Iceni

The French-Canadian thematically pseudo-Hindu guys FA recommended. Parts of this remind me of Quo Vadis, who remain my favorite tech-death band despite being a de facto moribund institution.

I really loved the idea on that one, very unique stuff. That said, the monotony got on my nerves to an unacceptable extent. Just make the songs shorter and you'd be golden...

That was my thought...

Encore plus de Quebecois? Don't mind if I do. The sound kinda slides. I like that... How's that Echidna treating you? Glad to see you making more hikes up in my neck of the woods.

"....And The Mirror Cracked" by Disillusion.

Iceland's been producing some good shit lately. Toska and Zhrine are two of my favorites.

"Artificial Sun Projection" by Scar Symmetry. Catchy standout song from these guys.

"Whispers of Creation" by Tethys. It's OK so far. There's better tech-death around but this is pretty solid.

Oh, OK! I thought I saw sheaves of wheat. Interesting then that the discord between brothers is placed over Eve. I don't have any art to show for it, but as a brief tangent I think the deep sea/ocean more generally as an alternative to space is underappreciated. Lots of really cool vistas and and atmosphere. The guy who writes One Piece might be the only author I know of who's explored it to a really appreciable extent within a more modern fantasy medium. Biggest draw of ocean over space is that there's so much life down there of such a variety.

@FatherAlabaster The Adam and Eve comparison most got my attention. Looks like they were intentionally made with a resemblance. Interesting that Adam covers his chest but Eve seems content to go bare-breasted. What are the figures on the top right doing? Top left looks like Cain and Abel but the other one is harder for me to figure out.

I found it light as well, which was part of the IE analysis. That whole concept of ambient, languid bubbling guitar with very snappy drums seemed particularly emblematic. Now that you mention it there was a fair amount of Rush in there. I'm not familiar with their broader work, so this one came off as really odd by contrast with what I'd heard.

I'm a rare creature.

DC's good to visit. Museums are pretty good. Living here is a different kettle of fish.

Still in the DC area. It's political. Of course it is. Trump's election brought out the worst in everyone and nobody can stop talking about it. Very preppy. Everyone with any money dresses in strict accordance with style guidelines. Teeming with yuppies who drink all the time. Drivers are lousy. Public transport is being retooled so we don't get delays out the ass, but its still a pretty good system. Food's too damn expensive where I live, and the grocery store is meager. Summer this year was exceptionally mild but usually the weather's disgusting humid crap that makes you feel like a pig the second you step outside. Winter's very cold. Autumn is the best season. I like the presence of greenery in the nearby areas but it's lost its luster. Unfortunately I gotta learn to love this limestone bog because there's nowhere else I can reasonably expect to do African politics work in the US. At least this year I've been blessed with what is very cheap rent for the area, but the second I find a drier, less formal and doggedly left-wing area where I can pursue my career I'm taking it.

Overwatch is my shit, been playing it for about a year now. About level 400 at the moment, and it's still great. I found a decent clutch of people to play with on PC and we've had a lot of fun.

I've actually written a manga chapter as a birthday present for a friend before. Did it again this year but ended up being the length of about three chapters. Composing fight scenes is a bitch...

One of the schools I'm applying to for Masters study is UCLA. Would love being in LA for two years...major city with zero humidity, a car culture and gigs galore, close to NM so flights are cheaper...yes please. Also applying to Pitt and I hear Pittsburgh is nice.

Swano has his own style that I've yet to see imitated, let alone expounded upon. Love most of his main work.

Pretty sure nobody else will be affected by this song the way I am, but "I AM" by Theocracy is a prog-power masterwork. Matt Smith can me a spectacular composer when he wants to be, and the vocal arrangements here are superb. It's also a magnificent triumphant hymn of Easter, one man's attempt to depict the fullness of God with a compelling simplistic lyric structure. My favorite song is "Long Way Home" by Threshold. At first it was because it was the coolest and techiest song I'd ever heard. That's definitely not true, but its lyrics have stood the test of time. A simple but under-examined notion, about a man who knows what he has to do but is just taking a long time to do it and knows he must overcome his own flaws in order to ensure his future. He knows what he must do, it only remains to summon the will to do it. The general idea continues to be very strongly pertinent to my own life. It's a solid song besides, Threshold at their best with the one and only Andrew MacDermott at the helm.

I remember Syuurin making some statement to the effect that certain varieties of metal cater to toxic permutations of masculinity and that in some sense this was an occupational hazard of being a metal band as the genre lends itself to a masculine style. Got me wondering what feminine metal might sound like and whether drawing a dichotomy there makes any amount of sense.

Agree wholeheartedly - my favorite doom album. Their latest wasn't bad either though. You want something similar, with even deeper vocals and odd melodies, check out Fallen: https://fallendoom.bandcamp.com/releases

The new Akercocke. They seem to have listened to one hell of a lot of Inanimate Existence because the new album has a lot from their repertoire. Not complaining, I love IE and it's a direction that has precedent in Akercocke's discography. It's just surprising...I suppose this is what happens when you drop Asmodeus from the lineup.

Thanks, guys! Feeling a bit better about the whole thing since I made some progress. Forgot more math than I thought, but at least it didn't completely atrophy. Language skills as good as ever, writing chops vastly improved...just gotta bang out these practice tests and then I'll be prepped for the real deal on Nov. 2.

Examples? I'd be curious to see if I've been missing stuff from these historical works you're mentioning.

David Dubenic - lead for Dissona, a band that I hope become a prog-power institution. Deep, sonorous bass. Robert Leger - kinda like a slightly smoother Hansi Kusch, perfectly suited to Solar Fragment and a powerful baritone. Jonathan Grant Griffin of Lo-Ruhamah. He absolutely killed it on the band's latest album. You rarely come across a harsh vocalist who stands out, but Griffin can portray an impressive spectrum of emotions and textures with his growls and shrieks. I didn't care for "Anointing" on the first listen, but Griffin roared out a phenomenal performance.