Review of 2012.

I like to summerize my year when it gets to the end...I find it cathartic, and it also helps me to keep a memory and a log of all the things ive actually done. I feel that my memory is getting worse, or maybe im just enjoying myself too much to take the time to remember stuff like details..hah! I was waiting to start this after id been to the final gig of the year, makes more sense Id say. This year for me has been alright, I started teaching again in March, and from there on in everything has been pretty preeettttyyy preettty good. Im hoping for things to level themselves out financially in 2013, as starting at a new college in September put me behind quite a bit. I still work at Royal mail too, and Id love eventually not to have to. Ultimate aims for 2013 would probably be to finally finish my DTTLS course, and to get a fulltime position teaching media. Some very good things have happened this year, old friends got back in touch, current friends irritated me to death, I found the big megabucks college to cause me a bit of a moral backlash. Having settled down there a bit more though I find it alright. 

Anyway, on to business. Albums of the year, Gigs of the year, films, and Games of the year. half way through the year I remember thinking its been a bit naff for music. but I think it picked up a bit. gigs, Ive done less gigs this year than I have ever done before. I think im getting to the point where ive literally seen all the bands I listen to and like, and so bands Id have gone to see before, I just dont bother anymore. and Gigs tend to be an excuse to get really hammered, because again, ive likely seen the band before. Its a slightly worrying trend Ive gotten into, but I feel it will all level itself out in the future. Music wise for me, its been the year of Bruce Springsteen. I got into him late last year, and pretty much explored his discography throughout this entire year. 

Albums of 2012 - All albums in bold are my favourites

Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball

Rush - Clockwork Angels

Katatonia - Dead End Kings

Witchcraft - Legend

JK Flesh - Posthuman

The Gathering - Disclosure

Enslaved - Rittir

Gojira - L'enfant Sauvage

Killing Joke - MMXII

Bat for Lashes - The haunted Man

Crippled Black Phoenix - Mankind the crafty ape

Black Shape of Nexus - negative black

Pallbearer - sorrow and extinction

Witchsorrow - god curse us

Deftones - Ko yo yokun or whatever its called

Neurosis - Honor in decay

Like I said, Its been an ok year for music. Biggest disappointment for me would be the new Anathema album. I felt like it was a step too far into wishwashy territory. There was no bite or edge to the album, bar one song. it lacked guitar riffs, and for me It felt like they were trying too hard and pushing the positivity down your throat. I feel like they know their fans like doom metal, so went out of their way to write lyrics to try and tell them to cheer up. Personally, I found it a patronizing and well...Shit album.

Gigs of 2012

This year, I went to very few gigs but some very poignant and memorable ones..well, two of them. every other gig was a drunken blur. Again, 

Black Sabbath in birmingham - Cost me £100, but worth every penny. It was sublime and heavy as hell.

Bruce Springsteen - Hard rock Calling. Again, cost a bit, but it was fantastic. A Great day out and great show.

Anthrax - Oxford - Took Jamie and his son. Very good show!

Edguy - I dont remember this gig much. Think it wasnt much cop.

Destroyers of the faith - birmingham - Enslaved kicked ass. The rest were very Meh. All I remember is some silly disagreement with Gaz.

Big Business - birmingham - Really good.

Saint vitus - Twice, Bristol and Manchester. This was bloody awesome. we took a roadtrip and did both shows back to back.

Neurosis and Godflesh - Godflesh were decent and Neurosis were Neurosis. Think this will be last gig to see them...Im done with them.

Katatonia - Manchester - Excellent show, great setlist, good company.

Festival Wise

Bloodstock - I literally cannot remember ANY show except for Orange Goblin and Corrosion of conformity. Which is fine by me, because they were probably the best things there.

Roadburn - Necros Christos, 40 Watt sun, Leafhound, The Obsessed, Solstafir, JKFlesh, Saw some Great shows. Actually wrote a blog on here about this so I didnt forget. The Obsessed were awesome!! and Necros Christos blew my tits off.

Missed out on seeing The Rolling Stones this year. Maybe next year. They are the last one on the list of bands I want to see....save a Free reunion lol

Films of 2012

This year I got the Cineworld unlimited card, so ive seen quite a lot of films. What strikes me the most, is how poor most of them were. I feel that out of all the films Ive seen in 2012, the best was DREDD 3D. and to be honest, save the odd kids cartoon, Like Paranorman, most of the films ive seen have been absolute trash. The Dark Knight Rises, I felt was slightly dissapointing. Over long, and possibly after a second watch it will prove better. my main issue with films these days is the amount of CGI. Too much CGI, not enough old school effects. Thats why Dredd 3D stood out for me, it was seamless with its visual effects, to the point with its plot and generally had me come out of the cinema thinking Woah, that was Really Great. 

