Another fabulous new track from The Veils. I still haven't seen an announcement pertaining to a new album, but my eyes are open.
Watch:
Eli Roth is really hit-or-miss with me. When I first heard about his new film, Ice Cream Man, the person who told me about it described it as an adaptation of W. Maxwell Prince's Horror Anthology comic of the same name, published by Image Comics. Turns out that's not the case; this is a new, original film from Roth. And where, a few years ago, I would have approached a new Roth movie with more trepidation. After Thanksgiving, though, I'm willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. I can't say I've cared for anything else he's done movie-wise, but I love to listen to Roth talk, and his short-lived Las Vegas Goreatorium was one of my favorite things when I experienced it circa 2012.
This trailer does a good job of not oversharing or selling, but one thing really got me here - the blood snow angel. So yeah, I'll take two scoops of f*cked up sh*t on a waffle cone, please. I just hope it tastes as good as that turkey from a few years ago.
Playlist:
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST
sunn O))) - Loser
Flying Lotus - You're Dead
Boy Harsher - Careful
Émilie Leviensaise-Farrouch - Censor OST
Metallica - Kill 'Em All
Iggy Pop - Lust for Life
The Veils - Little White Bird (Fragile World) Single
Card:
One card from my trusty Thoth deck for tonight, 'cuz I'm tired.
I knew this was coming today, but I had no idea how great it would be! These guys really just don't slow down. I love the track, which is the lead single from their forthcoming first record in over a decade, Cursum Perficio, due out September 18th. No pre-order yet, but it's coming.
I love the track, especially the production. First listen was on headphones and I recommend it - you can really hear all the instruments and voices in their own space, but expertly mixed. And Frank Bello's bass - man! Sounds so good.
Watch:
I knew nothing about Curry Barker or his feature film debut, Obsession, going in. All I'd seen was this trailer and an announcement that A24 had tapped him to helm their upcoming Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Obsession is a deeply unnerving film. There's definite DNA here from the first Smile film - of which I am definitely a fan - but Barker has a knack for thwarting expectations and really doing something different with some of the tropes you'll think you recognize, but won't. Also, I am a huge fan of sustained tension, and once this film kicks into the tense stuff, it never relents. There aren't many exhales, and there are times when, by manipulating those aforementioned tropes in different and unexpected ways - like say someone standing in a dark corner watching someone else - Barker creates these delirious ripples in the anxiety, to a greatly disorienting effect.
I walked out of the theatre feeling like I needed to smoke a cigarette (I don't smoke) or take a shower in order to put something between myself and what I'd just endured. That's something special.
Read:
After the first episode of The Terror: Devil in Silver last week - which we are reviewing weekly on The Horror Vision, first episode HERE - I picked up the source material and blew through it in just a few days.
Victor Lavelle's The Devil in Silver is an absolute masterpiece; as much an exploration and reflection on humanity, mental health and the failing system we have in this country for Mental Health. It touched me in ways I'm not sure anything has ever. Also, there's a helluva monster involved, but it is kind of secondary to the mental health themes, which Lavelle really shows insight into. He builds extremely strong characters, and I was hooked; I couldn't put it down. I found myself reading while lying around on the couch with the TV on at night, or until I was falling asleep face-first in my iPad. This one derailed me from my Dark Tower for a few extra days after finishing, as it's still echoing in my head. Great feeling.
Playlist:
Napalm Death - Resentment is Always Seismic (A Final Throw of Throes)
Blood Mother - Night Fires (single)
Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain
Emilie Leviensaise-Farrouch - Censor OST
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
Iron Maiden - Killers
Mascara - Going Postal
Mascara - Hla-11Tf single
Mascara - Cameo Blue Estate EP
Mascara - Eponymous EP
Flower Language - Thrown Into Air
Electric Wizard - Super Coven
Helmet - Aftertaste
Boy Harsher - Careful
Double Life - Indifferent Stars EP
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Page of Wands
• Four of Swords
• Four of Wands
Will and Intellect. A strong power base or foundation for creating something lasting. A spark from which something sustaining can be created.
Seems like a writing pull, but I'm having trouble matching it up with... oh. Actually. No. I'm not. Can't talk about it yet, but this is a good reminder about a project I'm working on.
I'm on the fence on this one. While I love Loathe's 2020, I Let It in, and It Took Everything, the album cuts its Nü Metal elements with enough atmospherics and melody that I don't really notice them. This on the other hand, while being insanely heavy, feels a little more outside my Nü tolerance.
