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Queen of Liars

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Blog Entries posted by Queen of Liars

  1. 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.
  2. Queen of Liars
    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?
  3. Queen of Liars

    Paradise Lost

    By Queen of Liars,

    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.
    Highlights of the set: Criminals, Ghost of the Sun
     
    Lacuna Coil were up next and were great too.
    They're one of those bands that I never really looked into despite liking quite a few songs that I've heard. Will that change after tonight? Possibly.
    They were pretty energetic and got the crowd going.
    Highlights of the set: Intoxicated, Spellbound
     
    And then it was time for Paradise Lost.
    They were absolutely brilliant.
    The setlist was... interesting. They left out a lot of songs that seemed like the obvious ones to pick and that they usually play, like Erased, As I Die or The Last Time. Which I think was a great decision as it allowed for songs like So Much Is Lost off of Host, which is without question their most underrated record. Looking over it, they probably couldn't have come up with a better setlist for their 25th anniversary. Containing great songs from albums that often seem forgotten, like the aforementioned Host or Lost Paradise and Paradise Lost, it was a great reminder of the glorious 25 years of their music.
    Highlights of the set: So Much Is Lost, Gothic, Tragic Idol, Never for the ******, Isolate, Say Just Words, One Second, True Belief
     
    Here's to 25 years of Paradise Lost, and hopefully to many more.
     
  4. Queen of Liars

    Ihsahn

    By Queen of Liars,

    Time for an updated Ihsahn collection post I guess, given the new album:
     

    ^Click for a bigger picture
     
    Starting on the left:
     
    Thou Shalt Suffer, which is essentially the earliest incarnation of Emperor. They originally released one death metal/black metal EP in 1991 - Into the Woods of Belial - before the band split up, with Ihsahn and Samoth forming Emperor immediately afterwards. However, Ihsahn used the name again in 2000 to release his solo album Somnium, this time it being a neoclassical/darkwave/ambient album. Both releases are pictured.
     
    Next up, the legendary Emperor, one of the most influential and well regarded black metal bands in the history of the genre. The releases are:
     
    Emperor/Wrath of the Tyrant (a compilation including the self-titled EP and the first demo)
    In the Nightside Eclipse
    Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
    IX Equilibrium (Special Edition)
    Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise
    Scattered Ashes: A Decade of Emperial Wrath
    In the Nightside Eclipse (20th Anniversary Edition)
     
    Following this, we have Peccatum, an avant-garde band which Ihsahn formed with his wife Ihriel (aka Starofash) as Emperor was coming to an end. Here we have:
     
    Strangling from Within
    Amor Fati
    Lost in Reverie
    Oh, My Regrets EP
    The Moribund People EP
     
    Now we get to my favourite of these: Ihsahn's solo work which is what he primarily occupies himself with these days. Included here are:
     
    The Adversary
    angL
    After (Limited Edition)
    Eremita (Limited Edition Digibook)
    Das Seelenbrechen (Limited Edition Digibook)
    Arktis. (Limited Edition Digibook)
     
    Before we get to the stack all the way on the right, let's look at the three at the bottom:
     
    Blood Must Be Shed - a one-of EP by members of Emperor, Satyricon and Dødheimsgard.
    Grimen by Hardingrock - an experimental folk project by Ihsahn and Ihriel, joined by Norwegian folk musician Knut Buen.
    Fjelltronen by Wongraven - the dark folk/ambient/medieval project by Satyr of Satyricon, on which Ihsahn plays the grand piano and synths.
     
