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. 

Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST

I love that Steve Moore has done an original score for every movie Joe Begos has made except his first. I love everyone of those scores, own them all on vinyl, and am happy to share the news that Terror Vision. 

My god do I love the design on this one! You can pre-order the soundtrack HERE, and from what I'm seeing, Jimmy and Stiggs is still in wide release up until Thursday when the new stuff comes out. I'm going to try to drive into Nashville to see it again, and I have to implore the rest of you to make the effort as well. It's not a perfect film, but it's made for the big screen and supporting something so DIY in big box chains is VITAL to our way of life as fans.

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Watch:

Pierre Tsigaridis's new film Traumatika is getting a lot of hype coming out of recent festival screenings, and I'm super curious. I really liked his previous film, Two Witches, which I watched on the Arrow Streaming service back when it first landed in 2022. I can't say I remember the film very well, but that's definitely not the movie's fault. It usually takes a viewing or two for things to stick. 

Early reports and all the promotional material make Traumatika sound pretty daunting, but we'll see. I watched about a third of this trailer and it was enough to get me further on board, so I'm hoping come September 12th, this pops up on a big screen in my neck of the woods. The blurb on Letterboxd mentions two phrases that always suggest a promising formula for Horror: "Night Terrors" and "Demonic Possession." 

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Read:

I finished Stephen Graham Jones' latest novel The Buffalo Hunter Hunter over the weekend. This is the kind of novel that leaves a deafening vacuum when it ends, where you just look at the other books on your shelf or in your queue and can't quite bring yourself to replace it right away.

Luckily, while I've begun picking at my Sandman re-read again, my main focus for the next few months and possibly the remainder of the year will be on a list of titles I have determined I need to read to continue to work on the sequel to Shadow Play. Some of these are books I've known I'm going to have to read for a few years now, and some are new to the list. The point is, I'm finally working through this project the way I should have been all along. 

First up: The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde. It's a shame I haven't already read this, anyway, so I'm finally making up for lost time. a handful of chapters in, I'm hooked, even if it did take me a few to adjust to the more flowery, 'purple' prose style. Once I readjusted, it fit like a glove.

I'm just reading the cheapie Kindle edition, so I thought I'd post one of the more interesting covers from previous editions here, published by Penguin Clothbound Classics in 2000. Yeah, not the best 'vintage' for a book with this much history, but honestly, after google image searching this one, I don't know that it ever received a cover I actually like.

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Playlist:

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Nell' ora blu

Secret Chiefs 2 Traditionalists - La Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomimi

White Zombie - Astro-Creep 2000

Zombi - Shape Shift

Ruin of Romantics - Self Control (single)

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity

Fvnerals - Let the Earth be Silent

Brittany Bindrim - Ever So Slowly (single)

Revocation - The Outer Ones

The Body - No One Deserves Happiness

Fantômas - Delirium Cordia

In Slaughter Natives - Sacrosancts Bleed

Ministry - Houses of the Molee

Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

ISIS - Panopticon

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

Steve Moore - Jimmy and Stiggs OST

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Card:

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

• Knight of Pentacles

• XVI: The Tower

• XI: Justice

I saw the Knight of Disks - which I often equate with saving money, and knew exactly what I had to do. I had literally been thinking about it just before the pull, so this was an easy one. Especially after adding in The Tower and Justice. 

Let's Have a Pulp Friday!

I dug out Pulp's Separations yesterday and just had an absolute blast with it. Forgot how much I love this album. Here's the "hit."

I still haven't been in the headspace to give Pulp's latest record, this year's More, a proper listen, but perhaps soon.

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Watch:

Last night I drove an hour into Nashville to catch the new Joe Begos film Jimmy & Stiggs on the big screen. 100% worth it!

This movie is the fucking definition of balls-to-the-wall DIY. So loud, so neon, so METAL! Begos stars alongside Matt Mercer in a whiskey-drenched, cocaine-fueled fight to the death against aliens who invade his apartment and do some pretty heinous things to the two friends, the titular Jimmy (Begos) and Stiggs (Mercer). Fantastic on-screen chemistry. Like Christman, Bloody Christmas, some of the dialogue goes a bit off the rails for me (pun intended), but it doesn't matter. I'm in awe at the sheer force of will that is the Joe Begos filmmaking machine. See this in the theatre, and when you do, arrive early for the two fake trailers and stay late for the behind-the-scenes. 

