#symphonic heavy rock morning | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

xmystophalesx · 2 years

Text

Back from Hell’s Heroes and even though I am on a bit of a Heavy Metal overdose after 4 solid days of wall to wall metal, it is time to get back in the swing of things. I thought I might just do a pared-down version of the list from the week I missed from being out of town, but decided to just combine the two weeks into one. That being said, the list will be quite long, so I will I leave the commentary on the highlighted albums at a bit of a minimum. Keep the cheers down, it’s not THAT bad….lol

If you want to hear about how the Hell’s Heroes show went along with the Bay Strikes Back Tour, I attended the day I flew into Houston, give the latest episode of the MSRCast podcast a listen. Great Heavy Metal podcast that has been going for a very long time. They play a nice variety of music each episode and for this one, classed up the joint a bit and had little ol’ me on as a guest to discuss the show and some standout new releases. Time for the highlights from this week and what I missed from last week.

Saidan-Onryo II:Her Spirit Eternal (Black/Punk)**

If a Black Metal album could be catchy, this is it. You get that Punk vibe in some of the riffing which leads into that rhythm the drums follow perfectly. If you only listen to one song, make it “Queen of the Haunted Dell”

Einvigi-Yo Kulje Kanssani (Folk/Post)**

Moments of Folk Metal break up the heavy use of minor chords that give this a depressive feel. One of those albums that is better as a whole than as any one individual song. An album to experience.

Credic-Vermillion Oceans (Melodic Death)**

Another killer Melodic Death Metal band out of Germany on Black Lion Records. Excellent songwriting all over this record with perfect crystal clear production. If you like Dark Tranquility, you will love this album.

Livewire-Under Attack! (Heavy Power/Speed)**

Tried like hell to find this on vinyl, to no avail. Heavy Power Metal that at times borders on Speed or even Thrash Metal. Absolutely killer road trip album. Killer guitar work all over this album. Riffs and leads that are face melting level good.

Skull Fist-Paid In Full (Traditional/Heavy)**

Traditional Metal band that just seems to get better and better with each release. Would fit extremely well at next years Hell’s Heroes. If you liked any of the bands on that bill, you will love Skull Fist.

Miseration-Black Miracles And Dark Wonders (Melodic Death/Symphonic Black)**

2 man project from Sweden featuring Christian Alvestam and Jani Stefanovic. If you don’t know who these guys are, think what Scar Symmetry mixed with a bit of Torchbearer and a touch of Bloodbath would sound like and you will be close to the sound.

Saffire-Taming the Hurricane (Heavy)**

Straight up Heavy Metal/Hard Rock/AOR that will certainly appeal to the fans of the hair bands of the 80’s even though this has decidedly better song writing and is catchier as well as a bit heavier. This one just hit me in that nostalgia bone.

The Spirit-Of Clarity and Galactic Structures (Melodic Black)**

This one gets better and better the more listens I give it. By listen 3 I ordered this on vinyl. It has everything I love in Melodic Black Metal. Great variety in the songwriting and stellar production. This one had me hooked from the first listen and I am hard pressed to move it down in the rotation.

Gladenfold-Nemesis (Melodic Death/Power)**

Ever wonder what Borknagar would sound like if they added some Power Metal into their Progressive Melodic Death/Viking Metal hybrid? Well, wonder no more, as Gladenfold is the answer. This is simply a fun listen and one that should not be missed.

It was a bit of a challenge getting through all of this but I made it out the other side. Just barely as I finish writing this up while I’m at work on Monday morning. I can say, however, it forced me to be a little more selective, which might be reflected in the future, as some have mentioned to me that the list can sometimes be too long. I try to cover and highlight a lot of different genres as fans of the Heavy music style vary pretty drastically so I guess I will see how it goes. Either way, I will be here with another post next week. Until then, and as always,

BANG THY HEAD!!!

Best New Metal Releases Weekends of April 15-29, 2022

Saidan-Onryo II:Her Spirit Eternal (Black/Punk)**

Scorn-Winds of Torment (Death/Thrash)

Sledge Wolf-Visions of a Dark Earth (Death)*

Unbenign-Unbenign (Black)

Temple of Decay-Rigor Mortis (Black/Death)

Undeath-It’s Time…To Rise From the Grave (Death)*

Stengah-Soma Sema (Progressive Death)*

Another Texas Murder Scene-Premeditated (Melodic Death)

Nox Terror-Doppelgänger (Black)*

Einvigi-Yo Kulje Kanssani (Folk/Post)**

Gone.-Wszystko Umiera (Black/Death)

Radiant-Written By Life (Hard Rock)*

Suntold-World Torn Asunder (Black)*

Credic-Vermillion Oceans (Melodic Death)**

Tyrannus-Unslayable (Black/Death/Theash)*

Saqraruna-Under the Light of Mountains (Black)

Deathcrush-Under Serpents Reign (Death)

Livewire-Under Attack! (Heavy Power)**

Freja-Tides (Atmospheric Black)*

Over a Barrel-Self-Inflicted Wounds (Death/Grind)

Sentient Horror-Rites of Gore (Death)*

Skull Fist-Paid In Full (Traditional/Heavy)**

Dragonbreed-Necrohedron (Melodic Death

Reptilian War Machine-Merciless Addiction (Melodic Black)

Jamie Lee Curtis-Insidious Iconoclast (Death/Grind)

Fer De Lance-The Hyperborean (Heavy/Doom)

Se, Josta Ei Puhuta-Gehenna (Melodic Death)*

Crossplane-Fastlane (Heavy)*

Audrey Horne-Devil’s Bell (Heavy)*

The Chapter-Delusion of Consciousness (Doom/Death/Goth)*

Helioss-Contre Ma Lumiere (Symphonic Black)*

Arctic Winter-CCCXXXIII (Heavy/Melodic Death)

Miseration-Black Miracles And Dark Wonders (Melodic Death/Symphonic Black)**

Sorrow-Black Crow (Death/Crust)

Rammstein-Zeit (Industrial)

Metopia-Weidegeburt (Melodic Death)

Space Vacation-White Hot Reflection (Heavy/Hard Rock)*

Grafvitnir-Tunes of Sitra Ahra (Black)

Faust-Tinnitus Inquisition (Thrash)*

Saffire-Taming the Hurricane (Heavy)**

Vulcano-Stone Orange (Black/Thrash)*

Dead Head-Slave Driver (Death/Thrash)*

Beyond the Structure-Scrutiny (Technical Death)

Sagenbringer-Sagenbringer (Folk/Viking/Power)*

The Spirit-Of Clarity and Galactic Structures (Melodic Black)**

Gladenfold-Nemesis (Melodic Death/Power)**

Tysondog-Midnight (Heavy/Speed)

Grand Belial’s Key-Kohanic Charmers (Black)

Deadflesh-The Fifth Assault (Death)

Introtyl-Adfectus (Death)*

Mynas-Violence (Melodic Death)*

Bonedryver-Valley of Bones (Heavy)

Snostorm-Tales of the End (Melodic Black)*

Watain-The Agony and Ecstasy of Watain (Black)*

Losing Gravity-Headed South (Hard Rock)

The Slowstarters-Draft Beer and Rock n’Roll (Hard Rock)

WoeDen-Deity of Revival (Black)*

The Revenge Project-The Bequest of the Damned (Black/Progressive)*

All worthy of a listen if you like the genre

*= standout in that genrettfffpn

**=best of the week regardless of genre

Pick of the week was close between Livewire and The Spirit but the top spot goes to The Spirit with 5 Jaunty Bulldog Top Hats out 5!

0 notes

metalsongoftheday · 3 years

Video

youtube

Monday, September 20: Savatage, “Morning Sun”

R.I.P. Paul O’Neill (1956-2017)

The surprise minor success of Dead Winter Dead was enough to convince Jon Oliva and Paul O’Neill that Savatage had finally found its niche as an overblown and near-symphonic conceptual outfit given to occasional metallic flourishes. As a result, The Wake of Magellan doubled down on the idea by packing in two distinct narrative threads over bombastic rock and even more bombastic vocals. However, as tracks like “Morning Sun” illustrated, there was a little more crunch and bite this time around, since Chris Caffery and Al Pitrelli’s guitars were both more chugging and higher up in the mix than Oliva’s keyboards, while Zachary Stevens bellowed O’Neill’s melodramatic lyrics with metallic conviction. There was still the froofy intro with borderline Opera Man whispering, but things kicked into gear once the guitars and Jeff Plate’s drums got to work. “Morning Sun” was pretty much as heavy as Savatage was going to get at this point, and while it was a far cry from The Dungeons are Calling or even Edge of Thorns, it at least showed that the band could play good metal when so inclined.

13 notes · View notes

scoundrels-in-love · 4 years

Note

angelic pretty questions time! sugary carnival, marine kingdom, melty chocolate, sugar dream dome, melody doll, star night theatre, cotton candy shop, symphonia of birds, cream cookie, candy treat, wonder story, twinkle mermaid and gloria (sorry, let me know if they're too much 😱)

Hi love!! I love that you asked me whole bunch of questions, thank you so much!

