New Music from Blut Aus Nord!!!

From the forthcoming album Ethereal Horizons, out on November 28th 2025 on the always epic Debemur Morti Productions. Pre-order HERE. 

I am so psyched for this release! 

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Watch:

I've been picking at Alien: Earth for a little over two weeks now. From the moment I sat down to watch the first episode, I hated it. It's funny - I love Noah Hawley's Fargo series, or at least what I've seen of it (seasons 1, 2 and 5), but it seems like everything else I try from him just doesn't gel with me (I tried Legion a few years ago and also hated it). Despite the disconnect, though, this is Alien, and because of that, I have tried to hang in there the best I can, hoping for something to latch onto. This past Tuesday night, they delivered. 

Big time.

Holy smokes, did this episode give me everything I wanted! True, I'm a bit disappointed they had to go back to the standard Alien formula of 'Xenomorph loose on a ship' to get there, but I don't care. This was fantastic, and it reaffirmed my hanging in there. Even if I hate the next three episodes, this one made it all worthwhile.

Most of my issues come from the show's heavy focus on Boy Kavaliar and his 'lost boys.' A cunty, twenty-something douche bag trillionaire and his host of synthetics that have had the consciousnesses of sick children uploaded into them. The concept is cool, and it works great with the premise of the show - that governments were done away with as functionless, archaic designs when 'five corporations' stepped up and took control of the globe. That's gotta be a Fugazi reference, right?

Granted, one of the things I probably have so much trouble with here is the fact that this all feels a bit too real. Corporate ownership has weighed heavily on my mind, and this is honestly exactly where I see us going. But the characters in this thread are all very unlikeable and, while that's surely the point, the show spends SO MUCH time with them. Then, when they give us some Alienness, it's akin to what happened in the second episode with the apartment full of rich c_nts partying in powdered wigs and getting slaughtered - off screen, btw - in what felt like an empty gesture; a softball pitch to keep us happy before they just went right back to almost exclusively following the trillionaire and his toys.

Episode four started to come around, and five just blew me away. Part of what I want to see so much more of are not just the Xenomorphs, but the other alien life forms they've introduced on the show. The Eyeball Kid, for instance, is my favorite new thing. Love this 'character' and am eager to find out more about it.

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Playlist:

Steve Moore - VFW OST

Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color

Ghost - Infestissumam 

Goblin - 2013 Tour E.P

The Dead Weather - Dodge and Burn

The Body - All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood

S U R V I V E - Mnq026

Fever Ray - Radical Romantics

Cibo Mato - Viva! La Woman

Blut Aus Nord - Debermur MoRTi (single)

Boy Harsher - Careful

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Card:

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

• Three of Cups

• XVI: The Tower

• 0: The Fool

Three of Cups really kind of owns me at this point. I stopped putting individual card metadata in these posts a while ago, but I'm starting to think I should remedy that just to see if I'm wrong or if this card comes up like every three days. That's what it feels like, so let's look at the card a bit more in-depth than usual. 

From Crowley's The Book of Thoth: 

"This card refers to Binah in the suit of Water. This is the card of Demeter or Persephone. The Cups are pomegranates: they are filled bountifully to overflowing from a single lotus, arising from the dark calm sea characteristic of Binah. There is here the fulfillment of the Will of Love in abounding joy. It is the spiritual basis of fertility. The card is referred to the influence of Mercury in Cancer; this carries further the above thesis. Mercury is the Will or Word of the All-Father; here its influence descends upon the most receptive of the Signs. At the same time, the combination of these forms of energy brings in the possibility of somewhat mysterious ideas. Binah, the Great Sea, is the Moon in one aspect, but Saturn in another; and Mercury, besides being the Word or Will of the All-One, is the guide of the souls of the Dead. This card requires great subtlety of interpretation. The pomegranate was the fruit which Persephone ate in the realms of Pluto, thereby enabling him to hold her in the lower world, even after the most powerful influence had been brought to bear. The lesson seems to be that the good things of life, although enjoyed, should be distrusted."