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Playlist:

Mastodon - Emperor of Sand

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

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

Boredoms - Chocolate Synthesizer

Black Sabbath - Eponymous

lords. - bleeding out

Young Widows - Power Sucker 

Cryo Chamber - Echoes of the Hollow Earth

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - No More Shall We Part

Pulp - Separations

The Veils - Total Depravity

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

BESET - Most Foul

HEALTH & NIN - Isn't Everyone (single)

NIN - As Alive As You Need Me To Be (single)

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE. Also, Grimm just launched a Kickstarter for his new The Art of the Fae Bound Deck Art Book. Check that out HERE.

• Kings of Wands

• VIII: Strength

• VI: The Lovers

Drive, Strength and Passion. Three things I find myself contemplating A LOT. I have them, but do I have enough of them? Is this an eternal question all creators ask themselves?

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. 

Bruit ≤

I discovered Bruit ≤ last week via the always wonderful KEXP YouTube channel, and just fell in love with them. 

From the new album Age of Ephemerality, which you can order HERE.

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Watch:

While Zach Cregger's Weapons was the huge release last week, another Horror film also hit my local theatre. Strange Harvest is one I had not heard of until my cohosts on The Horror Vision mentioned it, and now that I have my first Weapons screening out of the way (number two is coming soon enough), I very much want to check this one out, too:

I should add that I know nothing about this film, and as usual, while I'm posting this trailer here, I have not watched it. I love going in blind! This is from Stuart Ortiz, whose 2011 film Grave Encounters I've seen at some foggy point in the past, but remember next to nothing about. 

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Playlist:

Zombi - 2020

Blackbraid - Blackbraid III

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services

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

Perturbator - Age of Aquarius (pre-release singles)

Ghost Bath - Moonlover

Ghost Bath - Rose Thorn Necklace

David Bowie - Outside

Arctic Monkeys - AM

Ministry - HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES

Crystal Castles - II

Blackbraid - Blackbraid II

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Card:

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

• IX: The Hermit

• Seven of Cups

• Six of Swords

Turn inward and experience an Earthly victory derived from Science.

Basically, meditation - which I had a wonderful experience with at a full moon sound bath this past Saturday - creates the opportunity to 'hack' some Earthbound area of concern and triumph over it in a lasting, emotionally satisfying way.

So while I have part of this locked solid in interpretation, I'm not entirely sure what the meditation is going to affect. I have to sit and think back over the ebbings of my mind during that session - there may be a clue contained within. 

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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A post shared by The Horror Vision: A Podcast (@thehorrorvision)

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. 

RIP Terry Reid!

I love this song. LOVE. I was initially introduced to it via Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects Soundtrack, and for most of the 00s, it appeared on my burned CD mix compilations. I spent some serious time zoned out on various substances, just feeling this song - so much to feel!

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NCBD:

An easy week on the wallet for once:

Ericka Slaughter's origin continues. I'm digging these flashback issues; however, it perpetually thwarts my desire for the current timeline story to move forward! 

I'm really enjoying Larry Hama's ARAH as a totally hyperbolic version of Joe. Funny that this book used to be so rooted in reality. As I've suggested here before, though, after 300+ issues, you'd have to take things into weird territory to keep it interesting. Yet, make no mistake. A lesser writer would have rendered this title obsolete with all the AI, cyborgs, genetic mutations and, well, Serpentors that fill its pages. Not Hama. Still solid after all these years. 

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Watch:

I'm not sure why, but until last Sunday, I had no interest in watching Season 2 of Netflix's The Sandman adaptation. My Drinking with Comics host Mike Shinabargar recently mentioned that the final episode was set to drop on 7/31 and that he'd like to cover the show. After a few hours of yard work in the particularly grueling heat, I came inside, collapsed onto the couch, and fired up the episode, Seasons of Mist. 

