Danzig - Long Way Back From Hell

So yesterday I happened by The 7th House, the Official Fansite for Danzig. There I found news that there are now five tracks recorded for an upcoming Danzig album. This is not the long-talked about covers album, which is apparently finished and due to fall from hell straight into our hands any time now. No, this is from the next Danzig proper album. Now, I'm not going to tell you I dig the last few Danzig records as much as I dig the first few, but I will tell you that Danzig 7: I Luciferi is in my top four of his soon to be ten regular release albums, and that's saying something because John Christ, Eerie Von and Chuck Biscuits are not on that album and previous to its release and my eventual digestion of it (thanks always to The Goatchild for that) I never would have thought it possible that one of those post-original line up records could earn such a hardcore place in my heart. But it did, and that record along with tracks like 1000 Devils Reign, Skull Forrest and Black Angel, White Angel from Circle of Snakes (Danzig 8) and Rebel Spirits, Deth Red Moon and On a Wicked Night from Deth Red Sabaoth (Danzig 9) prove the man can still write some absolutely killer tracks.

To celebrate the news I felt inclined to post the first Danzig song I ever heard, Long Way Back From Hell - still one of my favorite ever tracks by this guy. Back around the time this was released I had no idea who Glenn Danzig was, but in the early 90's my ever-vigilant WXAV 88.3 St. Xavier's University introduced me to a ton of great music. I heard this song while driving in the car with my mom and I remember immediately falling in love with the whole dark tone/blues howl going on. But as was the problem with radio back in the pre-internet days, if you got from point A to point B before the DJ came on to tell you what they'd just played you might well miss your chance to hunt it down. That's exactly what happened in this instance, and it wasn't until sometime Junior year when Jay Stanek ("Did you know Bruce Dickinson was a history major?") lent me Danzig 1 and I heard the opening 'Ah-yeahah' of Twist of Cane that everything came together full circle and I was finally able to worship at the dark altar of Danzig. Previous to that they were just a group on a friend's older brothers t-shirt that kinda freaked me out, circa 1988.

Nothing Cover Low

Via Brooklyn Vegan. This comes less than a day after my good friend Jacob text me that he had ordered me a copy of Nothing's new album, which is available here and from the little bit I've heard, every bit as fantastic as Downward Years to Come, which was my introduction to the band somewhere around a year ago.

Thank you Jacob! And thank you to Relapse for continuing to promote this wonderful band.

Transformers: Regeneration One - The Epic Conclusion

I really hate to see this book go! Seriously, for the record I very strongly dislike the movies. I watched the first one in the theatre and almost had a freakin' seizure from rolling my eyes so much. Hate would probably not be too strong a word. But Simon Furman's run on this, the twenty-years in the making conclusion to his late 80's/early 90's run on the classic Marvel comic is fantastic. It's also the topic of discussion in this week's edition of Thee Comic Column over on Joup!

Liars - Mess on a Mission - Video

My god, every time Liars put out a new record they also throw down a video that blows my mind. Case in point.

Swans - To Be Kind Trailer

I cannot wait for this record. Swans' 2012 magnum opus - and yes that word is overused but NOT in this regard - The Seer really just blew my fucking mind when I heard it in the early part of 2013 (I've mentioned here recently that had I heard it in '12 it would have been #2 on my year end list). I've felt a bit removed from current music lately but this is something that I am really looking forward to, to the point that this is without a doubt a 'day of release' buy for me.

Apparently this trailer is for the DVD available with the deluxe edition of To Be Kind, out May 13th via Young God Records/Mute.

Can't wait!

Garth Ennis & Facundo Percio's Caliban

image courtesy of www.geekpr0n.com

... is the topic of discussion in this week's edition of Thee Comic Column, right over here on Joup.

Sequart's Documentary about Chris Claremont's Epic Run on Uncanny X-Men

image courtesy of Marvel.com

...is out and ready to watch. I ordered my copy last night and wrote this week's Thee Comic Column about it. Available on Joup!

Rue Morgue Celebrates 25th Anniversary of Prom Queen's Murder

image courtesy of hemlockbooks.co.uk

The newest issue of Rue Morgue is on the newsstand and as you can no doubt discern from the picture it has a nice, juicy Twin Peaks cover story in honor of the 25 year anniversary of the night Special Agent Dale Cooper opened that mason jar of scorched engine oil and entered the waiting room via Glastonbury Grove and its circle of twelve sycamore trees. Now, if you've been reading about Twin Peaks for a long time as I have - pretty much since it aired - the Rue Morgue story is not too much that you haven't heard before. But it's done really well and there are some unique insights by Ray Wise, Sheryl Lee and Jennifer Lynch. And unlike Fangoria, which sadly pretty much blows - or at least did the last time I checked - Rue Morgue is a fantastic horror mag that I don't get to read often enough. There's also a great article on Oculus, a movie I think I was unfairly dismissing due to billboard proliferation around LA but after reading said article I'm actually looking forward to.