Games of 2012

Been quite a lot of very good games out this year. In fact, for me, its been a personal highlight of the last couple of years. Saying that, it could be the highlight because ive puchased a lot of Megadrive games, and played a lot of older games on arcade, HD remakes etc

Transformers Fall of Cybertron. - Kicked my ass. It was perfect.

Hitman Absolution - Longest hitman yet, some odd choices with the disguise mechanic, but overall excellent.

Dishonored - Really enjoyed this. Looking forward to another playthrough.

Doom 3 BFG edition - Really enjoyed this too. Great to relive and replay this game.

Rayman Origins - charming platformer, Hard in places, was a pleasure to play.

Metal Gear solid HD collection - Some great games I never played before, Snake eater was great.

Stacking - Great neat little game, with some fun ideas.

Silent Hill Downpour - A lot better than people gave it credit for.

Rayman 3 HD - Another HD remake, but this is still an excellent game.

The Witcher 2 - This was ok. I didnt like it enough to keep it though, or to play it through again.

Max Payne 3 - See my blog about this abomination.

Spelunky - Hated this game, and loved it in equal measure. Played it too much and nearly did myself in with frustration at the fact it beat me, repeatedly haha!

Jet Set Radio HD - Didnt really stand up to scrutiny. Not as good as I remembered at all.

Sonic Adventure 2 HD - Again, Really dont think it stands test of time.

There you have it! My review of 2012. heres to another year!!

 

Justin Broadrick

My journey into rock/metal started with Alanis morissette. True fact that. along the way though, I found a lot of other bands, Slayer, Slipknot, etc and then I started using Napster. Before Metallica decided to be bellends and ruin napster, I used to use it for downloading random bands. Id buy a copy of Kerrang, and pick names in there, influences  on other bands etc, and then id download a selection of thier songs. In this early period of my musical journey so to speak, I found bands such as The Gathering, Neurosis, and others. Often, a lot of these bands I didnt fully research until years later. Somewhere along the way, I got into the band ISIS. This is around about 10 years ago now. ISIS blew me away at the time, and in some ways, still do. I remember thinking they sounded like Dillinger escape plan, but slowed down, and with prettier bits. my taste back then was a bit of a strange mixture of metal, and I hadnt fully explored the original bands from the 70s. I would later do this, and that would change my taste dramatically. However, in this period of being madly into ISIS, I recall that they did a 7" record I didnt own, but did have on mp3. This was the sawblade EP, and on it was a cover of Godfleshs Streetcleaner.

I then decided to explore Godflesh. The reason I have put this blog together is to show appreciation for the influence Justin broadrick has had on my music taste.

Godfleshs streetcleaner album is a Viseral, nihilistic, caustic, heavy as hell and dark album. at the time, It went a little over my head I must admit. but eventually, after trying the other albums, the charm of the album wore its way in and I went through a period of being mad into Godflesh, and I dont think that period ever ended. However, It became glaringly obvious to me that I had gotten into the band a bit late really. I remember them doing a Kerrang christmas show with Fear factory and Devin Townsend and being into them, but I couldnt go. Nottingham was slightly unobtainable for me at that point in time. So I missed thier live shows and then they split up.

Still, didnt stop me getting into the discography. few years later, after him splitting up Godflesh, he put out the first Jesu EP. This EP was important to me because it came out my first year of university. In fact, during his first few Jesu years, he was pretty prolific, so I followed this and Jesu became a bit of a personal soundtrack to my time living in Leicester. Really good times. Creative too, used some Jesu in college work, made a music video of Streetcleaner. During this time, I saw him play live first time with Jesu, he supported Mono. Both bands put in excellent sets, and I remember meeting Adam. Saw Jesu once or twice since, not always perfect, but still pretty decent.

Seeing Godflesh reform and play London was a fantastic night, Goatsnake supporting too!

So Ive pretty much followed his musical career. Final is excellent music to use for film projects, oddly enough, electronica. Techno Animal, Fall of because, Head of David, early Napalm death, Pale Sketcher....Theres so many great acts and good music to come from one man. From researching and
reading interviews, he has pretty much inadvertently gotten me another of my favourite bands, Killing Joke. Killing joke have been a big influence on my music taste too. they played Roadburn this year, and I met Justin. He was a really friendly, approachable chap. saw him play with JKFlesh and it was fantastic. Posthuman is one of the best albums of 2012.

