Album Review (Obscurus Metalus): Stereo Nasty's Twisting The Blade

Happy St. Patrick’s Day fellow Otaku & Metalheads!

As I’m probably posting this up in the morning, I hope that today goes well for all of you. Later on, I hope you have a good can of Guinness (If you drink), a nice hot Reuben in front of you, and you got a few good mates sitting on both sides of yee! So last year I looked at the first album from an Irish metal band by the name of Stereo Nasty, but unfortunately they’ve been gone for I believe 4 years at this point. Regardless, there was some legitimate potential for these guys to be something pretty special in my opinion, and their first album was definitely a sign they could have made it big. Does their second and ultimately last record continue to show of their strengths? Well, let’s not waste anymore time, and take a look at Stereo Nasty’s second release, Twisting The Blade. Let the review begin!

Background
Kinda like last year, it’s pretty hard to find information about these guys. There’s not that many articles interview, and I’ve only seen maybe one brief meeting with the band. As such, it’s damn near impossible to find out what Stereo Nasty was doing after the release of Nasty By Nature, so I can only assume that their first album did well enough that they were able to get a second one out on the first of July in 2017.

Basic Description
Richer.

Stereo Nasty definitely up-ed their game on Twisting The Blade. Compared to what they did on Nasty By Nature, the band were trying to have a little more depth with the music. The guitars & bass are heavier, the drums are louder, and the vocals are ever more harsher (But in a good way). TTB also doesn’t have much of an amateur vibe as NBN, showing that the band was more than willing to grove & evolve their music. Nothing else to say really!

Best Track
Vengeance is an oddball of a track on Twisting The Blade, and even the band’s brief musical discography. Playing for just 2 minutes & 16 seconds, it is Stereo Nasty’s only instrumental piece, but it is a sinister one! The tune feels like something you’d hear in a Slasher movie, which isn’t a surprise considering what this album’s name is. Composed of nothing but guitar & bass, Rud Holohan and Adrian Foley really make things creepy with the low yet murderous tones they’re making. An absolutely chilling song you don’t want to hear at night!

Vengeance

Worst Track
Twisting The Blade, like I said a little earlier, was a step up from what Stereo Nasty doing the first time. The band was most certainly trying to diversify their sound, and the results speak for themselves. That being said, there are plenty of times where TTB comes across as pretty similar to what was on Nasty By Nature. There’s plenty of moments where the audio sounds similar, and even the vibe at times. That being said, and I’ll repeat this in a bit, but there is way more going on here that’s new & fresh. Again, Stereo Nasty seem to be taking things in just enough of a different direction that Twisting The Blade feels like it has an identity that’s not completely like it’s predecessor, and if the band stayed together I would have loved to hear more.

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

Stereo Nasty - Twisting the Blade

Overall Impressing & Rating
Twisting The Blade was a definite improvement over the band’s first output. Though the sound is somewhat similar to Nasty By Nature, there is way more audio that’s new than the audio that old or similar. Stereo Nasty were a group of Irish lads that were bringing back the old ways, and the potential for them to be something more (Maybe even international) is most obviously there. It’s a shame, however, that the group broke up before this could theoretically happen. Kinda like their first release, Twisting The Blade is just a fun & simple time, so give it a go if it comes your ways!

Twisting The Blade gets a 8 to 9 out of 10.

And that was my second look at the sadly now defunct Stereo Nasty. Twisting The Blade was a rare glimpse into the world of Irish Heavy Metal, and showed that the Emerald Isles could rock out as much as anywhere else in the world. These guys could definitely have been something on the Heavy Metal world stage, what little music they did release was lovely regardless. So, I’m taking the rest of March off. See you all in April!



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If you’d like to see my review for Stereo Nasty’s first album, click the link below:

Album Review (Obscurus Metalus): Stereo Nasty's Nasty By Nature

Also, here is a link to a concert of their’s from back in 2016:

Stereo Nasty - Full Show - Live at Old Grave Fest V - 07.10.2016

5 Of My Favorite MTG Cards (Green Edition 2.0)

Happy St. Patrick’s Week fellow Otaku & Metalheads!

