RIP DIO

Apologies for the lack of posts. I don't really have anything to share as nothing has blown up my skirt that people can't just get on a thousand other blogs, or at the fucking record store. You can all look at a picture of DIO, because there really will never be enough pictures of DIO to properly tribute the impact his music had on our lives.

According to my Mediafire numbers, people read this thing, download stuff and occasionally try to post links to their Asian porn sites on here. Oddly, once I decided to make this site google-searchable, what was my least downloaded file became my MOST downloaded file. Il Balletto Di Bronzo's untouchable classic "YS" now leads the pack with the most downloads. I was worried that no one was interested in obscure Italian progressive rock any longer. I guess I have been proven wrong. Maybe I'll post a few more since I have a ton of it and it's just not something you find every day.

My lack of time has extended to my musical life as well, as I had to quit Disconnected. Our boy JC is handling the bass until he gets too stoned. I went and saw them the other night. They were tight and awesome. It was a Monday night, so they weren't as noisy as it usually was when I was playing with them, I think cuz everyone needs to be able to hear the alarm going off the next morning for work, and not tinitus. I'll get into something else eventually, for now, I am just going to concentrate on stacking paper and getting my lady and I the hell out of this town. It's high time.

The "first quarter" of 2010 has been the best few months for metal releases in a LONG LONG time. I don't have the time to post any kick ass downloads right now, but I do have the time to tell everyone to go out and buy the following:

Black Breath - Heavy Breathing
This is the album Entombed didn't make between Clandestine and Wolverine Blues. They should have. These guys are on tour with Converge right now and they are one of the best bands I have ever seen live. Will and I went to see them the other night in Toledo and we were the only people there. WE were the reason they stuck around and played. There were about 11 people in the room by the time they played and they played like there were 1100. Not only that, they played "Sacrifice" from Bathory because Will heard them mention they had practiced it a few times. Early running for album of the year.

Coffinworm - When All Became None
These guys are my Indy brothers. Well, mostly. I still haven't actually met the other guitarist and the bassist, but I am sure they are solid dudes. Despite them being my friends, this album is face crushing. Blackened crust doom? Not too far removed from RWAKE or Neurosis, with a healthy dose of Bolt Thrower's steamroller riffs thrown in. All 6 songs are memorable and the album explores ideas without straying from a unified sound. The thing that gets me is the album is pretty squarely in the doom camp, but it's only 40 minutes long. THAT'S THE FUCKING COOLEST!!! You know what else is only 40 minutes long? Nas - Illmatic. What else do they have in common? They are both perfect albums with ZERO filler. Doom metal would do well to drop the drones and 18 minute songs that meander to nowhere.


Triptykon - Epastawiruoiejeoejoka Daimonndofiejnkas
whatever the hell that is, it's the new Tom G. Warrior project and it damn near blows CF's masterpiece Monothiest out of the water.

Ludicra - The Tenant
I have never been grabbed by these guys in the past. I don't know what it was. I had their Fex Urbis Lex Orbis release a long time ago, but I don't remember a thing from it, and probably just didn't give it a fair chance. This album CONVINCES me that I need to go back and give Ludicra's earlier material another chance. They get pegged into the black metal camp, but that is really unfair. There are strong black metal influences, but there are also strong prog influences, strong NWOBHM influences, strong art-rock influences. This record will be timeless. In a fair world, this band would be as big as Mastodon. They could very easily develop the kind of broad appeal that could take them to bigger stages. Drummer Aesop is a blogging superstar with his Cosmic Hearse blog.

Vasalaeth - Crypt Born and Tethered To Ruin
Murky death metal filth from Profound Lore. 30 minutes of molten lead in your ears. Nothing pretty. 3 of the 5 releases on this list so far have come out on Profound Lore. No label should have that kind of success rate. They must be stopped.

Shit, that's half my top ten list.