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Re: Re: Blackened 2020

Cool. Just got a break from the endless childcare/online university education so I could watch it. Damn, we’re all getting old! Lars is starting to look like Harry Dean Stanton.

I really enjoyed catching up with you guys and watching that doc. Can we do it again sometime soon? How about a concert video?

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Re: Re: The Arsies: A Reflection

I think there are actually two amazing things here:

1) “[Y]ou somehow have managed to avoid the calcification of musical tastes that is a basic biological fact of age. How did you do that?”  I agree, this is truly exceptional.  In case you want to know what the near opposite of what you have been able to achieve is, here is a list of the ten albums I have most recently purchased:

  • Candlemass — The Door to Doom
  • Dream Theater — Distance over Time
  • Overkill — The Wings of War
  • Visions of Atlantis — The Deep & The Dark Live @ Symphonic Metal Night
  • Avantasia — Moonglow
  • Beast in Black — From Hell with Love
  • Evergrey — The Atlantic
  • Within Temptation — Resist
  • Ancient Bards — Origine: The Black Crystal Sword Saga PT.
See the rest here
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Before the Arsies Begin…

Dear Arse & Ziggles:

As always, I can’t wait for the Arsies to begin. As the suspense builds, I thought I should point out something you may already have noticed: The Arsies is anti-establishment. And that’s not just an opinion statement, I can prove it. Nick Cusworth at Heavy Blog Is Heavy aggregated the best-of metal lists from major metal websites (Stereogum, Loudwire, Rolling Stone, Consequence of Sound, SPIN, Decibel, LA Weekly, Apple Music, Metalsucks, Metal Injection, Metal Hammer, and Pitchfork) to produce one mega list representing the views of the “metal establishment.”

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Re: Metal?

Although I suppose we could come up with a definition of metal based on some combination of objective musical criteria (e.g. double-bass drumming, de-tuning, distortion, etc.) or some common sense standard like the Supreme Court’s definition of pornography (i.e. “you know it when you hear it”), I have a nagging suspicion that metal is best defined by the particular emotions it most commonly expresses.  

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Live Report: Judas Priest

Judas Priest
Budokan, Tokyo, Japan
March 11, 2015

Although the show was delayed for half an hour due to an equipment malfunction, the Priest delivered the goods (see what I did there?) as only they can. Rob’s voice sounded strong from the onset and if anything only got better over the course of the two-hour show.