Abundance in Thoth, this card signifies good times and social connections, and Grimm did a great job illustrating that for his card. Mix this with The Tower - a change in paradigms, and the Fool, a new journey, and I'm thinking this may be telling me to make some new friends here in Tennessee, something I've had a relatively difficult time doing. 

Chat Pile and Hayden Pedigo!

 

Mr. Brown sent this track to me at some point in the last week or two, and I'm just getting around to it now. Holy smokes! With a video directed by Writer/Director of 2014's Faults - fabulous film - Chat Pile and Hayden Pedigo have instantly captured my attention.

It's been a minute since I've talked about my growing fascination with Chat Pile here; I got into their 2022 debut full-length, God's Country, late, and their 2024 album Cool World just narrowly missed being incorporated into my best of list last year. Hayden Pedigo, on the other hand, I am not nearly as familiar with, despite a dalliance with their 2021 album, Letting Go, last year, courtesy of a recommendation from my cousin Charles. 

The album, In the Earth Again, is due out October 31st and can be pre-ordered from Computer Students HERE. 

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NCBD:

As always, a lot of great stuff this week, so let's talk about what I'm bringing home for NCBD September 3rd, 2025:

 

Jason Aaron's TMNT continues to drop at a bi-monthly pace and I love him for it! A great relaunch of the 2012 IDW reboot that I'm so fond of that really shines as we follow the four brothers into the trials and tribulations of adulthood (Janika has her own book).

Look at that Mignola cover! This tenth issue of the anthological Savage Sword of Conan apparently begins a new mini-series that will run through all three tales in this issue, all penned by Jim Zub. While dipping into The Black Stone spin-off mini taught me to stick to what's in this main title, I'm here for whatever they have to say inside this bi-monthly mag.

Third story arc, "The Horror Men," comes to a close and Jeff Lemire and Gabriel H. Walta's Phantom Road goes back on hiatus, much to my chagrin. I love this book, and I'm always a bit blue during its off-seasons. 

 

Revisiting Larry Hama's ongoing, now 43-year-long run on this G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero has been loads of fun and does not appear to be slowing down any time soon. Luckily, despite my card-carrying status as a completionist with comics, I feel zero urge to fill in the 150+ issues I missed that would connect the last time I picked up the Marvel iteration in 1994 and the first Image issue going on two years ago. That said, I have begun looking into filling in a few of the gaps for the central part of Hama's original Marvel run, eyeing connecting the dots that would give me a solid run from issue 26 through to issue 126. It's only seven issues, so I figured, why not?

And finally, a new re-start of the flagship Batman book being written by Matt Fraction? Definitely going to give this one a shot, as Hayden Sherman and Dan Watters' "Dark Patterns" is closing out in a few months and it's been so good, it's given me a taste for a regular Bat-book. 

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Watch:

Monday night K took control of the remote and picked a film I'd never heard of before, Phillip Kaufman's 1979 film The Wanderers. 

First, check out this cast: Ken Wahl, Karen Allen, Dolph Sweet (!), Ken Foree, Linda Manz. The list goes on with a lot of people I recognized, but those are the heavy hitters to me. Ostensibly another "The American Teenagers of early 60s" story a la American Graffiti, The Outsiders, etc. The Wanderers does a pretty good job of adding to that pot with likeable characters and an intricate hierarchy of Street Gangs and the characters' allegiances/associations with them. Where this film really stuck in my head, though, is in three key scenes that introduce a definite Horror element. It dawned on me while watching the second of these scenes - a scene where a character stumbles into the Ducky Boys' territory - that this film may have been meant as a metaphor for the changes Hollywood underwent between the 1960s and 1970s. 

First, the Elements of Horror. 