    As for the stack on the right, that one is for all the albums Ihsahn has appeared on as a guest:
     
    The Sham Mirrors by Arcturus
    Deconstruction by Devin Townsend Project
    Plains of Oblivion by Jeff Loomis
    Bilateral by Leprous
    Coal by Leprous
    Iter.Viator by Starofash
    Silence in the Snow by Trivium
    Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and *Heck* by Ulver
  5. Queen of Liars
    With most video game sales being over by now, here's what I got over the holiday period:
     
    Steam:
     
    Deus Ex (lost my physical copy a while ago, so this will replace it)
    Deus Ex: Invisible War
    Mark of the Ninja Special Edition DLC
    Braid
    Sequence
    Resonance
    Poker Night 2
    Another World
    Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
    Serious Sam 3: Jewel of the Nile DLC
    BIT.TRIP Beat
    Rush
    Dinner Date
    Paranautical Activity
    Counter Strike Complete
    The Walking Dead: 400 Days DLC
    Star Wars: Balance of the Force and Ms. Splosion Man tables for Pinball FX2
     
    The Humble Store:
     
    The Novelist
    Guacamelee
     
    Overall, some pretty nice stuff I guess. Looking at it, I picked up quite a few games, but the sales still felt a bit lacking. It's kinda gotten to the point where I already own most of the stuff I'd want, and the stuff I don't have yet either didn't go on sale or was still too expensive for me to justify picking it up.
    I ended up spending very little actual money thanks to selling a lot of Steam trading cards, so that's nice.
    Although I have no idea when I'll have the time to actually play all this stuff. My backlog of games is huge enough as it is.
  6. Queen of Liars
    Good to see the forums back. Big thanks to all the staff that worked on the problem.
     
    Didn't really do too much during the few days BZP was offline. Went to see Paradise Lost on Sunday, which was an absolutely brilliant show, and spent most of the rest of the time studying and sleeping. Also, didn't vote in the London mayor elections.
     
    At least there's only about one and a half months until my summer begins and I can just chill out for a couple of months.
  7. Queen of Liars

    Emilie Autumn

    By Queen of Liars,

    Received my copy of Emilie Autumn's first album today, which means that I've completed my collection of her stuff:
     

     
    Here we have:
     
    Enchant
    Opheliac (The Deluxe Edition)
    Laced/Unlaced
    Fight Like a Girl
     
    All sitting on top of a signed copy of her book.
     
    There's a few EPs that I don't have which I may one day want to hunt down, but these are all four of the actual albums.
    Well, technically I suppose she had an album before Enchant, called On a Day, which contained her performances of several classical pieces, but a remastered version of that album is included as the first half of Laced/Unlaced, so it's all good.
  8. Queen of Liars
    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.
  9. Queen of Liars

    Industrial

    By Queen of Liars,

    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.
  10. Queen of Liars
    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 again and again. Granted, there were lots of great indie games with big discounts throughout the whole sale.
  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, 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.
  13. Queen of Liars

    Deus Ex

    By Queen of Liars,

    I simply can't wait for this.
     
    I usually try really hard not to buy into hype or get too excited when there's very little information available, but sometimes even I can't help it. This is probably the most excited I've ever been for a video game.
     
    It's been known for a while that Eidos have been working on the next Deus Ex game, but now we finally have actual information and it's all getting me psyched.
     
    This is the first time in the series that we'll have a returning protagonist, but I am more than happy with more Adam Jensen. Elias Toufexis' voice acting work as him is just excellent. Michael McCann will also be composing the soundtrack again, which is great to hear as well.
     
    What they've said about the story thus far definitely has my interest, and I have total faith in Eidos that the writing will be just as good as it was in Human Revolution. Gameplay so far sounds like it's going to build on the previous game, with stuff like more fluid use of augmentations and even more open levels, which is just fine by me.
     
    So yeah, I am very excited. Human Revolution is my second favourite game of all time, and the original of course also has a spot in my top ten, so I have extremely high hopes for the new game. The only thing I'm not fond of is the title which just sounds cheesy, but that can be easily ignored if the game ends up as good as HR.
  14. 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.
  15. Queen of Liars
    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 (and certainly the most well known) bands in the Swedish hardcore punk scene and during their career from 1991 to 1998 they became one of the most influential punk bands in history.
     

    In order: This Just Might Be... The Truth; Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent; The Shape of Punk to Come; This Album Contains Old Songs and Old Pictures Vol. 1 (Also Known as the EP Comp CD); This Album Contains Old Songs and Old Pictures Vol. 2 (Also Known as the Demo Comp CD); The New Noise Theology EP.
     
