The Playlist of Life --- Trollheart's resurrected Journal

Trollheart · 12-04-2014, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anteater

I coulda sworn I've encouraged you before to listen to Ocean Machine: Biomech (among others) as far as Townsend goes. Oh wellz: I'll have to give Ki kudos for finally getting you to take the first step into Heavy Devy land.

As usual, keep up the excellent work my friend. I picked up that Bram Stoker album Cold Reading based on your review of the music and I gotta say...magnifico!

Thanks Ant! Always welcome round these parts.

Yeah, you probably did try to convince me but as I said, it was kind of like what happened with Sean Filkins: sure I might as well and then, why the hell did I wait so long? Sometimes ol' Troll needs to be pushed, sometimes fate takes a hand.

Yeah, that Bram Stoker is one of the finds of my life. Could not believe how incredible it is, for an unknown band who have only two albums to date. Hope they go further and don't wait another bloody forty years!

Trollheart · 12-07-2014, 03:15 PM

Dear Batlord

Thank you for the gift of “Superunknown” by Soundgarden. Should be called “Superuninteresting”. I have never heard a Soundgarden album or even song prior to this, and while I didn't hate it I certainly have nothing positive to say about it. Just basic formulaic rock that doesn't seem to have anything special about it, and the album was too long. Thanks for the thought but there are millions of albums like this I could listen to if I want to. I don't want to. But I appreciate the thought. As you would say, fuck you.

Have a metal Christmas!
Trollheart

Trollheart · 12-08-2014, 05:23 PM

Dear Rexx,
Thanks for reminding me what a great album “On the third day” by ELO is. You were right: I had totally underappreciated it in the light of the other two and I had forgotten the great tracks on it, like “King of the universe”, “Dreaming of 4000” and of course their amazing version of Grieg's “In the hall of the Mountain King”. In fact, I think there's probably only one track on it I'm not crazy about. Thanks again for reacquainting me with an old friend, and allowing us to settle our differences.

Have a funky Christmas!
Trollheart

Trollheart · 12-09-2014, 11:17 AM

Dear Machine,
Thanks for the Andrew Jackson Jihad album “Can't maintain”. I would like to use a quip like can't maintain my interest, but that would not be true. While it did not blow me away, it is interesting and while I think he's a little too self-congratulatory at times the album was quite enjoyable. And anyone who plays a sonata on a kazoo has to be worthy of my attention. Don't see myself becoming a fan, but it's not impossible. Thanks again. Different certainly.

Have a terrorist-free Christmas,
Trollheart

Trollheart · 12-05-2014, 05:44 PM

Dear Plankton,

What an interesting gift! At first I was not impressed with “Earth rocker” by Clutch: I would have said they sounded like Steppenwolf or maybe Deep Purple if they had Danny Joe Brown on vocals, very seventies hard rock. Then I heard “Gone cold” and I sat up and took notice. From there on the album got so much better. I would still not say I'm a fan, but I'm less likely to dismiss this out of hand the way I had expected to after the first four tracks. So thanks for confusing me! Good pick, and I may listen to more from them. Also, thanks for supplying the link as Spotify did not have ti, even though it's their current album.

Rock on for Christmas!
Trollheart

Trollheart · 12-06-2014, 02:41 PM

Dear Gigantic Debaser,

Thank you so much for the lovely --- I should say, ethereally beautiful --- gift of “Ruins” by Grouper. I don't think I've heard anything quite so gorgeous since Lanterns on the Lake. A truly stupendous album. Favourite tracks? Just every single one. Totally incredible, and what a pick. Well done, and thank you again.

Merry Christmas to you and yours from
Trollheart

Plankton · 12-09-2014, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Dear Plankton,

What an interesting gift! At first I was not impressed with “Earth rocker” by Clutch: I would have said they sounded like Steppenwolf or maybe Deep Purple if they had Danny Joe Brown on vocals, very seventies hard rock. Then I heard “Gone cold” and I sat up and took notice. From there on the album got so much better. I would still not say I'm a fan, but I'm less likely to dismiss this out of hand the way I had expected to after the first four tracks. So thanks for confusing me! Good pick, and I may listen to more from them. Also, thanks for supplying the link as Spotify did not have ti, even though it's their current album.

