Urge Overkill - Follow My Shadow

 

Among the many albums that dropped last week, Chicago's Urge Overkill released a new record. Oui is 12 tracks of classic Urge. Order HERE.

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NCBD:

Big week this week for NCBD:

I'm about due for a full read-through on Home Sick Pilots, which is just a crazy fucking book that I love in pretty much the same way I love Saga. Both books are so original, so unique, they just blow me away.

I am SO into this new Hulk book. 

Joe Hill. 'Nuff said.

The conclusion of our Lemire and Sorrentino's weird AF cold war animal astronaut epic. 

If I was into tattoos, I would get the image of the Silver Coin on my bicep.  

I didn't love the previous issue of TMNT, but they never stray for long.

What's the closest thing to the Furthest Place from here.

Modok? Okay, I'll allow it for now. However, I'm really only interested in him when he's voiced by Patton Oswalt.

Now that our move is 'in the books' so to speak, I'm seriously considering dropping all Marvel titles and just going with a subscription to Marvel Unlimited. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to read, and I'm not sure how close I'll be to a Comic Shop, but at least with a sub, I'll have access to literally thousands of titles to read whenever I want.

Now I just have to pull the trigger on buying a good tablet.

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Read:

When I finished reading Phillip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass over the weekend, I was extremely tempted to immediately jump into Pullman's La Belle Sauvage, the first volume his new HDM sequel series, The Book of Dust. However, I have a stack of other books and authors I've desperately wanted to crack into, so instead, I finally started:

Max Booth III has been on my 'want-to-read' list for some time, especially  Carnivorous Lunar Activities, which, along with Preston Fassel's Our Lady of the Inferno, kicked off Fangoria's fiction imprint that coincided with their brand relaunch in 2019. I loved Our Lady of the Inferno, and I mean, like, really loved, and about a quarter of the way through, I'm loving this one as well.

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Playlist:

Urge Overkill - Oui

Orville Peck - Bronco (pre-release singles)

Boards of Canada - In A Beautiful Place Out in the Country (EP)

Urge Overkill - Saturation

Liz Phair - Never Said (single)

CCR - Eponymous

Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual

Deafheaven - Infinite Granite

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

Mrs. Piss - Self-Surgery

Beach House - Once Twice Melody

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Card:

I'm sure I've said this here before, but I always look at this one as a reminder to roll with the punches. Dogma is bad, and it's not just a staunch adherence to religious or political ideologies. It's thinking there's one way and only one way for anything. There's not. This is especially poignant as we are informed by our realtor in Nashville today that, in the market of the moment, if we're coming in looking to buy a house with a bank loan instead of cash, we will be asked to waive all inspections. Anything that's not "here's the money now," and we won't be able to compete. Long and the short of that is, we're no longer looking in Nashville and its immediate suburbs, but moving a bit more outside those areas. Not far, just far enough to make sane decisions. 

Orville Peck - Outta Time

 

New Orville Peck in April? Sign me right the f*&k up! Of the three songs from Bronco that Peck dropped last Friday - thanks to Mr. Brown for cluing me in on that - this is my favorite. All three are great, though, and you can pre-order the album HERE. 

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Watch:

July 22, 2022.

 

The trailer for Jordan Peele's Nope dropped the other day, and it looks as though it once again proves Mr. Peele knows how to make a trailer that makes his audience salivate without showing or telling you really anything that the movie is about. I keep seeing references to this being his "Alien Invasion" movie, but if you think Nope is going to be as cut and dry as that, I'm pretty sure you're wrong. Or, perhaps more eloquently stated, "Nope."

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Playlist:

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

Urge Overkill - Oui

PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love

The Ronettes - Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes

Orville Peck - Bronco (pre-release singles)

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Card:

Outta Time suddenly seems like the perfect song for today's post:

In undertaking this move, it would be easy to let all of the stress, planning, discussion and interaction overwhelm me. This happens. What I'm reminded of in drawing this particular card at this particular moment, is not to be seduced into inactivity or take the easy way out. I like my job a lot, and while I am mostly taking it with me, it would be so much easier to stay where we are and keep living the good, fairly easy life K and I have carved out for ourselves over the last six years. The important thing is to lean into the fray and meet this challenge head-on because once on the other side of it, our lives will be infinitely better. 

