tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67780060469161914442024-02-06T23:03:17.707-05:00Needs More Noise GateA blog about music, movies, and general jackassery.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.comBlogger202125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-48826168493361625022015-01-28T23:52:00.003-05:002015-01-28T23:52:37.163-05:00Movie Review: We Are The Best!Long time no see, dear reader. I'm going to skip my usual "hey guys I know I haven't posted in <i>X</i> weeks/ months/ years and I'm really sorry, I've just been really busy" spiel and jump right into this post. As always, obligatory <b>SPOILER WARNING</b>. I'll try my best to spoil as little as possible. It's not like there are any <i>Usual Suspect</i> caliber plot twists in this indie drama.<div>
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<i>We Are The Best!</i> is a Swedish-Danish film released in 2013 about three 13 year old girls who start a punk band in 1980s Sweden. It's based on director Lukas Moodysson's wife's semi-autobiographical graphic novel <i>Never Goodnight</i>. If that isn't enough to convince you to watch this movie, then I don't know if we can call ourselves friends anymore. On a more serious note, <i>We Are The Best!</i> follows two adolescent punks, Klara and Bobo as they stumble their way through school, home life, starting their first band, and generally being young, angst-ridden kids. Klara and Bobo start their band solely out of spite of a group of teenagers at their local youth center, and despite not knowing how to play any instruments, fall in love with the idea of playing in a band.</div>
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What this movie captured perfectly is the idea of being a young kid with something to say and finally finding a legitimate outlet for it. Klara and Bobo are written like true 13 year olds, where they know that they're young, angry, and want to take down The Man, but they're not quite sure what their fighting against, what the real facts are, or what causes they should really support. They don't know shit, but they don't care because they're too wrapped up in being passionate about something for the first time. Once they get hooked on making loud, incoherent noises and writing angsty, terrible punk lyrics they find a girl in the year above named Hedvig to round out their trio so they can start writing some real music. Hedvig is an outsider at school too, but she plays some mean classical guitar, so the girls befriend her to use her expertise to help them along musically. Also, something to note: I'm not sure if the actresses were 13 years old at the time of filming or older, but either way, they're young and they don't suck. They're actually pretty solid actresses. Hollywood, take notes. This is how you <i>should</i> cast children and adolescents in your movies.</div>
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Something you'll notice quickly in <i>We Are The Best!</i> is that the movie isn't really about punk music or punk culture. It's mostly about what it's like to be a young teenager and how they live their lives in a constant hyperbole. Finding an outlet for your feelings in the form of a band is the greatest thing in the world, this cute guy you just met is making you go head over heels in love, and getting into a mundane argument can be the absolute irreconcilable end between you and your best friend. And in typical teenage fashion, these major life-or-death crises blow over in a matter of hours or days. It's these dynamics between the three girls that makes this movie fun to watch, because deep down, you knew you were that bad when you were younger. Sure, if you're into punk or hardcore, it may feel nostalgic to see a couple of kids learn to play their instruments and fall in love with music, and stick their middle fingers up to the world just like you did, but even if you never went through a phase like that (like your's truly), there's still plenty to love here. A small detail that I loved was that almost all of the music played by Klara, Bobo, and Hedvig looked and sounded like it was recorded live on location. You can hear all the little nuances of recording on location, where everything you see matches up <i>perfectly</i> with what you hear. Nobody is randomly mashing their fingers on a guitar with a totally different track being played over top. It's nothing too big but in most movies, including movies about music, they just throw in some studio recordings so they don't need to teach the actors how to actually play the instrument being played on screen.</div>
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So there you go. <i>We Are The Best!</i> is definitely one of the best movies I've seen in months, with the only other being December's <i>The Imitation Game</i>. This movie is legitimately fun to watch, no matter who you are. It's adorable, genuine, and to top it off has one of the most punk as fuck endings I've seen in a movie. You can find it on Netflix (the Canadian version at least), which is where I found it, and I'm sure your local movie store carries it too if you feel like spending some cash.</div>
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That's all for now, folks! Go out and start a punk band with your friends.</div>
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-DG</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-40593917705399716982014-11-25T21:22:00.000-05:002014-11-25T21:24:25.269-05:00Graspop Metal Meeting: Day 2<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Day 2</span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Carach Angren</span></h3>
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Day 2 of Graspop began with heavy rain and heavy music. Due to the inclement weather, the indoor "Metal Dome" was the place to be. First up on the indoor side stage were Dutch black metal band Carach Angren. The first thing that strikes you with Carach Angren is their lineup. They have one of the strangest musical combinations with a keyboardist, guitarist/screamer, drummer and violinist. While I was quick to judge that the lack of bass would result in a dry, empty sound and the violinist would likely be drowned out by synth, I was quickly proven wrong as the band boasted a monstrous and epic sound. The keyboardist takes over the bass octaves and allows the violinist and guitarist to trade off melodies. This accompanied by masterful machine gun drum lines results in an epic and vicious black metal tone. While my viewing of Carach Angren's set was mostly coincidence due to the inclement weather, it turned out to be a perfect way to get the metal flowing. Once their set was over, the rain had stopped and the early afternoon crowd who had crammed into the Metal Dome were ready to take on the rest of what Day 2 had in store.</div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>An interesting musical combination comes together in a familiar yet unique black metal sound.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>7.5/10</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Protest The Hero</span></h3>
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While I've seen PTH in many times, in many different venues, nothing quite compares to witnessing their set in Belgium. Coming from an area where Protest The Hero has occasionally made it to mainstream radio, it was a strange feeling to see the band perform to a crowd that was largely unfamiliar with the band. The Belgian crowd exploded during Bloodmeat but remained still for the majority of the rest of set.<br />
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As for Protest The Hero's performance, the band is always stellar live. They're a group of phenomenal musicians who can perform their music to near perfection. I will however admit that the band has little to no energy on a large stage. In clubs and smaller venues, the band is so upfront and personal that the minimal movement is sufficient to boost the crowd full of energy. However, on a large festival sized stage, PTH give off a rather bland performance. The music sounds amazing, and Rody's rants are always hilarious, but there is less movement and expression than what you'd expect from a death metal performance. This trend has been growing over the years, with PTH becoming less and less entertaining to watch with every performance I see. While their insane tech guitar lines severely limit the possible movement, the band appears almost un-interested in their own music while they play it. </div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Music is performed to perfection but the band appears to have lost any trance of passion in their live performance<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>7/10</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nails</span></h3>
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After the standstill nature of Protest The Hero's set, I was looking for a little madness. Nails were set to take the Metal Dome stage and seemed perfectly suited for my needs. Nails are a powerviolence/hardcore band from California and have made a name for themselves with some of the most ruthless and aggressive hardcore punk in the industry. Nails is a no-nonsense type of band. While Nails may be a famous international name, the band still strolls out on stage as if they were opening a small underground show. After a quick sound check the band opened their set by smashing the audience in the face with a wall of sound. Their music is permanently cranked to 10 and strumming any less than your hardest on the guitar is completely unacceptable. The chaos that comes along with hardcore punk can often be confused for sloppiness, but Nails nailed every transition, cut out perfectly in-sync on every pause, and performed some incredible tightly knit chaos.</div>
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Oddly enough, by far my favorite moment of the set came in between songs. There were three beach balls that seemed to permanently exist in the Metal Dome and nowhere else. During Nails set, these beach balls seemed ironically hilarious, but during a tuning break Nails' frontman gave a profound speech about why he loves the beach balls. He declared that he hadn't seen a beach ball in almost a year (when he was last home) and that the combination of the Belgian fans losing their minds in the pit and being fascinated by a beach ball reminded him of the SoCal crowds in front of which Nails originally made a name for themselves. Nails are balls to the wall, in your face, relentless and ruthless hardcore, but connected to the crowd over a giant bouncing colourful inflatable ball. Nails ended their set with kicking all three beach balls at the same time (one per guitarist/bassist), in sync with an ououtrageously heavy slam riff.</div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Powerviolence and beach balls resulted in a gargantuan-ly heavy sound with some hilarious distractions<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>8/10</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Gojira</span></h3>
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For years Gojira had been a band I'd always heard about but for some strange reason I had never actually got around to listening to. Gojira, being possibly the best metal band to ever come out of France, are a massive attraction for Belgian metal fans. The crowd standing around waiting for Gojira was already huge an hour before the band hit the stage. I distinctly remember the size of Gojira's fan base due to an error in GMMs scheduling, and it turned out the Gojira fans had been waiting at the wrong stage the entire time. At this point I found myself graced with the opportunity to outrun the thousands of Gojira fans marching from one main stage the next (which is actually quite difficult given the barrier and bar between them). Without much of an idea of what I was in for, I found myself at the front of one of the largest crowds of Day 2.<br />
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Gojira blew my pants off with their god-tier metal riffage and immense vocals. Gojira's constant barrage of incredible heavy riff after incredible heavy riff had the crowd running at full throttle from start until finish. Every once in a while you witness a live performance so good, that you immediately feel the need to listen to that bands entire discography, this was my experience with Gojira. I'm pleased to say that today I have fully recovered from my Gojira-negligence and have probably played L'Enfant Sauvage more than any other album since I returned from my trip. Gojira are absolutely masterful metal songwriters. They have what on the surface may come across as a typical metal tone, but underneath lies some of the best written metal you could ever hope to find. Gojira put on a performance so good that it has already had a noticeable how I think about writing metal riffs on guitar.<br />
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Gojira produce an endless stream of incredible riffs and sound spectacular live<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>9.5/10</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mastodon</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>I'd seen Mastodon once before my trip but managed to catch them twice during my month in Europe. GMM was the first of these two performances and I was initially skeptical. My first experience with Mastodon live was at Mayhem Fest in 2008 and their performance was less than stellar. Thankfully the sludge metal king-pins brought their "A" game to Belgium and completely turned around my opinion of their live performance. Mastodon often get praised as being one of the most dynamic and creative bands in metal and their live performance honed in on these strengths. Mastodon's three vocalists and huge musical range provide the audience with a diverse sonic experience and cover enough genres in one performance that the odds are everyone is going to enjoy at least one point in the set. </div>
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Mastodon merit their name and have one of the hugest live sounds imaginable. Sludgey riffage shook the ground and resonated the very core of the audience. While Mastodon failed to attract as large of a crowd as most main stage bands, their set comprised of largely new material was a wonder to behold. Personally songs where drummer Brann Dailor took over vocals tended to be my favorites, but all three vocalists delivered their own unique styles in spectacular fashion. Mastodon keep you guessing and are constantly exploring new aspects of their sound. In a live setting this variety of sounds results in a fairly stationary but captivated audience.</div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Relatively small and unenergetic crowd for a diverse and captivating performance<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>7.5/10</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Eluveitie</span></h3>
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Few bands deliver more of a European folk metal vibe than Swiss band Eluveitie. As far as creative instrumentation goes, have a dedicated Hurdy Gurdy player is a pretty unique choice. For those incapable of using wikipedia on their own: a Hurdy Gurdy is a hand cranked string instrument that fits into the wheel fiddle family. This utilization of strange folk instruments are what have given Eluveitie a step above the competition in the folk metal scene. Examples of the many other of the strange instruments the band has used over the years include: Gaita, Bodhran, Crumhorn, Irish Bouzouki, Hammered Dulcimer, Uilleann Pipes, etc.<br />
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Eluveitie's live experience is just an all around good time. The band's use of folk instrumentation gives the band a constant cheery vibe to their metal soundscape. However, despite the use of various odd instruments and frequent changing vocalists, I still found Eluveitie's performance to be rather one dimensional. They capture the folk sound incredibly well, but fail to provide much substance or songwriting to accompany the creative instrumentation. While I had gone into the performance quite excited, I found myself unexpectedly bored halfway through. The performance began to feel as if it were dragging on, and the words "last song" came as more of a relief rather than a disappointment. Ultimately it was a good set, but the band would be better experienced in shorter doses, as the folk instruments do lose their appeal after some time and you may find yourself realizing that the core of the band is a rather mediocre and unoriginal metal band, with any strange instrument thrown in.<br />
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Mediocre metal with creative instrumentation thrown in, best experienced in small doses</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>6/10</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Trivium</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>As day 2 began to draw to a close, the headliners began to take over the stages and do what they do best. While I had my sights set on heading to the side stage headliners, the final band I caught over at the main stage was american thrash metal band Trivium. I had been a pretty big Trivium fan in high school, but had been quite disappointed with the latest few albums. I had only managed to the end of Trivium's set at Download, so I was thrilled that at GMM I'd have a chance to catch their performance in full. </div>
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Trivium took the stage with furious energy and instantly sparked the crowd into motion. With the speed of thrash and the power metalcore, Trivium finds a happy medium that works incredibly well...until the vocals come in. Matt certainly wasn't bad live, much of his performance was near album quality but reproducing the boring and mediocre work of their last two albums wasn't going to end up magically sounding better live. Trivium brought along one of the strangest and most extensive live set ups at GMM. While the giant logos on either side of the stage were pretty badass, the strange fake ice the band had throughout the stage was an odd choice. It's clear they are trying to add some props to fit in with their new album cover, but it came across as looking cheap and took away from the band's powerful performance. Trivium are extremely talented and play their music with great precision and energy. They also manage to not fall into the boring thrash metal performance category and don't simply stand in one place from 45 minutes. Trivium make great use of the entire stage and are constantly in motion. If you enjoy Trivium's new music I highly recommend catching them live as they do put on a great performance.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7YII1wxHm8IhvtZEduaGK1p4rxogRKMqU8j6Ttya9M1XtUCpIgtV6QiotdcZ0DMhSwrK-Oh7cbz-15JhltvCWpkY9RW3s5XW9s-9Rbe_CpFPi4raT3vD2PmDpFPIVofyfrlAfabE0S-0/s1600/IMAG0375%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7YII1wxHm8IhvtZEduaGK1p4rxogRKMqU8j6Ttya9M1XtUCpIgtV6QiotdcZ0DMhSwrK-Oh7cbz-15JhltvCWpkY9RW3s5XW9s-9Rbe_CpFPi4raT3vD2PmDpFPIVofyfrlAfabE0S-0/s1600/IMAG0375%5B1%5D.jpg" height="361" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Amazing live energy and instrumentation, but nothing fixes how mediocre the new music is</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Dillinger Escape Plan</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Alright, so I already review TDEP live at Download, and have been thus far only making one review for bands I caught at two festivals, but if any band deserves two live reviews it's gotta be them. Mathcore pioneers The Dillinger Escape Plan were alternate headliners in the Metal Dome and I was to get a chance to see one of the best live acts in the world twice over the course of two weeks. </div>
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Fuck.Yeah.</div>
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While the Metal Dome was a side stage, it out did every other stage in one way: it had a dozen huuge screens behind the stage that the bands could use to put on anything they'd like to add to their live show. TDEP decided to use the screens as massive strobe lights synced up to their music and it was freaking glorious. Since it was around 10pm by this point, it was dark outside and even darker inside a giant tent. Dillinger's music synced up to strobe lights and the otherwise darkness of the tent caused a feeling of absolute madness in the Metal Dome. Everything around you was moving to the oddest rhythms and the crowd became one with the music. </div>
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Thankfully the band had additional lighting on stage so the band was still view-able at all times. TDEP erupted with insanity and chaos, and lived up to their name as one of the craziest live bands out there. It was also really cool to see that the set was so different from what I had seen at Download. The majority of the set list was the same, with two songs changed, but the performance itself was drastically different from the craziness I saw at Download. The Dillinger Escape Plan's live show has manage to climb to be considered possibly the best live on the planet and it is all done without a single scripted moment. They manage to whip-out a different bag of chaos each time and rely on genuine passion rather than pre-planned stunts. </div>
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<b>Quick Reivew: </b>Witnessing TDEP live is an experience of a lifetime, and I got it twice in two weeks</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>10/10</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Carcass</span></h3>
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Day 2 ended off with Limp Biskit and Volbeat on the main stage, so I had my sights set on the Marquee stage where Carcass were closing out the night. Carcass are a classic British extreme metal band who have been a huge influence on modern Death Metal and extreme metal genres. While members of Carcass might be older then they once were, they still rock as hard as ever and delivered a top tier performance at GMM.<br />
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Carcass has a dynamic and precise live tone that is a combination of two distinctly different guitar tones and is held together by a massive muddy bass tone. Carcass' two guitarists shreded faces and showed how the band has been able to survive the years and continue to be a top tier metal act. While the drumming and vocals are certainly key elements of Carcass' sound, there's no doubt that the band would be little without its distinctive riffing style. The british melodic death pioneers have a wonderful aura of not really caring about their performance yet still deliver an immense and powerful metal show. It's as if the band still has some of that 80s rockstar cockiness in them, but the band plays so damn well that they manage to pull it off.<br />
