Valkyrie - Afraid to Live

Easily now my favorite of the records I received from Relapse Records by way of randomly getting their 20th Anniversary's Golden Ticket back in 2020, Valkyrie's Fear is a work of art, and definitely shares more in common with the work of bands like Led Zeppelin than a lot of modern bands do. That doesn't make them better, it just makes them unique. At the moment, this is my favorite song on an album of favorite songs.

---

---

---

Read:

I finally went back and read Rick Remender and André Lima Araújo's A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance 1-4 in one sitting. I'd read issues one and two as they came out, then forgot about the book, picked up three and four and have basically had them sitting on my reading pile for a few weeks. 

This book is fantastic; it's lean and has a velocity that pulls you page after page in short order, with a bunch of, "wait, did I miss something" moments that are all leading up to revelations that will no doubt draw the story into a cataclysmic conclusion. I can't wait to read more.

I also finished Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy by finally closing out volume three, The Amber Spyglass. Being that the HBO/BBC show's third and final season is soon to be upon us, and being that said show is such a spot-on adaptation of the books, I am very curious how this third installment will look. There are several very strange facets to this third chapter, including but not limited to the Mulefa and Gallivespians, and I can't wait to see how the show approaches them. 

It's insane to think it's been nearly twenty years since the last time I read these books, and I was supremely baffled by how little I remembered of this one. If not for so vividly remember the scene where Lyra and Will release the aging god from his protective litter and watch him dissipate, I would be tempted to think after seeing the second half of the trilogy performed as theatre-in-the-round at the Royal National Theatre's Oliver Theatre in London back in 2003, I neglected to finish this third volume. That doesn't seem to be the case, though, so it's been good re-reading these, especially at a time when ignorance is so plentiful, it gives hope to remember there are intelligent forces at work in the world.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Steve Moore - VFW OST

The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust

Valkyrie - Fear

Odonis Odonis - Spectrums

Fleet Foxes - Shore

Cocksure - TVMALSV

---

---

---

Card:

I could not have drawn a more perfect card, as only moments before executing this pull, K and I booked 73 nights in Tennessee for Mid-April. This will be the hardest and yet most rewarding journey of my life, and we have just taken the first step on its path! 

Zeal and Ardor - Run

 

The new Zeal and Ardor album is out and after three listens this morning, it's already on my shortlist for album of the year. I am perpetually blown the f**k away by how this man's sound evolves. It would be so easy for a band with this DNA to tread water, but that is most definitely NOT the case.

---

---

---

Read:

This isn't the edition I have, but I love this cover

I realized recently that, for all the fiction by H.P. Lovecraft I've read over the last thirty-odd years, I don't think I'd ever read The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. I'm about halfway through the novella at this point, and two observations:

1) This one definitely sates the thirst for Lovecraft imagery and overall style/tone, however, it is not a very good story, and does not feel all that different than quite a few of his other stories.

2) This is easily the most racist of HPL's work that I've read.

The racism, coupled with the redundant prose, has made this one a bit of a chore. However, I intend on trudging on until completion. As I have gotten older and been exposed to more and more Weird Fiction and Horror, Lovecraft becomes more about the concepts and less about the writing. He just wasn't that good. 

---

---

---

Watch:

The season finale of The Book of Boba Fett was everything I could ever want from a Star Wars story. 

Now, we'll all just have to wait until the third season of The Mandalorian premieres.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Burial - Antidawn

Zombi - Digitalis

Abby Sage - Fears of Yours and Mine EP

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

Orville Peck - Pony

---

New Carpenter Brut!

 

New Carpenter Brut album Leather Terror, out April 1st, and the first song has Greg Puciato on vocals! Pre-order HERE.

 

---

---

---

Watch:

I know nothing about this new Alex Garland film, but it's an Alex Garland film, so I am excited!

---

---

---

Playlist:

Ghost - Meliora

Ghost - Infestissumam

Alabama Shakes - Sound and Color

Blut Aus Nord - Thematic Emanations

Shawn James - The Devil's Daughter (single)

Drab Majesty - Careless

Carpenter Brut -  Blood Machines OST

Putting Out Fire

 

I've really been digging on David Bowie's 1983 album Let's Dance of late. This is one I never really deep-dived on due to the oversaturation of the hits - all of which I love - throughout most of my life. This one always felt a skosh... pedestrian to me previously. What a f*&kin' stupid thing to think. As if any David Bowie could be pedestrian. While there are definitely albums and eras of his career that appeal to me more than other ones, any Bowie is good Bowie, and my recent obsession with this album proves that. Here's my favorite non-single, "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)", of which I definitely am one. A cat person, that is.