We'll see. As usual, it's never a good idea to make a decision about a single without the context of the full album informing that decision.
That said, I just realized that this is actually the second track released from the upcoming album, A Stranger to You, out July 17th. You can pre-order the album HERE, and the previously released track, "Gifted Every Strength," is actually a lot more promising in my opinion. So the verdict is still out.
Watch:
You know, there are more and more shark movies every year, and although they terrify me, I guess I'm the guy who just has trouble taking any shark movie seriously other than Jaws. That's not entirely true, but it's not entirely untrue either. Giant squid, though?
Holy f*cking nightmare fuel!!!
I really hope this hits a theatre near me. I think seeing this great big honkin' Kraken (CG, yes, but that's fine in this case, as I'd hate to think of the animal wranglers or, for that matter, actors having to deal with an actual giant squid.
Playlist:
Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow
Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me
Type O Negative - Dead Again
Low Cut Connie - Tough Cookies: Best of the Quarantine Broadcasts
Low Cut Connie - Livin in the USA (pre-release singles)
Primus - Tales from the Punchbowl
Various - The New (playlist from Jacob)
Nun Gun - Mondo Decay
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯ A♯ ∞
Bryce Miller - City Depths
Living Nudes - My World Exploded
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Wasteland
Drug Church - Prude
Amigo the Devil - Born Against
Them Are Us Too - Part Time Punks Session
MadLove - White With Foam
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
Card:
One card from my Thoth deck:
A reminder that the only good reason to do most things has a root cause analysis of Love.
I realized recently that I never posted anything from Gylt's latest album, In 1000 Agonies I Exist. You can grab this over on the band's Bandcamp page. Both this and 2024's I Will Commit A Holy Crime: Tandem are fantastic records that infiltrated my regular rotation last year after my trip back home to L.A., when friends first played these guys for me. I would very much like to see Gylt live at some point.
Watch:
I caught the late show for Damian McCarthy's Hokum last Thursday night. I've been all but salivating for this one. Here's the 'final' trailer, released last week.
So how was it? Did I get what I wanted? Oh my god, yes!
Hokum is an excellent ghost story, and it's about haunted people as much as it is about a haunted place. The locations, as with all McCarthy's films, are gorgeous beyond compare. There are some legitimately frightening sequences here. One in particular, involving a circle around a four-poster bed, was the first example of a filmmaker creating a sustained sequence of fear in years.
That's my favorite, and it is rare. It's just really difficult to scare an adult with a ghost or monster movie when just living in this world means we operate with a low-grade level of sustained fear 24/7. But McCarthy pulls it off beautifully.
There are also some really great jump scares here. One in particular really got me.
Playlist:
John Cale - Fear
John Cale - Slow Dazzle
The Dream Syndicate - The Days of Wine and Roses
Portishead - Third
The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir
The Soft Moon - Criminal
The Misfits - Walk Among Us
Electric Youth and Pilot Priest - Come True OST
Corrosion of Conformity - Good God/Baad Man
Frank Black and the Catholics - One More Road for the Hit
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Beach House - Bloom
Ghost - Ceremony and Devotion
NIN - The Slip
Gylt - I Will Commit a Holy Crime: Tandem
Slow Crush - Thirst
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• XV: The Devil
• Eight of Cups
• King of Wands
Adhering to your own dogma will drain your vitality, so have the presence of mind to recognize your own bullshit and subvert it.
Direct reference to a new project I've dubbed Film50.
More new music from Low Cut Connie ahead of their new album, Livin in the USA, out July 3rd. You can pre-order a copy directly from the band HERE.
Watch:
Tuesday night, I rewatched Marcus Nispel's 2003 Platinum Dunes remake of Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel's seminal Horror film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. For context, I actually owned this movie when it first came out on video. I didn't buy it - an ex bought me a two-pack DVD set of the original film and this. I no longer remember if that was how I first saw Nispel's film, a blind gift given to me. I will say, back then, before my feelings about Michael Bay had solidified, I still regarded this film as a mixed bag. It's also important to note that 2003 was also before we'd become completely inundated with remakes. So take all that into consideration, and I find that, despite ranting and raving about how bad this film is for years, my feelings remain pretty much the same today.
A mixed bag.
First, you have to ask, right? Why would anyone remake a classic like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a film that, by its very mangled, outsider nature, you'd have no hope of repeating its cultural impact? Well, because, like the proverbial mountain, it's there. Hollywood has something of a 'pave the world' ethos; they can and will remake everything.