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the goal.

Valkyrie - Afraid to Live

Easily now my favorite of the records I received from Relapse Records by way of randomly getting their 20th Anniversary's Golden Ticket back in 2020, Valkyrie's Fear is a work of art, and definitely shares more in common with the work of bands like Led Zeppelin than a lot of modern bands do. That doesn't make them better, it just makes them unique. At the moment, this is my favorite song on an album of favorite songs.

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Read:

I finally went back and read Rick Remender and André Lima Araújo's A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance 1-4 in one sitting. I'd read issues one and two as they came out, then forgot about the book, picked up three and four and have basically had them sitting on my reading pile for a few weeks. 

This book is fantastic; it's lean and has a velocity that pulls you page after page in short order, with a bunch of, "wait, did I miss something" moments that are all leading up to revelations that will no doubt draw the story into a cataclysmic conclusion. I can't wait to read more.

I also finished Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy by finally closing out volume three, The Amber Spyglass. Being that the HBO/BBC show's third and final season is soon to be upon us, and being that said show is such a spot-on adaptation of the books, I am very curious how this third installment will look. There are several very strange facets to this third chapter, including but not limited to the Mulefa and Gallivespians, and I can't wait to see how the show approaches them. 

It's insane to think it's been nearly twenty years since the last time I read these books, and I was supremely baffled by how little I remembered of this one. If not for so vividly remember the scene where Lyra and Will release the aging god from his protective litter and watch him dissipate, I would be tempted to think after seeing the second half of the trilogy performed as theatre-in-the-round at the Royal National Theatre's Oliver Theatre in London back in 2003, I neglected to finish this third volume. That doesn't seem to be the case, though, so it's been good re-reading these, especially at a time when ignorance is so plentiful, it gives hope to remember there are intelligent forces at work in the world.

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Playlist:

Steve Moore - VFW OST

The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust

Valkyrie - Fear

Odonis Odonis - Spectrums

Fleet Foxes - Shore

Cocksure - TVMALSV

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Card:

I could not have drawn a more perfect card, as only moments before executing this pull, K and I booked 73 nights in Tennessee for Mid-April. This will be the hardest and yet most rewarding journey of my life, and we have just taken the first step on its path! 

Zeal and Ardor - Run

 

The new Zeal and Ardor album is out and after three listens this morning, it's already on my shortlist for album of the year. I am perpetually blown the f**k away by how this man's sound evolves. It would be so easy for a band with this DNA to tread water, but that is most definitely NOT the case.

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Read:

This isn't the edition I have, but I love this cover

I realized recently that, for all the fiction by H.P. Lovecraft I've read over the last thirty-odd years, I don't think I'd ever read The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. I'm about halfway through the novella at this point, and two observations:

1) This one definitely sates the thirst for Lovecraft imagery and overall style/tone, however, it is not a very good story, and does not feel all that different than quite a few of his other stories.

2) This is easily the most racist of HPL's work that I've read.

The racism, coupled with the redundant prose, has made this one a bit of a chore. However, I intend on trudging on until completion. As I have gotten older and been exposed to more and more Weird Fiction and Horror, Lovecraft becomes more about the concepts and less about the writing. He just wasn't that good. 

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Watch:

The season finale of The Book of Boba Fett was everything I could ever want from a Star Wars story. 

Now, we'll all just have to wait until the third season of The Mandalorian premieres.

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Playlist:

Burial - Antidawn

Zombi - Digitalis

Abby Sage - Fears of Yours and Mine EP

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

Orville Peck - Pony

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New Carpenter Brut!

 

New Carpenter Brut album Leather Terror, out April 1st, and the first song has Greg Puciato on vocals! Pre-order HERE.

 

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Watch:

I know nothing about this new Alex Garland film, but it's an Alex Garland film, so I am excited!