Sugary Carnival: Have you ever been considered popular?

Oh, no. Nope. Not at all. Maybe with younger kids in yard when I was 12 or 13, because I knew buncha games. I’m not even someone popular in my internet communities/circles. Don’t have that gene in me, nope.

Marine Kingdom: Favourite undersea creature?

Really, really hard to pick, I will be honest. I just love all the bright and colorful life, the insane plants and creatures that live there. Kid me would’ve said dolphins, but apparently they’re kind of dicks, so...

Melty Chocolate: Favourite type of chocolate?

Dark chocolate with pieces of fruits, like cranberry or candied orange, etc.

Sugar Dream Dome: What do you like most about Winter?

Clear, frosty mornings. The stark silhouettes of trees against burning horizon, street lamps like embers that started the fire in the distance. The hours when frost descends on every branch, snow nestles and coats every nook and cranny and the world is turned into something out of fairy tale illustration, against bright blue or maybe milky white sky.

Melody Doll: What types of music do you listen to?

Most of them, really. Not my fondest of rap, though, or really have trash/slash/scream metal, but I love symphonic power metal, some heavy metal bands instead. I enjoy rock, and some folk, and indie, classical/instrumental stuff and some pop and kpop and idk what else because I genuinely don’t divide music in genres much, just things that speak to me. Especially lyric wise, though sometimes also just in beat. I suppose not that big on edm, dubstep and such.

Star Night Theatre: If life was viewed as a theatre stage, what role would you play?

The well meaning, self-involved fool in the background.

Cotton Candy Shop: If you had your own shop, what things would you sell?

Bookstore/cafe. Like, you could rent for safety fee (that you are refunded afterward) books to read as you sit in the cafe, and you don’t have to be constantly buying/eating something. And it’d be small and cozy, sunlit and with lot of plants. Would sell art and maybe works of fan artists etc, too. Soft escape space. Ideally, I’d have won lottery or something so I wouldn’t have to worry about revenue.

Symphonia of Birds: Favourite type of bird?

I love all the small and common type of birds you’d see in my country’s yards. Sparrows, wagtails and great tits. Hooded crows, jackdaws. I remember seeing Eurasian bullfinch one time, on a special day. It was amazing. I love cranes and storks. But from birds that you can’t really see here, I really love how gorgeous blue jays are. Fancy assholes, by what a friend told me.

Cream Cookie: What kinds of snacks do you munch on?

Hnngh. I can’t munch of anything these days but like, plain seeds. But I love to munch on chips and salted peanuts (especially honey + black pepper ones), even just honeypuff cereal. Tiny breadsticks. So many things are good for munching!!

Candy Treat: Favourite type of candy?

Don’t really have a solid favorite, though I’m always hoe for tofifee and jelly candies.

Wonder Story: What types of things do you like to read about?

Stories people tell. Of small or big events in their lives, of happy things. Of healing. Of grand, fantasy adventures. Imagined tales. Retold fairy tales. New perspectives. Beloved characters going through new storylines. So many things, really.

Twinkle Mermaid: Favourite type of fantasy creature?

Hmmm. I. Genuinely. Don’t know. I bought expensive book on mythical creatures and I still. Can’t. Pick. One.

Gloria: Name a very rare item that you would love to own.

Objective sense of self-worth.

... In a more realistic sense, I don’t know. I am not very bound to overall rarity of items, only what they mean to me emotionally. I suppose I would love a great quality amethyst raw crystal. And a house in which it has a proper place. But I don’t know, I don’t get overhyped by the idea, I will be honest.

Send me an angelic question?

#ask games answered #lovely people #about me #should I've put under read more lol #roxas-zen-frost #sent on a cloud

7 notes · View notes

jawnjendes · 5 years

Text

i’m tired too | shawn mendes

university au summer vacay babey, shawn x goth gf

*******just letting yall know that the chapter before this, girl you’re trouble did not appear in the tags when i posted it, so if u havent read it go ahead and do that now :P

masterlist | series playlist

My tongue was between my teeth as I focused on my reflection in my little compact mirror. Carefully, I filled in my eyebrow with dark brown powder, ignoring the people sitting on either side of me on the couch. Having two sets of eyes on me made it hard to carve out the enhanced version of my face, though. I tried to shift in my seat to get them to focus on literally anything else, but neither of them let up.

“She’s so good at that,” Mom said in admiration. She was sitting on my left.

“Isn’t she?” Shawn agreed in the same tone. He was on my right.

I paused and sighed. The previous evening, Aaliyah pointed out that my mom and her brother had some uncanny similarities. I thought she was just bringing light to the fact that they both… adore me. But they had the same mannerisms, like talking with their hands. They were both optimistic as well, unlike me… and my dad. I pretended not to see any similarities until now. I was just glad Aaliyah wasn’t here now to triumph in her discovery.

“Are you guys gonna do this the whole time?” I asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.

“Well, you’re so pretty,” Shawn said, bringing a hand up to stroke my cheek.

I leaned away from his touch. “I just did my foundation!”

My mom laughed. “She won’t let you touch her either! I’m glad it’s not just me!”

Shawn gave me a surprised look. He learned just a little too much about me in the last twenty four hours, and it wasn’t stopping anytime soon.

Luckily, my dad, who had been scrolling through his phone on the other side of the couch, piped up. “Shawn, I heard you play guitar?”

That started the music conversation. I was glad to have the attention off of me for once, all anyone asked me about these days was my stupid hospital stay. Plus, I could finish my makeup in peace. Not to mention, Shawn was still convulsing and crying in his sleep, so things were… not ideal at the moment. But he got to talk about his love of music, which was something my dad could relate to.

“You know, I used to be in a rock band,” he said. “Back in eighty-seven, me and my buddies played shows from my parents’ garage. That’s how I met Lucy. She was standing at the front of the audience for every show. We only had about ten people attend if we were lucky, but she was always there.”

Mom placed her hands over her chest fondly. “I think music has a beautiful way of bringing people together.”

You wouldn’t be able to tell just by looking at my mother, but she lived for heavy metal. She was the one who introduced me to the symphonic metal bands I listen to now.

“Oh, a hundred percent,” Shawn agreed. Then he told me parents that he and I met at one of his shows at a coffee shop.

Today was much more calm than the last. My parents slept on it, and they decided that they were just happy that I was live. I was just glad they stayed at a hotel, too. I couldn’t imagine being holed up with them after not living with them for a majority of two years. I also wouldn’t know how to explain why my boyfriend was yelling in his sleep every hour.

I really did miss my mom and dad. It kicked in when they had to go home at the end of the week. I was supposed to be home too. None of this was supposed to happen this way.

After my parents were gone, I was able to get around the apartment by myself. I didn’t need a babysitter anymore, so I tried to be happy about that. However, my incisions still kept me from doing anything strenuous, which meant I had no excuse not to return to work anymore. Most of what I did was sit behind a desk in a tiny office, so I made my first day back that Friday. I figured I might as well make some type of income to, you know, pay for my books for the next semester and uhhhhhh fucking live. I had to find my independence again somehow.

Anyway, my first day back at work was as mundane as it always was. It was like I wasn’t even gone for three weeks. Stacy gave me a professional “welcome back” and then hit me with the work I missed that I needed to catch up on. I spent the morning adding up gas receipts, entering vehicle information into the computer, and booking service appointments over the phone.

In the afternoon, Jason and Luca came in for their shifts. They approached the window of the office and stopped in their tracks.

“You’re here?” Jason asked in disbelief. “Weren’t you quitting?”

Clearly, no one knew or cared where I had been lately. I mean, I must have told Stacy to keep it confidential while I was high on morphine. Even then, I wasn’t exactly popular here.

“I had surgery, and now I can’t hop on a plane home,” I explained shortly.

“Oh, so you were dying and you weren’t planning on telling us?” Luca said, holding a hand up to my face in a dramatic fashion. “How dare you.”

I blinked once and then got back to adding numbers from the stack of receipts. The two of them entered the office, and that was when another question popped into my mind.

“Who covered me while I was gone?”

“Not me!” Jason said as he went to his desk at the back of the office.

Luca stood by mine and puckered his lips like he was thinking to himself. That said it all for me.

“Shoulda known.” I rolled my eyes. “Not a goddamn thing was done, and it’s month-end.”

“Hey, Stacy told me to book appointments,” Luca said defensively. “I lost commission these last few weeks because of that. I sell cars. I’m no receptionist.”

Bet he didn’t even book appointments either. Bet Stacy told him to cover all of my responsibilities. Luca just did not give a flying fuck about anything.

I spent my lunch hour in the car. Normally, Shawn would have come to meet me so we could eat together… or not eat. He was working too, though, and from the texts he sent me, he had been working on a flower arrangement for a wedding. He was going to be busy all day. When did we become a boring, married couple?

