Post-Millennial's Guide To Metal (And Some Other Stuff)

I have no experience with intoxicant use and art. I have heard many claims that listening to music under the influence of any substance is infinitely better, yet there has never been an opportunity for me. You may find that hard to believe, but truly, never have I been alone, under the influence, and deeply enjoying art. The draw is there, however, and perhaps when I can legally do so, I would be more inclined to pursue this "other side" of music. Personally, I feel if the art was not made under the influence of a substance or meant for  listening under those conditions, it was meant to be listened to sober. But, for many albums recorded while the members were inebriated, that is an understandable and somewhat enticing argument for altering your state of mind while you spin a record. I mean, while I do not  condone or endorse illicit drug use of any  kind, I am almost positive that, while definitely a bad decision, individuals listening to Black Sabbath 's Master of Rea...

" Thulêan Mysteries was made passively, in the sense that I never intended to make a new album; I just made music every now and then and at one point realized that I actually had enough to release it all on an album. When asked to do so I figured: why not? It was a good idea. The music is a little bit of this and a little bit of that, transcending any genre, and perhaps belonging to many different genres. The intention with it was always to create a certain atmosphere, often related to an idea or a situation. Since my true passion has never been music, but actually tabletop role-playing games, I figured I should make this an album intended for that use; as background music for my own MYFAROG (Mythic Fantasy Role-playing Game). Hopefully you will get a sense of Thulê when you listen to this, like always with Burzum , ideally when on your own. I hope you will enjoy this soundtrack to Thulê, to Mother Nature and life itself" – Varg Vikernes, 2020 As Count Grishnackh hi...

I have never reviewed ambient on this platform, mostly because I have been scared to do so. With most of the music I listen to, there is at least something to seemingly follow, or in a way, talk about. In addition to being completely out of the ambient loop, this style of music has compositions devoted to feeling. Much like its incestuous brother noise, ambient aims to generate a mood rather than a structured song. While I have listened to the 'big' names in ambient ( Brian Eno , Aphex Twin , Stars of the Lid , Tim Hecker , hell even C418 ), the rabbit hole of ambient might even be larger than that of noise, which I have only just stuck my nose in. It's truly daunting, but fortunately, we have a lot of time on our hands nowadays.  I'm not going to harp too much on the whole COVID-19 situation, as my last two posts outlined my feelings pretty cut and dry. To summarize though, it sucks, for everyone. Except for the CEO of Zoom, I guess. In this tumultuous time, how...

With the world going to hell in a handbasket, the thing we could use a lot less of is craziness, unpredictability or anything erratic. When we crave this normalcy, however, this is when things really seem to fly off the deep end. Even in the midst of the worldwide crisis permeating every aspect of life as we know it, 2020 is a phenomenal year for music so far. Left and right, artists are releasing brand new material, remasters, demos, mixtapes, and everything in between. It is stunning to receive a notification on my phone of a new single released from someone completely unexpected or seeing posts on social media about a brand new surprise album (or in Nine Inch Nails ' case, two new albums). For this, I am thankful, as I do believe art is the healthiest way to channel all of this anxiety and frustration that our society is bottling up at this point in time. Creativity exists in all of us, and no matter what form it may take, using any outlet to convey emotions is an extremely h...