Album Review: Rammstein's Rammstein

Hi fellow Otaku & Metalheads!

Well, here we are. A review for my number one album of 2019. I still find it hard to believe that this record came out, when before hand it had been nearly a decade since the Industrial titans known as Rammstein had put out anything. Sure, Emigrate managed to out 2 records that were good, and Till Lindemann started a supergroup sideproject with Peter Tägtgren that went by the name of Lindemann (Original, I know), which in turn was also good. However, it wasn’t Rammstein. It wasn’t the sound of one of the most iconic metal bands in all of the world. Then, rumblings towards the end of the 2010s began to ripple out from Germany. Rumblings that got stronger & stronger, until the 17th of May, 2019, when said rumblings became a worldwide earthquake, and the Teutonic Titans return with what is quite possibly their finest piece of work yet. An album so great, it brought me back to my mid teens for a moment in such a nostalgia blast.......I’m somehow still feeling it’s effects today.

That’s right, we’re talking about Rammstein's untitled seventh studio release today. Much like Everfrost’s second album from last year (And a surprise I have for next month), I’m opting for a more relaxed & personal approach to how I look at this record, and with good reason. This thing hit me like the force of 20 stars, and over a year since it’s release I still get smacked in the face whenever I listen to the whole thing. This emotional impact alone convinced me that this relaxed route is the only way to proceed, and proceed I shall! Let’s talk about Rammstein’s self-titled album, and see what the fuss was all about!

In many ways it still feels like a dream that the band put out an album. The side projects that both Richard & Till continued and started respectively certainly generated buzz for their stuff, but for Rammstein itself it seemed like false hope to a certain degree. In particular was Emigrate’s 3rd released at the end of 2018, as while it was a great release, but again it raised false hope. However, 2019 seemed to slay that false hope, as when March came around with the 1st single practically hit everybody in the head with a force of a stealthy sledgehammer. By that point it had be roughly a decade since they put out Liebe Ist Für Alle Da, and it would be an actual decade that October, so to see and hear anything new from them was nothing short of a million volt shock.

I said it before last year on here & when talking with some friends, and I will be saying it here again: listening to this self-titled album felt like meeting an old friend I haven’t seen in a decade. Not only that, but said friend has changed so much.....but he changed so much in all of the right ways. Rammstein have never felt so smooth. Never sounded so clean, and never came across like they lost their edge. In fact, this self-titled record is the most flawless thing they’ve ever released. Their last album definitely held this title for quite a while, but even by the time that no. 7 came out, a dent or two ultimately showed up. On this album, the band shows off their 25 years of experience, and their signature sound sharpened to a obsidian edge. For 46 minutes and 20 seconds, you’re bearing witness to perhaps an essential modern Industrial Metal album......and a release that more than earns the right to help close out the 2010s.

If I was to say what the best songs off of the album are, it would have to be the singles they picked to show off what the release was going to be about. For starters, there’s Deutschland. The longest song at 5 minutes & 23 seconds, it’s perhaps their most introspective track to date, as it examines the history of their home country at various different points. Factor in the music video, and this introspection becomes incredibly obvious. The pacing is perfectly balanced, as it’s not too fast but not too slow, and Till’s voice reflects this as well.

Deutschland

Next up is Radio, and much like Deutschland it’s also something of a introspective piece. However this one is a bit more personal, as it’s more about when radio laws in East Germany began relaxing, and more western/capitalist music came through. In the minds of the band when they were younger, it came across as incredibly naughty......even pornographic at times! To reflect the theme, they made a more Electronic/Industrial song that would be right at home in a dance club. Full of bleeps & boops, they never forget the drums and guitar, and weirdly enough add just a hint of Art Deco to the vibe. I don’t know how that’s possible, but somehow they did.

Radio

Then finally we got Auslander, and hoo boy they got a little politically incorrect with this one! The track that harkens back to some of their earlier material, but has the modern recording & production behind it to not make it sound and feel so old. The lyrics themselves can actually be interpreted in a variety of ways. When the song came out before the music video, there were two camps of thought in this regard: either it was a story about Till’s feeling of being abroad, or it was about the group’s experiences traveling all over the world. How did they decide to interpret the lyrics? Colonialism of course!

Auslander

But throw a dart everybody! Virtually every single song is damn good to listen to. Even Diamant (“Diamond”) is fantastic, and the only flaw is it’s 2 minute & 43 second running time. Nothing on here is skippable, and if you do then it’s a massive shame. The decade-long wait really rubbed out all of the band’s kinks from prior releases, and what we’re left with is the smoothest & cleanest Rammstein album ever, but at the same time a hint of their earliest raw edge came back to remind everyone where they once came from.

If there was anything bad to say about this album, it would be one thing......what took you so long Rammstein!? I thought that Liebe Ist Für Alle Da would be the release that stands the test of time, but after listening to this record things have massively changed. No release beforehand has every sounded so flawless, and no album has ever had such perfect recording & production quite like this one. I understand that after their 2009 outing, they didn’t want to push their luck with another recording in case they broke up, and for so long it felt like nothing was ever going to get released. We definitely had stuff from Emigrate & Till’s supergroup sideproject with Peter Tägtgren, Lindemann, but nothing would ever be as awesome as something from one of Germany’s most iconic bands. So when the first 3 singles came our they were incredible, and when the whole album finally released......it was like discovering them all over again after nearly 20 years.