My reaction to this film over the intervening 20+ years has been one of general disdain, primarily for two reasons: Final Girl Jessica Biel's performance, which, true to form, starts and stops at looking great in a pair of low-rise jeans, and the melodramatic fashion flavor to much of the violence is off-putting at best and downright laughable at worst. Biel stabbing Mike Vogel's Andy through the chest is among the most melodramatic Horror deaths I've witnessed this side of Hammer.
And yet, I saw this pop up on Shudder recently and something moved me to give it another go. This is something I do quite often with films I don't like. Because I can and often am wrong. So I reevaluate.
This time, I felt a little better about Nispel's film. Honestly, I've realized that part of my issue with Jessica Biel isn't about this film at all, but more a combination of disdain for her performance in this film and in another, Pascal Laugier's bafflingly bad The Tall Man from 2012, a film that, to this day, I still cannot believe came from the same man as Martyrs 2008 and 2018's Incident in a Ghostland. I'm not going to eat crow and say I think Biel's performance in TCM is good, but it's certainly not nearly as bad as some others I've witnessed in Horror from the 00s (Prom Night remake, I'm looking at you).
Biel is adequate, and so is pretty much everyone else. I've been a fan of Eric Balfour since his role on Six Feet Under as Clair's troubled boyfriend Gabe, and I've always thought he should have lived a lot longer than most of the cast. Also, after roles on Justified and Hannibal, Jonathan Tucker has become a recent favorite character actor of mine, and he shows a bit more range outside of 'deluded psychopath' here.
The elements to really love about this film are the lighting and the camerawork. There are something like five or six wide shots of the Hewitt house during various parts of the day/night, and each one is a thing of majestic beauty.
Now, that's not really enough to hang a movie on, but there are some other things about this one that work for me. I like the structure of the family and the town, which appear to be one and the same. Like the original, we meet various people in various places that seem like they might help, only to find out they're in on it, too. Here, though, those tendrils of malevolence feel like they stretch farther. Maybe it's the inclusion of R. Lee Ermey as the Sheriff, a position that makes the Hewitts' reach feel more omnipotent, or maybe it's the trailer with the two women, a scene that might pack the most creep factor in the whole movie. Either way, the conspiracy - and it has always been a conspiracy in this franchise, hence why Henkel goes so far as to add the Men in Black to part four - feels way deeper and, ultimately, perfect for a Horror film: inescapable.
*That probably didn't happen until around the time the first of his Transformers movies came out; I had not seen any of his 90s films, so M.B. was basically unknown to me when I saw this TCM
Read:
l Jane Schoebrun has a novel up for pre-order! Public Access Afterworld will be released by Penguin-Random House on October 27! You can pre-order this now wherever you get your books.
The "visionary director" moniker gets bandied about pretty loosely these days, so I'm usually hesitant to add to that quagmire. Schoenbrun is one where the term is appropriate. No one else has been able to translate the weird flavors of the post-millennial liminal space occupied by Hauntology in the early-to-mid 2000s the way Schoenbrun has, and it speaks to my soul. Those were weird, dark years - hilarious by comparison to now - and something We Are All Going to the World's Fair and I Saw The TV Glow have both helped me process and even reconnect with.
Wow. It occurs to me more of my life has been lived in 'dark times' now than light. But I digress. Here's the solicitation, which thankfully tells us gloriously little, but just enough to stoke the flames of my anticipation:
"A mysterious realm on the other side of our screens. A dark force that draws victims into its static. The unlikely hero called to save them and herself from this electric hell."
Can't wait.
Playlist:
John Carpenter w/ Alan Howarth - Prince of Darkness OST
Steeve Moore - Bliss OST
White Reaper - Only Slightly Expanded
Grotus - Mass
Flogging Molly - Live at the Greek
Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 1
Carter Burwell - Blood Simple OST
Atticus Derrickson - The Black Phone 2 OST
Meat Puppets - Dusty Notes
Tossers - In the Valley of the Shadow of Death
Tar - Roundhouse
Grotus - Slow Motion Apocalypse
PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love
Poe - Hello
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Two of Pentacles
• King of Wands
• Queen of Swords
The Two of Disks, followed by the King of Wands, might suggest imbalance. The Queen of Swords reminds me that intellect, not emotion, will serve as the appropriate antidote.
I'm thinking this is a direct nod to an imbalance in my life regarding creative pursuits. I.E., too many podcasts, not enough writing.
