Sing for Joy

 

Man, I listened to Frank Black's Honeycomb record for the first time in a long time yesterday and was deeply moved. I've always identified more with the other iterations of his solo work that occur under variations of his moniker. Frank Black and the Catholics are my favorite, followed of course by Pixies, Black Francis and, um, whatever other derivations might be currently escaping me. Honeycomb occupies a weird place in my awareness because I always confuse it as being a Catholics album, and my least favorite of the bunch. But in being reminded of its place in Mr. Black's catalog, I was also reminded of a lot of good times listening to this, and it was nice to go back and give it my full attention, even if I might not do so again for some time. 

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Watch:

Last night, K and I made it out to see Martin McDonagh's new film,  The Banshees of Inisherin, which floored me when I saw it landed in our local Regal. 

Like the rest of McDonagh's oeuvre, Banshees is a feast for the eyes, brain and heart. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson turn in outstanding performances that are bolstered by a supporting cast that knows no weakness, especially Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan. The chemistry between all of them is riveting, but of special note for me was seeing Keoghan and Farrell together again; echoes of their performances in Killing of a Sacred Deer still resound in my head.

I know many will be tempted to wait for streaming on this one, being a quiet drama and all. I would, however, advise seeing it on the big screen. Not only will you be supporting films like this continuing to receive wide theatrical release - David O'Russell's Amsterdamn and its epic failure at the BO has greatly corrupted the chances of adult dramas rolling wide from here out - but you'll be able to feel the breathless majesty of the Emerald Isle on the big screen, the way cinematographer Ben Davis intended.

Also of note, Carter Burwell's score is, as always, wonderful; inspiring as it is in its "less is more" aesthetic.

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NCBD:

Here's what I'm pulling off the shelves later today:

Mystique and Destiny in Victorian England? Been waiting for this, as I really want follow-up on that opening sequence in Immortal X-Men #1 that saw the two of them and Sinister  - or perhaps the man who would be Sinister - discussing the future from the vantage point of citizens of Victoriana. 

Speaking of Victoriana, the first two issues of Phantasmagoria blew me away. Possession, secret high society societies, and a bevy of literary allusions have made this one of my most anticipated monthlies at the moment.

Will the finale of this current Shaolin Cowboy series be as insane as the first six issues? I'd bet my talking, smoking lizards on it.

I'm still in awe of what Lemire and Sorrentino have given us so far from the Bone Orchard Mythos, so I've been kind of chomping at the bit to read more. 

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Playlist:

Ifernach - Capitulation of All Life

Grand Duchy - Petite Fours

Frank Black - Honeycomb

Revolting Cocks - Big Sexy Land

Godflesh - Streetcleaner

Barry Adamson - Back to the Cat

Calderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands

Underworld - Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future

Underworld - RiverRun Project

Darkness Brings the Cold - House of Sin

Darkness Brings the Cold - Eponymous

Darkness Brings the Cold - Human Me

Deafheaven - Sunbather

Fvunerals - For the Horrors Eat the Light (pre-release single, thanks Tommy)

Godflesh - PURE Live

Godflesh - Messiah

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Card:

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

The stability achieved through ritual and routine will be disrupted briefly. Instead of allowing this to cause frustration, I'm pretty sure the message here is to look at it as a pattern interrupt that will help me see things from a different perspective and, thus, gain new insight.

For Absent Friends

I don't think I ever noticed how much this track from 2002's Deliverance resembles Alice in Chains. It's the guitar, 100%. Has that woodsy, almost campfire sound Jerry Cantrell gets to his playing when it veers forlorn and reflective. Absolutely stunning, regardless of the comparison. I always teeter back and forth between Deliverance and Blackwater Park as the crowning jewel of Opeth's "mid" period.

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Watch:

Over the course of two nights last week, I watched and rewatched Panos Cosmatos' entry in Guillermo del Torro's Cabinet of Curiosities. 

 

To say The Viewing is my favorite installment of Cabinet would be an understatement. I liked all of them to one degree or another, and even the ones I connected with least - unexpectedly, both H.P. Lovecraft adaptations - rank as extremely well-made genre films. But The Viewing is something else entirely.