Karl Urban's Brief Message RE: DREDD Sequel

Once again, props to Mr. Whelks for throwing this little video my way. I signed the petition - LOVED Dredd. If you did too, go HERE and sign!

WEEN circa 1996 on Australian Radio

"Here on the Chocolate hotline..."

If you click on the previous WEEN link I posted this week, "Beacon Light", and follow the link that Chester Whelks left in the comments you can read about Aaron Freeman's upcoming record. I miss the hell out of WEEN, but I want them all to live great, healthy lives too. So I'm behind Aaron and can't wait to hear the new record.

"Eating a Lobster Hoagie on my house boat" - fan-fucking-tastic!

Liars - Darkslide

Humor me. Put on some decent headphones and listen to this track, then tell me how you feel with a comment.

Drinking w/ Comics Issue #4

In issue #4 of Drinking w/ Comics Shawn and Mike welcome Sara and Erin, the show's new 'Science Officers". They drink the new Goose Island 312 Urban Pale Ale and wax philosophical about Warren Ellis' new Moon Knight, Garth Ennis' Red Team, Matt Kindt's 3 Story and days gone by when Marvel's New Universe turned a family of four into the amorphous horror known as... Fami-leech! Plus: The threat of Tony Montana makes its presence known!

WEEN - Beacon Light Live

There are days when I miss WEEN so much it hurts. This is one of those days. Listening to Pure Guava, thinking about how awesome this band is.

Carpenter's Classic "The Thing" Recreated w/ GIJOE's?

Yep. And it's awesome. Mr. Brown just sent me a link to an article on buzzfeed where Jack Shepard (assuming it's not the oxy-popping, dying on the island Jack Shepard) posted a link to this almost five years ago. The video itself, done by Simon Gesrel and Xavier Ehretsmann for the band Zombie Zombie, was originally uploaded to youtube in '08, so the question is how have I never seen this before and why does something this amazing only have 77K hits?

Spread the word. This is awesome on every possible level.

Black Lips - Nightmare Field

Look at the Black Lips, with the crazy switchblade choreography! Awesome!

I had started getting into The Black Lips a couple years ago and then kinda forgot about them. Within the last few months however, as internet chatter led up to the March 14th release date of their newest record Underneath the Rainbow, the have once again become ever more interesting to me. Now this video for Nightmare Field, which is the first video since Qui's marvelous Mucho Sex in America to really make me stand up and say, "YES!" Great song, great video.

Via the mighty Mxdwn!

The Conclusion to Garth Ennis and Craig Cermak's Red Team...

image courtesy of comixology.com

...was fantastic. I talk more about it in this week's Thee Comic Column on Joup.

New Trailer for Irvine Welsh's The Filth

I cannot wait for this film. I'm on the fence about re-reading the book - which is, like everything Welsh has ever written, phenomenal - before seeing this. Maybe after? The tone is of the adaptation looks perfect, kind of a cross between Trainspotting and Bronson. And McAvoy is fast becoming a "he's in it? Then I'll see it" kind of actor for me.

And I'll See You... Under the Sycamore Trees

From the "And I'll see you..." the vocals become almost too powerful to bear. Goodnight 25 years later (I say this realizing Cooper is still walking around inside the Waiting Room, lost, and that he will be until morning. No, until... 25 years later.

"Would you like a plate special?"

"Yeah."

Joup Team-Up! Chester Whelks & I Talk Twin Peaks

image courtesy of cogito-ergo-doleo.tumblr.com

The inimitable Chester Whelks recently asked me about doing a two-man article pertaining to the final episode of Twin Peaks for our beloved Joup. This, of course, in honor of the aforementioned 25 Years since Special Agent Dale Cooper entered the Black Lodge. The link below will act as a mason jar of scorched engine oil; click it and you will draw back a crimson curtain. We will be known to you then and ready to talk about our own individual experiences with the series and that massive, massive final episode.

kcoR s'teL

Happy Twenty-Five Years (Not for Dale Cooper)

Dale Cooper entered the Black Lodge (in story time) on March 26th, 1989. He's still there, with the good Laura. What's Bob been up to running around in Cooper's skin? Well, most likely he's killed Major Garland Briggs and Pete Martel, but other than that... Mr. Lynch or Mr. Frost, would you care to weigh in on this with say... A NEW SEASON? Netflix in particular has expressed interest. Or what about a season of True Detective that intersects with the TP timeline, much as the fabled X-Files episode where Dana and Mulder enter the Lodge in order to... no, let's not get diminutive. The simple fact though is, of course, us fans will take whatever we can get, even if it's just a Georgia Coffee commercial.

Thanks to the great Chester Whelks for forwarding the above video to me.

image courtesy of twin peaks.wikia.com