 

I think two things are going on here. One, I think I'm way more attached to the stories adapted in the first season than this one, so it was harder for me to accept any changes (same with "24 Hours" from the first volume). Two, Tom Sturridge has really come to embody the character of Morpheus. The dour expression, the ever-changing, always confounding hair, the glassy stare. He just nails it in every scene this season. I've just hit the point where the season and the show move into their final arc in adapting The Kindly Ones, and this particular storyline in the comics is another I'm super attached to. So far, no complaints. I've heard this is around the point where the series begins to feel rushed, but so far, I'm not getting that. This could very well be because, when I began reading The Sandman near the end of its monthly run, I jumped in on The Kindly Ones, and at the time, the only collections available in trade were the first three volumes, Preludes and Noctures, Doll's House and Dream Country. The latter three were adapted as Season One of the show, so it stands to reason that, for someone who didn't read volumes 4-8 until later and thus, know them less intimately, adapting the four seasons I know makes this show fit my experience with The Sandman like a glove. Season Two effectively starts with Seasons of Mist (Volume 4), moves into A Game of You (Volume 5), and I think, bypasses virtually everything from Volumes 6-8. 

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Playlist:

Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon

Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

Ian Lynch - All You Need is Death OST

Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul

M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction

Deafheaven - Sunbather

King Woman - Celestial Blues

Moon Wizard - Sirens

Black Pyramid - The Paths of Time Are Vast

Benjamin Booker - LOWER

Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me

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Card:

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

• IX: The Hermit

• Five of Pentacles

• XXI: The World

Anticipate setbacks by taking a strategic withdrawal and considering the bigger picture. This is a 'work' reading, and it's as timely as it is on the money.

7 Days of Sabbath! Day 7: Jack the Stripper/Fairies Wear Boots

I wanted to bring 7 Days of Sabbath and two weeks of celebrating the life and music of Ozzy Osbourne to a close with one of my favorite Sabbath songs (there are so many favorites!). Jack the Stripper/Fairies Wear Boots is such a great track. I'll never forget listening to the lyrics as a young stoner and thinking, "How can I see Fairies with boots on dancing with a dwarf?"

Luckily, I never quite got there. 

Tomorrow? Tomorrow our mourning ends. Let the celebration continue!

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7 Days of Sabbath! Day 6: Meglomania Live 1975

One of my all-time favorite Sabbath deep-cuts and among their best lyrics. Finding this blew me away in a week where I've been pretty blown away at what can be found on YouTube from the "Before Times."

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Watch:

The thumbnail image for Shudder's newest Shudder Original, Monster Island, instantly caught my eye with what appeared to be a Creature of the Black Lagoon-like monster. Here's the trailer:

What a fantastic concept - a U.S. soldier and a Japanese soldier stranded on an island during WWII have to overcome their differences to survive being stalked by a monster. I tried to find the time to watch this over the weekend, but most of my free 'watch' time has been spent enamored with The Sandman Season Two, so I'll get to this one later this week.

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Playlist:

Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin

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

Escape Driver - No Fate

Ennio Morricone - The Thing OST

John Carpenter - Prince of Darkness OST

John Carpenter - Big Trouble in Little China OST

Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services

Rein - Reincarnated

The Revolting Cocks - Attack Ships on Fire (single)

The Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers + Queers

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

Black Sabbath - Vol. 4

Ren - Vincent's Tale (single)

Aerosmith - Rocks

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Deafheaven - New Bermuda

Deftones - Koi No Yokan

Young Widows - Power Sucker

Young Widows - Settle Down City

King Woman - Doubt EP

Turnstile - GLOW ON

Blackbraid - Blackbraid I

Blackbraid - Blackbraid II

NIN - As Alive As You Need Me To Be (single)

NIN - Year Zero

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Card:

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

• XIX: The Sun

• Queen of Pentacles

• Six of Swords

Enlightenment and Emotional grounding make this a good time to make decisions. 

What decision to make, though? This caught me a bit unaware, so I'll have the cards on my desk throughout the day, reminding me to keep the reading's lesson in mind.

7 Days of Sabbath! Day 5: Into the Void Live 1971 (w/Alternate lyrics)

 HUGE props to blacksabfan for posting this. Head over to their YouTube page and check 'em out! Lots of great live and rare Sabbath videos (lots of Thin Lizzy, too!).

There are a number of Sabbath songs that started out with different lyrics than what Ozzy ended up recording. This is one I don't think I was aware of. 