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Playlist:

Ghost - Meliora

Ghost - Infestissumam

Alabama Shakes - Sound and Color

Blut Aus Nord - Thematic Emanations

Shawn James - The Devil's Daughter (single)

Drab Majesty - Careless

Carpenter Brut -  Blood Machines OST

Putting Out Fire

 

I've really been digging on David Bowie's 1983 album Let's Dance of late. This is one I never really deep-dived on due to the oversaturation of the hits - all of which I love - throughout most of my life. This one always felt a skosh... pedestrian to me previously. What a f*&kin' stupid thing to think. As if any David Bowie could be pedestrian. While there are definitely albums and eras of his career that appeal to me more than other ones, any Bowie is good Bowie, and my recent obsession with this album proves that. Here's my favorite non-single, "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)", of which I definitely am one. A cat person, that is.

 

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Watch:

While the teaser for Jordan Peele's eagerly awaited Nope had a total of three images from the film in it and is mostly teased out by clips from his previous two films - which, although I can't wait for the movie, renders it meaningless for me to post here - the teaser for Dario Argento's new Giallo Dark Glasses is all I need to see to know I can't wait for this flick:

Looks like classic Argento to me, a flavor I haven't quite had enough of lately. No definitive release date yet, but "soon" is enough to get my heartbeat above 110.

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NCBD:

Another super light NCBD. Here's what's coming home with me this week:

Very curious about this new Fist of Khonshu that's shown up in the pages of Moon Knight, especially after seeing this cover. 

So, I gave up on the X Lives of Wolverine, and am moving forward with the Deaths because, so far, this one reads like a direct sequel to Jonathan Hickman's recent X-Swan Song Inferno. Deaths also, quite surprisingly, has thus far had very little to do with the titular, over-used mutant. Now, I'm not convinced this is a worthy sequel to Hickman's time on X-Men, but I'm willing to give it an issue or two more before I decide.

Is the tentative jive I throw down when talking about some of these books taxing? It might be. I'm just so suspicious of Mutant books, even after being so blown away by so many recent ones. The problem, of course, is that, to quote the Action Figure Insider, Daniel Pickett from one of his appearances on Drinking with Comics, "Comics has always been a strip-mining industry," and nowhere is that more true than with Wolverine and the X-Men. What you like one second will turn around and drastically disappoint you a minute later, so a savvy reader has to keep his guard up always while reading big-two series.

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Playlist:

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

AC/DC - Highway to Hell

Curtis Harding - Face Your Fear

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - Carnage

Donny McCaslin - Beyond Now

Umberto - Prophecy of the Black Widow

Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire

Godflesh - Post Self

David Bowie - Let's Dance

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Card:

I raise a glass to he who inspires the grandest of stories, the oldest of tales, the inspiration for independent thought. Never forget - the snake was the enemy of the Old Testament's god because the snake offered enlightenment.

Long Snake Moan

 

PJ Harvey is one of my favorite artists. Has been since the 90s. Weirdly enough, I don't listen to her that often. In thinking about this, I realize that I hold her music in a sort of sacred regard that feels as though it might become deluded if I overdo it. Probably not the case, in reality, however, it is what it is. Here's one of my favorite songs from her seminal 1995 album To Bring You My Love.

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Read:

I dug out my copy of Weird Walk issue #2 recently and began re-reading it as research for the new podcast off-shoot my Horror Vision co-host Ray Larragoitiy and I are doing. Stick & Stones is a sidebar deep-dive into Folk Horror, which is a sub-genre I've been enchanted with (pun intended) for the last few years, although until recently, I always referred to most of these flicks as "UK Occult Films." 

Weird Walk is an indie zine in every sense of the word, but it's a class act and chock full of fascinating ruminations on the haunted underpinnings of the British landscape and society. Highly recommended - you can order it HERE and follow their podcast HERE or wherever you get your podcasts! 

Oh yeah, and as of yesterday, there are two episodes of The Horror Vision Presents... Sticks & Stones: A Folk Horror Discussion up. The newest one deals with Stephen King's Children of the Corn - story and movie - and Chad Crawford Kinkle's Jug Face. The first episode sets up the series with a discussion of Kier-La Janisse's Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, then compares and contrasts Avery Crounse's Eyes of Fire and Robert Eggers' The Witch. Also available wherever you get your podcasts.