 

---

---

---

Watch:

While the teaser for Jordan Peele's eagerly awaited Nope had a total of three images from the film in it and is mostly teased out by clips from his previous two films - which, although I can't wait for the movie, renders it meaningless for me to post here - the teaser for Dario Argento's new Giallo Dark Glasses is all I need to see to know I can't wait for this flick:

Looks like classic Argento to me, a flavor I haven't quite had enough of lately. No definitive release date yet, but "soon" is enough to get my heartbeat above 110.

---

---

---

NCBD:

Another super light NCBD. Here's what's coming home with me this week:

Very curious about this new Fist of Khonshu that's shown up in the pages of Moon Knight, especially after seeing this cover. 

So, I gave up on the X Lives of Wolverine, and am moving forward with the Deaths because, so far, this one reads like a direct sequel to Jonathan Hickman's recent X-Swan Song Inferno. Deaths also, quite surprisingly, has thus far had very little to do with the titular, over-used mutant. Now, I'm not convinced this is a worthy sequel to Hickman's time on X-Men, but I'm willing to give it an issue or two more before I decide.

Is the tentative jive I throw down when talking about some of these books taxing? It might be. I'm just so suspicious of Mutant books, even after being so blown away by so many recent ones. The problem, of course, is that, to quote the Action Figure Insider, Daniel Pickett from one of his appearances on Drinking with Comics, "Comics has always been a strip-mining industry," and nowhere is that more true than with Wolverine and the X-Men. What you like one second will turn around and drastically disappoint you a minute later, so a savvy reader has to keep his guard up always while reading big-two series.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

AC/DC - Highway to Hell

Curtis Harding - Face Your Fear

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - Carnage

Donny McCaslin - Beyond Now

Umberto - Prophecy of the Black Widow

Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire

Godflesh - Post Self

David Bowie - Let's Dance

---

---

---

Card:

I raise a glass to he who inspires the grandest of stories, the oldest of tales, the inspiration for independent thought. Never forget - the snake was the enemy of the Old Testament's god because the snake offered enlightenment.

Long Snake Moan

 

PJ Harvey is one of my favorite artists. Has been since the 90s. Weirdly enough, I don't listen to her that often. In thinking about this, I realize that I hold her music in a sort of sacred regard that feels as though it might become deluded if I overdo it. Probably not the case, in reality, however, it is what it is. Here's one of my favorite songs from her seminal 1995 album To Bring You My Love.

---

---

---

Read:

I dug out my copy of Weird Walk issue #2 recently and began re-reading it as research for the new podcast off-shoot my Horror Vision co-host Ray Larragoitiy and I are doing. Stick & Stones is a sidebar deep-dive into Folk Horror, which is a sub-genre I've been enchanted with (pun intended) for the last few years, although until recently, I always referred to most of these flicks as "UK Occult Films." 

Weird Walk is an indie zine in every sense of the word, but it's a class act and chock full of fascinating ruminations on the haunted underpinnings of the British landscape and society. Highly recommended - you can order it HERE and follow their podcast HERE or wherever you get your podcasts! 

Oh yeah, and as of yesterday, there are two episodes of The Horror Vision Presents... Sticks & Stones: A Folk Horror Discussion up. The newest one deals with Stephen King's Children of the Corn - story and movie - and Chad Crawford Kinkle's Jug Face. The first episode sets up the series with a discussion of Kier-La Janisse's Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, then compares and contrasts Avery Crounse's Eyes of Fire and Robert Eggers' The Witch. Also available wherever you get your podcasts.

---

---

---

Playlist:

The Yellow House - Live at Southgate House

Darkness Brings the Cold (The Forest Children) - Human Me

Ween - Live In Chicago

PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love

Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit

Brand New - Daisy

Ministry - Filth Pig

Soul Coughing - El Oso

Cypress Hill - Black Sunday

Cypress Hill - Back in Black (pre-release singles)

Steve Morse - Mind's Eyes OST

---

---

---

Card:

Reaping the rewards of good decisions.