The Ducky Boys appear in three scenes in this film. The first is while the main characters are driving and accidentally encroach on the Ducky Boys' side of town. The film takes place in the Bronx in 1963, and up until this key moment, it's a representation of NY in the 60s that's right in line with most of the other movies like this have painted. This, however... there's something so intentionally nightmarish and surreal about this scene that I was immediately taken aback. While watching, I assumed Kaufman had chosen this route to convey the 'we're out of our territory' fears of a teenager in the 60s whose entire world revolved around their block. Taking into account the next two scenes that feature the Ducky Boys—the one where a protagonist is killed while in their neighborhood, and the other, the climactic gang battle at the end of the film, which the film does a great job of subverting until the Ducky Boys arrive. It was a combination of these two scenes that led me to my second point. Is The Wanderers a cinematic metaphor for the changing American Film Zeitgeist in the 1970s? 

The film goes from the streets-of-New-York, day-in-the-life Golden Age of Hollywood storytelling trope to the more epic, artistic weirdness of the New Hollywood era. 

If this was intentional and not just me reading into things, The Wanderers is a piece of genius cinema that is content to masquerade as 'just another 60s West Side Story throwback.'

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Playlist:

Steve Moore - VFW OST

The Cure - Pornography

Deftones - Diamond Eyes

Radiohead - Kid A

How to Destroy Angeles - Welcome Oblivion

The Knife - Silent Shout

Kane Parsons - Backrooms OST

Chat Pile/Hayden Perdigo - Radioactive Dreams (single)

Deftones - private music

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Card:

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

• VIII: Strength

• Page of Swords

• XIII: Death

The Body - Lathspell I Name You

Somehow, I missed that The Body had a new album come out a few months back, even though by now I should know to expect a new release at least once a year. Oh wait, All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood is a reissue? Wow. Well, new or old, this one is yet another challenging masterpiece from these guys, its majesty crystallized in this final track.

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Watch:

I rewatched Toby Wilkins' 2008 film Splinter over the weekend. I had only ever seen this one once before, back when my good friend Grimm came out and visited me in 2011. He's the one who turned me onto this film, and rewatching it after so long, I had to message him a note of thanks. I don't know how I haven't rewatched this once more, but it's definitely on my permanent radar now. 

The creature FX in this film are outstanding. Sure, the filmmakers are a bit coy with the camera on the monster at times, but that gives this really intense, "What the fuck did I just see?" feeling that helps to put you in the place of the characters. In fact, it's Nelson Cragg's camera work that makes me think of Samy Inayeh's work behind the lens on another creature-feature favorite of mine, Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski's 2011 masterpiece The Void. I'm writing this Saturday afternoon, and I'd wager by the time this posts on Tuesday, I'll probably have rewatched Kostanski & Gillespie's film, too.

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Playlist:

Blut Aus Nord - The Mystical Beast of Rebellion

Blut Aus Nord - 777 - Sect(s)

Blut Aus Nord - Codex Obscura Nomina

Anthrax - Persistence of Time

Anthrax - Stomp 442

Deftones - private music

Ruelle - Emerge

Dead Man's Bones - Eponymous

Man Man - Life Fantastic

The Dead Weather - Dodge and Burn

The Body - All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood

Spectral Tilt - Sleepers (single)

lords. - Bleeding Out (single)

lords. - aven (single)

leaving_forever & stream_error - nobody home

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Card:

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

• XVIII The Moon

• Three of Cups 

• Knight of Cups

A lot of emotion can obscure what you're looking for. 

Not sure how to read this one. Work-related? Maybe. Also, Thinking it might be for someone else, but who that would be, at this point, I'm not sure. 

New Music from Testament!!!

The first track off Testament's upcoming fourteenth studio album, Para Bellum, is out October 10th on Nuclear Blast Records. You can pre-order a copy HERE.

Fourteen albums? That just blows me away. I've dodged in and out of keeping tabs on these guys. Most of their records still sound fantastic to me, and if this first track is any indication, Para Bellum will be no different.

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Watch:

Last night I saw Shinji Higuchi and Hideaki Anno's 2016 Shin Godzilla on the big screen for the second time in three days.

