New Music From Blackbraid!!!

 

Blackbraid III will be released independently on August 8th, and you can pre-order directly from the artist HERE. 

I'll tell you, I have no problem spending whatever an artist wants to sell their physical media for in 2025 because they need to recoup the cost of services like spotify raping them (while pouring their profits in to the AI arms race). This Blackbraid merchandise looks fantastic - I had to restrain the impulse to buy one of the bundles with the shirt and hoodie - and this is easily the best-looking vinyl release I've seen all year. 

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NCBD:

A pretty robust haul this week. Let's go!

This time, it's all about the "B" cover! LOVE this! Those shadowy Decepticon images amidst fire and ruin, with  Only two issues left with DWJ. I haven't seen who is taking over, but it looks like it's just in time for Quintesson War, which starts in Void Rivals 25 and, I'd imagine, will at the very least echo through this book.

My first issue of Savage Sword as a now monthly subscriber and I'm psyched! I owe a huge debt to my good friend Grimm for turning me onto this book. 

I have been looking forward to Planet Death number one since stumbling on issue 0 last month. If you want to know more, check out the Drinking with Comics Mike Shinabarger and I did on this one HERE.

Dark Regrets is turning out to be insanely fun and pretty damn funny to boot! As much as I love Black Metal and (most) of its aesthetic, you have to admit, there's a lot there to make fun of.

Look at that cover by Miguel Mercado! And inside, Andrea Sorrentino's art adds an extra punch to the first mini-series spin-off from the anthology Epitaphs From the Abyss. Not sure if there are any more coming after this wraps up with issue number 4, but hopefully. That's the awesome thing about running an anthology - you can always mine the stories therein for longer ones down the road.

The penultimate issue of Dark Pattern's Case 03: Pareidolia. Can't wait to see where this is going. I've sampled a handful of Batman books over the last year - the first book* to feature the dark detective that I've read in years - and this? This has been one of my favorites (but nothing beats Gargoyle of Gotham!)

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* Not entirely true; there was that Maxx/Batman book a few years ago. I didn't buy that for Batman, though.

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Watch:

A few days ago, I mentioned my Criterion Sale items, Repo Man and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure. Since I spoke a bit about Repo Man the other day, I wanted to talk now about Cure. 

I've heard about this one for years, but somehow never got around to it until now. Wow. Talk about atmospheric! There is a beautiful pall that hangs over this film, and while it grinds the characters to dust, it creates a singular cinematic experience for the viewer. The tension is so quiet! That's gotta be hard to do, because no one does it. At least, not like Kurosawa does here. 

For years, one of the things I always saw referenced about this film was how it was the start of the Japanese Horror movement of the late 90s/early 00s. That was an immediate turn-off, because with few exceptions, I'm not really a fan of that era of Japanese Horror. I see now that both the inclusion of Cure in with films like Ringu and Juwon is a false relation, and my own preconceived notions about Japanese Horror from that era are wrong. I wouldn't call either a sweeping generalization, but it's close. It's also a great reminder to draw my own conclusions. Sometimes, certain cinematics feel akin to a quagmire, and I after a small sampling, I run for the hills. Best not to do that, and Cure is the, well, cure?

I loved this film and am happy to have it on my shelf. Further study is on the horizon.

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Playlist:

Stephen Sanchez - Angel Face

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine

Metallica - Master of Puppets

Arcade Fire - Everything Now

Shellac - 1000 Hurts

The Reverend Horton Heat - Liquor in the Front

Sonic Youth - Dirty

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation

bunsenburner - Reverie

Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz

Ike Reilly - Salesmen and Racists

Muggs - Dust

Blackbraid - The Dying Breath of the Stag (pre-release single)

Black Sabbath - Master of Reality*

Ozzy Osbourne - Patient No. 9

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* Read a fantastic article about a girl who owns 54 different vinyl pressings of Master of Reality HERE.

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Card:

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

• Queen of Cups

• Eight of Pentacles

• Four of Wands

Queen of Cups again - as I write this on Tuesday afternoon, Sweetie has returned from surgery. A section of her intestines is enlarged, and - tests pending - it's likely lymphoma. We have been instructed to begin administering Prednisone today, which the Vet says should help hold it at bay and make her feel better. Once the lab results come back and we know for sure what we're dealing with, we can proceed. It's not the best result, but for now, I will take it and lavish her with Queen of Cups-sized emotion.

Eight of Pentacles - dedication. 

Four of Swords - two interpretations that I can see lining up from those in the Grimoire. The first is completion and balance. The second is, "recognize completion and channel it into the next phase." These would seem to be offering two separate wisps of advice, because, of course, I'm interpreting this all about Sweetie. It's not an easy thing to let a loved one suffer, and that is definitely not our intention. So the idea is we treat it best we can. If it's lymphoma, we'll do chemo, which for cats isn't the same as it is for people. We're talking about a pill. I don't know, I have to do a lot more research. First things first, though. We need those results.

Papa V Perpetua Sings Bark At the Moon!!!

NOTE: There was originally a stream version of this posted to YouTube, but a copyright claim by Mercury Records ultimately resulted in its removal. When I saw this video by PigeonPaul82 pop up, I made the switch. Give this man's channel a gander - lots of great stuff. 

Papa V Perpetua singing "Bark at the Moon" at the Farewell Ozzy show. Not my favorite Ozzy record, but I'll take it. Also, I thought this was a Farewell Black Sabbath show, what with all four original members finally being reunited on stage, but I guess it's changed to focus on saying goodbye to Ozzy? Makes me think there's some medical diagnosis I missed. 

