Happy new year. I hope 2014 goes well for everyone. 2013 was a pretty mixed bag for me. The first half of it was probably the best time of my life, and the second half... kinda went in the other direction. And you know, I'd like to be optimistic about 2014, but I have two university assignments that are due on the 6th followed by exams on the 7th and 8th that I'm honestly not feeling very good about, so I'm starting this year pretty stressed out. Hopefully once that's done I can get back on tr
Well, I'm officially 20 years old as of about an hour ago. 20 is a nice number and all, but obviously it just goes downhill after 18 because this song doesn't fit anymore: http://youtu.be/vMCyX0P_dGE
I talked about Refused in my last entry, so I thought I would next talk about other projects of their vocalist Dennis Lyxzén. Dennis is probably one of my favourite people in music. He's a very talented vocalist with an impressive range, and he's a good guitarist and bassist too. Beyond that, he is also a fantastic songwriter and lyricist, with a strong passion for his music and message. After Refused broke up, Dennis went on to form The (International) Noise Conspiracy - a garage punk/dance
I'm barely using my blog at all, so I thought I'd start a little series where I basically just talk about music. Maybe talk about my favourite bands and why I like them, maybe show off interesting albums in my collection. Stuff like that. Just over a week ago it was the 15th anniversary of what I currently hold to be the greatest album of all time - The Shape of Punk to Come - and so I thought I'd talk about the band responsible for that album: Refused. Refused were one of the most important
Well, I just got back from Paradise Lost's 25th anniversary show at The Roundhouse. It was an absolutely fantastic night, and I'm happy that it was recorded for a live CD. Katatonia were on first, playing Viva Emptiness in its entirety to celebrate 10 years of the album. Backwards for some reason, but hey, it's still Viva Emptiness and Ghost of the Sun makes for a fantastic closer. I'm not sure if the album necessarily translated into a live setting fantastically, but they were still great. Hi
Well, after a couple of days of unpacking we're starting to settle into the new house. My room is pretty much done now, although not that it matters much anyway, since in just over a month I'll be packing my things up again for university. Still, just need to unpack a few more things and hang up some posters and it'll be set. It's a fair bit smaller than my room in the old house, but again it doesn't really matter as I won't be spending much time here once I'm back at university. Took some pi
Well, it seems like I just got back home with all my stuff from university, and now it's all packed up again as my parents are moving house tomorrow. I quite enjoy moving. It's a lot of work, and we definitely have a ton more stuff to pack up and transport to the new house than we did when we moved here, but something about packing your things up is really fun. Especially when you find some belonging that you have completely forgotten about, like when I found my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon Yu-Gi-O
So, Paradise Lost just announced this thing: Tragic Illusion 25 (The Rarities), which will be released on the 25th of October to celebrate the band's 25th anniversary and will be a compilation of rarities and B-sides from over the years. It will also contain a brand new song - Loneliness Remains - as well as re-recorded versions of Gothic and Our Saviour. I'll definitely be picking this up. I already have five of the songs from limited edition copies of albums, but I am interested in the re
Well, I thought I'd share an album I recently discovered and am loving: Hadal by Velcra. Velcra made some great industrial metal with their first two albums, but the fantastic third album Hadal is more of a combination of industrial rock, electronic and trip hop. I almost want to say that it's like a heavier, industrial version of Portishead.
Unfortunately, I am completely unable to find a copy of the album for sale anywhere. The best I could find was the MP3 download on Amazon, but no s
So I'm just gonna jump in on the tide of YouTube posts and leave one of my favourite pieces of music here:
Being able to do this certainly is nice. Should make the 'Rate The Song Above You' topic a lot easier too.
That's seven years I've been on BZP now, which is a pretty long time actually. The more I think about it the older it makes me feel. Not much else to blog about besides that. The Steam sale is coming to an end, and as much as I dislike buying digital games when physical copies of them are available, couldn't resist picking up a couple of bigger titles, as well as some indie stuff. Didn't think that the sale was all that great though. It seemed like the same handful of games going on sale aga
So, Front Line Assembly are currently streaming their new album - Echogenetic - for free and after my first listen, it seems really good. I'd just like to say what a fantastic year for industrial music it is: Fantastic albums by Skinny Puppy and Front Line Assembly, as well as an upcoming album by Nine Inch Nails. What are my three favourite - as well as three of the most influential - bands in the genre each releasing an album this year is a great thing.
Well, I got my results for my first year of university today and I am very happy because I passed, with a B in each module. Not that I thought I was going to fail, but it's a massive relief nonetheless to know that I'll definitely be coming back next year. I guess now I can truly relax for the rest of summer.
Well, I'm spending this week in France, so that's nice I guess. Got to say, I'm a bit jealous of the French as they still get toys in their cereal. We don't have that in the UK anymore. I know I don't exactly fall within the age demographic they try to hit with those toys, but it's still nice to get them.
Well, tomorrow morning I'll be moving out of my university accommodation and back home to London for the summer. I guess I'll kinda miss this room, even if it's not all that great, and thus I decided to take a few pictures of it before I started packing my things: [1] [2] [3] [4]
So, I watched all four seasons of Community over the past few days. Now that that's done, I'm not really sure what to do with my life anymore. At least until season 5 starts.
A new song from the upcoming Nine Inch Nails album, Came Back Haunted, has been released today. Alongside that, Trent confirmed that the album will be titled Hesitation Marks and that it will be released on the 2nd of September. It's definitely my most looked forward to album this year. Can't wait
Just finished my last exam, and so my first year at university comes to an end. It's been a fun year and I enjoyed it. Met lots of new people and made some new friends, although with us all being from different parts of the country, I probably won't see many of them over the summer. Not sure when I'll go back home to London, but I'll probably stay here for another week or so. My lease doesn't end until the 23rd, so might as well make some use of it. I'm not entirely sure if School's Out by Ali
Trent Reznor has just revealed that he's secretly been working on a new Nine Inch Nails album for the past year, which is now finished and will be released later this year. To say I'm very excited is an understatement.
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
So the exam went much better than I thought it would. The first two questions were very nice and easy, but kind of fell apart at the third one, partly due to lack of time, partly because it wasn't a very nice question. But hey, it was a choice of three questions out of seven, so at least I wasn't stuck with the other four, which were pretty horrible. Having a bit of free time, got myself a new headset and a new pair of earphones, since my old ones broke. It always feels strange switching to a
I probably won't start collecting playing cards again, but I had to order a few decks that looked nice. These arrived today: The Karnival Inferno deck. The colours are a bit bright, but I do like them.