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Playlist:

The Yellow House - Live at Southgate House

Darkness Brings the Cold (The Forest Children) - Human Me

Ween - Live In Chicago

PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love

Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit

Brand New - Daisy

Ministry - Filth Pig

Soul Coughing - El Oso

Cypress Hill - Black Sunday

Cypress Hill - Back in Black (pre-release singles)

Steve Morse - Mind's Eyes OST

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Card:

Reaping the rewards of good decisions.

Author & Punisher - Drone Carrying Dread

Let's wash that 80s Metal taste out of our mouth, shall we? Kinda tastes like Marlboro Lights mixed with Boon's Farm and Aquanet. Here's the first single Author/Punisher released from the forthcoming album Krüller, out on Relapse Records next Friday! Pre-Order HERE.

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Watch:

After rewatching Scream 2 and seeing part 3 for the first time back in October, I have to say, everything but the original seems like they are most definitely not for me. The franchise feels like Friends with a murder. Because of this, it was with great reluctance I went to see part 5 a few days ago.  But lo and behold, Radio Silence turned in a really fun, gory AF flick that I had a blast with. And they manage to make "Meta" interesting again.

 

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Playlist:

Ministry - Filth Pig

Ministry - Twitch

Soul Coughing - El Oso

Cypress Hill - Back in Black (pre-release singles)

Cypress Hill - Black Sunday

Depeche Mode - Christmas Island

Ghost - Meliora

Ghost - Popestar

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

Deafheaven - New Bermuda

Anthrax - Among the Living

Author/Punisher - Krüller (pre-release singles)

Brand New - Daisy

The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir

Abigail Williams - Walk Beyond the Dark

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Card:

This card is so where I'm at right now. So many distractions and I'm finding it impossible to concentrate. I've upped my daily meditation regiment for the next few days after missing the last few, and knuckling down on enforcing mental discipline. 

80s Metal Week Day #7: Judas Priest - You've Got Another Thing Coming

 

I'm bringing 80s Metal Week to a close with a bit of a cheat. While I will admit to making certain eras of Judas Priest's music the butt of the joke back in the day, I have always held a place in my heart for early Priest, especially this song, which I can very distinctly remember making a huge impact on me as a kid. Love this track, so it doesn't really fit with the other six entries, all of which were kind of 'rediscoveries.' But I kind of ran out of those, and figured, what the hell, let's end with one of the best, most anthemic hard rock/80s metal songs of that era. As a disclaimer, when I say "80s Metal," I guess I kind of took for granted that people would interpret that phrase the same way I do - obviously, these aren't Metal in the sense that a lot of the iconic Heavy Metal bands of that era were, but the actual descriptor "80s Metal" has, to me, almost become a genre tag, so that I would not use it in reference to, say, Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, etc. 

 

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Cautiously optimistic.

 

I've never followed TCM as a franchise. The original is a classic, and one of the first films to make me feel uneasy just based on how it was shot. The sequel is bonkers, and I love it. After that, parts 3 and 4 - both of which I've seen in parts or barely remembered ill-advised viewings - are conversation pieces at best. Especially four, which I caught part of on cable back in the late 90s and still am not quite sure what it is I saw... The reboot worked for about two acts, then the third just focuses on getting Jessica Biels' t-shirt as wet as possible. Even the one almost-amazing gag in the flick - the hitchhiker's suicide at the beginning - falls apart at the very end because of a sloppy edit. This one was close to a good attempt, but ultimately failed. And even though I've heard Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan discuss at length their script for 2013's direct sequel to the original Texas Chainsaw and it sounds amazing, knowing that John Luessenhop basically came in and disregarded a lot of what they had planned meant I could never even giving the film a chance.

But this new one, well, Fede Alverez is the man, so here's to hoping. I mean, I don't feel like I need another TCM flick, but I'd love a new Alverez one, and even if he is only writing and Producing, I'm hoping it will inspire something close to what he did with 2013's Evil Dead, which I still count as my second favorite film in that particular franchise.

Also, John Larroquette. 