Rock on for Christmas!
Trollheart[/FONT]

Glad you were at least able to get some enjoyment out of it. It's one of my all-time favorite albums, and Gone Cold is a great precursor to The Face, which holds a special place in my heart. I was playing along to it with my daughter watching, and I got a bit carried away and destroyed my Blackberry. It needed to happen. I hated that phone.

Trollheart · 12-12-2014, 05:24 AM

Yeah I see that now. And I was doing so well! Still, when you're trying to watch three Scrooge movies a day, listen to recommended albums, write about Christmas TV specials and do the odd spot of breathing in between, some things fall through the cracks, you know? One of these Christmases I'm just going to do no specials at all, just relax and sit by the fire with a glass of ... Ah, but not this year I think.

Guess we need a double-header today then...

Dear Mondo,

Thanks for “October rust” by Type O Negative. It was not what I expected at all. I thought they were some sort of death/thrash metal band, so when the first “real” track began with piano I was expecting it to explode, but it never did. Really enjoyed the album all the way through, and I like their sense of humour. Great pick.

Nollaig shona
Trollheart

Dear Frownland

Thank you for the gift of ... oh hell, you know the one! I can't spell it! All I can say is that it was different, interesting, at times scary. Some of the singing was quite beautiful, some of it very disturbing. Most of the time though, I felt like I should be unrolling a prayer mat and facing towards Mecca, you know?

Certainly different, and I didn't hate it but couldn't say I loved it either. Unlikely I would listen to this sort of music again, but nevertheless thanks for the “trip”.

May you have an experimental, noisy Christmas,
Trollheart

Okay, now we're up to date. OOH! What's this under my tree? Nope, better wait till tomorrow to open that one!

Trollheart · 12-12-2014, 09:37 AM

Since we're now less than two weeks from the big day, I think it might be appropriate to review some Christmas albums. First up, an album I did not even realise exist (though I'm tickled to discover it does) and was only alerted to thanks to Ki...

Death Metal Christmas --- J.J. Hrubovcak --- 2013 (Independent)

J.J. Who? No I don't know either, but apparently Mr. Hrubovcak and his brother Mike have been involved in the death metal scene for years, and if bands such as Vile, Divine Rapture and Hate Eternal mean anything to you, well I guess then you'll know him. There are only five songs on this album, and each of them seems to lampoon the spirit of Christmas, with the first being an “alternative” version of “God rest ye, merry gentlemen”,which they've titled “Unrest for melancholy men”. Class! Just listen to the opening verse: ”Unrest for melancholy men/ Who wallow in dismay/ For Azrael, the lone Butcher/ Was born upon this day /To steer us all toward Satan's ends/ And lead us all astray/ There'll be absence of comfort and joy/ Comfort and joy/ There'll be no more comfort or joy.”

Oh I just love it! The song itself? Well nobody will be surprised to hear it's a fast, biting guitar that pounds along, while Mike has one of those Cookie Monster voices, but to be fair you can make out what he's singing. Just about. The tune follows the exact melody of the carol, which makes it even more hilarious. There's a sort of dark, doomy feel about the guitar too that spits on any notion of Christmas cheer. After the first verse it speeds up even more with a blistering guitar solo like a wailing lost soul seeking the comfort of a Christ who is not going to come to save it. The next track is slower and doomier, with a brooding, growling vocal as the two brothers take on “We three kings” by turning it into “Earthen kings”, and bringing our good friend Azrael in again as Mike howls "Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume/ Breathes a life of gathering gloom/ Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying/ Sealed in the stone-cold tomb .” Wonderful solo here too, and then the next two tracks are instrumentals.