    With their first album and first few EPs Refused started out playing what was pretty much typical hardcore in the scene at the time (mind you, they did it incredibly well). Their second album saw them exploring more complex post-hardcore before revolutionising punk in 1998 with their third album, The Shape of Punk to Come.
     
    I love everything Refused have done, but it is this third and final album (the band broke up shortly after its completion) that has earned them their spot in music history, and with good reason.
    With 15 years since its release, I think it is still completely unparalleled.
     
    A very ambitious and forward-thinking record, it experimented a lot with what hardcore was and could be, with complex songwriting and seamless incorporation of many jazz and electronic elements (indeed, the album's title is a tip of the hat to Ornette Coleman's album The Shape of Jazz to Come).
     
    It's a fantastically written and very unique album. Everything from little things to the big things, from the electronic interludes, to the jazz bridge on The Deadly Rhythm, to the fantastic violin intro to Tannhäuser / Derivè (which happens to be pretty much my favourite song ever) serves a purpose in crafting this masterpiece.
    It's an album that is brutal and aggressive, yet delicate and sophisticated.
     
    There's not much I can say about this album that hasn't already been said my many fans and critics. Pretty much everything about this record is perfect and everyone in the band is so good at what they do that it's ridiculous.
    It's an album that has influenced countless artists, but none of them have come close to matching its greatness.
    Of course it's not an album that's for everyone, but it's definitely the album for me.
     
    However, an album this incredible took its toll on Refused's creative energy and the band broke up soon after, vowing to never play together again.
    Fortunately, that was not the case and they reunited in 2012 for one tour to do justice to their last album. Following the tour Refused broke up once again, but stated that the possibility of their return remains.
    I certainly hope that they do indeed return, as they are by far my favourite band.
     
     
    ...And that will be the end of my babbling for this first entry. I kinda wanted to talk more about their early work, but I don't really want to make these entries long, so maybe another time
  16. Queen of Liars

    Ihsahn

    By Queen of Liars,

    It's time for my biggest music collection post thus far: Ihsahn.
     

    ^Click for a bigger picture
     
    Terrible quality picture, but I don't even know how I would get all those in a single picture and keep it good.
     
    Anyway, yes Ihsahn. This collection includes basically everything he's ever been on, and it's a collection that is particularly close to my heart, as Ihsahn is currently my favourite musician. At least as far as individual people are concerned. Refused are still my favourite band, but as far as individuals go, Ihsahn is second to none.
     
    Now then, let's tackle this bunch of CDs, starting on the left:
     
    Thou Shalt Suffer, which is essentially the earliest incarnation of Emperor. They originally released one death metal/black metal EP in 1991 - Into the Woods of Belial - before the band split up, with Ihsahn and Samoth forming Emperor immediately afterwards. However, Ihsahn used the name again in 2000 to release his solo album Somnium, this time it being a neoclassical/darkwave/ambient album. Both releases are pictured.
     
    Next up, the legendary Emperor, one of the most influential and well regarded black metal bands in the history of the genre (and for very good reason, I might add). The releases are:
     
    Emperor/Wrath of the Tyrant (a compilation including the self-titled EP and the first demo)
    In the Nightside Eclipse
    Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
    IX Equilibrium (Special Edition)
    Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise
    Scattered Ashes: A Decade of Emperial Wrath
    In the Nightside Eclipse (20th Anniversary Edition)
     
    Following this, we have Peccatum, an avant-garde band which Ihsahn formed with his wife Ihriel (aka Starofash) as Emperor was coming to an end. Here we have:
     
    Strangling from Within
    Amor Fati
    Lost in Reverie
    Oh, My Regrets EP
    The Moribund People EP
     
    Now we get to my favourite of these: Ihsahn's solo work which is what he primarily occupies himself with these days. Included here are:
     
    The Adversary
    angL
    After (Limited Edition)
    Eremita (Limited Edition)
    Das Seelenbrechen (Limited Edition)
     
    Before we get to the stack all the way on the right, let's look at the three at the bottom:
     
    Blood Must Be Shed - a one-of EP by members of Emperor, Satyricon and Dodheimsgard.
    Grimen by Hardingrock - an experimental folk project by Ihsahn and Ihriel, joined by Norwegian folk musician Knut Buen.
    Fjelltronen by Wongraven - the dark folk/ambient/medieval project by Satyr of Satyricon, on which Ihsahn plays the grand piano and synths.
     
