From the Official Type O Negative youtube channel, here's Blood and Fire. Do yourself a favor and let the playlist take you directly into the track that follows it - hopefully, there won't be an ad - because really these two are two halves of an extremely powerful whole. I can still remember
Watch:
Other than that first trailer that dropped last year for Stranger Things Season 4, I have avoided all subsequent trailers for the upcoming penultimate season. In keeping with this, I was not going to watch this trailer, either.
Then I did.
Wow. I am blown away! This is the show that continually proves the exception to the rule: it's always as good as the hype that precedes and follows it. In fact, in my opinion, each season of Stranger Things is increasingly better than the last, so much so, that I would say this show doesn't get nearly the hype it deserves.
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I took a break from the Lovecraft and blew through Brian Asman's novel Man, Fuck This House. This is a fantastic Horror-comedy that plays with the Haunted House subgenre.
Great characters and a truly unique mechanical approach to how the house interacts with the unwitting family that moves in. The book really cozies you up to the characters and their lives, kicks off the festivities, then sprints for 60% of its length toward a fantastic conclusion. Very suspenseful, but never at the expense of its humorous tone. If you dig Grady Hendrix, you will definitely dig this. Plus, it's $2.99 on Kindle at the moment.
Playlist:
Iwan Rebroff - Na Sdarowje (singt Weisen von Wodka und Wein)
Every Day (Is Halloween) - Playlist #3 "In Fear"
Beach House - Once Twice Melody
Card:
Super appropriate as a reminder that, although I have to do some stuff at work this week I don't like to do, I need to be mindful of how I do it, lest others see me as a dick(tator).
Continuing Peter Steele week, here's "(We Were) Electrocute," from 2003's Life Is Killing Me.
I've always wondered if this song was in some way about Milli Vanilli. I'm not really sure why.
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A Stephen Graham Jones Horror comic from IDW? Sign me up.
With cover art here is by Rafael Albuquerque, and series artwork by Davide Gianfelice (Northlanders, Greek Street, Ghosted), Bloody Disgusting reports this one as follows:
“Earthdivers unites four Indigenous survivors in an apocalyptic near future as they embark on a bloody, one-way mission to save the world by traveling back in time to kill Christopher Columbus and prevent the creation of America.”
Recent events very much on my mind, I can tell you that I LOVE this concept. Here's a rather lengthy video announcement IDW released earlier this week; it mentions several other new titles I'm ear-marking here, particularly Scott Snyder and Hayden Sherman's Dark Spaces: Wildfire.
Jones' last three books all blew me away, but My Heart is a Chainsaw proved a level up even for someone already so prolific and accomplished. I can't wait to see how his writing plays out in the graphic format.
Playlist:
The Jim Carroll Band - Catholic Boy
Nurse with Wound - Soliloquy for Lilith
Tones on Tail - Everything!
Skinny Puppy - Last Rights
Nachtmystium - Addicts: Black Meddle, Part 2
Judas Priest - Painkiller
Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me
Slayer - Live Undead
Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror
The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir
Revocation - The Outer Ones
Card:
I'll be keeping my eyes and my mind open for inspiration or knowledge from an unexpected or previously dismissed source.
A pretty candid interview with Steele from '97. I LOVE the way he responds to the interviewer when he suggests that the then newly released October Rust issofter than their previous records.
I plan to do this every year and always botch it. Not this time! With yesterday the twelfth anniversary of Peter Steele's death, I thought this would be a perfect time to do a week-long retrospective of some lesser-known Type O songs.
1992's "live" album The Origin of the Feces is possibly my favorite album by Type O Negative. It's dark AF but still insanely funny, a tone the band was able to balance for most of its career, starting with this release, which followed their 1991 debut Slow, Deep and Hard. Feces is essentially the live version of the first album, and honestly, it's how I like these songs the best. There's no doubt SD&H had a HUGE impact on me when I first heard it, circa 1993, but that humorous tone just isn't there yet - like Peter and the guys hadn't quite found their voice yet - so when I go to this era, I almost always go exclusively to Feces.
That sounds weird.
Watch:
David Cronenberg returns! Oh man, I want this right. F&^king now, please!
I'm not sure when this drops, but hot damn am I hoping it will be in time for Beyondfest this year, which despite my plans to move out of LaLaLand, I will be returning for NO MATTER WHAT. Seriously, this is their ten-year anniversary, and I am not missing whatever shenanigans those crazy bastards have planned.
