Miss a Day – Two to Play! (Dying Fetus – “Shepherd’s Commandment”, and Napalm Death – “Time Waits for No Slave”)

Strange, but it seems that Fridays are generally not suitable for blogging. I can rarely get anything at all posted on a Friday, except maybe a tweet. No matter; here’s compensation.

The first of the two videos for today is the most recent one by U.S. death metal band Dying Fetus. I don’t need to say anything about it, except, perhaps, that it’s rather brutal (no surprise), NSFW, and also not to be seen by people with heart problems. Everything else gets told in the four and a half minutes of film: torture and death and destruction, war, the money that feeds it, the big business that supports it, and the media that masks it. Dying Fetus, now reduced to three members, play with a special rigour and unrelenting anger. This has been the case since they slowly became more and more political around the turn of the century; their virtuosity here leaves no doubt that they are dead serious about their messages against the war-business establishment.

The second music video is for Napalm Death’s “Time Waits for No Slave”, the title song off their latest album from January this year. Napalm Death require no introduction. What I must certainly mention, however, is that the lyrics on this latest of theirs stand very high in the mountain range of all the writing from extreme metal bands I have ever read. Proof follows immediately – here excerpt from the song:

Plastic landscapes, synthesized grace
Distinctions to make, life in a cage
Time waits for no slave

Just give them convenience upon pain of death
Cut out the middleman
Keep them uniformly spoon-fed
Time waits for no salve

Just give them convenience
Upon pain of fucking death
Honoured cattle-class turning fattened heads

Think about these words, and act. The time is always now. Before that: see the video. And enjoy. Q. W3ary out.

A Vidclip a Day: Nevermore, “What Tomorrow Knows”

Wondering what exactly to post today – there are always so many options – I had the gut feeling that something angry, heavy, but also uplifting is needed. So I dug up something a bit older and still very much potent: “What Tomorrow Knows”, the opener of Nevermore’s debut album from the middle of the 1990’s. It is a song that has made me realise, not once or twice, that whatever happens, hope is alive as long as we are alive. Here a short excerpt to show the raw power of this piece:

Mistakes you wear like your skin
You wish you’d never been born
Stand up, you can’t escape your past
But fools will try just to forget
From where they came
Smashed again down into the gray
Despise from a world turned cold
No one sees what tomorrow knows

There’s shame in blind suffering
Dishonor from the inside
Find hope from the voice within
Clear vision of your mind

Nothing more to add here. In my tired mind, such soothing music can only induce sleep I have long been deprived of. “Take the time, make the time”, see “What Tomorrow Knows”. We’ll be certain of that knowledge tomorrow. Q. W3ary out.

A Vidclip a Day: Meshuggah, “Bleed”

The hands are covered in blood – and the androgynous figure remains serene, calm in its lotus position. This is the first impression one gets from the cover of Meshuggah’s latest creation, Obzen (2008). The title of the album and its artwork correspond to each other closely: we have become a species that requires horror, blood, and torture to achieve its peace of mind; no matter where the carnal torment and the obscenity come from, they are the indispensable building blocks of our zen-like tranquillity. It’s as if the mind cannot find any serenity without being constantly exposed – everywhere – to what some have termed (in cinema) torture pornography. When we need to, we will also go as far as hurting ourselves to obtain this obscene food for the addicted:

Ripples ascend to the surface of my eyes
Their red pens drawing at random, at will
A myriad pains begotten in their wake
- The bastard spawn of a mutinous self

The regurgitation of my micro nemesis
- Salivating red at the prospect of my ruin, my doom

The dependance attains a life of its own; it devises its own instruments, abstract and invisible, to command us.

The implement, the device of my extinction
- The terminating clockwork of my gleeful bane
The definitive scourge of its mockery
- The end-art instruments lethality attained

Heed – it commands. Heed my will
Bleed – it says. Bleed you will

Meshuggah put all this on display with frightening eloquence – not only musically and lyrically, but also visually. In this case, I would say that it’s good and useful to be scared because fear is one of the few things that can lead us away from addiction. So watch carefully, and be mindful of the junkies, the drug of obscenity, and the false, hungry calmness it brings. Q W3ary out.

A Vidclip a Day: Madder Mortem, “Armour”

The other day, I wished for Madder Mortem to produce more videos since they always touch the depths of me and recharge them musically, visually and lyrically. Today, I found out that they had actually done so very recently. The song is called “Armour” and represents a rather positive, determined take on a relationship. Despite the hindrances, the irony, and the threatening misunderstandings and hardships, I can “lay my armour down” and decide that “for once I won’t let go”, as Agnete Kirkevaag puts it. I am delighted when people are capable of looking at things with such a realistic optimism. And I am flying high when the visual strongly supports the lyrical, as it does in this music video. Enjoy; Q. W3ary out.

A Vidclip a Day: Arch Enemy, “Revolution Begins”

Here come Arch Enemy with a positive, even constructive message. We all need change, on many levels; but we often forget that it begins with us, inside us. Arch Enemy remind in the furious voice of Angela Gossow: “Never too late to stand your ground – revolution begins. / In you – in me – Revolution!” And though the clip is centred on the band and their own musical revolution of sorts, it leaves the gnawing feeling that revolution, change, evolution is something you and me can bring about. The more we drag our feet, the longer change is delayed. Wait no more; for “Revolution Begins”. Q. W3ary out.

