Ritual Howls - Dark Ceiling in Tennessee

 

How did I miss the fact that Ritual Howls released a new record back in May??? I'm not sure, but in a way, this is like finding a $100 bill in my pocket. Every track on this is awesome! Released by the always wonderful Felte Records back on May 12, you can order Virtue Falters from the group's Bandcamp HERE. 

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Watch:

Martin Scorsese, one of the last true auteurs from an age that is coming to an end, is known for high-end films. Killers of the Flower Moon looks to be no exception.

Despite the fact that this is an Apple Production, I'm going to assume Scorsese's name will be enough to put this film in theatres. One of the reasons I never bothered with The Irishman is it went straight to netflix and only played very limited engagements in the cinema. Let that be another reminder that netflix considers 'content' all the same; Scorsese's film was even keel with Marie Condo in their book. 

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Read:

I was overjoyed to score a four-issue set of Mark Verheiden's Aliens: Earth War at Rick's Comic City on Wednesday. Despite my love for Predator: Concrete Jungle and the original Aliens Vs. Predator comics Dark Horse published in the late 80s, I never really read their straight-up Aliens titles. Time for that to change.

What has me very excited about this book is the fact that Sam "The Maxx" Keith is the artist! I'm only one issue in, but so far, this direct sequel to James Cameron's Aliens is fantastic - far better than Alien 3, at any rate. Newt's here, Hicks is set up to come aboard, and Ripley is being dragged back out onto LV-426 again. Yeah, the repetition of the setup has since gotten old, but being that this was published in 1990, I'm very much okay with it here. 

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Playlist:

Agnes Obel - Aventine

Happyween Spotify Playlist

Various - Rocktober Blood OST

Ritual Howls - Virtue Falters

Ritual Howls - Into the Water

The Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose

C.O.F.F.I.N - Australia Stops (pre-release singles)

IDLES - Joy as an Act of Rebellion

Lord Huron - Long Lost

Lard - Pure Chewing Satisfaction

La Hell Gang - Thru Me Again

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

Baroness - Stone (pre-release singles)

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.  Just a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter right now. Here's the LINK.

• Four of Cups

• King of Cups

• Page of Wands

All right, at a glance, cups by looking at the suits, I think I can read this as an overabundance of emotion that needs to be shaped by a clear-headed application of Will. Let's go deeper, though...

Fours indicate stability, but also, that stability can be a bad thing if it's status quo. 

King of Cups is a card I often read as a harbinger of Emotional Conflict. My grimoire entry for King of Cups has this in it, "emotional depths honed by intellect," and that definitely informs my initial read above.

Page of Wands - or Princess of Wands in Thoth - represents the physical aspects of Will, or the Earthly aspects of Fire. In other words, BAGGAGE. The Thoth card features a woman with a massive tiger wrapped around her - weighing her down. I'm always tempted to read that Thoth version as a fierceness that gets in the way - "Misguided Fire," I sometimes call it. This is the wrong approach - when you just keep at something without stopping to apply the other Aspects. Will without Intellect, Emotion and Resources can be destructive. 

End result: Pick your battles and keep your head about you; something will pop up that seems like the right solution, but it may only be the easy one. Very difficult not to apply this (as usual) to my writing. I've just reached a point where I'm entering the final scene of the book, so this is a reminder not to let the finish line confuse the path, which still must be laid a stone at a time, as opposed to rushed for lust of result.

Agnes Obel - Chord Left

Man, I love this track. Agnes Obel's 2013 album Aventine has become a recent favorite, and this is one of the best "intro" tracks on an album I've heard in a while. Her playing here very much reminds me of Michael Andrews's score for Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko, which I'm sure has a lot to do in winning my favor. But Ms. Obel's voice nestles perfectly inside her piano, and the whole thing just kind of sounds like the last of the evening light leaving the room, shooed off by shadows. 

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NCBD:

Here are my picks for this week's NCBD.