I know there's a ton of hype for this, and it streamed as a pay-per-view event, but I paid next to no attention to any of it. I am a die-hard Black Sabbath fan, but in my eyes, the band ceased to exist about a year after Technical Ecstasy came out. I did manage to see them at the first Ozzfests in both '97 and '99 - the first time with Mike Bordin from Faith No More on drums, the second with Bill Ward, and I'm definitely happy I did, however, that was good enough. Not throwing shade - you look at the crowd in this video and there are a lot of younger generations present. I'm super happy they got to experience Ozzy and Sabbath the way I have over the years. Well, maybe not exactly the way I did, but you know what I mean. 

Interestingly enough, I think my third concert ever was the original No More Tours tour, on August 23rd, 1992. Damn do I wish I still had the tour shirt I bought at that concert!

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Watch:

The Criterion sale is underway, and I picked up two movies: Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure and Alex Cox's Repo Man. I'd like to take a minute to talk a bit about the latter. 

Somehow, I did not see Repo Man for the first time until around 2015. Over the last ten years, I've probably watched it five times, each time growing increasingly excited by the film. Upon watching it the other night, I made a connection that struck me as so obvious, I'm not sure how I didn't see it before: William Burroughs' influence is all over this film! I think I intuitively understood this in that section of my lizard brain that sorts and catalogues all the movies, comics, fiction and other errata I consume, but that understanding only just made it to surface-level brain. 

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Read:

K and I finally had a chance to stop by the newly opened Clarksville Bookshop and we were not disappointed. A super nice family owns the store, and after chatting for a bit, we were both able to pick up a book. For myself, I left with a beautiful hardcover copy of the new Stephen Graham Jones novel, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. 

I didn't even realize this was out yet, and although I missed I Was A Teenage Slasher, I'm psyched to jump into a completely new novel by Jones that I know absolutely nothing about. I'm not even going to follow my usual protocol and paste in a solicitation blurb for fear I may read something I don't want to. 

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Playlist:

Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World Songs of Rodney Crowell

Arctic Monkeys - AM

The Grimm Teachaz - There's a Situation on the Homefront

Young Widows - Power Sucker

Various - Return of the Living Dead OST

Dreamkid - Daggers

G.B.H. - A Fridge Too Far

Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services

Dr. John - Things Happen That Way

Ty Segall - Possession

T. Rex - The Slider

bunsenburner - Reverie

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic  Apocalypse

Various - Rocktober Blood OST

Billy Idol - Rebel Yell

Melvins - Thunderball

Blood Incantation - Absolute Everywhere

Somnium Nox - Apocrypha EP

Nachtmystium - As Made (Single)

Stephen Sanchez - Angel Face

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Card:

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

• Ace of Swords

• Queen of Cups

• XIX: The Sun

A breakthrough of Will, heavy Emotion and Revelation. I don't have any idea how this relates to the only thing on my mind this morning - that our Cat Sweetie has to have exploratory surgery and possible mass removal tomorrow, but perhaps I can pin down my emotions (there's that one!) long enough to dig deeper.

One of the notes in my Grimoire for XIX is "Taking the pill will open your eyes." This is peripherally appropriate, as we've been giving her Meclizine (Dramamine 2) for the last five days to try to help her wavering balance and eyesight. This all came out of absolutely NOWHERE, and it reminds me how intense and uncertain the Universe is. 

The Queen of Cups is LOVE and BEAUTY, two attributes I definitely associate with Sweetie and our love for her. This cat has been with us since 2016 when we adopted her as a San Pedro Stray, same as Tom before her. We've found the greatest joy in moving to TN with her and seeing her take to having a backyard she can lounge around in all day, hunt, whatever. This cannot be the end of Sweetie. It just cannot.

Deafheaven - Live at Hellfest 2025

Deafheaven absolutely KILLS at Hellfest a few weeks ago. Super thanks to Mr. Brown for throwing this my way, 'cuz I completely missed it.

What an awesome performance despite some troubles mixing George's voice during the set opener. 

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Watch:

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's film Pulse has been on my peripheral radar for years. Seeing that the Criterion Sale returned recently, I finally snagged a copy of the Blu-ray sight unseen. Coincidentally, the trailer for his latest film, Cloud, dropped a day later.

Not watching this trailer. I want to go in B.L.I.N.D. 

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Read:

I finished David Sodergren's Death Spell a few days ago. Fantastic novel! This was my first Sodergren novel, but it definitely won't be my last. Definitely slots in nicely with the Asian Horror vibe I've been exploring over the last few years, Indonesian Horror especially, so if you're a fan of films like Impetigore, May the Devil Take You, or Satan's Slaves, you'll dig this.

Next up - Like • Comment • Survive, This is the new novel by Timothy James, who happens to be the host of The Dread Broadcast I guested on recently guested on. 

Fantastic title. Here's the solicitation blurb from Amazon:

"The Specter Seekers! YouTube channel has built its reputation on skepticism—debunking hauntings with night-vision cameras and nervous laughter. But when they become the first team ever granted overnight access to the Indiana State Sanatorium, their biggest investigation turns into something they never expected. What starts as another routine ghost hunt quickly unravels into a nightmare they can’t explain. The tunnels shift. The past bleeds into the present. Their footage captures things that shouldn’t be there—and some of them may not be leaving at all. Told through recovered video transcripts, chat logs, and firsthand accounts, this found-footage horror novel pieces together the final investigation of the Specter Seekers! team. But as their last broadcast spreads across the internet, one question remains: Did any survive?"