A few years ago, the IG account bocpages began posting about hints that Boards of Canada were preparing to release their first record since 2013's Tomorrow's Harvest. I didn't get my hopes up, but I've been trying to keep my eyes peeled for more news. Slowly this faded from my radar, and my hopes went silent until last week when brothers Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin dropped the eerie "Tape 05." No word on a date or pre-order yet, but my eyes are not straying far until they appear.
I am a huge fan of Tomorrow's Harvest. I know a number of old-school BOC fans who didn't like the 2013 album, but for me, well, it's my favorite in their catalog. That's not an embellishment or an easy choice because all their music is fantastic, but Harvest feels the most like an '80s horror score, and for that, it wears the crown.
Watch:
RZA's debut film One Spoon of Chocolate played at Beyond Chicago a few weeks back, but it conflicted with other plans, so now I'm anxiously waiting for this to roll out in theatres. I'm assuming that the "Quentin Tarantino Presents" banner pretty much ensures that it will.
I expect this flick to be every bit as bombastic as one would expect from RZA.
Walk:
Two Wednesdays ago, Mr. Brown and I got to hang out with a very old friend. This was the first time the three of us had been together in the same room since the late 90s. When you're fifty and you hang out with your old friends, funny things happen. Mortality comes up, but also, the past. You just can't get away from it. None of us have ever been the kind of guys to sit around reliving our "glory days" because, honestly, the glory days are still happening in my book. Still, there were good times and some pretty crazy adventures, and it comes up. A reminder of who we were to better appreciate who we are, I guess. Or something like that. One of the things that came up from the past is a place I haven't seen or really even thought much about in the last thirty years, except, I dreamt about it recently, so it was fresh on my mind.
As teenagers and then young adults, we spent a lot of time up to no good, hanging out in the Cook County Forest Preserves. When we were just out of High School, we found something incredible in the woods surrounding the Cal Sag canal. I'm not going to say exactly where this was, and it doesn't really matter anymore, as you'll read in a moment. But out there in the middle of the woods, away from even a noticeable path, we discovered a place colloquially known as Stonehenge. This place consisted of a circular clearing with a flagstone floor and a slightly raised dais in a half-circle upon which sat flagstone thrones.
Thrones. Exactly zero BS here. Some enterprising stoners before us had built this place as a communal space, a liminal gathering spot of the locals cool enough to be let in on the secret.
Unfortunately, Stonehenge is gone. Long gone. Destroyed, I stood in the center of that dias and saw nothing but piles of rubble. My guess is the Forest Preserve patrol destroyed it to dissuade folks from hanging out in the middle of the woods at night.
Regardless, the fact that the three of us sought it out, actually did the trek and problem-solved our way into this now nearly unreachable place, well, it made for something special. So I guess it didn't really matter what shape Stonehenge was in, after all. It was more about the shape we were in as decades-long friends who could have just as easily sat in a bar or around a tv. Instead, we chased a dream.
Playlist:
Steeve Moore - VFW OST
Blackbraid - Celestial Womb EP
Flying Lotus - 1983
Massive Attack & Tom Waits - Boots on the Ground (single)
Fozy Shazaan - Dark Blue Night
A SOMBER FUNERAL - Since You Left These Shores
Nine Inch Noize
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
White Noise - White Noise 90s Minutes
Anthrax - Spreading the Disease
Megadeth - So far, So Good... So What?
Pestilence - Consuming Impulse
Flying Lotus - Yasuke
Gylt - I Will Commit A Holy Crime Random: Tandem
Gylt - In 1,000 Agonies, I Exist
Drug Church - Prude
Melvins & Napalm Death - Savage Imperial Death March
Anthrax - Persistence of Time
Deftones - Diamond Eyes
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Seven of Pentacles
• Five of Cups
• XIII: Death
Completing a long-running goal leads to emotional disruption, which in turn leads to a complete overhaul in what is deemed important. Disrupt success and learn from it, rethink goals and grow into something new.
Another on-the-nose writing prompt. I have to stop looking at what I'm working on as being the thing I think that it is and allow it to become the thing it is meant to be.
From the forthcoming album Signal Fire, out June 12th on Relapse Records. Pre-order HERE.
NCBD:
Here's my NCBD pull for Wednesday, 4/15/26:
Thus far, I love this adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's The Thing on the Doorstep.