Unlike many of my friends, I did not grow up with Godzilla. Certainly, I knew what the monster was. Who doesn't? The big G has occupied a fairly lofty space in the cultural lexicon for longer than I have been alive. I'm not sure that, without that layer of nostalgia, I'll ever be able to go back and embrace the Godzilla movies of the past (maybe, though), but between this and Minus One, hot damn am I a convery. This movie is STUNNING. Some of the best effects I have ever seen theatrically. They build a world and destroy it and, although I know I'm not watching half a dozen skyscrapers in Tokyo topple, I believe that's exactly what I'm seeing. 

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Read:

I'm halfway through Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, and to complement it as research for Shadow Play Book Two, I've also procured a $10 Kindle copy of Richard Ellmann's celebrated biography of Wilde, Oscar Wilde:

This is often shown titled as Oscar Wilde: Pulitzer Prize Winner; however, I find that adding the book's accolade to the title is a bit churlish, to say the least. 

I've pretty much accepted that despite the literal tower of books on my 'to-read' pile, the remainder of my 2025 reading will most likely be reserved specifically for research. Two exceptions are the Nathan Ballingrud and Laird Barron novellas due next month. Other than that, I'm all in on researching both Victorian and Elizabethan England, which have winnowed their way into my novel as main characters of the second act. 

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Playlist:

Windhand - Eternal Return

Sleep - Dopesmoker

White Zombie - La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1

Steve Moore - VFW OST

Blackbraid - Blackbraid III

Testament - Infanticide AI (single)

Mastodon - Leviathan

Testament - The Gathering

Portishead - Third

Faetooth - Remnants of the Vessel

Hall & Oats - Rock 'N' Soul, Part 1

Deftones - private music

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Card:

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

• XVII: The Star

• XX: Adjustment

• Eight of Swords

Struggling interrupts the path to enlightenment. 

That's a pretty vague interpretation, but I'm picking up what I'm putting down. This is a work-oriented Pull, letting me know that the theoretical middle finger roadblocks I'm throwing in certain folks' direction are perhaps counterproductive. I would argue that corporate backstabbing and rigamarole are also counterproductive, but that's just it - stop pointing that out and try to work past it. 

Revocation - Cronenberged!!!

The new album from Revocation lands in under a month and I'm pretty psyched. I've especially taken to this pre-release single "Cronenberged," the name of which almost immediately signified how I would feel for it. And with a title referencing the Godfather of Body Horror, Revocation and Director, Cinematographer and FX guru David Brodsky 100% delivered!

You can pre-order the new album, New Gods, New Masters, from Metal Blade Records HERE.

 

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NCBD:

Another Wednesday, another NCBD pull list! Super excited about these, so let's get into it!

So excited for the next chapter in this cosmic game of thrones (not a reference to George R. Martin). Hickman brings his trademark complexity, but also, he once again manages to infuse it with a sense of excitement I've not seen anyone bring to the big two in quite some time. 

G.I.Joe issue #9 was, I think, the best of the series thus far, so despite the instant exhaustion I feel looking at a cover displaying Cover Girl and Baroness as the stars of the issue, I have high hopes. I'd just really like to move on from them soon.

I feel a re-read coming on for Exquisite Corpses. Interesting to note that issue 3 had Pornsak Pichetshote and Valentine De Landro were credited as Writer/Artist, so I'd kind of assumed this might be a project that Tynion and Walsh had conceived, set up and handed off; however, that's not the case. League of Comic Geeks' entry for this issue shows the founders back on board for the next few solicitations. 

The first issue of Catacombs of Torment was a blast, so I've been jonesing to read #2, due out today! There is nothing quite as satisfying as a fantastic Horror Anthology, especially when it's in comic book form (This is probably based on the fact that I saw Creepshow as a very young child, and it imprinted on me forevermore).

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Watch:

After rewatching Osgood Perkins' The Monkey this past Sunday night, I was reminded just how much I'm looking forward to his next film, Keeper, due in theatres November 14th! 

I'm continually amazed at not only how fast Mr. Perkins works, but how he's really matured as a filmmaker of late. 