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<b>Quick Review: </b>They might be getting old, but they can still out-perform most metal bands today<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">8/10</span></b></div>
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That's all for Day 2,<br />
Day 3 should be posted in the next few weeks.<br />
Thanks for reading!<br />
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David, I'll see you when our paths should collide once again<br />
-JD</div>
Jeremy Dodgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096777351523335238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-19053150044917198392014-11-20T14:56:00.002-05:002014-11-20T14:56:55.164-05:00Album Review: Rasplyn - "Scenes Through the Magic Eye"Today's review is going to be of some music a little left of center. No grindcore, no brutal slamming guttural death metal, no smash-everything-around-you hardcore rap. Today we're going to look at something droning, psychedelic, and transporting. Today, we're reviewing <b>Rasplyn</b>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEy4_JY1gJE7n5B6l2ZPtrduvZyuy1lIe9nLqKPJJoFANDiTVQJi7-nuZPYlPctpcUpL-hovUDhNxgBy-gI7LMU-AbOPFO3AzUrXQxVOcWxA8hsZHybQkKmUPHIETnRUjQUl2nGUS-GRw/s1600/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEy4_JY1gJE7n5B6l2ZPtrduvZyuy1lIe9nLqKPJJoFANDiTVQJi7-nuZPYlPctpcUpL-hovUDhNxgBy-gI7LMU-AbOPFO3AzUrXQxVOcWxA8hsZHybQkKmUPHIETnRUjQUl2nGUS-GRw/s1600/cover.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Rasplyn</b> is the solo experimental music project of Carolyn O'Neill, who is quite the busy bee these days. Between featuring on other releases like <a href="http://needsmorenoisegate.blogspot.ca/2012/10/album-review-john-316-visions-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>John 3:16</b>'s 2012 release <i>Visions of the Hereafter - Visions of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory</i></span></a>, co-founding the Logan Square New Music Ensemble, directing short films, and managing Resolution Digital Studios, Carolyn still manages to put out a great debut album under the <b>Rasplyn</b> moniker.<br />
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Now, don't let that album cover fool you. I judged the book by it's cover on this one and went in to the album thinking it would be some cheesy new age music with some ham fisted middle eastern influences. Little did I know, <i>Scenes Through the Magic Eye</i> would contain some of this year's most interesting sounds.<br />
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The album is mostly classical or orchestral pieces composed by Carolyn herself, each accompanied by here reverb-laden, stereo-panning vocals flowing in and out of the tracks. The album <i>does</i> have a middle eastern flair to it, but it is definitely more subdued than I thought it would be. These influences are precisely that, <i>influences</i>. <b>Rasplyn</b> isn't defined by middle eastern tones and melodies, but uses them to her advantage. The tracks more often than not have some droning strings in the background with everything else floating overtop, creating a sort of shoegaze effect. The closest pieces of music I have to compare <i>Magic Eye</i> to would be <b>John 3:16</b>'s <i>Visions</i> and to a lesser extent, some of <b>Sunn O)))</b>'s experiments with classical instruments. If <i>Visions</i> transports me to an isolated pond at night, <i>Magic Eye</i> brings me to a temple at the break of twilight. Something ancient and well before any of our times, but still preserved. While it's been overgrown with vines and foliage, it still stands, monolithic in the distance. As the album continues I explore the temple, finding remnants and fragments of the peoples and cultures that have visited it before me. Some morbid, some less so, but all of them engrossing nonetheless.<br />
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<b>Rasplyn</b>'s debut album is something that definitely surprised me in a good way. To me, her music should really be a part of a soundtrack to a movie or video game, with its massive production and transporting qualities. </div>
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<i>Scenes Through the Magic Eye</i> comes out on <a href="http://www.mythicalrecords.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Mythical Records</span></a> on November 30th. You can check out <b>Rasplyn</b> on <a href="http://rasplyn.bandcamp.com/releases" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Bandcamp</span></a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RasplynCarolynONeill" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Facebook</span></a>, and on her <a href="http://www.rasplyn.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">personal page</span></a>.</div>
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That's all for now, folks! Jeremy, I'll see you in court.<br />
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-DGAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-58605592684972137852014-11-11T21:34:00.000-05:002014-11-11T21:36:26.920-05:00Graspop Metal Meeting: Day 1<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Day 1:</span></h2>
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Ghost (aka Ghost BC)</span></h3>
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I was a little late arriving at GMM, so by the time I had explored the festival grounds it was already time for Ghost to take the main stage. I'd dare to argue that Ghost are known more-so for their live show than their music, so I was quite excited to see what all the hype was about. To those who are unfamiliar with Ghost, the vocalist dresses as a Satanic pope and the rest of the band are "Nameless Ghouls" who all dress in identical disguises. While this type of theatrics is expected of Black Metal bands, Ghost uniquely brings these theatrics to a radio-friendly genre of metal. Ghosts combination of epic synth lines, metal riffing and creepy singing provides an interesting atmosphere that feels as though Black Metal and Rock had some strange bastard child. While this might sound like an insult, I loved Ghost's performance! The best moment of the performance came during the song Monstrance Clock, when the crowd chant "Come together, together as one, Come together, for lucifer's son" took over the festival grounds. The chant was so repetitive and simple that nearly every person at the festival joined in. I found myself in a giant circle of people hugging, dancing in a circle and chanting along. The ball of satanic happiness roamed around the crowd and absorbed everyone it ran into. By the end of the song there were hundreds of people in what I imagine just started with one friendly drunk guy hugging someone. This friendly satanic vibe is something that can only be found at a metal festival, and it was an amazing start to Graspop Metal Meeting.</div>
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<b>Quick Review:</b> Happy satanic music works unbelievably well at a metal festival<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">9/10</span></b><br />
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Sepultura</span></h3>
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Day 1 at GMM boasted an incredible lineup of main-stage bands, so I spent most of the day hoping back and forth between the two side-by-side main-stages. One of the many highlights of Day 1 was Brazilian metal pioneers Sepultura. Sepultura brought an immensely powerful sound and a ferocious live show to GMM and easily took the cake for one of the most intense and purely aggressive performances of Day 1. The band did a great job of making the crowd felt involved, with several crowd chants, good friendly conversation between songs, and countless calls for circle pits. Sepultura came across as great performers who still have immense passion in their live show, as well as being genuine, appreciative, and friendly people. It was tough NOT to love Sepultura's performance. It was aggressive enough to exponentially increase your desire to punch everything around you, and yet still maintained the friendly feel of a metal festival community. </div>
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<b>Quick Review:</b> Relentless aggression and a thoroughly entertaining live show.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> <b>8/10</b></span></div>
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Slayer</span></h3>
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From the moment I arrived at GMM I heard cries of "SLAYER" coming from all corners of the festival grounds. It had become an inside joke amongst the fans to chant for Slayer no matter what band was actually scheduled to play next. While I'm not a huge Slayer fan, I decided this was a truly unique opportunity that I was going to make the most of it. I headed over to the main stage well before the start of Slayer's set and got myself as close to the front as possible. While the rain had begun to fall upon Graspop, there was an electric buzz among the fans waiting pressed up against the barrier. The cries for Slayer grew louder by the minute, slowly overcoming the sound system and the poor band that was slotted to play before Slayer. By the time Slayer finally took the stage the rain was pouring down and the crowd exploded into festival-rain-poncho filled mosh pits. </div>
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I caught Slayer live twice on my Europe trip and concluded that the enjoyment of their live show entirely depends on how much you get into it. Those fans who sit way back and simply watch will likely come out of their live set thinking it was a mediocre performance and was quite boring to watch. However those crazy fuckers who dare get right up front will all tell you with absolute unanimity that Slayer is one of the best metal bands to catch live ever. Slayer has minimal movement around the stage and adds very little to the stage show to keep on-lookers entertained. The key to enjoying them live is to dare to go into the pits and enjoy the absolute madness that takes place within. I spent the majority of the set in giant circle pits, and being thrown from one mosh pit to another. It was a perfect experience for those who desire to get a little nuts during metal shows. Slayer ended their set with Angel of Death dedicated to their late guitarist Jeff Hanneman, and left the crowd exhausted yet wanting more.</div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>If you enjoy mosh pits, Slayer has one of the best live shows imaginable</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">8/10</span></b></div>
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Behemoth</span></h3>
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In one of the most insane back-to-back performances any metalhead could ever dream of, Slayer was immediately followed by both Behemoth and Opeth playing on different stages. While I was disappointed I couldn't see both, I had planned out my trip well enough to know that I could catch Opeth at Download (and miss Behemoth) and catch Behemoth at GMM. While for much of Behemoth's extensive discography I had been quite indifferent towards to Polish Black/Death Metal gods, their recent album The Satanist had got me hooked. While I lacked energy after moshing my way through 45 minutes of Slayer, Behemoth is famous for having quite the theatrical live show, so I once again got myself as close to the front as possible to experience it in all its glory.<br />
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Behemoth had so much going on in their live show I genuinely can't remember how it all started. I do however distinctly remember the blood, the satanic crosses on fire, and the band changing outfits more often than they changed guitars. Behemoth are far from the purest Black Metal band out there, but they are certainly one of the faces of the genre. Their live show does a fantastic job of displaying what is so entertaining about Black Metal. There was an aura of genuine evil cast across the fields of Dessel during their performance, and enough fire, blood, and religious mockery to make any metal fan happy. To my pleasant surprise their set consisted almost entirely of material off The Satanist, nearly playing the album front-to-back, but swapping out some of the less memorable tracks for old favorites. Opening and closing their set with the book-ends on the new album was an incredible live experience with the crowd getting fully involved in the ending speech of O Father O Satan O Sun. Behemoth's theatrical live show has so much to offer and was easily the highlight of Day 1.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQPOoOGsHw8TSuLzqI0kVKPQsJpCwqM3aU5pnqO0C-VMkDJthXk1CKnZrONw_FpznjmsH7km4Hi5U0Wa68j2p_UtcIka6MBneajhmeOOkIiL-UPGXci6Ri6IHmQz90ZpC6sSPX-r4-CpQ/s1600/IMAG0351%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQPOoOGsHw8TSuLzqI0kVKPQsJpCwqM3aU5pnqO0C-VMkDJthXk1CKnZrONw_FpznjmsH7km4Hi5U0Wa68j2p_UtcIka6MBneajhmeOOkIiL-UPGXci6Ri6IHmQz90ZpC6sSPX-r4-CpQ/s640/IMAG0351%5B1%5D.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Incredibly entertaining theatrical live show with album quality sound<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">9/10</span></b><br />
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Avenged Sevenfold</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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This was now my second time watching A7X on this Europe trip but the first time I decided to watch their set start to finish and give the California rockers a chance. A few things stood out right away in their performance. Firstly there was the stage show itself. There is clearly an insane amount of money put into attempting to give A7X a great live show as almost everything you could possibly add to the stage show was there. Banner: check. Screens: check. Insane amounts of LEDs: check. Fire: check. Fireworks: check. That strange stage design that allows member to walk around above/behind the drummer: check. Avenged Sevenfold throws so many flashing lights and fireworks into their live show that it's enough to keep an toddler with ADHD entertained. The second thing that struck me about their live show was the visible intoxication. While there's nothing wrong with getting liquored up before a performance, the fact I could spot it from 100 yards away starts to say something about the bands attitude towards accurately playing their music. I'm primarily speaking of Synister Gates in this case, who both looked like he might fall over, messed up frequently, and did the honour of providing drunken backing vocals. Third thing that struck me about their live show: Matt Shadows is perfect live. I may love to hate on A7X but I will say absolutely nothing against their front-man, he killed it. His vocal style might not be for everyone, but when it comes to performing it live, the man is truly talented.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Avenged Sevenfold's performance did sort of piss me off for one reason in particular though. Every second of their stage show is pre-programmed, and pre-scripted. It's pretty sad when it gets to the point that in every city you perform you deliver the same speeches in between the same songs and hardly change a word. I understand these bands are constantly touring and it may be hard to change things up but this is what differentiates great live performers from the rest. Overall Avenged Sevenfold wasn't bad, and their fans loved the performance, but for me the whole thing felt very in-organic and stale.</div>
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<b>Quick Review:</b> Stellar live vocals, but drunken slip ups were the only not scripted element of the show </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">6/10</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">
Sabaton</span></h3>
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Day 1 was closed out by Swedish Power Metal band Sabaton. While i'm not much of a Power Metal fan, catching a Power Metal band at a major European metal festival was on my bucket list. There's just something about the genre that makes it inherently so much better in a live environment. The genre thrives on the European festival scene and massive festival crowds.<br />
<br />
Sabaton did not disappoint my power metal live expectations, putting on a great show filled with endless crowd sing-a-longs, shred-tastical guitar solos and songs about war. The power metal experience is a metal experience that felt more about friendship and brotherhood rather than anything aggressive. While I did feel a little out of place since I didn't know any of the words, I still had a great time watching Sabaton. Their stage show was unique and impressive. There were hundreds of lights to illuminate EVERYTHING, the drum set was a fucking tank (literally, it could even shoot things), and the band invited random fans on stage to participate in a Swedish feast. Sabaton's front man did a great job keeping the crowd entertained and cheery with his stories, speeches and jokes. I got sloshed on Belgian beers while watching a power metal band perform to tens of thousands of fans and had an awesome end to Day 1.<br />
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Everything you could want out of a power metal live show, plus a drum set that is also a tank<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">8/10</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
Thus ends the list of memorable performances from Day 1,<br />
Thanks for reading!<br />
Day 2 comes next week,<br />
<br />
David, I'll see you when I hide in a tree outside your window.<br />
-JD<br />
<br />Jeremy Dodgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096777351523335238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-25271981910606758932014-11-08T23:50:00.000-05:002014-11-09T00:15:40.172-05:00Album Review: Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 2It's been over a month since my last full on album review, which I think is kinda funny considering I started this blog by reviewing nothing but music. Either way, fuccbois beware, because this next album is about to go twin hype and do a dance on your wind pipe.<br />
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<b>Run the Jewels</b> have been my favorite rap group since they dropped their debut album, <i>Run The Jewels</i> last year. Consisting of two of my favorite rappers, one of whom is also my favorite producer, this is a duo that can't be beat in my books. Consisting of the odd combo of southern rapper <b>Killer Mike</b> and New York rapper/ producer <b>El-P</b>, this is one of those instances where two very different people come together and make something greater than the sum of their parts.<br />
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<i>Run The Jewels 2</i> is a natural extension of last year's debut, bringing in more serious and socially conscious lyrics more akin to those in <i>RAP Music</i> and <i>Cancer 4 Cure</i>. There's religious imagery out the ass, and lots of content calling out police brutality, corrupt political and judicial systems, and racism in Western culture. Don't worry, though, everything that makes <b>Run The Jewels</b> the most metal rap group is still there. Between some of their most violent and raunchy lyrics and <b>El</b> bumping out some of his most aggressive (and most addictive) beats yet, this album doesn't show the duo softening up anytime soon.<br />
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Another thing <b>RTJ</b> has stepped their game up on is who and how they use their features. <b>Rage Against The Machine</b>'s Zack De La Rocha,<b> Foxygen</b>'s Diane Coffee, <b>Three 6 Mafia</b>'s Gangsta Boo, <b>Blink-182</b>'s Travis Barker (!), and <b>Beyoncé</b>'s Boots all contribute monster verses, haunting hooks and melodies, or in Barker's case badass drum fills to <i>RTJ2</i>.De La Rocha and Gangsta Boo are the two standout performances on the album for me, although Boots cuts a close third. De La Rocha is actually sampled and looped in the beat to "Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)", and Gangsta Boo drops one of the raunchiest verses I've heard, which is twice as powerful following <b>Killer Mike</b> and <b>El-P</b>'s hypersexual lines in "Love Again".<br />
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I know I'm a huge fanboy and I hype <b>Run The Jewels</b> a lot, but this is by far my favorite album of the year so far. It floored me after my first listen, and every time I listen through it again, I pick up on more nuances in <b>El-P</b>'s production, or catch more clever wordplay in everyone's lyrics. It's the gift that keeps on giving.<br />
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You can get <i>RTJ2</i> for free (that's right, <i style="font-weight: bold;">FREE</i>) off of <a href="http://www.runthejewels.net/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>Run The Jewels</b>' website</span></a>. Catch <b>Run The Jewels</b> on tour this month, and if you see them on their Toronto date, come say hi (and buy me a beer)!</div>
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That`s all for now, folks!</div>
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-DG</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-79296395466076479792014-11-05T17:11:00.001-05:002014-11-05T17:11:26.491-05:00Cinema Terrible: 24 Hour B-Movie Marathon 2014 (Part 2)By now, we're almost into hour 6 of our marathon. Let's keep the pace up.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance</i> (Dir. Neveldine/Taylor)</span></b><br />
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I was so pumped for this movie for two reasons. The first, that Nicolas "The Cage" Cage was starring and that it was directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, both of whom directed <i>Crank</i> and <i>Crank 2: High Voltage</i> under the name of Neveldine/Taylor. For those of you who don't know, <i>Crank 2</i> is one of my favorite action movies, and <i>Ghost Rider: SoV</i> follows suite in terms of cinematography and (almost) keeps up in pacing. <i>Spirit of Vengeance</i> is way better than the first <i>Ghost Rider</i>, because of how reserved the original was. With Neveldine/Taylor at the helm, this sequel has the direction it needs to be a schlockfest of a movie. <i>Ghost Rider: SoV</i> has got to be one of the better movies we saw over the marathon.<br />
<br />
<b>The Drinking Game</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
1. Anytime anyone says "Devil" or "Rider".<br />
2. Anytime Nic Cage turns into the Ghost Rider.<br />
3. Anytime Ghost Rider ghost rides a new ride.<br />
4. Finish your drink during the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRm6UhCf6aU" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">greatest interrogation scene of all time</span></a>.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Superbabies: Baby Geniueses 2</i> (Dir. Bob Clark)</span></b></div>