Like Comment Survive is available for free if you're in Kindle Unlimited; otherwise, it's a steal at $7.99 or $24.99 for the hardcover. 

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Playlist:

Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World Songs of Rodney Crowell

Amigo the Devil - Born Against

The Veils - Total Depravity

Deafheaven - live at Hellfest 2025 – ARTE Concert

Low Cut Connie - Art Dealer

Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services

Ian Lynch - All You Need Is Death OST

Ren - Sick Boi

Everlast - What It's Like (single)

Wake the Devil - Snake Eyes (single)

dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip - Angles

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Card:

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

• Four of Wands

• V: The Hierophant

• Two of Cups

Haromy comes from conformity? Man, this is not the message I want to see this morning. All week I've been seeing posts about the Spotify CEO investing some unbelievable amount of money into Military AI Targeting tech, and while I don't have a paid subscription to the platform, all of my podcast episodes utilize Spotify for Podcasters (formerly Anchor) to distribute the episodes. That and the return of Greg Rucka and Michael Lark's Lazarus has me contemplating the world we live in and what it will look like in just a few more years. 

It's pretty fucking terrifying.

And yeah, there's harmony in conformity, but it's only skin deep. Inside, that's where the rot occurs. Makes me think of the quote below, which, although not entirely appropriate, definitely feels prescient. 

"When a man lies 

He murders some part of the world 

These are the pale deaths 

Which men miscall their lives 

All this I cannot bear to witness any longer 

Cannot the kingdom of salvation 

Take me home"

New Music from Wake the Devil!!!

 

Another new song from Wake the Devil, featuring former members of The Thirsty Crows! Hell yeah!

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NCBD:

Small Pull this week. After the last few and my trip to Amazing Fantasy in Chicago last weekend, my wallet thanks me!

Crap! Didn't realize Plague House was only going four issues! This saddens me a bit, however, Oni Press's strength this year has been precision. Michael W. Conrad and Dave Chisholm's super violent spin on the haunted house/ghost hunter trope is another in what is becoming a sizable line of quality mini-series for the company in 2025, and I'm hoping that leads to another round of the same in 2026.

With my shop in the process of integrating a new, post-Diamond POS and Pull system, G.I. JOE ARAH is going down as a pull. I've been reading it since Skybound and Image brought Hama and crew back last year, but never put it down on my actual list simply because, after not reading it since issue 116 or something, I had missed A LOT. Also, not sure I'll ever feel compelled to fill in that gap. But when Skybound said, "Issue 300 is a great jumping-on point for new or returning readers," they were not kidding. There have been a lot of changes in the book I've watched from afar for years (Lady Snake Eyes?), but as I should have expected, Hama handles it all with deft plotting and fantastic character development, and I am really enjoying this run. 

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Watch:

I had a BLAST taking part in the June Dread Broadcast Horror Discussion Panel!

Tim and John are really curating something special, with an emphasis on community. So many great recommendations! Talk about overwhelming. If you're on IG, follow all these folks!

A couple things I added to my list thanks to the other panelists that I'm most excited about are:

Bark, a 2023 film from Director Marc Schölermann and writer Steve Fauquier:

Brian McAuley's 2022 Slasher-adjacent novel Curse of the Reaper:

And Criterion's release of the Criterion release of Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1932 atmospheric film Vampyr (currently $19.99 during Barnes and Noble's Criterion sale):

And really, this is only scratching the surface! I love the focus on media and community that The Dread Broadcast are applying to the show and cannot recommend this one enough!

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Playlist:

Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World Songs of Rodney Crowell

Pixies - The Night the Zombies Came

Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services

The Jesus Lizard - Liar

Young Widows - Power Sucker

Melvins - Thunderball

Christopher Young - Sinister OST

Perturbator - Age of Aquarius (pre-release singles)

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction

Ty Segall - Possession

Wake the Devil - Snake Eyes (single)

Wake the Devil - Eternally Under Your Spell (single)

Dávila 666 - Eponymous EP

Melvins - Tarantula Heart

Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust

Botch - We Are the Romans

Greg Puciato - Fc5n EP

Ruin of Romantics - Velvet Dawn

Dreamkid - Daggers

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Card:

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

• XVII: The Star

• Knight of Swords

• King of Swords

Conflict leads to enlightenment. And isn't that the way conflict should work? I mean, as humans, there's always going to be conflict. Paths converge, and not always in a complementary fashion. But what should occur in the wake of that is conversation, growth, enlightenment, empathy and understanding.

That's not usually what happens in 2025 though, on either a macro or micro scale (because as we know from the Gnostics, the one reflects the other). A reminder then, to greet adversity with a smile and an open mind. Yeah, that sounds a bit unrealistic or woo woo, but it's true. 

Willie Nelson Sings Rodney Crowell

In my previous post I mentioned that Mr. Brown set me up with a small cache of burned CDs for our drive from Chicago back to Tennessee. One of those was the newest Willie Nelson album, Oh What A Beautiful World, wherein Nelson plays the songs of Rodney Crowell. 

I've loved seeing my friend fall in love with both these gentlemen's music, and in on-brand fashion for myself, I've engaged with everything he's shared with me by both, but not really jumped 'feet first.'

That may have just changed. 

I have a previous connection with Willie Nelson; in 2015, in a misguided attempt to, ah, save our marriage, my ex and I saw Nelson at L.A.'s Greek Theatre. I'd obviously been as vaguely familiar with Nelson's music as any other music-minded person in our time would be, with maybe a little bit of extra exposure here and there. 