This coming Friday is the day where we all don our most green clothes, crack open the closest Guinness or other form of alcohol, and overall be merry about the Irish saint driving out all of the snakes from the Emerald Isle. As someone who is part Irish, the incoming holiday means just a little more to me than some. So, to celebrate the occasion, I got some green themed goodies in store for you. Today’s post is one I did last year, showing off some of my favorite MTG cards that just so happened to be as green as a four-leafed clover, and just for fun I’m doing it again! So without further delay, here are 4 of my favorite MTG cards that are green......2.0!

1) Ruxa, Patient Professor (Strixhaven Commander)

Our list begins with a bit of a strange one, but also from one of my top 3 sets of all time! Hailing from the Quandrix school, this bear of a teacher is all about teaching the basics. So much so, that she gives bonuses & helps out creatures that don’t have any abilities. Doesn’t matter if it’s base creatures or creature tokens, Ruxa lives up to her name of being a patient sage to her students. If you’re willing to take your time, you’ll find that Ruxa is a pretty potent professor!

2) Isao, Enlightened Bushi (Betrayers Of Kamigawa)

And here we come to another odd one on this list. When we first visited Kamigawa back in the mid 2000s, our first glimpse at that plane’s samurai was among the colors of White, Red, and Black. Betrayers was a big departure from that triad of colors, and we were given the lone Green samurai of the original block. Further adding to the weirdness is that he can actually prevent samurai from dying. Granted, you need a little bit of mana open to do it, but he can prevent a swordman from going into the beyond. It’s a little strange, especially since there has be hardly any Green samurai released since Isao came out, but the concept is cool!

3) Old Gnawbone (Adventures In The Forgotten Realms)

Overpowered as hell!

This gigantic green dragon that prowls the woods is an absolute monster! Not only does she have some beastly stats herself, but she & any other creatures you control can generate absolute tons of wealth. All of the treasure you create can be incredibly massive, especially if you have other big beefy critters that can deal a lot of damage. With all of that treasure lying around, you can definitely cast some other big things, and that’s always a plus for me!

4) God-Eternal Rhonas (War Of The Spark)

Before we had the Phyrexians finally spread their evil across the Multiverse, the last big threat players faced was that of Nicol Bolas & his attempt to regain his former power. Taking over the plane of Ravnica in an effort to harvest the sparks of planeswalkers, he brought with him an army that our heroes had a tough time dealing with, and heading parts of his army were the zombified dead gods of the world Amonkhet. One of them was Rhonas, the former god of strength, was now leading a portion of this army. Because of his state, he’s got new ways to boost your creatures, and can even come back from the dead! Thankfully, our heroes were able to imprison Bolas seemingly for good, and the gods could rest in piece.

5) Baru, Fist Of Krosa (Future Sight)

I realized when I made this 2nd list, that pretty much all of the creatures picked were legendary, so let’s end things on a legendary mechanic. Grandeur was an intriguing idea outside of commander: have multiple copies of a legendary creature that had Grandeur, and discard them to activate an effect. It was certainly interesting, but given it was only on five creature that were also Futureshifted (The gimmick of the 3rd part of the Time Spiral block), it’s obvious that it probably wasn’t going to be used much......but it was at least a neat concept!  

And those were 5 more of my favorite green MTG cards. Like last time, I certainly had quite the selection, but they all happened to fit the moment. So, with this first celebration of one of the most vibrant colors completed, join me on St. Patrick’s Day itself for a 2nd look at an Irish band that could have been. See you soon!




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Here’s a link to last year’s list:

5 Of My Favorite MTG Cards (Green Edition)

Food For Thought/Thought For Food No. 28b: Thought There Was Hope

So, remember when I said I’d put out an update if new info on Pikamee appeared? Well, there has been new stuff that’s come to light.....just not the kind anyone wanted to hear.

Just over a day ago on the 1st of March, 2023, Pikamee re-emerged after receiving copious amount of harassment over EXPRESSING INTEREST in playing Hogwarts Legacy. I want to repeat that.......EXPRESSING INTEREST! She stated in her must recent video (I'll have a link below) that on the 31st of March (In Japan Time), she will be permanently retiring/graduating from her Vtuber activities, and from the internet itself it seems. Pikamee stated that she will be removing all of her content off of her Youtube page once the 31st comes around (Twitch material I think is also getting removed), but it’ll still be up beforehand, so download any of it if you can!

