Review: Tarantulah no comments

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TARANTULAH - Kedamaian Jalan Hitam
1. Tarantulah is a four piece band playing thrash metal/grindcore hailing from Kuala Lumpur. The band was formed in 2007, but it was only 2012 that the band becan to actively releasing demos/promos and being featured in compilations. The band emailed me their promo for review and it took me quite sometime before I could find the time to really sit down and listen to their 4 track promo.

Tarantulah Battling Legion
2. The demo was raw but you still can listen to the songs. Musically, I found them more of a punkish grindcore band rather than a thrash band. Think Napalm Death scum era grindcore. Dirty and extremely raw. The songs were simple and straight to your face.  Faithful to the typical grindcore song structure, three of the four songs were all under three minutes, not giving you any room to breath.
 
3. The instrumentation were a bit muddy and bassy, but what do you really expect from a live promo? It would be more enjoyable if it were a bit cleaner though. If you like punkish grindcore, you should definitely check this band out.

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Videos: Black Metal Satanica. no comments

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Black Metal Satanica | 80 Minutes | Doom Films Production | 2008

1. Black Metal Satanica is a documentary about, well, satanic Black Metal. The focus point is Scandinavian Black Metal, mainly Swedish. It starts with a few musicians giving a brief run through on Norse mythology, the history of the vikings and their uncompromising attitude toward Christianity, which was allegedly the rooting puzzle in answering the question why Black Metal was and still are so popular in Scandinavia.

2. To be honest, its a little bit cheesy for my liking. Everything in the documentary are nothing new to me. Their hatred towards Christianity, Norse mythology, Satanism, you know, the whole nine yards. I was expecting something different or at least something new.

3. The production was a bit gloomy and dark. Certain individuals giving interviews in the dark and all, and I was like, come on. Enough with that dark imagery and go straight to the music. Nobody gives a shit about your "darkness". 

4. Some of the interviewees, like Bjorn Almar, gave decent interviews and some were meh. I believe this was due to the fact that some of the individuals had to answer questions in english, it was a bit difficult to really make out what they were actually saying. 

5. Being a Swedish produced documentary, the documentary gave emphasis on the influence of Swedish black metal personalities, for example, highlighting Dead and the importance of his recruitment into Mayhem as being the focal point of the wave turning of Black Metal. I would rather have the documentary put more emphasis on Quarthon and Bathory instead, if they really wanted to highlight influential Swedish figures.

6. The documentary also touched on the evil acts that have been associated with Black Metal in the instance of grave desecration, church burnings and what not. And I was like, come on. And when you thought it would not get more funnier, you will also have a Blair Witch Project like segment where the crew was interviewing this one mysterious figure (so mysterious that they had to distort his voice) about grave desecration and all that pure evil stuff, and then the lights went out, they heard a bang and the mysterious person just vanished into thin air. The crew then went into some jungle to look for him. What the fuck? The comedy just wrote itself.  

7. The narrators. Oh man, do not get me started with the bloody narrators. They were trying too hard to sound evil and creepy and it ended out being funny as hell. The narratives were poorly written and was clearly written to spook everybody. And Euronymous? The grandfather of Black Metal? Really? It was called the second wave of black metal for a reason, asshole. How can he be a grandfather, if he was not from the first wave of Black Metal? If it were all up to me, that title would go to Quarthon. And Troll metal? What the fuck is a Troll Metal?
8. Well, this is just a poor poor production. But you can try and watch this video for the Blair Witch part. Hilarious. Sometime, I often wondered why nobody even tried to elaborate the character of its music instead of just focusing on the controversies and image. Why black metal sounded the way in it sounded. Why that particular chords or that particular progression. Anybody up to the challenge?     

Books: My Appetite For Destruction - Sex & Drugs & Guns N Roses. no comments

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My Appetite For Destruction - Sex & Drugs & Guns N Roses.
Title: My Appetite For Destruction - Sex & Drugs & Guns N Roses.
Authors: Steven Adler with Lawrence J. Spagnola.
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishing - 2010.
Additional Information: Paperback, 286 Pages, RM 65.90, MPH Bookstore, Kuala Lumpur.

1. If you are a hard rock or a hardcore 80s rock music lover, then you must know Guns N Roses. One of the biggest hard rock band in the history of hard rock. If you are a fan of them Guns, then you must know who Steven Adler is.

2. I am not a big GNR fan. I hardly knew any of their songs. Okay, maybe the opening riff for Sweet Child of Mine. Well, come on. Everybody knows that riff, even if they were just a couple of fans of Justin Bieber. One of the most known riff ever to be composed by the likes of man. On the note that I am not a big GNR fan, the name Steven Adler was a bit alien to me.

3. I bought this book solely on the premise that its a book about rock musician. Being the biggest band on the planet with a short list of incredible albums under their belt and the laughable antiques of its undeniably charismatic diva of a singer in the form of Axl Rose, it was just a must have. I love biographies anyway.  

4. Steven Adler was the original drummer for GNR back in their early formation, back in 1985. He played on GNRs first album. Appetite For Destruction back in 1987 and the follow up, GNR Lies in 1988 and was fired from the band in 1990 while the band was in the midst of recording their epic double album, Use Your Illusion and was replaced by Matt Sorum.

5. This book is 286 page thick and was divided into 23 chapters. The first five chapters dealt with Adler's early years living in Cleveland, his initial meeting with Slash (guitar) and his introduction to drums. The next few chapters were about the early years of GNR and the process of writing their debut. The rest were about life on the road, drug addiction, sex, controversies, more sex and drugs and the usual whole ten yard.

6. One thing for sure. This book was an easy read. It was from a first person perspective and within those 23 chapters, each chapters were divided into various different headings. So you would not get bored waiting to end a chapter.   

Worshippers.