Monthly Digest October 2026 -

Summery

The Monthy Digest is a place where the oppertunity to brieflly cover things that usually wouldn’t get covered otherwise. This creates the oppertunity to add more content without losing qaulity of the usual reviews and stuff.

Personal opinions and thoughts by Tommy Snöberg Söderberg

Films

Babylon A.D. – 2008
Action/SciFi

Vin Diesel isn’t exactly one of those actors who manage to bring the greatest depth to their characters, and this is no exception. However, I have to say that the movie becomes more and more entertaining with every passing minute, perhaps because the amount of science fiction increases and the movie gradually distinguishes itself from the swamp of generic action movies. The basic idea of how everything is going to end isn’t particularly far-fetched, but there are still little details that make you wonder, and sometimes the doubts even creep in and make you question whether you were really as clever as you initially thought. All in all, an entertaining action movie for the moment, even if it is by no means the most well-crafted piece of filmmaking ever seen. Some of the action scenes are so chaotic that you can barely make out what’s happening, and that’s certainly not a good sign.

10.5 Apocalypse – 2006
Action

I have previously established that there are basically two types of disaster movies: those that take place within a limited area or location, such as The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure, or Avalanche, and those that, more or less, take things to a global scale. This movie belongs to the second category, although in this case the global scale is limited to North America. It’s a tense and exciting movie, even if you don’t have to be a genius to figure out how things are going to turn out. There’s no room for any real surprises, but the characters are believable, even if their portrayals are highly stereotypical. The acting works well, and I don’t even find Dean Cain particularly annoying. Other big names in the cast include Beau Bridges and Kim Delaney, who plays the lead role. There’s very little downtime, as everything moves at a frantic pace. Before long, the initial disaster—a massive earthquake—has triggered the next geological consequence, a tsunami, and so on. And everything keeps escalating; whenever something new happens, you can safely assume it’s a step worse than whatever came before! The effects aren’t exactly top-notch, but I find the computer-generated effects rather charming, and although they certainly don’t look entirely realistic, I think they’ve done a good job. Considering that it was made for TV, it’s about as good as you could expect. In short: a thoroughly entertaining disaster movie with devastating consequences and a breakneck pace!

10.5 Earthquake – 2004
Action

I previously wrote about the sequel released two years later, 10.5: Apocalypse. I don’t remember it all that clearly anymore, other than how much I liked it, so I can’t really say how the two miniseries fit together. In any case, many of the actors are the same, although some characters obviously disappear in this one and a few new ones show up in the other series, but there is still a connection between them. However, this one doesn’t have much to offer in comparison. It’s much slower-paced, and its story is far-fetched. There’s quite a bit of flag-waving about how patriotic the president is and how high-ranking officials sacrifice themselves for “the cause.” The effects are also often embarrassingly terrible, and the movie never really gets going. No, this one left only a mild impression on me and will have to settle for a rather lukewarm rating.

Music

Eric Bibb – A Ship Called Love – 2005
Blues

Acoustic blues that sometimes leans a bit towards gospel. Smooth! There might not be any “hits” on the album, but this kind of music seldom has such anyway. It’s not really the point of it. I like how easy it is to listen to it. It might be complex behind the scenes but for me as a listener it just sounds plain and simple and very comforting!

Crazy Mabel – Crazy Mabel – 1971
Rock

Crazy Mabel’s debut album is very bluesy and also very jazzy progressive rock. It’s a live recording, and there are odd instruments, like saxophones and flutes, incorporated in the songs. At times it almost reminds me of Frank Zappa, although to a much lesser degree of “weirdness.”

George Thorogood & the Destroyers – Live 99 – 1999
Rock

George Thorogood is well known for being an amazing live experience. But I think that this recording sounds uninspired and “tired” almost. It contains most of the songs you would expect: I Drink Alone, One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer; Get a Haircut and Move it on Over, but NOT Bad to the Bone. Often in a higher tempo than on the studio versions. It’s ok, I guess, but I’m still disappointed.

Kansas – Audio-Visions – 1980
Rock

This might not be my first time hearing Kansas, but I think it’s the first time really listening to an entire album. Well, it sounds like the ’80s. The style is what I would call “fake hard rock” back in the day. I guess that’s equivalent to what’s called FM-Rock today. It’s also kind of progressive, which makes it a little more interesting. I used to be less than impressed by albums like this, but nowadays I find it easier to view things in a little more relaxed way.

Liv Sin – Close Your Eyes – 2025
Metal

Liv Sin is an unknown band to me. At first I had a bit of a problem categorizing it. It’s kind of heavy metal, but there are also power metal sections and growling, so it’s not the typical album. Such albums are interesting but also hard to “understand” in the lack of a better term. The music is pretty hard, which the growling suggests, but at the same time there is some nice riffing and what sounds like keyboard layering in the background. It grows significantly when you really listen actively to it. This is a thought-through music approach!

Night Lord – Death Doesn’t Wait – 2022
Metal

Night Lord is a metal band from Poland. Their style might be described as old-school. To me they bear the mark of early Venom and early Halloween. From Venom, the furious tempo, and the vocal approach. From Helloween, the Kai Hansen approach of singing on those early albums and the melodic parts. I would categorize it as Speed Metal. There’s much artifice in the performance, and the sound production sounds like it belongs in another era. It sounds charming and real …and raw!

Wodos – From the Grave – 2026
Metal

When playing this album without really having a clue what style of music it is, I was really fooled by the first bars in the first song, which hinted at blues-rock. It was cleverly transformed to fast thrash metal in a while, though. A very refreshing approach! I can’t say that I love the vocals, but that’s something that I am sensitive about. The music is very good, though fast and just old school enough to be interesting! I would say that it’s balancing on the edge between Thrash and Speed Metal. Very nice guitar work and fast drumming!

Orange Blossom – Spells From the Drunken Sirens – 2024
World

Spells from the Drunken Sirens is a pretty smooth and soothing experience. It’s very influenced by music you might associate with the Middle East but also rhythms found in Arfice and/or Cuba. There are exotic scales that I really like, but I can’t say that I really get into the melodies. But that’s kind of the point. You don’t have to think about it; you just need to experience it. Deep, huh?

Power Insane – Euphoria – 2023
Metal

Power Insane is a metal band from Colombia. I think it’s cool with bands that aren’t from the usual countries. You know Germany, the UK, the USA, etc. These bands are usually less known, and I must admit I never heard about Power Insane before. But it’s a nice acquaintance. I think it lands somewhere between heavy and power metal, often with a very galloping sound and rhythm. There is even a prominent cow bell on one of the songs. Most of it is in Spanish, but a couple of tracks are in English also. Mostly fast metal and high-pitched vocals (hence power metal).