movie looked great. Plus, my Pops really wanted to see it. So we went.

 

On the way in, I almost made the statement, "If I hear one lick of Hip Hop or other modern music, I will get up and leave." Good thing I didn't, because of course, there are at least two instances in the first half of the movie with Hip Hop in the soundtrack. 

It's so embarrassing. I mean, it's not that it's Hip Hop; if Luhrmann was adding Portishead, or Mastodon, or whatever other 'future music' to the film, I would have been equally pissed. He reminds me so much of Tim Burton - Lurhmann's idea of who he is as an icon or "brand" gets in the way of the decisions as to what's best for the movies he makes. The film also spruces up some of Elvis' music with a sometimes irritating modern twist, and some of the editing is a bit ridiculous in the amount of effect and flair. It works sometimes - more at the end of the film - and other times, not so much. Just looks like they were cutting it together in weird ways for the sake of making it a "Baz Luhrmann joint."

Still, the movie - despite all this - is fabulous. Austin Butler is FANtastic as The King, and Tom Hanks - Jesus. Really well done, and the script is great. 

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Playlist:

Powerman 5000 - The Notable Rot

The Ronettes - Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes

Jackie Wilson - Higher and Higher

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Card:

Solid foundation - perhaps a literal nod to the fact that we made an offer, they accepted the offer, and now we have to go through the inspection process. One of those inspections? You guessed it: Foundation. A lot of work still to come.