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Gonna See Paradise Lost Again

Posted by Cheshire Cat , in Music May 24 2013 · 0 views

Paradise Lost are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year and are doing some special shows in October and November, with support from Lacuna Coil and a special guest that hasn't been announced yet.
Went ahead and got myself a ticket for the London show in November. Really looking forward to it ^_^
 
It's also a reminder of how quickly time goes by. It doesn't seem that long ago that they were celebrating their 20th anniversary with the release of a demo compilation, which I have sitting on my desk right here, and yet it was almost five years ago.
Why does that make me feel so old, even though I'm so young?



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Why I Dislike Ordering CDs From The US

Posted by Cheshire Cat , in Music Apr 19 2013 · 68 views

These bloody stickers on the top of the case.
 
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I don't know if it's just me, but I can never take them off without them tearing and they always leave marks on the case.
It's becoming my biggest pet peeve in terms of CDs. I mean, why are they even there, other than to be annoying? The bar code is already on the back of the CD, and new CDs are wrapped anyway :shrugs:

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Local Record Store Gone

Posted by Cheshire Cat , in Music Feb 28 2013 · 54 views

Well, as I was looking forward to perhaps picking up some albums today, I was greeted by the rather unpleasant news that my local independent record store has closed.
It's a real shame, as it was a fantastic store and I only found it a few months ago. It always sucks to see a good record store go out of business and hopefully the staff manage to find new jobs.
 
This also means that now my only way of buying albums is online, which I've been doing a lot anyway, but I'll still miss my weekly trips to the record store.



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Paradise Lost

Posted by Cheshire Cat , in Music Jan 28 2013 · 47 views

So, I got myself a copy of Paradise Lost's album Believe In Nothing, which has finally completed my collection of their studio releases. Thirteen albums and one set of demos. And you know, it's worth every penny. They are a fantastic band.
This is, and will likely remain, my only complete collection of a band with a discography of this size, as I can't really think of any other band with 10+ albums, all of which I'm interested in having a copy of.
 
Also, I'm really loving Century Media's Metal for the Masses campaign. Picked up the reissue of One For Sorrow by Insomnium today for £7. It's pretty rare to find albums at a record store cheaper than online these days, so this is pretty nice.



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25 Years of Century Media Records

Posted by Cheshire Cat , in Music Jan 16 2013 · 128 views

One of my favourite record labels - Century Media - mark their 25th anniversary this year and have released 25 of their classic albums as limited 2CD editions, which is pretty cool.
I got  myself City by Strapping Young Lad today and will probably end up getting Paradise Lost's In Requiem despite owning the original, just for the second CD and because that album means quite a lot to me.
Might also use these reissues to get some albums by bands I've been wanting to try out, like Turisas, Iced Earth and Tiamat.
And of course I find out about these reissues just as I was thinking I should probably cut down on the money I spend on music... Ah well.



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My Top 10 Albums of 2012, Part 2

Posted by Cheshire Cat , in Music Jan 06 2013 · 86 views

Well, here are my five favourite albums of last year.
 
5 - Eremita by Ihsahn
 
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This is a superb progressive metal album with black metal influences. The songs here range from beautiful to brutal, and the riffs from simple to wonderfully complex, but it all flows together very nicely. The musicianship across the album is brilliant with lots of absolutely fantastic guitar playing and great drumming. It's a very heavy album at times, but there is always subtle melody to the heaviness and the songs will often go in unexpected directions. It also has some guest vocals by Devin Townsend on one of the songs, which is always good.
 
 
4 - Phantom Antichrist by Kreator
 
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I'm not too big on thrash metal, but this album really clicked with me like few other thrash albums have.
It's an anthemic and infectious album, full of stellar guitar playing with catchy riffs, blazing solos and melodic bridges. It often sounds very grandiose and melodic, while retaining the heaviness of thrash metal.
This is a fantastic album that is everything good thrash is, and then more. If not for Anthrax's Worship Music, I'd likely call this the finest thrash metal album of the century so far.
 
 
3 - Epicloud and Epiclouder by Devin Townsend Project
 
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I wasn't sure whether to treat this as two albums, but decided to treat it as one, as Epiclouder is a set of demos that comes together with the deluxe edition of Epicloud, although it could have easily been released as an album in its own right.
Epicloud is a much more simple and accessible Devin Townsend album than usual, especially when compared to 2011's Deconstruction, with Devin even calling it pop-metal. But then again, there is rarely anything 'usual' about Devin's music. He always creates very unique albums with none being the same as another, and this is no exception.
This is an album about love, and apart from being, as the title would suggest, epic and loud, it is also very positive and beautiful. Anneke van Giersbergen makes a return to provide her beautiful female vocals which go very well with Devin's clean vocals and contrast just as well with his harsher vocals, although the latter don't have much presence here.
The musicianship is brilliant as expected, and although the album is mostly simple and catchy, it does become complex at times. It also has its heavy moments on songs like More! and Kingdom, which are reminiscent of some of his earlier work.
As I said, this is a very beautiful and uplifting album, and despite being much less complex than one would expect from Devin Townsend, it's still a gripping and original record, breaking quite a few metal cliches by being a positive album about love.
Also, I have to say that seeing him perform Grace was one of my greatest live music experiences.
Epiclouder retains the same vibe, but is a more complex and musically diverse piece. I do feel it's a shame that it was only released as a bonus disc, as it deserves to be an album on its own, at times being even better than Epicloud.
 