    As for the stack on the right, that one is for all the albums Ihsahn has appeared on as a guest:
     
    The Sham Mirrors by Arcturus
    Deconstruction by Devin Townsend Project
    Plains of Oblivion by Jeff Loomis
    Bilateral by Leprous
    Coal by Leprous
    Iter.Viator by Starofash
    Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and **** by Ulver
     
    And there you have it, my Ihsahn collection. Truly an incredible musician, going with ease from black metal, to classical, to the avant-garde and experimental, and doing it all flawlessly. He has an album in the works which is expected to come out this year, and I am very excited to see where he goes next.
  17. Queen of Liars

    earthtone9

    By Queen of Liars,

    Recently got the last earthtone9 album I was missing:
     

     
    In order: Lo-def(inition) Discord; Off Kilter Enhancement; arc'tan'gent; IV
    Also a really cool deck of playing cards released to promote IV.
    There's also the For Cause and Consequence EP, but it's digital only.
     
    It's a band that's not really that well known. While arc'tan'gent has become somewhat of a cult classic, they've kinda been forgotten since they originally split up in the early 2000's shortly after that album.
    Although I haven't been a fan for long, I'm very happy that they reunited recently and released IV last year, which was their first album in 13 years. They've got a very unique sound that blends hardcore, progressive metal and alternative metal, and while their music can perhaps sometimes lack the complexity associated with prog, they're still very fun to listen to.
     
     
    On another note, I need to stop trying to take pictures of my CDs in the middle of the night because that never turns out well. Unfortunately, that's usually the time I get the urge to make an entry showing off something from my collection.
  18. Queen of Liars

    History Exam

    By Queen of Liars,

    Had my second exam today - History.
    It went quite good, the questions were great. The first one I chose asked us to assess whether taxation was the main cause of economic rebellions in Tudor England, which was pretty straight forward and I made some good points as to the reason it wasn't the case.
    The second question asked how effectively the Tudor governments dealt with rebellions in England and Ireland, which is again pretty straight forward, and it's always fun to bash the Tudors' incompetence in Irish matters.
    The question I didn't chose asked to how important the role of the clergy was in maintaining political stability in Tudor England, which isn't a very nice question, especially since you can't talk about Ireland. But since I could chose the other two, not a problem.
     
    So yeah, this exam was as easy as I thought it would be.
    Tomorrow is my Sociology retake, and that's the one I'm not feeling too good about.
  19. Queen of Liars
    As of yesterday, my third year of university has officially begun. While I've certainly missed it, at the same time I do find myself wishing it hadn't started just yet.
     
    The day went well enough. Had three lectures on land law, which isn't the most boring module I've studied so far. Pretty close though.
     
    Spent some of the free time visiting the local record/movie store. Didn't find many interesting CDs, but they did have a large selection of films by Wong Kar-Wai. I'll definitely be going back on Friday to get the ones I don't have yet, but in the meantime I picked up Love Exposure, The Twilight Samurai and The Flowers of War.
    I guess I've shifted form buying too many albums to buying too many movies.
  20. Queen of Liars

    Exams Done

    By Queen of Liars,

    Handed in my university assignments on Monday, had exams yesterday and today, and now I have the rest of the month off, which is very nice.
     
    Exams went alright, I suppose, although neither of them really had much room to talk about what I know the most unfortunately. The Law of Tort exam on Tuesday had no room for volenti and very little for public and private nuisance, and today's EU Law exam didn't really provide many opportunities to talk about the free movement of persons.
    Still, the questions were pretty nice. The EU exam had a very nice question on the free movement of goods, and got to mention trespass ab initio in Tort.
     