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NCBD:

Finally, a brief respite from the veritable deluge of titles I've been buying. Here are this week's NCBD titles I'll be picking up:

Nocterra returns. I'm digging this book but not 100% I'm going to continue with it. I'm really trying to talk myself into excising some of the books I'm following before I have to add another short box. The reality of 

This new Savage Spider-Man title picks up where Joe Kelly's Non-Stop Spider-Man left off, so I'm excited to get in some Spidey without having to dip back into the insane continuity that is ASM at the moment.

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Playlist:

AC/DC - Highway to Hell

Fleet Foxes - Shore

Ghost - Impera (pre-release singles)

Pat Benatar - In the Heat of the Night

Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance

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Card:

Creative energy cannot be destroyed. I'm re-routing some things at the moment.

80s Metal Week Day #6: Scorpions - Rock You Like A Hurricane

 

It's getting a bit tough to make it through all seven entries of 80s Metal Week and not repeat myself, but then it occurred to me, there is no way I wasn't going to include this song and, particularly, this video, which is ridiculous. That said, this one has stayed with me since I first saw it on Empty-V back when it came out, so I wanted to do it justice.

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Watch:

David Lynch Executive Producer on a surreal thriller dealing with doppelgängers?

 

Sign me up. This also reminds me that I still haven't seen My Son, My Son, What Have You Done, the film Lynch produced for Director Werner Herzog back in 2009.

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Playlist:

Ghost - Opus Eponymous

The Ronettes - Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes

Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance

Suicidal Tendencies - Lights... Camera... Revolution

Author/Punisher - Krüller (pre-release singles)

Drab Majesty - Careless

Drab Majesty - The Demonstration

Ghost - Impera (pre-release singles)

Cypress Hill - Back in Black (pre-release singles)

Cypress Hill - Eponymous

Metallica - Master of Puppets

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Now I Got Worry

Anthrax - Spreading The Disease

Back Sabbath - Master of Reality

Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen

Soul Coughing - El Oso

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Card:

Dealing with issues of stability as we move into the phase of booking all of the locations and services that will precipitate our escape from LaLaLand. Also, taxes always induce mild to threatening anxiety in me.

80s Metal Week Day #5: Bon Jovi - Livin' On a Prayer

 

This song is an absolute classic. It's not going to profoundly affect any of our lives, but damn if it isn't a near-perfect pop-rock ditty, with some outstanding production work from Bruce Fairbairn, who also brought us Aerosmith's Pump, AC/DC's Razor's Edge, and The Cranberries' To the Faithful Departed, along with a whole host of other records in his career.

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Watch:

After hearing nothing but good things about Netflix's new show Archive 81, K and I decided to take a breather from Cobra Kai (about a quarter of the way through the new season) and give this a try:

 

So far, we both really like it. Creepy, and filled with things that totally pique the analog fetishist that I locked away inside myself long ago when moving forced me to get rid of a lot of the old equipment I had. Also, and this is always a plus, Archive 81 is super creepy. Two eps in and we dig.

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NCBD:

Another week packed with new comic book goodness:

We're getting really close to the end. The last two issues were jaw-droppers, let's see what Messrs. Remender, Craig and Loughridge have in store for us this week.

Really digging this book. It's not reinventing the wheel, but I definitely feel Block and Stark in its DNA, which in and of itself isn't unusual for a crime comic, but when you've got Zadarksy and Phillips driving, there's sure to be some intense crime drama.

All praise Saga, it hath Returned!!!! I could not be happier about this, however, I have not had a chance to really get my re-read of issues 1-54 going, so that kinda sucks. I'm not about to wait to read this until I do, however, that would have been my preference.

How could you not love a book with this cover? 

Speaking of covers, for someone who never really gave two squash about them before, I'm becoming a bit obsessed. This would probably clock in as my favorite thus far from either of the Two Moons story arcs, and even though I'm finding this one hard to read month-to-month, seeing this makes me want to allocate some time this week to re-read this second arc.

You know, when I saw that "Captain Krakoa" crap in last month's solicitation for X-Men issue 6, I rolled my eyes. Turns out I was wrong - it's not what it seems, and it's awesome!

Here's a new one I'll definitely be subscribing to through my shop - a continuation of the Netflix series, which was unjustly canceled before it could really even get going.