A Vidclip a Day: Madder Mortem, “My Name Is Silence”

I always wish that this band would produce more videos. This one is supremely scary, but sets my spirit free in its abyss of frightening possibilities. One need only hear the refrain: “I have no name; / My name is silence. / I have no pain: / Who would save you now?” Or to put this in more familiar terms, “Be afraid. Be very afraid.” Here’s why. Q. W3ary out.

Miss a Day – Two to Play! (Iron Maiden – “The Wicker Man”, and Dark Tranquillity – “Misery’s Crown”)

Yesterday was such an overloaded day – mostly with good things, I must say – so I missed an instalment. No matter; here’s two videos at once to compensate.

The first one barely needs an introduction: it’s Iron Maiden’s “The Wicker Man” from Brave New World (2000). What I must do is quote the absolutely electrifying lyrics:

Hand of fate is moving and the finger points to you
He knocks you to your feet and so what are you gonna do
Your tongue has frozen, now you’ve got something to say
The piper at the gates of dawn is calling you his way

You watch the world exploding every single night
Dancing in the sun – a new-born in the light
Say goodbye to gravity and say goodbye to death
Hello to eternity and live for every breath

Your time will come – your time will come!…

The second one is a clip that Dark Tranquillity filmed a couple of years ago but did not release. Now that they did, I hope they have realised that they should have done so much earlier. It’s for “Misery’s Crown” from their latest, Fiction (2007). “Don’t bring it – don’t bring it; / Don’t bring your misery down on me,” screams Stanne in anger, and then clarifies:

As always in these matters
You broke the deal of deals
And wasted what was given
To revel in your mess
I gave up all for nothing
I tried my best and failed
There’s a thousand million reasons
Never to share again

So, without further ado: Iron Maiden – “The Wicker Man”, and Dark Tranquillity – “Misery’s Crown”. Q. W3ary out.

A Vidclip a Day: Muse, “Invincible”

To fire things up, here’s a real smasher: Muse’s “Invincible” from Black Holes and Revelations (2006). This song always holds me up when I falter, and has often given me the strength to face fear and destruction. It’s too sad that many don’t seem to get the gist of the message in this one. For the people who regard songs as something more than a nice tune to hum along, however, it should be readily visible. And this is how “Invincible” begins:

Follow through,
Make your dreams come true
Don’t give up the fight
You will be alright
Cause there’s no one like you in the universe

Don’t be afraid (of)
What your mind conceives
You should make a stand
Stand up for what you believe
And tonight we can truly say
Together we’re invincible

The video is slightly ironic at times, and even funny. But you shouldn’t miss the powerful ending. When you have the time, also do check out some of the other Muse videos on their official website: it’s rare that a band will do this kind of courtesy to its fans, and keep their videos online for all to watch again and again. I shall say no more. Here’s “Invincible”. Q. W3ary out.

A Vidclip a Day Keeps the Hatred at Bay

Since I find it very difficult to blog thoughtfully on topics of substance every day, I am starting up an open-end series of sorts. I’ll write about a video clip once per day, and will give a link to it (since I cannot embed videos here – for now). There’s not much more to say about this; actually, the title of this post already says much more than what I would be able to explain with thousands of words. So let’s see how long this daily spreading of the word will last. Hope you’ll enjoy it. Q. W3ary over & out.

Porcupine Tree’s Latest (with Some Thoughts on Their Previous)

The prog-related net is brimming with reviews and general talk all around Porcupine Tree’s latest album, The Incident, released a month ago. Just go to ProgArchives.com and look up the CD – you’ll find a great number of reviews to read, most of which very positive. For me, however, Porcupine Tree didn’t quite make it this time. The Incident, unlike their previous works in this decade, did not take me by surprise. To me, it lacks the gripping quality of Fear of a Blank Planet (2007) or the high emotional grade and immediacy of Deadwing (2005). Surely, tracks like “Drawing the Line”, “Time Flies”, “Octane Twisted” and “Bonnie the Cat” are excellent indicators for the compositional power and the musical talents of Steven Wilson and his band-mates. They do not, nonetheless, prevent the album as a whole from diving nose first into a deep bout of melancholia. One could theorise that Porcupine Tree go through such episodes from time to time: notable periods of melancholic song are, for instance, some of their early demo-like cassette albums; Lightbulb Sun (2000); as well as (partially) the limited release Recordings (2001). Sadly, this depressed musical mode is a far cry from the contagious verve and the intelligent anger they exhibit otherwise.

Come to think about it, I have always enjoyed not only Steven Wilson’s intellectual raging in lyrics, but also his kilometre-long solos in earlier, more psychedelic releases. From Porcupine Tree’s first “official” release, On the Sunday of Life (1991), to, roughly, the times of Signify (1996) and Metanoia (1998), their music has been all about the vast spaces inside and outside of the human mind: a gigantic, gorgeous, galactic cosmos of psychedelia. The band then swerved onto the wide neighbourly lanes of prog-rock and -metal, and have driven along ever since. To me, Stupid Dream (1999), Deadwing, and Fear of a Blank Planet represent some of their best in this current period. But now that we have arrived at the present day, I am a bit disappointed by their sombre record appearance. Nevertheless, something tells me that we all need our times of down, our days of gloominess and melancholy. And we all emerge from those a tad stronger. I think this is what’s going to happen to Porcupine Tree as well, sooner or later. Q. W3ary out.