Rammstein gets a 10 out of 10. No iffs, ands, or butts!

Well, that was a review of my number one album of last year......Rammstein. Not that many records in my collections pulled at my heartstrings so strongly in recent years, but this one does so with incredible swiftness and force. Even if you’re not a fan of Rammstein, or of Industrial Metal in general......this self-titled colossus should be the lone exception to that rule. Well, with this review done, I’m taking the rest of the month off to recharge & get some things done for my final posts of the year. December is just a few weeks away.....and you know what that means!

Album Review (Obscurus Metalus): A Pale Horse Named Death's When The World Becomes Undone

Hi fellow Otaku & Metalheads!

This year for November, I wanted to start a new tradition for the blog. More specifically, I wanted to cover some records from the prior year. The stuff that I enjoyed quite a bit, but I didn’t want to cover every single album I listened to. To make things easier, I wanted to cover what my number one album of 2019 is, but before that I believe something from the honorable mentions portion of the list should start things off. For the honorable mention I’m covering, it’s a piece of music I may have judged too harshly. The music in question is from a band that carries on the spirit & tradition of one of the most iconic Gothic Metal bands to have ever existed, and they’ve done so incredibly well. So sit back, relax, and take a look at my review for A Pale Horse Named Death’s long awaited 3rd record, When The World Becomes Undone. Let’s begin.

Background
It’s 2014. It’s been a year since APHND second record, Lay My Soul To Waste, was released. Sal Abruscato rejoined his other side project, Life Of Agony, for a triumphant comeback tour and contributed musical arrangements on the 2017 album A Place Where There’s No More Pain. Meanwhile on the 23rd of December in 2017, a new album was in the works for A Pale Horse Named Death per the announcement on their twitter page. A year later on the 29th of January, it was announced on their website that Matt Brown and Johnny Kelly were going to be replaced. The new band members would come in the form of Joe Taylor (Lita Ford, Doro Pesch, Corey Glover & Cycle of Pain) & Tommy Spano (Corey Glover and Sekond Skyn) as the band’s new guitarist and drummer. On the 5th of April, 2018, the band signed a new deal with SPV records and that the new album would be released on the label's Long Branch Records imprint. It was also revealed in this announcement that Johnny Kelly has rejoined the band on drums. Fast forward to October the 24th, A Pale Horse Named Death announced that their first album in six years, titled When the World Becomes Undone, would be released on January 18, 2019.

The story of the album’s name is also interesting. Sal Abruscato said that the name came to him back in 2014 during the Life Of Agony tour. As he explains:

“You could see what was beginning to happen in the world at large. Just turn on the news or look around. At the same time, there were a lot of crazy things happening in my personal life. Those struggles all became fuel for the music. It was like I had this partial sketch a while ago, and we finally filled it out this year. It evolved into what we have here.”

As for the album concept, he said this in a Kerrang! interview:

“The album is very dark and depressing about personal things that have gone on in my life, too. It’s a conceptual ride about dark things that have gone on in my life. I try not to write too specifically, so people can interpret it into their own situations. The record goes on a long, tribal, funeral [sic], up-and-down kind of vibe. The first two singles were the most upbeat songs on the album; everything else just goes at a kill yourself tempo. By the end of the album, everything is so dark, that by the time you get to the closer, which is a recording of an actual outdoor funeral with a priest speaking over a casket, it takes you really down and dark. But, you also hear a bird singing in the background, which gives it a sense of enlightenment, of something to look forward to in the end. It’s a journey — I like things very cinematic and grand.”

Basic Description
Type-O Negative in body & spirit.

It’s genuinely incredible that a band has been able to effectively continue the legacy of an iconic band, but somehow A Pale Horse Named Death did it. Their first two releases certainly showed that the group was capable of conjuring up the sound & vibe of Pete Steele’s legacy, but it’s When The World Becomes Undone that proves that the band also managed to bring the soul of the Green Man into their work. This even includes how dark Type-O Negative can be, as things got personal on this release because of what Sal Abruscato was going through at the time. Strangely enough, the heavy emotional aspect of the album makes it more suited for this year than 2019. There’s enough creepy connections between this plague-ridden time and what on When The World Becomes Undone, that said connections are highly coincidental.....yet oddly welcome at the same time.

Best Track
Love The Ones You Hate was a smart choice as the first single off of this album. The band needed something to show off the fact that they returned to the scene, and it doesn’t disappoint! The song kind of reminds me of something that could have theoretically been on Slow Deep and Hard. It has far better production & recording behind it, but it’s got a similar vibe and pace when compared to some of the songs off of Type-O’s inaugural release. Great guitarwork, drumming, and vocal work from the entire band makes the song a perfect way to show the world that A Pale Horse Named Death is back.

Love The Ones You Hate

Worst Track
Like I said last year when I talked about this record in my honorable mentions section of my top 5 list last year, I mention that APHND seemed to be more like a Grunge group experimenting with Gothic Metal than a actual Goth Metal band. After listening to it more closely this time around, I realized that was a rush of judgement thanks mostly to the comments in the album’s first single. That being said, I can at least understand why some would say that. A couple of the songs definitely have a Grunge vibe at the very least, and a little bit of Grunge instrumentation as well. As for the weak descriptor I gave it.....yeah, I don’t know why I did.