    Oh, and one of the questions in the Tort exam had Harry Potter characters in it. Obviously that was one of the three I chose to do. When there's a question that includes scenarios like Albus giving bad financial advice to Neville about share investments, followed by the property that Albus was going to turn into an office building being set on fire which spreads to Severus' property, you don't not do it.
  21. Queen of Liars

    Vinyl

    By Queen of Liars,

    I have now begun my quest to get around 10-15 of my favourite albums on vinyl, to go alongside the CDs.
     
    The first such acquisition is either my second or third favourite album - Das Seelenbrechen by Ihsahn, in lovely limited edition coloured vinyl. Here it is next to the digibook CD version:
     

     

     
    Bloody gorgeous.
  22. Queen of Liars
    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 punk band which was his main focus until he ended the project in 2009.
    During that time he also formed the Lost Patrol Band, later renamed to Invasionen and currently known as INVSN, which has more of an indie-rock edge and, now that T(I)NC is done, is his main project.
    In 2008 he also formed a hardcore punk band with Refused's drummer David Sandström after the two started talking again, under the name of AC4. After releasing the second album earlier this year, this project is also coming to an end, with Dennis having said that there's a compilation to be released after which the band will split up.
    During Refused's time, he was also in Final Exit - a hardcore punk supergroup of sorts, formed by members of Refused and Abhinanda, which released two albums.
     
    So, onto my collection of his stuff. Along with everything by Refused, I have this:
     

     
    The (International) Noise Conspiracy - The First Conspiracy; Survival Sickness; A New Morning, Changing Weather; Armed Love; Bigger Cages, Longer Chains EP and the Capitalism Stole My Virginity single
    The Lost Patrol Band - The Lost Patrol Band
    INVSN - INVSN
    AC4 - AC4; Burn The World
     
    I'm missing quite a lot, including the last T(I)NC album, two albums by The Lost Patrol Band, the two albums by Invasionen and the two albums by Final Exit.
    Those albums get harder to find as the list goes on, with me waiting for the T(I)NC album to drop in price, and with the Final Exit albums being pretty much impossible to find at this stage.
     
    Either way, that's quite a lot of bands for one person to have been in, and not only are they all at least pretty good, but they all sound very different from each other. It's almost hard to believe that INVSN are fronted by the same person as Refused.
     
    I'm eagerly awaiting to see what Dennis comes out with next. Of course after the amazing tour last year, the hope is that Refused will return again, but I'm just as excited for anything else he might do.
    Even if none of these bands were as influential or revolutionised punk like Refused did, Dennis always creates quality music.
  23. Queen of Liars
    Had my Sociology retake of the Mass Media unit today, and it went well. Was really worried about this one, but it turned out alright. Got easy questions, but would have liked if the they allowed to talk about Marxism more, as the main question was mostly Postmodernism vs Pluralism. Still, not complaining.
    However, as it turns out, three A2 exams in three days is bloody exhausting. Now just have to prepare for my last exam, the Criminology unit of Sociology, which is on Tuesday.
     
    Since my exams are coming to an end, I went on a bit of an online shopping spree. Bought a bunch of albums, a couple of books and a new gaming mouse. Hopefully it will arrive by the time my exam is finished.
     
    And it's Wednesday the 13th Guess what artist I'll spend today listening to.

    (If you guessed Wednesday 13, you're right!)


  24. Queen of Liars
    Well, here are albums 15-11 of my end of year list:
     
     
    15 - A Piece of Infinity by Wretched Excess
     

     
    A Piece of Infinity is a very nice fusion of dark ambient and jazz. Atmospheric and foreboding, it's a pleasant listen.
    Oh, and it's available for free on the Wretched Excess bandcamp page, so go pick it up.
     
     
    14 - Burn The World by AC4
     

    Burn The World is a great album of fast-paced old-school hardcore punk, by a band fronted by Dennis Lyxzen from the legendary Refused.
    It's a bit of a throwback to the Swedish hardcore scene that Refused belonged to in their early days, before they went on their experimental path.
    However this is by no means a replication of Refused's sound. There is no experimentation or groundbreaking ideas here, but there are 16 tracks of loud and infectious hardcore which will make you feel like it's the early 90s again.
    This album is great at what it does and is a joy to listen to.
     