 

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Read:

Seeing the announcements for Stephen Graham Jones' Don't Fear the Reaper, I finally ordered a signed Hardcover edition of last year's My Heart is a Chainsaw from the wonderful folks at Jones' home store, Boulder Books in Bolder Colorado. Chainsaw was the first volume in what Jones has dubbed his Indian Lake Trilogy, and Reaper continues the story. Here's the solicitation from Jone's publisher, Simon and Schuster:

December 12th, 2019, Jade returns to the rural lake town of Proofrock the same day as convicted Indigenous serial killer Dark Mill South escapes into town to complete his revenge killings, in this riveting sequel to My Heart Is a Chainsaw from New York Times bestselling author, Stephen Graham Jones.

Don't Fear the Reaper is out February 7th, and you can pre-order it anywhere. I'm sure I'll be ordering a signed one from Boulder Books, and I'll probably ask for the personalized option this time. To good to pass up.

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Playlist:

Barry Adamson - Back To The Cat

Opeth - Deliverance

Raveonettes - Chain Gang of Love

Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse

With Strangers - A Love That's Gone (single)

Preoccupations - Arrangements

The Ocean - Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic

The Ocean - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic/Cenozoic

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

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Card:

Returning once more to the Raven Deck for a quick pull to establish the week:

Reading this as a reminder to keep things fluid this week. I had a great writing session this past Saturday where I dug heavily back into Shadow Play Book Two, and then a massive, three-plus hour one again Sunday to further that. Raven's telling me to enjoy this, but be open to other projects that might need attention this week.

Lynne Davison's Mandrake

 

Opeth isn't the only band that breathes November to me. TV On the Radio has also long been synonymous with the penultimate month of the year, though I'm not entirely sure why. With both bands, I think it goes back to the first couple of years after I moved to L.A. I was really digging in and establishing myself, and I spent a lot of time listening to music (as I always do). Whatever the reason, TVOTR is always a band I "feel" more when the skies are grey and the air has a nip to it.

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Watch:

Yesterday I watched the latest film to hit Shudder, Lynne Davison's Mandrake. Super solid Irish Folk Horror. 

If you dig flicks like Lorcan Finnegan's Without Name or George Popov's The Droving, you'll dig this one. Very subtle, brooding and ominous. Here's the press solicitation:

Mandrake follows probation officer Cathy Madden, who is given the task of rehabilitating notorious killer ‘Bloody’ Mary Laidlaw back into society after twenty years of jail. Cathy has always believed that every client deserves a shot at redemption, but her beliefs are firmly tested when two children disappear near Mary’s farm.

This is the kind of movie where the setting is as much a character as the actors, and Davison and crew could not have chosen wiser. Mary's "farm" has so much character, you can practically smell the place whenever the film takes you there. Mary herself, played by Derbhle Crotty could not be creepier in her stoicism, leaving you wondering about her motives and machinations pretty much from the first time she appears on screen. Likewise lead Deirdre Mullins's aforementioned Officer Madden. Mullins plays this character so close to the chest that you can feel the disappointments in her history before they're ever mentioned in the film. 

Over the last year, Folk Horror has become such a thing that I went from being excited by it to having a healthy dose of skepticism whenever a new film hits. Mandrake, however, is quite solid and a definite recommendation for those nights when you're looking for something more cerebral and less bombastic. Not that there isn't blood, because there most certainly is that, too.

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Playlist:

Opeth - Watershed

Electric Wizard - Dopethrone

Boy Harsher - Lesser Man

Revocation - Teratogenesis EP

Revocation - Netherheaven

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Card:

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

A lot of emotional work ahead in order to advance to a place where those 'feelings' won't interfere with my better judgment. 

Christmas Bloody Christmas!

 

I think I'm going to need a heaping dose of sonic autopsy from Electric Wizard to wake my ass up today. K and I went and got our Boosters yesterday, and in line with all the other iterations of this, it knocked me on my ass, so I didn't sleep all that well, and I'm struggling to get through work today.

Any band that names a song (or part of a song) after Weird Tales are gods in my book. 