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Watch:

Yesterday, K and I accompanied my Dad to see the new Joseph Kosinski film, F1, starring Brad Pitt, Damson Idris and Kerry Condon. 

I know nothing about racing, and I've never seen another film by Mr. Kosinski. This, however, was fantastic; a truly epic experience at the movies on a Sunday with the family. Man can not live by Horror alone, and it's nice every once in a while to take in a well-made, big studio film and feel the exhilaration they can offer when done right. F1 hits all the standard "Save the Cat" beats but does so with bravado and confidence that make this a thrilling theatrical viewing. Not sure it would carry as much weight at home, so if you've any interest, see it in the theatre. 

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Read:

Although I will freely admit that it is never a good idea to read more than one book at a time, I stumbled upon David Sodergren's new Splatterpunk novel, Death Spell, a few days ago and have been voraciously devouring it since. 

Fantastic novel. Fantastic prose, vivid - and gnarly - imagery, and some insane shocks. Mr. Sodergren likes to punch the tropes in the nuts, and I'm all for that. Here's the solicitation from Barnes and Noble's website:

"25 years ago, young businessman Ron Jarvis made a sinister deal that changed his life forever. The cost was high... but who can put a price on power? Now, Ron is the CEO of a global media empire, and one of the richest men in the world. And yet, to help his daughter, Ron will once more seek out the architect of that hideous pact, bringing death, despair, and total destruction to all around him in a jaw-dropping frenzy of outrageous, bloody carnage."

The Author himself describes this book on his Instagram page as, "H.G. Lewis directing a Shaw Brothers black magic film." This hits all the right notes, and I'd add that there's such a harmonic resonance here with a lot of the Indonesian Horror films I've become enamored with over the last few years that this is really scratching an itch I didn't know needed scratching. Black Magick feels extra threatening when wrapped in the heat, insects and vastness of the jungle. 

Available anywhere you buy your books, you can check out all Mr. Sodergren's books here on his Indiebound page.

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Playlist:

Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World Songs of Rodney Crowell

Willie Nelson & Leon Russell - One for the Road

The Jesus Lizard - Goat

Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services

Deadguy - Work Ethic EP

Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

Wake the Devil - Eternally Under Your Spell (single)

Roy Head - Same People (That You Meet Going Up, You Meet Coming Down)

Rodney Crowell - Airline Highway (pre-release singles)

Rodney Crowell - Triage

The Cops - Free Electricity

Kneecap - H.O.O.D

Ty Segall - Possession

YUNGBLUD - Idols

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Card:

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

• Ten of Pentacles

• Knight of Swords

• Four of Wands

The determination for success requires harmony. Obvious, right? I drew a determining card and received the Nine of Pentacles: Abundance. Is this a nod toward success? Maybe, but that's a pretty dangerous tact to take. In other words, my takeaway here doesn't come from the cards, but what I read in between the cards: Stay hungry.

Wake the Devil - Eternally Under Your Spell!!!

When The Thirsty Crows broke up a couple years ago, man, it hurt. Bass player Chris Saunders is a good friend - so good that, admittedly, the last few years I lived in California, I totally took the Crows for granted. Despite Chris always keeping me up to date on shows, I only saw them a handful of times and really didn't support them at all. But like Tom Keifer sang, you don't know what you got 'til it's gone. I moved, the Crows broke up, and I realized that Hangman's Noose is one of my favorite albums of the last ten years, and really, the only Rockabilly/Psychobilly record I care about outside the first five Reverend Horton Heat albums. 

Anyway, when Chris told me he and some of the other Crows had a new band, I was instantly intrigued, and everything I've heard has made this my most anticipated release of the year. And the first single only fuels that fervor. "Eternally Under Your Spell" is half Psychobilly and half straight up fucking Metal and I love it. 

Can't wait to get the first proper release from these guys, whether it's an EP or an album. I'll buy whatever they're selling. 

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Watch:

New Yorgos Lanthimos in October??? This man has become one of the most confident and prolific filmmakers of the current era, and as I type this, I realize I still haven't seen his most recent film, Kinds of Kindness, which - perhaps it's just me - felt like a total stealth release. 

I watched this trailer without sound, and it intrigued me to no end. Totally in, so I'll be there come October 24th when Bugonia hits theatres. A remake of the 2003 Korean film Save the Green Planet, which appears to be streaming only on Kanopy. 

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Playlist:

Rodney Crowell - Triage

Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World Songs of Rodney Crowell

Ren - Sick Boi

Meat Puppets - Dusty Notes

Big Black - Lungs

Slayer - Diabolus In Musica

Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss

Wake the Devil - Eternally Under Your Spell (Single)

Baroness - Live at Maida Vale, Vol. 1

Baroness - Live at Maida Vale, Vol. 2

Spoon - Lucifer on the Sofa

Frank Black and the Catholics - One More Road for the Hit

Jozef Van Wissem/SQÜRL - Only Lovers Left Alive OST

Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services

YUNGBLUD - Idols

Temple of the Dog - Say Hello 2 Heaven (single)

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Card:

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

• Eight of Pentacles

• Six of Swords

• XVII: The Star

The dedication of the Eight of Pentacles leads to the great objectivity of the Six of Swords. Actual "Science," or proven results. That, my friend, is the path to enlightenment often hinted at by XVII: The Star.

And yes, that's all a bit woo-woo, but it's more fuel on the fire for reengaging with my Art. I've yet to jump back into writing full-on; I received some amazing news on BG&BH's yesterday, and that should be enough to incite reengagement with my Craft. Gotta move that needle, though. 