Two classics are butchered, the first being the traditional ballet, “The Nutcracker”, as the guys really crack the nuts of “The Sugar Plum Fairy” (does the SPF have nuts?) as they grind out an initially familiar tune with JJ on the glockenspiel, or maybe piano I don't know. Then a savage guitar punches everything aside as the devourer rips through the piece, scattering the rich and famous to all sides, people screaming as tuxedoed and cocktail dressed patrons stream towards the exits, no doubt shouting “Oh I say!” in disapproving voices which are lost in the bludgeoning cacophony of guitars and drums that drown them like a tsunami. We can safely assume there is nothing left of the theatre as the two Hrubovcak brothers tear it apart then stand, like T-Rex at the end of “Jurassic Park”, screaming their triumph among the carnage.

“Greensleeves” becomes their next victim, but to be fair they don't do as good a job on this: I don't really hear the original melody in this as I did in the previous. It's fast, it's loud, it's unforgiving and it's liable to cause your head to explode if you thought you were going to hear some medieval Vaughan-Williams ditty. Um. You're not. It's a decent tune but, given all the Christmas standards they could have desecrated here, why they went for a tune that is not traditionally associated with the festive season is beyond me. “Away in a manger” could have become “Away in a torture chamber”. “Deck the halls” might have metamorphosed into “Hang the halls”, and there are so many more. Oh well.

We're at the end already, as with a big, tortured, snarling guitar riff we smash into “O come, o come, Azrael” (replacing Emmanuel of course), a slow, grindy number with Mike back at his sandpaper-and-gavel best, but it's not a song I know that well and I'm slightly disappointed because it doesn't have the same impact on me that it would have they, for instance, attempted “Silent night”, “Jingle bells” or even “O holy night”. Not bad, but I could have perhaps expected better. Gotta check the lyric out before we go though: [i]”Rejoice! Rejoice! O Azrael shall come to thee/ Deliver man to hell.” And a Merry Christmas to you too guys!

TRACKLISTING

1. Unrest for melancholy men
2. Earthen kings
3. Nutcracker: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
4. Greensleeves
5. O come, o come, Azrael

Very definitely a novel record of course, and well executed, but I think they could have done better had they chosen more well-known carols and/or hymns. There's so much more they could have done here. Who's for “Santa got stuck up the chimney and died”? Maybe a little “Black Christmas” or “Last Christmas (I tore out your heart)”? Or what about “Rudolph the red-fanged reindeer” or “Walking in a winter wasteland”? See? The breath of material available is staggering.

Still, it's easy for me to say. Whatever else you can say about these two crazy brothers, whether this is meant to be a joke or humourous album or whether they really do hate Christmas and wanted to write something alternative for the season, it's the perfect antidote for those of us who are sick to the back teeth of “Rocking around the Christmas tree”, “Merry Xmas everybody” and, oh yeah, how could I forget? “Fairytale of New York”! Pah! Give me this album over any of those! Bah! Humbug!

And a Death Metal Christmas to you all!

Key · 12-04-2014, 08:20 PM

I absolutely love seeing you write about Epicloud and i'm also glad you decided to give his other albums a listen as well. He's definitely one of the best artists out there right now.

