(review) Flametal – ‘Redux’

Flametal are hailing from Berkeley, California and they have been around in the scene since 2004. This is their fifth full length opus, first one in nine years. This is an interesting band. Why? Because, like the name says, they mix progressive metal, speed metal and flamenco into one dangerously contagious mixture of music. There are ten songs on this opus, with many interchangable parts, great melodies, almost gypsy like folk and ethno thrown in for good measure and all acoustic stuff which dominates with flamenco guitar being rounded with good old metal parts. the guys even covered ‘Bamboleo’ by Gypsy Kings in their own flamenco prog metal version and the energy of this record is just infective and double bass drumming of ‘Beyond The Horizon’ interplays perfectly with atmospheric parts and shows all the fire in the veins of flamenco. I didn’t know that this mixture could function so greatly, I enjoyed every single second of it although I am usually not a keen fan of records that are instrumentals per se. Great and innovative band this one.

7/10

(tv series) The Watcher(2022) prva sezona – moglo je biti i puno bolje

Naomi Watts i Bobby Canavale glume u ovoj Netflixovoj seriji od sedam epizoda. Jedan od tvoraca serije je i Ryan Murphy, poznat po American Horror Story seriji, pa nije čudo da se u The Watcheru zna pronaći bizarnih momenata koji podsjećaju na AHS u nekim segmentima. Dakle, bazirano je na istinitoj priči. Bračni par sa srednješkolskom djecom kupi staru viktorijansku kuću iz 1920-ih i dosele u kvart sa mnogo bizarnih i čudnih susjeda. Tada počinju dobijati spooky pisma od nekog tko sebe zove The Watcher, čudne stvari im se počnu događati, netko im hoda noću i danju po kući, počinju se svađati, psihički propadati i izluđivati jedni druge unatoč ugrađenom security sustavu, unajmljenoj privatnoj detektivki, susjedima koji su ubijeni, pa odjednom nisu ubijeni, pričama o kultu krvi u njihovom kvartu i sličnim lijepim stvarima. Prvih četiri od sedam epizoda su me držale napetim, jer je bila riječ više o nekoj spooky horror stalking priči, a manje obiteljskoj drami ili krimi trileru. Od pete epizode, pa nekako sve do završetka posljednje sedme epizode sve se smekša i nekako postane odugovlačenje, nekako postane razvlačenje radnje i epizoda koje su mogle stati u pet ili šest komada, a ne sedam. Kraj je pomalo razočaravajući i ostavlja više otvorenih nego zatvorenih pitanja. Nedavno je zakazana druga sezona, pa će možda popraviti dojam iz finala ove prve.

Gluma: 8/10 sjekira – tu nema zamjerki, cijela postava, ovisno o napisanim bizarnim likovima je savršena, pogotovo Mia Farrow kao psihotična susjeda.

Zaključak: 6/10 sjekira – zbog ovog razvlačenja zadnje tri epizode, moglo je biti puno bolje. Ovako ostaje malo iznad prosjeka, sa željom vidjeti što će se desiti u drugoj sezoni.

(review) Oppkast – ‘Tomorrow’s Hangover’

Oppkast are proof that not only great black metal comes from Norway. These guys play quality hardcore punk with lots of influences. This is their brand new EP containing five songs. This is great, energetic punk hardcore. The title song is one of my favorites on this one, because besides melodic punk which is foundation, it also has blast beat part which fits perfectly into the song structure. ‘Running Dry’ is another surprise because it is a reggae punk song, different than the previous I mentioned. ‘Self Entitlement Denied’ is fast hardcore punk song, with melody and rawness but also has some d-beat and grind influences, at least I can hear it that way. My personal favorite is ‘Same Mistakes’, excellent punk rock heartfelt melodic song which brought goosebumps on my skin, with fine lyrics and finer guitar solo and kind of melancholic vibe. ‘Fuck It All’ end this fine EP of in your face hardcore punk and I love every single minute of it.

Bandcamp

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