All in all, in Summary, id just say thanks to justin really, got me into some great bands, created some awesome music. Dudes a good man. Massive kudos, and I think hes a very underappreciated musician. Sorry if this sounds a bit fanboy! haha!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54DkLXzlYrY&playnext=1&list=PLEE3E1FFC174926C3&feature=results_video

Max Payne 3 - Morally bankrupt.

Started playing this game recently. Thought id share some of my views on it and the current state of gaming through this blogging medium.

Max Payne 1 and 2 were excellent third person shooters, with a bit more depth than most games of thier style. sure, they introduced bullettime to gaming, after the matrix introduced it to film. but both these games charted the life and times, in a awesome comic book style, of a cop called max payne. They used a very Noir dectective style, and despite there being violence and lots of criminals being shot, they justified it by the fact that the criminals killed paynes wife and child. The style of the game was unique. a crime noir shooter narrated via the main character, using metaphors and wordplay to describe the world you played in. Both games were of thier time, but excellent for what they were.

The ensuing years, over 10 in fact, since the 2 games came out, gaming has changed. we now have Call of Duty ruling the gaming landscape. as memory serves me, I remember them being average war world two games. obviously, they improved them slightly over the years, but COD is really just a very average FPS,and its somehow became the standard because of how standard it is. Thats my understanding of it anyway. Ive played other FPS in the last 5 years, and all are far superiour to modern warfare, black ops and thier ilk. But the impact has been made. Gaming is now a far reaching, mainstream culture. Black ops 2 adverts litter the media, and I even saw a building sized poster for the game in Birmingham. a far cry from the days of the megadrive. perhaps im getting old.

Anyway, to elaborate on my point. The impact these games have made on the environment and landscape of the current gaming generation is undeniable. Gamers now crave instant action. I first heard about Max payne 3 coming out start of 2012, and I instinctively decided not to bother with it. It looked too action orientated, and totally of odds with the original games. Turns out I was right. Picked it up for a tenner, cheap really considering it came out in July. Thought id try it.

Max Payne 3 to me, sums up all that is wrong with the current gaming generation. It was immediately obvious that they had changed the enviroment Max was in, this I could deal with, but after playing the game for a few hours it became even more obvious that Max payne had changed to fit with the current standard COD has set. In the game, you are pushed from mission to mission, protecting this rich family, and then you get attacked by armed foes, and have to bulletime your way to the end of the mission, all the while adding to the Grind counters (in game awards) and occasionally collecting golden guns. So the game has the usual staple of collectables, and the levelling up grind rubbish from the COD multiplayer, and then every single level is basically is the same after that. you shoot a bunch of people, using bullettime to stop being shot yourself, and then go to the next level and do exactly the same. But heres the worst bit. The Narration from the previous games is still present, only this time, instead of interesting wordplay,inventive narration and metaphors we get Max payne, The moaner.

Max payne moans and whinges his way through this entire game, making it actually a very depressing experience. Perfect example, you bullettime through a window, shooting guys in the face, land on the ground and shoot your last bullet, which by the way slows down so you can see it enter the face of the enemy, and then we get a monologue about how maxs day has gone from bad to worse and all he wants to do is drink and forget it all. we then get a cut scene of max passing out from drinking a bottle of whiskey. So let me clarify this. we are in sao paulo brazil, hes in a fully paid for apartment in the sun, hes just done some cool ass moves and saved the people hes protecting, and all he can do is whinge and moan and hand out depressing monologue throughout the entire thing. your kind of taking the audience away from the fun of the game, and sucking you into his depressing and pointless existance. and then of course, the game continues. and in every level, Maxs bodycount raises, often your shooting people for no particular reason other than your in the wrong place, wrong time. as Max, you massacre entire neighbourhoods, and a police station, and the entire time, his moaning and whinging underscores it all. He has been turned into this disgusting, unlikeable, hateful murderer essentially.

For most of the plot, it could all have ended and Max would be fine, if he had just walked away. instead, the storytellers reiterate how hes addicted to painkillers and booze, and that hes stuck in this rut. well, as a player, I find it slightly morally wrong. I think that the games only purpose is to shoehorn action scenes, intense violence and to glorify an alcoholic waster. I feel that they have tried too hard to bring Max Payne alongside the CODs of the world. The franchise has lost all the depth, meaning and purpose that it had for the first two games. I actually find a lot of max payne 3 offensive and pointless. To me, it sums up all thats wrong with this current generation of gaming. I feel that had remedy kept this game, the story would have been so much different. I  Suppose maybe im just a sour puss, getting old. not seeing the fact that things have to change. but really? like this? Turning a detective noir shooter into a violent, pointless and depressing piece of crap?

