Dead Cross

 

Wow. Dead Cross returns with a song and video that immediately make me like this album better than the last. Can't wait. Dead Cross II drop October 28 on Ipecac, Pre-order HERE.

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Watch:

Over the last year, I finally did what everyone told me to do and watched Cobra Kai. Holy shit - this show is awesome. For someone who saw the first two Karate Kid flicks as a kid and never since I was floored by how much I dig this show. But hey, it is really well done.

Season Five and an entire valley of Terry Silver's domestic karate terrorist program? Wow. Looks fantastic.

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Playlist:

The Soft Moon - Exister (pre-release singles)

The Soft Moon - Criminal

Bexley - Eponymous

Blut Aus Nord - 777 Cosmosophy

Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed

Iwan Rebroff - singt Weison von Wodka und Wein

Halloween Chemicals Kill Warfare

How about some Slayer to start the day, eh? One of my all-time favorite tracks from them. 

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NCBD:

Short week (thankfully):

After that big Silver Coin reread over the weekend, I can't wait for this new issue. 

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Watch:

I for one LOVED Halloween Kills. Now, granted, I really dug DGG's Halloween 2018, too, until I rewatched it at home. Not that I hated it or anything, but that second, smaller viewing revealed a bit of a lackluster sheen that was no doubt covered up by the big, opening night, theatrical viewing my friends and I had first with that one (listen to our just-after-leaving-the-theatre review HERE). And I've only seen Kills the one time, again in the theatre, although not on opening day. Still, I dug pretty much everything but the ending, which proved to be a HUGE question mark. It catapults this new requel approach into possibly super-supernatural territory, so I really have to see Halloween Ends before I can make an overall judgment, Either way, this is going to be fun as hell in the theatre come October!

Visceral, to say the least. And call me old-fashioned, but the old hand-in-the-garbage-disposal is always a gag that makes me flinch. 

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Playlist:

Bria - Cunty Covers Vol. 1

ZZ Top - Eliminator

Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain

Black Pumas - Eponymous

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (digipak version)

Ghost - Impera

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Fast-paced change? CHECK! I love how all my pulls are reflecting the heightened frenzy and complication party of my preparing to move across the country. Batten down the hatches, not long now!!!

Sleeping in the Midday Sun

 

Listening to Orville Peck's Bronco a lot these last few months since it dropped, and I've done that thing where pretty much every song rotates in as my favorite for a bit. A few weeks ago, it was the album closer "All I Can Say." Great duet that prompted me to look into Peck's guest Bria's work.

Cunty Covers Volume 1 dropped last year, and I'm pretty sure had I heard it then, the EP would have made it onto my year's best list. Wow. My favorite track on an album of favorite tracks, here's Bria's rendition of John Calle's "Buffalo Ballet." You can order the album from Bria's Bandcamp HERE.

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READ:

I spent Saturday morning re-reading Michael Walsh and friends' The Silver Coin, then my co-host Butcher and I did a two-hour FULL SPOILER retrospective on the entire series for The Horror Vision, available now on all Podcast Platforms.

Then Sunday, I spent the morning re-reading Matthew Rosenberg and Tyler Boss's What's the Furthest Place From Here. Man, you can't get much better than these two series. While you can hear plenty of my thoughts on The Silver Coin in the episode mentioned above, I'll just use this space right here to tell you that WTFPFH is probably going to end up being my favorite book of the year. 

There is just NOTHING else out there like this book. Sure, I could make comparisons to Teenagers From Mars and Black Hole, among others, but WTFPFH cuts the modern realism with a heaping dose of what the actual fuck? and it makes for a fun, quirky read that I really can't wait to see further unravel, because there is NO way to anticipate where the hell this one is going. Love it!

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Playlist:

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain

John Cale - Black Acetate

Bria - Cuntry Covers Vol. 1

... And You Will Know Us By The Trail of the Dead - XI: Bleed Here Now

Withered - Veloren

The Sword - Age of Winters

Telekinetic Yeti - Primordial

Earthless - Black Heaven

Helms Alee - Keep This Be the Way

Sleep - Volume One

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

'

Another reminder that change is a'coming? Really? As if I don't know (he says while he's out of breath from packing).

XL/RZ

 

Anthrax's fan-chosen live album XL dropped yesterday, and while you can tell Joey is struggling a bit on some of the songs, overall this is a blast. Love these guys, can't wait to see them at the Paladium at the end of the month, my outro show from LaLaLand. What a great way to exit, eh?

 

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Watch:

I have to tell you, all the way until I hit play on the new trailer for Rob Zombie's The Munsters remake, I assumed I would hate what I saw. You know what though? This looks visually fantastic and fun as hell:

 

I also appreciate the fact that it's a love story? I mean, part of why I assumed I would not give a lick about this film is I had a really hard time imagining what RZ would do with this property - he hits the same note with his stuff so often that I just couldn't imagine a departure. That's not a complaint - despite regular complaints and disappointments, I generally like most of what he's done cinematically.