Other
If you’re curious about listening to this album, then click on the link below:

When The World Becomes Undone

Overall Impression & Rating
When The World Becomes Undone was a long awaited album from a band that carried on the mission of one of the world’s most iconic Gothic Metal bands. They may have stepped outside the boundaries of their turf a little, but at the end of the day delivered another slice of Gothic Metal perfection. When The World Becomes Undone is a damn fine release, and like I said earlier, fits disturbingly well in 2020. If you haven’t checked the album out already, then do so when you have the chance. You won’t be disappointed!

When The World Becomes Undone gets a 9 out of 10.

And that was When The World Becomes Undone. Again, the album fits eerily well within 2020, and maybe it should have been released this year instead of 2019. Always, with this honorable mention out of the way, it’s time to take a look at my number 1 album of last year, so join me a little later this month when we’ll examine what was perhaps one of the most highly anticipated releases of the 2010s. See you soon!

Anime Review: Xin

Hello fellow Otaku & Metalheads!

With the recent dethroning of Donald Trump, my thoughts turned toward anime where the bad guys have ruled over people for years, letting their greed & ego run wild. Not only that, but the hero of the day comes from a rough background, and has gone through many trials & tribulations to get to where he needs to get the job done. After thinking about it for a bit, an obscure series I was introduced to many months ago by a dear friend was floating into my mind. A series that easily meets all of these requirements, and yet.....isn’t actually an anime at all. That’s right, today marks my first “Not-Anime” anime I’ve ever watched. It’s more of a Flash series to be exact. So get on your school uniform, be sure to not piss off the bully or security force, and check out my review for Xin. Let’s begin.

Story/Setup
Taken from AnimeNewsNetwork:

“Public schools are being over run by gangs and dangerous fighters. Xin is a badass fighter that takes down who he thinks is worthless, he's been kicked out of schools for his violence. Now he's transferred to Public High School # 1368, to take down the major gang members, but he's not who they thought he was.”

Alright, let me get this out of the way....Xin is one of the most tropey shows I’ve ever watched! More specifically, it’s filled with enough shonen tropes to gag a maggot. You’ve got the lead with a mysterious past, you’ve got the spunky girl that falls for the lead, you got the sinister bad guy, etc. Even the setup for the series screams shonen, as just by that blurb alone typed above sounds like a series that would come from the land of the rising sun. It’s definitely tropey & stereotypically shonen, and yet.......that’s kind of Xin’s charm. Yes it’s tropey, but somehow it’s quite charming because of that. Sure, it’s stereotypically shonen, but there’s an innocence with the stereotyping. It’s so head-scratching when you watch the first few episodes, but it makes by the time you’re done it makes sense, and in a way acts as something of a portal to an earlier time for anime’s popularity in the United States. It’s certainly not a deep story by any means, but it’s interesting in it’s own way.

Animation
Perhaps one of Xin’s biggest issues is it’s animation. Back in 2003 to 2006 it probably was fine, but nowadays it’s perhaps the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen! It’s incredibly dated, and feels quite primitive. If I wanted to be brutal, I’d almost say it’s on par with how the original season of South Park was: characters move in a stiff manner, special effects look weak, and the passage of time has not been kind to it. I don’t feel ill in anyway when I watch it, but Xin is quite unpleasant to watch in terms of it’s looks.

Voice Acting
Much like the animation, Xin’s voice acting was fine for 2003 to 2006, but nowadays is absolutely terrible. The recording & production as far as the audio’s concerned definitely comes from the early/mid 2000s. The effort is definitely there, but by god does it not sound well. I don’t know how it sounded back in the day (Since I never watched it during it’s original release), but it has aged horribly since then. Don’t have much else to say other than....yeah, it sucks.

Characters
Much like the story, Xin’s cast of characters are the very incarnation of shonen tropes. Like I said above, there’s the lead that’s mysterious, the bubbly girl that has a thing for the lead, and the bad guy that’s effectively twirling his mustache whenever & wherever he can. But, like the story, the tropes that the characters embody adds to the charm of the entire package of the show. Granted a horde of shows nowadays is filled to the brim with shonen tropes (Something I don’t completely have an issue with), but back in the early to mid 2000s it was considerably a more novel thing, and not in so many shows. Like the story, the cast of Xin isn’t deep, but is interesting in it’s own right.

Availability & Pricing
As far as I’m aware, Xin has never been released on any physical form. DVD, Blu-Ray, you name it. On top of that, the original website that hosted it has long been since shut down. Luckily, the whole series can be found over on Youtube, and probably on Vimeo & Dailymotion as well. Right below is a link to the complete show on Youtube:

Xin (Complete Series)

Overall Impression & Rating
Xin is such a baffling show to me. On the one hand, the show has aged as well as Trump’s pre-presidental tweets. It’s dated, not visually appealing, and the audio could have had some better production behind. On the other hand, there’s something oddly charming about at the same time. Yeah it looks and sounds awful, but some of the most iconic anime weren’t necessarily the Mona Lisa either. On top of that, as shonen tropey as Xin’s story is, there’s something oddly comforting at the same time. Almost like it harkens back to a more innocent time in Otaku culture, when we didn’t take things quite so seriously & weren’t so nitpicky, and when we were having fun. I’m not sure what else to say, other than to give it a try if you’re curious.

Xin on a practical rating is a 5 to 6 out of 10. On a fun “warms my weeby heart” kind of rating.....9 out of 10. Maybe even a 10 out of 10 on some days.