“You’ll never believe who they put to cover me while I was out,” I typed out in a text to Shawn. I munched on my white rice as I sent it.

“Who?!” he replied within a few minutes. I could almost hear the enthusiasm.

“Fucking Luca. He did fuck all, so I have a bunch to catch up on. Plus, it’s the end of the month, so we all have to close a bunch of sales and warranties and all this other boring crap. I’ll be home a little late.” Send. More white rice. God, I’m tired of rice.

My phone buzzed again while I was scrolling on Instagram. Shawn had replied. “Aw. Ok hon. I’m gonna have a couple of friends over tonight, just letting you know. Some of them want to see how you’re doing.”

“Ok. I’ll see you at home.”

“Love that you see my place as a home now :)”

Uhhhhhhhhh… Who’s gonna tell him? Who has to remind him that I was staying at his place for convenience, because I am recovering from a surgery? That I literally almost died and my complications kept me from travelling long distance…? Who’s gonna tell him?

I was horrifically fatigued when I got home. I seemed to have forgotten that stressing over numbers and annoying phone calls was mentally straining. Maybe travelling by car wasn’t a great idea either, but how could I not drive? I had a job to go to. I had an apartment to get back to. As I walked up to the front door, I wished that I didn’t have to worry about things like income and bills to pay. I just wanted to lie down and not get up again.

Walking into the apartment, I realized I probably wouldn’t even get to do that.

First of all, the door was unlocked. Shawn had given me a key, but apparently I didn’t need it this time. I was met with music and laughter as stepped over the threshold. I found people, strangers, when I peered into the kitchen.

It was a small kitchen, but there were five frat boy looking guys all holding plastic red cups. Among them were three breathtakingly pretty brunettes. I’m talking Instagram models, wearing sparkling crop tops and skin tight leggings. They were all laughing about something until they saw me at the doorway.

“Rock on, emo queen,” one of the frat boys said, holding up the rock and roll sign.

Yeah. Even in my work uniform, which was a button up with the company name on, was in fact black. Not to mention, the eyeliner I had put on in the morning smudged so much throughout the day that I now looking like a raccoon having a mental breakdown.

Awkwardly, I continued padding down the hall, finding more people standing and talking amongst themselves. Again, more ridiculously pretty girls and their dates. All I could smell was weed. I tried to keep a stink eye off my face, but it was the only thing that made people move out of the way so I could get to the living room.

Finally, there were people I recognized. Brian, Connor, Teddy, and Shawn were among a bigger group of strangers sat on the L-shaped couch. So this was a couple of friends?

Shawn noticed me first and raised his arms in the air, making me notice the red cup in his hand. “Look who’s here!”

That caused several pairs of eyes to turn to me, causing me to feign a smile. Everyone raised their drinks and cheered. Oh god, I was in a room of drunk toddlers. I was in a whole ass apartment of drunk toddlers. And my fucking boyfriend was the toddler hosting the other toddlers.

“Come, sit here,” Shawn said, waving me over. “I missed you!”

I still felt awkward and tired and far from the vibe everyone else was currently on. I stepped over and went to take the empty space next to Shawn, but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me onto his lap. My face went hot at the gesture, but not because of the affection, or the fact that he chose to rest his hands on top of my thighs. His chin rested on my shoulder, and I could smell the alcohol in his breath. Oh jeez.

“Man, let your girl breathe!” Brian joked, seeing the discomfort on my face.

“It’s fine,” I said sheepishly. I noticed several empty plastic cups and shot glasses on the coffee table. It wasn’t even ten o’clock yet.

“Yeah,” Shawn agreed, “I mean, I’d sit on her lap, but my poor baby had surgery. Wouldn’t wanna hurt her.”

Before I could retort, Teddy spoke up. She, too, had her own cup and was very obviously under the influence. “Oh yeah! How did that go? What even happened?”

I was going to reluctantly explain, but Shawn spoke for me again.

“My little fighter looked death in the face and said ‘fuck you!’”

Several gasps and fascinated expressions came from the group on the couch. I resisted the urge to plant my face in my hands. There goes my business, out in the open for everyone to put their noses into.

“You almost died?” Connor asked in shock.

“Ooh, story time!” Teddy announced. “Spill! Now!”

Been home for ten minutes, and I was not in my pajamas lying under the covers. For me, this was a couple of steps away from a worst case scenario. All eyes on me, expected to talk about things I wanted to keep quiet about. And it was all prompted by my drunk boyfriend, of all people.

“I had a bowel resection, and then I hemorrhaged,” I explained curtly. Then, I moved Shawn’s hands off my thighs and got to my feet. “And now I have to stay here and recover for the whole summer. The end.”

Some people booed at the length of my story. I’m sure I was expected to tell an awesome tale about the battle against my infected guts, but I was really not in the mood for that. I had to tell the story twice at work, and that was enough for me. I didn’t really care about being a massive party pooper at the moment.

“Baby, where you going?” asked Shawn as I stepped away from the group.

I sighed and turned back to him. “I’m gonna change out of my uniform, and then I’m going to sleep.”

He pouted and got up to approach me. He came up close, so things felt a little more private. “Come have fun with me. We never have fun anymore.”

The plea in his voice was a jab straight to the heart. But I couldn’t find it in me to change my mind and stay with him.

“I’m not really in a party mood,” I said apologetically. “I had a long day, I’m really tired.”

Shawn’s face fell even more. His hazy, tipsy eyes filled with concern. “You want me to kick everyone out? I’ll do it! I’ll do it right now!”

I quickly got ahold of his wrist before he could rally the troops. I already had enough guilt on my shoulders. “No! No, no, no, don’t do that.” I held his hand in both of mine, and I ran my fingers over the swallow tattoo. “Have fun with your friends. You’re right, things haven’t been fun lately, and I’m sorry for that. You deserve a good time, even if I’m not there. Just have a drink for me, okay?”

He could have put out some things about how the party would be better if I was there. He could have sweet talked me into sitting on his lap again for the whole night. Instead, he squeezed my hand and said, “Straight tequila, right?”

Relief washed over me. “Yes. Remember to drink water too.”

“I gotchu, honey.” Then, he leaned in a pressed a sweet kiss to my lips. “Keep the bed warm for me.”

The taste of alcohol on his lips made me one percent more likely to join him in the festivities. The other ninety nine percent yeeted my ass to the bedroom. Once I was alone, the crushing feeling of deliberate isolation sent me to the surface of the bed.

I was the type of tired that kept me from actually sleeping. I could sleep through plenty of external noise, living in a college dorm was enough experience. It was just my foggy brain and burning throat getting in the way. I grabbed my Switch from the nightstand and played Smash Bros, tuning out the sounds of people having a better time than me.

Every so often, I heard people cheering or chanting, “chug, chug, chug!” I remained curled up in bed, fighting people online to get my frustrations out. Taylor Swift’s Love Story came on around 1AM and everyone screamed the lyrics, while I brought my t-shirt to the bridge of my nose to catch oncoming tears. I felt guilty and selfish every moment I wished Shawn was here to spoon me til I fell asleep. He spent so much time worrying about me, he deserved to forget it all once in a while. God knows I wanted to do the same, but my insides were still recovering.

I had put my Switch away and I was lying on my side by the time people were saying their goodbyes out in the apartment. Some guy was praising Shawn for having such “epic parties” as they put it. Weird, this was the first party of his that I witnessed. We’ve been together just over six months. How much of himself was he holding back because of me?

“Whoo!” I heard Shawn yell, followed by a glass shattering loudly.

The sound woke me up a little. Meaning, my legs got me standing and dashing out to the living room. My eyes scanned the place, which was now vacant of people and full of trash, but I found Shawn sitting on the floor just outside the hallway.

The place was a mess. Half empty cups, food, and mysterious stains covered every surface in the apartment. I was only worried about my boyfriend.

“Hey, cutie,” I said affectionately, bending down so we were at eye level.

Shawn’s eyes were hooded, but sparkling. He gave me a toothy grin and held up a peace sign.

Then, Teddy emerged from the kitchen. “Oh, did I wake you? I dropped a cup, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I wasn’t exactly sleeping,” I told her, still looking at Shawn. I waved my hand in front of his face, only for him to blink slowly. “Uh, how much has he had to drink?”

Teddy chewed her lip as she thought about it. “I lost count after his fourth shot.”

“My girlfriend told me to have ten tequilas,” Shawn slurred, belching right after. “I think I had like, six.”

I held my breath and waved off the stench. Someone was in for a long night, longer than normal. I didn’t think he would take me seriously, but then again, I did not tell him to have ten shots of straight tequila.

“Oh yeah, he mixed his liquor too,” Teddy said.

I sighed and moved Shawn’s long arm over my shoulders. “Okay, vamos mi chulo. Let’s get you to bed.”

