Album Review - Darkthrone's A Blaze In The Northern Sky

Happy Halloween fellow Otaku & Metalheads!

You’ll recall from May of this year, I covered Darkthrone’s first album, Soulside Journey. The only time they did a Death Metal record, Soulside Journey wasn’t necessarily a failure, but it wasn’t the biggest thing out there. The band (Some of them, at least) were dissatisfied by the end product, but it wasn’t long before change arrived. There was a rumbling in the land of Norway. A revolution was on the way. The seeds that were planted by Darkthrone, not to mention other bands in similar positions, were blossoming into a blackened flower. A flower with petals so dark, it changed the landscape of music in Norway, as well as changing the realm of Extreme Metal.

So, in the spirit of Halloween, let’s take a look at another album that’s appropriate for today. Get some corpse paint on your face, dress up in your darkest clothes, and sit down for a look at Darkthrone’s emergence into the world of Black Metal, A Blaze In The Northern Sky. Let the review begin!
                                               
Background
After encountering the legendary Black Metal pioneers, and fellow Norwegians, Mayhem, Darkthrone knew that their music needed a change to match up with the times. So they kicked out Dag Nelson, donned the classic black & white “Corpse Paint” that became synonymous with Black Metal, and took up working pseudonyms in place of their real names (Gylve Nagell - Fenriz/Ted Skjellum - Nocturno Culto/Ivar Enger - Zephyrous). In August of 1991 they recorded what would become A Blaze In The Northern Sky, and in early 1992 it was released. This was the first time that the band recorded anything related to Black Metal, and this had frightened their record company, Peaceville Records. Peaceville were expecting Darkthrone to continue working with Death Metal ala Soulside Journey, but eventually they agreed to release A Blaze In The Northern Sky, provided they were able to remix it (Peaceville Records stated that the sound was "too weak"). In response, Darkthrone threatened to release it through Deathlike Silence Productions, the record label owned by Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth of Mayhem. Eventually, Peaceville agreed to release the album as it was recorded, and the album has since become part of the band’s so-called “Unholy Trinity”, as well as an important release of Black Metal period.

Basic Description
Mommie......I’m scared!

Alright, putting the jokes aside, this is by far one of the most sinister & intimidating album I’ve ever listened to. Keep in mind, this is someone who considered The Black Album to be one of the darkest metal albums ever....until the age of 19. You can make fun of me, I won’t mind. Regardless, A Blaze In The Northern Sky is one of the pinnacles of 90s Black Metal. Long before too many cooks spoiled the broth, Black Metal had some venom to it’s bite, and during their 90s run, Darkthrone stood along side other titans of the genre like Mayhem & Immortal. With their 2nd album, Darkthrone thrust themselves onto the Black Metal scene. The guitars, the drums, and the vocal work. All of it! Their 2nd release created a sound that was unique for it’s time, and it was a moment that Darkthrone has never be able to capture again.

Best Song
Right off the bad, Kathaarian Life Code takes the “Best Song” spot on this review. Dragging it’s 10-ton demonic member into the room, it slaps you in the face with it, and says “While you listen to this song, I own you!”. This ten & a half minute track is simply sublime: screeching guitar work, furious drumming, and vocal work that sounds like the love child of a banshee and a ringwraith. Coupled with the dark & brooding chanting that acts as the beginning of the song, and you have a experience that’s quite eerie & bloodcurdling.

Kathaarian Life Code

That said, every single track on A Blaze In The Northern Sky is fantastic. From the Black Sabbath inspired In The Shadow Of The Horns.

In The Shadow Of The Horns

To the downright terrifying Where Cold Wind Blows!

Where Cold Wind Blows

No track on here is bad, and the experience of A Blaze In The Northern Sky is one that should be experienced by anyone even remotely interested in Black Metal, or Heavy Metal in general.

Worst Song
Like I said above, there are no bad songs on this album. The one thing that could be criticized is the production value. Black Metal albums from the 90s always had harsh production values, and A Blaze In The Northern Sky doesn’t escape this. The production comes across as very primitive, and to a degree rather dated. In a way this works towards the album’s favor (And Black Metal in general), as it adds to it’s mood & atmosphere. I don’t have a problem with this, as I feel that it’s certainly a strength, but I can certainly understand why people would criticize it.

Other
While this is a perfect album in all of it’s darkened glory, I should point out that this isn’t a full Black Metal album. Despite kicking out Dag Nilsen, some of the Death Metal riffwork from  Soulside Journey remained. I suggest that this actually works in the album’s favor: The Black Metal vibes & sounds combined with bits of the Death Metal style of guitar & drumwork creates an album that’s very unique, not to mention very original. Sometimes it’s very obvious when the Death Metal kicks in, and other times it’s strangely subtle. Regardless, it’s a wonderful mix, and one that hasn’t been attempted since (By Darkthrone or anyone else).