And that was Xin. Quite possibly one of the oddest shows I’ve ever watched, but oddly comforting as well. As I said above, I was looking for series that best fit our political climate at this point in time in some way, and this obscure flash series managed to do just that. Well, 2019's number 1 album is getting it’s own review in just a few short days, so see you then!

The Top 10 Best DLC/Expansion Packs

 Salutations everybody!

When the term DLC come up in this modern era of gaming, people somewhat rightly have images of cheap cashgrabs that give the player subpar content. I don’t think I need to talk about the Horse Armor from Oblivion as such an example of bad DLC, however this isn’t always the case! For every bad piece of downloadable content, there’s usually an equal amount of it as well. Not only that, but back in the day some gamers may recall the various expansion packs for PC games, and like modern DLC it fluctuated between good & bad. Today I’d like to talk about what I think are 10 of the best DLC/Expansion Packs that have ever been released, and like many of my top 10 lists, it’s an odd one. Most of this list is composed of downloadable content that is geared towards FPS titles, but I do have some releases that’ll shake things up. So, without further delay, here are my top 10 best DLC/Expansion Packs. Let’s begin!

10) Diablo 3: Rise of the Necromancer (Video)

I was conflicted with what was going to be here. Like I said in September, Reaper of Souls effectively saved Diablo 3. With it’s gameplay improvements & additional content, it seemed like a shoe-in for this spot. However, I was in the beta for what I would actually put here, and that’s what ultimately led me to buy this DLC here. I think I can speak for all Diablo fans when I say that our jaws hit the floor when this iconic character was revealed at Blizzcon 2016, and when it came to Diablo 3 it was a giant nostalgia blast! I do think the 20 dollar price tag was a bit much, but at the same time it was worth it. Not only did we get a brand new class, but we got new skills & passives, items, voices, and even in-between episode cutscenes! This right here is an example of DLC that people asked for, and if you haven’t yet, I suggest you go buy it for a nice slice of nostalgia.

9) Shadow Warrior: Wanton Destruction (Video)

A bit of an oddball on an already oddball list, this expansion pack technically never had an official release. Despite the success of the main game, the lone official expansion that was being made stopped due to Shadow Warrior's nice but not as impressive sales when compared to the behemoth that was Duke Nukem 3d. However, the story only gets weirder from here: flash forward to 2005, when the former president of Sunstorm Interactive, Anthony Campiti, somehow found the files of Wanton Destruction on an old harddrive, and after contacting 3D Realms about it, he released it online for free!

There’s definitely a dent or two in Wanton Destruction. One of the secret levels is barebones, and there are some pieces in other levels that could have been worked on more. At the same time, it’s a pretty fun expansion pack! The Sunstorm vibe is very apparent, and despite the issues it obvious that the development team really cared for what they were making. The new customs models & textures were perfect for the setting, and the new lines for Lo Wang were funny like virtually everything else he said in the original game. Thanks to the Classic Redux release of the game in 2013, people who are interested in can now legitimately buy & experience one of the most obscure expansion packs in FPS history. Definitely worth the money!

8) Borderlands 3: Guns, Love, and Tentacles (Video)

Possibly one of the most charming tales in the franchise, the 2nd DLC for Borderlands 3 focuses around one of the most adorable gay couples I’ve seen in....quite honestly, any piece of media! As per usual, the story behind this DLC is way better than the main game. Basically, take one part romantic comedy, and mix in quite a bit of lighthearted Lovecraft & cosmic horror, and you have what is quite possibly one of the most ridiculous yet incredibly heartwarming tales at the same time. On top of that, the setting & atmosphere is perfect, the enemies are varied & odd, and the loot is awesome. If you like cute couples and want to cheer them on, then Guns, Love, and Tentacles is for you!

7) Skyrim: Dawnguard (Video)

I grabbed this DLC at the same time I bought the main game, thanks in part to it being on sale with the rest of the downloadable content at the time back in 2014. I was always a sucker for vampires, so it was a pretty easy choice for this list. Even not taking the story in considering, putting a system in for being a vampire. While outside in that form you’re still your normal self for the most part, you’re a magical bloodthirsy tank when you become a lord of the night. On top of that, there’s fantastic loot on the vampire side, or when you decide to become a member of the Dawnguard. Taking the story into consideration, it’s actually pretty good. There’s a moment or two where I scratched my head, but for the rest of the time I enjoyed it. The characters put in are entertaining & intriguing, and it’s interesting to see what happens to them. If by for whatever reason you never got this DLC while journeying across Skyrim, then you might want to see what the Dawnguard are offering.

6) Call of Duty: Black Ops II - Apocalypse (Video)

I’ll say this until the day I die, but Black Ops 2 is perhaps the best & most essential title in the Call of Duty franchise. The most reasonable & realistic in terms of the futuristic setting, the game has the best story and cast of characters when compared to 90% of the rest of the entries, and in my view is an example of Treyarch being at the top of their game. Even the DLC for BO2 was fantastic, as the multiplayer levels introduced were varied in terms of playstyle, but I contest to this day that Zombies was at it’s peak here. Apocalypse may not have had the best levels for multiplayer (2 of them were remakes), but what secured it’s place on this list is one thing....Origins!