The previous four-issue Volume of the revamped Creepshow comic felt - a lot like the Shudder show they brought back a few years ago - pretty uneven. That said, with Garth Ennis and Becky Cloonan involved in this first issue, there's no way I'm passing it up.

I've just embraced that I'll be hanging out with Johnny Blaze for the foreseeable future. If nothing else, the covers continue to blow me away. Björn Barends continues to turn in what are probably the greatest modern Marvel covers. I've liked a lot about this book of late, with only a few misgivings. However, I'm not super stoked about Talia Warroad. She feels a bit much like the people who designed her did so from a half-informed idea of what a 'hot goth chick' would look like. 

This That Texas Blood tie-in/prequel/whatever slipped right by me last month, and it's been a bit of a hard road trying to seek it out after the fact. If nothing else, I've got my friend Mike in Chicago holding this one for me, as my shop in Clarksville doesn't seem to have access to it (my fault that I didn't realize it was imminent early enough to have them add it to my Pull). Anyway, wherever Messrs Condon & Phillips take this crazy world their creating, I will follow.

Finally - The Fisher King! Dying to know more about this guy. I have a sneaking suspicion that a certain red helmet and cape-wearing former villain may end up having something to do with him, but who knows.

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Watch:

Mike Flanagan's final series for Netflix is out on October 12th. An Adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. Here's the trailer (which I haven't watched):

I've been pretty adamant with myself that I won't be signing up for netflix until two things happen. For one, I'm streaming no new content (new movies on Shudder not counted) until the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike is over because I 100% think we need to side with the creators. netflix gets a double Fuck You for just being all-around cunts of late. Beyond that, I'm hesitant to re-engage with the streamer because, honestly, there's only a handful of their proprietary shows/movies that I actually like (anything non-proprietary, I can rent). Unfortunately, that handful consists of a handful of titles I LOVE: Brand New Cherry Flavor, Copenhagen Cowboy, and Stranger Things spring to mind, for most of which there will probably never be a physical release. That said, I'd previously figured I would wait until Stranger Things returns for its final season to re-up my subscription. 

But I forgot about Flanagan's House of Usher.

I love Mike Flanagan's work he did for this company. I don't know that I feel like I have to hold onto a subscription to rewatch any of that work. However, I really want to see his Poe adaptation. I'd be willing to bet the strike lasts beyond October 12th, so while I'm still not considering patronizing them (or any other streamers for that matter) again until after that eventual resolution, I may eat my words and re-up before Stranger Things.

We'll see. 

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Playlist:

Skinny Puppy - Last Rights

Agnes Obel - Aventine

QOTSA - In Times New Roman

Bluekarma - The Communication

Goat Snake - Black Age Blues

Low Cut Connie - Tough Cookies: The Best of the Quarantine Broadcasts

Electric Youth & Pilot Priest - Come True OST

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Oracle:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.  Just a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter right now. Here's the LINK.

Different feel to the picture because I typically spend my evenings bathed in Crimson light. For whatever reason...

• VI: The Lovers

• Seven of Pentacles

• IX: The Hierophany

Collaboration leads to an isolated success. Not sure what this one's trying to say. I have a collaborative project in the wings that's stagnant, so maybe it's a nod to go ahead and reach out on that today. Otherwise, if I squint, I can also interpret it as pertaining to the climax of the new novel, which looks like it will involve more than just the "Final Girl" on her own. I was unsure of doing that, but going it alone wasn't working for me, and this seems to suggest following a different path with it. 

Eagulls - Tough Luck

Man, I feel like the world was a better place when Eagulls were still making music. I never saw anything that explicitly stated they'd broken up, but 2016's Ullages feels like a looong time ago. Maybe one day they will heroically swoop in from the Post Punk aether and bring us another ten or eleven-track album of raw, angry British fire. Until then, love what they gave us.