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I can't tell you what happened in this movie. Not that it was too hard to follow or that we weren't paying attention, but because we spent this hour and a half mourning Jon Voight's career. Voight, known for a few little movies called <i>Heat</i>,<i> Mission: Impossible</i>, and <i>Deliverance</i>, officially hit rock bottom here. I don't know if it was part of a contract that he had to act in this movie, but this movie is just <i>dreadful</i>. I would say that <i>Superbabies</i> is on par with <i>Foodfight!</i> in how painful it is to watch. While <i>Foodfight!</i> had it's moments that stood out, and had terrible animation to make fun of, this movie had almost no redeeeming qualities. You've been warned.<br />
<br />
<b>The Drinking Game</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
1. Drink so that you only see the bottom of the glass instead of subjecting your eyes to this horror. Refill your drink whenever you can see the movie through the bottom of the glass.<br />
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<br />
<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Tammy and the T-Rex</i> (Dir. Stewart Raffill)</span></b><br />
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If there's <i>any</i> movie to cleanse your pallet after <i>Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2</i>, it's <i>Tammy and the T-Rex</i>. Starring none other than Denise Richards and the late Paul Walker. This movie is a cinematic anomaly. I have no idea why this was made, or who thought it was a good idea. All I do know is, this movie is the biggest mishmash of ideas, themes, and tones, and it's <i>amazing</i>. If you've ever wanted to see Denise Richards fall in love with a giant mechanical T-Rex that's controlled by Paul Walker's brain (and let's face it, who doesn't), then you need to see this movie right now. No, seriously. You can. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qzs1zhOk2lo" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Right here, right now</span></a>.<br />
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<b>The Drinking Game</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
1. Drink every time you question a creative decision made by the writers or director.<br />
2. Drink every time you see the T-Rex's floppy sock arms slide in on screen.<br />
3. Finish all you alcohol once the credits start rolling, because holy Christ in heaven, what the fuck is that last scene?!<br />
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<br />
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That's all for now, folks! Jeremy, I'll see you last Sunday.<br />
<br />
-DG<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-30339712614582600322014-10-30T10:51:00.002-04:002014-11-04T11:44:59.850-05:00Cinema Terrible: 24 Hour B-Movie Marathon 2014 (Part 1)Here I sit in the aftermath of this past weekend's 24 Hour B-Movie Marathon. For an unknown reason, my friends and I enjoy suffering through terrible, terrible movies, and we've made an annual tradition of participating in a 24 hour marathon of schlock, bad acting, and awkward 80's nudity. That's 24 straight hours of movies, with the only rules being that as soon as a movie ends, the next must begin and that somebody must be watching the TV at all times.<br />
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Since my friends and I are all old fogies now, we didn't play many of the drinking games that are associated with movies of this ilk. For you youngsters out there who really want to party, I will include any drinking games I know alongside each movie's review. However, be warned, if you want to play with drinking games, your marathon will probably go like this:<br />
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1. Start your first movie. Yeah! Drinking!<br />
2. Keep drinking.<br />
3. No, seriously, you don't get a break here. Keep drinking.<br />
4. Re-evaluate your life choices as you forcefully gulp down your 13th beer in 30 minutes and realize that you have twenty-three and a half more hours of this.<br />
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Naturally, all of us fell asleep at one point or another (except for friend and fellow blogger <a href="https://fyfelife.jux.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Fyfelife</span></a>), but every part of every movie did get watched, and that's all that matters. This was our second ever marathon, running from exactly 1:02 PM Saturday, October 25th until 1:07 PM Sunday, October 26th. We burned our way through 15 movies, 3 XL pizzas, maybe about $100 worth of Bulk Barn candy, and most of our sanity. This is our story.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>The Room</i> (Dir. Tommy Wiseau)</span></b></div>
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One of the triumvirate of movies dubbed "the worst movies ever made", <i>The Room</i> is a disasterpiece of a drama. Written, directed, and starring the enigmatic and eccentric Tommy Wiseau, this movie is about a young couple, Johnny and Lisa, who are to be engaged soon. Unfortunately for Johnny, his bride-to-be is cheating on him with his best friend! That's it. That's the entire plot of the movie. For what <i>The Room</i> lacks in exciting plot, it more than makes up for in terrible dialogue and acting, usually delivered by Mr. Wiseau himself. I mean, seriously, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ4KzClb1C4" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">this man is on a whole other level</span></a>. How this movie was made is a mystery to me (a common theme among the movies watched), but I'm glad it exists. This is the movie that first got me into bad movies, and to this day it still holds a special place in my heart.<br />
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<b>The Drinking Game</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
1. Anytime Lisa is referred to as "hot" or "sexy".<br />
2. Anytime Mark is referred to as Johnny's best friend.<br />
3. Anytime Lisa says she doesn't love Johnny anymore.<br />
4. Anytime Johnny says "Oh hai, [Character]!"<br />
5. Anytime you see an establishing shot of San Francisco.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Troll 2</i> (Dir. Claudio Fragasso)</span></b></div>
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The second of our trinity of infamous so-bad-they're-good movies, <i>Troll 2</i> is an unrelated sequel to <i>Troll</i>, which I have not watched. Also, see that cover off the left of the screen? That isn't the main kid in the movie. That isn't the troll in the movie. In fact, <i>there aren't actually any trolls in </i>Troll 2. Mind blown, right? <i>Troll 2</i> is actually about a country town of goblins disguised as people that terrorize a young family from the city so that they can eat them. Before they eat them, they need to turn them into half-plant-half-human because Goblins are apparently vegetarian and can't do basic fraction math.<br />
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<i>Troll 2</i> is incredibly fun to watch, and unlike most B-movies, there is very little downtime or painful sections to sit through. Grab some popcorn, a double-decker balogna sandwich, and strap in for the ride of your life.<br />
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<b>The Drinking Game</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
1. Anytime Grandpa Seth wizards the shit out of the scene like a motherfucking boss (Spoiler: He never does it any other way).<br />
2. Anytime you see the one extra derpy-faced goblin.<br />
3. Anytime you see green goo/ food with green goo on it.<br />
4. Anytime you get lost or confused by the what's happening on screen.<br />
5. Finish your drink at the pivotal "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyophYBP_w4" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">OHHHH MYYYYY GOOOODDDDDDD</span></a>" and "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTZVvFn6rmo" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Popcorn</span></a>" scenes.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Foodfight!</i> (Dir. Lawrence Kasanoff)</span></b></div>
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This movie. This freaking movie. This movie has been blacklisted from my household because of how terrible it is. It's easily the worst animated movie of all time, and somehow managed to hire on one of the most star studded casts of all time. Between Charlie "Tiger's Blood" Sheen, Hilary Duff, Christopher Lloyd, Wayne Brady, and Eva Longoria, you'd think there'd be some redeeming qualities to this movie, but there aren't. This movie is painful. If you want to get the gist of the movie without losing your ability to smile or feel joy ever again, watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGql8sKjJwA" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">JonTron's excellent review of it</span></a>.<br />
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<b>The Drinking Game</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
1. Lie down.<br />
2. Try not to cry.<br />
3. Cry.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
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So there we are. We've begun our odyssey through 24 hours of terrible movies. I hope you're prepared. Next time, we cover the surprisingly awesome <i>Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance</i>, the unsurprising terrible <i>Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2</i>, and the heart-wrenchingly disappointing <i>Samurai Cop</i>.<br />
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That's all for now, folks! Jeremy, I'll see you in hell.<br />
<br />
-DG<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-29756615531236509312014-10-28T20:44:00.000-04:002014-10-28T20:44:10.417-04:00Festival Review Number Two: Graspop Metal Meeting When selecting which festivals to attend while on a month long Europe trip, there's quite a lot to take into consideration. It seems as if every country in Europe has it's own legendary metal festival, and choosing which lineup is the best can be torture for a music fan. After extensive internal debate, I determined the second festival I would attend. Graspop Metal Meeting is the premier metal festival in Belgium and made the cut for the festivals I would attend for two simple reasons: Meshuggah and Black Sabbath.<br />
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Graspop Metal Meeting takes place the small town of Dessel in the north of Belgium. The festival is primarily a dutch speaking festival, as it is both in the dutch area of Belgium and attracts many metal fans from the Netherlands. While the language barrier did get in the way a few times and definitely limited by social interactions with the rest of the crowd, it was fascinating to experience a metal festival in country with different language and culture. Graspop had the feeling of a true European metal festival with foreign languages, a festival location in the middle of nowhere, and a lineup stacked with all the Power Metal and Black Metal you'd expect in the European metal scene.<br />
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Going in I knew little about Graspop Metal Meeting, but the lineup this year was too good to pass up. Getting to the festival grounds took 4 trains, a shuttle bus, and a twenty minute walk. Unlike Download, which was right beside an international airport, GMM is truly a middle of nowhere metal campout. Once I finally arrived at the festival grounds I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that unlike Download, the campsite and main festival areas were right next to each other. You receive a micro-chipped wristband upon arrival that allows you to freely go wherever you'd like without needing to deal with security. I'd say this is a fairly representative characteristic of GMM, it feels like you are completely free, while there is still enough security to keep things from diving into chaos.</div>
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The tone for Graspop was clear before even arriving at the festival, this was a REAL metal festival. While I had loved the crowd at Download, it certainly wasn't the die hard metal fan base that were storming into Dessel for GMM. Black shirts, tattoos, piercings, and the type of people who would scare the shit out of middle class white collar workers. While I might not look the part of a typical metalhead, I've always loved the metal culture and there is no place better than a festival to experience it. I was surrounded by a language I didn't know a single word of, in a country I'd only just arrived in that morning, yet I felt right at home. </div>
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Next week I'll be reviewing the Day 1 bands,</div>
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Thanks for reading,</div>
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David, I'll see you at a distinct point in spacetime,</div>
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-JD</div>
Jeremy Dodgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096777351523335238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-72616269542513790162014-10-21T14:06:00.003-04:002014-10-21T14:06:59.080-04:00Track Reviews: Run The Jewels - "Blockbuster Night Part 1" + "Oh My Darling Don't Cry" + "Close Your Eyes"Oh boy. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. We're exactly one week away until one of underground hip-hop's most anticipated albums drop. <i>Run The Jewels 2</i>, the second offering from Brooklyn duo <b>Run The Jewels</b> (Killer Mike and El-P) has had three of it's songs released, and holy Christ almighty, are they amazing. Prepare for some fangirling.<br />
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<i>RTJ2</i> threw "Blockbuster Night Part 1" about a month ago, and boy, was it was a curveball. It's slower than any other <b>RTJ</b> song, and it's main swing rhythm can make even the most stonefaced person bob their head. As usual, Mike and El kill it with the bragging and violent lyricism, for example, the final verse by Killer Mike:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This Run The Jewels is, murder, mayhem, melodic music<br />Psychotics use it then lose it, junkies simply abuse it<br />That's word to Phillip Seymour Hoffman, I'm pushin coffin<br />I probably smell like a pound when they put me in a coffin<br />The gates of hell are pugnaciously pacin', waitin'<br />I give a fuck if I'm late, tell Satan be patient<br />But I ain't here for durations, I'm just taking vacations<br />And tell 'em fuck 'em, I never loved 'em and salutations</blockquote>
Between shit talking Satan himself and that little stinging Phillip Seymour Hoffman reference, Killer Mike slays this first single.<br />
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Now we're shifting into higher gears. Trap beats dominate this track up until the final third where El-P's signature noisy sci-fi production shift into overdrive with some heavy distorted bass to drive home the final few verses. "Oh My Darling" is loaded with hyperbolic lines once again, telling the world how <b>Run The Jewels</b> stand as the defenders of real rap from the watered down mainstream scene.<br />
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This is <b>Run The Jewels</b> at their peak. Mixing their typical brags with some biting social commentary on the police, the juridical, and prison systems of the United States, this song brings in fellow anarchist Zack De La Rocha for the final verse. De La Rocha fits "Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)" perfectly considering his track record for social and political commentary and his blatant antiestablishmentarianism. Yes I needed a dictionary to spell that. The beat to this song (which samples De La Rocha) has to be one of my favorite El-P produced tracks. Between the boom-bap drums and the overdriven bass licks, this has got to be one of <b>Run The Jewels</b>' heaviest songs.<br />
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I hope that now you're all as excited for <i>Run The Jewels 2</i> as I am. Based on what I've heard so far, I think El and Mike might end up stealing my spot for <a href="http://needsmorenoisegate.blogspot.ca/2013/12/guptas-top-10-albums-of-2013.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">best album of the year</span></a> two years in a row.<br />
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That's all for now, folks! Jeremy, I'll see you down the line.<br />
<br />
-DG<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-15093345621252787542014-10-15T21:34:00.002-04:002014-10-15T21:35:23.174-04:00Download Festival Review part 5: Food+drink, facilities, organisation, and atmosphere Thus far I've covered all the bands and notable performances from my Download experience, but there's more to a festival than simply the bands. While yes, no festival would succeed without a great lineup, I've found there are several other core areas which have a huge impact on the whole festival experience. I've broken these factors into 4 categories in order to keep them consistent across all festival reviews.<br />
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Food + Drink</span></h3>
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Living off of
festival food for an entire weekend was a bit of a scary idea going into the
trip. Based off my Heavy T.O., Mayhem fest and Ozzfest experiences, I expected
insanely overpriced poor quality food while minimal selection. Thankfully it
turned out that European festivals are more along the lines of overpriced mediocre
food with huge selection. There was the occasional food stand with top notch
restaurant quality food, but you had to search and sample for a few days before
you found them. I tried a different food stand for each meal of each day, and
was rarely disappointed. The food was still quite expensive, ranging from 3£
for something small to 10£ for multi-item meal, but relative to the generally
higher cost-of-living in England, the festival food prices were barely inflated
compared to North American festival food. Beers weren't too overpriced for a
festival at 4.50£ for a pint. Selection was poor with the choice of beer or
cider and no brand selection but the sponsor brands Tuborg and Somersby were
quite satisfactory.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Best thing I ate: Falafel<o:p></o:p></div>
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Falafel's were among the cheapest foods available and some
of the vegetarian food stands served and the one dedicated Falafel stand (they
made nothing else) made falafel's on a whole other level from any falafel I've
ever had.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Worth thing I ate: Burger<o:p></o:p></div>
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It's a good sign that it took me several minutes to think of
any meal that i didn't enjoy, but at last I remembered my first lunch of the
first day: a very boring burger. It wasn't bad by any means, but tasted like a
cheap burger and bun combo only reserved for school fundraisers and employee
appreciation bbqs. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">8/10</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">
Facilities</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Never underestimate the importance of the facilities at a festival, it doesn't take much for 60 000 people to turn a clean lineup of toilets into a disaster zone. Download had some of the best festival facilities of my trip, even including a complimentary new pile of toilet paper ever morning (while other festivals expected you to pay for toilet rolls at the festival shops). </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Download did have free showers but they were oddly located in the middle of the festival village, so for some it was a 15 minute walk to and from the shower. Free clean showers were tough to complain about though.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> The campsite itself was incredibly packed, with about 10x the tent-density that I would later see at Sonisphere, but this just lead to making a lot of random friends with everyone around you. The campsite grounds were a field of long grass, so it was a decently comfortable bedding, but it was near impossible to sleep so that added little benefit. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Download was possibly the hardest place to sleep imaginable, with a metal circus in the village blasting music, parties all around that raged all night and low flying planes to wake you up every hour or so. I attempted to get a solid amount of sleep the first night but quickly gave up and decided to join the party and survive a weekend replacing sleep with caffeine. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">7/10</span></b><br />
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Organisation</span></h3>
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Nothing turns a festival from great to terrible faster than poor organisation. It's one of the worst things in live music when you go hoping to see all these amazing bands and end up missing 3/4 of them due to them all playing at the same time, switching time slots or any of the other ailments that frequently plague festival lineups. To my pleasant surprise, the organisation at Download was on a whole other level from North American festivals. </div>
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Download posted the stage schedules on the side stages rather than requiring you to purchase a schedule. More importantly the bands stuck to the schedule, and it was very rare that two bands I was interested in seeing were on stage in the same time slot. Download organizers seemed to actually understand how different bands will attract different people and usually slotted the heaviest and most extreme bands at the same time as pop punk or radio rock acts. Any bands I missed at Download were because I like most genres, but as an example I couldn't blame Download for putting Behemoth on at the same time as Linkin Park; the two bands don't share too many common fans. </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">10/10</span></b></div>
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Atmosphere</span></h3>
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Now here's where Download annihilated the other festivals, the general feeling of the entire experience. I knew no one going into the festival and felt like I was friends with every single person coming out. Download had me smiling non-stop for the entire weekend, with subtle acts like checking wristbands by high five-ing security giving the festival an incredible cheery and friendly vibe. There were also several on-going jokes throughout the festival amongst the crowd, such if at any point during the day, if anyone yelled "STEVE", the sound of people yelling for Steve would carry for miles, followed immediately with many more joining in with yelling ALLEN in response. It all started right infront of me on the first day when someone was genuinely looking for their friend Steve, and the whole thing got hilariously out of hand from there. Another common random occurrence were points in the night when the sea of tents would perform what can best be described as a shouting-wave. Similar to how sports crowds raise their arms and do "the wave", but this involved random yelling and everyone joining in when the noise got near to them. No one ever knew why the shouting started, but you could listen as the sweet sound of random drunk shouting carried across the hills. The crowd were fantastic during live sets with everything from insane mosh madness to beautiful sing-alongs. The 60 000 mass of people felt as if it were one huge community of music fans. Random events in the middle of the day such as medieval fights also gave the festival a unique atmostphere. </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">10/10</span></b></div>