Teddy stepped in to help get the six foot toddler to his feet. Shawn stumbled and swayed, his long arms hanging heavily on our shoulders. I baby talked him as we slowly strolled to the bedroom, and I told Teddy I could take it from there.

Shawn burped again as we got closer to the bed, and he groaned. “Ugh… this isn’t fun anymore.”

“Okay, let’s go to the bathroom,” I said, steering him the other way.

It took a minute to get him positioned in front of the toilet. It took less than a second for him to lean over the bowl and return everything he drank. As much as the sights and sounds of vomiting brought me dark and lonely flashbacks, I went and sat on the edge of the bathtub. I rubbed Shawn’s back and practically waited for it to end.

Once that was overwith, I really couldn’t go back to sleep. I managed to lay Shawn down on the mattress. The sparkle in his eyes was gone, now replaced with chilling emptiness. I took the liberty of pulling his leather boots off his feet, and I removed his socks as well. Then, I draped the comforter over his long body.

“Stay with me,” Shawn mumbled, his arm reaching out to me. “Let’s forget all the bad shit…”

It seems that no amount of alcohol could make him not think about the last couple of weeks. My heart began to ache all over again.

“Go to sleep, okay?” I said gently. “I’ll be with you when you go to sleep.”

Shawn whined. “You always die in my sleep. I love you too much to let you go.”

I had a feeling that that’s what he had been dreaming about. But I really could not get myself to lie down with him. I was too antsy from the vomiting.

“Wait for me, okay?” I told him, stroking his hair. “I’m only gonna be a few minutes, and I’ll come back.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

He’s drunk. He’s going to sleep no matter what.

Once Shawn was all tucked into bed, I left the room and quietly shut the door behind me. In the living room, Teddy was picking up plastic cups and shoving them into a giant trash bag. I really wasn’t expecting her to still be here. Wordlessly, I began helping her clean up. Anything to get my beating heart to slow down.

“What were you doing this whole time if you weren’t sleeping?” she asked me. “Was the music too loud?”

“No. It wasn’t anything from the party,” I replied, scooping up paper plates and used napkins. “Just had a long day. I wasn’t in the mood for a party.”

“Oh.”

She glanced at me a couple of times as she dumped more trash into the bag. This was supposed to be the part where I bare my soul to my boyfriend’s friend and make her my friend, but… Enough of my business was out there already.

Teddy, however, was persistent. “So, how come you didn’t want visitors at the hospital? Or when you got out, for that matter?”

I busied myself with fixing the sofa cushions so I could come up with a decent answer. “Uh, I like my privacy. Especially in moments where things are messy.”

“Hm. Well, aren’t messy moments the times when you need friends the most?”

That thought lingered in the air as we continued tidying up the living room. I could have had my video game club friends there, or Shawn’s friends, but instead I left most of the burden to Shawn himself. What kind of a person am I?

At last, Teddy got the last of the garbage in the bag, and she tied it shut. Then, we moved onto the kitchen. More cups, spilled booze, and the broken glass from earlier. Oh, how I did not miss house parties. I was at the prime age of partying, being 21. I should have been the type to be as drunk as my boyfriend was, to just have fun and forget the stresses of life. But I found myself on a completely different level than the people who were here tonight.

“Do you stay up late often?” Teddy asked, trying to fill the silence yet again.

We both paused as the sounds of loud, monotonous humming came from the bedroom. Teddy scrunched her brow and tilted her head. My shoulders tensed with chills, like ice cold water had been spilled down the back of my shirt.

“To answer your question,” I told her, “yes.”

She followed me to the room, but she stayed at the doorway while I went to Shawn’s quivering body.

“Baby, wake up,” I said urgently, shaking his arm. “Wake up, it’s only a dream, baby…”

He was on his back, head moving from side to side in harsh moments. He groaned, completely spastic, so I coaxed him some more.

My voice shook. “Shawn… please. I’m here, please-”

His eyes flew open with a loud gasp. He sat up, breathing hard and fast. I placed my hands on his broad shoulders, getting his attention.

“Hey, look at me. You’re okay, it’s okay. You’re safe.”

Brown eyes were wide with panic, and then sadness. Within a second, they were filling with tears, and Shawn was wrapping his arms around my waist. With a shaky sob, he buried his head in my neck and cried quietly.

I had a pained looked on my face while he wasn’t looking. I just held him and stroked his hair. I was whispering the things I always said when he was in this state. “You’re safe with me. It was just a dream, it’s not real.”

I was able to coax him back to sleep for the time being. It was only going to happen again, though. I didn’t know how to stop it from happening.

When I stepped out of the room again, I leaned against the wall by the doorway. Teddy was gone, probably fled the uncomfortable situation. Can’t say I blame her. I sighed heavily and brought the palms of my hands to my misty eyes. I was beyond exhausted now. I was at a loss.

A hand went on my shoulder all of a sudden, making me jump. I looked up, finding that Teddy was still here, glass of water in her hand. Her blue eyes were concerned and upset, like the world had just ended in front of her. I pushed past the feelings, though.

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were still here,” I said, my voice thick with emotion. “Uh, did you need a ride home?”

She shook her head and held up the glass. “My fiance is coming soon. Here, drink.”

I offered a weak smile and accepted the gesture. As I sipped, Teddy said something that threw me off.

“He told me he was handling his nightmares. Had it all taken care of.”

“Why would he say that?” I asked in return.

“Didn’t want anyone to worry, I’m guessing. But I can see how tired he is. I can see how shaken up he is. I mean, he never goes as hard as he did tonight with the liquor. And worst of all, he hasn’t written a song in weeks. He hasn’t been in the studio at all.”

And it was my own damn fault.

“Does he tell you what he dreams about?” I dared to ask.

“No,” Teddy said. “I don’t think he tells anybody. I think he needs something beyond our help.”

“You’re right. I need to talk to him about this, because I know he’s not gonna talk to me.”

She placed her both her hands on my shoulders. “Hey. I’ve seen Shawn with quite a few girls over the last couple of years. I’ve never seen him head over heels until you came along. He loves you so much, he can’t fathom the idea of losing you. He loves you so much that he won’t talk to you about this because he doesn’t want you to feel bad.”

I wasn’t sure if that was supposed to make me feel better, because I was barely coherent as I spoke. “I already do…”

For once, I was up and running before Shawn was. His last nightmare happened around six in the morning, and after that he slept normally. The hangover probably had something to do with that. I left him a glass of water and painkillers on the nightstand, and then I went to the kitchen to attempt a type of breakfast.

By the time had eggs scrambled on a plate, Shawn was stumbling out of the room, glass of water in hand. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, and then he ran his fingers through his curly hair. He was still in the navy blue t-shirt he wore last night, but he ditched his jeans and went for the underwear look.

I met him halfway from the kitchen, presenting him with his mediocre breakfast. “Morning, sunshine.”

“For me?” he asked, and I nodded. “You’re the best.”

He sat at the round glass dining table as opposed to going to the living room. He must have been really hungover. I sat next to him and basked in the silence as he ate. My hands were tingling from the nerves.

“How ya feelin’?” I asked in a stupidly gently voice, reaching over to rub his arm.

He hummed through a mouthful of eggs. When he swallowed, he spoke. “My head is pounding. But I took the pills you left for me. Thank you for that, by the way. Who cleaned the apartment?”

“Me and Teddy. After you knocked out, we just decided to tidy up so no one had to worry about it the next day.”

“Well, thank you. One less thing to worry about.” He ate in silence some more, and then spoke some words that truly had me puzzled. “I slept the whole night for once. Feels good.”

Must be nice to not remember your night terrors. However, I had to tell him.

“Shawn…” I said slowly. “You woke up like five times. You had a panic attack one of those times.”

He slowed his chewing, staring at the table top in thought. He stayed quiet, and it freaked me out. He practically shut down, and it scared me for multiple reasons.

“I don’t know how to help you,” I admitted, watching him carefully.

“It’ll wear off,” he said weakly.

“You don’t know that.” I had to be firm. “I don’t know what you’re seeing in your sleep, but I know it scares you so much that you won’t talk about it. And you talk about everything, so that’s how I know it’s bad.”

Shawn looked down, still silent. Not giving me a possible solution to this. Does he even want help? Or am I just exaggerating and losing my mind?

“You don’t have to talk to me about it,” I continued. “Just talk to somebody. Last night, Teddy told me that you were taking care of all of this, but you’re not. I don’t know how you’re functioning during the day, because I’ve been exhausted and sleep deprived. I know you are too, and I’m not the only one who sees it. I, I don’t know how much longer I can watch you go through this.”

Again, he was quiet. He was never quiet. Shawn was feisty and passionate, ready to say anything to prove his point at any given moment. He had strayed from the Shawn Mendes I loved in such a short amount of time. It was happening so fast, watching him slip through my fingers. It felt like I was the one in a nightmare.

“Please,” I mumbled, my voice quavering. My bottom lip began to quiver.

