FILM, MUSIC and LITERATURE
Unspeakable – Beyond the Wall of Sleep is a film based on the writings and philosophy of H.P. Lovecraft. I didn’t know when I started to watch it, but the title pretty much gives it away. I was a fool not to realize it even before I saw it. It centers on this patient in an asylum who has been there for 25 years. Initially convicted for a horrible crime and later diagnosed with multiple...
Pleasure to kill, Kreators second album, is already something completely different from the first – End less Pain. I often speak of energy on debut albums, how they’re often superior in that aspect. Bu in Kreators case, it seems like they waited for the sophomore album to invoke this. Pleasure to kill is really wild and it bends the limit on what Thrash Metal is all about. I would go so far as to argue...
Master of Puppets is Metallica’s third album. It might be the most influential Metal album of all time. It’s absolutely at the top tier of them anyway. I remember when it first came out, I absolutely loved it! It was the two first albums, Kill ‘em All and Ride the Lightening combined and with much better production. But that’s not really a fair comparison either. The two first albums leaned more toward Speed Metal and...
South of Heaven is the 4th studio album by Slayer. It doesn’t have the same energy as the previous album Reign in Blood. But then again, there are very few album out there to have that kind of energy level. But it’s unfair to compare the two albums for several reasons. The songs are about other topics than Satanism and those early themes. Which they did just to f**k with people. At least according to...
The Werewolf Game is about several kidnapped individuals, I think there are twelve, who are forced to participate in a deadly game. The game, in short, is about voting on which one of your fellow contestants will be eliminated. Or in plain English – murdered. I’m not sure if the movie’s name has sprung from the Squid Game series. It seems likely, considering it’s a game and that there’s an animal in there as well....
Uncertain Future is the debut album from Forced Entry, a band I never heard of before. However, I saw it posted on social media and thought that it looked interesting. So… of course I had to explore it. That’s what I do! It starts off pretty heavy and almost immediately it also changes style, or at least tempo which reminds me a little bit of som early Iron Maiden songs. Perhaps from the first or...
Ride the Lightning is Metallica’s second album. In most ways this is a better album than the debut album Kill ‘Em All. But there are on the other hand a couple of songs I usually skip when I listen tp it. Not because they’re bad in any way, shape or form. It’s more like the other songs are so much better that these few skippable track doesn’t come up to par in the comparison. James...
Squid Game started out as a phenomenon a few years ago. I think the show premiered in 2021. In my eyes, it was almost perfect. It was unpredictable, beautifully set, and totally absurd. Yet, both frightening and an insight into what desperate humans can do to each other for greed. The game itself takes hundreds of people who are in great financial trouble and offers them a way to pay off their enormous debt by...
Reign in Blood is the third studio album by the legendary Thrash Metal Band Slayer. It’s widely considered to be a masterpiece and a cornser stone in the foundation of the genre. I couldn’t agree more. This is the definite Slayer album. There’s not doubt about it at all! Controversy There was a bit of controversy about it though. That’s an understatement of course. According to som sources Reign in Blood was refused distribution because...
71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance is a very impressive film. It’s written and directed by Michael Haneke, who has given us many great and thought-provoking epics through the years. 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance is about a number of people’s everyday lives, seemingly unrelated to one another, that are portrayed in an intimate manner. Gradually, we get to know the different characters and begin to understand more and more what they...
Leprosy, the second album by Death, the forefathers of Death Metal, sounds heavier than its predecessor Scream Bloody Gore. The production is better, the sound is fatter and the songs are a bit more complex. But Leprosy is still an infant in the future of Death and Chuck Schuldiner. The lyrics are somewhat evolved from the more “childish” themes of Scream Bloody Gore. This is more social conscious. Still, the themes are about death and...
Endless Pain in the first album from the German Thrash Metal band Kreator. The band itself is not a new acquaintance to be, but I have very few reference point in their early material. Not do I own any of the first few albums. Luckily there are streaming services. That goes against everything I believe in when it comes to physical media of course. But beggars can’t be choosers. And besides, I don’t really practice...
Kill ‘Em All is the debut album of the now legendary band Metallica. It was originally meant to be called Metal up you Ass but the record company wouldn’t let them call it that. At least that’s what the legend said. If it’s true or not? Who knows and who cares, it’s a great story! Credited as members of the band at this point were James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammet, and Cliff Burton. Dave...