I admit when I watched Silvervale tell off the Bullshit Justice Warriors, I was grinning from end to end, and I was hoping that the rest of the Vtubers targets by these senseless attacks would raise their middle fingers in unison. Sadly this is not the case, and one of the kindest & sweetest vtubers has been thoroughly silenced by these nimrods. I can’t even remotely begin to feel what Pikamee is going through & feeling right now: for a very long time she had to deal with a lot of bullying, thanks to being Japanese & American living in Japan. Once she got into Vtubing, all of that bullying seemed to go away, and in fact was able to connect with two different audiences because of her heritage! Her cute & gentle vibes were always welcoming, and her streams were always entertaining. Even when she collabed with other vtubers, she brought an energy that was just infectious! For example.....

Pikamee Causes Chaos In My Kitchen (Onigiri)

So to see this innocent Tea Kettle get bullied away from the thing she loves is sad. To see all of these fake activists take victory laps is pathetic. To see ACTUAL Trans activists & Trans causes get completely dumped on because of the fakes that have been doing nothing but doxxing, harassing, and sending death threats to Vtubers instead of actually taking time & energy out of their pathetic lives to actually promote and participate in Trans causes shows how they don’t actively contribute anything & are just a waste of space. With Pikamee leaving the thing she loves, this will just ignite the Bullshit Justice Warrior base even more. Lord only knows who they’re going to go after next.

My final thoughts? It’s only going to get worse from here. This was a victory for the Bullshit Justice Warriors, and it’s only going to get worse as the year goes on.

So, yeah, I said I was going to do an update when new info came out.....it’s just a shame it was something not pleasant. Hopefully, I don’t have to do another one of these, as that will probably be just mindless ranting. In any case, I can now work on some special Green related posts, so join me next time when the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day returns. See you then!


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Pikamee’s graduation announcement:

Arigatou! (Pikamee)

Shylily continuing to be a voice of reason:

Lily Talks About Pikamee Graduating (Shylily)

Even Biden, Trump, and Obama showed love for Pikamee:

Trump, Obama and Biden react to Pikamee graduation...

Food For Thought/Thought For Food No. 28: Enough Is Enough (But There's Hope)

I wanted to wait a few weeks on this one. This is a pretty touchy subject....perhaps even more so when I do one of these angry rants of mine. I wanted to wait until more information came out, so as to maybe sounds a little more intelligent while I’m popping a blood vessel. This one might also ruffle some of your feathers a little more than previous anger spasms of mine, and I wouldn’t be surprised if any of you leave.....possibly for good. So with that out of the way.....here.....we.....go.

I think most of us know about the J.K. Rowling controversy, but for the terribly few people who aren’t in the know, back in 2020 the author of the iconic Harry Potter franchise decided to shoot her foot off with a shotgun in some pretty awful statements towards the Trans community. Effectively because of these statements, she came out as a Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist, or T.E.R.F. for short. Now, as a non-trans guy, I can only even remotely begin to understand what those in the Trans community went through when this first happened. Especially those in the Trans community that were die hard Happy Potter fans, I can scarcely guess as to what they were feeling when this all went down. Because of her actions, many Trans & Non-Trans people understandably flipped their shit, and began a campaign to shame this woman into oblivion (Rightfully or Wrongfully, I’ll leave that up to you).

However, I’m not talking about those people today. I’m not talking about actual Trans rights activists, who promote & work on actual causes that help Trans people. I’m not going to be talking about Trans individuals who were hurt by what J.K. said & did. The people I’m talking about today are the so-called “Activists”. The people online who claim to be trans allies, but in reality are Bullshit Justice Warriors of the highest degree. The people who don’t even bother looking into Trans/LGBTO causes, and instead spend seemingly every minute of their pathetic lives causing nothing but pain, suffering, and annoyance to everyone unfortunate to cross their path. In particular, the BJWs who have done nothing but harass, doxx, and send death threats to the various Vtubers who’ve either simply expressed interested in playing Hogwarts Legacy, or who have been actively playing Hogwarts Legacy. 2 Vtubers in particular were reemed with particular savagery.....and they just so happened to be some of the most beloved Vtubers out there.