Shawn suddenly looked up at me, eyes wide at the sounds coming out of me. Even when he was sinking, he still paid more attention when I was about to cry.

“I’ll, I’ll give you my therapist’s number,” I offered, losing my composure. “I-I don’t know if she’s taking anymore clients, but I-I-I’ll give up my sessions for you. I’ll do anything if it means you’ll get some help. Shawn, I… I’m begging you. I’m begging you to get help, because I don’t know what to do anymore… a-and it’s because of me why you’re like this, a-a-and I’m sorry-”

I gasped when I realized Shawn had placed his hands on either side of my face. His thumbs rubbed my tear stricken cheeks, and he spoke calmly and gently.

“Okay,” he said. “Okay, I’ll get help. I promise. I don’t wanna go through this anymore either. I promise I’ll figure this out.”

I guess that’s how I knew I was falling in love. The want and need for him to be okay was so great, there was nothing I wouldn’t do to make that happen. The fact that he was not okay was ripping me a new one. I couldn’t even breathe when he slept. I couldn’t even think about how much I wanted to be in California, because then I’d have to think about leaving Shawn all alone. Who would talk him down from his night terrors?

My hospital stay alone triggered nightmares and eerie silence from him. But what would Shawn have done if I had died altogether?

#shawn mendes #shawn mendes fanfic #shawn mendes imagine #shawn mendes blurb #shawn mendes smut #fourtristattoosspring #shawn x goth gf #if this doesnt show up in the tags imma fuckin riot #im jk ill just cry again probably #i may have cried writing this lulz

111 notes · View notes

jetherng · 4 years

Text

Blog #1 : Jether Golimlim

Who dat boy? Who him is?

Ako si Jether Nathaniel Golimlim. My maternal grandmother’s father was a Spaniard, and her grandmother was Japanese. The rest of my family is Filipino. My parents are from Angeles City, Pampanga. I am a first-generation American, born in SF and raised in Daly City. A California Bay Area native, I proudly consider myself Filipino.

I have taken the Myers-Briggs test multiple times, and consistently find that I am an INTJ. I agree with those results. Perhaps tangentially related, in senior year of high school, I found out that I have asperger’s syndrome, and went to therapy to mitigate its effects. The fact that people can’t tell that I’m autistic unless I tell them so indicates that these attempts were successful, at least to a degree. Other traits of my personality are, obviously, evident in my interests. My favorite color is aubergine, which is a dark brown-tinted purple. My favorite number is 8, I have a musical preference for rock and metal (specifically, I’m into alt-rock, punk rock, heavy metal, symphonic metal and death metal), my favorite ice cream flavor is Lucuma, and my favorite drink is the cold brew fog from Peet’s coffee. I like to play pool and I am into finances. My credit score (as of the time of this post) is 704, I opened up a retirement account (ROTH IRA) at 18, opened up a stock portfolio on my 18th birthday, and am involved with churning (the practice of exploiting credit card bonuses for profit).

Born October 2001 in San Francisco, I am 18 years old this semester. I am a business major with a concentration in accounting, and a first-year sophomore because I have 25 college credits from high school. A hard lesson that life eventually taught me was that opportunity does not wait for the unprepared. One reflection of that revelation is my intention to graduate within 3 years, instead of the standard 4. By taking 18 units this semester and in Fall 2020, I can coast through the rest of university with 15 units per semester. I declined handsome scholarship opportunities from 3 different universities outside of California and 2 acceptances to UC’s because the thought of student debt legitimately scares me, and I decided against community college because with my credits, I would actually be wasting my time. Therefore, economically (considerations made with finances and the value of my time), San Francisco State University is the proper fit for me.

I generally measure my satisfaction with my choices by thinking of things in terms of how content I am with the outcome, but to say that I am content with being in San Francisco State is an understatement. I would have liked to dorm for the experience, but that decision would cost tens of thousands of dollars, plus interest. Despite that minor regret, I had no issue with finding a group of friends here to be with, and I feel that my balance between school, work, and personal life is manageable, if not optimal. I found good company with the regulars at Rack n Cue, the San Francisco State billiards hall, and I spend a considerable amount of time there. My school workload feels like 21 units [because I get no credits for my Biology 150 lab, which is almost entirely separate from the lecture], but thankfully, my job is willing to give me as few as 8 hours a week to focus on my studies. Likewise, pool has given me a healthy way to ease the mental burden of all the things I am handling at the moment.

My schedule is tight; I’m a busy person with plenty of goals. But I’m content, and I can proudly say that I look forward to waking up in the morning now, much more than I did before I was part of SFSU.

#AAS218JetherG

2 notes · View notes

kylewritesaboutthings · 4 years

Text

2016 Shaky Knees Coverage Text - Day 1

The sun came shining through the unshaded window of our Airbnb and the first thought in my aching head was “this is the kind of hangover that a writer should have”. Taking a Thompson-esque approach to my preparations for the first festival coverage assignment of my writing career, I started drinking whiskey well in advance of our 6pm flight to Atlanta. And like Hunter, I made sure to come prepared for the flight, packing nearly half a fifth of Jameson, 3 ounces at a time, in my carry-on bag. You can never rely on the stewardess to keep up if you’re really trying to make the most of your flight. By the time we arrived, the 3am bar around the corner was complete overkill. Oh well, what would HST do? Bleary and beat up, we trudged our way to Chickfila to eat more chicken than any human being should in the hopes of southern fried salvation. The poultry gods were merciful that morning and gave us the strength we needed to get our shit together and head to Shaky Knees music festival. On its 4 th year, the festival’s location has changed every year. I guess Riot Fest isn’t the only group having a hard time holding down a permanent address. This year’s incarnation was hosted in Centennial Park, built for the 1996 summer Olympics and smack in the middle of downtown Atlanta. Our hopes were high for ease of travel given its central location compared to last year’s Central Park set up, but those were dashed as soon as we got close to the festival grounds. Street closures and a serious lack of signage made actually getting into the festival kind of a headache, which was incredibly unfortunate as we were already pretty maxed out in the headache department. Thanks, Jameson. After pinballing back and forth from security guard to security guard in hopes of legitimate directions to the entrance, we walked in the gates just as The Front Bottoms played their first note. A prayer of thanks was muttered to the poultry gods and we headed for the Boulevard stage, which would be our home for most of the weekend. Brian and the boys kicked the set off with Skeleton as we purchased what would be the first of many overpriced tallboys of the weekend. There is something cathartic about seeing The Front Bottoms play outside in the middle of the afternoon, as everyone (band included) fights through their aches and pains both inside and out to sing lyrics about, well, aches and pains. “We were out at the strip clubs last night, that’s why we’re moving slow,” Brian Sella joked mid-set. After watching Mat Uychich drum for a half hour you could have fooled me. TFB have their festival set list well crafted, sprinkling songs from 2015’s ‘Back on Top’ between favorites like Au Revoir, Maps, and Swimming Pool. They’ve had time to practice, already playing Coachella and Boston Calling before hitting Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits later this summer. Inb4 some tru punk dipshit calls them sellouts on their tumblr page of righteousness. They closed with Twin Sized Mattress and all was right with the world.

As Centennial Park isn’t large enough to hold a 5 stage music festival, Shaky Knees took over the neighboring Georgia International Plaza, with a fenced in walkway and bridge connecting the two parts of the ground. Luckily on Friday our planned sets kept us within the Plaza, saving us from the cattle like procession and sketchy bridge crossing to the main stages. Do you remember your elementary school project where you made bridges out of toothpicks and marshmallows? Well the Shaky Knees production team stole your design and made it full size. But more on that later. Baroness took the stage next on the neighboring Piedmont stage, serving up a solid helping of their riff heavy groove metal to their home state crowd. Keeping to the more recent additions of their color themed catalogue, their set consisted mostly of tracks from the newest Purple album as well as the double Yellow/Green. This was one of my first times seeing them since the bus crash that caused some major shakeups in the group due to injuries, the prior being a small club show at Chicago’s Beat Kitchen just before the release of Purple. It could have been the overcrowded shoebox that is the Beat Kitchen or the unfamiliarity with the new material, but it I left that show (early) pining for the crushing Baroness that of the Red and Blue album days. But on this afternoon they tore through their set, embracing their softer approach and crafting a great set that was meant for afternoon head banging. Keeping the afternoon heavy, The Sword kicked off as soon as Baroness’ last note hit, providing a sound track for the downing of beers and general shit shooting. But while Baroness have adapted to their lighter sound, The Sword have come a long way from ‘Age of Winters’…but not in a good way. But it really didn’t matter because following their set Against Me would be taking the stage recently vacated by Baroness.