There was a record store in Orland Park, IL when I was in High School. Red Tower. Located in the outer circumference of the Orland Mall's parkway, this standalone building carried with it for its south suburban location, the kind of cultural cache places like The Alley and Reckless Records did in the city (I'm aware The Alley wasn't a record store, but it was the most record store-like clothing/accessory store I've ever seen). Anyway, I already knew We Sold Our Souls For Rock 'n' Roll, the post-Sabotage Greatest Hits collection you could literally buy at gas stations in the late 80s/early 90s. While that introduced me to the first phase of Sabbath's music, it didn't prepare me for the second phase, those quasi-cinematic, philosophical Science Fiction-tinged tracks like Into the Void, the closer from 1971's Master of Reality. This song introduced a thread that, while "Supernaut" tugged on it again for Vol. 4, wasn't fully realized (IMO) until 1975's Sabotage, my favorite of the group's records and criminally underrated (and underrepresented on WSOSFR'n'R - I mean, how did they only add "Am I Going Insane?"). It was in Red Tower that I first heard Into the Void, and it literally made me stop, go up and ask the guy behind the counter what was playing. The song sounds like the soundtrack to a comic book or Science Fiction film, from the lyrics to the larger-than-life riffs. Instant favorite and the first inclination that I needed to move beyond the gas station greatest hits with this band. 

For the record, the alternate lyrics are not good. I mean, the actual lyrics to this track are amazing, and I'd be curious to read how the boys from Birmingham got to the finished product. It's still cool to hear this little slice of Sabbath history, though, and for some fantastic alternate lyrics to this song, there's always Soundgarden's cover from SOMMS.

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As we're getting close to the end of our celebration of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath (my daily, personal one has been with me since I was a teenager and will carry on until I too, reside After Forever), I wanted to throw in a little something extra for today's post. Melvins and Sleep's Al Cisneros covering Sabbath Bloody Sabbath!

Man, they made it slower! I guess if there was going to be one way to make this song heavier than when it was born, this would be the only way to approximate that. 

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7 Days of Sabbath! Day 4: Dirty Women Live 1978

Holy smokes! I NEVER expected to find my second favorite song from Black Sabbath's 1976 seventh studio album Technical Ecstasy live on YouTube, but I guess the algorithm is getting to know me these last two weeks and, what's more, actually do something useful, because this was literally waiting for me when I logged in just now to find a track to post.

Technical Ecstasy is unfairly maligned pretty much across the board, but I dig the entire record - yes! including "It's Alright," the Fleetwood Mac-esque track sung by Bill Ward. 

First favorite track is "You Won't Change Me," and it proves that keyboards were definitely not the downfall of the band. There are some thick-ass spooky vibes on this track, and I love it. But album closer Dirty Women - the LP's centerpiece, according to those wonderful liner NOTES I memorized long ago - is a close second. Sure, the lyrics on this record don't come anywhere near, say, Sabotage, but the music and arranging is fantastic and one of Ozzy's gifts was delivering vague or even goofy lyrics in a manner that made them feel, if not exactly profound, then inevitable. I've never listened to a Sabbath song and thought, 'awful lyrics' even if maybe sometimes they might be.

I really can't tell you how excited finding this has me.

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7 Days of Sabbath Day Day 3: Cornucopia Live 1973

Black Sabbath performing the criminally underrated "Cornucopia," one of my favorite tracks from 1972's Vol 4. 

This recording, which was apparently included in the Vol. 4 box set Rhino released a couple of years back, is fantastic! When I went looking for clean copies of this song live, I never dreamed this was out there. I guess I should have sprung for that box set!

Posted to YouTube by Marc Jacobs - go give this channel a browse and a follow. Lots of great stuff!!!

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Watch:

I had the honor to once again sit in on the Dread Broadcast, this time for their July recap panel discussion.

This aired live last night from 7:00 PM CST until 9:30 PM, but it's up in perpetuity and totally worth your time. So many great films and books covered, and we kicked it off with special guest Writer/Director/Actor Chris Riggi, whose new film Abduct blew both K and I away when we watched it this past Wednesday night.

This one has such a unique tone! Abduct is not a comedy, but it's funny in the way that a film about a group of friends undergoing an extremely messed-up situation can be funny. It's also not afraid to get a little mean and a lot Weird. This is currently a $2.99 rental on Prime and available for free on something called Fawesome. Either way, HIGHLY recommended. 