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Playlist:

Odonis Odonis - Spectrums

Ministry - The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste

Lard - Pure Chewing Satisfaction

Burial - Antidawn

Burial - Untrue

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet

James Brown - 70s Funk Classics

Ghost - Call Me Little Sunshine (pre-release single)

Atrium Carceri - Kapnobatai

Lustmord - Dark Matter

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Card:

Yeah, something is standing in my way, and it's totally me.

80s Metal Week Day #4: Night Ranger - Don't Tell Me You Love Me

 

Okay, hear me out on this one. Back about the time I graduated High School - 1994 - my girlfriend at the time's older sister was dating my friend Rob. They had a dingy little apartment in Palos Hills, above the iconically scummy Pizza Pub on 103rd and 88th avenue. Their neighbor was an 80s holdover with a super 80s cocaine mustache that listened to Night Ranger. Fancying ourselves as belonging to the indie rock hoi polloi, we nicknamed this poor guy "Night Ranger" and made him the butt of all our jokes. But guess what? This song fucking rocks, and as my A Most Horrible Library cohost Chris Saunders has pointed out, has one awesome guitar solo. Which was definitely important in its era. nearly 40 years later, I'm secure enough in myself to admit, I totally dig this song, too. 

 

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Watch:

I've been on a bit of a "Folk Horror" bender, in both literature and movies, and I started my weekend bender with Arthur Machen's The White People (not about January 6th, 2021), then re-read H.P. Lovecraft's The Festival, one of the best examples of Lovecraft dipping his toes into Folk Horror, and also, probably my second favorite story among his oeuvre. 

Next up, M.R. James' A Warning to the Curious, followed by his classic Oh, Whistle and I Will Come to You, Lad. I'd never read this one before, as James - just like Machen and their contemporary Algernon Blackwood - have been on my radar for the better part of twenty years. I wasn't disappointed. 

Even though I'd never read Whistle, way back circa 2011 or 2012, I was introduced to the story at the  H.P. Lovecraft film fest at San Pedro's timeless Warner Grand, where along with a host of other great Lovecraft/Weird Fiction films, they played the BBC's 1968 adaptation of the story, directed by Jonathan Miller and starring - in a rather iconic role - Michael Hordern as Professor Parkins. This one has stayed with me for ten years or so now, crystal clear in my memory compared to a lot of other movies I watch, and it was quite satisfying to finally read the source material. 

Amazingly enough, the entire thing is on youtube. Here you go:

 

Totally worth your time, Miller's adaptation kind of feels like an extra spooky episode of The Twilight Zone. Now that I've read the story and found this online, my plan is to rewatch it within the next few days.

Finally, I'm working my way through Blackwood's The Willows, which is probably the longest of these stories I've read so far, and isn't really impressing me all that much. Yet. I'm hoping this is just a case of my falling out of sync with the concentration required to shift my mental palate to a place where I can read and enjoy fiction written in slightly outdated vernacular. Just based on this small sampling thus far, I'd have to say James stands out as my favorite of the three. I plan on continuing on, however, even if Phillip Pullman's final book in the original His Dark Materials trilogy is still at 83% on my kindle. I'm not usually one to be so capricious about my reading, but at the moment, I have to go where my passion takes me. 

I'd like to add, if you're at all interested in reading James' work, I've found A Podcast to the Curious to be a wonderful supplemental source for exploring and contextualizing his work.

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Playlist:

Boy Harsher - The Runner OST

Zetra - From Without EP

Talking Heads - Fear of Music 

Author & Punisher - Drone Carrying Dread (pre-release single)

Author & Punisher - Maiden Star (pre-release single)

Author & Punisher - Beastland

Author & Punisher - Women & Children

Drab Majesty - Careless

Zombi - 2020

Zombi - Shape Shift

Zombi - Digitalis

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Card:

While I've never really been a fan of this card as a Pull, seeing it now makes me think there's a bit of tumult occurring in my creative side. That feels right - I've recently finished editing my friend Jen's first novel, and now I have to get myself back into my own groove. I may need to take a different tack than I'm used to if I want to jumpstart myself back onto the road to where I was.