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Playlist:

The Knife - Silent Shout

The Knife - Shaking the Habitual

The Knife - Deep Cuts

Blackbraid - Blackbraid III

Drug Church - Prude

King Woman - Doubt EP

Steve Moore - The Mind's Eye OST

Steve Moore - Christmas Bloody Christmas OST

Revocation - New Gods, New Masters (pre-release singles)

Helmet - Aftertaste

Spotlights - Love & Decay

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love

Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

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Card:

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

• XVI: The Tower

• XII: The Hanged Man

• 7 of Disks: Failure

It'd been a minute since I put hands on my Thoth deck, so that's what I pulled for today. Looks like to change a paradigm, I'm going to have to go through a sacrifice and fail once or twice. Not sure what this is alluding to; might be the new methodology I've been tweaking for working on Shadow Play Book 2. Might be work-related. 

New Music From Ritual Howls!!!

Ritual Howls announced a new record and dropped an awesome new track, so let's all rejoice! You can pre-order a super nifty neon green vinyl on their Bandcamp right HERE.

I realized I completely forgot about and never ordered the band's previous release, 2023's Virtue Falters, so I have to go back and take care of that at some point. But this is a very well-timed release; we're approaching Autumn, and just over the last two days, I've felt twitches of it. First, I pulled out the copy of The Damned's live Night of 1000 Vampires the other day, an album Mr. Brown gifted me and that I played continuously last autumn. Then yesterday I had a taste for Joy Division. So, having a new Howls' record for Halloween 2025 will be a welcome event.

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NCBD:

Another easy week, but everything here is something I can't wait to read! Let's go:

The penultimate issue of Daniel Warren Johnson's run, which ends next month with Transformers issue 24! The cover says it all - I really dig what they've been doing with ol' Ultra Magnus, and in general, the Autobots are in such dire straits, I can't wait to see how this all plays out.  

I LOVED issue one of the first Epitaphs from the Abyss spin-off mini series, Blood Type, and am looking forward to more. 

Hands down the best regularly produced Batman book I've read since Morrison's run almost twenty years ago now. I know this ends in a few issues, but I'll enjoy Dark Patterns while I can. Dan Watters and Hayden Sherman are really operating at peak performance on this one. 

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Watch:

I found this trailer for Matt Stuertz's new feature, Human, via Bloody Disgusting, which had a headline comparing it to Greg Araki meets Evil Dead 2. I see the Araki for sure, not 100% certain I see the Raimi. Regardless, for what looks like a super small budget, I am intrigued and won't hold a Howie Mandel cameo against the film.

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Playlist:

The Damned - Night of 1000 Vampires

Windhand - Eternal Return

John Carpenter and Alan Howarth - Prince of Darkness OST

Revocation - New Gods, New Masters (pre-release singles)

Blackbraid - Blackbraid III

Witchthroat Serpent - Trove of Oddities at the Devil's Driveway

Sleep - Dopesmoker

QOTSA - Rated R

Black Sabbath - Eponymous

Joy Division - Substance

Ritual Howls - Follow the Sun (single)

Ritual Howls - Virtue Falters

Ritual Howls - Into the Water

Ritual Howls - A Safe Haven From the Sun (single)

Cryo Chamber - Echoes of the Hollow Earth

Young Widows - Power Sucker

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Card:

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

• Ace of Cups

• V: The Hierophant

• Seven of Wands

Emotional breakthrough leads beyond accepted dogma/practices to a victory of Will. 

First, let's take a moment to marvel at the artistic merit of these three particular cards. My god  - I'm blown away every time I stop to examine Grimm's art in this deck. Not just the actual art, but the concepts and pulling together of so many similar attributes - stoner rock, Weedian folklore, Occult influences, 70s Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Breathtaking, I tell you.

Okay, so what the hell is this pull saying? I've finally knuckled down and have been writing very nearly every day, and it's paying off. The book I'm working on - Shadow Play Two - is extremely difficult to write. I have a timeline that dates back to Elizabeathan England and draws in a lot of minor historical figures. I'm having trouble shaping the second act of the book - which I'm back to thinking will take place in both Elizabeathan and Victorian England, and a lot of my work is slow going. 