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Read:

A little bit of personal historical data. 

The first time I saw Ozzy Osbourne live was August 23, 1992. I would have been 16 years old. This was the "No More Tours" tour. Goddamn, do I wish I still had the concert t-shirt I picked up!

Edit this setlist | More Ozzy Osbourne setlists

Personally, I definitely could have done with more of the heavier No More Tears tracks, but the two they chose are favorites, so it's an even trade, as this would have also been the first time I ever heard any Sabbath songs performed live. I remember this show in a very vague way: I remember the World Music Theatre (now called something else) and the way the seats were, the lawn, the metal chicks who were, to my sixteen-year-old eyes, ravishing. I remember Ozzy and excitment of seeing him on stage, but I don't really remember the performance overall. Seeing this set list (thank the stars for Setlist.com. I mean, really), it all seems like a remember it, but I can't be sure I'm not just remembering the decades of knowing what Ozzy does live and grafting it atop the memory. Either way, Glad I went to this, which would have, I think, been my third concert ever.

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Playlist:

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

Black Pyramid - The Paths of Time are Vast

Comic Tropes - Marvel Cancelled FF Out of Spite

Deftones - Ohms

Windhand - Eternal Return

Black Sabbath Live Paris 1970

Goblin - 2013 Tour EP

Ennio Morricone - The Thing OST

Escape Driver - No Fate

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Card:

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

• Queen of Cups

• Two of Wands

• XVI: The Tower

Deep emotional connection and a union of Wills lead to a paradigm shift. Hmm... 

When I turned 49 in March, I made the statement that for my upcoming 50th year, I want to finally make the short film I've been talking about for the last few years. K is on board - she's Magick with a camera - and I have some rough ideas, but I've had a hard time knowing where to start. I think the cards here are telling me that I should perhaps consult more with her, and figure out a game plan together, as opposed to keeping it in my mind to just bring her in as camera. Props to Chris Riggi for, I think, indiretly planting this idea in my head. 

7 Days of Sabbath! Day 2: Black Sabbath Full Live Set, Paris 1970

I originally set out looking for a video of "Lord of This World" from the 70s, but only found video of Sabbath performing it during their reunion tour in 1997/98. This, however... wow. The band was still four working-class guys from Birmingham, touring to support their first two albums. 

Note the alternate vocals on "Hand of Doom" and "War Pigs," or the (insanely out of tune) instrumental intro to Black Sabbath during which we get a close-up on Tony Iommi's finger extensions he had designed so he could play after having the tips of two fingers cut off in the machine press where he worked prior to the band's success.

Years ago, I had a VHS titled something like "The Black Sabbath Story" that combined interviews with live footage spanning the group's Ozzy era. This particular concert supplied the War Pigs that video presented, and the band's no-frills vintage from this performance always stayed with me because most of what you see live from Sabbath footage is post-Master of Reality, when the band had become huge and Ozzy's fringe was growing longer and longer. Mr. Brown, Sonny and I always theorized that the more cocaine Ozzy used for the performance, the longer the fringe. 

There's something insanely intimate and special about this footage. I'm assuming it was released at some point, but I've never seen it (need to look). 

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7 Days of Sabbath! Day 1: Hole in the Sky Live 1975

The opening track from, in my opinion, the best album Black Sabbath ever recorded. Not only does all the music knock it out of the park, but Sabotage is easily the best collection of lyrics the band ever produced, highlights being "Meglomania," "Thrill Of It All" and "The Writ" (on an album where nearly every song has deep, introspective and philosophical lyrics, most of which were written by Geezer Butler).

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NCBD:

Cannot wait for this issue. You'll Do Bad Things is proving to be a bizarre, Slasher/Giallo tribute that has me questioning everything I've seen in its pages so far. Look at that cover! 

WTFPFH?'s current solicitations end with this issue, so I'm not sure where we are in the story. Also, because of the recent gap, I just feel lost again. I'll probably wait to start a re-read until I know when this is returning again. I did, however, sign up for Matthew Rosenberg's free Substack newsletter HERE just to see if I can get any updates. Looking at his page, it seems like all the focus is on a book I totally missed called, We're Taking Everyone Down With Us. I love Rosenberg's writing, but with how WTFPFH? has languished for so long, not sure I'm down with jumping on anything new from him yet.