Stocking up on the previously mentioned overpriced tallboys, we got up nice and close to see Laura Jane and company do what they do best. As many of you know, Against Me shows are a kind of punk rock family reunion. A band so loved and respected for so long, a ticket to see them is a guarantee for arm in arm sing-alongs, hugs, and high fives. This crowd was a little…different. It could be the daytime slot (with The 1975 headlining the stage later in the evening), the festival atmosphere, or the non-punk interest generated by the very public life of Laura Jane but this wasn’t your typical AM! crowd. But before I go about sounding like some bullshit ‘the last album I liked was Reinventing/#sellouts’ journalist prick, it was not a bad thing. There were a lot in the crowd who it was either their first exposure to the band or their first show since Laura came out…and if you’ve seen them play in the last few years you know that this is the best the band has been live and to call their sets energetic is a monumental understatement.

Arriving on the stage with one of the biggest grins I’ve ever seen, Laura dove right into ‘Teenage Anarchist’ which barreled into ‘Pints of Guinness’. The crowd reaction to pints confirmed my suspicion that this was not their usual crowd, with only a handful around us signing along to what is arguably their most well known song. Though unfamiliar, everyone was sucked in to the energy on the stage. Aside from technical ability, Inge and Atom Willard add so much to the bands stage presence while James Bowman has always provided solid vocal support to Laura Jane, who intensity has always been a huge part of the bands live performance. While we all go to shows hoping to hear your favorite songs, the highlight of the afternoon was just the opposite…they played FIVE new tracks from their upcoming release. Already highly anticipated, this sneak preview has it in contention for top 10 of 2016. Get stoked.

Midway through the set, Laura addressed the bands upcoming performance in North Carolina. Unless you’ve lived under a fucking rock for the past few months, you’ve seen the announcement and resulting backlash from the decisions of NC governor Pat McCrory in regards to transgender bathroom laws. “The bathrooms were already unsafe!” sneered Grace, referencing the years of racist and homophobic graffiti seen in truck stops, bars, and venues all over the country. “Fine,” she said, “I’ll piss and shit outside like a dog!” If you’re reading this article, you’ve already seen her onstage response to the North Carolina HB2 bill, burning her birth certificate mid set to cries of “bye gender!” I will always respect the hell out Laura Jane.

I could most compare the comedown following an Against Me set to the post-sex bliss where all you really want to do is smoke a cigarette, maybe grab a drink, and smile about what just happened. One of the best parts of a festival, is that you generally get an awesome soundtrack to do that to. On this particular occasion I had the fortune to be serenated by everyone’s favorite GRAMMY FUCKING AWARD WINNING Swedish satanic priests, the one and only Ghost. If you have any inclination towards metal and heavy music, see Ghost play. If you don’t, see Ghost play. Their symphonic sound and theatrical stage performance, lead by the incredibly charismatic Papa Emeritus, is absolutely captivating and a complete fucking blast. Hanging out near the back, as a day in the sun and about 6 hours of continuous drinking were starting to take their toll, we watched a 5 year old kid, sitting on his dad’s shoulders, throwing up the horns and completely getting down to Ghost as they cranked out jams about topics ranging from the Catholic church to the female orgasm. If I ever have kids, I can only aspire to the coolness that was that particular #raddad.

With the sun starting to set, we resigned to our final purchase of $8 High Life’s and made our way to see The Kills. I’ve seen front woman Allison Mosshart as part of the Dead Weather and can say she is an absolute beast on stage. This set was much of the same, with Mosshart pacing back and forth like a lioness stalking prey as they rolled through over an hour of material from…well…I don’t really remember the specifics of their set. You know the scene in Wayne’s World where Wayne sees Cassandra play for the first time and ‘Dreamweaver’ kicks on? That was me. Completely entranced, it was the perfect way to transition from day to night, with The Kills providing the kind of soundtrack that you can feel in your blood. Looking back, this was the set of the weekend. Hands down. No questions. Though there were other bands closing out the evening, we quickly admitted to the fact that nothing was going to beat what we just saw and we should probably just go drink some cheaper beer and unwind if we had any hope of enjoying the Diet Cig aftershow to come.

After doing just that, we arrived at The Loft at Center Stage, one of the multiple multi-venue complexes that call Atlanta home. While it didn’t have the same feel and soul as the 3 staged Masquerade, I do really appreciate that places like this exist, central locations that can host a variety of music on any given night within a single location. It definitely leads to some great people watching and interesting conversations, though given that Silversun Pickups was headlining the other stage and we were pretty fucking drunk, our main concern was getting through the crowd and inside to see Diet Cigs expectedly short set. Making it in just before they went on, we indulged in a few shots of Jameson and cheaper tallboys because, hell, it always seems like a good idea at the time. The duo of Diet Cig rifled through their set with the fervor of a cartoon mouse on amphetamines, singer Alex Luciano literally bouncing all over the stage during the 25 minutes of their garagey by way of Brooklyn brand of pop punk that is infectious as it is brief, as they were able to play every song in their catalogue during that time.

I don’t remember who was to headline the show, but after stepping (at least) one shot over the line, the conclusion was reached that the only possible thing that could salvage the next morning was to call it a night and once again fill ourselves with as much fried chicken as humanly possible. Luckily, Atlanta is the perfect place for that and the fried chicken gods sang us to sleep in a buttermilk breaded and whiskey soaked haze.

1 note · View note

paperbagpetrichor · 5 years

Text

Symphonic Song II - [Izuku Midoriya]

Sharp sunlight streamed through the shutters, slinging shadows across the darkest recesses of the classroom and steaming the few visible portions of the windows beneath their shields of shades with evaporated dewdrops, evanescent in the stifling heat of the first sweltering day after weeks of winter chills, ushering in a new age of soft buds and blooming petals, green life poking through the watery remnants of white snow, peeking through sidewalks and parking lots and scrambling for the first meager shreds of solar scintillant skies. Every now and then a faint darkness would stain the glass panels, only to flit away moments later in material form as a leaf or bird emerging from their respective fourth-season nests.

Restlessness hung in the air like festival lanterns. Its overwhelming girth was inevitable to touch all beneath it, tugging with anxious claws, jumping with turbulence, pushing this way and that with elephantine hands on infinitesimal bodies; a force larger than an agglomeration of all of U.A.'s class 1-A could ever form. Denki sporadically twitched his leg as though electricity was running uncontrollably through it, Eijiro's foot harshly hit the hardened floor with every other irregular breath, and fingers red with feigned control and forced calmness drummed atop Bakugou's desk. Even Iida, usually stick-straight with respectful attention, seemed to be distracting himself by rocking the balls of his feet back and forth, heel to toe and toe to heel and back again, all very quiet and very discreet, but still present nonetheless.

Izuku made no outward display of noticeable discomfort, however. His hands were folded, undisturbed, neatly atop his polished desk, and his legs seemed as though they were stuck together through some offhanded measure of superglue. Unlike the muffled, husky humming emanating from Kyoka's seat a few desks over, no sound escaped Izuku. His posture was somewhat slouched, and yet simultaneously spoke nonverbal volumes of his vigilance, stuck between the striking distaste of the day and the singular, stupendous image of the person sitting on his mind, sweeping through his thoughts and shoving out space for anything other than her.

Her.

Even just the thought of her name provoked an instinct within him, immersively monumental, a feeling buried beneath every last fiber of his body, until body controlled mind and his eyes, still as curious and wide with innocence as ever, would scan his surroundings, not stopping until his gaze fell once more upon her. She sat only a few rows away from his desk. Still, each and every inch felt like miles to him.

There once would have been a time when, in fear of her catching his gaze, he would've blushed and glanced away only after a second, and, in those few times where she did meet his eyes, would flush absolutely red, and hide his head in his hands atop his desk, embarrassment marring his face into something like a cherry tomato. For a few weeks things continued this way. Until, of course, he caught you doing precisely the same thing.

From there on, the spark laid within both of their hearts had bloomed into a fastidious fire, feasting on the times spent together and tugging intensively at their heartstrings whenever the other was not around. Minutes with each other turned to hours, hours into days, until eventually a balance was reached; an unspoken bond written in the ciphers of sentiments surrounding them both, yelling louder than words that this was no longer just a friendship, but rather something so very much more.

Despite the tangible discomfort in the air, seeing her supervised to soothe him. The day was almost out. Just a few more minutes and finally, he might be able to put his emotions into words, tell her the truth and make it known out in the open air that he was indeed in - ding.

Immediately everyone began to scramble for the door, pouring out into the halls, chatter erupting and polarizing the restlessness as though two opposing sides of a magnet. Class 1-A had nearly all drained out before Izuku could find room to make his way to her, hoping deep within his heart that she hadn't been swept away amongst the crowd.

Surprisingly enough, she was on her feet. Not heading towards the hallway, though.

Headed towards him.

He could feel his heart fluttering in his chest, dancing to some unknown upbeat chorus of careful calamity, just enough to startle him but still keep curiosity lingering in his chest. Something about her determined movements caused his plan to crumble to the ground. Within moments he'd forgotten what he was supposed to do, to say. There was only her and her beauty.