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Watch:

This past Saturday, I had an impromptu French Zombie film double feature that began with a first-time watch of Yannick Dahan's 2009 IFC-released The Horde. Holy smokes, this movie is an adrenaline roller coaster:

I loved everything about this one, and can only marvel at the fact that other than my cohost Butcher on The Horror Vision, I don't remember hearing anybody talk about this one. Available right now on Tubi, this is SO worth your time, even if, like me, you fancy yourself 'over' the Zombie thing. La Horde is like 28 Days Later on weapons-grade meth. All the performances are intense, the set design is fantastic, and the characters are endearingly repulsive. Streaming right now on Tubi, but I'm definitely ordering the DVD soon (the bluray is OOP and pricey in the aftermarket).

When The Horde ended, I needed something to cool down with, so I went entirely the opposite route and re-watched Dominique Rocher's 2018 The Night Eats The World, which is currently on Prime.

 

This film definitely takes its cues from Romero's Dawn of the Dead, using one character to explore the quiet, sad side of a zombie apocalypse. This one's a bit of a heartbreaker at times, but its portrayal of human frailty is a beautiful reminder of the social aspects of our species and what would happen if we lost all access to other people. To this end, Anders Danielsen Lie gives a riveting performance.

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Playlist:

Witchfinder - Hazy Rites

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

X - Los Angeles

QOTSA - In Times New Roman

Steve Moore - Christmas Bloody Christmas OST

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

Type O Negative - The Least Worst Of

PC World - At Heaven's Gate (pre-release single)

Skinny Puppy - Last Rights

Mars Red Sky - Eponymous

Intronaut - Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones)

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Oracle:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE. Just a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter right now. Here's the LINK.

• Eight of Swords

• XIX - The Sun

• Nine of Cups

Eight of Swords often indicates change through conflict. Couple that with revelations promised by The Sun, and the Climactic, Emotional moment, and I think this pull is meant for someone I know who has been doing  A LOT of incredible self-discovery of late. 

David Eugene Edwards - Weaver's Beam

 

Late last week, David Eugene Edwards dropped another new track from his upcoming album Hyacinth. "Weaver's Beam" is DEE through and through, his ear still pressed firmly to the dark ghosts of the Earth, summoning energies in his music no one else is privy to in the music world (that I know of anyway). 

Hyacinth drops September 29th and you can pre-order it HERE.

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Watch:

Kurt Russel and John Goodman in a series that looks like it was at least partially inspired by Warren Ellis and John Cassady's comic Planetary, specifically issue #2 of the series, "Island."

 

This is the second trailer in the last week or so that has made me realize that the Kaju craze is kind of working its magic on me of late; I didn't grow up super exposed to Godzilla and his siblings, however, current approaches to the ideas - a genre I would argue was changed for the better after the original Cloverfield film -  really get me excited at the possibilities.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters drops November 17th on Apple TV.

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Read:

While in Chicago recently, I stopped in at Amazing Fantasy Books & Comics in Frankfort and my good friend Mike Shin recommended Robert Kirkman's new book Void Rivals. Already three-issues in, I'd seen the title but passed on it. Then Mike told me the book launched and, without warning, serves as the unexpected announcement that Kirkman and his company Skybound have secured the rights to Transformers and G.I.Joe, rolling out a new continuity called The Energon Universe. 

Void Rivals is also in this universe - Kirkman isn't just revamping the original franchise continuity, he's doing something completely new, incorporating his own creations as well. Thus, issue #1 of Void Rivals features a scene where the two characters - each a pilot from two warring races of space civilization living in "The Great Ring," crash land on a desolate planet and are forced to work together to survive. During their endeavors, they discover what appears to be a long-abandoned ship. When the two successfully reactivate the vessel, it transforms into Jetfire of the Autobots and flies off.