Nite Owls

 

From JD McPherson's excellent 2024 album Nite Owls. I gave this one a spin a few times last year, but on the way back from Chicago over the weekend, Mr. Brown threw me a burned copy and I stepped into its sonic beauty early yesterday and just couldn't get out. Fabulous, and one of those that should have made my "Best of" list last year (there are always regrets).

You can snag a copy of Nite Owls from New West Records HERE and it's available on every streaming platform. Especially with the heat we're experiencing in the MidWest/South right now, the guitar on this track is like a cool drink of minty water. Love it!

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NCBD:

This week's Pull has a couple of new number ones I'm absolutely ecstatic about. Let's get into it:

The penultimate issue of Tyler Boss & Adriano Turtulici's You'll Do Bad Things. I LOVE this book. The Giallo description is spot on - there have been a few moments that remind of lesser-known Gialli - and Turtulici's art is perfect for that particular genre-tone. 

Man, after last month's issue 19 of Void Rivals, I am ready for more total expanded Transformers Universe action! This book continues to impress the hell out of me. And now we have Solilia and Darak in opposition again??? This year's Energon Special sets us up for The Quintesson War, starting in issue 25 - that's five issues to go! In the interim, a lot of pieces are moving around Kirkman's cosmic board, and it's nothing short of thrilling watching elements of Cobra-La, the Transformers, the Great Ring, and the Quints make moves on one another. 

I picked up the first issue of Zander Cannon's Sleep last week based on my constant impulse to find the next book that will blow me away. At first glance, I didn't think it was going to be for me, as the art style took a little getting used to. By the end of the issue, however, I recognized Cannon's art as a

A new book from That Texas Blood author Chris Condon, so I am in! I have not read the solicitation and I'm unfamiliar with artist Jeffrey Alan Love, so I'm going in totally blind. Best possible way to experience anything, especially a writer as cinematic as Condon!

Building up to a reread on this one. I love the worlds that Lemire creates and the textures he creates them with when he writes and draws. 

It has been SO Long since Lazarus graced comic shop shelves. Not a complaint, but in the intervening years, I've come to reference this book to anyone I talk politically/socially to, because it's undeniable - the future Rucka and Lark set out in this series is our future. Chilling. 

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Watch:

Monday night K and I saw Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's 28 Years Later, and today as I'm typing this, I'm not really sure how I feel about it. 

Let me say this up front - 28 Years Later is not a bad film. Anything I didn't like about it is, in my mind at this time, suspect, because it's all due to the unique approach to pretty much everything that Boyle took.

It's already become common knowledge that Boyle used iPhones for some of the filming. In fact, an article I read on Wire discussed how he used specially built rigs that held 20 iPhones, allowing them to film the action from slightly different angles and cut between them. I think the result of this "poor man's bullet time" as he called it created a different and jarring visual experience. It's not bad at all, but it really helped the film usurp pretty much all of my expectations. 

There are a lot of other off-putting textures here as well: old movie footage sewn in periodically as a kind of juxtaposition between the world as they know it and the world as it used to be. A heightened sense of motion that made me wonder if there was a different frame rate involved. All of this combined to make for such a startlingly different cinematic experience than I've ever had before. 

And then there were the track suits. But I'm leaving that out for now, as ultimately, I think 28 Years Later is going to remain slightly uncemented in my mind until I see the sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (or whatever the second in the new trilogy's title ends up being).  

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Playlist:

Pixies - The Night the Zombies Came

Low Cut Connie - Art Dealer

YUNGBLUD - Idols

Dan Le Sac Scroobius Pip - Thou Shalt Always Kill (single)

Ren - Sick Boi

Drug Church - Prude

Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services

Frank Black and the Catholics - One More Road For the Hit

Childish Gambino - Because the Internet

Cocksure - K.K.E.P.

Cocksure - Corporate_Sting

JD McPherson - Nite Owls

Amigo the Devil - Vol. 1

Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World Songs of Rodney Crowell

The Reverend Horton Heat - Space Heater

Meat Puppets - Dusty Notes

What's the Furthest Place From Here? 7" Series - Chapter 006

What's the Furthest Place From Here? 7" Series  - Chapter 004

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine - White People and the Damage Done

Primus - Frizzle Fry

The Cult - Electric

Ween - Painting the Town Brown

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Card:

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

• XIX: The Sun

• Six of Cups

• Ace of Cups

Open your eyes!!! Six of Cups indicates speaking directly to the "Godhead," which I'll interpret here as the sub or superconscious. GNOSIS is the breakthrough the Ace of Cups suggests. 

Specifically vague? Yes and no. I, of course, interpret this as having something to do with writing, which I started on full-bore again yesterday. I think there's an inkling here that the story I'm trying to tell is inside my mind, it just keeps getting blocked up on its way out, so that a ton of extra ideas end up bogging it down, i.e. capricious ideas that catch my fancy like the jingle of keys in front of a cat. I've said this here before and never follow up, but I need to begin meditating. No cleaner way to start a conversation with the deeper well inside.

Ren - Money Game Part 3

I don't know much about UK rapper/musician Ren, but K has been listening to him for quite some time. I've liked what she's played me before, but this... I'm just blown away. Listen to the way the piano becomes more complex over the course of the song and how his word flow changes to match it. This reminds of of The Streets, Eminem (a little) and Scroobius Pip. Fantastic stuff.

From the 2023 album Sick Boi, which currently appears to be sold out as physical media, but you can stream anywhere or grab digitally from Ren's Bandcamp HERE.