The same could not be said for her. Although her cheeks began to flush and her gaze flitted back and forth between her shoes and Izuku's equally-reddened face, she managed to speak. "I've - been thinking about a lot of things lately," she began, softly, scarcely heard over the beating of their own hearts.

This struck a chord within him. Typically, things like that did not bode well. Rather, they almost always seemed to cumulate into the end of something, or the beginning of something worse than what was once previously available. A shiver slithered across his spine. Now he wouldn't have his chance. She was going to say that she no longer wanted to spend time with him, wasn't she? She'd explain how he was boring, how he was useless, how Deku really did mean fruitless and nothing else, only disappointment and lost promises, forgotten love and wasted days. She would leave him and find someone better, stronger, more capable of providing her all the love that she needed, that she deserved. This would be her final moments with him.

"Izuku..."

Here it came.

"...I really like you."

The ice encased around his heart was immediately shattered by her silky, chivalrous statement, a single welcomed blow to the aches and pains beginning to spread presumptuously throughout his body, destroyed the clock in his mind that had waited, wondering, counting down the minutes and seconds and milliseconds before she would tell him she no longer thought of him the same. But she did. She thought all of it and more. And without even knowing precisely what was occurring, without being fully aware of his feelings or movements or actions or appearance, the blush had spread across his face, forming a butterfly across his cheeks and nose, and he was taking another step towards her, wide-eyed and nervous, mirroring her expression perfectly.

Before he could continue she stole the opportunity. "I - I know you might not feel the same. But I thought -"

"- I do," he murmured back, a small smile spreading across his lips as he watched the same sight bloom across her own face, gentle and graceful, generating goddess-like gorgeousness along the face of what was already an angel. "I like you, [y/n]. I've been meaning to tell you, but I didn't know..."

"I didn't know how you'd react, either," she murmured, a giggle escaping her. "I mean, I felt it was all unspoken, but I wanted to make sure you knew."

Oh, he knew. He knew with all his heart, mind, body, and soul, with every last millimeter of his frame and every movement of his figure. He knew he was in love and she was in love and they were in love and greatest wish had just been granted.

The elation he experienced that day never seemed to leave in the next week or so. The time they spent together increased exponentially, now accompanied by cuddling, hand-holding, attempting to sit as close to one another as possible no matter when or where or why, passing notes during the most dragged-out of classes, hugging and remaining in embraces, never wanting to let go. Never wanting to let go of each other, nor their time, nor their experiences, nor their love. The strings of fate had intertwined and wrapped them up together in their own cocoon of young, flourishing fondness.

Love was in full-swing of early spring blossoming one morning, where, as per usual, Izuku waited outside her house, backpack slung over his shoulder and uniform feeling heavy against the beginning of the sun's heat, knocking on the door and lightly lingering for her to appear on her porch. It had become a bit of a tradition for him to walk her to school. So, of course, even though she'd requested to leave earlier than usual to turn in a bit of extra credit, he still came. The timing was almost precisely like that of their first encounter, all those days ago, where they had spotted one another early, outside the school, hours before it began. Of course, he didn't really presume that hours were needed simply to turn in a spare assignment or two, but often she'd surprise him with a gift, or take him to one beautiful nature reserve or garden or another, and spend her time walking with him, sparking up small talk and enjoying the outdoors in his presence.

Moments later she arrived, looking somewhat harried but nonetheless happy, smiling widely at the sight of him. "Thanks for coming," she nodded, taking his hand and beginning to stroll down the sidewalk. "I'm sorry it's so early. But," she broke off, humming for a moment as Izuku paused to readjust his bookbag, "since it's still early spring, and everything's begging to bloom, I figured we could go to a plant nursery. It's one of the first places I went when I moved here, and everything's so calm and peaceful. I think you'll enjoy it."

Izuku grinned. "I enjoy everything with you," he murmured, tilting his head to the side before blushing and looking away at his own remark.

She laughed. "Me too."

Much like they usually did, their walking continued in relative silence, occasional smalltalk breaking the air but otherwise enjoying the peacefulness of the early spring day, admiring the neighborhoods and houses along their path. Even if the other had nothing else to say, his previous comment was true - silence was beautiful and fascinating with her.

"It's just a ways past school, so I was thinking I could drop my stuff off first?" she inquired after awhile, as they neared the building.

He nodded. "Of course. I may as well do the same; my backpack seems to get heavier with every passing week."

"Because you never clean out your folder," she chuckled, poking his cheek playfully, "and you've always got an extra sketchbook and notebook with you."

Her laughter was infectious. "Yeah, I suppose so. But I'm not parting with any of it. I want to treasure all my memories made here, especially with you."

In a split second she'd spun around, starting, startled by something Izuku didn't, couldn't see, despite turning with her and craning his neck, straining his senses for any sign of what had stunned her. But he couldn't find anything. "[Y/n], what's going on?" he breathed.

"I - I don't know," she relayed, "but something made my music...change. I don't think I've ever heard this song before..." and then she trailed off, reaching for Izuku's hand and digging her nails into it harder than she realized, stumbling back and gaping, pointedly, at something.

And this time Izuku saw it.

Out of the corner of his eye, just beyond a turn outside the angular school, the grasses brushed and parted, revealing an all-too-familiar figure.

Greasy, tousled sky-blue hair fell in an uncoordinated manner down a pale, porcelain face, obscured by a gloved hand, a black coat partially shading the rest of him from sight, but failing to do so entirely. Besides - someone like that, Izuku would never forget.

[Y/n] wouldn't know him. After all, she hadn't yet arrived at U.A. before the attack on the U.S.J.'s plaza. Hadn't seen his strength, his intellect, his touch of putrefaction and how it could melt skin and muscle and bone.

Hadn't ever fought Tomura Shigaraki.

"Run," Izuku whispered, frantically, tugging on her arm and speeding off in the opposite direction.

Frightened, she followed, cautiously casting glances behind her shoulder to ensure they weren't being followed. Her heart was racing in her chest, faster than her legs could pump, drowning out the crescendo of orchestral drama playing in her mind, her quirk on overdrive, blaring trumpets and flutes and making a ruckus, projecting warning signs as clear as day. And yet even as they ran, the song did not change. Nothing changed. It still remained as loud and sinister as it had been the first time she'd seen him. He must've been a villain. But how had he gotten there? How had he surpassed the barriers? Who was he?

This was suddenly interrupted when her song went dead silent.

She stopped, panting, falling to her knees and gasping for air, just a yard behind Izuku, who paused as well, sensing her tiredness. They'd strayed far off campus grounds. What felt like miles. What may have been miles. Surely they'd lost him. After all, he hadn't seen them; couldn't have seen them.

And then a touch.

Soft and gentle and slow, tracing across the side of her head, running from her forehead across her ear and her neck, down to her shoulder.

And then Izuku screamed.

Pain, unimaginable agony, began to prick her skin, plucking it apart, cutting deep into it and growing, swelling, bursting, just like the abrupt return of the music in her head, dark and slow, feeling like decades passed with every second, tearing her flesh from her bones and vanishing her skin, her muscle, reaching deep within her body and roaring as it ravaged her, knives stabbing across her body and revolvers firing, breaking her skin and her shape and her song.

Her song.

She was screaming now, raw and primal, the cry of an animal slowly dying at its hunter's pleasure, ripping up her throat and burning against her already-injured neck, chin, cheek, face, the world spinning and falling apart just as she was, drowning out all noise except that of Izuku, and something like a battle, and oh god no no no no no.

She could only hear from one ear now.

Her song was slowly decaying, just like her body, just like her ear. If it was gone...she couldn't fight. Not with the decay spreading deeper and deeper, burrowing into her torso like termites to a tree, worming around and wrecking her insides; not when the only thing she could concentrate on was her quirk. And that, too, was no longer functioning properly.

Breathe breathe breathe breathe breathe. Focus on the song. She could still hear it, faint and vicious, villainous and hateful and swollen with prideful rage. Barely, just barely, she felt around, searching for the right chord to pull, the right music to start up in rebellion.

Nothing was coming.

Her body was breaking.

She couldn't see a thing now.

The world was crumbling in on itself.

And so she made her song just as broken.

She changed none of the instruments. Instead, she reserved every twinge of pain, every appearance of agony, and with every passing second she transferred them from her body to her mind, focusing on instrument after instrument, shattering their strings and their necks and their bodies, breaking them, one by one, watching them recoil and die, soundless now, the song falling sideways on its own scraping composition.

And then she was falling sideways on her own scraping composition, hitting the ground and breaking, blackness overtaking her.

There were no more instruments left to destroy.

The first thing she saw was Izuku. He was hunched over in a chair, sleeping, fluffy hair falling in cute clumps across his round face, framing his eyelashes and his peaceful face, a small, soft snore escaping his chest as it rise and fell. His arms were in casts, and bandages were thrown all around him, here and there and everywhere, as if nearly his entire body had been ravaged.

And then she remembered.