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Ultimately Download was one of the best weekends of my life, I would recommend it to anyone, and would go again in a heartbeat if I ever get the opportunity to do so.</div>
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This brings an end to my Download review.</div>
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Thanks for reading!</div>
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David, I'll see you when I see you,</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
-JD</div>
Jeremy Dodgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096777351523335238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-73446376170621349022014-10-15T12:18:00.001-04:002014-10-15T12:18:59.354-04:00Gupta's Best of 2014 So FarIt's October, and you know what that means: we're halfway through the year! No, wait. That isn't right. This is just fluff text because I can't think of a joke to make light of the fact that my Best of 2014 So Far list is coming in 4 months late. Punchline.<br />
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List time! In no particular order:<br />
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<b>Mastodon - <i>Once More 'Round the Sun</i></b><br />
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The <b>'Don</b> is back! Their twerktastic new album is exactly what I hoped <i>The Hunter</i> would be. <i>'Round the Sun</i> sounds like the natural extension of <i>Crack the Skye</i>, toning down the proggy breakouts and stepping up the addictive hooks and psychedelic spaciness.<br />
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Brann Dailor takes up majority of the vocal duties on this album, which is great because he's stepped up his singing game tenfold since <i>The Hunter</i>. While I don't consider <i>'Round the Sun</i> to be better than <i>Crack the Skye</i>, <b>Mastodon</b> have definitely put out one of their best albums to date. Listen: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWFWazj7Ud8" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Motherload</span></a><br />
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<b>Iron Reagan - <i>The Tyranny of Will</i></b><br />
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For those of you who don't know, <b>Iron Reagan</b> is a hardcore supergroup featuring members of <b>Municipal Waste</b>, <b>Darkest Hour</b> and <b>Mammoth Grinder</b>. Ultimately, this is <b>Municipal Waste</b> with more of a punk sound and politically heavy lyricism, but just because they're more serious, doesn't mean they aren't as much fun. Listen: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhiBDQF_0HM" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Miserable Failure</span></a><br />
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<b>'68 - <i>In Humor and Sadness</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
Rising immediately out of the ashes of <b>The Chariot</b>, Josh Scogin has paired up with drummer Michael McClellan (of no fame whatsoever) to drop some of the noisiest rock music of the year. The whole founding of the band was based on being the loudest duo, and considering Scogin's live set-up has him running through two guitar rigs and a bass rig, I think they've accomplished that stunningly.<br />
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Don't expect this to sound a lick like <b>The Chariot</b>, though. <b>Black Keys</b> meets <b>Black Flag</b> is the name of this album's game. Listen: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb1_zodLiwY" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Three Is A Crowd</span></a><br />
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<b>Body Count</b> - <b><i>Manslaughter</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
First off, I non-ironically love <b>Body Count</b>. Ice-T may seem like the least likely frontman for a hardcore group, but between his time in this band and his outstanding performance in <i>Leprechaun 5: In Da Hood</i>, he's quickly become one of my favorite celebrities.<br />
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<i>Manslaughter</i> is exactly what you'd expect for <b>Body Count</b> in 2014. Caveman riffs, d-beats, and Ice yelling about murdering people in horrific ways. This album does take an uplifting turn, surprisingly, with songs like "Back to Rehab", and "Get a Job", and their covers of "99 Problems" and "Institutionalized" are A+. Listen: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sokdL-0iV9s" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Talk Shit, Get Shot</span></a><br />
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<b>Electric Wizard - <i>Time to Die</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
The <b>Wizard</b> returns with the newest offering of hazy, fuzz filled, crushing doom. This time, things take a turn for the psychedelic with Jus, Liz and crew working with layers and layers of effect-ridden guitar tracks rather than simple, lumbering leviathan riffs. The end result is the same: your speakers will give you a contact high, and your walls will be shaking from the sheer heaviness of the sound.<br />
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Legalize drugs and murder. Listen: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foaShpNqrIA" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">I Am Nothing</span></a><br />
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<b>Gridlink - <i>Longhena</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
In my typical fashion, I'm going to quote myself because I'm lazy:<br />
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<i>Longhena</i> sets the bar to an impossibly high level for any band that plays this strain of grindcore. Chang's banshee vocals, Matsubara's rhythm playing that somehow fits under the category of "shred guitar" (not to mention his actual lead playing), Fajardo's accompanying drumming, the string sections, the interlude track, holy shit people, everything fits so nicely together that I honestly cannot find a weak point to this album. It even comes with a set of "karaoke versions" of the tracks for those of you who hate Jon Chang. Listen: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_wQ10KTTgg" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Look To Windward</span></a><br />
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<b>Earth - <i>Primitive and Deadly</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
Dylan Carlson and co. have always had hit-or-miss releases as far as I'm concerned. While I love albums like <i>The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull</i> and <i>Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method</i>, their earlier drone material and their latest bland offerings don't quite enthrall me in the same capacity.<br />
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<i>Primitive and Deadly</i> seems to take a page out of <i>Earth 2</i>'s heaviness, mix it with some of their mid-career cowboy riffage, and introduce some great guest vocals for an album that stirs up images of lonely foggy nights and smokey dive bars. Listen: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71nROr1yLgI" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">From The Zodiacal Light</span></a><br />
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So there you have it. These albums have stood out to me so far this year, and I'm sure there'll be a couple of more albums to add to the list by year's end. God knows how pumped I am for the new <b>At The Gates</b> and <b>Run The Jewels</b> records; I'm certain both will end up on my big list.<br />
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What do you guys think? Do you like the albums I chose, or do you think my taste in music is utter shit (more likely the latter)? What were your favorite albums this year so far? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook!<br />
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That's all for now, folks. Jeremy, I'll see you whenever.<br />
<br />
-DG<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-33729129649795399012014-10-09T22:33:00.001-04:002014-10-09T22:33:20.016-04:00Download Festival Review part 4: Day 3 Bands<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Day 3</span></h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">Thy Art is Murder</span></h3>
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Day 3 began with a mighty hangover and a series of mediocre performances. Thankfully it wasn't too long until Australian Deathcore band Thy Art is Murder were set to perform on the Pepsi Max stage, so I cured my hangover with the good old fashion strategy of just getting right back to drinking and headed over to the stage. While as a genre Deathcore became rather stale after only about a year in the spotlight, Thy Art is Murder have managed to breathe new life into the genre with a hilariously hateful album titled "Hate". Thy Art hit the stage with power, furious energy and a stage presence that perfectly matched their extreme and hateful lyrics. The crowd were spot on with every hook line, the most comical of them all being the classic: "ERADICATION OF THEM ALL, WHORE TO A CHAINSAW", which left onlookers terrified and confused. I had heard some negative reviews of TAIM's live show, but at Download they were spot on, with deadly accuracy on guitars and drums, and devastating vocals. If you're a deathcore fan, Thy Art is Murder bring everything to a live show you could possibly hope for, a few things you wouldn't expect.</div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Amazing live sound and an endless slew of hook line breakdown combos create one of the best live deathcore experiences you could imagine</div>
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<b>9/10</b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Skillet</span></b></h3>
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The middle of Day 3 was a little lacking in excitement so I decided to head over and check out a few bands that I wasn't particularity fond of but was interested in how they would perform live. The first of these performances was American rock band Skillet, best known for having an incredibly attractive female drummer. While I didn't have any knowledge of studio recordings to compare the live sound to, Skillet's bassist and lead vocalist had a powerful and dead-on vocal delivery, while both backing female vocalists weren't nearly as impressive. Probably the most interesting element of the performance was the use of string instruments, as the band brought out a cellist and violinist to accompany the band on a handful of songs. Unfortunately in a moment of poor judgement the band decided to also add synth string effects, which drowned out any live strings and rendered the additional musicians as nothing more than something to look at while listening to digital string sounds.</div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Skillet were an average rock band with a great vocalist and poor judgement on what produces a good live sound</div>
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<b>6/10</b></div>
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I also decided to randomly go see Emmure live. I had heard some people insist that if you shut off your brain and just jump into the pits with the intention of having a good time that Emmure can be a great live experience, so I decided to test the theory myself. I managed to get through the set without passing any judgement on the excessive use of opens notes, but I still found myself feeling rather bored by Emmure's live show. It was the same repeated breakdown frenzy for 30 minutes, and when compared to Thy Art is Murder's breakdown frenzy earlier in the day, Emmure had absolutely nothing to get excited about. I've never understood the appeal to Emmure's vocal delivery and live it was even worse than on record. The vocals had me cringing more than they had me feeling any kind of aggression. I tried so hard to shut my brain off and enjoy but I still ended up bored out of my mind.</div>
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<b>5/10</b></div>
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So my experiment to check out bands I wasn't fond of didn't produce anything great, so I was back to the Pepsi Max stage to check out a band I knew for sure I liked. I've been a Memphis May Fire band since their debut EP, and had even been one of the few fans who liked Matty Mullins when he first joined (believe it or not, he was quite hated by old school fans before the scene girls made him the face of the band). This was my first time catching MMF live and I was stoked to finally get to hear how the band captures their sound on the live stage. The band took to the stage to a piercing cry from the hundreds of 14 year old girls swooning over Matty and opened with their new single Unconditional. To my surprise rather than hearing the punchy accurate rhythms and wonderful vocal lines I was expecting I was struck with weak energy, a live mix that only left drums audible and an off-key Matty Mullins. I spent the entire set attempting to comprehend exactly what was so bad about their live sound, but regardless of the cause, MMF put on what was quite possibly the most disappointing live show I've ever seen. The barely audible guitars were only noticeable when they made mistakes, played when they should have cut out and had feedback issues during quiet sections. While in many venues a poor live mix would be excusable and blamed on a bad sound guy, Download had consistently had incredible sound for every band over the last two days. It became clear that the band attempts to make up for their awful live sound by simply cranking the kick drum as loud as it can go, and attempting to drown out everything else in the process. I expected BMTH to be the band with bad live sound that still manages to impress scene girls, but MMF took their place.</div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>While a few bands had been boring and mediocre at Download, MMF was the only actually BAD live performance and were by far the most disappointing band of my entire trip</div>
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<b>3/10</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Against Me!</span></h3>
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While the reviews of Day 3 might make it seem like this was a bad day, the afternoon was simply a dull point in what was otherwise a great day. The night filled with great performances began with American punk band Against Me! taking the stage. While I wasn't particularity fond of AM!'s newer material, I had loved some of their old albums and was very intrigued to see how their vocalist changing genders would influence their live presence. Against Me! performed to a mid sized, but very enthusiastic crowd and played a mix of songs of their new album and New Wave (because apparently even the band is aware the album in between those two was rather bland). Laura did a stellar job as a front-woman and came across as passionate and energetic in every song and very appreciative for the support in speeches between songs. Black Me Out live was absolutely incredible live as the amount of emphasis Laura pushed into the line "I want to piss on the walls of your house" gave the song an energy live that is just simply not there on the record. As much as I wish they'd play old material again, I was happy to hear a strong presence of songs off New Wave and the new songs sounded fantastic live.</div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Against Me! turned things around on Day 3 and put on a wonderful passionate punk rock performance</div>
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<b>8/10</b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Suicide Silence</span></b></h3>
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In an odd combination of bands, immediately following Against Me on the Pepsi Max stage was American Deathcore kings Suicide Silence, featuring their new vocalist Eddy Hermida. Since I had already been close to the front for AM, I was able to get right up the barrier for Suicide Silence. Suicide Silence opened with Unanswered and the crowd exploded, squishing me to the point where I was struggling to breathe. I squeezed back a bit in the crowd and found a more comfortable spot to witness the madness, and when I say madness, I mean all hell breaking loose. The mosh pit was at least 20 meters across, packed full of people. There were crowd surfers on top of other crowd surfers, with hundreds of people climbing up to all simultaneously attempt to make their way to the front. There were moments when I genuinely feared for my safety and had to use every ounce of energy in my body to support the endless stream of crowd surfers. There was a moment when someone was frantically trying to make some floor space for something, and as a logical conclusion based off the craziness of the show, me and several others all concluded someone had fallen and been knocked unconscious. It turned out to just be someone looking for a lost phone, but the immediate logical jump to someone loosing consciousness rather than someone simply losing a possession brilliantly displays the insanity that took place during this set. Somehow this element of a genuinely scary live show seemed perfectly suited for Suicide Silence. I'd seen SS live before and knew the band would be stellar, the real question on everyone's mind was how would Eddy perform as their new front-man (especially since this was prior to the release of the new album). It took only about 3 songs for the crowd to begin chanting "EDDY! EDDY! EDDY!" as Mr. Hermida was unquestionably killing it. I'd even go as far as saying Eddy sounded better live than when I saw Mitch years back. This was a performance I felt thankful to have just survived, but I'd be more than happy to do it all over again if given the chance. </div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Devastatingly heavy performance with Eddy doing a fantastic job as their new vocalist</div>
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<b>9/10</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Dillinger Escape Plan</span></h3>
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Headlining the side stage on the final day were Mathcore legends, who are frequently described as the best live band in the world: The Dillinger Escape Plan. TDEP are among my favorite bands, with their new album being the best album of 2013 in my books. I had heard so many stories of the madness that takes place at their live shows and was barely able to contain my excitement. I'm very pleased to say that TDEP did not disappoint at all, and are definitely deserving of their reputation as one of the best live bands out there. As much as this might be a cheap cop-out for a review, I have to say that TDEP's live show can't be described in words, there's too much going on, too much chaos, improvisation and madness to put into words. I will however take this moment to brag about a small but amazing moment that happened during the song Room Full of Eyes. Most of the crowd were losing their minds but didn't know the words to many songs other than the occasional chorus, so when it came to the slow part in Room Full of Eyes, I was essentially a one man crowd, belting the lyrics as loud as I could (I absolutely destroyed my voice right then and there). Greg was busy climbing the rafters, so he wasn't even singing the vocals at that point, but apparently I was loud enough to that Greg took notice, looked right at me, said "well I guess I don't need this" and tossed the mic to me (from about 40 feet up in the air). Unfortunately he slightly missed and the mic ended up in someone else's hands but to have one of my favorite vocalists single me out like that was insane. In classic Dillinger style, they ended their set with Sunshine the Werewolf and brought out Thy Art is Murder's vocalist CJ to join in on guest vocals, which added a whole new level of brutality to that song. TDEP were a perfect final set to end an insane first festival experience.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting a non-blurry photo of TDEP is damn near impossible</td></tr>
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<b>Quick Review:</b> There are no words for how good The Dillinger Escape Plan are live</div>
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<b>10/10</b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Aerosmith</span></b></h3>
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I stumbled out of the Pepsi Max to find out that Aerosmith still had a handful of songs left, so I decided to see if the classic rock band still had the chops to pull off a great festival closing set. Within 5 seconds of me deciding to go watch Aerosmith they broke into their classic ballad Don't Wanna Miss a Thing. To my pleasant surprise, despite looking terrible, Steven Tyler still has a great voice. I ended up being extremely happy that I stayed and watched Aerosmith, as simply looking at the size of the crowd was something incredible. Witnessing 60 000 fans all packed into one field was a big part of the reason I wanted to attend these European festivals and it was a beautiful sight to behold in person. Aerosmith continued to play all the hits you'd expect them to save for the end of the set and encored with Dream On. They sounded great, had a lot of energy for their age and were a well suited final band for the festival. </div>
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<b>Quick Review:</b> Despite Steven Tyler looking like his face has been run over by a truck, Aerosmith still manage to put on a great live show</div>
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<b>8/10</b></div>
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Thus ends the list of memorable performances from Download 2014. Next Tuesday I'll post one final summary that reviews the campsite, facilities and other aspects of the festival experience.</div>
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Thanks for reading!</div>
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David, I'll see you tomorrow.</div>