I'm not really sure why we're side-stepping the next issue of Ordained to do a zero-issue one-off for the hitman called in to take out Father Roy, but I dug the first two issues of the regular Ordained series, so by all means, toss in a few one-shots. This feels like it might have been inspired by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Preacher series, the way many of the characters had one-shots or mini-series; it just seems like, after only two issues, this is a bit premature. Either way, I paid to see a Priest kick Mob arse, and I've no complaints so far, so let's deep dive the man that I'm assuming is a total badass.
Another Bad Idea book. There was a preview of this one in Ordained #2, and honestly, seeing David Lapham and Bill Sienkiewicz's names attached, this could be a Rainbow Bright series, and I'd probably pick it up.
A silent Zartan issue? That worked really well back in G.I.Joe ARAH #85, so I can't wait to see what Hama and team do with it here.
Pivoting back to Scarlett and Storm Shadow? This reminds me how much I'm digging this book and don't really need the reliance on "Ninjas" that the original ARAH book did. Still, I feel like, although this book started off lukewarm, it's kind of hit a stride, so I'm cautiously optimistic here.
After reading last month's Batwoman #1 by Greg Rucka and Dani, I picked up the DC Compact edition of the run this new book continues, named Elegy. I didn't love it the way I love some of Rucka's stuff, so I'm hanging onto my sub for this new chapter for a month or two more, hoping it really grabs me
Playlist:
Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow
Mountain Realm - Shadowlorn
Blackbraid - Nocturnal Womb EP
Melvins & Napalm Death - Savage Imperial Death March
Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
sunn O))) - Domkirke
Metallica - Kill 'Em All
Type O Negative - Dead Again
Type O Negative - World Coming Down
Plague Bringer - As the Ghosts Collect the Corpses Rest
Mercy Girl - Closer EP
Card:
First spread since returning home from my trip, I thought since I've been using my mini-Thoth while away, I'd come home and plug back into the legacy deck.
• 4 of Disks: Power
• Prince of Swords
• 10 of Wands: Oppression
Establishing a power base is great, but once done, something has to navigate how you use that power. Will without intellect can go awry, as it is as raw a force as nature offers, only on a human scale. Things go wrong when Will is ruled by Earthly desires. Read: There has to be something bigger.
Blood Mother is the new project from Rick Giordano, composer/former member of a group called The Lion's Den, which ended last year. I was unfamiliar with both until two days ago, when I stumbled upon this track and it led me down a little bit of a rabbit hole that crescendoed in reading this.
Interesting snapshot of the state of things for an independent band in 2025/26.
Part of that rabbit hole was discovering The Lion's Den's music, and I'm pretty blown away. I'm sure I'll post some here eventually, but in the meantime, you can check out their catalog on Bandcamp HERE.
Watch:
I wasn't sure how I would feel about this new Faces of Death flick hitting theatres this week, but being that I'm in Chicago and can see it with friends, I figured we should cover it for The Horror Vision.
Other than its omnipresent shadow in the 80s/90s as a kind of specter-ish rite of passage I never succumbed to, I have no real relationship with the original films beyond feeling they're just kind of gross and indicative of everything that's wrong with humanity. That said, the writer in me is fascinated by this kind of thing, and when I found out it was the team that did Cam, my tentative curiosity began to pulse with a bit more anticipation.
Ultimately, this film is fine. I can't say a hell of a lot more than that. I don't want to see things that I can't unsee, but I feel like by the very nature of what this is, it should have left me at least a little haunted. Nope. Definitely an engaging slasher/thriller, but in the end, I don't know, while I'll issue the blanket, "Support Horror in the theatre," I just didn't really care that much. There's a bit more breakdown and discussion on the latest episode of The Horror Vision, which you can hear on YouTube or wherever you stream your stories. There's also a widget to the right that will play it here.
Playlist:
The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers
Motörhead - 1916
Nitro - O.F.R.
Skid Row - Slave to the Grind
Testament - Para Bellum
Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow
Blood Mother - The Night Fires (single)
The Lion's Den - Bath House
Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy
Black Sabbath - Sabotage
Deftones - private music
Zeal & Ardor - Eponymous
Portishead - Third
Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me
Card:
Still away from home, so I'm using my mini-Thoth.
• Ace of Swords
• Two of Wands: Dominion
• V: The Hierophant
Collaboration from a breakthrough of the Will dissolves the mundane and creates something new. This is SPOT ON. I can't say much more yet, but it involves A) a promise I made to myself about my 50th year, and B) the day in the woods I described above.