12-07-2014, 03:15 PM	#2 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Dear Batlord Thank you for the gift of “Superunknown” by Soundgarden. Should be called “Superuninteresting”. I have never heard a Soundgarden album or even song prior to this, and while I didn't hate it I certainly have nothing positive to say about it. Just basic formulaic rock that doesn't seem to have anything special about it, and the album was too long. Thanks for the thought but there are millions of albums like this I could listen to if I want to. I don't want to. But I appreciate the thought. As you would say, fuck you. Have a metal Christmas! Trollheart __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-08-2014, 05:23 PM	#3 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Dear Rexx, Thanks for reminding me what a great album “On the third day” by ELO is. You were right: I had totally underappreciated it in the light of the other two and I had forgotten the great tracks on it, like “King of the universe”, “Dreaming of 4000” and of course their amazing version of Grieg's “In the hall of the Mountain King”. In fact, I think there's probably only one track on it I'm not crazy about. Thanks again for reacquainting me with an old friend, and allowing us to settle our differences. Have a funky Christmas! Trollheart __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-09-2014, 11:17 AM	#4 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Dear Machine, Thanks for the Andrew Jackson Jihad album “Can't maintain”. I would like to use a quip like can't maintain my interest, but that would not be true. While it did not blow me away, it is interesting and while I think he's a little too self-congratulatory at times the album was quite enjoyable. And anyone who plays a sonata on a kazoo has to be worthy of my attention. Don't see myself becoming a fan, but it's not impossible. Thanks again. Different certainly. Have a terrorist-free Christmas, Trollheart __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-05-2014, 05:44 PM	#5 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Dear Plankton, What an interesting gift! At first I was not impressed with “Earth rocker” by Clutch: I would have said they sounded like Steppenwolf or maybe Deep Purple if they had Danny Joe Brown on vocals, very seventies hard rock. Then I heard “Gone cold” and I sat up and took notice. From there on the album got so much better. I would still not say I'm a fan, but I'm less likely to dismiss this out of hand the way I had expected to after the first four tracks. So thanks for confusing me! Good pick, and I may listen to more from them. Also, thanks for supplying the link as Spotify did not have ti, even though it's their current album. Rock on for Christmas! Trollheart __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-06-2014, 02:41 PM	#6 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Dear Gigantic Debaser, Thank you so much for the lovely --- I should say, ethereally beautiful --- gift of “Ruins” by Grouper. I don't think I've heard anything quite so gorgeous since Lanterns on the Lake. A truly stupendous album. Favourite tracks? Just every single one. Totally incredible, and what a pick. Well done, and thank you again. Merry Christmas to you and yours from Trollheart __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-12-2014, 05:24 AM	#8 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Yeah I see that now. And I was doing so well! Still, when you're trying to watch three Scrooge movies a day, listen to recommended albums, write about Christmas TV specials and do the odd spot of breathing in between, some things fall through the cracks, you know? One of these Christmases I'm just going to do no specials at all, just relax and sit by the fire with a glass of ... Ah, but not this year I think. Guess we need a double-header today then... Dear Mondo, Thanks for “October rust” by Type O Negative. It was not what I expected at all. I thought they were some sort of death/thrash metal band, so when the first “real” track began with piano I was expecting it to explode, but it never did. Really enjoyed the album all the way through, and I like their sense of humour. Great pick. Nollaig shona Trollheart Dear Frownland Thank you for the gift of ... oh hell, you know the one! I can't spell it! All I can say is that it was different, interesting, at times scary. Some of the singing was quite beautiful, some of it very disturbing. Most of the time though, I felt like I should be unrolling a prayer mat and facing towards Mecca, you know? Certainly different, and I didn't hate it but couldn't say I loved it either. Unlikely I would listen to this sort of music again, but nevertheless thanks for the “trip”. May you have an experimental, noisy Christmas, Trollheart Okay, now we're up to date. OOH! What's this under my tree? Nope, better wait till tomorrow to open that one! __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-12-2014, 09:37 AM	#9 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Since we're now less than two weeks from the big day, I think it might be appropriate to review some Christmas albums. First up, an album I did not even realise exist (though I'm tickled to discover it does) and was only alerted to thanks to Ki... Death Metal Christmas --- J.J. Hrubovcak --- 2013 (Independent) J.J. Who? No I don't know either, but apparently Mr. Hrubovcak and his brother Mike have been