Category Archives: Reviews

Reviews

(review) Love Equals Death – Gravity And Grace(SBÄM Records, Say-10 Records)

Leave a comment

California´s veterans Love Equals Death are back with their brand new full length album, long awaited and it is a blast. There is an instrumental intro A Tale Of Two Storms and then nine songs of absolute darkened vibe and beauty. Love Equals Death play melodic punk rock with base in horror punk but evolving into a darkened punk rock yet staying in horror and a bit depressive sounding melodies, melancholy and a bit sadness. Musically, if I must compare them to some one it would be AFI certainly with a bit of Blitzkid here and there. Vocals are great, varying from melodic and clean to more shouted and aggressive sounding voice. Superb lyric lines, such nice choruses and melodies make my blackened heart jump with joy, although they sing about fighting your inner demons, suicide, depression, loss and surviving. My personal favorite are The Letter, which was an excellent choice for a single, Hollywood Ghost, Adolescent Heart and A Sequence Of Arcs. This one is for me one of the highlights of this year in punk rock for sure. My total wholehearted recommendation.

movie, Reviews

(movie) Woodland Grey (2021) is a paranoia infused folk horror beauty.

Leave a comment

Folk horror is very popular these last few years and in the flood of some great and some bad movies sometimes there are some indie low budget films that are jewels in the crown of underground. Well, Woodland Grey by director Adam Reider, who is also co-writer managed to create that creepy absurd atmosphere that I lack so much in newer horror movies.

There are only four actors in this one, but this one manages to do some scare. Emily(Jenny Raven) tries to cope with the death of her grandfather, Vietnam veteran (Art Hindle) and goes to a camping trip in the woods. She gets lost and William(Ryan Blakely), weird recluse who lives in the woods saves her life. But, things sometimes go wrong way and Emily discovers in the shed a little girl and then things start to go spooky and there is no certainty what is real and what is not anymore.

Well, that is the story. I will start with something that really bothers me in whole screenplay and the movie and bothers me a lot. That is, how a girl with dialysis goes to camping? Huh? Wow. But, there are much better moments in the movie which cover that bad and illogical one. This is basically a mixture of mindfuck, psychological horror and folk horror. Atmospheric and strong, absurd in its eeriness with that girl and rabbit mask, that red ribbons around trees and some more ugly scary moments which are not so scary per se, but their absurdity and madness spooked me while watching this one. There is also a story how mind copes with loss of beloved persons as an underlayer of the horror story. Ending is okay, but could have been a bit better and is a little let down, but the movie is okay.

6/10

Reviews

(review) Within Temptation – Don´t pray for me (Spinefarm Records)

Leave a comment

Dutch veterans Within Temptation are back with new e.p. out with Spinefarm. They started as more gothic metal oriented band, but in decades evolved into more epic symphonic metal but stayed with some gothic roots and influences. There are eight songs on this one, four plus four instrumental versions. What to say? Grand majestic songwriting, epic keyboard passages and melodic guitar work, sometimes traversing into more harsh and brutal side of things, topped with vocalist Sharon, who is by far one of the best girl singers in metal scene. My personal favorites on this one are Don´t pray for me and The Purge. Instrumental versions are not needed and serve only to fill in space. Nonetheless this little e.p. is a nice way to catch time for new full length once in the near future.

7/10