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Playlist:

Metallica - Master of Puppets

Perturbator, Johannes Persson and Final Light - Final Light

Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance

Baroness - Gold and Grey

John Cale - Black Acetate

Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

Anthrax - XL

Telekinetic Yeti - Primordial

Bexley - Eponymous

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Struggle? Oh yeah. Getting some people to start packing is like trying to get a liar to tell the truth. Still, the card reminds me not to give up, and that even when I feel totally immobilized, there will be a new card tomorrow (unless this one resurfaces. That would make me cry).

I Want to Reach Out and Touch the Sky

Just because it fucking rules!!!

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Watch:

Andrei Tarkovsky has only ever barely been on my peripheral, but thanks to Criterion Channel, I just had the opportunity to watch his 1979 film Stalker.

I still need time to unpack this one before I can talk about it, however, let it be said that I absolutely LOVED this film. Talk about 'location porn.' The visual aesthetic of this film perfectly aligns with my innermost aesthetic - something that goes back to when I hunted around my yard for half-full culverts and dirt mounds, shattered bricks, twisted metal, anything to have a location for my action figures. 

I've been obsessing over Stalker in my head for the last two days, and this inspired me to look for a podcast discussion of it. Well, boy did I find it.

 

The Weird Studies podcast is fantastic! Hosts Phil Ford and J.F. Martel not only deep-dive the film, but their discussion of philosophy, art and life feels absolutely refreshing in the stifled academic pretense of our time. I've already subscribed, and intend on Weird Studies keeping me company for many a commute to come (while I still have a commute, that is).

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Watch.2:

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I cannot wait for this movie!

 

Against all odds, this really moved the needle for me. I "broke up" with Kevin Smith about the time I sat through Tusk, which could have been fantastic, but had James Laxton's gorgeous cinematography and a stellar Michael Parks performance destroyed by adolescent whimsy. I used to be a big fan of his films, but now, well, I still hold Chasing Amy in extremely high regard - the acting! - but other than that... not so much. Clerks II had its moments but was overall depressing. I'm not saying Smith makes bad movies (sometimes, sure), but overall I feel like I just outgrew him. This, though, looks like it will be a nice way to revisit that original film and these characters. My mileage varies with most of them, but it's been a minute and I didn't go within ten feet of that Reboot movie, so I think I may enjoy the Quick Stop one last time.

 

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Playlist:

Bria - Cuntry Covers Vol. 1

Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance

Earthless - Black Heaven

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland

Windhand - Split EP

Metallica - Master of Puppets

The Bullet Screamed At Me From Somewhere

 

I have Alice in Chains on my mind. Mr. Brown often clues me in on the Pitchfork Sunday Review, where every Sunday a writer looks back on an iconic album. Yesterday was Dirt - one of the most important of my "forever albums," and it made me dive back in head-first. 

I've never been much of a Pitchfork guy, but when they hit it, they really leave a mark on me. This was one of those times. 

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NCBD:

Back home (for now) in LA, so I'll be heading to the Bug to pick up this week's books, which are plentiful:

Some big events kicking off in TMNT and the X-Books, which have the second annual Hellfire Gala followed immediately by Judgment Night (which I'm still not sold on). Also, I'm not necessarily going to jump on this new Mandolorian series, but I definitely want to check out the #1.

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Playlist:

Ghost - Impera

Bria - Cuntry Covers Vol. 1

Black Sabbath - Eponymous

Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain

Karma to Burn - V

Black Sabbath - Never Say Die

Mars Red Sky - Eponymous

Billy Idol - The Roadside EP

Faith No More - Sol Invictus

The Jesus Lizard - Liar

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

This gives me a teensy bit of an idea of how things are going to be as I prep for leaving LaLaLand. So far, no, things have not necessarily been the way I expected, but nothing has been a straight-up rug, so that's good. The idea in life is always to go in with loose expectations (if any at all), lest you succumb to disappointment despite a triumph.

For Eddie

\m/

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Watch:

Very curious about Addison Heimann's Hypochondriac, which Bloody Disgusting's John Squires says,  "gives us Donnie Darko vibes." No quicker way to get me interested. Here's the trailer:

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Read:

I had previously noticed the solicitation for Pentagram of Horror, a new anthology Horror comic created by Marco Fontanili, but the shop didn't order any (or was sold out), and I kinda forgot about it from there. Fast forward to Tennessee a few weeks ago and I was able to snag issue 2 from Rick's Comic City. I just read it this morning, and I have to say, I loved it.

Pentagram of Horror reminds me A LOT of The Silver Coin, though not in an imitation way. Having only read this second issue, I can say that the story here was very well told, with Fontanili's writing and art working together in such a way that it really strengthened the tone. Very horrific, stand-alone, but with a wide enough scope that it feels cinematic.

Can't wait to track down #1.

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Playlist:

Baroness - Gold and Grey

Orville Peck - Bronco

Sal Salmena - Bria

Bria - Cuntry Covers Vol. 1

Greg Puciato - Mirror Cell

The Sword - Age of Winters

Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop OST

Various - Lost Highway OST

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

Alice in Chains - Dirt

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Change. Oh yeah. LOTS.