I was kinda of blown away. I mean, imagine had I picked up that first issue and discovered this reveal au natural, in the moment? If only. I'm 'spoiling' this now because three months in, I must be about the last person in Western culture who cares to find out. After reading those three issues, I immediately added Void Rivals and October's new Energon Universe: Transformers #1 - written and drawn by Daniel Warren Johnson, no less - to my pull.

I'm pretty psyched about this approach Kirkman is taking, primarily because it's not just another reimaging or reboot of the pre-existing properties. By weaving his own creations into this mythos, I really think we're going to be getting a very fresh take on two properties I love but that have largely been put through the reboot ringer. Plus, all this new, Kirkman-created mythology is very cool, lining up exactly with that 80s "Hobby Shop SciFi" I've mentioned in these pages multiple times before. 

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Playlist:

Zeal & Ardor - Eponymous

Steve Moore - Christmas, Bloody Christmas OST

Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror

Various - Joe Begos's Bliss Spotify Playlist

Ghost - Opus Eponymous

Eagulls - Eponymous

Godflesh - Songs of Love and Hate

16 Horsepower - Secret South

16 Horsepower - Low Estate

Rodney Crowell - The Chicago Sessions

Repugnant - Epitome of Darkness

Witchfinder - Hazy Rites

The Obsessed - Lunar Womb

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Nahab

David Eugene Edwards - Hyacinth (pre-release singles)

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Oracle:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.  Just a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter right now. Here's the LINK.

• XIII: Death

• Five of Cups

• XIV: Temperance (Art)

Five of Cups suggests storm and strife, and taken with Death and Temperance - which I always just read as Thoth's "Art," suggests this strife will lead to the end of an endeavor or, possibly, the patience required to continue with the endeavor. Straight forward, doubly so because two of my current backburner projects at the moment feel as though they are held together by the weakest of gossamer.

Before Ghost there was Repugnant

Before Ghost, Tobias Forge was in a band named Repugnant? I had NO IDEA, so thanks to THIS article on Metal Sucks. Death Metal isn't really my jam, but this... not too bad. And from the opening guitar, you can 100% hear that it's Forge's writing. So here's them playing live and that guy that looks kind of like he could be in the Misfits? That's Papa! Always cool to see where our beloved musical icons come from. 

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Watch:

I've struggled with Demián Rugna's 2017 film Terrified multiple times. I liked it, but I didn't feel for it as others who seemed to feel it was the scariest film in years did. My theory is this is due to the fact that I fell asleep during my first viewing (not the film's fault at all), and that tends to rob some film's impact for me. It happened to Duncan Jones's Moon, it happened to Denis Villeneuve's Arrival, and I'm pretty sure it happened to Terrified. Regardless of how I felt about it as far as being "scary," Rugna definitely crafted a confident, competent Horror film that I wouldn't hesitate to others. So it is with no small amount of fervor that I came upon Bloody Disgusting's posting of the trailer for his new film, Where Evil Lurks. Here's the trailer:

I was torn on actually watching this; as you know if you've been reading these pages lately, I've become very anti-trailer. In spite of that prejudice, and cautious that I might once again rob Rugna's film of power, I watched it and can happily confirm this is truly a 'teaser.' Well done, IFC. I can also say I am 100% in just for the sound design alone. Where Evil Lurks is supposed to have a theatrical run starting on October 6th, and will hit Shudder on the 27th of the same month.

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Read:

Almost two years ago, I posted about giving up on Clive Barker's Scarlett Gospels. Well, I decided recently to give it another shot. 

I'm not really far enough to pass judgment again, but this definitely still feels less elegant than any other Barker I've read. The opening scene sees the five remaining Black Magicians in the world (?) resurrect a sixth, more powerful one to try and survive a culling carried out by The Priest (don't use that other nickname!), who is now working separately from The Order of the Gash, attempting to amass all the world's Magickal knowledge for some as yet unknown purpose. The scene begins rather poorly and doesn't really feel like Barker until "The Demon" shows up. Here, I still get a sense that Barker is overdoing the gross-out factor in a misguided attempt to recapture something of his past works - which were all elegantly revolting and not nearly as gauche - but I'm hanging in and hopefully coming to terms with this in a way that will allow me to A) finish the novel this time and, B) enjoy it. Reminder to self: This man is a genius, an icon, and any Barker is better than no Barker.