 

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Watch:

I've been holding off on posting a trailer for Macon Blair's The Toxic Avenger remake for a while now. Reason? Well, this played at Beyondfest almost two years ago, and based on how long it took to finally surface, I wanted to wait a bit. Also, I wanted to wait it out a bit, because I figured the two years of scarcity had created a certain flavor of mythology for the film, and yeah, that seems to be the case. Which is great. Although I'm not really a fan of the original, I can't wait for this and want it to succeed beyond all expectations. 

 

I only had to watch half of this to get excited. Hitting theatres - hopefully all theatres - on August 29th, I believe this will prove to be one of the funnest films of the summer, so strap in. And the cast! I mean, it's a so stacked I can hardly believe it. 

Hopefully this brings Blair considerably more clout. I'm a HUGE fan of I Don't Feel At Home in This World Anymore, and would love for Blair to be able to hit us with features on a regular basis.

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Playlist:

Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell

Dum Dum Girls - Too True

Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual

Van Halen - 1984

Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar

Blur - Coffee & TV (single)

Billy Idol - Rebel Yell (single)

Young Widows - Power Sucker

Black Sabbath - Eponymous

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Black Sabbath - Master of Reality

Black Sabbath - Vol. 4

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Now I Got Worry

Westworld - Movers & Shakers

ten Athlone - Street Trash E.P.

Spoon - Lucifer on the Sofa

Mclusky - The World is Still Here and So Are We

Eythl Meatplow - Happy Days Sweetheart

Anthrax - Among the Living

Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World Songs of Rodney Crowell

Meat Puppets - Dusty Noes

The Reverend Horton Heat - It's Martini Time

Sofia Isella - I'm camera E.P.
YUNGBLUD - Idols

Ren - Sick Boi

Childish Gambino - The Library/I.Crawl (single)

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Card:

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

• 0: The Fool

• Six of Pentacles

• Six of Swords

So, this Pull was actually supposed to land last Friday, but I ran out of time before we headed out to Chicago for the weekend. I didn't have time to do a new one today, so I thought I'd look at this in hindsight and see how it matches the trip.

The Fool is, of course, the start of a new journey. Six of Pentacles indicates a balance between giving and receiving, and Six of Swords evokes transitioning from a difficult to a calmer period. This seems to be saying that when I punch in for the first time in four days in a few moments, there may be some soma at my workplace. It also perfectly illustrates my relationships back home, where we all kind of look our for one another, swap music and ideas, and just generally try to make each other's lives better. In the storm of the world's current paradigm, that is always a much-needed balm.

Dethroned Under a NCBD Haze

As the wait for the next Perturbator album announcement languishes on into June, I find myself drawing even more inspiration from his previous albums than previously. Which is really saying something because since discovering James Kent's music circa 2015, thanks to Bloody Disgusting, Perturbator and all of his side projects have become integral to my own creative process. 

In particular, 2019's Lustful Sacraments continue to fascinate and inspire me. There's such an amazing evolution here; not content to remain defined by a genre he helped popularize the modern version of, Kent has moved away from the sound of his earlier records and really begun incorporating new elements into his compositions. My two favorites of Kent's records so far remain this one and his 2022 collaboration with Cult of Luna's Johannes Persson (Final Light). Where I'd consider Dangerous Days and The Uncanny Valley to be the two best examples of modern "Synthwave," I'd say Kent's newer work is unlike anything I've heard prior. Oh the places these records take me!

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NCBD:

Here's this week's pull, with a side note that I'll be stopping at my shop in Chicago to grab some stuff as well.

The final issue of the gloriously resurrected EC's Horror Anthology series Epitaphs From the Abyss doesn't sting so much now that I've read Blood Type and realize Oni will be continuing this brand with full-issue mini-series anthologies, as well as the new anthology Catacombs of Torment, out July 16th.

Life is good for Horror fans. It's good for comic fans. And it's especially good for Horror comic fans!!!

The first issue of James Tynion IV and Michael Walsh's Exquisite Corpses was kind of a cross between Rob Zombie's 31 and 

Judging by this cover, one of the plot points of this book that has kind of irked me may finally be resolved with this issue. 

"The Horror Men" has proven a fantastic arc for the overall Phantom Road mythology. I love seeing some of this world's history, especially because it feels like learning about the start of this weird in-between place will carry over to big things when we move back to the current timeline with Dom and Bev.

I should finally be picking up my Z-News backlog this weekend when I'm in Chicago. Can't wait!

Another new book from Oni Press, this one sounds as though it's modeled after Phillip K. Dick's life, so I'm definitely giving it a try. Here's the solicitation from League of Comic Geeks:

"More than just a writer, more than just a science-fiction icon, Benjamin J. Carp was a cultural revolutionary. Across 44 novels and hundreds of short stories-including the counterculture classic The Man They Couldn't Erase-Carp pushed the boundaries of literary respectability for the sci-fi genre and his readers' perception of reality itself . . . until decades of amphetamine abuse and Southern California excess finally ended a mind-bending career that always just escaped mainstream success. He died in 1982. Until 2025 . . . when Benjamin J. Carp awakens, alive, in a burned-out motel on the fringes of Los Angeles. He remembers dying. He knows he shouldn't exist. Is he a dream? A robot? A ghost? A clone? A simulation? In his own time, Carp pondered all of these scenarios intensely through his fiction-and, now, as he treks from Studio City to Venice Beach and onward into the paranoid sprawl of 21st-century Los Angeles, he will be called to investigate his greatest mystery yet: himself. In the tradition of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly and Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice comes a uniquely fascinating and hilariously deranged excursion into the metatextual nexus where existence and oblivion, past and future, genius and madness, and glitter and grim reality all meet just beyond Hollywood Boulevard . . ."