Maybe im just getting old.






Heres some Quotes from Max Payne.

“I was a dumb American in a place where dumb Americans were less popular than the clap.”
“I didn’t know what to think any more. This town had more smoke and mirrors than a strip club locker room.”
“I’d been stuck in the past so long I’d forgotten what year is was.”
“It was Monday afternoon and I’d already been thrown out of a party, been to a strip club and got into a bar fight. This latest mid-life crisis was certainly ticking all the boxes.”
“This kind of place made me want to puke. I needed a real drink to cope with the electronic music and robotic people” - on entering a nightclub.
“There was a bar ahead. The irony wasn’t lost on me. I figured sobriety was no used to me if I was dead.”
““Sao Paulo is like Bagdad with G-strings”
“There must have been another way out through the VIP lounge. Rich fools love a private exit.”
“I stood out in this place like a street walker in a monastery” at a party in a shanty town in Brazil.
“These bastards made the NYPD look like the Hari Krishnas.”
“Do you think a pile of shit feels popular because it’s surrounded by flies?”
“When you’re stuck in a foreign country and don’t know the words for “reverse charges” and you’re in some lonely skin joint in the middle of some poor slum and just had every last cent robbed from you and you call yourself a bodyguard then you know you’re a loser.
“First day off the sauce and somehow I’d still ended up in the gutter.” - after being robbed by a gang of thugs.
“I’d been sitting at the bar for three hours, or five hours depending on the way you looked at things.”
“The way I see it there’s two types of people, those who spend their lives trying to build a future and those who spend their lives trying to rebuild the past. For too long I’d be stuck in between, hidden in the dark. What was I really doing walking in there with my bad haircut and ridiculous shirt? – gatecrashing a party dressed in Bermuda shirt.

DLC out soon. Cant wait, really looking forward to it.

Roadburn Rundown

These are the bands I saw at Roadburn this year. id like to do a full review but to be honest, too much fun was had, and I cant remember it at all. its like a blur and a haze. but fuck me, it was awesome. below are the bands that grabbed me enough to watch their whole set, or for the majority of it. I saw other bands over the top of heads from crowded rooms that I couldnt squeeze into but I didnt include them here because I dont deem that watching a band. Watching a band is being able to stand front row and see the band playing, and that is unfortunately impossible at roadburn if you make it too late to see the band you want in anything other than the main stage. my only complaint though! a wicked weekend. Walter works hard to get a decent bill and does a fantastic job. Im going to highlight my top 3 bands!


Agalloch    - Sublime, played an excellent set. would like to have met them, didnt find them.
d.USK/diSEMBOWELMENT –  grim show, heavy as hell. best dudes ever, gota love the aussies.
Killing Joke - were okay, not the best set I have seen. pssyche still ruled though.
Sigiriya - impressive, id go next time they play bham
Voivod - I cannot stand this band and endured bits of them twice. I wont make that mistake again.
White Static Demon vs JK Flesh - Met him this weekend and JK flesh raped my face.
Anekdoten - Really cool prog, with a moog. a real moog! watched them with Grutle from Enslaved.
Dopethrone - caught the first few songs then had to go outside, but they were cool.
Gnod - a very spaceman 3 vibe from these guys, and im from rugby so i like spaceman 3
Sólstafir -   Sublime, blew me away.
40 Watt Sun - much much better than when I saw Warning. Heavy sound. Awesome.
Leaf Hound - really enjoyed them, but I do wish Sad road to the sea was the same song as the LP
Necros Christos - they blew me away, fantastic death metal/doom.
The Obsessed - stunning in every way, heavy as hell. all the songs id want to hear, worth the trip.
Mike Scheidt - interesting to listen to, and id like to hear the solo album.
Sleep - I found them too repetetive, and I went to see Necros christos, came back and they were ace.
The Wounded Kings - evoke the feeling that Chutlu himself is rising through the ground due to the hymns sung at him, written by steve. lol
Coroner - same as the last time, standing still, boring to watch but technical to play I suppose. Nah.
Yob - blew my tits off playing the whole of Catharsis. thanks to the singer for giving me a guest pass to the show!