Overall Impression & Rating
To quote youtuber & fellow Heavy Metal fan Razorfist said: “A Blaze In The Northern Sky is mandatory Black Metal for a reason.”. He’s not wrong! Black Metal’s heyday has always been in the 90s, with many classic albums from the genre that are still championed to this day. This album is part of that pantheon: a Black Metal title that’s aged shockingly well, and is still talked about fondly to this day. If you can get past the dated production quality, and perhaps

A Blaze In The Northern Sky gets a 10 out of 10. Only the 2nd perfect album to appear on this blog so far, and I plan on putting up more somewhere down the road.

See you next week, where I’ll get some quick posts up before Thanksgiving, as well as getting my end-of-the-year material ready. Hope All Hallows Eve goes well for you, and be sure to spot a roaring fire in the north. Perhaps it will keep you warm in the coming months, and keep you vigilant for blackened spirits. Also, if you’re interested in this album, check out the link below, and give it a listen.

A Blaze In The Northern Sky

Anime Review - Garzey's Wing

Hey everybody!

Well, it’s been a little bit since I’ve reviewed a stinker of an anime. I usually don’t like reviewing the bad shows, since anime fans on the whole don’t like/watch the bad shows. However, every once in a while a bad anime comes along that needs to be watched, seen, and reviewed so no-one has to suffer. A bad anime that serves as a warning so as to be avoided, or if it is to be observed, then it’s to be ridiculed. So let’s not avoid it any further, and look at the disastrously awful Garzey’s Wing. Let the review, sadly, begin. 

Story/Setup
Taken from TvTropes:

“The story centers around Christopher Senshu, a half-Japanese, half-American young man out of high school who is seeking entry to college. One day after an argument with his friend, a motorcycle ride leads Chris past the Shiratori shrine, and his eight-bell necklace starts to rattle. Suddenly out of nowhere, he is struck by a giant, glowing goose spirit, and swept away into the world of Byston Well. But he has no time to get his bearings. Instead he is swept immediately into the conflict between the Metomeus Tribe and the Ashigaba Army, who have until now kept them enslaved. As it turns out, Chris has been summoned by the priestess Hassan to be the legendary holy warrior, Garzey's Wing. This role grants him the power of glowing wings that appear from his ankles and allow flight. Because of the shrine he passed, however, he is convinced this must all be the work of the spirit of Yamato Takeru no Mikoto.

But things aren't even that simple. Chris hasn't been transported wholly to Byston Well; only his spirit has, splitting him into a separate existence while his physical body remains in the real world. The two soon discover the ability to communicate via the bell necklace, and as Chris struggles with the conflict he's been thrust into, his real self must search for ways to help him there, and hopefully find a way to reunite mind and body.”

On the surface, the story of Garzey’s Wing looks like it makes sense. Don’t be fooled! In reality, the whole show is nothing more than a convoluted mess, and makes practically no sense. There are some rare moments of cleverness (Like Chris being split into two), but for the most part everything is jumbled together to the point where if you were to pull something out, it would somehow become even more of a mess. Don’t even try to figure things out when you watch this, in the unlikely chance that you do.

Animation
The one thing that Garzey’s Wing actually has going for it is it’s animation. It’s actually rather pleasant to looks at: characters are detailed, the world looks great, and there are some nice visuals to boot. Some of the fantasy creatures are quite gruesome, but a few others look very majestic. Even some of backgrounds look nice as well. Other than that, there isn’t anything else to say.

Voice Acting
Lazy. That’s the one word I can describe the voice acting in Garzey’s Wing. You can tell from everybody that’s putting time in, that they’re just doing it for a paycheck. Even the actors that provide even a tiny bit of effort still sound like they don’t want to be there, and they’re just waiting for cash to go into their bank accounts. This is one of the few times I would suggest that you’d watch this with the subtitles on, unless you’re a big fan of comedy, then proceed with the dub. Speaking of lazy.....

Characters
Good god, are the characters in Garzey’s Wing awful or what!?

On top of a confusing story & pathetic voice acting, there’s practically nothing to get you emotionally invested in the character, whether good or bad. Due to the story you can’t connect with them, and coupled with the god awful voice acting, really makes them boring! Even some of the villains, who at least appear over-the-top & threatening, really don’t have a bite to their personality. Pretty much everybody is a waste, and there’s no point in caring for them.