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Playlist:

The Lucid Night - The Mystic Journey EP

The Lucid Night - The Celestial Voyage (single)

Lord Huron - Long Lost

Low Cut Connie - Tough Cookies: The Best of the Quarantine Broadcasts

This Movie Saved My Life Podcast - Barbenheimer, Farewell to Jane Birken, and the WGA/SAG Strike

Godflesh - Songs of Love and Hate

Repugnant - Epitome of Darkness

Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror

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Oracle:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE. Just a reminder that Grimm's new Tarot Deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot, is both gorgeous and live on Kickstarter right now. Here's the LINK.

• Page of Cups

• X: Wheel of Fortune

• Queen of Swords

The Page or Princess of Cups is a card I associate with inner vision, and taken with the Wheel in this case, I see ideas growing to fruition. Therefore, good day to write. Balance all that out with the Watery aspect of Fire and I'm reminded I have a major distraction going on in Chicago at the moment. Reading all these together then, tells me to get the writing in where/when I can today - even a little will be productive.

The Lucid Night

 

My good friend and fellow cohost on The Horror Vision Horror Podcast sent me this track a couple days ago, and I just got around to listening to it. Outstanding! I'm working my way through the entire The Mystic Journey EP from 2020, which can be purchased directly from the band HERE.

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NCBD:

Here's the list for this week's NCBD picks:

The finale for Pat O'Malley's Popscars! I've been waiting for this one for some time, and issue five really just threw gas on that fire. Such a great book, and if you didn't read it monthly, I happen to know the TPB is being released from Sumerian next month!

After dropping off Ed Piskor's Red Room after the first four-issue series, I'm super happy I came back for this final four-issue run. Crypto Killaz has been a crazy ride; this book takes me back to the glory days of 80s indie comics, and despite its ultra-disturbing subject matter, Piskor's Harry Crumb-esque art style really makes for something new. I just booked a trip to LaLaLand in a few weeks, so while I'm there, I'll be stopping by The Comic Bug to pick up that second-season trade and complete the Red Room saga.

Due to my own misjudgment of interest in this series, I did not end up getting a copy of last week's penultimate Weapons of Vengeance chapter in Wolverine #36. Rick's Comic City ordered one for me, though, so hopefully, I'll be able to grab that as well as this final chapter there today.

I'm a bit confused why this Emma Stone/Tony Stark wedding is happening in the midst of the Mutants' darkest hour, but I'm sure Gerry Duggan and crew will make it work.

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Watch:

A few nights ago, I watched Riley Stearns's 2014 film Faults. Here's the trailer:

 

Leland Orser spent a lot of time owning the small, supporting roles he is known for - several of which I would argue are iconic - so it's great to see him in the lead, where he turns in one hell of a performance as Ansel Roth, Cult and Mindcontrol expert. Hired to deprogram an older couple's runaway daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who also turns in an outstanding performance), things are not quite what they seem, and Ansel ends up in a series of pretty rough situations. As hysterical as it is disturbing, Faults is a fantastic film. Currently streaming on Freevee, you can also pick up the Blu-Ray for a pretty good price over at Vinegar Syndrome.

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Playlist:

Rodney Crowell - Ain't Living Long Like This

Rodney Crowell - The Houston Kid

Extreme - Six

The Lucid Night - The Mystic Journey

16 Horsepower - Secret South

Low Cut Connie - Tough Cookies: The Best of the Quarantine Broadcasts

Metallica - ... And Justice For All

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Nahab

Blut Aus Nord - Triunity

Godflesh - Songs of Love and Hate

Captain Jack - Pure Electric

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Oracle:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE, and his Kickstarter for The Hand of Doom tarot is now live! Click HERE and be blown away!!!