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Jeremy Dodgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096777351523335238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-60836471395766974522014-10-08T22:27:00.000-04:002014-10-08T22:39:41.399-04:00Download Festival Review part 3: Day 2 band reviews<h2>
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Day 2</span></h2>
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Dying Fetus</span></h3>
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Day 2 began with a full English breakfast, coffee and American Death Metal. Dying Fetus got things started with a bang on the Main Stage, with their over-the-top, cranked to 11, in your face style giving everyone a reason to wake the fuck up. I'm not much of a fan of DF, but they display incredible talent and it was just great to see a Death Metal band take the Main Stage, even if it was early in the day.</div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Loud, unapologetic and played with superb accuracy. A Great way to get the blood flowing and kick start Day 2.</div>
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<b>7/10</b></div>
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Chevelle</span></h3>
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Chevelle has been one of my favorite bands since mid-way through High School, and quite possibly takes the cake as my favorite "rock" band. These American rockers bring a cross of post-grunge and Tool and blend it all together in a straight forward and memorable rock format. Chevelle took to the Second Stage in front of a mid sized crowd (mid-sized for a festival, the crowd was still larger than any venue could support). To my surprise I appeared to be BY FAR the biggest Chevelle fan in the audience. Most of the crowd still appeared to be waking up and attempting to cure their hangovers, while a very select few were pressed up against the barrier rocking out and singing along with full force. Chevelle's set was short but sweet, performing a well balanced mix of songs off their discography and their live sound was damn near album quality. I loved what I saw but found myself dying to see more.</div>
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<b>Quick Review:</b> Amazing live sound that left me begging for more. Apparently 99% England doesn't know who Chevelle are though.</div>
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<b>9/10</b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Black Dahlia Murder</span></b></h3>
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More American Death Metal? Fuck Yea!</div>
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In all seriousness I'm not that big of a Death Metal fan, but when experiencing European music festivals, I wanted to push my own boundaries and explore some music I don't actively listen to. I arrived 5 minutes late (beer>being on time) and arrived to discover TBDM already tearing apart the Pepsi Max tent. Their sound was loud, fast, technical and 100% album quality. I began the set quietly nodding my head at the back of the tent and by the end of the set I wound up in the middle of the mosh pit covered in sweat and beer. TBDM had an uncontrollably and infectious live energy, it spread to everyone in ear shot and they experienced one of the fastest growing crowds of the day, with every passer by stopping to check out the madness. </div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Incredible live energy, jaw dropping talent and an atmosphere that felt aggressive but strangely had you smiling the whole set</div>
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<b>9/10</b></div>
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Bury Tomorrow</span></h3>
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Now that I was fully pumped up by two excelled side stage performances, it was back to the Main Stage to check out two of the hottest metalcore bands in Britain (Bury Tomorrow and While She Sleeps). Bury Tomorrow have always been in the shadow of American and Australian bands with similar styles, with their early albums sounding like Atreyu bonus material and their newer material being shrugged off as "Parkway Drive with Clean vocals". However make no mistake, Bury Tomorrow are a top tier metalcore act, bringing devastating low growls, great riffs, breakdowns and euphoric catchy clean vocals together in a polished mixed. BT took the Main stage to an audience who mostly seemed clueless of one their country's best modern metal bands. While the crowd was hesitant at first, Bury Tomorrow's riffs are infectious, and their breakdowns quickly sparked an explosion of mosh pits. Bury Tomorrow had possibly more pits than any non-headliner and had people jumping around and rocking out from back to front. Most people described them as the best surprise of Day 2, but I expected no less from BT. Their live sound was superb, with tight musicianship and two stellar live vocalists. </div>
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<b>Quick Review:</b> Perfect metalcore style live show, with riffage that forced your head to nod, breakdowns that had everyone moving and wonderful clean vocal passages for everyone to sing along to.</div>
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<b>8.5/10</b></div>
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While She Sleeps</span></h3>
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With the crowd all pumped up from Bury Tomorrow performance, it was now time for one of Britain's finest modern Hardcore acts to take the Main Stage by storm. WSS shirts were everywhere you looked; people had even brought homemade WSS flags! With While She Sleeps constantly writing about how amazing their fan base is, I was beyond excited to see one of my favorite hardcore bands performed in front of thousands of the fans they love so dearly. With the haunting intro guitar of their bonus track Death Toll, thousands upon thousands of fans all leaped off their feet and barely returned to the ground for the entire set. WSS style of relentless fast paced hardcore riffing was absolutely exhausting but the band themselves rocks out harder than anyone and inspires the crowd to push themselves harder. While mosh pits and circles pits were all around me I frequently found myself just basking in the experience of being there among that many fans. The band pretty clearly writes their music with the intention of the crowd joining in on many vocal lines and with a festival size crowd these crowd chants and sing-a-longs became a things of beauty. Seven Hills, one of their many odes to their early fans, gave me shivers so hard I'm not entirely sure it wasn't a full on orgasm. While She Sleeps ended their set by grabbing one of the flags the audience brought and planting it as high up on the tv tower as the vocalist could climb.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_5FkIa7t3ja-L9BRAwINz1IT3K0OyY_Kuh4SLBfvzcs-M2lxv4041yDjTFT2dWNu8hTXeUxyIn5EXRSl5yveRbWfi1qT7RQBK5NH33N3VFNtZCyDeyy5GbvwgVy5WJygWC3HpFazOS6A/s1600/IMAG0064%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_5FkIa7t3ja-L9BRAwINz1IT3K0OyY_Kuh4SLBfvzcs-M2lxv4041yDjTFT2dWNu8hTXeUxyIn5EXRSl5yveRbWfi1qT7RQBK5NH33N3VFNtZCyDeyy5GbvwgVy5WJygWC3HpFazOS6A/s1600/IMAG0064%5B1%5D.jpg" height="226" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Homemade WSS Flags</td></tr>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>A stellar performance that brought the passion of small hardcore shows and delivered in on massive scale of festivals.</div>
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<b>9/10</b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Skyharbor</span></b></h3>
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India's premier djent/progressive metal act were at Download and there was no way I was going to miss it. While they unfortunately were playing at the same time as Killswitch Engage, I've seen KSE countless times and was more excited to see a band that may never make it to North America. Skyharbor's performance was atmospheric, loaded with harsh djent grooves and filled with stellar musicianship. There is however no doubt that Skyharbor's main attraction is their vocalist Dan Thomkins, who is better known for his work as TesseracT's vocal lead. Dan's vocals were jam droppingly good and he frequently had people applauding and cheering in the middle of songs as his challenging vocal parts were performed to absolute perfection. While Skyharbor writes some tasteful music, the only really memorable aspect of their performance was Dan's vocals</div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>The best part of India's best metal band is their British singer</div>
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<b>7/10</b></div>
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">
Twisted Sister</span></h3>
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I may not be big fan of Glam Metal, but given the chance there was no way I was going to miss Twisted Sister. The band is obviously aging and rely on front-man Dee Snider to be the entire source of live entertainment while the rest of the band stands in one place. Thankfully Dee is one of the best frontmen in the industry and still appears to have the vocal chops that got him famous back in the day. Dee is an obvious veteran of festival performances and had complete control of the crowd and had everyone laughing, cheering, chanting and jumping on command. Twisted Sister delivered everything you'd expect from a veteran stadium rock band, a great live show filled with crowd interactions to keep everyone entertained. Their live performance only had one hiccup, as the band was apparently one of the few performers who failed to realize that the festival grounds are right beside an international airport. Festival go-ers had become quite accustom to low flying planes soaring overhead, but Twisted Sister didn't get the memo and thought they were witnessing a plane crash, stopping mid-way through a song to point out the plane. The whole ordeal came off as quite hilarious and the band finished strong with I Want To Rock.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>While the musicians in the band have evidently aged and don't seem to be the party animals they once were, Dee Snider is charismatic and talented enough to more than make up for it.</div>
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<b>8/10</b><br />
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">
Bring Me The Horizon</span></h3>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Now here's a band that I would normally pass on seeing live, as I'm both not a fan of the music and have seen studio videos that display exactly how atrocious Oli Sykes is at performing his own music. However with a "when in Britain" type of attitude I decided it could be a cool experience to witness the UK's most popular hardcore act in front of their home crowd. I was expecting a poor performance that would still manage to impress the hoards of scene girls, however I was pleasantly surprised by BMTH actually putting on a good live show. Through a combination of Oli handing off the mic when vocal lines he can't sing come up, an INSANE crowd, and Oli actually coming across as genuinely passionate performer (rather than an overly emotional scene kid), BMTH put on a thoroughly entertaining show.</div>
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<b>Quick Review:</b> Expected to hate it but ended up actually enjoying the performance. They definitely got the craziest crowd reaction out the festival</div>
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<b>8/10</b><br />
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">
Linkin Park</span></h3>
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Speaking of nu-metal nostalgia, Linkin Park were headlining the Main Stage on Day 2, performing Hybrid Theory start-to-finish. Hybrid Theory was possibly the first remotely aggressive album I ever bought, so getting to witness it live 10+ years later was a wonderful nostalgic experience. Linkin Park performed their debut album as if it were brand new, sounding as excited to play these old songs again as the fans were excited to hear them. LP also brought what was easily the most impressive light show of the festival. I found myself in a state of pure nostalgic joy for the entire Hybrid Theory performance. The band played stellar, the choruses were magical with the tens of thousands of fans singing along, and the whole experience was a dream come true for my 12 year old self, but 22 year old me still enjoyed every minute of it. Linkin Park also played some new material and other hits once they finished Hybrid Theory but I had more important business to attend to and had to run off to the Red Bull stage to catch...<br />
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Nostalgic awesomeness<br />
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<b>10/10</b></div>
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">
Sikth</span></h3>
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<br /></div>
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The British progressive metal gods took the stage for the first time in almost 10 years at Download. As I said in part 1 of this review, Sikth was the main reason I was at Download, and after months of waiting for this moment, it was finally here. The crowd began chanting long before the band took to the stage, and were almost too loud as it took everyone a few seconds to realize the Bland Street Bloom intro had begun playing through the speakers. While I've used the expression "[insert band name] tore apart the stage" many times, Sikth fans did so quite literally. The entire Red Bull stage became one giant mosh pit and what was once a grass field became a concave dirt hole. Smiles never faded from faces of the crowd or the band, it was like re-uniting with a long lost friend; a crazy metal band re-uniting with their crazy fans. The crowd sung along to every word and even occasionally all sang along to guitar riffs (including a breakdown, imagine a festival crowd singing DUN DUN DUNDUNDUNDUN...). It was a special experience for the band and the fans, with the band taking pictures of the crowd as often as the crowd took pictures of the band. After Sikth left the stage the chants for "One More Song" didn't end for about 20 minutes, even after the band repeatedly said they can't. Unfortunately festival rules don't allow encores but it was a great display of how happy Sikth fans were to have their heros back and how eager they all were to see more.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-NXrPA94keQ9r9YUxUxzd_pH8EQhH8lh003ppR9u64RPiv6Fl0hUsFf-r4NKkBu1b5X3C3EfTOJxrtBSWWvC1HXXxJAGc6BiGokcJcsenphYXOZtF7oipDyNyXUb_aXuHg8hbxXDvLiM/s1600/IMAG0074%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-NXrPA94keQ9r9YUxUxzd_pH8EQhH8lh003ppR9u64RPiv6Fl0hUsFf-r4NKkBu1b5X3C3EfTOJxrtBSWWvC1HXXxJAGc6BiGokcJcsenphYXOZtF7oipDyNyXUb_aXuHg8hbxXDvLiM/s1600/IMAG0074%5B1%5D.jpg" height="362" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Quick Review:</b> A live experience as crazy as a Sikth reunion deserves<br />
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<b>10/10</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Day 3 band reviews coming Tomorrow,<br />
Thanks for reading,<br />
<br />
David I'll see you on Friday,<br />
<br />
-JD</div>
Jeremy Dodgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096777351523335238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-10821002287564169282014-10-07T20:59:00.000-04:002014-10-07T21:01:37.971-04:00Download Festival Review part 2: This time I actually review thingsSince my last post was a long winded intro, this week I'm just gonna jump straight in and review every memorable (for better or worse) live set I saw at Download Festival.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Day 1:</span></h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">Skindred</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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After starting the day with setting up my campsite and checking out some random side stage acts, I decided to indulge in some nu-metal nostalgia and watch the UK based reggae infused nu-metal act Skindred tear it up on the main stage. I knew two songs going in and wasn't expecting much. I figured once they played "Nobody" I could join in my first pitting experience of the festival. After all the chorus of the song is "Nobody gets out of this pit alive", so I figured it'd be a good time. However to my pleasant surprise Skindred killed it, start to finish, and everything in between. They displayed some of the best crowd interaction you could imagine and became the first band of the festival to use the size of the main stage crowd to its full advantage. They had the entire crowd on their feet, taking off their shirts, chanting, dancing, singing along, jumping, you name it. Skindred were conducting a several thousand person crowd with ease. </div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Skindred were the best surprise of Download festival, easily in the top 5 bands of the weekend </div>
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<b>9/10</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crowd in front of me</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crowd behind me</td></tr>
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">The Amity Affliction</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
After a few more beers and random bands, I was off to the Pepsi Max tent. In reality I was just waiting for letlive to take the stage, but I was more than willing to check out Australian metalcore act The Amity Affliction. While TAA aren't exactly my cup of tea, they put on a great show and seemed genuinely overwhelmed with happiness from the size of the crowd (with about 3x the crowd of any band previous on the Pepsi Max stage). It's always fun to watch a band who's enjoying the experience as much as any fan.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Quick Review:</b> Solid performance and the crowd was loud enough that the clean vocals didn't bother me as much as they do on record</div>
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<b>7/10</b></div>
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<br /></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">letlive.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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letlive. made their triumphant return to Download after 3 years ago their vocalist was almost not allowed on stage and had to literally fight event security to make it to the stage (<a href="http://youtu.be/MXkr_6iB0Po?t=1m">Footage</a>). This California hardcore band has a live performance that truly has to be seen to be believed. I had seen them live 3 times prior to Download, and consider them to be among the best live performers on the planet. The crowd had grown even larger since The Amity Affliction and there was electricity in the air as an overfilled Pepsi Max tent awaited what many knew was inevitably going to be one of the best performances of the weekend. There was a brief moment of disappointment when vocalist Jason Butler hobbled onto the stage on crutches, but with the first notes of The 27 Club the crutches flew through the air into the crowd and Jason powered through the performance as crazy as ever. Letlive claimed that Download was the best crowd of their career and I genuinely believe it. Any time I looked around I saw a sea of people who all knew every word to every song as well as I did. One of the most beautiful moments of the performance came when the band started into Pheremone Cvlt, and the crowd all rose their voices so loud that Jason dropped the mic, covered his mouth with both hands and was frozen in a state of complete disbelief. The crowd was louder than anything coming through the loudspeaker and the band let the crowd take the vocal lead for the majority of the song. While I'm already a huge fan and it didn't take much to sell me on letlive, seeing them get such a monstrous crowd reaction was something truly special and something I will never forget.</div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>letlive is one of the best live bands on the planet and Download was probably the best crowd of their career</div>
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<b>10/10</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">Black Label Society</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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Beards! Metal! Guitar Solos! Denim patched jackets! </div>
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This was my first time seeing BLS live and I was initially very excited (likely due to heavy intoxication by this point in the day). I crammed through the Main Stage crowd to get as close to the front as I could and prepared to have my face shredded. BLS took the stage with a wall of amps, skull shaped microphones and a handful of other cliches which seemingly beckoned an epic metal performance. As far as the live sound goes, they sounded great! However they were really quite boring to watch. There didn't seem to be any energy put into the live performance and there was near no interaction with the crowd. This lead to a stand-still crowd and me regretting my decision to go right up front. They still played great and shredded face with their solos, but it was a performance better spent looking for food rather than actually looking at the band.</div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Sounded great, but didn't move an inch</div>
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<b>6/10</b></div>
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<h3>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Rob Zombie</span></b></h3>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
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The first day of Download featured the king of goth rock as a secondary headliner. Rob Zombie is known for great theatrics, makeup and horror infused stage props, so I was eager to see what the most theatrical band of the day had in store. Mr. Zombie and his crew of oddly dressed backing musicians took the stage to a ferocious roar from the crowd. While Rob Zombie's live show did deliver everything that you would expect, with classic songs every knows, gross out theatrics and a pretty impressive stage show, nothing could quite make up Mr. Zombie's vocals. He has a unique vocal style that works brilliantly on record, but live it simply came across as "I'm watching someone who can't sing, at all". He seemed to struggle through every line and usually resorted to simply speaking the lyrics. All and all it wasn't a bad performance, but the crowd was evidently not super impressed and displayed a small fraction of the enthused for the supporting headliner as they showed for Skindred. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Entertaining performance with the only weak element being Mr. Zombie himself (unfortunately that's a pretty key piece of the band)</div>