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Watch:

Aaron Martin and Ian Carpenter's new series Hell Motel premiered on Shudder with two episodes yesterday and I have to say, so far, I love it! The setting, lighting and camera work are top-notch, as is the writing. There are some very intriguing plotting mechanisms at work here, and they made for a pretty thrilling two-episode premiere. We're going to be covering this weekly on The Horror Vision - first episode will drop next Monday, then every Wednesday thereafter (the show airs on Tuesdays). 

From what I've seen of the two creators' other series, the anthology Slasher, it appears to be a bit of a mixed bag. That said, I've only watched Flesh & Blood and two episodes of Ripper. I loved the former but did not care for the latter. I dig these guys' style overall, though; there's something of a Channel Zero-meets-AHS, with the influence of AHS being more dominant but little flourishes here and there that make me think of Zero. 

Top all this off with the fact that Adam MacDonald looks to be the series Director (he did the first two episodes but is listed as "Director" on the series' main IMDB page) and you've got a great schematic. And they deliver, big time. I watched episodes one and two TWICE today and found I liked it more the second time around. 

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Playlist:

Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

Various - Learn to Relax: A Tribute to Jehu

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

Calderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands 

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

John Harrison - Day of the Dead OST

Tangerine Dream - Sorceror OST

Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction

Young Widows - Power Sucker

NIN - Pretty Hate Machine

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Card:

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

• Nine of Swords

• Ace of Pentacles

• Eight of Cups

The Nine of Cups can denote Cruelty, Bad Dreams and/or Violence. Ace of Pentacles is a breakthrough in Earthly concerns, nad Eight of Cups is poison. Sounds to me like the Earthly breakthrough - i.e. success - may be arrived at through violence or poison. That's a scary sentiment; I've long held people who use violence or hurtful machinations as a way to get what they want are the definition of evil. I realize while typing this that this Pull is a reminder to tread lightly with certain people at work, as I deal with a lot of "Corporate People" and those are often the people who operate in this capacity.

Clean Up that Street Trash on Planet Death!

 

I rewatched Ryan Kruger's Street Trash sequel this weekend, and it put ten Althone back on my radar. LOVE this track. You can support the band at any of the links on their Link Tree HERE.

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Watch:

I'd been waiting for Writer/Director Joshua Erkman's debut, A Desert, since March. Co-written with Bossi Baker, these two gentlemen have indeed delivered what will no doubt be one of my favorite films of the year. Subtle, creepy, emotional and WEIRD in all the best ways. 

Plus, pretty sure this is the biggest role The Jesus Lizard's frontman David Yow has had in a film, and he NAILS it. A Desert is currently a $6.99 rental on Prime, and it is worth every penny.

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Read:

Another book I picked up last week at the comic shop* was something I stumbled across on the racks from a while ago - April 30th, to be exact. Planet Death issue 0:

When I found this, the cover and interior art immediately made me think of 80s-era Dark Horse Comics. Don't let this pristine jpg I grabbed online fool you - Planet Death 0 was printed on a wonderfully sturdy newsprint stock. One that, according to the afterward by the publisher, they actually had to seek out and purchase the entire stock to procure it. This is a wonderfully tactile reading experience.

Seeing the "Bad Idea" imprint name, I assumed I was supporting a local or super-indie book, and while this is indie, it's not 100% indie. The creator is Derek Kolstad, the screenwriter behind John Wick. So yeah, there's some inertia here. Apparently, this was the largest order for an indie comic since Image's fabled launch, with this issue bringing in 655,000 copies ordered. So much for helping the underdog!

Seriously though, I'd still consider this an underdog. Everything that isn't the Big 2 kind of is, and if you want to expand that definition's net a bit further, Bad Idea and Planet Death are still largely unknown and have no name recognition beyond the John Wick DNA. Still, as popular as the Wick movies are, there are very few Screenwriters who achieve the kind of recognition that can help carry a small comic company into the black. 

But Planet Death is cool, super cool, and while a lot of why I feel that way may be linked to nostalgia, I still think its gritty Cyber-Punk space marine feel will appeal to a lot of comic fans. The first issue lands July 9th, and I'll definitely be grabbing that. From there, the afterward makes it clear the subsequent issues will be released when they are complete and perfect, and that sounds great to me. I'm looking forward to this, but I don't necessarily want another monthly book, nor do I feel like this will require a regular schedule. The story seems like it will work on it's own terms. Here's the solicitation from League of Comic Geeks

"Millions of miles from home, hundreds of ships descend into the stormy atmosphere of a hostile frozen world. On board, an army of resolute men and women brace for the coming assault. They are an invasion force, on an impossible mission — destroy the devastating enemy weapon garrisoned below. Corporal Scott and his battalion are in the vanguard but the human forces are no match for their brutal alien adversaries. Scott’s battalion is dead within moments. He is its lone survivor. The landing force annihilated, the battle is lost. Against overwhelming odds, Scott dares the unthinkable — cross behind enemy lines, survive the lethal landscape, evade capture by ruthless enemies, resist natural predators, face human deserters and finish the mission singlehandedly. Locked in his suit of full combat battle armor, sustained only by what he can carry, and driven by Earth’s wrath, Scott must do by himself what an entire army could not. Destroy the weapon. Return home."

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* See? All that and I still ended up needed two days to talk about it all. 