• Ace of Wands

• King of Wands

• Page of Wands

It's all about Will today, eh? Okay, good to know. Now, let's go a little bit deeper...

I generally read all Aces as Breakthroughs, and the King of Wands as a firm hand. Page or (Princess in Thoth) is a pragmatic application, so this would appear to be outlining a course of action: Applying Will in the proper place and without judgment, but with the understanding of when to back off may lead to a break-through. 

Rodney Crowell - Ever the Dark

My favorite track from a fantastic summer album Mr. Brown recently recommended to me, Rodney Crowell's The Chicago Sessions, produced by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy. 

Crowell has been kicking around for decades; his debut record, Ain't Living Long Like This came out in 1978, but I don't remember ever being exposed to his music until Brown sent me a copy of his 2018 Christmas Record Christmas Everywhere last year. Working backward, there's a wealth of fantastic material (especially on that first record and 2001's The Houston Kid). Crowell spent some time in the mid-to-late 70s in Emmylou Harris's backing band, and they did an album together in 2013 that's also on my list to check out.

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Watch:

I've never really been a Godzilla fan, but I have to admit, I think I'd probably be a fool not to see Godzilla Minus One when it opens this December:

 

I'm assuming it was lack of exposure to Godzilla flicks as a kid that is the reason they don't really resonate with me. I remember when the trailer for that first Legendary film with Brian Cranston popped up before something in the cinema - that trailer made me think the new approach would be a lot more in the Cloverfield vein, and that sounded really cool at the time. Then several of my friends saw it and reported back that if I was looking for something new, this wasn't it. I let that film come and go, then tried to watch the second one on HOBOMAX a few years ago and actually fell asleep for lack of Godzilla. Will this return to Toho ignite a love for these films? Well, it's not likely to move the needle backward, but you have to admit, this looks pretty badass, so I'll check it out. What I'm really hoping is all my Godzilla-loving friends come away super happy with this one; the buzz of the franchise's return to its original home Toho seems like a good omen for sure. 

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Read:

I finished Nathan Ballingrud's The Strange, and as I suspected, I'm having a difficult time choosing a book to move to next, simply because The Strange was so damn good. Officially, as of right now, this is the best novel I've read in 2023 (new or old):

Described by the Author in the afterword as "The Martian Chronicles meets True Grit," I think that says it all. This is a coming-of-age story shaped by loss and the quiet, frustrating echoes of it that resound forward through our lives and shape who we become, especially for those loss touches at a young age. Annabelle Crisp is a protagonist for the ages, and I loved the brief 'wraparound' that Ballingrud employs so we could 'hear' a grown Belle relate the events of her 14th year on Mars, 1931. 

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Playlist:

Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath

Sinéad O'Connor - I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Soul Coughing - El Oso

Underworld - Beaucoup Fish

Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Nahab

Lustmord - Berlin

Metallica - The $5.98 EP: Garage Days Re-Revisited

Various - Apple Yacht Rock Essentials

Bria - Cuntry Covers Vol. 2

The Ravenonettes - In and Out of Control

T. Rex - The Slider

Rodney Crowell - The Chicago Sessions

Bluekarma - The Frictin, The Pain

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

Southern Fried True Crime Podcast - Episodes 180, 182 and 190

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Oracle:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE. And as of 5:00 PM Central Time today, September 5, 2023, you can head over to Kickstarter and back Grimm's new deck, The Hand of Doom Tarot. Check it out HERE.

• Eight of Cups

• Six of Pentacles

• IV: The Emperor

Right off the bat (and probably because I'm tired and have a lot of work-work in front of me), I'm reading this with a squint, which is to say, I'm not even looking past the fact that there's only one Major here, and it's telling me to sit quietly and hammer out my work before even thinking about the creative and emotional threads that will emerge as the day lengthens.