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<b>6/10</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">Opeth</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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Swedish progressive metal gods headlined the Pepsi Max stage and were an amazing end to the first day. They mostly stuck to newer material, so the performance was more of an atmospheric chill end to the day, rather than complete an utter exhaustion that would end days 2 and 3. The band played an absolutely stellar performance and made a large side stage crowd feel like a small intimate performance with some nice improvised banter between songs. Opeth ended the set with two old songs and made all the old school fans happy. As much as I still dream of being able to see more than 1 song of Blackwater Park live, they performed The Funeral Portrait with such perfection that I was completely satisfied. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Quick Review: </b>Epic and atmospheric, a beautiful way to end off the day</div>
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<b>8.5/10</b></div>
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Note: I also saw half of Avenged Sevenfold's set after Opeth, but I caught the entire set at Graspop Metal Meeting and nothing changed in the set (including scripted banter between songs), so I'll talk about it when I review Graspop bands.</div>
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I'm feeling like this post is already long enough to test a readers patience, so rather than hammering through all 3 days in one go as I originally planned, I will post Day 2 tomorrow, and Day 3 on Thursday. </div>
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David already broke the rules of this Tuesday and Friday arrangement, so I'm breaking them even harder.</div>
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Stay tuned tomorrow to find out what giant flying object stopped Twisted Sister mid-song.</div>
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Thanks for reading,</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
David, I will see you on Friday,</div>
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Actually I'll see myself tomorrow,</div>
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This is your punishment for breaking the rules,</div>
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You now have to put up with three of my posts in one week,</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
-JD</div>
Jeremy Dodgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096777351523335238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-54753374748924426472014-10-01T11:44:00.000-04:002014-10-01T11:44:52.483-04:00Album Review: Live In Regret - "Find A Solution"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Shut up, I know it's not Friday. I'm going to be up in the grim and frostbitten north of Onaping, Ontario from this Thursday to Sunday so I figured I'd post now rather than wait 'til next week. As punishment, Jeremy, I will fully listen to and review <i>any</i> album you want me to for next Friday.</div>
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That being said, let's get down to the very first album review for this newly reinvigorated blog!</div>
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A week or so ago, <b>Live In Regret</b> dropped a new album chocked full of mathy, noisy, hardcore goodness. These UK chaps have been partaking in some of the old ultra-violence since 2008 now, and <i>Find a Solution</i> marks their second full length album. Two years ago they dropped <i>Let Go</i>, a solid hardcore album whose opening track "Coward" was featured on our very own <a href="http://needsmorenoisegate.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Grindhouse Vol. 1</span></a>! The band is a three-piece, with their guitarist taking over studio bass duties.<br />
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There's a certain amount of <b>Converge</b> worship these days with most noisy hardcore and metalcore bands, but <b>Live In Regret</b> manages to pull it off with a little bit of personal flair. The band seems to take after the spastic stylings of <b>The Chariot</b>, although they keep it coherent, as the songs don't seem to feel like they're about to fall apart. I typically group bands that sound like <b>The Chariot</b> with bands that sound like <b>Dillinger Escape Plan</b> as well, but <b>Live In Regret</b> have that looseness that traditional 80s and 90s hardcore has. Not every note is as meticulously planned out as "Sugar Coated Sour" is, which is a refreshing thing to hear from a mathy band. It seems that bands that play this style of music are typically so wrapped up in playing in as many stupid time signatures as possible or playing the most technically complex music they can that they forget to <i>feel</i>. Seriously. I know this sounds like hippy-dippy bullshit, but hardcore is one of the most emotionally evocative genres out there. When bands prog it up to the point where it sounds like robots are playing, it kind of defeats the purpose of the music. So kudos to <b>Live In Regret</b> for helping to bring the human element back to mathcore.<br />
<i><br /></i>
I have to commend all the members of the band for some solid performances and songwriting. While each song doesn't last particularly long (the longest clocks in at 2:02, the shortest at 0:39), they ebb and flow naturally, with enough distance between the mathy, noodly bits and enough variance between everything else to keep things interesting. I'm a very big fan of the drumming on this album, because the drums are played <i>with</i> the guitar and bass, not underneath them.<br />
<br />
I do find the production kind of lacking for this album, but considering this is a relatively new band's second full length, I con't complain too much that they didn't get to record at God City Studios or anything. The production isn't bad, but if the drums could be a bit more articulate and the bass raised in the mix, I think it would help a ton with their sound.<br />
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You can catch <b>Live In Regret</b> on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Live-In-Regret/135072586504427" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Facebook</span></a>, <a href="http://liveinregret.bandcamp.com/album/find-a-solution" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Bandcamp</span></a>, and you can buy a customized teddy bear on their very own <a href="http://liveinregret.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">webzone</span></a>. I hear this world wide web is going to be the next big thing!</div>
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Jeremy, I'll see you on Tuesday.</div>
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-DG</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-49158294363941117872014-09-30T20:50:00.000-04:002014-09-30T21:00:32.976-04:00A Canadian's first taste of the European festival season: Download Festival Review part 1<h2>
Part 1: Joining the Hoard</h2>
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When you approach graduation, everyone seems to be coming at you with the same question: "Well, what are your plans for the future?". For me, there was only one plan: Get to Europe, Experience metal festivals. I've been living my whole life seeing images and videos of these monstrous 20 000-150 000 person festivals and dreaming of the day I could surf that sea of people, join in on those football field sized circled pits, and spend 3 days partying with thousands of metal fans. So after 17 years of school and no job lined up for me, I decided to hop on a place and just go for it. With minimal preparation, almost no plan outside of a few festival tickets, I went to Europe for a month.<br />
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I arrived in London and immediately hopped on a bus taking me up to Castle Donnignton, the small British city that hosts one of the finest Rock, Metal, and Hardcore festivals around: Download Festival. The lineup this year featured a fair amount of standard rock headliners, but hidden within the side stages are some of the best live bands on the planet. This was going to be my first time seeing Opeth, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Chevelle, Thy Art is Murder, and countless others. The main reason I chose Download: the return of one of the greatest, and possibly the most underrated, progressive metal bands of all time: Sikth. Sikth is one of my favorite bands, and the idea of being there to experience the first time they hit the stage in almost ten years, in their home country, got me excited enough to buy the ticket right then and there.</div>
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I had already heard lots about Download festival and even watched a few live sets from past years, but nothing could have quite prepared me for the weekend ahead of me. I began to realize the scope of how huge this festival is while still many kilometers away from the festival grounds. While I'm quite used to the "metal crowd effect", when an area close to a venue will become flooded with metalheads, but never before had I seen this effect on a European festival scale. Witnessing nearly 60 000 metalheads marching to the festival grounds was an experience in itself. This is the equivalent of if half of the city of Guelph just all got up at once and marched into a randomly selected field. Everywhere you looked you saw people who were unmistakably geared up for a metal/hardcore festival. With a crate of beer behind them, a backpack large enough to travel the world, a funny hat, and their favorite metal tee, these people marched in hoards so large that vehicular traffic was at a complete standstill for miles in every direction. </div>
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I joined the hoard and struggled through carrying my 85L backpack, packed to the brim, for several miles but was eventually greeted by the wonderful sight of the entrance gate. Immediately when you enter the festival grounds you arrive in "The Village", which more closely resembles a giant Metal-As-Fuck carnival. You could buy anything you need to survive, decorate yourself, or intoxicate yourself. There were even movie screens, makeshift metal nightclubs, carnival rides, hookah bars and so much more. After arriving at the far side of the village I was struck by the wonderful sight of thousands upon thousands of tents. Literally tents as far as the eye could see. I wandered up and down the aisles for about twenty minutes until I eventually found a prime spot to camp out for the next 3 nights. </div>
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I set up my tent for the first time, threw my bag inside and rushed off the check out the main festival grounds, aka "The Arena". It didn't take me long to stop rushing as it becomes immediately apparent that there's a 20 minute hike between the campground and The Arena, even for VIP campground it was about 15 minutes. However, 20 minutes and two beers from a friendly stranger later, I passed through the gates into The Arena, and my festival experience had officially begun...</div>
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Next week I discuss what bands I saw,</div>
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who was awesome,</div>
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who was disappointing,</div>
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and how the Irish guy camped next to me never stopped drinking.</div>
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David, I'll see you on Friday.</div>
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-JD</div>
Jeremy Dodgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096777351523335238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-74815267780818085082014-09-26T10:34:00.000-04:002014-09-26T10:34:08.121-04:00...I Guess We're Back!After both Jeremy and I dropped off the face of the internet for the last few months, I've been looking for motivation to start blogging again. Jeremy, being the little minx that he is decided to break this radio silence, and now all I'm thinking about is Needs More Noise Gate and how to make it better than ever before.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanks a ton, <i>asshole</i>.</td></tr>
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But seriously, I'm pumped to start doing this again, because I'm reminding myself of how much fun it was when I was in full-swinging blog mode a couple years ago (before I started getting flaky on my postings).<br />
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I will try to get something posted at least every Friday, to continue the Green Brothers theme that Mr. Dodge has started. I will (hopefully) post music or movie reviews, or maybe something else entirely if I'm feeling particularly saucy (or lazy) that week.<br />
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Topics that I'm mulling over in my head to write about include:<br />
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<li>Reviews of the new Mastodon, Opeth, Cannibal Corpse, Iron Reagan, and '68 albums.</li>
<li>The Circle (Pit) of Life, a column series about what makes our favorite music so good. First up: An Ode to the D-Beat.</li>
<li>Reviews of non-music things that I'm currently in to such as: movies, board games, and beer.</li>
<li>More interviews with awesome underground metal and punk artists.</li>
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Sounds good? Sounds good.<br />
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Jeremy, I'll see you on Tuesday.<br />
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-DG<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-22587171329745354012014-09-23T20:26:00.001-04:002014-09-23T20:34:00.665-04:00OMG A NEW POST<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So first things first, Needs More Noise Gate hasn't seen a new post in several months, I never finished any posts since New Years, and I have never lived up to my promise of providing bacon reviews. This is what inevitably happens when two Engineering students decide to write a blog, it ends up falling to the wayside far too often and before you know it most of the year has gone by. So here's a quick summary of what I've been up to all this time I should have been writing reviews, and my plan for the future (spoiler: it involves actually writing reviews):<br />
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<b>January</b>: I enter my final semester of Engineering, social life clings on for dear life. Attempt to gain more free time by deleting every video game off my computer. Become addicted to online tetris, social life dies.</div>
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<b>February:</b> The shortest month with the most deadlines, sleep becomes something you daydream about while stuck pulling an all-nighter in the lab, my capstone design group begins to realize my ambition is more psychotic than visionary</div>
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<b>March: </b>While demonstrating our project to the professor, David and I are told we have to completely re-start. Social life's dead corpse is violently cremated until I question if it ever existed. Wake up one day to the phrase "The Slow Decay Of The Human Soul" written on my table and have no recollection of writing it (true story).</div>
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<b>April:</b> OH GOD EVERYTHING IS DUE. Sell my soul to Satan to get my capstone project working the night before the presentation, end my University experience by 12 hours of non-stop drinking in attempts to forget that I left the entire last page of that final exam blank.</div>
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<b>May: </b>Become an extremely over-qualified factory worker, working 6 days a week in a desperate attempt to pay off debts. McDonald's becomes too expensive for my budget</div>
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<b>June: </b>Officially graduate and immediately leave on a month long trip to experience the European festival season. A detailed post on this whole trip will be coming soon! My two word summary of the trip: In Tents</div>
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<b>July:</b> Return from Europe, realize I didn't spend as much as I predicted, and can survive for a month without a job. Spend entire month doing nothing, become unnaturally good at select video games</div>
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<b>August: </b>Apply for jobs like my life depends on it, realize that sentence isn't as figurative as I initially thought, return to the wonderful world of debt. Finally find a job in my field and celebrate by buying a car (it's debt you can drive!)</div>
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<b>September: </b>Spend a month getting used to commuter life and settled into my first ever desk job. Realize I can actually do things again, remember I once promised bacon reviews and never delivered (sidenote: I like the idea of delivering bacon, someone get on this). Which brings us to the here and now!</div>
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MY WONDERFUL PLAN FOR THE FUTURE: ReviewsDayTuesday</h3>
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Starting today, I plan to at a minimum attempt to write something here every Tuesday, and steal Hank Green's idea of REVIEWSDAYTUESDAY. So, if you like hearing my ramble, you're in luck. If you hate hearing me ramble, you probably stopped reading a long time ago. So thanks for taking the time to read about the boring parts of my year, the exciting part, my Europe trip, comes next week, maybe, I'LL TRY OKAY?!</div>
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More to come, </div>
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at some point,</div>
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definitely on a Tuesday,</div>
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Just not sure which one,</div>
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I mean at least I did this post,</div>
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this is a big step,</div>
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I'm now beating David by 4 months in most recent post,</div>
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BRING IT ON DAVID,</div>
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I don't know how to end this.</div>
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-JD</div>
Jeremy Dodgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096777351523335238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-82288271898985242152014-05-29T17:20:00.000-04:002014-05-29T17:20:04.621-04:00Blastbeat Reviews: Bateman, Wings Denied, BotflySome more quick reviews -- this time for some lesser known bands. These bands have all just released their debut albums, so they haven't been on the scene for too long. Shall we?<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">BATEMAN - <i>SMUT</i></span></h2>
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Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, <b>Bateman</b> are a 5 piece hardcore band that dish out a simple and noisy hardcore drenched in sarcasm and misanthropy. <i>Smut</i> is their debut album, marking their first real foray in to the ever growing and ever evolving Australian hardcore scene. The album is chocked full of slammin' riffs and catchy songs, but doesn't really come out above the many other noisy hardcore and grindcore bands coming out from down under.</div>
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Their weakest link in my eyes is their vocalist who can belt out some great growls and some really wicked, gargling highs, but decides to sound like an angry pirate through 75% of the album. I thought it would be something I'd get used to after multiple repeat listens but even now, a month after first hearing it, it's as jarring as I originally found it. <i>Smut</i> is worth a listen to for fans of the Australian hardcore scene, but unless <b>Bateman</b> step their game up for their next release, I doubt I'd keep up to date with their goings-on. Visit them on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/batemansuck" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Facebook</span></a> and <a href="http://batemansuck.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Bandcamp</span></a>. <b>Overall Score: 2.5/5</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">WINGS DENIED - <i>MIRRORS FOR A PRINCE</i></span></h2>
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<b>Wings Denied</b> proves to be the first progressive metal preview I've done since <a href="http://needsmorenoisegate.blogspot.ca/2013/11/blastbeat-reviews-protest-hero-exivious.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">November of last year</span></a>. I grew out of prog metal a couple years ago and have kept a fair distance away from most progressive metal bands (save for <b>Meshuggah</b>) that think the rhythmic chugging of the lowest string of their guitars makes music. <b>Wings Denied</b>'s debut comes in as a cross between the djenty <b>Periphery</b> and the grandiose <b>Protest the Hero</b>. Contrary to <b>Bateman</b>'s <i>Smut</i>, <i>Mirrors for a Prince</i> benefits from a pretty solid vocalist. I find his growling and screaming a bit lacking, but his clean singing is top-notch.<br />
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The instrumentation on this album is nothing to scoff at, but really doesn't grab me or prove to me that I should be listening to <i>Mirrors for a Prince</i> instead of <i>Volition</i> or <i>Traced in Air</i>. That being said, overall I enjoyed this album, and I'm interested to see where they'll take their sound. I see <b>Wings Denied</b> on the cusp of becoming a band I could seriously care about, but I'm going to need some convincing. Check 'em on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WingsDenied" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Facebook</span></a> and <a href="http://wingsdenied.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Bandcamp</span></a>. <b>Overall Score: 3/5</b><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">BOTFLY - <i>PARASITIC OSCILLATION</i></span></h2>
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Another band in a big hardcore scene, but this time we've got a familiar name. Keegan Goodspeed of <b><a href="http://needsmorenoisegate.blogspot.ca/2013/11/ep-review-bluebird-bluebird.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">bluebird</span></a></b> and <b><a href="http://needsmorenoisegate.blogspot.ca/2012/11/album-review-wides-wides.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Wides</span></a></b> has been keeping himself busy with <i>another</i> hardcore band, this time taking a heavier and more aggressive route with his project <b>Botfly</b>. <i>Parasitic Oscillation</i> is the band's debut release (after a single song release in 2013), and comes across as dark, frustrated, and melancholic. There's an almost psychedelic vibe to the tunes as different riffs slither their ways around, going from droning crunchy guitars to full blown high gain riffage. The last song on the album "days late" is one hell of a closer, without a distorted guitar in sight, but Goodspeed screaming bloody murder overtop. It's something that seems odd written out, but it grabs your attention right away and makes sure you're paying attention as the last chords fade out on the album.</div>