 
2 - Awoken Broken by Primal Rock Rebellion
 
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I've done a review of this album on my blog earlier, so if you care you can read that.
A collaboration between Iron Maiden's Adrian Smith and SikTh's Mikee Goodman, this is a very unique record, the sound of which is hard to describe. It's eccentric and often quite heavy, but not overwhelmingly so. Adrian Smith's guitar work is as excellent as ever, as are Mikee Goodman's vocals. As he did with SikTh, Goodman will use four or five different vocal styles or techniques in a song, which creates a very unique sound which is only further aided by the intriguing lyrics and Adrian Smith's fantastic riffs and solos.
 
 
1 - Tragic Idol by Paradise Lost
 
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For the third time in a row, Paradise Lost have released an album that has completely blown me away.
This record is the fathers and masters of gothic metal doing what they do best. A strong, gripping and melancholic atmosphere accompanied by absolutely brilliant guitar and powerful vocals. It's heavy, but it's melodic and it has a haunting beauty about it that only Paradise Lost can create.
I can not put into words how much I like this album. Paradise Lost are a band that constantly evolve and are not afraid to experiment, and almost 25 years of doing so have led to this masterpiece of melancholic beauty. I don't know where they can go from here, but then again, that's what I thought the last two times.



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My Top 10 Albums of 2012, Part 1

Posted by Cheshire Cat , in Music Jan 05 2013 · 53 views

2012 recently ended and it has been a great year for music, so here are albums 10-6 of my top 10 albums of the year. I was intending to do reviews or something detailed for each one, but I guess I can't be bothered :P
Anyway...
 
10 - Sentenced To Life by Black Breath
 
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A remarkably heavy combination of death metal and hard rock with crust punk undertones, full of great riffs and drumming.
 
 
9 - Dead End Kings by Katatonia
 
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A brilliant melancholic atmosphere with enchanting melodies. Perhaps one of Katatonia's best records, it gets better with each listen.
 
 
8 - Honor Found In Decay by Neurosis
 
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A more straightforward and accessible Neurosis album than usual, it still is a great heavy and atmospheric sludge metal journey.
 
7 - A Map Of All Our Failures by My Dying Bride
 
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As the sticker on the limited edition of the albums says, "a new voyage into the darkest depths of humanity, religion, love and death from the UK masters of doom".
This album is a blanket of bleakness and misery, and it's great at that.
 
 
6 - De Vermis Mysteriis by High On Fire
 
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Filled with fantastic riffs and brilliant solos, sometimes incredibly heavy and sometimes mesmerisingly melodic, this is a great aggressive stoner metal album with leanings towards doom metal.
 
 
And there you have it. I might write more detailed stuff for my top 5, but that's not very likely.



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Rage Against The Machine XX

Posted by Cheshire Cat , in Music Dec 06 2012 · 86 views

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So I decided to get myself a copy of the 20th anniversary special edition of Rage Against The Machine's debut album. Although usually I try to avoid reissues, especially of albums I already own, the demos and unreleased tracks included on the second CD were enough for me to get this one.
 
I'm quite happy with it. As you can see, the packaging is great and includes some good pictures of the band, although more liner notes from the band members themselves would have been nice. The remaster of the album barely sounds different, which is good as the original was absolutely fine. It's the same ten songs that still sound as fresh, relevant and hard-hitting today as they did in 1992. I do believe this to be one of the finest rock records of the last 20 years. From that iconic guitar and bass riff which opens the album with Bombtrack, to Zack de la Rocha's last calls for freedom on the record's closer, Freedom, this is a relentless onslaught of revolution which just doesn't get old.
The extra stuff on the second CD is also very nice for a big Rage fan like me. The unreleased songs are very good, and the demos are interesting to listen to as well. There's also a DVD with some live performances, although I haven't watched it yet.
So yeah, a good purchase, I think.
 
 
Oh, and I also managed to get a used limited edition copy of Paradise Lost's 1997 album, One Second, for just a few pounds. I just can't resist limited editions if they're a good price.



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My Halloween Playlist

Posted by Cheshire Cat , in Music Oct 31 2012 · 37 views

I tend to make playlists of horror themed songs for Halloween, and here is this year's. Just gonna leave it playing in the background throughout the day ^^
Always a struggle to not just fill it up with Alice Cooper :P But it does always have to start with Dada.

Anyway, happy Halloween everyone!

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Back Home For The Weekend

Posted by Cheshire Cat , in Daily Life, Music, Whining Oct 27 2012 · 51 views

Well, I'm back in London for the weekend, and you know, I like London a lot less now. Getting around is way too difficult with these endless masses of people, and while I did get used to it before, having spent a month in university and coming back, it's less than enjoyable. Seriously, I got from Cambridge to London quicker than I got from one point in London to another, and it barely cost me more.

Also, that Devin Townsend show I went to on Wednesday was absolutely brilliant, and I am very jealous of the people in London who at this very moment are enjoying his biggest show yet. The man has seemingly infinite amounts of charisma and is of course an incredible musician.



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Seek and ye shall find they say,

But they don't say what you'll find...

 

-5 Most Recently Purchased Albums-

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-Mini-Bio-

Age:
19
Gender:
Male
Location:
Cambridge, UK
Currently Studying:
Law
Beliefs:
Atheist, Marxist
Main Music Tastes:
Heavy Metal, Rock, Industrial, Dark Cabaret, Jazz
Favourite Bands:
Alice Cooper, Paradise Lost, Iron Maiden, Refused, Skold, Devin Townsend
Favourite Books:
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? - Phillip K. Dick; Gun, With Occasional Music - Jonathan Lethem; A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess; The Seer King Trilogy - Chris Bunch
Favourite Movies:
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind; The Matrix; The Last Samurai
Favourite Video Games:
Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time Trilogy; Spyro 2: Rypto's Rage; American McGee's Alice; Hitman: Blood Money; Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Other Interests:
Poker, Sociology, Photography, Stand-Up Comedy

Where Else To Find Me:

Twitter: @_Malchior_

Steam: Miserix-V.2

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