New music from Monolord. I've always been a bit on the fence with these guys. Nothing on them, I think they came into my awareness at the same time a bunch of other similar bands did, back around twelve years ago. This track is pretty cool, though. New album, Neverending, is out May 29th on Relapse. Pre-order HERE.
Watch:
I cannot believe that James Gunn has made me care so much about characters I loathe in all previous iterations, and just aesthetically in general. But that's where we are.
I get the kind of chills watching this, I used to get from Marvel's trailers waaaaay back before they sank the ship with Civil War. And while Gunn is the "showrunner" here, no small debt to Director Craig Gillespie, whose I, Tonya and 2011 Fright Night remake both rule (yeah, I like the remake. Deal with it!).
Playlist:
Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST
sunn O))) - Loser
High On Fire - Cometh the Storm
Zeal & Ardor - Eponymous
The Mountain Goats - Bleed Out
Barry Adamson - Scala! OST
White Hex - Gold Nights
Saigon Blue Rain - Oko
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Live God
Double Life - Indifferent Stars
Mascara - Going Postal
Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain
The Replacements - Tim
Spoon - The Want My Soul
Card:
Quick pull before I headed out on my trip:
• 5 of Swords: Defeat
• VI: The Lovers
• XV: The Devil
I drove up to Chicago today. This trip started out as a "holy shit, we made it to 50!" celebration for Mr. Brown and me, and that's still essentially what it is, but it's also become a "Holy shit, Beyondfest is now in Chicago, too!" trip. I'm staying with my sister and her husband through Monday morning, at which time I will drive down to the South side and set up camp at Mr. Brown's until we see Plague Bringer on Saturday. First show in 10 years, and first show for either of us. Can't wait.
In the interim, I'm just soaking in not going to work for seven days (!) and Chicago! This pull tells me two things: I'm lessened without K with me (she didn't want to take this many days off work), and I'm open to squashing pre-conceived notions and receiving new, possibly 'heretical' ideas.
Calling it now - there's almost no way anyone will release an album I love more than the new and totally unexpected Gnarls Barkley record that landed out of nowhere (from my perspective, at least) on March 6th. I caught wind of this last week, and have been unable to stop listening to it multiple times a day. Talk about coming from out of nowhere for a win!
You can order a copy from the group's webstore HERE.
NCBD:
New Comic Book Day pulls for Wednesday, March 18, 2026:
I enjoyed the adaptation of Lovecraft's seminal short story in issue one of this mini-series, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of the story progresses toward its inevitable ending. Or rather, how exactly we reach that ending.
I LOVE that this cover was created sensitive to the HUGE change that occurred in Transformers 30, a book that literally floored me. Is this the beginning of an Autobot/Joe team-up? If Duke can get over himself, we might just get that.
We've winnowed away most of the killers and have a few spunky civilian survivors. Deals and agendas abound with the power elite behind the massacre and things are heating up for a final confrontation most will not walk away from. Need context? Check this book out! One of my favorites of 2025, we're poised to hit ground zero in two issues, so heads should really start to roll now...
And last but not least, Greg Rucka is writing a new Batwoman series and I am here for it. I don't really know anything about this character other than I've always dug this design. I did read some of the JH Williams III series from back in... I don't know, 2012, maybe? That was 100% about the art - I couldn't tell you anything about the story. With this new series, I'm here for Rucka. After recently reading his Lois Lane miniseries in TPB form and loving it, I'll follow this man to hell and back.
Watch:
Since we did our annual St. Paddy's celebration/State of Grace viewing this past Saturday, this evening we rewatched John Wright's Grabbers.
"Residents of an island off the coast of Ireland learn that the only way to survive an invasion of blood-sucking aliens is to stay drunk."
I originally saw this back circa 2019 for an episode of The Horror Vision. I really dug it that time, and did so again. The FX are mostly CG, but that's forgivable when you consider the size of this production and how much goddamn heart it has. Here's a trailer.
I can't stress enough what a good time I had with this one again. Wright's later film, Unwelcome, made my best-of list for 2023, and that's a very different kind of film, thus showing that Jon Wright is a filmmaker to keep an eye on. He doesn't currently have anything listed as "upcoming" on IMDb, but tonight was a good reminder to check in more often.