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Keegan takes up the mic here as wall as guitar duties, and dishes out some '80s style hardcore vocals that border on crust punk sounding. I'd be willing to bet <b>Botfly</b> was inspired by bands like <b>Amebix</b>, <b>Discharge</b>, and <b>Nausea</b> as well as some darker indie rock bands. I'm really digging on <i>Parasitic Oscillation</i>, and I really want to hear <b>Botfly</b> with some better production. The rawness and grittiness of this album definitely adds character, but when there are big crescendos and dynamics in the songs, I think some thicker, clearer, and heavier production will do them wonders. As far as I know, <b>Botfly</b> do not have a Facebook page, but you can check out <i>Parasitic Oscillation</i> and any of their other releases on their <a href="http://botfly.bandcamp.com/album/parasitic-oscillation" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Bandcamp</span></a> page. <b>Overall Score: 3.5/5</b></div>
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That's all for now, folks!</div>
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-DG</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-23993142140434785432014-05-20T13:34:00.000-04:002014-05-20T13:38:00.801-04:00Movie Review: Godzilla (2014)Ever since the first trailer for <b>Godzilla</b> flashed before my eyes, I was totally pumped. The titular monster looked amazing, Bryan Cranston was in it, and it looked like it would be the first <b>Godzilla</b> movie to be taken seriously (and hopefully the one to erase peoples' collective memories of the 1998 flop).<br />
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This post is naturally going to contain a ton of spoilers, but for those of you who don't want to know anything about the movie, here's a quick spoiler-free blurb for you.<br />
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I liked <b>Godzilla</b>, but I was pretty disappointed with it. Our King of Monsters looked and was animated amazingly, the acting was nothing too bad, and the cinematography was exceptionally well done. Gareth Edwards is a relative newcomer to the directorial world with nothing I recognize in his filmography, but he did a great job making Godzilla seem gargantuan and well, Godlike with his cinematography.<br />
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You might be thinking, that all this sounds great and how it could the movie possibly be disappointing for me, but the problem with the movie wasn't the visuals. <b>Godzilla</b> clocks in at over two hours long, and our giant radioactive lizard friend doesn't really make a proper appearance until the very end. While I respect and love the concept of the "slow reveal" in monster movies, it didn't feel like Edwards teased Godzilla throughout the movie. It felt frustrating, because everyone already knew what Godzilla looks like. If <b>Godzilla</b> was something akin to Ridley Scott's <b>Alien</b>, then the slow reveal would work perfectly. Since Big G doesn't get to romping and stomping 'til the last quarter of the movie, we're stuck following around characters we don't really care about for an hour and a half.<br />
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Once Godzilla does get his full reveal and gets to do his Godzilla things, the movie gets <i>awesome</i>. They took the <b>Pacific Rim</b> route and made Godzilla move like a 400 foot tall, 2,000 ton beast. Something that is slow but purposeful, and really looks like it has mass to it. The ending of the movie was definitely the best part, overshadowing the previous hour and a half entirely. It's worth the 10 dollars admission just for the end, but be prepared to slug through an entire feature length movie's worth of boring content.<br />
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Now that I have that out of the way, here on in there are <u style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: large;">SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS</span></u>.<br />
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Alright, now I can delve into what actually happens in the movie. I want you to re-watch the trailer at the top. Now, I want you to forget it because the movie I watched was <i>not</i> the movie advertised in that trailer. Here's what I got from the trailer:<br />
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<li>0:05 - Oh my God, it's Bryan Cranston. Ever since <b>Breaking Bad</b> shot him up to A-list actor status, I can only hope he stars in more movies in the future. Yo, Mr. White!</li>
<li>0:26 - So this is going to be kind of like a conspiracy theory movie, cool.</li>
<li>0:37 - Obligatory ruined Statue of Liberty.</li>
<li>0:43 - Oh shit! Is Gojira!</li>
<li>1:28 - Are those eggs? Is Godzilla pregnant? Why are they holding on to a missile?</li>
<li>1:30 - Ken Watanabe!</li>
<li>1:32 - Oh fuck, Godzilla can't fly. That means this <i>is </i>going to be a monster mash!</li>
<li>2:00 - Oh my. That's a big monster. Also, since we live in the post- Michael Bay<b> Transformers</b> era, everything big <u>must</u> move via bass drops.</li>
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So, looks awesome, right? I have to admit <b>Godzilla</b>'s trailers and teasers were all amazing, and the hype for this movie was incredible, so I was doubly crushed when I found out:</div>
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<li>Bryan Cranston dies in the first 20 minutes. His son, Generic Army Guy With A Family is the main character. Yay.</li>
<li>This isn't a conspiracy movie. This is an army/ soldier movie with monsters sometimes in the background.</li>
<li>Lady Liberty wasn't featured in the movie. Also, this movie doesn't even take place in or near New York City.</li>
<li>That's all you see of Godzilla over and over again for an hour and a half.</li>
<li>I will talk about this egg and missile thing in a second because it makes no sense.</li>
<li>Ken Watanabe isn't really in the movie too much either, and when he is, all he does is stare past the camera, slack-jawed.</li>
<li>This <i>is </i>a monster mash movie, and the battle scenes are freaking amazing. So, good on the movie for that.</li>
<li>Again, Gareth Edwards did an amazing job with portraying Godzilla's size, so, no complaints here. Except for the bass drops thing.</li>
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Let's explore all these issues, as well as some non-trailer issues, starting at the beginning. The writing for this movie was pretty awful. The acting wasn't bad, but the lines people would say were sometimes cringe worthy. After a scene where GAGWAF has to leave for Tokyo, both his son and wife ask when he'll be back. His responses were along the lines of "Yeah buddy, I'll be back tomorrow. I promise" and "Of course I'll be back tomorrow, it's not like it's the end of the world" respectively. Holy balls people, this movie is a Godzilla movie. We <i>know</i> that shit is going to go down. Don't fill up screen time with that useless dialogue. Even dialogue later in the movie is choppy and doesn't make sense. GAGWAF needs to get from plot point to plot point by finding soldiers and saying that because he's in the army, he can just kind of join up with them and do their missions or get transportation anywhere. Now, I don't know what the army is like, but I doubt a low ranking officer can just command other people's squads and platoons to do anything. Also, I didn't know they taught you how to airdrop from 10,000 feet into a large city when you become an explosive ordinance disposal officer.</div>
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The writing continues it's stinkfest with most of the explaining they try to do for the monsters. Apparently Godzilla and the MUTOs (the bad guy monsters in this movie) are ancient species that used to roam the earth when the Earth was forming and was extremely radioactive. They feed off of radioactivity rather than meat or calories or anything like that, so as the planet formed and became less radioactive on the surface, these creatures moved further and further underground or into the ocean to get closer to the Earth's core. As far as that goes, I have no problem with their origins because if they aren't going the "we played God and created these monsters", they have to shoehorn them in somehow. Ancient radioactivity eating alpha predators, cool. I can dig that.</div>
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I have a problem with two parts of the monster-science the movie employs. First, they call Godzilla the "equalizer". When things get "unbalanced" on the Earth, like say when a creature comes along and starts smashing everything to bits, Godzilla awakens to destroy it and restore balance it back out again. This is exactly the reason why Godzilla appears in the movie, to destroy the MUTOs because he believes they are unbalancing the Earth. Hey, you know what else unbalanced the Earth? Fucking humans. The movie even takes a pro-environmental stance, and doesn't acknowledge that humans have done more damage to the planet than the MUTOs did. If anything, the MUTOs were properly equalizing the planet by destroying humans.</div>
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The second bit of science I didn't like was how MUTOs had to swallow atomic bombs to feed themselves. Atomic bombs themselves aren't really radioactive. Once they explode they sure as hell are, but when disarmed bombs are just laying around, I doubt they're oozing tons of radiation. If they were, the U.S. military has some serious improvements to make in the health and safety of their soldiers because those poor souls were hauling around bombs for the better part of the movie. They make a point in the movie to say that a modern atom bomb could easily kill either a MUTO or Godzilla from the blast and shockwave alone, so there's no way a MUTO could eat a bomb and then somehow have it explode inside and absorb the fission radiation. Similarly, that bit in the trailer with the eggs wrapped around the nuke, that wouldn't work. The missile was there to bask the eggs in radiation, which it won't, and if it did, that would mean that is exploded. If a nuke could destroy both mama and papa MUTO in its blast, it could sure as hell wipe out every single egg in the nest.</div>
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The final frustrating part about <b>Godzilla</b> is that they could have dropped the whole <b>Pacific Rim</b>-esque "we need to nuke the shit out of these monsters" plot because it was totally unnecessary. When you go to see a movie like <b>Godzilla</b> and you know it's going to be a brawl between monsters, the movie <i>has to end with Godzilla beating the monsters</i>. Nobody would watch the movie if the King of Monsters wore down the bad guys and then just backed off and let humans steal the kill with a nuke to the face. That would be awful. So the hour and a half long "GUYS WE HAVE TO GET THE NUKES TO SAN FRANCISCO RIGHT NOW TO DEFEAT THE MONSTERS" stuff in the movie was useless because the audience knew that it wouldn't work and that Godzilla would be the one to win the fight and save the day.</div>
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That being said, the fight scenes between Godzilla and the MUTOs were 100% pure awesomeness. You just couldn't look away whenever he was on screen, and both kill scenes Godzilla had were some of the best that I've seen in modern cinema. That final radioactive breath down mama MUTO's throat was enough to warrant seeing this movie. It's one of those scenes that everybody in the theater will cheer for and that you'll talk about and act out to your friends for the next couple days.</div>
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So, my feelings towards <b>Godzilla</b> lie just above lukewarm. Overall, I enjoyed it, and I definitely recommend seeing it on the big screen for the final fight, but it feels like watching a feature length soldier movie with a 30 minute Godzilla short at the end. There are holes in the plot and writing, but again, that last quarter of the movie, along with the great cinematography is well worth the price of admission.</div>
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That's all for now, folks!</div>
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-DG</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-83569984151882575472014-05-16T11:48:00.000-04:002014-05-16T11:48:15.451-04:00Blastbeat Reviews: Conan, Aborted, CynicI've been super bad about updating this blog, and now that summer is in full swing I'm working two jobs and trying to balance making music with the blog while catching up on Game of Thrones. Hooray! For today's reviews we have three polar opposites: <b>Conan</b> and <b>Aborted</b>!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">CONAN - <i>BLOOD EAGLE</i></span></h2>
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For those of you who don't know, <b>Conan</b> is a disgustingly heavy British doom band whose sole purpose is to sound like molten tar pouring out of your speakers. <i>Blood Eagle</i> is the trio's second full-length album, despite their relatively expansive number of other releases.</div>
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<i>Blood Eagle</i> comes across as much more well produced than there previous album <i>Horseback Battlehammer</i>, the first <b>Conan</b> release I've heard. <i>Blood Eagle </i>starts off with some standard slow as all hell riffage accompanied by vocals that sound like a barbarian standing atop a mighty mountain, screaming out to the frosty air, praying to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBMY3VV5AMA" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Crom for revenge upon his enemies</span></a>.<br />
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<b>Conan</b> actually mixes it up on this album a bit. The first song released, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-of5C1OHX_8" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Foehammer</span></a> is pretty fast, even for a normal band. But don't let that fool you, because <b>Conan</b> still manage to make it sound like the heaviest thing this side of ununseptium. For those of you who like chest-crushing doom, <i>Blood Eagle</i>is a must listen. <b>Overall Score: 4/5</b><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">ABORTED - <i>THE NECROTIC MANIFESTO</i></span></span></h2>
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I reviewed <b>Aborted</b>'s last record <i><a href="http://needsmorenoisegate.blogspot.ca/2012/06/cd-review-one-direction-up-all-night.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Global Flatline</span></a></i> and while I enjoyed it and wasn't blown away by it, I was expecting much more from the Belgian deathgrinders on this release. The album was hyped as all fuck by all the mainstream metal media outlets, and unfortunately, I find it didn't quite deliver. It's <b>Aborted</b>. They play deathgrind. There's nothing but blast beats, mile-a-minute buzzsaw riffs, and de Caluwé's iconic vocals. The problem with <i>The Necrotic Manifesto</i> to me is that it runs for nearly an hour, without shifting gears. It's all gore all the time, and that shit gets tiring after about 25 minutes.<br />
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I do have to commend <b>Aborted</b> for their single "Coffin Upon Coffin" which sounds exactly like a B-side of <i>Heartwork</i> (you all know how much I love that album), and their bitchin' covers of <b>Suffocation</b>'s "Funeral Inception", and <b>Converge</b>'s "Concubine". <b>Overall Score: 2.5/5</b><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">CYNIC - <i>KINDLY BENT TO FREE US</i></span></h2>
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Ah, <b>Cynic</b>. I love this band. I've fawned over everything they've released from <i>Focus</i> to <i>Carbon-Based Anatomy</i>, loved every change in sound they've made since the beginning, and after hearing the first single off of <i>KBtFU</i>, "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTmsaoSebYo" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Lion's Roar</span></a>", I was super pumped for this album. <i>Kindly Bent to Free Us</i> delivers. <b>Cynic</b> have fully evolved into a progressive rock band, banishing any and all growling or guttural vocals, and ditching (for the most part) Paul Masvidal's iconic vocoder. I for one love Paul's unedited voice, and it's great to hear it alongside plenty of proggy clean guitar riffs and some fuzzed out psychedelic sections. The musicianship is still top notch, as Masvidal and drummer Sean Reinert team up with their old friend, bassist Sean Malone.<br />
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I definitely dig <i>KBtFU</i> almost as much as I dig <i>Traced in Air</i>.<i> Kindly Bent to Free Us </i>sounds much less spacey and airy than <i>Traced</i> did, but brings in more psychedelic and Eastern influences into the music, as well as incorporates samples now, which I think is cool. I haven't heard many (if any) prog rock albums that use sampling like grindcore or death metal albums do.<br />
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If you are one who disliked the changes <b>Cynic</b> made from <i>Focus</i> to <i>Traced in Air</i>, you're going to hate this album. If you've been liking the band's venture into progressive rock, then this album will be <i>the</i> progressive rock album of the year. <b>Overall Score: 4.5/5</b><br />
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Also, as a PSA for the public: Fuck Vik Guitars. Don't use them. The founder and luthier of the company showed his true, ugly colours recently after Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert came out as gay to the public. Fuck homophobia. Fuck you Vik Kuletski.</div>
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That's all for now, folks!</div>
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-DG</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-30604831886588452622014-04-08T20:54:00.001-04:002014-04-08T20:54:09.924-04:00Blastbeat Review: Haiduk, Husk, and OFF!I'm in the thick of exams season over here, but who needs studying when you've got shit to review?<br />
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Right from the get-go, <i>Spellbook</i> captivates me. It starts off firing on all cylinders, and doesn't stop or tone down until the last note abruptly brings this monster to a halt. <b>Haiduk</b> (or <b>The Haiduks</b> according to iTunes) shreds out some <b>Behemoth</b>-esque blackened death metal, all written and performed by vocalist-guitarist Luka Milojika. The drums, despite being programmed are produced really well, and despite the speed of Milojika's work, don't suffer from sounding too fake a la <b>Agrophobic Nosebleed</b>. There are a couple instances of mediocre drum sounds (usually cymbals when played fast), but for the most part, everything sounds great. This is a must-listen for anybody who digs blisteringly fast extreme music. The songs themselves are over quicker than you can blink, the longest clocking in at just over four minutes, and the shortest coming in at just over two.<br />
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Also, <b>Haiduk</b> is Canadian! I love hearing great bands come from the Canadian extreme metal scene. It just tickles my pickle to see bands from the Great White North contribute to the international underground metal scene. You can check out Haiduk on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/haidukmetal" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Facebook</span></a>, and hear some songs of his on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqSkd726XU8" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">YouTube</span></a>. <b>Overall Score: 3.5/5</b><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">HUSK - <i>HYMNS</i></span></h2>
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<b>Husk</b> is a new addition to the giant list of noisy, sludgey hardcore bands that have been cropping up recently. The guitars and bass are heavy as fuck, and everything either goes a snail's pace with crushing riffs, or shoots off at terminal velocity, zig-zagging its way around like a <b>Converge</b> riff. The one thing <i>Hymns</i> has going for it that separates it from the masses of <b>Code Orange Kidses</b> and <b>Loma Prietas </b>out there is the old school black metal-esque vocals shrieked throughout.<br />
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I honestly love noisy, sludgey, heavy as hell hardcore <i>and</i> <b>Converge</b> worship, but <b>Husk</b> doesn't really give me any great reasons to listen to them instead of just tossing on some <b>Secret</b> or <b>Botch</b>. I'm interested to see where <b>Husk</b> will go, but unless they start stepping up their game, they'll soon lose my ear. Check 'em out on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/huskhymn" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Facebook</span></a> and <a href="http://huskhymn.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Bandcamp</span></a>. <i>Hymns</i> is out April 10th. on <a href="http://artascatharsis.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Art As Catharsis Records.</span></a> <b>Score: 2.5/5</b><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">OFF! - <i>WASTED YEARS</i></span></span></h2>
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<b>OFF!</b> recently got my attention when I heard their debut <i>First Four EPs</i>, where they dished out SoCal hardcore punk like it's 1982 again. Keith Morris (of <b>Black Flag</b> and <b>Circle Jerks</b> fame) is as pissed as ever, and he's got the music to back it. <i>Wasted Years</i> was recorded on tape and while it has that awesome rawness to it, it still sounds great. It sounds like 80's hardcore in 2014, and I love it. I'd put on anything <b>OFF!</b> have released over <i>Wild in the Streets</i> or <i>Group Sex</i> any day. Don't get me wrong, those are both great albums and I love Keith Morris jams old or new, but to hear hardcore veterans with a modern edge is something I've been hoping for for a long time.<br />