     
    13 - Abandon All Life by Nails
     

     
    Nails' powerviolence/grindcore piece Abandon All Life fills the same niche for me that Black Breath's Sentenced to Life did last year. It's a relentless, crushingly heavy assault on the ears.
    Allowing no time to rest, the album delivers 10 punches in quick succession and barely hits 17 minutes. Which is probably for the best, as it can be a pretty exhausting listen.
     
     
    12 - VILKÉ by Daniel Menche
     

     
    Inspired by the wolves he saw on his travels, Menche's VILKÉ incorporates the howls of wolves into an atmospheric and haunting drone journey through a downward spiral of decay, providing for a very eerie and gripping album.
     
     
    11 - Shadow Music: A Soundtrack to Contrast by Nicolas Marquis
     

     
    An absolutely fantastic piece of 1920s style jazz and cabaret with a surreal atmosphere, this album emulates the decadent noir setting of the game very well.
    The two tracks which feature Laura Ellis on vocals are especially great and truly feel like they could be straight out of a cabaret performance. The instrumentals are an absolute joy to listen to as well, making this album a great throwback to the era it's inspired by, with enough modern touches to keep it sounding fresh.
  25. Queen of Liars
    10 - Party Hard
     

     
    A fun little stealth game which plays a bit like a top-down Hitman.
    It's 3 AM and you're simply trying to sleep, but the house next door is having an obnoxiously loud party. The most rational course of action is of course to put on a hockey mask and murder everyone at the party, so that's exactly what you do.
     
     
    9 - The Consuming Shadow
     

     
    A procedurally generated, Lovecraftian-themed survival horror game by Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw, of Zero Punctuation fame. It's quirky, and more than a bit janky, but it is also very engrossing and enjoyable. The world is being invaded by an ancient evil, and you have 60 hours to figure out exactly which of the evil aspects is invading, how to perform the ritual to banish it, and get to the location in one piece to perform said ritual. Piecing together the evidence and clues is really fun, and all the while there's a lot of tension as both the timer and your sanity tick down, the latter of which causes some very subtle and clever changes as it depletes.
     
     
    8 - Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
     

     
    Certainly a very creative way to do multiplayer. One person looks at a bomb, while the other person (or people) look at the diffusal manual, with neither being able to see the other, and try to diffuse the bomb before it explodes. It's all in how well players can communicate with each other, and gets very tense very quickly. Some of the most fun I've had with a multiplayer game.
     
     
    7 - Sunless Sea
     

     
    Continuing with the Lovecraftian themes, we have Sunless Sea. Rarely do I see a game with such a totally engrossing world. You're the captain of a ship in some sort of Victorian Gothic London setting, and you explore this strange and dark world, trying to not go insane in the process.
    Now, the combat in this game is something I'm not a fan of at all, but its presence on this list regardless is only testament to the incredible world-building and narrative Sunless Sea accomplishes.
     
     
    6 - Crypt of the NecroDancer
     

     
    A challenging, but incredibly enjoyable roguelike rhythm game. Perhaps even the best rhythm I've played.
    In standard roguelike fashion, you explore dungeons and fight various enemies, but have to do everything to the beat of the music, which can lead to some very hectic moments when you try to figure out how to defeat a group of enemies while not missing a beat.
    Of course any rhythm game needs a good soundtrack, and this one sure has an amazing one, courtesy of Danny Baranowsky.
     
     
    5 - Volume
     

     
    I've been looking forward to this one pretty much since it was announced, and was not disappointed. Mike Bithell delivers a fantastic stealth game with this cyberpunk retelling of Robin Hood, and shows that Thomas Was Alone wasn't a fluke.
     
     
    4 - Her Story
     

     
    Very interesting and well executed idea for a game. Without going into spoilers, Her Story provides a gripping narrative, and an engaging way of uncovering it. It really makes you feel like a detective piecing together a mystery.
     