Playlist:
Gnarls Barkley - Atlanta
James Pants - Welcome
Pixies - The Night the Zombies Came
Atticus Derrickson - Black Phone 2 OST
High on Fire - Luminiferous
High on Fire - Electric Messiah
Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST
Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST
Godflesh - Purge
Card:
Setting aside Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot (which you can buy HERE.) for another Thoth pull:
• XV: The Devil
• Two of Wands: Dominion
• Queen of Wands
Two Queen of Wands in a row? What's she trying to tell me? I read this simply as don't believe what they tell you, avoid the patriarchy and focus on love. Feels like this is a spread for america, not me. Either way, two Wands and ol' Scratch tell me to trust myself, not what others say. Definite work-related spread.
A lot of Godflesh this past weekend after seeing the following post on Justin K. Broadrick's IG. I find it sadly indicative of the age we live in that a man with a serious health condition needs to hesitate to inform his fans of a situation such as this with the expectation of retaliatory comments. I, for one, will be crushed to see Godflesh go; however, Broadrick has many other projects and I would rather he err on the side of his continued health than risk disaster continuing. Also, if you listen to the opening vocals of this lead-in track from 2017's Post Self, you can hear the strain this man still puts on his body while recording vocals. It's awesome to behold, but also no real surprise that as he ages, this kind of exertion would become a health concern.
This past Thursday night, I did another double feature at the local cinema. First up was Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride. This was a treat; I can't tell you how many times I sat through the trailers for this film in the theatre, but the film turns out to be a lot more than either version of the preview intimates. Maggie is destined for the marketing tag, "... visionary Director..." and it fits. I knew within the first five minutes that A) there was A LOT about this film I had not anticipated and B) as a filmmaker, MG's style is singular and strong.
Afterward, I drove K home, recorded a spoiler-free review with Missi for The Horror Vision, and then drove back to the theatre for a 10:55 PM showing of Rod Blackhurst's Dolly. Turns out, 11:00 PM was the perfect time to view this one in a mostly empty theatre. Creepy A.F. doesn't even begin to describe this film!
Ostensibly a new take on the classic Slasher formula, the thing I really loved about this one was how much the sequences inside the killer's home felt like a Puppet Combo game, specifically, Don't Go in the House and Nun Massacre. Two of my favorites.
Blackhurst has to be a Puppet Combo fan - there are first-person shots from hiding beneath a bed and a sequence where the final girl - Fabianne Therese - searches through dresser drawers and the like. It was just spot on! Fantastic performances all around, and also, one of the gnarliest jaw-related practical FX I've seen.
Playlist:
Deftones - B-Sides and Rarities
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - B-Sides & Rarities Volume 1
Godflesh - Purge
sunn O))) - Eponymous (pre-release singles)
Deliverance - Neon Chaos in a Junk-Sick Dawn
Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Dub
Godflesh - Post Self
Godflesh - Songs of Love and Hate
Psychedelic P*rn Crumpets - Pogo Rodeo
Melvins - Houdini
Christopher Young & Lustmord - The Empty Man OST
Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon: I
Deftones - private music
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Six of Cups
• Five of Pentacles
• Three of Wands
Tap into your inner fears and transmute them into something strong.
Interesting. The idea here is taking something from the real world that frightens me - let's face it, only the real world frightens me - and use my Will to turn it into something strong. Something known.
Also, not sure I've drawn the Three of Wands on this deck before. Gorgeous fucking card (like every other card in this deck!)
New Blackbraid EP is out today! You can order a copy right here on their Bandcamp for Bandcamp Friday!
Blackbraid III has become one of my all-time favorite records, and hearing this EP, I can tell that my fervor is only going to continue to mount with each subsequent release.
Watch:
After falling in love with James Gunn's Peacemaker series recently, I've actually started a "Shawn Was Wrong" segment on Drinking with Comics. DC finally has its head out of its arse. Need more proof?
I cannot believe they've made Green Lantern something I am interested in! Now that's f**king magick, baby!
Watch:
Beyondfest Chicago announced the lineup and hopefully, about ten hours after this posts, I'll have tickets for a handful of screenings.
None of the films I have my eye on are ones I know nothing about. Always the best way to see any movie.
That said, the film Normal has one familiar variable: Bob Odenkirk. Here's a trailer:
I've been a fan of Odenkirk's since Mr. Brown made me a lifelong disciple of Mr. Show back in the 90s. It's been a joy to see his film career evolve the way it has.