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<i>Wasted Years</i> dishes out straight and to the point tracks, with all but one running under two minutes. To quote <a href="http://www.punknews.org/review/12523/off-wasted-years" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">another review</span></a>: They rock. They're energetic. Keith Morris is angry. Find <b>OFF!</b> on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/offband" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Facebook</span></a>, and stream <i>Wasted Years</i> on the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/arts/music/pressplay.html?artist=OFF!&album=Wasted%20Years" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">New York Times (!?) site</span></a>. <b>Score: 4/5</b><br />
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That's all for now, folks!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-68477750784740161962014-03-20T00:29:00.001-04:002014-03-20T11:31:34.125-04:00Cinema Terrible: Leprechaun & Leprechaun 2Aaaaand we're back with the shitty movies. I've reviewed a few cult classic B-movies in the past, and contributed briefly to a blog with the same name as this column, but seeing how that blog is now defunct, I'm going to be stealing the name to use over here. Yay stealing!<br />
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Up for review in the next couple days/ weeks/ non-commital amount of time are the green-is-the-new-red horror movies known as <b>Leprechaun</b>. There are six of these god damn movies, and I intend on watching every last one of them. Considering St. Patrick's day recently past us, this last weekend my friends and I took it upon ourselves to show our spirit and watch the first three of these flicks, aptly titled <b>Leprechaun</b>, <b>Leprechaun 2</b>, and <b>Leprechaun 3</b>. Hopefully in the next couple days we'll get around to watching the next three installments: <b>Leprechaun 4: In Space</b>, <b>Leprechaun 5: In The Hood</b>, and <b>Leprechaun 6: Back 2 Tha Hood</b>. I'll probably cover two movies per post, because I tried writing one post for the first three, and it got painfully long, so, yeah. Two movies per post, so now they're only painful.<br />
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Also, this post contains major <u style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">SPOILERS</u>, so if you for some reason in the universe care about the plots to these movies, then don't read ahead. I've also come to the conclusion that my movie reviews are just play-by-plays of the movie with the actual reviewy bits at the end, so keep that in mind. I was also pretty drunk when I watched these, so, y'know, keep that in mind too. The review is after the jump!<br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">LEPRECHAUN</span></span></h2>
I'll be honest, I don't remember much of the original <b>Leprechaun</b>. It's easily the worst of the three I've seen, so I'll try to skip over it as fast as possible. I know Jennifer Aniston is in it, playing Rachel from <b>Friends</b>, and she's renting out/ visiting some cabin in the woods for a vacation with her dad. This cabin originally belonged to some Irishman who trapped the Leprechaun (Warwick Davis) in a wooden box for 10 years, because apparently raw wood doesn't degrade or rot out or y'know, the Leprechaun never thought to try and gently kick the side of the box. The rest is a big blur of boring characters being boring characters, the Leprechaun looking for his missing gold, which some kid and his goofy mind-of-a-child adult find. Then some bullshit happens until <i>holy shit the Leprechaun murders some dude with a pogo. No seriously guys, the Leprechaun gets on a pogo stick and uses it to crush some poor storeowner's fucking chest.</i><br />
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You thought I was joking. The Leprechaun murderates this dude with a god damned pogo stick. After this point, you can turn the movie off. That's the best part of this movie, and nothing else past this part matters. Despite watching it twice, I still have no clue what happens after this scene. And you know what? <i>I don't care</i>. I don't even remember what happens at the end. I can only assume the Leprechaun lives on because he still has 5 more movies to burn through.<br />
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So that we've gotten past the first, let's get to the good stuff: <b>Leprechaun 2</b>. I feel like the original movie was made to attempt to be a legitimate horror movie with some bits of schlocky comedy thrown in, but the sequels tell a different tale. Considering they all have completely different casts, directors, writers-- completely different <i>everything</i> (except Warwick Davis, kudos to him for taking up this role over and over again), I feel like the people who took up the Leprechaun name after the original saw what potential there was for outrageous cinematic shenanigans. <b>Leprechaun</b> <b>2</b> takes itself much less seriously, and totally knows exactly what kind of movie it's trying to be. It's raunchy, it's tons of fun, and it's definitely worth watching with a couple friends and a couple drinks.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Above:</b> A couple friends.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">LEPRECHAUN 2</span></span></h2>
<b>Leprechaun 2</b> (also known as <b>Leprechaun 2: Lawnmower Face Boobs and other Scenes</b>, but more on that later), which has nothing related to the first except the titular villain<b> </b>takes place in Los Angeles, and follows two pieces of cardboard and one actual character: 90sDude, LoveInterest, and Morty. Fucking Morty. Morty is a scumbag and proud, trying to scam every dollar away from anyone he meets. Fortunately for 90sDude, he's Morty's friend/ employee and works by scamming tourists into buying tickets for their shitty L.A. tour service called Darkside Tours which Morty himself conducts. We learn that Morty is also a drunk and can't drive the tour hearse, so 90sDude has to take over, but he promised LoveInterest to go go-karting with her tonight and if he doesn't then he'll lose her <b>AND PROM IS TOMORROW!</b> But, yeah, 90s and Love need to do the tour because Morty is a god damned dick and convinces 90s to drive around L.A. in a hearse full of strangers for hours instead of getting laid.</div>
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In the meantime, the Leprechaun is looking for a bride because 1000 years ago he cursed an Irishman's family or something, and conveniently, LoveInterest is a descendant of Irishman, even though she's 3rd generation American and has an accent that is both impossible to place, yet distinctly non-Irish. Now that the Leprechaun has his sights set on her ladyparts so that he can churn out little baby Leps, he needs to get rid of the competition. After the hearse-driving fiasco, LoveInterest breaks up with 90sDude and then promptly goes on a date with some schmuck who works at the go-kart track. Once their night winds down and Go-Kart brings LoveInterest back to her place, and she totally shuts him down because apparently she didn't break up with 90sDude. Whatever. It doesn't matter, because now comes the best part of the movie: the <i>Lawnmower Face Boobs</i>. We learn that Leprechauns are masters of illusions, and our little green fiend sees Go-Kart and promptly conjures up an image of LoveInterest in the house's garage that immediately calls for him and begins stripping because of the unwritten rule that all B-horror movies need to have at least one pair of tits in them. So because he's a dude, Go-Kart goes where the boobs are, and as he's going in to get some motorboat action...<br />
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<b>LAWNMOWER FACE BOOBS.</b> Lawnmower. Face. Boobs. Booyeah. Unfortunately, the above video is the censored version, where the uncut version has 100% more boobs, blood, and awesome. Rest easy tonight knowing that this is a scene that exists in a real movie in this material world.</div>
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Now with Go-Kart out of the way, the Leprechaun only has to deal with 90sDude, and fortunately for him, 90s just rolled up to the house to apologize with flowers for being an idiot and listening to Morty. Fucking Morty. The Leprechaun tries to make his respective moves on both our main non-characters, and in the scuffle we learn the Leprechaun's one weakness, iron! Wait, wasn't it four-leafed clovers in the first movie? Yes, yes it was. Don't ask questions. Once the dust clears from the scrap, 90s is left defeated, and the Leprechaun takes the girl! Gasp! Fortunately for us, the Leprechaun needs to have <i>all</i> of his gold in order to sex up his bride, because plot devices. As it turns out, our brave hero 90sDude has the last coin, and the Leprechaun is <i>not</i> happy.</div>
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Our protagonist seeks out Morty to help him defeat his clever foe, while the police are investigating him because they found his flowers and Go-Kart's dead body in LoveInterest's house. Which she is not in. Which to them means he's kidnapped the girl. Way to go, dude. 90sDude goes and finds Morty the only place he could be: a bar. Also, it's St. Patrick's Day. Apparently. Whatever. After informing Morty of the goings-on, Morty ups the creep factor of this movie tenfold be shoving 90sDude into a bathroom and telling him "you've gotta take a leak!".<br />
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In the bathroom 90s is given a chocolate coin by some creepy black midget who can't read his lines properly, and then finds out from Morty that the Leprechaun is in the bar. They find him, and after some shit-talking from both sides, Morty challenges the Leprechaun to a drinking contest. Morty orders some special drink called Red something-or-other Rum, which, wait for it... isn't alcoholic! To be fair, they did mention this drink in passing like 45 minutes earlier in the film, and I like how they brought it back and tied it into Morty's sneaky scumbagginess. So, naturally, 6 to 7 bottles of whiskey into this drinking game, Morty gets the Leprechaun so fucking plastered that he can't even use his magic properly, but can still beat him over the head with a bottle and escape. Way to go, Morty. You really helped the situation.<br />
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Morty and 90s break into the go-kart track because apparently the safe used there is made of wrought iron, so they want to use it to trap ol' green. They rig up a trap nice and good and get the Leprechaun in the safe where he can't escape or use his powers. Also, somehow, 90s is in a closet. Morty locks the closet. Morty... Morty? Hey, buddy, what're you doing? What're you... no... wait...<br />
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...Capturing a Leprechaun grants you three wishes. Morty, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9j3HQmwqPM" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">you're just... you're a fucking asshole</span></a>.<br />
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Now kids, I've played enough D&D to know that whenever some hell demon grants you wishes, you just <i>know</i> that no matter what you wish for, something is going to get taken literally, or get twisted, and instead of oh, I don't know, getting a pot of gold, to have the pot of god materialize in your fucking stomach.<br />
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After Morty's death, 90s vows to hunt down the Leprechaun and to end his reign of terror and finally kill him. He valiently bursts out of the go-kart office to assail his little green foe, and promptly gets his ass handed to him by some cop, because remember, he's a wanted for the disappearance of a local girl, the face-murder of a go-kart cashier, and now, breaking and entering the go-kart office. But the Leprechaun won't let the officer steal his fun, so he runs the cop over with a custom go-kart covered in skulls and bones, because fuck, y'know what? I'm not giving this movie any more excuses. This is fucking <b>Leprechaun 2</b>. Things just happen, and you have to accept them for what they are.<br />
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Turns out though, that by leprechaun rules if you have a gold piece you're invincible to leprechaun attacks. When 90s confronts Lep in his cave to steal back his girlfriend, he gets thrown back and gets impaled on the iron rod he took with him, but because gold pieces save your from leprechaun attacks, they also apparently save you from impaling yourself in the heart! Hooray! Then, 90s promptly gets medieval on the Leprechaun's ass and javelins the iron bar back into the Leprechaun until he explodes. Theeeeee eeeennnd.<br />
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I enjoyed <b>Leprechaun 2</b> <i>way</i> more than the first, if you couldn't tell based on the massive wall of text I churned out for it compared to the two paragraphs I wrote for the original. <b>Leprechaun 2</b> was outrageous, yes, but it <i>knew</i> it was outrageous. It was written to be schlocky and dumb, but the people who made it were 100% behind it and totally loved what they were doing every step of the way. There's got to be a reason Warwick Davis came back (and continued to come back) to reprise the role of the titular demon. I mean, he's a big name actor. He's been in every <b>Harry Potter</b> movie, <b>Star Wars Episode VI</b>, and <b>Ray</b>, just to name a few of his big budget hollywood credits. While the male and female leads in it were both terrible actors, nobody purposely dialed in their performances. The props and sets looked great for a movie with a budget a third of <b>The Room</b>'s, and I just know that if you ask the prop designers today what their favorite gigs were, they'd tell you that souping up a leprechaun's death-kart and making a double-lawnmower-blade trap that is supposed to be disguised as a pair or tits are probably at the top of their list.<br />
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If you ever get the chance to pick up <b>Leprechaun 2</b> (I managed to pick up the first three in the series for under five bucks), do it. It's a hell of a fun movie to watch, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys B-movies and raunchy horror/ comedy. Up next will be a review of <b>Leprechaun 3</b> and <b>Leprechaun 4: In Space</b>, where our tiny green devil terrorizes a Las Vegas casino and extends his search for a bride out to the stars, respectively. Get excited!<br />
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That's all for now, folks! Happy belated St. Patrick's Day!<br />
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-DG<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-91883419435868982572014-03-16T14:01:00.002-04:002014-03-16T14:01:17.559-04:00Blastbeat Reviews: Hammerdrone, Maze of TerrorUsual spiel: school's been eating up all my time, I've promised a bunch of reviews, so here are some quick ones for you. <div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">HAMMERDRONE - <i>CLONE OF EUROPA</i></span></span></h2>
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Y'all remember <b>Hammerdrone</b>, <a href="http://needsmorenoisegate.blogspot.ca/2013/03/ep-review-hammerdrone-demon-rising.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">right</span></a>? Those Canadian boys riffing out some good old fashioned death metal with heavy melodeath and blackened death influences? Well, they're back with a new full length to tear your faces off. These guys still rock their heavy <b>Behemoth</b> and <b>Goatwhore</b> influences from before, but on <i>Clone of Europa</i> they're bringing in some Gothenburg melodic death metal sounds into the fray as well.<br />
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In pretty much every way, <i>Clone of Europa</i> is a giant step ahead of <i>A Demon Rising</i>. The musicianship is tighter, the production is heavy as fuck, and the songs flow better, showing some serious soundscaping and atmosphere building abilities on the band's part. If you're into death metal or melodic death metal at all, I can't recommend <i>Clone of Europa</i> enough. Check it out on Bandcamp <a href="http://hammerdrone.bandcamp.com/album/clone-of-europa-album" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">here</span></a>, and visit them on the Facetubes <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hammerdronemetal" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">here</span></a>. <b>Overall Score: 4/5</b>.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">MAZE OF TERROR - <i>SKULL CRUSHER EP</i></span></span></h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGA64MSZE5ktiCXRZ_a9RewGSQY8eOG2gyanvdQQB4-ARont4aRrkYKZfcKRg3vQsVoWfRuGWUDv9pfzoygWfpRJjV-816UxWCrw_YYyqgYfkpTD7l-DERFsPEeT9w5oQiIRxv15pDDg8/s1600/Cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGA64MSZE5ktiCXRZ_a9RewGSQY8eOG2gyanvdQQB4-ARont4aRrkYKZfcKRg3vQsVoWfRuGWUDv9pfzoygWfpRJjV-816UxWCrw_YYyqgYfkpTD7l-DERFsPEeT9w5oQiIRxv15pDDg8/s1600/Cover.png" height="200" width="200" /></a><b>Maze of Terror</b> hail from Lima, Peru and play thrash fucking metal. No, not thrash metal. Thrash. Fucking. Metal. These guys are relatively new on the scene having only formed in 2011, but they're firing on all cylinders on their first release. They've got their own style of old school Bay Area thrash mixed with the neo-thrash movement started with bands like <b>Toxic Holocaust</b> and <b>Warbringer</b>, with just a hint of European thrash sprinkled on top. The result is some heavy, fast, and vicious thrash metal that can appease any headbanger. <i>Skull Crusher</i> reminds me heavily of <b>Needs More Noise Gate</b> favorites <b><a href="http://needsmorenoisegate.blogspot.ca/2012/11/album-review-termination-force-grind.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Termination Force</span></a></b> and <b><a href="http://needsmorenoisegate.blogspot.ca/2013/06/album-review-zafakon-war-as-drug.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Zafakon</span></a></b>, and as I wrote that sentence all I can think about about is how freaking wicked it would be to have a <b>Termination Force</b>, <b>Zafakon</b> and <b>Maze of Terror</b> tour, but I digress. <b>Maze of Terror</b> kicks all kinds of ass, and you should listen to <i>Skull Crusher</i> right now. You can check them out on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mazeofterrorthrash" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Facebook</span></a>, and listen to some of this EP on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6CVl7y4izs" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Youtube</span></a>. <b>Score 4/5</b></div>
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That's all for now, folks!</div>
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-DG</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6778006046916191444.post-32698620306699550582014-02-20T20:41:00.000-05:002014-02-20T20:44:49.963-05:00Blastbeat Reviews: Behemoth, Gridlink, MEASURE X UPHere are some quick reviews for some awesome releases, cause I haven't posted anything since forever. Ludicrous speed, go!<br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">BEHEMOTH - <i>THE SATANIST</i></span></span></h2>
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After punching his leukemia in the dick, Nergal regrouped with his blaspheming bandmates Inferno and Orion to craft one hell of a "reunion album", Yeah, yeah, I know, <b>Behemoth</b> never actually broke up, but whatever, I don't care.</div>
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<i>The Satanist</i> is <b>Behemoth</b> reconstructed out of all the great parts of their different musical eras. It isn't the outrageous speed-for-speed's-sake <b>Behemoth </b>of <i>Evangelion</i> or <i>Demigod</i>, but it isn't the mediocre (read: pretty shitty) black metal <b>Behemoth</b> of yore. This is a blend of technical horsepower, bleak and dark atmosphere, and most importantly, competent songwriting. Nergal and the boys stepped back on the wankery, stepped up their black metal soundscaping, and made sure that every note, beat, word, and fill on this album was exactly where it was supposed to go, and nowhere else. This <b>Behemoth</b> has some restraint, and I like it. <b>Score: 3.5/5</b></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">GRIDLINK - <i>LONGHENA</i></span></span></h2>
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<b>Gridlink</b> have quickly shot up through the ranks of my favorite grindcore bands, notably for their hyper-speed playing, outrageous technical chops, and consistent quality of musical output, even if everything they've ever recorded fits into less than an hour's worth of time (Hey, it worked for <b>Minor Threat</b>).</div>
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<i>Longhena</i> sets the bar to an impossibly high level for any band that plays this strain of grindcore. Chang's banshee vocals, Matsubara's rhythm playing that somehow fits under the category of "shred guitar" (not to mention his actual lead playing), Fajardo's accompanying drumming, the string sections, the interlude track, holy shit people, everything fits so nicely together that I honestly cannot find a weak point to this album. It even comes with a set of "karaoke versions" of the tracks for those of you who hate Jon Chang.</div>
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This album should be the soundtrack to the hardest video game bosses ever (I'm looking at you, Sephiroth from Kingdom Hearts), because once this shit gets going, you notice how sweaty you've become even though you haven't budged an inch, and that whatever you were previously doing, you're now doing with the intensity and ferocity of a New Jersey guido grinding on an orange chick with bolted on tits. <b>Score: 5/5</b></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">MEASURE X UP - <i>DEMO 2014</i></span></span></h2>
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You guys remember <b>MEASURE X UP</b> from my last <a href="http://needsmorenoisegate.blogspot.ca/2013/12/blastbeat-reviews-david-maxim-micic-red.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Blastbeat Review</span></a>, don't you? This Halifax straightedge hardcore band's appropriately titled <i>Demo 2014</i> is more of the same of last year's equally appropriately titled <i>Demo 2013</i>. These dudes dish out hardcore the way it's supposed to be, a la <b>Minor Threat</b> and <b>Youth of Today</b>. I find that in this new demo, everything's been beefed up. Production is heavier, the vocals seem more powerful, and everything sounds crushing and purposeful. Every d-beat hits you right in the face and every word hangs out in your head, even well after the demo's less than 7 minute run time. This is just as good as their last demo, and I'm pumped to hear anything else these guys churn out in the future. Listen to it <a href="http://measurexup.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2014" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">here</span></a> and download it for free! <b>Score: 4/5</b></div>
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That's all for now folks, hopefully I can put up some more reviews for you guys soon!<br />
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-DG<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066221723862558658noreply@blogger.com0