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Queen of Liars

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Blog Entries posted by Queen of Liars

  1. Queen of Liars
    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 and will continue to be so with exams on the 23rd and the 30th, the first of which I'm not feeling too good about. I do have a week to fix that though, so hopefully my first year of university will turn out alright.
  2. Queen of Liars
    These have been released to celebrate the return of the metal band earthtone9 and their new album IV, and since I used to collect playing cards back when I still did a lot of sleight of hand, I figured I might as well pick them up.
     

     
    They are very nice and a fine addition to my collection. Excuse the not-so-great picture though, I seem to have forgotten how to use my camera.
    Now I'm actually considering starting to collect interesting decks of cards again.
     
    And I should also probably mention that earthtone9 released a 16 track 'best of' compilation as a free download if anyone is interested in them. I can't really tag them with a genre, but I've heard them called progressive, alternative and post-metal, so there's that.
  3. Queen of Liars
    So, I went into the kitchen intending to get myself a cup of mint green tea, daydreaming as I did so, and everything seemed fine in the moment. However, it was only upon returning to my room and taking a sip of said tea when I noticed that it tasted a bit odd, at which point I came to the realisation that what I have actually made was, in fact, a cup of coffee.
    I am not sure how I went through the whole process without it even occurring to me that I was making an entirely different drink, which I keep on an entirely different shelf and consume from an entirely different mug.
    It seems that I either have a caffeine problem or really need to get some sleep for once. Probably both.
     
    And yes, I have nothing else noteworthy to blog about, in case you're wondering.
    Mostly just trying to finish off my coursework and prepare for the two exams at the end of the month, which have me a bit worried.
    It's hard to believe that my first year of university is already almost over.
  4. Queen of Liars
    These bloody stickers on the top of the case.
     

     
    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
  5. Queen of Liars
    So, I went to see three Canadian comedians - Stewart Francis, Craig Campbell and Glenn Wool - on their The Lumberjacks tour tonight.
    Stewart Francis has been one of my favourite comedians for quite some time now, so it was great to finally see him live, and the other two were brilliant as well. Haven't laughed that much in a long time.
    It was just their second show of the tour, which meant that there were still some imperfections and they were still trying some new stuff out, which only made the show all the better. Also, as it was a fairly small venue, it felt more personal which is always great
     
     
    On another note, I've started buying more albums than I should again. I can't help it, something about a music CD just draws me in and doesn't let go until I've bought it. Especially those fancy limited/special/deluxe/whatever editions...
  6. Queen of Liars
    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 sign.
  7. Queen of Liars
    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.
  8. Queen of Liars

    Paradise Lost

    By Queen of Liars,

    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.
  9. Queen of Liars
    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.
  10. Queen of Liars
    Well, here are my five favourite albums of last year.
     
    5 - Eremita by Ihsahn
     

     
    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
     

     
    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
     

     
    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
     

     
    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
     

     
    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.
  11. Queen of Liars
    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
    Anyway...
     
    10 - Sentenced To Life by Black Breath
     

     
    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
     

     
    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
     

     
    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
     

     
    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
     

     
    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.
  12. Queen of Liars
    Well, submitted my last two assignments this morning, and with that it's the end of my first semester of university. Got to say it was quite enjoyable. Very enjoyable even. Definitely the most enjoyable time I've had in education so far. I'm glad that I decided to go with Law after all, as it's actually a very interesting and relevant subject. Although the workload multiplies at a rather staggering rate if left unattended for even the tiniest amount of time, most of that work is fairly interesting and engaging.
     
    However, I would have thought that at this point I'd be able to pull myself together enough not to leave large chunks of assignments unfinished, only starting to finish them within the last 24 hours before the submission deadline.
    Apparently not.
     
    Well, it's still a big relief not having anymore coursework to do for the time being. Now I get more time to do nothing.
  13. Queen of Liars
    Decided to finally spend some of the money I got for my birthday and got all this stuff in the last couple of days.
    You know, just to make sure I have things to distract me from doing university assignments and revising for exams.
  14. Queen of Liars

    Cryptic Clues?