Author & Punisher - Drone Carrying Dread

Let's wash that 80s Metal taste out of our mouth, shall we? Kinda tastes like Marlboro Lights mixed with Boon's Farm and Aquanet. Here's the first single Author/Punisher released from the forthcoming album Krüller, out on Relapse Records next Friday! Pre-Order HERE.

---

---

---

Watch:

After rewatching Scream 2 and seeing part 3 for the first time back in October, I have to say, everything but the original seems like they are most definitely not for me. The franchise feels like Friends with a murder. Because of this, it was with great reluctance I went to see part 5 a few days ago.  But lo and behold, Radio Silence turned in a really fun, gory AF flick that I had a blast with. And they manage to make "Meta" interesting again.

 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Ministry - Filth Pig

Ministry - Twitch

Soul Coughing - El Oso

Cypress Hill - Back in Black (pre-release singles)

Cypress Hill - Black Sunday

Depeche Mode - Christmas Island

Ghost - Meliora

Ghost - Popestar

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

Deafheaven - New Bermuda

Anthrax - Among the Living

Author/Punisher - Krüller (pre-release singles)

Brand New - Daisy

The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir

Abigail Williams - Walk Beyond the Dark

---

---

---

Card:

This card is so where I'm at right now. So many distractions and I'm finding it impossible to concentrate. I've upped my daily meditation regiment for the next few days after missing the last few, and knuckling down on enforcing mental discipline. 

80s Metal Week Day #7: Judas Priest - You've Got Another Thing Coming

 

I'm bringing 80s Metal Week to a close with a bit of a cheat. While I will admit to making certain eras of Judas Priest's music the butt of the joke back in the day, I have always held a place in my heart for early Priest, especially this song, which I can very distinctly remember making a huge impact on me as a kid. Love this track, so it doesn't really fit with the other six entries, all of which were kind of 'rediscoveries.' But I kind of ran out of those, and figured, what the hell, let's end with one of the best, most anthemic hard rock/80s metal songs of that era. As a disclaimer, when I say "80s Metal," I guess I kind of took for granted that people would interpret that phrase the same way I do - obviously, these aren't Metal in the sense that a lot of the iconic Heavy Metal bands of that era were, but the actual descriptor "80s Metal" has, to me, almost become a genre tag, so that I would not use it in reference to, say, Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, etc. 

 

---

---

---

Watch:

Cautiously optimistic.

 

I've never followed TCM as a franchise. The original is a classic, and one of the first films to make me feel uneasy just based on how it was shot. The sequel is bonkers, and I love it. After that, parts 3 and 4 - both of which I've seen in parts or barely remembered ill-advised viewings - are conversation pieces at best. Especially four, which I caught part of on cable back in the late 90s and still am not quite sure what it is I saw... The reboot worked for about two acts, then the third just focuses on getting Jessica Biels' t-shirt as wet as possible. Even the one almost-amazing gag in the flick - the hitchhiker's suicide at the beginning - falls apart at the very end because of a sloppy edit. This one was close to a good attempt, but ultimately failed. And even though I've heard Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan discuss at length their script for 2013's direct sequel to the original Texas Chainsaw and it sounds amazing, knowing that John Luessenhop basically came in and disregarded a lot of what they had planned meant I could never even giving the film a chance.

But this new one, well, Fede Alverez is the man, so here's to hoping. I mean, I don't feel like I need another TCM flick, but I'd love a new Alverez one, and even if he is only writing and Producing, I'm hoping it will inspire something close to what he did with 2013's Evil Dead, which I still count as my second favorite film in that particular franchise.

Also, John Larroquette. 

---

---

---

NCBD:

Finally, a brief respite from the veritable deluge of titles I've been buying. Here are this week's NCBD titles I'll be picking up:

Nocterra returns. I'm digging this book but not 100% I'm going to continue with it. I'm really trying to talk myself into excising some of the books I'm following before I have to add another short box. The reality of 

This new Savage Spider-Man title picks up where Joe Kelly's Non-Stop Spider-Man left off, so I'm excited to get in some Spidey without having to dip back into the insane continuity that is ASM at the moment.

---

---

---

Playlist:

AC/DC - Highway to Hell

Fleet Foxes - Shore

Ghost - Impera (pre-release singles)

Pat Benatar - In the Heat of the Night

Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance

---

---

---

Card:

Creative energy cannot be destroyed. I'm re-routing some things at the moment.