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Playlist:

Faith No More - Angel Dust

Mr. Bungle - Eponymous

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

GBH - City Baby Attacked By Rats

LARD - Pure Chewing Satisfaction

Mothers of Invention - Freak Out!

ten Athlone - Street Trash E.P.

ten Athlone - Travelator

Amigo the Devil - Born Against

The Cops - Free Electricity

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

The Jeff Healey Band - Road House (The Lost Soundtrack)

Anthrax - Worship Music

Billy Idol - Rebel Yell

Judas Priest - Painkiller

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

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Card:

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

• I: The Magician

• Ace of Swords

• Three of Cups

The Spark of Essence. A Breakthrough of Intellect. Solid Emotional Outcome.

Sounds a lot like a three-step plan to get my ass back in gear. I've been slowly dipping my toe back into Shadow Play, but I've had a lot of distractions. This coming weekend is a trip to Chicago, after that, I'm calling it now: Full Immersion!!!

Rebel Waltz Meet Imperial Predator

It occurred to me while watching Tony Hawk's "What's In My Bag" on the Amoeba music YouTube channel that it's been quite some time since I gave The Clash's Sandinista! a fair shake.

I had this on vinyl in a former life, and while I LOVE some of the songs on it, a double-double album or whatever it is just seems inherently ridiculous. Granted, London Calling is possibly the best double album ever (The Wall is better conceptually, but not necessarily when taken song-by-song), so if anyone was going to pull off an exponential attempt on the concept, The Clash was smart money.

However, Sandinista! always felt a bit too long, the 'sides' and even tracks often a bit too disparate. I mean, "The Magnificent Seven" to "Hitsville UK" to the idle reggae of "Junco Partner"? And that happens a couple of times, this kind of "reggae segue" that feels a bit forced. There are obviously reggae elements on London Calling, but it's all mixed into the songwriting in a way that those moments feel elegant and natural. They've always felt a bit ostentatious to me on Sandinista!.

My point here is it's been quite some time since I've actually listened to the record, and people change. So that's one of my current musical missions for the foreseeable future.

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Watch:

I had successfully avoided the trailer for Predator: Killer of Killers before its release this weekend,  so going into it blind the other night was a super treat! I'm pretty hard on animation - unless it's Cowboy Bebop or Transformers '86 I don't generally take to it. This, however, blew me away.

I will say, I preferred the animation in the first two segments, but the third one had HEART, so I was still completely "in." I love that we've had to travel almost 40 years to finally get good entries into the cinematic Predator universe. Sure, there are things about several of the other movies I dig, but overall, every movie after the original film has always been a disappointment. Maybe that's just because the original was so damn good, or maybe it's because, as a sequel, Dark Horse's Concrete Jungle has always reigned supreme in my mind. 

This four-issue mini-series is a perfect follow-up to the original film, and while it's clear it was a kind of road map for the eventual Predator 2, the film leaves out many of the best parts. Regardless of all this now-ancient history, Dan Trachtenberg has really proved to be the savior the franchise needed, and I can't wait for Predator: Badlands, due out later this year.

I think the best thing that ever happened to Predator was moving to different timelines and now, even different worlds like the Dark Horse comics did long ago.

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Read:

I ended up picking up more than I was planning to at the comic shop last Wednesday, but when I saw Jonathan Hickman had turned his attention to the cosmic end of the Marvel Universe, I was instantly intrigued.

I am well aware this is a case of me still pining for Krakoa-era X-Men, but that's okay. The cosmic end of Marvel has never really been my forte. 

Like a lot of 80s comics readers, I read The Infinity Gauntlet as it came out and fell instantly under its sway. This led to dabbling with The Silver Surfer around the same time (I remember the 50th issue being a big deal, but I no longer have that or really remember why). However, trying to keep up with 1992's Gauntlet follow-up Operation Galactic Storm* - a weekly event that ran through pretty much all the Marvel titles I didn't read at the time kind of broke me on the cosmic end of Marvel. I think at the time, my 16-year-old self thought this series was going to be my road into the bigger Universe, only I really didn't connect with any of the titles or the event in general, and I largely stayed away from 'cosmic Marvel' ever since.

Until...

Part of Hickman's Krakoa-era was Al Ewing's S.W.O.R.D. - a cosmic X-Men title that I adored and led directly into the events of Planet-sized X-Men and X-Men: Red, still probably the best Marvel series I've read in decades, and which definitely played with the cosmic end of things. 

It's the little I picked up in these titles that has me most interested in modern cosmic Marvel continuity and the first issue of Imperial delivered. There's no shortage on political intrigue here, but played across the stars, Hickman makes the old 'game-of-thrones' concept feel fresh and thrilling. The story encompasses a myriad of cosmic empires I know (Sh'iar; Kree-Skrull) as well as many more I don't (who are those Horse-people???). We also get some familiar faces for a newbie like me; Hulk mourning a son I didn't know he had, Nova and Starlord trying to head whatever is happening off at the pass, as well as a lot of folks I'm completely unacquainted with. So many agendas, so many allegiances - secret or otherwise - and two mysterious chess players who are (apparently) controlling everything. Oh yeah, and Wakanda involved in a nefarious plot to derail peace in the universe?

It's a lot, and I'm really only treading water with the continuity, but it's Hickman and it has a certain charge to it and I'm in.

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* Cringe at that title!

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Playlist:

Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy

Ozzie Osbourne - Patient No. 9

Turnstile - NEVER ENOUGH

Damone - From the Attic

Turnstile - GLOW ON

The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer

Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun

Television - Marquee Moon

Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers - L.A.M.F.: The Lost '77 Mixes

The Clash - Sandinista!

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Card:

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

• Page of Wands

• VI: The Lovers

• Queen of Cups

Inexperience can be overcome with partnership.