Blood Mother - The Night Fires

 

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.

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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.

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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

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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

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.

 

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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!).

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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

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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.

Bring it on!!!

New Music from Gnarls Barkley

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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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

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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. 

The End of Godflesh

 

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.  

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Justin K Broadrick (@justinkbroadrick)

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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. 

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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

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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!!!

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.

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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!

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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. 

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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

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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.

So we're at this crossroads again, eh? 

New Music From Myrkur

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. 

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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).

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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. 

You can back the project HERE.

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Playlist:

Barry Adamson - Scala! OST

Ennio Morricone - Il Grande Silenzio (1968) OST

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada

Myrkur - Touch My Love and Die (single)

Melvins & Napalm Death - Tossing Coins Into the Fountain of Fuck (pre-release single)

Plague Bringer - As the Ghosts Collect, the Corpses Rest

Plague Bringer - Life Songs in a Land of Death

Deliverance - Neon Chaos ina junk-sick dawn

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

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Card:

Just one card from the Thoth for today:

The culmination of a project brings a great payoff. 

New Music From Nothing

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.

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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!

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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).

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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

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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? 

Rob Zombie - Heathen Days

I've never been very interested in Rob Zombie's musical solo career. Truth is breaking up White Zombie when he did was obviously a smart thing for him, but that first album set a tone each one since that I've tried to listen to matched - two or three good songs, nothing I can't live without - and that's about it. 

That brings us to the lead single off the upcoming album, The Great Satan, out February 27th on Nuclear Blast Records. You can pre-order HERE.

Maybe this record will be the one. I really want to connect with RZ's music, especially coming off another viewing of 31 a few weeks ago that left me remembering what I like about his style, as opposed to what I don't. Anyway, I'll probably wait until the album's release before considering throwing down the money for a physical copy. Just to be safe. 

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NCBD:

A very light NCBD. Also, notably, the final issue of Catacombs of Terror that I'm likely to buy; the series has maintained the level of quality set by its predecessor, Epitaphs From the Abyss. However, I'm looking to cut some costs after the end of the year, and comic subs were a great place to start. Mainly because I've run into storage space issues once again.

It's an odd feeling, thinking not just about storage, but the likelihood of what I will re-read in my lifetime. I can definitely stand to trim my collection - my CLZ Comics account that I use to track it shows I have 532 unique series and 3,177 comics nested within, and I know for a fact I haven't logged everything. Still, there are 2 full long boxes and no less than 32 short boxes in my office, taking up space. About half of that is out of the way in a closet, but the other half... forces me to get creative. I've been able to maintain a fairly stable status quo by enacting several purges over the years, and while it's true some of the stuff I purged I regret, overall that regret won't keep me from doing what I have to do to stay sane. Because, you see, I'm also a bit of a neat freak and anti-clutter totalitarian, so my collector's impulse runs 100% against that. Cognitive Dissonance galore. 

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Watch:

I stumbled across the trailer to Chinese Director Bi Gan's upcoming film, Resurrection, the other day and had to post it here. I know I usually trash-talk trailers, but when you have zero frame of reference, sometimes they can be awe-inspiring and help you find new things. Such is the case here:

I am unfamiliar with Director Bi Gan's previous film, Long Day's Journey Into Night, but apparently I need to remedy that ASAP, because his new film looks visually amazing!

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Playlist:

Oliver Nelson - The Blues and the Abstract Truth

Charles Mingus - Three of Four Shades of Blue

Rob Zombie - Heathen Days (single)

Barry Adamson - Cut to Black

Perturbator - Age of Aquarius

Denison/Kimball Trio - Neutrons

The Saxophones - No Time for Poetry

Miles Davis - Ascenseur pur l'échafaud OST

The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat

Ulver - Liminal Animals

Ulver - Weeping Stone (pre-release single)

Jordan Patterson - The Hermit

Ashes and Diamonds - Are Forever

Spotlights - Rarities

Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons

Slow Crush - Thirst

Ashes and Diamonds - Are Forever

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Card:

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

• Six of Cups

• Ace of Cups

• Eight of Pentacles

The act of creating vacuity to communicate with the unconscious can lead to an emotional breakthrough, but requires a level of concentration I am currently lacking. 

A lot of indications lately that it would be to my benefit to resume practicing mediation. I'm not sure why I am so damn reticent to do so, but I am.