80s Metal Week Day #3: Skid Row - Sweet Little Sister

 

I've written about Skid Row before, both here and back on Joup, and while I've pretty much always defended their sophomore record Slave to the Grind for being released the same summer as Metallica's Black Album and being heavier, my absolute love of their self-titled debut definitely disappeared for about a decade and some change after I deemed it too "hair rock" to partake in. 

Fuck that.

There's no denying some 80s Metal cringe here, and how that "dangerous kids on the street" zeitgeist that all these bands tapped into and sold hard in the 80s reached its absolute zenith on this record. But looking back- that's a great thing. This isn't slaughter or winger - this is a more real version of the act, if such a thing is possible. Maybe it was Bach's track record over the last few decades - certainly his appearance on Trailer Park Boys made me believe he was still exactly what he claimed to be on this first album. An album that's so perfect, even its ballad holds up. Throw in the iconic single 18 and Life, and you get the perfect soundtrack to suburban, middle-class high school punk kids (not Punk kids) in all their cheap whiskey swillin', stolen cigarette smokin', guitar center hangin' metal-dude voguing, and no one sings it better than Bach.

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Watch:

This. Now. Please:

 

Aw hell, they took my favorite Turtle and mixed him with equal parts my favorite Universal Monster? Just take my got-damned money, NECA. 

 

Look at those lightning bolt sais!

 

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Playlist:

Slayer - Reign in Blood

Alio Die and Lorenzo Montaná - The Threshold of Beauty

DeadMau5 - Catbread (single)

Van Halen - 1984

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Card:

Looking at the bigger gameboard. Seeing beyond the smaller machinations, and really attempting to construct a bigger picture. Too much Mr. Miyagi of late, or am I crystalizing my vision for 2022? Only time will tell.

80s Metal Week Day #2: Ratt - Round and Round

 

This song has been creeping back into my good graces for a few months now, and finally, I'm ready to scream it from the mountains - well, not that dramatic, but still, Ratt's "Round and Round" is a nearly perfect little piece of 80s pop hair metal. It fuses that "dangerous kids on the streets" vibe that no other music captures as well as 80s Hair metal (aka Butt rock, as my friend Two would say). This song really brings back memories of being a punk kid, stealing Cutty Sark or Seagrams VO from our parents and wandering the streets of Chicago's south suburbs, smoking marlboro lights and rebelling against our perfect little 80s suburban lives because... well, because we were fucking kids! And yeah, that's why rallying behind a tune like this has been a difficult place to go for the three decades since - it's embarrassing to think of yourself being so... cringe. But it was part of our generation, and I'm finally ready to own it. 

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Watch:

We needed a palate cleanser after the insanity of the Yellowjackets season finale, and we found it in Cobra Kai! 

I'd been reticent to watch this, but after rewatching Karate Kid one and two for the first time since they were in theatres I found I really dug them. Nostalgia, of course, but also, they're good Hollywood flicks. My first bout with part three was a mixed bag - some fantastic stuff, and some terrible stuff. But once we started Cobra Kai, well, it's been three nights as I write this, and we're about a quarter of the way through the third season. The show is constructed in these perfectly balanced, bite-sized episodes that really accentuate the writing - which, while very tv - is also extremely well done. 

I feel about Cobra Kai in a very similar way that I feel about IDW's TMNT. Whereas I've been saying for the last nine years that the latter is the best reboot of a preexisting property I've ever seen, Cobra Kai is the best continuation of a pre-existing property I've ever seen. 

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Playlist:

Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance

Author and Punisher - Drone Carrying Dread (pre-release single)

Author and Punisher - Maiden Star (pre-release single)

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

Allegaeon - Into Embers (pre-release single)

KMFDM - Money

Dream Division - Beyond the Mirror's Image

Ghost - Little Sunshine (pre-release single)

New Ghost Single - Album out March 11th!!!

First single from the forthcoming album Impera. Man, it's been a minute... glad to have Papa and crew back. You can pre-order Impera HERE, but a word of caution - be careful. Their prices seem incredibly cheap this time around - I've always felt Ghost's merch was crazy expensive - but they really hammer you with add-ons while you're checking out. I fell for it (happily), but be warned.