Playlist:
Television - Marquee Moon
Wire - Chairs Missing
Drug Church - Hygiene
Burial - Antidawn
Type O Negative - Dead Again
Black Mare - Death Magick Mother
Belong - October Language
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
Black Sabbath - Eponymous
The Jesus Lizard - Goat
Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Punch the Clock
Card:
Stop fighting what you know and listen past the distractions. There's inspiration amidst the chaos.
I'm not 100% sure if this is SQÜRL remixing Boris or what, but I LOVE it. From the upcoming Todo Muere SBXV, which you can order from Sacred Bones Records HERE.
NCBD:
Here's tomorrow's haul for NCBD:
New Steve Niles. Always a good thing.
I am so psyched and surprised Marvel is doing a Black, White & Blood for Moon Knight! Can't wait.
I've begun to get a bit freaked out when a Reckless book hits the stands. When you figure Brubaker and Phillips drop them every six months, well, I feel like those months are flying by. Whatever. I love this series.
So now I have three weeks a month with an X-book. If you had told me last year at this time that this is where I'd be, I'd have laughed. Look who's laughing now, eh?
K is a big fan of the 90s X-Men cartoon, so I'm thinking I'll grab this for her. I doubt she has time to catch up on all the House/Powers stuff, so this will be an interesting way for her to experience some of the thrill, but with the versions of the characters she knows and loves.
This is one of the best adaptations of a short story I've come across. Kind of reminds me of that old I Am Legend Prestige format that - bringing it back around without even realizing it at first - Steve Niles did in the early 90s with Elman Brown. Just a solid retelling with some interesting tweaks thrown in here and there.
I always start reading the Sandman Universe titles and never finish. We'll see how this one goes. One thing is for sure: I love me some Corinthian.
Yeah, I guess Michael Graves is a proud boy or whatever now, but once upon a time his unfortunate nationalist tendencies hadn't floated to the surface yet and he took over as the first Misfits singer I gave a shit about since Danzig.
Wait, maybe he was the first after Danzig? I don't even remember anymore. Whatever. Either way, I had to post this track because of what you'll see in the next section of this post below. Regardless of his politics - which mind you, is mostly third-person related to me - I adore his two albums with the Misfits.
Read:
From the final page of Marvel Comics' new Spider-Punk mini-series. What an idea - a Misfits-inspired revamp of Taskmaster!
Dollar Bin:
If you've followed any of my comic/pop culture writings for long enough, you've heard me talk about my affinity for Marvel's 1986 failed New Universe line. I remember the ads building hype for this as if they were published yesterday:
I tried a few of the New Universe titles when they first dropped, but none of them moved the needle enough to make me spend my allowance on them monthly. Then, something amazing happened:
The Starbrand character accidentally nuked the city of Pittsburgh and the entire line of books changed, basically became a terrifying allegory for 80s Cold War Nuclear Panic. It was amazing!
After the one-shot graphic novel that changed the status quo of the line - aptly titled The Pitt - the 8 books in the NU turned into four, and things got dark AF. Shortly after came the four-part, Prestige Format series The War, which I believe ended the first iteration of Marvel's New Universe.
When these were coming out, I know I had books 1 and 2 of The War, but I don't remember having 3 and 4. I can't imagine why I wouldn't have bought them, but who knows. I'm pretty sure I don't still have now, although similarly I don't remember ever parting with them. Recently however, I found books 3 and 4 in the Dollar Bin at the Bug. Score! Now I just have to either find or re-buy the others and I can finally read the entire series.
Plastic:
Speaking of Marvel Comics - Jesus F*&king Christ do I want this:
Thanks to Mr. Brown for sending the advert for this my way. I'm not sure I'm ready to pony up $275 bucks for this, but... damn! If it had been anyone but Man-Thing, I wouldn't even be entertaining the idea. I'll always have a fascination with Slime/Swamp/Sewer characters (what does that say about me???).
The psychedelic variant of Marvel's Man-Thing drops tomorrow from Mondo.
Playlist:
Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
QOTSA - Era Vulgaris
Svarte Greiner - Devolving Trust
Blut Aus Nord - That Cannot Be Dreamed
Mark Lanegan Band - Here Comes That Weird Chill
Helmet - Aftertaste
Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous
Reflections - The Color Clear
Ghost Bath - Moon Lover
Steve Moore - Bliss OST
Card:
I don't even have it in me to interpret this at the moment, but it looks like a pretty big warning about letting emotional pile-up affect carefully laid plans.