For starters, it was really cool seeing younger versions of the original cast. They were radically different than what we knew of them at the time, yet there were little things that still made them feel familiar. Secondly, the setting was perfect. Take the muddy trenches & ruins of WW1 France, then slather everything in a thick coat of Dieselpunk. Oh, and don’t forget some giant Dieselpunk robots for good measure! The end result of this mixture is in my opinion the most grand level out of Zombies at the time, and maybe even today. It may be difficult to play solo, but it’s that challenge that makes it incredibly fun. For a bit of DLC to end Black Ops 2, it worked quite nicely.

5) Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City (Video)

As a way to conclude not just the 3rd game in the series, but the Dark Souls franchise as a whole, The Ringed City was a meaty package. A far more substantial piece of downloadable content than Ashes of Ariandel was, it also happens to be a considerably bigger challenge than that one. The world is at it’s most apocalyptic, the items & spells are of considerable quality for the most part, the monsters are tougher, and the bosses are perhaps more challenging than anything in the main game or the 1st DLC. As I delivered the blood of the dark soul to it’s recipient, I felt that the legacy of Dark Souls as a game series was cemented in the annals of virtual history. As a way to end it all, it’s damn good!

4) Blood: Cryptic Passage (Video)

Sunstorm Interactive. That name rings a nostalgia bell in the minds of certain gamers. For some, it’s because of their contribution to the iconic Deer Hunter series. For others like myself, they’re much more well known as a creator of expansion packs for the various build games. I already talked about one of their creations at no. 9 on this list, but this next one is a considerable step up! Blood itself is already an atmospheric game, but to see Sunstorm heighten that atmosphere across 10 levels (9 normal & 1 secret) is nothing short of incredible! Though there’s no new enemies or weapons, the level locales fit perfectly within the realm, and combined with custom textures and intricate level design, you know you’re playing a Sunstorm expansion. An opera house, a gothic library, and a creepy mountain pass are just some of the places for Caleb to slaughter his enemies, and they all lead up to the thrilling conclusion at a genuinely spooky castle. However, as great as Cryptic Passage is......there is another.

3) Duke Carribean: Life’s A Beach (Video)

Ah, Duke Nukem 3D, how much I love thee! Coming in on 25 years old next year, this classic shooter game still manages to spark the nostalgia flame in the hearts of those that grew up with it. It’s particularly personal for me, as I’ve met the voice of Duke Nukem many times, and it’s amazing at how genuinely nice he is. Back in the 90s, DN3D had a bevy of content. There were a horde of unofficial multiplayer map packs, but in 1997 there were 3 singleplayer expansions released to the public. Duke it out in D.C., Duke: Nuclear Winter, and the one I’ll be talking about here......Duke Carribean: Life’s A Beach!

Quite possibly the best piece of content that Sunstorm Interactive ever made, Duke Carribean is a blast! Though there’s no new enemies per se (Outside of seagulls that poop on you, and pigcops riding inflatable pool monsters), all of the existing ones have been decked out in tropical clothing that perfectly reflects the Carribean theme of the expansion. Same goes with the weapons: there’s nothing new, but they’ve all be reskined with a new tropical form. Pipebombs have become pineapples, the RPG has become the coconut launcher, and the shrink ray has become a voodoo ring. Even your inventory has been thematically changed, as your steroids has become a bottle of hot sauce, and your medkit has become a crate of bananas. Even the bright & colorful levels don’t escape the tropics! There’s a hotel, market, casino, and a water park to name just a few. Given the state of the world right now, perhaps a virtual trip to the Carribean is in order!

2) Quake: Dissolution of Eternity (Video)

My number 2 & my number 1 were hard. Really hard. I knew what was going to be here, but it was the order that was the challenge. It was only by a hair that this expansion to the iconic Quake got placed here at no. 2, but it was a very short hair. Even though there was Scourge of Armagon before this, I always loved Dissolution of Eternity much more than that one. Though you don’t get new weapons, you get a few new ammo types. Lava Nails for the nailguns, Cluster Grenades for the grenade launcher, Multi-Rockets for the rocket launcher, and Plasma for the Thundergun. There are also a bevy of new enemies for the Quakeguy to mow down. Haunted Swords, Wraiths, Electric Eels, and Hellspawns (Take the normal Spawns, turn them green, and make them faster) are just some of the foes that’ll get blasted away when they see you. Even the concept of this expansion I thought was cooler that Armagon, as it’s a mix of dimension hopping & time traveling. The 2nd part of it had the time travel sequences, as there’s Egyptian tombs, Mayan temples, and Greco-Roman temples to traverse. Coupled with the excellent soundtrack, and you have quite the expansion pack. If you’d like a slice of old-school fun, then you’d find this to be quite tasty!

1) Borderlands 2: Captain Scarlett and her Pirate’s Booty (Video)

Borderlands 2. Hard to believe that it’s been nearly a decade old this year, and it’ll be an actual decade in 2022. Despite Borderlands 3 having perhaps the best gameplay in the franchise at this point in time, B2 still is a very engaging game. It’s DLC is the stuff of legend, and to this day they’re all a lot of fun to play. However, it’s the first DLC that endeared me to Borderlands 2 for practically eternity. It’s one of the more simpler in terms of story, as you’re basically on a hunt for a buried treasure, but you have to deal with scurvy sand pirates.....that look & sound like British pirates that sail the seas. The loot you find fits perfectly with the pirate theme, and there’s even a series of items you find in special side quests that all have pirate curses placed upon them! I still smile to this very day when I think of this DLC, and playing it brings back some fond memories of the early 2010s for me. So if you feel like going on a grand adventure, then Captain Scarlett and her Pirate’s Booty is the adventure for you!  