For starters, there’s Pikamee. Since 2020, this adorable little tea kettle has released some highly entertaining VODs over on Twitch. Because of her heritage, she was able to easily connect to both her Japanese & English audiences without trouble. In early February of 2023, she had expressed interest in playing “That Wizard Game” that so many people call Legacy. Again, merely expressed interest in playing Hogwarts Legacy. Because of this expressed interest, Pikamee was immediately made into a target by the fake activists, and was a victim of horrific amount of harassment. So much so, that it has been weeks since she posted anything to her Twitter & Twitch, and it’s pretty worrisome that she hasn’t said anything since. Now, I haven’t watched her all that much outside of a few clips & her collab with with Onigiri, but from what little I have seen, I can tell that she’s one of the sweetest & kindest Vtubers/People I have never seen. Pikamee is the living embodiment of inclusive, and would never turn away anyone regardless of race or gender. The fact that she became a target simply for expressing fucking interest in a game, and because of said expressed interest received a torrent of pure hatred. Fans of hers are really worried, and are hoping that she hasn’t done anything drastic to herself.

Fans Are Concerned About Pikamee After Hogwarts Legacy Harassment (Rev Desu Says)

However, nothing has ever been so tragic & rage-inducing to me as that of what Silvervale has gone through because of this fiasco. Anyone who knows me personally knows that I love this wholesome Sakura Wolf girl. Anyone who knows her streams know that she’s one of the kindest, sweetest, coziest, happiest, most welcoming, and even occasionally lewd streamers our there. She is filled with so much love for her chat & fanbase (Petal Pals), it is within the realm of impossibility to think that she would be Transphobic. Unfortunately, the army of Bullshit Justice Warriors doesn’t seem to think so, since she played the game, and that’s like kicking a puppy in their eyes. So, Silver was assaulted by so much doxxing & death threats.....she broke down on stream.

Silvervale harassed to tears by Hogwarts Legacy antis (Beelz FlyLord)

Again, I must state the fact that I’m not talking about ACTUAL Trans Activists! Actual Trans Activists do their part to make actual change for their community & cause. Actual Trans Activists shut the fuck up once their goals are met, but this shit that’s been going on!? None of this doxxing.....none of these death threats......is fucking activism! If anything, all of this bullshit justice has set the Trans cause back by a decade. A FUCKING DECADE! It’s shit like this that sets back all good social causes in this country, and by extend the world! It’s shit like all of this doxxing & threatening that makes all of these legitimate causes look like jokes! Perhaps most of all, it’s all of this kind of shit that got Donald Trump into office, as well as give the Alt-Right ammunition that they have been using perfectly & flawlessly for the past few years.....and I’ll just leave it at that.

So you’re probably wondering at this point where the “But There’s Hope” part kicks in. Considering how pissed off I sounded before this (Despite not really swearing all that much), it’s easy to dismiss anything even remotely positive. However, there’s this:

"Twitter Freaks" Enraged By Silvervale's Latest Stream (Rev Desu Says)

Again, Pikamee sadly hasn’t been heard from for a few weeks now by this point (Hopefully, nothing has happened to her), but it is nice to see another Vtuber stand up to all of the fakes who say they’re Trans allies, but are really just attention whores who say they’re “Activists” in an effort to get a few minutes in the spotlight. It’s nice to see someone not let people who actively damage causes keep them down, and instead raise a middle finger to all of the trolls who are out only for blood & fame. Many other Vtubers have simply decided not to play Hogwarts Legacy, and I totally respect their decision (Maybe even a smart decision in some cases), but I also appreciate those that do play it & don’t let the fakes get to them. It’s oddly refreshing is this modern age, so I’ll leave it at that.

My final words: real activists keep the cause alive, fake activists cause problems & ruin causes, and the only way to put the fakes in their place is to not give in, and throw a little shade back at them. Now that I got this out, we can get to some fun things for March! So join me a little later this month, when we’ll all be looking at some green. See you soon!


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From Elara (Another Vtuber) a few days ago. There’s a discussion that starts at the 1 hour & 36 minute mark, and it offers another view on the situation. It goes on for a little bit, but it’s worth watching.

YOU'VE NEVER SEEN A TEA TIME LIKE THIS! (Elara Vtuber)

Also, when anymore Pikamee info comes out, I will either update this post, or make a mini sequel to this FFT/TFF. Also Also, here’s a link below to The Trevor Project: which actually helps Trans & LGBTQ people:

https://www.thetrevorproject.org/

Also Also Also, here’s Shylily’s take on the whole situation:

Lily's thoughts on the Hogwarts Legacy Twitter drama (Shylily)