Garth Ennis and Becky Cloonan? Goddamn right I'm picking this up. I'm so happy to see Boom! still doing so well. Not sure how many issues this is going to run, but I'm in just based on the creators alone. I can't remember the last title I read that Ms. Cloonan drew. 

Mike Shinabarger and I covered News From the Fallout issue one on Drinking with Comics a few weeks ago, and both of us quite liked it. Looking forward to issue 2. Jeffrey Alan Love's art really makes an impression and seems ideally suited to the story.

The more I hear about Mark Spears' Monsters, the more I realize this is a career-making book for Mr. Spears. I think that's awesome. I also think the book is slowly getting better, uncoiling into something I don't think any of us can anticipate. Spears is drawing from such a broad swathe of comic book character iconography - Universal Monsters, Spy Stories, Grindhouse, and now... Superheroes?

I'm still holding onto Lazarus Fallen issue #1 as I finish a rather large spate of current readings and prepare to deep-dive the original two series, Lazarus and Lazarus Risen, again. I can't believe this book is back and coming out monthly like clockwork! Not a knock on the creators; I've just gone without for so long. And talk about a timely return. A not-so-distant future where wealth is politics? Sound familiar?

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Watch:

Last night, K and I saw Michael Shanks' debut film Together, where real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie play a married couple going through issues who encounter an alien substance that begins to fuse them into a single form.

This one is getting A LOT of traction, and it's well deserved. I love that Body Horror has become something of a household word post-The Substance, and Together will likely continue that. And while I'm not the biggest fan of the two leads, both do a fantastic job, as does Damon Harriman, who most will know as Dewey Crow from Justified. 

I can't wait to see what Michael Shanks does next!

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Playlist:

Faetooth - Hole (pre-release single)

Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz

Ghost - Meliora

Faetooth - Remnants of the Vessel

Shellac - At Action Park

Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me

Windhand - Eternal Return

Liars - Drum's Not Dead

Black Pyramid - The Paths of Time are Vast

Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin

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Card:

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

• Page of Wands

• Eight of Pentacles

• XV: The Devil

Baggage. All the fiery energy of the Knight of Wands, but held back by over-analysis or indecision. Concentration can help. However, it's often difficult to know how to begin that, as concentration is itself a product of Will. 

All this seems to shore up this idea I have in my head that I need to take a reboot day and really dig in and clean up a bunch of the unfinished shit in my head to make room for a new concetration generator.

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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7 Days of Ozzy Day 7: Tonight

 

The PERFECT 80s Hard Rock "slow" song. Not a ballad, but moody and great lyrics; a case where the kind of broad-stroke 80s hard rock platitudes pay off in dividends. 

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Watch:

Holy shit! Jason's back!!

 

I don't understand what the "Short-Form Vignette" description means in terms of where, exactly, this is premiering on Friday, August 13, but I'm cautiously optimistic. Will this be on YouTube? Peacock? Angry Orchard.com?

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Playlist:

Ozzy Osbourne - Patient No. 9

Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon

Faith No More - Angel Dust

Flying Lotus - You're Dead

Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz

Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

Judas Priest - Stained Class

Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance

Drug Church - Prude

Sinéad O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra

The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Perturbator - New Model 

King Woman - Doubt EP

King Woman - Bury (single)

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Card:

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

• Knight of Wands 

• O: The Fool

• King of Wands

Started rebuilding my writing routine last night. This is a conscious act of Will that, essentially, is a brand new journey, as all my positive inertia is long gone, and I will have to overcome the entropy of neglect. 

7 Days of Ozzy Day 6: I Don't Want to Change the World

The second track on 1991's No More Tears, the album that solidified me as a fan when it came out, and that was so good it actually hindered my acceptance of its follow-up, 1995's Ozmosis. 

The guitars on this record are so goddamn gorgeous. I really feel like producers Duane Baron and John Purdell, who had not worked with Ozzy previously, took the sonic direction begun on 1988's No Rest for the Wicked and perfected it, and nowhere is that more evident than when this track starts. 

Also, Lemmy's songwriting is all over this record, and I feel like it really helped elevate the lyrics, which might be the best of Ozzy's solo career.