And these were my top 10 best DLC/Expansion Packs! Definitely a weird list, and maybe a little two focused on First Person Shooters, but this is what I was feeling when I was making this. With the exception of Duke Carribean (Thanks in part to Randy Pitchford’s idiocy when getting the Duke Nukem license), you can find all of these for sale on various platforms & such for your enjoyment. With this out of the way, my review for my number 1 album of 2019 is near, but before that review I’ll be taking a look at one of the most obscure and bizarre anime.....and it’s technically not one at the same time. See you next week!

Food For Thought/Thought For Food No. 19: A Miracle

“On the afternoon of November 7, 2020, I felt.....elation. The darkness faded away, and hope has come back.”

Those words above weren’t spoken by anybody famous. This is what I felt earlier today when Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States, dethroning the tyrant known as Donald J. Trump after a 4-year reign of absolute terror. I confess I felt stunned at first when it was announced that Biden had won, as I was afraid that Trump would attempt to pull a stunt that would somehow prevent his rival from winning. I’m still riding on the high as we speak, and I probably will for the next day or so.

I confess that I was horrified during this campaign season. Trump’s run was so abysmal, that 4 more years would can even further damage on a scale that hasn’t been seen since the Bush administration era. Actually, Bush was quaint compared to this....I hate to use this word since he’s not, but.....this man. This.....thing. However, today is one of the few times that I believe in something approximately equivalent to God. Perhaps there is some kind of divine overlord watching over us, and he realized that America had suffered enough from the disowned son of the devil. Now, he’s still in power for a few more weeks, so there is the possibility that he could do something incredibly stupid, but I have a feeling that it wouldn’t do much in the way of damage.

Now, with Biden’s role as president secured, does this mean that I trust him and the Democratic Party once again? Fuck no I don’t! If you remember my rant from a few days ago (Read here if you haven’t done so), I said that I don’t trust the Democrats anymore than the Republicans, and I still won’t to this day. However! I trust Joe Biden & Kamala Harris faaaaaaaaar more than I trust an orange cheeto and a guy that’s afraid to be in a room with another woman when his wife isn’t there. I have faaaaaaaaar more confidence in Biden & Harris getting things done, and to better this country for everybody. There’s always the possibility that the two could screw things up worse, and I’ll complain about them as much as I did Trump and Pence, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Before I end this post, I have a few words. To Donald J. Trump himself, because I hope you’re reading this you sad excuse for a human being. You pustilating pinhead you. You neurotic nimrod. You titanic twit. Once again, this presidential run was never about the people of this country. This was never about the soul of America. From day one when you first entered the White House, this was all about you. This wasn’t about your family. This wasn’t about your “Faith”, cause you sure as hell aren’t a real Christian. This wasn’t about your supporters, and this sure as hell wasn’t about this country. This was all about......you. This was all about your bloated ego. This was all about your stained-glass spine. This was about your racist, sexist, homophobic & transphobic, greedy self. You’ve never been able to connect with anyone around you (Not even the terribly few people that follow you around), since anyone that doesn’t kiss your ass or suck your warty dick is beneath that fake face of yours. I’m not one of those people that wished you dead, cause quite frankly I don’t. I want to see you walk right out of the White House, completely disheveled, in the most uncomfortable of handcuffs, and left in a cell with a latino gangbanger that’ll beat the ever-loving hell out of you. May your legacy burn until it is nothing but ash, and may that ash waft away in the wind.

I don’t have much else to say, other than perhaps the next 4 years are going to be okay. Maybe.....things won’t be quite so bad. With that said, this changes what I got coming for the rest of November, and it will be of considerably more positive in feeling. See you so....oh wait, I got a victory song for all of us. Enjoy!

Eisbrecher - We Are All

Now I can say it.....See you soon!

Food For Thought/Thought For Food No. 18: No Idea On The Name

 “I remember on the morning of November 9th, 2016, feeling a little bit...nauseous. It felt like descending into a bottomless pit on a hot steel rail, careening headfirst into the unknown.”

The words spoken above were that of Ministry frontman Al Jorgenson off of his 2018 album, Amerikkkant, and to be more specific it came off of the second song of the record, Twilight Zone. Hey everybody, Heavy Metal Otaku here. I find myself conflicted with this Food For Thought/Thought For Food, and for a good reason. On the one hand, the thoughts that are incoming I’ve been sitting on for the past 4 years & I’m probably not the only person that feels this way. On the other hand, I have a feeling that I will lose some viewers of this blog & lose some of my friends that will read this. However, I’m going to risk it, since I really need to say what needs to be said. In any case.....here goes.

So I think that many of us can agree than the past 4 years in the United States has been nothing but an absolute Fustercluck. Not a day went by that some kind of political scandal has taken place, all thanks to the 45th president Donald Trump....and the continual de-evolution of the Democratic Party and the left. That’s right, I said it! I blame the continual shitstorm we’ve been having for nearly half a decade on both sides of the fence (Even though the seeds of this was planted years prior). It’s about high past time that we start blaming both sides in this country for all the problems we’ve been facing, rather than just one because the other guy might have a little less mud on their face or blood on their hands. Just because one side has less on them, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be put to the fire for their B.S.. To be perfectly honest, this cynical mindset I’ve had since around the end of 2016 can be traced back to that fateful November 9th. Over the years since then, my mind annoyance has morphed into something that I can only describe as apathy & hatred boiling in a pot.....so let me explain why I just don’t care anymore.