involved in the death metal scene for years, and if bands such as Vile, Divine Rapture and Hate Eternal mean anything to you, well I guess then you'll know him. There are only five songs on this album, and each of them seems to lampoon the spirit of Christmas, with the first being an “alternative” version of “God rest ye, merry gentlemen”,which they've titled “Unrest for melancholy men”. Class! Just listen to the opening verse: ”Unrest for melancholy men/ Who wallow in dismay/ For Azrael, the lone Butcher/ Was born upon this day /To steer us all toward Satan's ends/ And lead us all astray/ There'll be absence of comfort and joy/ Comfort and joy/ There'll be no more comfort or joy.” Oh I just love it! The song itself? Well nobody will be surprised to hear it's a fast, biting guitar that pounds along, while Mike has one of those Cookie Monster voices, but to be fair you can make out what he's singing. Just about. The tune follows the exact melody of the carol, which makes it even more hilarious. There's a sort of dark, doomy feel about the guitar too that spits on any notion of Christmas cheer. After the first verse it speeds up even more with a blistering guitar solo like a wailing lost soul seeking the comfort of a Christ who is not going to come to save it. The next track is slower and doomier, with a brooding, growling vocal as the two brothers take on “We three kings” by turning it into “Earthen kings”, and bringing our good friend Azrael in again as Mike howls "Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume/ Breathes a life of gathering gloom/ Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying/ Sealed in the stone-cold tomb .” Wonderful solo here too, and then the next two tracks are instrumentals. Two classics are butchered, the first being the traditional ballet, “The Nutcracker”, as the guys really crack the nuts of “The Sugar Plum Fairy” (does the SPF have nuts?) as they grind out an initially familiar tune with JJ on the glockenspiel, or maybe piano I don't know. Then a savage guitar punches everything aside as the devourer rips through the piece, scattering the rich and famous to all sides, people screaming as tuxedoed and cocktail dressed patrons stream towards the exits, no doubt shouting “Oh I say!” in disapproving voices which are lost in the bludgeoning cacophony of guitars and drums that drown them like a tsunami. We can safely assume there is nothing left of the theatre as the two Hrubovcak brothers tear it apart then stand, like T-Rex at the end of “Jurassic Park”, screaming their triumph among the carnage. “Greensleeves” becomes their next victim, but to be fair they don't do as good a job on this: I don't really hear the original melody in this as I did in the previous. It's fast, it's loud, it's unforgiving and it's liable to cause your head to explode if you thought you were going to hear some medieval Vaughan-Williams ditty. Um. You're not. It's a decent tune but, given all the Christmas standards they could have desecrated here, why they went for a tune that is not traditionally associated with the festive season is beyond me. “Away in a manger” could have become “Away in a torture chamber”. “Deck the halls” might have metamorphosed into “Hang the halls”, and there are so many more. Oh well. We're at the end already, as with a big, tortured, snarling guitar riff we smash into “O come, o come, Azrael” (replacing Emmanuel of course), a slow, grindy number with Mike back at his sandpaper-and-gavel best, but it's not a song I know that well and I'm slightly disappointed because it doesn't have the same impact on me that it would have they, for instance, attempted “Silent night”, “Jingle bells” or even “O holy night”. Not bad, but I could have perhaps expected better. Gotta check the lyric out before we go though: [i]”Rejoice! Rejoice! O Azrael shall come to thee/ Deliver man to hell.” And a Merry Christmas to you too guys! TRACKLISTING 1. Unrest for melancholy men 2. Earthen kings 3. Nutcracker: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy 4. Greensleeves 5. O come, o come, Azrael Very definitely a novel record of course, and well executed, but I think they could have done better had they chosen more well-known carols and/or hymns. There's so much more they could have done here. Who's for “Santa got stuck up the chimney and died”? Maybe a little “Black Christmas” or “Last Christmas (I tore out your heart)”? Or what about “Rudolph the red-fanged reindeer” or “Walking in a winter wasteland”? See? The breath of material available is staggering. Still, it's easy for me to say. Whatever else you can say about these two crazy brothers, whether this is meant to be a joke or humourous album or whether they really do hate Christmas and wanted to write something alternative for the season, it's the perfect antidote for those of us who are sick to the back teeth of “Rocking around the Christmas tree”, “Merry Xmas everybody” and, oh yeah, how could I forget? “Fairytale of New York”! Pah! Give me this album over any of those! Bah! Humbug! And a Death Metal Christmas to you all! __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-04-2014, 08:20 PM	#10 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	I absolutely love seeing you write about Epicloud and i'm also glad you decided to give his other albums a listen as well. He's definitely one of the best artists out there right now.

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