     
    3 - Black Closet
     

     
    Speaking of detectives, we have this game from the developer of Long Live The Queen. Probably best described as a strategy game with a visual novel presentation, Black Closet is a very engaging and unique title. You take on the role of the president of the student council in a highly prestigious school, and are tasked with solving various cases in order to prevent scandals and thus preserve the school's reputation. You command the other five members of the council in your investigations, taking into account their strengths and weaknesses, trying to solve the cases as fast as possible, but not acting too rashly, as the reputation of the council itself is also something you have to worry about, and thus you don't want to go around harassing innocent people.
    Oh, and all the while one of the council members is actually a traitor trying to sabotage you, there's some sort of secret society within the school, and there may be something sinister going on with the teachers you work for, which are all things you might want to look out for.
     
     
    2 - Invisible, Inc.
     

     
    Klei Entertainment deliver once again with this fantastic cyberpunk stealth strategy game. It plays a lot like XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but purely focusing on stealth. You command your agents through the offices of various mega corporations, utilising their unique abilities and tools to remain undetected as you accomplish your objectives. All the while the level of security increases as the corporations realise that someone has infiltrated, so your time is short. You can try to hack and empty that one extra safe, but more guards will arrive by the time you're done. Whether that's worth the risk is up to you.
     
     
    1 - Darkest Dungeon
     

     
    Not only the best game I've played this year, but one which ranks amongst the best games I've played ever.
    So, what is Darkest Dungeon? According to the store page, it "is a challenging gothic roguelike turn-based RPG about the psychological stresses of adventuring". That is indeed what it is, but oh it is also so much more.
    The game has an absolutely gorgeous, yet dark aesthetic, an amazing atmosphere, and probably the best narrator I've ever heard in a game in the form of Wayne June, along with a great soundtrack from Stuart Chatwood (also responsible for the amazing soundtracks to the Prince of Persia games). It has incredibly engaging and challenging gameplay, as you recruit heroes, make your party, and descend into dungeons to fight eldritch monstrosities, using strategy and tactics to overcome their strength.
    And yet, those are not the best parts of Darkest Dungeon. Those would be the quirk and stress mechanics, which I will now gush over. They are just so well implemented and add so much depth to the game, and a rarely seen level of agency possessed by characters.
    So the quirk mechanic is pretty simple. All heroes start with, and then develop additional quirks, some positive, some negative. Some of these merely affect their stats and abilities - a hero might be sickly and thus more susceptible to diseases, or perhaps they're a known cheat and aren't allowed to gamble in the town. That sort of thing. But the really interesting quirks are the more insidious ones. For example, a hero might be a kleptomaniac. And if you had said hero in your party, you might find that some chests are mysteriously rather light on loot. Or sometimes they may just steal the loot for themselves right in front of you before you can collect it, and not even try to hide it. And there's lots of quirks like that.
    Stress on the other hand, is a little more complicated. The mental health of your heroes is a very important part of the game, and to put it simply, as they explore dungeons, their stress levels will rise by various means. Once it gets to a certain point, their resolve will be tested. Sometimes, a hero will overcome the stress and display newfound courage. But more often than not, they will break, and gain an affliction. Apart from stat penalties, afflictions will change how the hero behaves. For example, a hero may become selfish when their resolve breaks, and move back in the formation, putting your other heroes in harm's way. Alternatively, you may try to have the selfish one heal another hero, only to have them refuse and heal themselves instead. One time I had a hero become paranoid after their resolve broke, which at first didn't manifest itself in an obvious way. But then my healer missed an attack, and the paranoid hero muttered something along the lines of "how could she possibly miss...", and from there on they refused to be healed by her, being convinced that the healer was in league with the enemy.
    I could keep going on about how much I love these mechanics, but you get the picture. It's just so cool to see characters have this degree of their own agency.
    So yes, Darkest Dungeon is phenomenal, and is my game of the year.
     
     
     
    So there we go, that's my list. Ended up being all indie games, but hey, they're that good.
    You may also notice that my list doesn't contain a certain indie game which generated a rather large amount of hype and acclaim this year, taking many by surprise with its writing and treatment of player choice. Yes, I'm indeed afraid that HuniePop did very narrowly miss out on being on the list, but you can consider it to be at the 11th spot if it makes you feel better.
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