Since last September I am a gin tonic enthusiast, but I did make amends with vodka (+ Fanta) in the expense of whiskey. Fuck whiskey; nearly killed me numerous times and it tastes like shit.
I abandoned the will to clean my laptop, as a Win reinstall has been due date anyway for some time, so I don't want to suffer with hunting Russian spies. Honestly, I got used to the empty pages that pop up, and the occasional "THESE GIRLS WANNA FUCK YOU/IS YOUR PENIS BIG ENOUGH?" stuff. The only un-fucking-bearable thing is having to use Bing. I thought shitting on Bing is nothing more than a circlejerk, you know, like hating Internet Explorer. Sure, the latter might be still not as great as the alternatives, but I doubt it's as terrible as one would think.
But don't fucking let me start on Bing... what kind of fucking retard programmed it? I write "In Flames WIkipedia" in the search bar and the first result is the wiki article about flame. Unbelievable.
How is no one talking about the tour? Did you see the fucking setlist? I mean, the setlist itself would be fine for a shortened, opening act, but what the fuck, Battles was released 3 months ago, and we only heard 2 songs live (not counting Anders raping In My Room in their promo performance)?! Hooooooly shit. Okay, hear me about. Please, do spare me from the effortless bullshit you want to come up with like "hurr-durr, maybe they realized Battles suck XDXDXD", haha, funny and original, FUCK OFF. No.
- You release a new record
- You go on tour
- YOU PLAY THE GODDAMN NEW MUSIC
Random 2014 setlist from Texas had these SC songs: IPV, EG, Paralyzed, TO, Rusted Nail. That's five. In their Forged In Fire tour they played 2 Battles songs and 2 SC songs. What?! Inexcusable.
At least try them out, like they did with Monsters. If you feel it's not clicking enough with the audience, you switch it up, understandable. But no, The End, The Truth, bye. I bet they had the fucking audacity to sell Battles in these venues. "Hey, are you interested in IF's latest record, from which you won't hear shit tonight???"
Now, don't get me wrong, I think TE is a very okay live song, and I really like TT, but basically every other song (except Wallflower) is between these two, so if they can and willing to perform these live, then nothing should be off limits from Battles.
In other news, after 2,5 years I finally bought a proper headphone. I asked around here as well, did some online research, but I was too hesitant to order anything without trying it first. Eventually I found a shop where I could do so, but there was only like... I don't know, like 30-35 headphones? I was heavily influenced toward the ATH-M50x since the very beginning, even my third ever bookmark on this computer is about a head-fi thread where people are arguing over the m50. Still, I tried a few others as well (like the m40), but in the end I landed on it anyway. One of my test songs was Vacuum, and most of the headphones fucked it up, which was a no-no.
I wanted to buy a white one, but my friend reminded me that I'm a lazy slob, and I would never ever clean them and they'd be black within half a year, which convinced me to go with the lame black edition. I am a little heartbroken over it. White is so fucking pretty!!
(Side note: I really wanted to try out a Beats headphone. No, I would never buy one but I hard so much about them that it was a pity they had none)
Obiously, I listened to a bunch of IF (among others) again with these. My biggest surprise was probably with Where The Dead Ships Dwell. I really don't care about bass stuff, but Peter does really good on that song, I never heard it before. My second surprise was how okay SC sounds. I thought this will shatter my disillusions with SC, but nah, it stood this test as a champ! And I don't get the complaints about the drums. They might be a bit watery, but they still have a punch.
Battles on the other hand... hah! I don't know man. Someone compared Like Sand to Satellites, and I initially wanted to defend Like Sand, because I never rated Satellites highly. Like, it has a bunch of great stuff, and a bunch of needless ones as well. But still, the comparison is really good, because (to me) IF always gained something from leaving behind their archaic stuff. Now, to others, it was their farewell, and that is totally understandable, by R2R everyone had to know that a shift has already happened. Still, I admired almost everything they released as this new In Flames, and in a way, they did a favor to their older stuff too. IF wanted to abandon some of their defining sounds before Clayman as well, but they were practically forced to do it one last time. Now, I highly doubt they could've released anything great in the style of their first few records after that, because they were already sick and tired with it. However, with shifting towards their new sound, they gained more popularity than ever, and these people probably checked out their earlier works as well. I know I did.