Playlist:
Tool - Undertow
Foxy Shazam - Dark Blue Night
sunn O))) - Eponymous (pre-release singles)
Matte Black - I'm Waving, Not Drowning
Blackbraid - III
Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons
Blackbraid - Nocturnal Womb (pre-release single)
Jucifer - Lambs EP
Pixies - The Night the Zombies Came
Melvins - Houdini Live '05
Barry Adamson - Scala! OST
Fever Ray - The Lake/Wrong Flower EP
Card:
Back on the Thoth (But you can still order Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot HERE.)
• Ace of Wands
• Ace of Disks
• I: The Magus
Notice how the numbers read 911? Weird, right?
The two Aces are breakthroughs, so watch for gains and new creative ground (my Will tends to center on creation). The Magus is the flex that makes it happen. Magick.
When I posted a new track from Myrkur back on January 28th, we did not yet know if more music would follow. Here then is the answer.
Sort of.
Another fantastic new song, still no word of an album.
Amalie Bruun's voice continues to amaze me; this is still probably the closest thing I know of to how the old school Miranda Sex Garden made me feel, once upon a time.
NCBD:
I'm so eager to know more about Edgewater and this strange place
David and Maria Lapham's Good As Dead comes to an end, and although I'm bummed it's done, I can't wait to see how things end. I'm guessing horribly for some - or most - of the cast. This has been such a great ride; I miss having a regular Lapham book in my life. Might be time to re-read Stray Bullets!
The cover says it all!
Two issues left after this one, although I'm not sure if that's series end or 'season' end. Either way, things are really heating up (pun intended).
Read:
My good friend Chris Saunders alerted me to a new Weird Tales Kickstarter campaign that launched earlier in the week. I backed this puppy the second I saw it.
New music from Nothing! Lead single from their upcoming album A Short History of Decay, out February 27 on Run For Cover Records. Pre-order HERE.
NCBD:
A nice, tight list of great books today. Let's get
I guess I'll be leading every Transformers entry in these pages with, "Look at that cover!" because hot damn if Dan Moya isn't turning out some of the most elegantly pleasing covers in all of comics at the moment. I was a little concerned about switching out the analog space-dust style of Jorge Corona and DWJ for this more polished look for the book. However, it's been incredible so far.
Jason Aaron is out, and Gene Luen Yang takes over writing as of this issue, backed by Freddie E. Williams II and Andrew Dalhouse on art. I will miss Juan Ferreyra's art; Ferreyra's look was new to me and gave the book a bold new look that I think we were all ready for with 2023's continuity-adhering relaunch. Now, it looks like the new team has once again reinvented the book from the ground up, and I find myself once again happy that I didn't jump off when the issue counter got reset.
Minor Arcana continues to thrill me with its seaside vibes and mysterious characters.
Always a great thing to see Cobra Commander rising from the ashes of his missteps. Also, to have Copperhead feature so prominently on a cover makes my heart sing - one of me favorites, he is!
Watch:
I finally had the chance to sit down and watch David Cronenberg's latest film, 2024's The Shrouds.
After a few initial misgivings, I ended up really liking this. It reminded me a lot of Cronenberg's novel, Consumed, which I am a fairly big fan of. There are a few nuances to Vincent Cassel's acting choices (which might have more to do with an otherwise solid script), but overall, The Shrouds starts in a relatively small place and expands into a very Cronenberg-esque conspiracy. I've been thinking about his predilection and approach to conspiracy lately; most of his films deal with secret cabals and their agendas. Starting with Consumed - unless I'm missing something - those conspiracies become global, moving away from small groups of rag-tag conspirators to incorporate global countries. North Korea is a major force in Consumed, and both Russia and China may or may not figure heavily into The Shrouds. Fifty years of making films that have grown in budget, scope and acclaim have helped David Cronenberg become a Director with global urgency, and that is on full display here.
I watched this on the Criterion Channel app, but it's likely available elsewhere as well (although Criterion is becoming a must-have channel in our house, so I'd just recommend signing up for the trial and checking them out).
Playlist:
Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST
Blackbraid - Blackbraid III
Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World: The Songs of Rodney Crowell
Deadguy - Near Death Travel Services
Fever Ray - Eponymous
Brian Eno - Ambient 4: On Land
Stone Angel - Eponymous
Carter Burwell - Blood Simple OST
Tim Hecker - Infinity Pool OST
Nothing - a short history of decay (pre-release singles)
Mondo Decay - Nun Gun
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Page of Swords
• XIV: Temperance
• Eight of Cups
Agility again. Agility tempered with emotional control. Or, perhaps, Agility achieved through emotional distance?