Availability & Pricing
Shockingly, Garzey’s Wing can actually still be found for purchase, provided you know where to look. Best Buy is immediately thrown out the window, but F.Y.E. can be an option. 95% of the time you probably won’t be able to find a unopened DVD, but you’re more likely to find a used one for sale. On their website, a used copy for Garzey’s Wing goes from 97 cents, up to about 5 dollars. Amazon is a more likely place to acquire a copy: a new DVD goes from 20 dollars to about 31 dollars, while used copies start at 2 & ½ dollars, and goes up to a little over 8 dollars. If you’re sick enough, Amazon is the better of the two, despite the higher price. Course, you’re probably a little sick for buying this anyway, but that’s me.

Overall Impression & Rating
Garzey’s Wing should never have been released. It’s clear by the lazy & bare-bones voice acting, that this was really just a quick cash grab. I really don’t want to talk about this anymore, so here’s my quick opinion: ignore this like the plague!

Garzey’s Wing gets a 3 out of 10.

Well, my apologies for this show being so horrendous. I will most definitely make it up to you, so let’s wait until All Hallows Eve, when the seeds that were planted by a previous band here on this blog finally bloom. See you then!




***
If you want to torture yourself, check out this fragment of Garzey’s Wing. You.....won’t be disappointed?

Garzey's Wing Sample

Anime Review - Monster Musume the Series

Happy month of October, fellow Otaku & Metalheads!

Consider this an unofficial “themed” month. I wasn’t necessarily planning on doing one, but considering what I’m reviewing, it looks likes it’s the case. Anyways, you’ll recall a few months ago my review of the first episode of Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls. Overall I gave it a glowing review, with nary a blemish in sight. Now, with the full series released online, I now have a wider view of the show, but my positivity hasn’t changed one bit. With that said, lets look at a review of the entirety of Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls. Woot!

Story/Setup
Taken from Wikipedia:

“For years, the Japanese government has kept a secret: mythical creatures such as centaurs, harpies, and lamias are real. Three years before the start of the story, the government revealed the existence of these creatures and passed a legal bill, the "Interspecies Cultural Exchange Act". Since then, these creatures, known as "liminals," have become a part of human society, living with ordinary families like foreign exchange students and au-pair visitors, but with other duties and restrictions (the primary restriction being that liminals and humans are forbidden from harming each other).

Kimihito Kurusu did not volunteer for the exchange program, but when Ms. Smith delivered the very scared and embarrassed Miia to his door by mistake, he did not have the heart to send her away and they started living together. As the story continues, Kimihito meets and gives shelter to other female liminals, each of a different species. Some arrive more or less by accident, some are forced upon him by Ms. Smith, or force themselves in, and it does not take long for him to find himself in a hectic environment where he struggles to live in harmony with his new housemates while dealing with both their constant advances and the dramas of helping them get along in the human world. The situation takes on a new twist after he is told that because of expected changes in the law dealing with human-liminal relationships, he is authorized to marry one of the girls, increasing their struggle for his attention.”

This is really the jist of Monster Musume: mythological girls/women (& boys/men) are as real as us, an ability to live among humanity is granted, and one hapless individual’s life becomes filled with said individuals, wacky hijinks insues, etc.

On the surface, Monster Musume is a typical harem anime, complete with typical harem schlock. One hapless guy, a group of girls with different quirks, plenty of moments of fan-service & other wacky moments, the works. However, Monster Musume is good harem schlock. Yes the main guy is hapless, but he has a genuine heart of gold, and looks past what the girls are. Heck, one of the girls, Rachnera, and his main turn-on prominently featured (Legs....she’s an arachne, if you didn’t figure out by her name). Yes the girls are definitely quirky, but these quirks change overtime, and mesh with everybody else’s quirks & issues quite nicely. Yes there is fan-service. A lot of fan-service, in fact. However, the fan-service works, and if you can believe it, some dirty moments actually propel the story along positively most of the time. Yeah Monster Musume is schlocky, but it’s the good kind that can be enjoyed by many.

Voice Acting
Updated Soon...

Characters
Never have I enjoyed a cast of characters quite like that of Monster Musume. You’d expect a ecchi-romance-harem series to have a weak cast, and in some cases that’s true. With that said, Everybody here is a treat to watch!

Kimihito, more commonly called Darling, Master, or some other nickname, is one of anime’s greatest nice guys. He really doesn’t care what the girls are, nor what they look like. He just care for the fact that they’re women, and does all he can to help them adjust modern human society. It’s definitely frustrating at times, and he certainly comes to blows on rare occasions, but like he says at the end of the series, it’s just everyday life with monster girls.

Ms. Smith is one of Monster Musume’s greatest trolls, whether’s it’s her manga incarnation or her anime version. On the surface, she’s a hardworking woman, and takes her role enforcing the Interspecies Cultural Exchange Act rather seriously. In truth, she’s a lazy civil servant, often pawning off jobs & work to the MON Squad (More on these ladies in a moment) and to Kimihito. In fact, some of the girls were in his house because of Smith’s mistakes. Miia herself was the first mistake that came Kimihito’s way, but at the same time Smith actually means well, and has a heart once in a while. Yeah Ms. Smith is a lazy good-for-nothing, but a good-for-nothing that has a moment to shine once in a while.

