Genuinely surprised to see that Eluveitie beats out Celtic Frost.

Edit: Just looked at the stats, and wow, it's not even close: 872,935 to 120,157. That's a real wtf. Insert Principal Skinner "...it's the children who are wrong."jpg

I have a couple years-long discontinued flavors I still miss to this day. After looking at the site just now, one of them (Makin' Whoopie Pie) is in a couple buried references of trivia questions they've asked, and the other (Maple Blonde Brownie) is entirely absent. I wonder why they aren't listed in the "graveyard".

Agreed. I was fortunate to have seen them live before Valfar passed. I didn't know who they were at the time, but they absolutely blew me away. To the point I felt compelled to go shake his hand after their set and let him know how much I had enjoyed it. To this day it's a top 10 live experience for me.

The forums on the metal archives are still active and a good resource for various different things concerning extreme metal. Bits of news, discussion, and some out of left field recommendations that I don't find other places.

The image is actually emblematic of why you're having trouble finding good new music. You're still just looking at the outside of the haystack. In the modern era it's incredibly easy to access good new music, but perhaps more difficult to find that music (based upon your tastes). The prevalence of independent music exploded over 20 years ago. At this point, if you're relying on the vestiges of major labels and popular distribution channels as your tastemakers you're basically doing it wrong.

The drawback is that you may actually have to put in some time and effort to find new stuff you like, but it's definitely out there. Probably much more exists than you have time to consider, really. How much time you're willing to spend searching depends on how important it is to you to find new stuff that you enjoy. Use shortcuts and find a different tastemaker associated with genre's that you like if you want (e.g. online publications, youtube channels, online forums/communities, playlist where they exist, podcast, etc.) You'll have to put in some time to find the relevant ones to you, but perhaps not as much time as combing through new stuff on your own.

Lots of us with interests in genres with an extensive underground scene have been sifting through the mud to find gems for decades already, and I still enjoy the process a lot, though many people might think I waste a lot of time. These days that skillset is transferable and almost a requirement to find the good stuff in any and every genre. Unless you are lucky or don't mind enough that the most commercial stuff is still your jam.

(edit: unless of course this post is more a condemnation of broadly popular tastes in music. I'd have to type more to address that, but I'll save it. It's nothing new, and also hinges on subjectivity.)

Summoning is one of those bands where you could ask someone which of their albums is their favorite and regardless of their answer it's a good choice.

Last I saw it isn't actually clear whether or not Fadades is parody or legitimate. Very clear in any either case that Fadades is great.

Especially within a genre like black metal where bands will make contra-conventional artistic decisions by way of course as it is, stumbling upon a vibe like this out of honest artistic expression vs. deriving it with a manifest ambiguity where the tongue seems to sprout from the cheek almost hardly matters. However Fadades came to be, it's a monument to whatever it actually is.

I am envious of this man's seeming capability to honestly pursue the path of an actual hero. May the endeavor and fortune of he and his support structures only prove cause for that envy to grow.

I'm going to go with Steven Wilson for this. Mostly because he and Mozart have an undeniable talent, many of their fans consider them to be some type of visionary savant, and despite the broad agreement toward that perspective I still find both of their outputs to be broadly incredibly dull.

The fandom in the Godzilla sub was super active on Reddit. Not much going on here really. Some chatter recently from the buzz Minus One has been getting, but I miss the daily active discussions and dumb memes from people actually plugged in to the community.

Godzilla, rather characteristically, stomps any other answer.

Eh, respecting peoples' bodily autonomy isn't that difficult. Not doing so causes way more problems in the world so far as I see it.

Still posting beans, are we?

What I mostly see in this article is somebody putting forward some somewhat salient points to bolster their own opinion. That's to say, his is a defensible position to take, but it doesn't stand up to the very real fact that there are so many different opinions within the Godzilla fandom, and what different people prefer in a Godzilla movie, that to try to make a broad generalization like this is in itself folly.

To illustrate this, though he believes audiences are fundamentally disinterested in any human character centric plotline, the single most frequent complaint I have heard from people both inside and outside of the fandom about the 2014 film is that they were disappointed that Brian Cranston's character was killed off too early. To the same effect, I think the article understates the human element in some of the Japanese entries in the franchise.

And to insert some personal bias into this, not only am I in the camp that posits monster fights as not the most important part of a Godzilla film, but I also consider both 2014 and King of Monsters (2019) to be successful American entries into the franchise.

Like I said, so many takes inside the Godzilla fandom. Everybody has a different selection of favorites. This guy's opinion is just one of many.

So glad this movie is doing well. I hope this puts an exclamation point on the sentiment that a global audience wants to see Japanese Godzilla films that Toho will keep in mind. This article states how much more Minus One is grossing over Shin Godzilla, but the Shin Godzilla screenings (in my region anyway) were so limited that this is anything but a surprise.

Minus One is great. I encourage everyone to see it. I'm hoping to catch it again while it's still on the big screen. Goji fans rejoice!

Dido's Lament as performed by Simone Kermes from Henry Purcell's Dido and Aenaes

Clann Zu - One Bedroom Apartment

Death - Voice of the Soul

Austere - Just for a Moment

Eikenskaden - Then I'll Erase Myself Forever

Warning - Watching From a Distance

Brahams' Ein Deutsches Requiem - First Movement

Fuck, two Tenhi fans in one place (make that three now). Not something to be expected. Glad to see it though.

@BraveSentry @brewbellyblueberry

Sure thing. Report back with your own take. Eager to get others' opinion on it too!

It's a high quality film. I prefer Shin, but Shin is my 2nd favorite in the franchise. Depending on taste I'm sure some people will prefer Minus One over Shin. It's all up to what you like.

Ultimately though, they did a great job on Minus One. If you're a Godzilla fan you're going to love it.