News of former Mastodon founding member Brent Hinds' death filtered in this morning and really kind of left me aghast. Hinds had recently left the band, and from a lot of the videos my algorithm tries to feed me but I avoid, he'd gone on something of a tear speaking out against his former bandmates. Whatever drama ensued, it's all over now, and a very talented artist is gone. Crazy how monumental shifts can follow one another so quickly, or perhaps one brings on the other.
Thursday, August 21, 2025
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
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.
NCBD:
Another Wednesday, another NCBD pull list! Super excited about these, so let's get into it!
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).
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.
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
• 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.
Monday, August 18, 2025
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.
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."
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.
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
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.
Friday, August 15, 2025
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.
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.
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)
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?
Wednesday, August 13, 2025
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.
NCBD:
Another easy week, but everything here is something I can't wait to read! Let's go:
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.
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.
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
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.
Monday, August 11, 2025
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.
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.
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
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.
Friday, August 8, 2025
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)
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.
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.
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
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• 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.
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