    By Queen of Liars,

    So, I mentioned yesterday that I got a used copy of the limited edition of Paradise Lost's album One Second. As I was looking through the booklet, this piece of paper fell out:
     

     
    What does it mean? Does it mean anything at all? Has it been there for the whole 15 years that this copy of the album existed?
    It kinda makes me sad that I will never know.
  15. Queen of Liars
    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.
  16. Queen of Liars
    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.
  17. Queen of Liars
    Well, I am now 19. Which is quite a boring age really. Nothing of much significance comes with it, but I am getting to the point where birthdays are becoming mundane.
     
    Ah well, I'll go listen to I'm Eighteen by Alice Cooper now, and pretend that I'm still 18 and that song is still the perfect fit for celebrating my birthday.
  18. Queen of Liars
    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 But it does always have to start with Dada.
     
    Anyway, happy Halloween everyone!
  19. Queen of Liars
    So, some drunk students in my accommodation apparently thought it would be funny to activate the fire alarm at 4 AM, thus waking everyone up and making them go stand outside in the cold for 20 minutes.
     
    It's fine really, not like I was planning to get a decent amount of sleep for once before a day at university or anything >.>
  20. Queen of Liars
    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.
  21. Queen of Liars
    Getting the notification "you have been given a warning" is a bit unsettling when you have forgotten that you renewed your premier membership.
     
    And other than that, I still don't have much to blog about. My first coursework was set on Monday, and it involves 3000 words about the European Convention on Human Rights... done in a website FAQ format. I really hate doing writing that is supposed to be done like a website or magazine article, especially when it's just not something that you would actually see in an article. I'd much rather just do a 6000 word dissertation on it. But oh well, I'll have to live with it.
     
    Tomorrow I'll be going to see Devin Townsend, so that should be fun. Would love to go see his London show, The Retinal Circus, on Saturday as that is going to be his biggest show yet, but it's sold out an I don't really have money to spend on it anyway. Admittedly, that probably wouldn't stop me, so it's good that it's sold out.
  22. Queen of Liars
    Well, it's my second week of lectures and my third week at university overall. So far I'm enjoying it, but I can confirm that law does indeed require a lot of work and reading. Just looking at the pile of books I have to read is enough to rid me of any joy or energy I may have. Admittedly though, they are pretty interesting and it does remind me of Sociology, so that's good.
    Fresher's Fair was on Thursday, so I took the opportunity to sign up for the Alternative Music Society, the Poker Society and the Law Society. Hopefully those will be fun.
    Also as it turns out, there is an Extreme Ironing Society here.
     
     
    On a separate note, Epicloud by the Devin Townsend Project is a fantastic album. Been listening to it a lot since it arrived last week, and the bonus disk of demos, Epiclouder, might even be better than the actual album. Either way, the album lives up to its name, and although Devin was definitely telling the truth when he said that this would be a much simpler and more accessible and straightforward album than usual, it's still great.
     
    And now I'll go back to reading law books.
  23. Queen of Liars
    Well, university starts soon and I visited today to collect my keys and check out the place where I'll spend the next three years of studying. It's actually pretty nice, about the same size as my room now, so that's great. No wi-fi though, and the internet provided is probably going to be fairly slow, so I'll have to look into getting better internet for myself.
    I came to the conclusion that I am the second to visit my floor/hall, as there was some milk in one of the fridges, however I did not come into contact with its owner.
     
    Now I just have until Sunday to figure out what I need that I don't have and buy it, and then I'll be moving in. Actually can't wait, although I'll miss this summer of not doing anything.
  24. Queen of Liars

    And I'm back

    By Queen of Liars,

    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 all my music without a computer, otherwise I might have gone crazy... -er.
  25. Queen of Liars
    So I was just casually browsing the internet when my monitor decided that it had quite enough of me wasting my life away in front of the computer and went into what I believe is known as the 'white screen of death' mode. Well, I'm assuming it's my monitor, since it stays in a white screen even if disconnected from the computer.
    So there go my plans of saving up some money, as I'm gonna need a new monitor.
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