Blackbraid III is OUT NOW!!!

 

Blackbraid III, out everywhere today! Psyched for the arrival of my vinyl, which I pre-ordered directly from the band's online shop HERE.

 

Last weekend, while doing some work around the house, I put in my headphones and listened to Blackbraid I and II in succession. This is a band that deserves all the hype; in fact, Blackbraid deserves a lot more hype! There's an evolution going on across these three records that is breathtaking to behold, and you can see how their success funnelled directly into their Art. The cover artwork on III is a contender for cover of the year. Artist Adam Burke absolutely nailed this, and with Adrian Baker's layout, this is something I cannot wait to just sit and stare at while cranking the record. (You can read a bit more about the album and the art HERE)

I had hopes of seeing Blackbraid live, but alas, they're playing Chicago when I'm in LA this October, and they're playing LA when I'm back home in TN, so I'll have to catch them next time. 

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Watch:

Weapons. Holy shit. THIS might actually topple Eddington as my favorite film of the year. Zach Cregger has actually crafted yet another movie that belies all comparison. Weapons is unique. It is intricate and perfectly executed. The storytelling here is just on another level. The characters - of which there are quite a few - are very well-written and expertly developed. As my good friend and cohost on The Horror Vision said last night during our live, spoiler-free reaction on IG, "The characters are rich."

Yes. That is exactly the word.

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Go into this as blind as possible. I will say, another thing that now appears to go hand-in-hand with Cregger's brand is the mystery, so that even though I've seen the initial trailer for this film several times, and have been inundated with a more recent ad while watching The Bear on our HULU (our phone pays for the subscription, so there are ads), I still knew NOTHING about this film. That's a feat. While Blumhouse continues to beat everyone over the head with trailers that show (and ruin) the entire movie, Directors like Mr. Cregger and Oz Perkins have "spoiler-free" built into their brand.

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Playlist:

Opeth - Solitude (Black Sabbath Cover live)

Eric Prydz - Call Me (single)

Black Sabbath - Vol. 4

Opeth - Blackwater Park

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

Ghost Bath - Moonlover

Beastmilk - Climax

Bella Morte - Where Shadows Lie

Revocation - New Gods, New Masters (pre-release singles)

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

Blackbraid - Blackbraid III

Bruit ≤ - Live on KEXP

Cobalt - Gin

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Card:

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

• Queen of Cups - The Watery aspect of Water: Emotion x 2

• Page of Wands - The Earthly aspect of Fire: Earthly expenditures/expression of Will

• Page of Cups - The Earthly aspect of Water: Earthly expenditures/expressions of Emotion

Heavy emotions lead to Earthly concerns diluting the Will. 

New Music From Faetooth!!!

Tomorrow I'm starting 7 Days of Sabbath, but in the interim, I wanted to get this awesome new track by L.A.'s Faetooth a little push. This band landed on my radar with their 2022 album Remnants. This new track precedes their upcoming second album, Labyrinthine, out September 5th on The Flenser record label. Pre-order HERE.

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Watch:

I had my second theatrical viewing of Ari Aster's Eddington last night. There is almost no doubt this will be the movie of the year. I can scarcely believe the sophisticated levels of layering in this film. There are levels of insight into the human animal, human society and human ignorance in this film that I'll be unpacking for years. 

Eddington is a Western, a Horror movie, and on a very subtle level, a comedy made for people who see humanity the way I do - pessimistically. Ari Aster also crafts one hell of a shoot-out sequence, and has the subtle audacity to pepper it with Looney Tunes-esque visual gags that, if you catch them, will blow your mind. So many disparate elements synthesized into a perfect whole.

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New Music from Deftones!

From the LONG-AWAITED album Private Music, out August 22nd. Order HERE. Easily one of my most anticipated albums of the last five years, I'm absolutely stoked we're getting this next month. I cannot wait to put on headphones, smoke some pot (increasingly rare) and listen to this record from start to finish. 

