After two weeks of delays, I finally received my limited edition copy of the new Refused album. Protip: don't buy stuff from Kings Road Merch. I wouldn't have, since this isn't the first time I had problems with them, but it was the only place you could get the limited edition from. Anyway, the new Refused album. Freedom. 17 years after releasing what I consider to be the greatest album of all time, The Shape of Punk to Come, Refused have finally returned, and I couldn't be happier. I'm still
Well, I had my last exam on Friday, which went about as poorly as expected. I guess that at least means I haven't had any expectations crushed =P Either way, it's a relief to finally have it out of the way and not have to think about it anymore. I was approaching breaking point with stress and anxiety, and it's good to at least have that source of it removed. And so that's it. My three years of university have passed, and hopefully so have I. Quite the three years, these were. It's interestin
Well, after handing in 3300 words worth of law coursework on Tuesday and doing my mooting assignment earlier this morning, I now have nothing but exams to look forward to. The moot went fairly well, although having went with a white shirt and a red tie I resembled Agent 47 from the Hitman series more than I intended (although I do have hair of course). Not necessarily a bad thing, but I was going for more of a lawyer look rather than a professional assassin look. It has been a very busy month an
I got a new monitor, so I can use the computer again =D And I ended up not having to spend any money because my dad kindly bought it for me in return for me doing some accounting for him. So that's good. It's also vastly superior to my previous monitor (even if my previous monitor still worked), although it's gonna take a while to get used to the wider screen. Didn't do too much during my two days without a monitor, although that was where buying CDs really payed off as I could still listen to
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.
15 - Once More 'Round the Sun by Mastodon A huge improvement over 2011's The Hunter, this album is a really fun trip through Mastodon's signature blend of progressive and stoner metal. 14 - Our Time Will Come by KMFDM Celebrating their 30th anniversary, KMFDM release a pretty big improvement over their last two rather average albums. Fitting for the occasion, this album contains pretty much everything you would expect to see from KMFDM. There's the tongue in cheek satire and self-p
After some delays with the official Century Media store, my copy of the new Paradise Lost album finally arrived yesterday: A thing of beauty, and probably my album of the year. Of the announced albums I'm aware of this year, only Refused or Ihsahn have a chance of dethroning it. This also means that it's a good time for a Paradise Lost collection post: ^Click for a bigger picture So, the two on the left are: Drown in Darkness - The Early Demos Symbol of Life (Limited edition digi
With the summer sale drawing to an end, here's what I got: Far Cry 3 - Blood Dragon Far Cry 2 Tomb Raider (2013) BattleBlock Theater Mass Effect Splinter Cell: Blacklist Shadowrun Returns Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae Already played through all of Far Cry 2 when it first came out, but it's nice to have a digital copy. Everything else I've never played before and am excited to get started. Especially the new Splinter Cell, since I hear that it toned down the action and regained some of the focus on s
10 - Aura by Saor An amazing atmospheric black metal album with many elements from Celtic folk music. The way the folk and metal instrumentation interact with each other is excellent, creating both heaviness and stunning beauty. 9 - Citadel by Ne Obliviscaris Citadel is an excellently written progressive metal album with undertones of melodic death metal. The pacing here is great, with very well timed intros, bridges and interludes creating a really cohesive experience. The musicia
After putting it off for ages, I finally started XCOM: EU this week and I've been really enjoying it. It's definitely among my favourite strategy games, only outdone by Civilization IV and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. It's certainly very addictive. My current squad, made up of (mostly) musicians: I do wish there were more customisation options, as right now Devin Townsend and Ihsahn are the only ones that actually resemble their real-life selves. With no long hairstyles, there's no
Classic Bethesda. Tried all the fixes and whatnot, so I'm just stuck here waiting for them to hopefully fix it, and by the looks of various forums I'm not alone. Thankfully Steam refunds now exist, so I'll be getting one of those if this isn't addressed soon. Disappointing, but not unexpected. I'm not one to purchase games at release, precisely because of things like this, but Fallout is one of the few exceptions I'm willing to make. Granted, the game is not looking great, especially for
5 - Longhena by Gridlink The final album by Gridlink is a ferocious technical grindcore goodbye with incredible musicianship. Over the course of just 23 minutes Longhena delivers one of the most intense listens of the year. It's fast and brutal, yet filled with a sorrowful beauty. Farewell, Gridlink. 4 - Noise by Boris The 19th Boris album has a rather deceptive title, as there is in fact pretty much no noise contained within. What it does contain is a trip through several styles a
Finally received my CD copy of one of my favourite albums, Boris at Last -Feedbacker- by Boris. Took quite a while to find a copy at reasonable price, and it still wasn't cheap, but I am now very happy to finally own it. An updated picture of my Boris collection: Amplifier Worship Boris at Last -Feedbacker- Pink Smile (US Version) New Album Attention Please Heavy Rocks (2011) Noise Which not counting collaborations, is still only eight out of nineteen. Twenty if the Japanese and US versi
Today is the release day for the new Devin Townsend album Z². It being my most anticipated album of the year I've pre-ordered it, and since I did so from Devin's official store rather than say Amazon, it actually arrived on time. Imagine that. Seriously though, I'm never pre-ordering stuff from Amazon again. I've had consistent problems with things being late, but Ihshan's album being late last year was the final straw. Considering they charge for release date delivery, more than half of my pr
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, with my dad working in Russia and my mum on holiday, it's gonna be a month or so of just me and the cat. This will be great - a whole month of peace and quiet, which is just what I need I shall also take this opportunity to listen to the music my mum hates really loudly while I can. Now, where's my copy of Reign In Blood?
Completed my Massive Attack collection today: Left to right: Blue Lines Protection Mezzanine 100th Window Danny the Dog Soundtrack Heligoland Allegedly they've been working on a new album, so if that's true, I'm definitely looking forward to it. And also hoping that it's better than Heligoland...
There is now a trailer for the Thief reboot, and of course it doesn't tell us much about the game at all, but it still has me pretty excited. Although I am a bit worried about what direction they'll be taking it in, I have high hopes for it after Eidos Montreal's masterpiece with Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Just hoping it doesn't end up like the somewhat disappointing Hitman: Absolution from last year. I mean, it turns out they're not gonna call it THI4F after all, which is certainly a good sig
Why is it that all the shows I really want to go to are always at the worst date for me? Refused are doing a show in a London club in August, which is great because bands like Refused really shine in smaller venues and I'd love to go see the show. However, it's on the last day of the 2012 Olympics. That is the one evening that I would really wish to not go outside. Being outside after a big football match in the area finished is bad enough, but Olympics? But it's okay, the band just reformed
Finally received my copy of the new Ihsahn album the other day, after there being some delays with the limited editions. An excellent album which was well worth the wait. Not quite as good as his previous three, but I'd still be surprised if it isn't my album of the year. Perhaps I'll do an updated post of my entire Ihsahn collection later, when I'm not busy listening to Arktis.
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
So, I went to see the brilliant Steve Hughes tonight, and it was great. Bonus points to him for having Motorhead songs playing before the show started. This was actually the first time I've seen a comedian live, and having enjoyed it quite a lot, it seems that a fair amount of my free time at university will be divided between going music concerts and going to comedy shows. Often at the same venue too.
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
Recently finished my collection of albums by one of my favourite musicians - Tim Skold. While there are a couple of things I'm missing, I have everything that I actually want. So let's go through it: Terrible picture I know, but it's hard to fit everything in at a good resolution without the file size being too big. Anyway, at the top left we have his solo project - Skold: Skold Anomie Suck EP Tonight EP Top middle, we have the KMFDM albums with him as a member of the band: Symbols A
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