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Watch:

That which I have been waiting for has finally arrived:

 

Since Heavenisanincubator turned me on to Joe Begos' ultra-violent SciFi mind-fuck Almost Human many years ago, I've been a fan. I corralled a bunch of friends to go see Begos' follow-up Mind's Eye at Beyondfest in 2015 and repeated that in 2019 for the Bliss/VFW double-header. Knowing Christmas Bloody Christmas would land this year, it reigned as my #1 "Gotta get tickets" film for this year's Beyondfest, but Murphy's Law dictated that the viewing occurred on the same night I'd bought tickets to see Zeal and Ardor. I don't regret the choice, however, it's been ribbing me ever since. Now that the trailer is here, I'm even more excited to see Begos' latest film. He just delivers the kind of violent trash (I mean that as a compliment, of course) that puts me back to the world of my childhood, and his visual and musical aesthetic aligns very much with my own. 

With the line "in theatres everywhere" attached to the film and the fact that I just saw Damien Leone's Terrifier 2 at the Regal in town, I'm hoping CBC lands here, too. If not, I've been plotting where I might have to drive to see it. Because oh yes, I will drive to see this.

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Read:

Here's another NCBD addendum. On a lark, I picked up the first issue of Specs, published by BOOM studios, created by David M. Booher and Chris Shehan.

Very solid first issue. Obviously, the cover gives off They Live vibes, but that's not really the case. The set-up is the two main characters get a hold of wish-granting Specs that turn their life upside down and by the looks of it, there will be fallout. I dug this issue enough that I'll definitely be coming back for more.

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Playlist:

Opeth - Watershed

Electric Wizard - Dopethrone

The Neverly Boys - The Dark Side of Everything

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Card:

From the Grimoire: "Let things develop before making another move." Loud and clear. 

Madrigal/The Amen Corner

 

From Opeth's 1998 My Arms Your Hearse. These are separated as two separate tracks, so props to efrain23 for posting them together. 

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NCBD:

Can't wait to get into Rick's Comic City and pick up my books later today. Here's what I'm grabbing off the shelves for NCBD:

Hobgoblin may be the character that first got me to pick up a Spidey comic as a kid - I think my first was the famous Amazing Spider-Man #289 back in 1987. I've talked here before about how I never really followed any Spider-book on a monthly basis, only jumped on when the story/cover looked appealing to me. Hobgoblin was always a draw, and it's cool to see him - ah, them? - back again. After all, what's better than a Hobgoblin appearance? Two Hobgoblins! 

The penultimate issue. Daniel Warren Johnson's Do A Powerbomb is definitely a series of continued gut punches, and for the second year in a row, DWJ's leading my "Best of 2022" comics list. 

Benjamin Percy's Ghost Rider has kept me around, despite being slightly uneven. Issues that I expect to flop - like the one with Wolverine as a guest star - blew me away (so f**kin' gory!), but often after those tentpole issues, the series feels a bit by the book. I think I'm wrong, though, and I'm hoping the change at the end of issue 7 marks new territory. I don't love the implications of this cover, however, I've been reading comics long enough to know an arresting image like this will probably play no part in the actual issue.

This Moon Knight series is another that continues to defy my expectations. Marvel is really developing the "Midnight Sons" corner of their universe, most likely to usher in an eventual leg of the MCU, and that's alright in my book. In Moon Knight alone we've recently had Vampires and now Werewolves, so who knows where this is going.

J.M. Dematteis returns to the Kraven's Last Hunt lore? I'm in. 

In an interesting coincidence, I just caught up on The Nice House On The Lake over the weekend, so I'm ready for this, another penultimate issue. I'm not really certain how this book will wrap up by #12, but I have learned to trust the Tiny Onion.

I'm now three issues behind on this series; time to get my ass in gear. What a cover!

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Playlist:

Pailhead - Trait

Lard - Pure Chewing Satisfaction

Cocksure - K.K.E.P.

Lustmord - The Dark Places of the Earth 

Tangerine Dream - Force Majuere

Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST

Opeth - My Arms Your Hearse

Opeth - Watershed

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (digipak)

Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets (1998 Edition)

Ghost Bath - Moonlover

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Card:

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

A Breakthrough that leads to increased assets inspires determination and a new willingness to take on extra burdens. Vague, but it fits something in my life perfectly (I think).

In the Mist

 

A little old-school Opeth to kick off the week. From their 1995 debut Orchid.