 

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NCBD:

HUGE haul today. Let's dive in:

Oni's resurrection of EC comics continues to evolve. No sooner did Epitaphs From the Abyss end, than the the Grave Digger has passed the proverbial Horror mic to his cohort, The Tormentor, for the new series Catacomb of Torment. 

New Z News! I still have barely scratched the surface of the backlog of issues I picked up in Chicago last month, but good to no it's still going. 

Has this series had the best covers of 2025? Maybe. I'm still loving that this is bi-monthly and wondering how we lucked into that? Reminds me of the old 80s Turtles, when it would come out bi-monthly or... maybe later. Either way, it's been very cool to see Jason Aaron come on board with the brothers completely pulled apart and slowly... oh so slowly... put them back together. 

Oh man. Crisis time - Phantom Road's current arc, The Horror Men, ends next issue and the solicitations on League of Comic Book Geeks ends there, so that means, with Lemire having all the irons in the fire he does, this series is about to go back on hiatus. 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

One of my most anticipated books when it's dropping, it's hard to imagine going another couple of months without Phantom Road. But I guess we do what we have to do.

 

I have been waiting for Imperial issue 2 for what feels like months! I loved the first issue, and cannot wait to jump back in, especially with Hulk's proclamation of "War" at the end of the first issue!

This whole "Baroness as a Joe" scenario continues despite the hope last issue's cover instilled in me. Oh well, I'll just shut my mouth because at this point, there's probably no way I'm not going to continue this series. The one silver lining is the burgeoning friendship between Clutch and Hound. LOVE that development A LOT! Hear Mike Shin and I talk about this on the new episode of Drinking with Comics, HERE.

\Speaking of the latest episode of Drinking with Comics, I convinced my cohost, Mike Shin, to read Ben Winters and Leomacs' Philip K. Dick amalgamation, Benjamin, and he loved it! What's not to love? PKD lived an absolutely fascinating life, and, in retrospect, it blows my mind that it took this long for someone to use that life as fodder for a fictional story! Issue two drops tomorrow, and I cannot wait!!!

I wasn't blown away by issue one of "Death of the Silver Surfer," probably because the whole "Death of" idea seems incredibly passé at this point. That said, there's no way in hell I'm not buying a book with this cover. Holy smokes!

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Watch:

Two episodes from the finale and I have to say, Ian Carpenter and Aaron Martin's Hell Motel (i.e. Slasher, season six) might just be the Horror Event of 2025! Every episode has been fantastic, but this week's? Chef's fucking kiss!

This show is so expertly plotted. A perfectly maddening Whodunit? combined with all the beautifully brutal flourishes Slasher is known for, the combination just works so goddamn well! Also, while I gave props to Martin and Carpenter up front as the creators, lest it not be forgotten that the inimitable Adam MacDonald directed all of these nasty little fuckers. 

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Playlist:

Ty Segall - Possession

Deftones - White Pony

Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist

Deftones - Eponymous

dan le sac Vs. Scroobius Pip - Angles

Drug Church - Prude

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction

YUNGBLUD - Idols

Horrendous - Ontological Mysterium

Ozzy Osbourne - Patient No. 9

Blind Willie McTell - Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order (Vol. 1)

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

Reggie Watts - Fuck Shit Stack (single)

Jogger - Nephicide (single)

Mi Loco Tango - Rocco and His Brothers (single)

Abby Sage - Smoke Break (single)

Abby Sage - The Rot

Crystal Castles - II

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Card:

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

• Nine of Swords

• IX: The Hermit

• Nine of Wands

Two nines? Not sure this has occurred for me before. Climax and accomplishment? That combined with the Hermit actually lead me to believe this is a direct acknowledgement by the cosmos (ie my inner self) that I've earned the break I've taken, through the accomplishment of finishing my book and the culmination of Sweetie's existence. But it's almost time to really tune back in,. 

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.

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.