If your series is about cute mythological women, you better make them personable, and the show doesn’t point. Truthfully, the girls in the anime mirror their manga counterparts: Miia is the charming yet clumsy one, Papi is the hyperactive cute one, Centorea is the noble pretty one, Suu is the oddball, Mero is the pretty & cute character with a secret, Rachnera is the brooding & serious one that’s kinky, and Lala is the gothic tsundere. All of the girls fit their assigned role, but like in the manga their personalities & thoughts change, and they actually learns things with their time with Kimihito.

Monster Musume has the added benefit of having a cast of secondary characters that’s just as charming as the primary cast. There’s the MON Squad, a group of monster girls who’s job it is to defuse situations with other liminals. There are Tio the Ogre, Doppel the Doppelganger, Zombina the Zombie (Yeah, that’s a obvious name), and Manako the Cyclops, who’s my personal favorite of the 4. While MON appears a couple times in the manga, they only show up about 3 times in the anime, but regardless it’s always fun to see them. There are other monster girls that appear during the story, like Kii the Driad & Lilith the Devil. Some of these secondary girls have more appearances on & off on the manga, but only highly limited reappearances within the anime. Still, these characters still provide some energy to the show, albeit momentary energy.

Perhaps the most bizarre secondary character in the anime’s cast is Polt the Kobold. In the manga, she’s the manager of a gym & is a big sports/exercise nut, and the girls go over to her gym to try things out. They didn’t go over this story in the anime, so instead she was reduced to 4 casuals appearances. Even more strangely, these somewhat random appearances are rather charming, and Polt is just as cute in these moments as she was in the manga.

Overall, the cast is a lot of fun. Even my least favorite character, Rachnera (Long Story), has moments of silliness & sincerity. You get attached to pretty much everybody, and all of the girls has something you can identify with. Once again, one of the best casts of a harem series ever!

Animation
When I was watching this series, I was surprised by how similar both the anime & the manga looked from one another. All of the places that the characters went to looked liked they were plucked straight out of the manga, and the characters are absolutely stunning. Some of them appear to look a little younger or older than their manga counterparts, but that’s probably got more to do with the animation style used in the show more than anything else. If there was only one gripe I had, it would be the amount of time that you see certain characters still in shots. Certain characters like Miia, Mero, and Rachnera I can understand, given their snake/fish/spider halves, but other characters baffle me. Centorea has the lower half of a horse, and they’ve been animated in full motion in plenty of shows, and Papi technically has legs, albeit bird legs. Even Suu the Slime has legs, but when we do see the girls move around, it’s only for a few seconds. This just screams a lack of effort on the animator’s part, but again, due to the radically different bodies of all the girls, I’m giving them a pass.

The one thing I don’t like about the animation is the censorship to the fan-service. If you’ve ever read the manga, you know how incredibly fan servicy it is. There’s plenty of exposed nipples, and in some scenes it can potentially get close to porn (Chapter 33 has a milking scene.....I’ll leave that up to your imagination). With some of the censorship that’s used, it makes perfect sense. Other times, the censorship is actually rather distracting, often borderline pointless. For the most part the fan service still works great, but the censoring can really be grating.

Availability & Pricing
Like I said in the voice acting section, Monster Musume hasn’t been released in the U.S. yet. The good news, the show has already been picked up by a distributer. The bad news, is that Sentai Filmworks is the one that grabbed the show. Now they’ve re-released some of ADV Films’s classic shows in recent years, and the more modern releases they picked up are great as well, but on some occasions they don’t dub their shows. On the chance that they do put in a dub, it’s not the best. It’s certainly not awful, but there typically needs some more effort put into them.

Also, is it bizarre that Funimation didn’t grab the rights to this show? Considering the stable of voice actors that the company has, it’s surprising that they didn’t try to grab it. If they did make an attempt, someone leave a note in the comments.

Overall Impression & Rating
Monster Musume the Series is an absolute treat of a series. Taking a typical anime troupe, mixing in some atypical women, and sprinkling in some atypical situations, and you have a show that’s quite fresh & original. Yes, Monster Musume is a modern harem schlock show. However, it’s good harem schlock. It actually tries to put in effort, and for the most part succeeds! Without a doubt, 2015 is the year of the monster girl!

Monster Musume the Series gets 9 a out of 10.

See you all next week, when we’ll look at another anime that’s monstrous.....ly bad. In the meantime, check out Monster Musume over on Crunchyroll. There’s a link right below so you won’t have far to search. Enjoy!

Monster Musume (Crunchyroll)