I spent more time last week listening to the newer Opeth albums than I ever have before, and still, nothing after Watershed really sticks with me. I wasn't a fan back when these early, Candlelight/Century Black records came out; I didn't buy my first Opeth album until the early oughts (Deliverance), and I didn't become what I would call a huge fan until shortly before the aforementioned Watershed, an album I never really connected with either, until last week. Watershed has its moments, but previously only ever served to make me miss the band that recorded the albums before it that I like. My circuitous point here is I can't claim the same prejudice against the band's conversion to prog-rock that older fans do, who witnessed the evolution as each successive record came out, but like many others, I miss the teeth from the band's early and even mid-career music.

So I'm pulling out the triple-disc rerelease those first three records received in the mid-00s and digging in. 

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Play:

I hadn't really picked up my Switch to continue my pilgrimage in Game Kitchen's Blasphemous in some time, so Sunday I spent a good deal of time on it while editing the 100th episode of The Horror Vision. I made quite a bit of progress, and am now approximately 93% finished. Lots of surprises in this game, which so reminds me of Castlevania and, in some ways more so, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. The most unexpected event I encountered so far is a hidden room that houses an arcade game, which you have the option to play. Here's a playthrough video from youtube Psychobeats, link to their channel HERE.

Very cool stuff. I can't wait to see what else this game has in store for me. For now, I'm trapped battling my way through "Mourning and Havoc" one of the more difficult levels I've encountered in the game.

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Playlist:

Forhist - Eponymous

John Carpenter - Alive After Death

The Besnard Lakes - The Last of the Great Storm Warnings

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School  of Medicine - White People and the Damage Done

Lustmord and The Ocean - Primal (State of Being) (Single)

The Ocean - Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic

The Final Cut - Consumed

Miami Nights 1984 - Sentimental

Sade - Loe Deluxe

Boy Harsher - Lesser Man

Thelonious Monk W/ John Coltrane - Eponymous

Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry

Alice in Chains - Eponymous

Barry Adamson - As Above So Below

Cory Wong - Power Station

Orville Peck - Pony

Orville Peck - Bronco

Ghost - Impera

Def Leppard - Pyromania

Tim Waits - Rain Dogs

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Card:

Terrifier 2

It's funny. Two weeks ago today, I woke up and saw Boy Harsher had dropped a new single. I posted Burn it Down that day, hoping it heralded an upcoming full-length, not realizing less than twenty-four hours later, I would sit down in a cinema and hear the song featured in Halloween Ends. Then, last night, I went to see Terrifier 2 (at a Regal no less, which is just INSANE) and was overjoyed to hear "Pain," from the band's 2018 album Lesser Man.

Very cool to see these two blowing up. I love their music.

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Watch:

I don't know what it says about our society that Terrifier 2 is having a pretty big run at big box theatre chains, and likewise, I don't know what it says about me that I liked it as much as I did. I'm still uncomfortable with the revelry these two flicks place on violence, but there's a larger picture emerging that has me quite intrigued. 

 

 Looks like my 31 days of Halloween are still going.

 

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Read:

Holy cow. X-Men: RED absolutely blew me away this month. The level of planning, plotting and story architecture at work in the X-Books these days is pretty staggering, but the revelation of Abigail Brand's agenda is awe-inspiring. 

There's something magical about the way this book meshes the cosmic Marvel Universe - Nova has been regularly seen in its pages - and the X-Men. Previously, even when Chris Claremont took his Uncanny X-Men book into cosmic territory - usually with the Sh'iar - I always kind of tuned out. I never cared about Lilandra, Gladiator or Cycolops' father and his team of space swashbucklers, or whatever they were. But something about SWORD vol. 2 and now X-Men read, the overall story they're telling and the galactic stage they've set, it's really working for me. (I still don't care about the Sh'iar, who figured prominently in this book, however, I will say that the crimes they are on the brink of war for are very intriguing). 

Oh, and I'm back to loving Cable. Who knew that would happen?

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Playlist:

Opeth - In Cauda Venenum

Opeth - Watershed

Opeth - Deliverance

Ritual Veil - Wolf in the Night EP

Various - Terrifier 2 Soundtrack Playlist

Boy Harsher - Lesser Man

Bragolin - I Saw Nothing Good so I Left

Miami Nights 1984 - Sentimental

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Card:

A new venture brings success and balance. Not gonna lie - kind of needed this after that murky year-end pull.