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7 Days of Ozzy Day 5: I Don't Know Live TV Performance, 1981

The first Ozzy Osbourne album that I spent any substantial time getting to know was 1987's Tribute to Randy Rhoads, so even though this live album came out well after the first, Jet Records era of Ozzy's solo career, that is the era that initially defined Ozzy as a solo artist for me. And believe it or not, Sabbath came later.

There's something magical about the Ozzy/Randy albums. I'd offer my suggestion that 1981's Diary of a Madman is a far superior effort than 1980's Blizzard of Ozz, but that's not to put Blizzard down. It's fantastic, and opening track, "I Don't Know," while not really having much to say, is a banger. Cool seeing it performed here, live, even if this 1981 performance on live tv in Rochester, NY is one of the more sedate Ozzy performances I've seen. Hangovers all around would be my guess. 

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7 Days of Ozzy: Day 4- Over the Mountain Live w/ Randy Rhoads, 1982

This one speaks for itself. 

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Watch:

It's Friday, and that means the new edition of Fangoia's weekly newsletter, The Terror Teletype, landed in my inbox while I slept. Reading this brief email packed with genre news and goodies is one of the little events that I look forward to every week. This time, Editor-in-Chief Phil Noble's editorial is a lovely little eulogy for Ozzy.

Also, later in the WTF section, Fango links to a 1988 television commercial featuring Ozzy promoting his then-latest album, No Rest for the Wicked.

WTF indeed. Throughout the first two decades of his solo career, Ozzy always flirted with having one foot in camp, and I think it was a reaction to the televangelist backlash and the general fears conservatives displayed toward his music, Heavy Metal in general, and Horror movies. Bark At the Moon's ridiculous costuming plays a bit differently when you think that maybe the idea was to present a Horror movie aesthetic constructed to make people laugh at the people who decried it as frightening or depraved.

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NCBD Addendum:

I haven't had a chance to read it yet, primarily because I'll need to locate the original series and re-read it, but Black Mask's CALEXIT returned this week with the first issue of CALEXIT: The Battle for Universal City. Writer Matteo Pizzolo returns with new artist C. Granda and colorist James Offredi to deliver a gorgeous new chapter:

I'd seen this solicited but almost dismissed it as a hallucination. The original, three-issue series ran back in 2017-2018, and while we covered it on Drinking with Comics, and I know I liked it, I really remember nothing else about it. It will be nice this weekend to sit down, read the old series and jump directly into this new one. Also, really hope Black Mask can make a comeback, so of course I'll support what they do. They had a good couple of years at the end of the last decade, and then kind of disappeared. Would love to see more Black Mask books on the shelf again. 

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Playlist:

Lady Gaga - Mayhem

Ozzy Osbourne - Shot in the Dark (single)

Ozzy Osbourne - Patient No. 9

Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man

Ozzy Osbourne - Black Rain

Wake the Devil - Angel's Won't Cry (single)

Black Sabbath - Eponymous

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Black Sabbath - Master of Reality

Black Sabbath - Vol. 4

Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

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Card:

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

• Two of Pentacles

• Two of Cups

• Ten of Pentacles

A change in balance leads to wealth.

I'm always hesitant to interpret concepts like 'wealth' at face value when dealing with the archetypes utilized in the cards. More likely, this is a nod to an upcoming triumph in undoing the negative inertia that has seized my brain when it comes to writing. 

7 Days of Ozzy Day 3: Black Sabbath Paranoid on Late Night with David Letterman

I had zero idea such a thing as this existed until a few minutes ago. I can tell by the set that this is during Dave's CBS years, of which I've only ever seen isolated clips. But to think that a theatre full of folks went in to see the Letterman show in 1998 and were treated to a fully reunited Black Sabbath - yes, that's Bill Ward playing the drums! - is just wonderful!

I love this clip because you can see how Ozzy starts the performance with a healthy dose of reserve, probably not having played a television show with his old Birmingham mates since 1978's Top of the Pops, and then Dave's crowd begins to react to his boisterous prompts, he really starts to come alive. That's my big takeaway from having seen Ozzy live four or five times: he was the consummate showman. Makes sense when you consider he performed up until two weeks before his death. 

People talk about how Ozzy never really wrote anything and that somehow makes him lesser, however, anyone who saw this man live knows he is a voice and a performer above all things. 

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