Let’s start off with the Republican Party, cause I think it’s pretty easy to call them out these days. To begin, let me just say that it’s an absolute shame at what the GOP is at this point. For ages they used to hold the liberal torch high. That’s right, these guys used to be the liberal party at one point! Nowadays, they have become the party of arrogance, ignorance, narrow-mindedness, and stagnation. Gone is the party that actually held the ideals of America, and now we have the party that is more concerned about themselves. More concerned with their own power & wealth. More concerned with holding onto what drives their greed, and more concerned with making sure that they stay on top. With the arrival of Donald Trump, these issues have only been magnified tenfold, and really show off at just how stained & pitted the party truly is.

As for Trump himself, I can only say that if my friend Ushi was alive she’d be absolutely horrified by what would be going on right now. I’m not one of those people that insinuate that he is the reincarnation, cause I think that’s a pretty easy thing to do......but hot damn if he isn’t in the ballpark at the very least! It’s not our fault that America is in shambles. It’s not our fault that our economy is tanking. It’s not our fault that we’re not “Great” anymore. It’s the fault of the foreigners! It’s the fault of the Muslims & “Illegial” Mexican Immigrants (Despite the fact that illegal immigration is actually at a 40-year low)! It’s the fault of that evil leftist media & those pesky liberals (Despite the fact that we’ve been becoming more & more conservative in recent decades, and this move was facilitated in the 90s thanks to deregulation by the FCC)! It’s the fault of that awful Socialism (Which is funny, because every modern economy in the world has a little Socialism in it)! Pretty much, it’s everybody else fault, ad we’re just the poor innocent victims. We’re just so blameless......despite the fact that a lot (But not all) of the problems in the world can be traced back to us in some capacity. Fuck off with that crap!

And if by chance Mr. President that you just so happen to see this.....I hope this was all worth it. I hope destroying the faith of the world in us was worth it. I hope lining your weak pockets was worth it. I hope it was worth it when you helped a plague ravage this nation & kill 220,000+ people, one of which was my old friend’s mother....simply because you didn’t want to generate a “Panic”. I hope that creating a base of blind fanatics that you’ve trained to hate fact & reason was worth it, and I hope the further radicalization of the Christian right was worth it. To be perfectly honest, because of your actions I see no difference between this:

And this: 

There is no difference between these two pictures. At the end of the day, they are both blind followers that are practically allergic to fact & the truth. Using their false blind faith to bully everyone around them, to scare people onto their side of the fence, and they don’t give a damn who they hurt in the process. At the end of the day, it’s all about them, and damn anyone that shatters their stained glass fragile ego.

Mr. President, from day one this was never about the betterment of America. This was all about you. It’s been that way for decades. It hasn’t even been about your goofy idiot son. It hasn’t even been about your goofy idiot son in law. It hasn’t even been about your pornstar wife. It hasn’t even been about your twit of a daughter, who ironically enough I liked for a brief moment because she stayed quiet most of the time, then look at how well that ended up. You never once in your life had to worry about a job, or money, or whether your next meal would come from. From day one you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth & a silver dildo up your ass. You don’t know what it was like for my Mother, when she had to scrap, scrounge, and save as much as she could to take care of my family. You don’t know what it was like for my Father, who had to move all of us around when he went from job to job. Hell, you don’t even know what it’s like for most of your cult, since you’ve seen them as nothing but tools to exploit & throw to the side when they’re no longer of use to you. Hell, even most of your original cabinet was gone, simply because they wouldn’t go along with the fact that you’re just so “Brilliant” and such a “Winner”. You are everything that is wrong with this country, and the only good thing you’ve done in your entire run is show off the loopholes of our system & just how fucked we genuinely are.

Oh, and three more things. One: I didn’t know that masks turned big tough patriots into whiney little shits. Grow a damn spine, wear one, and maybe we can curb the plague enough so we have a hint of normality at least. Two: if you’re such badasses then why did you surround a Biden bus a day or two ago? If Trump is gonna win again, then what was the point other than showing off how tiny of a prick you have!? Three, and this is the big one: America is not a Christian nation. Never was. If you’d actually bother & look at the history of our founding fathers, you’d know that they were atheist! Outside of George Washington (And even then I believe he was of the faith only out of respect), all of the founders of this country were godless heathens! The only reason they didn’t suppress those of the cloth, and of all cloths to be honest, was because they knew that if they did, then we’d be no better than the nations that did just that.

Now for the Democrats & the left. Before I go on with this part, let me just say this. I am a Democrat. I am a leftist, and I am a liberal. I’ve been this way since I registered to vote back in 2005 when I turned 18, and even before that I had some feelings like this. To this day, I still feel strongly for my side of the fence, and I do not hide my politics whenever someone asks me. I also do not hide who I vote for, and I will fully admit here that I voted for Barack Obama both times, and more often than not I will vote Democrat. With that being said, I in now way identify with the Democratic Party. Haven’t been able to for the past 4 years. They have not been left since the 90s, when the Clintons took the Liberal party away from it’s home on the left, and move them to the middle to satisfy their centrist agenda. Don’t believe me? Just look up both of Clintion’s runs. He didn’t come across like a Democrat. He came across like someone who was sitting on the middle of the fence! His actions & policies came from someone that is in the middle. Not on the left. From there, the party just decayed & decayed until the absolute joke that they are now. Outside of Obama’s runs, the party has firmly become something that those in the middle would just salivate, and it just makes me weep.