Anyway, Battles has no... charm, EHEHEHEHE. No, really. Like Sand is a great fucking example. I like the never ending crying on All For Me, still not tired of it, because you can take that song seriously. Like Sand is weightless; good verses but everything else is fucking awful.
Anders: “It's about insecurity. You want to have everything – and that could be difficult. Even though I've done a lot of things and get all these praises and meet people who love what we're doing... that should be like, 'I'm done, I feel great, I don't need to do anything now, no one else has to tell me I'm good'. But I'm still fighting at some points with these insecurities; 'Is what I'm doing good enough?' I should just say, 'Fuck it', and most of the time that's how I think, but sometimes I'm drifting into this world of insecurity and I think that's very common. Sometimes you feel like Superman, sometimes the dog from Garfield.
Do you get this vibe from that song? I don't like (oh, yes I do!) to bring up NIN all the time, but since I know them the best and there is basically a song their own which matches Anders' description perfectly, I have to show it.
While I don't expect anyone to listen through it, you can at least jump to 4:18, where he starts repeating his mantra. While the record this song is on (The Downward Spiral) is walking us through a man's breakdown which ends in suicide (spoiler alert, I guess), it is very much comparable to Like Sand and Anders explanation of it. Insecurity is a sort of mental weakness(/illness), right? You sell a bunch of records, you fill arenas and you have a loving family, yet time to time you ask yourself whether you amounted to something. That's not healthy, nor the knee-jerk response of wanting to do even more, wanting to do everything, because if you did everything, then no one can tell you that you are not worthy.
That's a great premise, especially because this song could be for everyone, really, as both being successful and unsuccessful can put such thoughts in one's mind, you don't have to be an angsty 16 years old to "get it". You kept saying how this record is for teenagers, but there are many adult themes there as well, it's just they are executed in a very autistic way. "I want the whoooooooleeee woooOooorrllld, the whooOoooOole wooooooooorldddddaaaaaa" - see, if you are feelings insecure, the only good thing this song might do to you, is make you feel a bit better knowing some motherfucker thought this chorus was a good idea, so worst case scenario you are only the 2nd most useless human being on Earth. (which might make you hang yourself, when you realize you can't even be first in that, haha).
You see, this song could've been done many ways. Could've been angry, irritated and desperate like I Do Not Want This, could've followed the trails of All For Me where he sounded desperate and faithless, or alternatively, he could've done something like The Attic. Instead we got this shit. A real pity, because those verses are good.
And back to the drums. I hear them better now, and they are not 1/10, more than 3/10, but I don't understand why they chose this sound. We can argue about whether SC's watery, muffled drums are cool or not, but at least it has weight. Battles has no weight. While Battles fading more and more into obscurity as days pass, Korn's latest record still sounds fucking fresh. Just listen to those drums mmmmmmm
Love it! And while Metallica's new record has a bunch of shit songs, credits where it's due, Spit Out The Bone is pretty rad.
I gotta admit, I almost downloaded Atoma, but for now put it on hold. I mean, I will never like DT for obvious reasons, but that first song someone linked in was not so bad, even listened to it two more times I think. Still, it just made me remember Soilwork (don't worry, I have a couple of songs on my playlist from them, and ever since I had my carriable media player, Nerve is like among the 3 songs that I always had on them) so I will re-listen them, except The Living Infinite double-record, which is annoying as fuck. I really don't get that record. It has some great songs, but the rest are meh. The EP after it was amazing though.
Also guys, I think it's time for you to reconsider dipping your feet into NIN-water! After 3 years of slumber, not only they are back, but a bunch of older records are being released as Definitive editions (so, basically remastered, plus a few extra songs here and there), new LP is expected sometime this year, and a tour date (USA, of course...) has already been announced.
I will return with another post later today where I give you ideas (which you never asked for, but that's why I am here) where to start, but frankly, I have no fucking idea and I'm hungry. Yes, Hungary and hungry sounds almost the same, very funny, FUCK OFF.
