Three Star Smash

Greets to the Ant-Cult from KidMUD '97. To Medea: Portal the Darkmaster is still sorry about hacking that friendly fireball spell to Level 20 and blind casting down a hallway in Diablo. Whoops. Should've had a Scroll of Resurrection handy... I was still real green, OK? Thanks for introducing me to Drizzt and Zaknafein. Meet at the Red Gryphon? /me quaffs blue mana potion #justwizardthings

Paracelsus, “The Noble Art of Dissidents”

”Well, they’re here. I locked the door, but I can see them through the window. One of them is waving at me to shut down. I’m giving him the finger. I’ll shut down when I’m goddamn good and r--” *rifle fire* *police sirens* I had a cure, for your disease But you threw it away And you made it clear I was not welcome on these seas And you threw it away So I sailed and I sailed for so long My hair grew long and my heart grew cold I face certain death without you near And I felt the storm and swam until the skies were clear And I found a home along this crooked road And all of this would have been All of this could have been yours All of this should have been All of this could have been yours Black clouds roll, right over red doors As the waves were high Sooo was I And the moon never looked so angry As when your walls came crumbling down. It was so beautiful It was so peaceful All the destruction, it was quiet All of this would have been All of this could have been yours All that you love, will be carried away Oh all that you love, will be carried away All of my pain, that you put on my name All of my doubt, and all of my shame All of my guilt, my denial and fear All of my hatred and all of my tears All of the time that I couldn’t go home All of the times that I froze all alone All of the sadness all of the lies All of the shadows that blackened my eyes All of the servants, who cheated, who stole All of the colors from the depths of my soul All of the wounded, that you left for dead Now creep in the corner, they're all in my head All of the dreams that you made nightmares All of the silence, deafening stares All of the ships who can't carry loads You wrecked in anger, along distant shores All of this would have been All of this could have been yours All of this should have been All of this could have been yours

Billy’s really channeling his inner Banshee with this album, which is delightfully something like goth synthwave hard rock. 

Like many I’m sure, Lauren Babic first came on my radar after she did a cover with Gerard Vachon of “Mikasa” by Veil of Maya which I prefer to the original. Her band Red Handed Denial has been going since she was 17, and with “Father Said” they’ve reached a new milestone. The blend of heavy and catchy; effortless-sounding bridges between throat-ripping screams and angelic honey; the tiny dash of synthwave for seasoning; and the main course, the chorus, which hits hard vocally, instrumentally and lyrically, all add up to what is easily the best song RHD have written to date. I’m excited to see them explore this sound further on their new record I’d Rather Be Asleep, out June 3. If you liked it, be sure to check out Lauren’s live vocal one-take performance of the song, too.

GPT-3 may really be the biggest thing since Bitcoin.

These Twitch compilation albums are basically From the Gallery of Sleep, Pt. II - ??. Definitely check it out if you enjoyed that record as much as I did and are having trouble waiting for a new Night Verses album.

Just came from a livestream today on July 24, 2020 and Nick played back the fruit of the previous session. Watch out for ”twitch 26″ in the July compilation! Amazing, emotional section near the end of that one.

Modern tune (2019-2020) playing back through MaxYMizer tracker and the ever-sweet 3-voice PSG Atari ST YM2149 chip.

I’m glad we have this band and their earnest, unpretentious synthwave pop providing shelter away from the unchained psychopathy of 2020.