What about those outside of the party, but stay true to the left & liberalism? This is a bit more tricky to dissect. On the one hand, when they decide to champion a cause that’s just & beautiful, they go with it. Black Lives Matter, for example, is a cause that’s worth pursuing. On top of that, issues that may have fallen by the wayside by both parties they will often pick back up & hold them high for all to take notice, and to me that’s gorgeous. My problem is that for every cause they pick up & support, there are dozens more of legitimate causes that they don’t pursuit or don’t think are trendy enough. Remember the transgender bathroom issue from a couple years ago? Every once in a while you might hear something from a few individuals, but for the most part? Not a single peep is being uttered, which is a shame since they deserve equal & safe opportunity to use the John also. This happens all the time, and I think it’s sad.

On top of that, if you are not down for the cause. If you’re not down for whatever issue the left wants to fix? You’re racist. You’re sexist. You’re homophobic. You’re transphobic. You’re capitalist. Wow, for a side that claims to be tolerant, it’s amazing at how intolerant they are. I’m not talking about people who are actually racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic, cause anyone who’s any of those 4 labels is quite frankly a nimrod. I’m simply talking about people that just disagree with the left. People who just find something about an aspect of whatever cause liberals believe in, and they just disagree with it. If you’re not down for the cause, then you’re part of the problem, and there’s no hope for you. That’s not very tolerant. That actually sounds....intolerant! Go friggen figure!

Finally, and this is the thing that gives me a brain aneurysm whenever I think of the left, is the sheer fetishisation of Socialism. Now, I think socialist policies can be a good thing! Socialized health care (Which, btw, was originally a Republican idea going back to the days of Teddy Roosevelt, but up & died when Reagan failed to make it stick before the left picked it up), social security, etc. A few socialist policies here & there are good for an otherwise capitalist society, but to base an entire country or nation on Socialism in nothing short of a recipe for disaster! Don’t believe me? Please, just look up Soviet Russia from back in the day, or Cuba, or even parts of South America (Venezuela especially). Those 3 examples are why I call myself a Capitalist! Not because I agree with the ideology, cause most of the time I don’t, but because at least I still have my individuality in tact & I don’t have to worry about starving. Outside of a terribly few examples in the world (Here & abroad), Socialism by & large is a failure, and it’s all due to the fact that like Capitalism, human nature is never factored. I find it utterly baffling that in recent years all of a sudden the left jumps on the socialist bandwagon, while years prior you didn’t hear a damn peep. So frustrating!

All of this culminates in the fact that I finally thrown my hands up. I just don’t care anymore. I don’t trust a single political side in this country anymore. All sides are dirty. All sides have a little mud on their face, and all sides have a bit of blood on their hands. The Democrats & Republicans have long since abandoned the people that believed in them, and for decades became concerned with their self interests. All sides at this point just want to be trapped in their own bubbles & echos chambers, hearing only what they want to hear & whine when something even just a tiny bit pokes their head into the window. All of this is why I say let it crumble & let it burn. Not necessarily because I’ve lost hope, but because of the fact that if Left & Right (Not Trumpers or everybody else. Not Conservatives or Liberals) don’t want to compromise, then what the hell is the point of trying to fix things in this nation we all live in. Does this mean that I’m not voting? Fuck no! I’m happily going to the voting booth tomorrow with my Mother, and proudly voting for Joe Biden. Not because I trust or like him, because I don’t, but I trust him far more than who we have now. Just because I’ve gotten too cynical when it comes to our political system, doesn’t mean I’ll stop showing the system my voice & opinion.

At the end of the day, I think the quote below (Which I found earlier last week) perfectly describes why I don’t have faith in the system anymore. Why I don’t trust any political party. Why I don’t have faith in all sides coming together to fix this once grand nation, and why I think we are truly screwed:

“One of the things I've noticed and found deeply disturbing over the past 1376 long days tRump has occupied the office of President is that, as a society, American's have become obsessed with "winning".... at all cost, at any expense.  It's become a game of zero compromise, everything is black and white, and if your political party isn't "winning" they are losers.  This has cost relationships, families, friendships, businesses, and most importantly it has cost hundreds of thousands of lives.  All for the sake of the idolized notion of winning and utterly destroying or demoralizing your opponent in the process.  We used to be a nation that was hell bent on winning as a nation, through unity and compromise.  Now we are a nation of political rivals that have been pitted against each other by an evil reality show host who has clearly defined the rules of "If you're not winning, you are a loser!".  It's a terrifying place to be as a nation and it polarizes absolutely everything we do.  It's exactly why 220,000+ have died from this virus, because it's not about unifying and compromising and winning as a nation... It's about proving the other side wrong and both sides going their own way at it and we are living through the disastrous results.”
- Chuck Dillingham from Tiki Against Trump

Again, thank you all very much for sticking through with this. To those of you who still are my fans, family & friends, and will still stand by my side I thank you. To those of you who won’t frequent this blog anymore & don’t want to be my friend because of what I said here, then I completely understand, and wish you luck on your future endeavors. Now, with the election being such a short distance away, it may determine some the content that gets release here, so join me in a few short days when I’ll do a follow up to this about who gets elected. Hopefully the right person wins, but I don’t have much hope. See you very soon.