FILM, MUSIC and LITERATURE
Final Destination: Bloodlines is the sixth installment in the franchise. If you’ve seen the previous films, you’ll know what to expect. And if you haven’t, you really should — not that you need to have seen them to understand this one. In fact, they don’t have much in common story-wise. All the films work as standalone stories, apart from a few minor connections. This one starts off a bit differently. There’s quite a long teaser,...
Superheaven (2025) sounds modern, I guess. I can hardly stand it though. I’m not too familiar with the kind of music this is categorized as, which I suppose is some kind of alternative rock or post-grunge. To me it’s more or less just a wall of sound and, quite frankly, it sounds like a lot of noise to me. There, I said it without hesitation. Are there any redeeming qualities? Well, I don’t know. It’s...
Overdriver is the Swedish band The Hellacopters’ ninth studio album. Straight up, I confess that I haven’t listened to them very much. I am somewhat familiar with them, and I kind of like what I’ve heard. Their style leans towards garage rock, I think — and a pretty dirty sound at that. I think The Hellacopters themselves are the reference band in the genre, so it’s kind of hard to compare them to anyone else....
Destination is the gazillionth album by the German metal band Crematory. Why haven’t I heard them before? This is right up my alley! I’m not sure how to describe the music, but there’s definitely a mix of growling and clean vocals. The guitars are heavy, but still there is something mysterious over it. Something almost gothic. So I guess you could use the term Gothic Metal when describing Crematory. It’s a sound where background keyboards...
The Baby in the Basket I guess there is one example of a baby in a basket that is more famous than any other story. I’m of course talking about Moses in the Old Testament. How many more stories can there be? I know that my thoughts went immediately to that story in the book of Exodus. But then, when the film starts, they’re immediately talking about a wolf and how the nuns in the...
Deuce on the Loose is a studio album by the Italian rock band Supersonic Deuces. They play a highly energetic Garage Rock style of… eh, rock. I like it! As per usual, I’ve never heard of them before and I can’t even find any info on Wikipedia, so I guess they’re still under the radar. What I could find out, though, is that they’re from Italy. They are allegedly inspired by music from acts like...
Redhead starts of gory Redhead goes straight to business. Already in the very opening, we’re introduced to gruesome violence. We’re also introduced to ghastly overacting. Not from all actors though—some of them deliver just fine performances. But let’s just say they’re very uneven. Some scenes are very convincing, while others certainly aren’t. The gore is already prominent at the start too. Gore and a chainsaw—can it get much better? Obviously, it depends on the kind...
Lonesome Drifter is the fifteenth album by American Country artist Charley Crockett. I, of course, haven’t heard about him before. It’s the curse of being too versatile in my listening experiences. The result is that you don’t know enough about anything. I mean, if I only wrote about country, I would have known about Lonesome Drifter weeks ahead of its release, and Charley Crockett would have been a household name. But that’s not the reality....
The Catalyst is the seventh album by Swedish Metal band Amaranthe. As a Swede, I suppose I should have heard them before—or at least heard of them—but I haven’t. There’s simply too much music these days. Everything is easily accessible through the internet and streaming services. It’s not like the good old days when you had to track down new releases and actually pay attention to what was going on in the music scene. I...
Ghosted is the eighth studio album from Italian Power Metal band Trick or Treat. To be completely honest with you, I thought it was some kind of joke, or temporary collaboration to explore the Halloween theme. But I soon became aware that it’s really a band and that many of their album titles have something to do with the sinister side—title-wise, I mean. I haven’t heard any of those albums though; Ghosted is my first...
Murdershow: A dark web site! Murdershow does not start off with a unique story. It’s about this deep web site, or dark web site, or whichever term you prefer. We’ve seen it before. People are kidnapped and are being killed or tortured online for money. The highest bidder decides what will happen. Anyway, it starts off pretty well. I like the teaser even though it doesn’t really show any blood or gore. Or maybe that’s...
Screamboat is not Steamboat Willie Screamboat is a version of sorts from the first Mickey Mouse cartoon Steamboat Willie. I don’t know all the twists and turns about it but to keep the story short. The rights to it expired and everyone could now use the story. Just like with the Winnie the Pooh movies from a couple of years ago, it was “up for grabs” so to speak. I think it’s a pretty exciting...
When I first listened to Joe Bonamassa’s Sloe Gin, he was a completely unknown name to me. At the time, I was no longer particularly in touch with contemporary music the way I once had been during my formative years. But every now and then, it’s healthy to step outside your musical comfort zone and take a chance — bold or not. I had a vague idea of what Sloe Gin might offer, stylistically, but...