Tears grew hot in her eyes and she tore her gaze from him. Instead, she slowly, steadily began to move her arm, only to be racked with pain, stinging like it was ablaze. She tried the other - this one worked fine. She reached to the side of her face, and felt, with an ever-present feeling of horror, that over half of it was encased in hardened bandages, running from her forehead all the way across the side of her body, reaching her lower thigh before disappearing into unscathed flesh.

The only thing keeping her from screaming was the fact that her music had returned.

It was soft. Peaceful, even, the calm after a storm, the dawn after the darkness. Simple wind instruments and the occasional violin, playing lightly, a tune of restoration and romance, like something at the end credits of a romance film. This was the singular sound that reminded her she was alive, no matter the consequence, and Izuku was here, with her, battered but breathing.

Somehow this brought even more tears to her eyes, puffing her cheeks with redness and overflowing her lacrimal canals. Had she failed? Were Izuku's injuries because she was unable to do anything? Was she still really that inexperienced? That useless? That much of a failure that she couldn't even protect the ones she loved most?

Her train of thought was interrupted by the curtain to her small room being drawn back, revealing a small frame moving towards her. Recovery Girl?

"Ah, you're awake," she remarked, a small, rare smile spreading across her face. "Good morning, Ms. [l/n]."

When [y/n] spoke, her voice was hoarse from lack of use, and each word took pains to choke out. "Is - is everyone okay?"

The nurse nodded. "Luckily for the two of you, the teachers happened to be in a meeting. They heard the ruckus you were making and managed to shut the villain down. Just a few minor injuries among staff. Of course, Midoriya overexerted himself as always..." she broke off with a sigh. "I'm glad you were there. Apparently you dealt some major damage before passing out. Without you, chances are Midoriya would've done something even more reckless."

Though her tone was admonishing, [y/n] could tell she was glad for their presence, even if it had inadvertently led to a fullblown battle. Something like relief was laced between her words.

"Alright, dear, I'm off. You may need another night before heading home, but I'll check on you again later. I've got some poor sap with burns all over." And with that, she left.

Only a second passed before Izuku jolted awake, hitting his head against the wall behind him and wincing, but pausing as soon as he noticed her opened eyes. "[Y/n]...!" His voice was coated with joy, reprieve, excitement, love. "D - does it hurt? Do you need me to get Recovery Girl? What can I do to help?" His anxiousness seemingly sparked after noticing the tears streaming down her face.

She shook her head. "No...please, just stay with me," she whispered, wiping at her face with her uninjured hand. "I need to see you - t...to know you're okay..."

Something like sadness spread across his face. "I'm fine," he murmured, a remorseful smile spreading across his lips. "I'm safe because of you. And now that you're up, I'm better than ever."

"You still...you're hurt."

He paused. "I wanted to stop you from getting hurt, and I guess..." he chuckled. "Well, you know how it goes. I do everything a little bit too much. I'm still not perfect at controlling it."

Something about his self-degrading humor but overall pleasant attitude about the awful occurrence made her feel more at ease. Not perfect, but at least less self-loathing, less useless, less of a failure. She could see nothing but admiration in his eyes, and she knew, undoubtedly, that he saw the same in hers. And she, too, was better than ever, as she used her spare arm to prop her up and lean into him, an armless embrace, her head against his chest, listening to the most beautiful song of them all, his heartbeat. He buried his nose in her hair, breathing her in, feeling her movements against him, knowing that she was alright, would be alright, despite it all. They remained like that for minutes upon minutes, safe against each other, reminding one another that they were still breathing, injured but alive, hurting but victorious.

"I love you," she whispered into him.

His heart fluttered, beating a million times faster than before, and she heard it, she felt it, and her heart, unbeknownst to him, was doing the exact same. The violins were sweetly rising, the piano playing in a high major key, sweet and loud and growing with every passing moment.

"I love you, too."

She lifted her head from his chest, slowly, as though it pained her to part, but then supported herself by her fingertips, raising her head higher, until their faces were almost even as he hunched down to meet her. She felt his breath, warm and even, comfortable, against her face, and she closed her eyes. The chorus burst out with joy, butterflies and flowers and all pure and good blooming throughout her mind as his lips met hers, supple and sweet and tasting like home, like belonging, like love in its true form.

Yes. They were better than ever.

7 notes · View notes

doomedandstoned · 5 years

Text

French Occultists Hua†a Deliver Cryptic Final Masterwork

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

Review by Billy Goate

Think you've heard it all and you're confident about closing the books on 2018 and putting out your best-of lists? I advise you to hold your horses, my friends, because you haven't heard this yet. Get ready for what is without doubt the grandest album of 2018. Guttural rumblings of bass collide with sublime organ tones, shooting holes through the dank chamber like laser rays of radiant sunlight. Soon this feast of sound will be joined by damning riffs and strangely majestic voices that layer melodies in shifting keys, one upon the other, until a spire is created like an ancient ziggurat.

The latest offering by French occultic doomers and Roadburn Festival alumni HUATA is like none other. The band, which recently made an appearance on our 'Doomed & Stoned in France' (2018) compilation, often configures as a five-piece. However, the consistent heartbeat of the project has been founding member, Ronan Grail, and long-time bassist Benjamin Morea -- both of whom constitute the backbone of the now 12-year old act that hails from Rennes.

Long renowned for their stirring live rituals, Hua†a have two extended-plays, two splits, and one previous full-length to their name already, the brilliant 'Atavist of Mann' (2011). However, nothing prepared me for the power of their crowning achievement, 'Lux Initiatrix Terrae’ (2018).

I find myself struggling for points of comparison to entice the reader to become a listener. Shall I draw parallels to the imposing architecture of Ufomammut, the sweeping compositional vision of Slomatics, the ardor of Inter Arma, the airy psychedelic soundscapes of Pink Floyd, the sanguine tenor of Pallbearer, or the harmonic resplendence of Chrome Ghost? At the risk of losing some of the faithful doomers, the most fitting association to the size, scope, and most importantly spirit of Lux Initiatrix Terrae comes not from the realm of metal, but from the world of classical music. I'm thinking of one ambitious work, in particular: Ferruccio Busoni's massive Piano Concerto in C Major, Opus 39 -- one of the most ambitious works ever written in its genre class. Like Hua†a, Busoni laced his work with cryptic references to the occult, ancient orders, and esoteric knowledge.

I hasten to add that Hua†a's magnum opus is not symphonic metal, though "symphonic" seems a most fitting adjective for it. Let's think of it as a rhapsodic fantasy marrying epic and gothic doom to atmospheric, surreal heaviness, whilst subtly flirting with spaced-out domain of psychedelic and occult rock. Some tracks ("The Golden Hordes Of Kailash," for instance) usher in surreal scales and unusual chord progressions that remind me of the creepy grandeur of the mutant worship service in Beneath The Planet of the Apes (1970).

This modern day Tower of Babel aspires to reach the heavens with a power, elegance, and resolute will encountered so rarely in the realm of metal or, for that matter, anything else across the many genres of contemporary music. During its exalting 70-minute run-time, I felt I was bearing witness some incredible modern cantata. This was more than my usual audit of a new promo; this was an all-absorbing listen and an altogether moving experience.

After hearing this record, I'm convinced that Hua†a have definitely given Batushka a run for their money at Psycho Las Vegas over the summer. No Vinyl Stage for these guys, though. Take them straight to The Joint, fellas! A sounds this large is worthy of the same immense theater that brought us Enslaved, SUNN O))), Godflesh, and Indian this year; Candlemass, Yob, Electric Wizard, and Sleep in the years prior.

I've been avoiding using well-tread power words like epic in much of my reviewing this year, but it's time to pull this one off the shelf. This is a special occasion, for Lux Initiatrix Terrae is the band's final work as Hua†a -- an emphatic punctuation to a long and fruitful career. You'll not encounter a band as fascinating as Hua†a or an album quite as majestic as the one before us this year, perhaps not even this decade. Make no mistake, Hua†a's strange, bold chef d'oeuvre will be discovered in this crowded year of excellent releases and, with any luck, reach wide appreciation. At the risk of sounding orgasmic, this record is a triumph.

Right now, you can sample two singles from the album -- its opener, "The Mystical Beast of Revelations" and the third track, "The Solar Work." Both will make you hungry to hear this regal heptad of hymns in all its fullness. On November 23rd, Hua†a's Lux Initiatrix Terrae will see a physical release on a very limited run of 200 cassettes via Sludgelord Records and Seeing Red Records, with vinyl available via French label Music Fear Satan.

To satiate the appetite while we wait, Doomed & Stoned is pleased to bring you the record’s finale, "Third Eye Nation." Though belying in the trippy ambience of its opening moments, the 16-minute monolith soon overtakes the soul.

Give ear...

Lux Initiatrix Terrae by Huata

Interview by Shawn Gibson

with additional question by Billy Goate

Recently, I sent away for Hua†a's new cassette and can't wait to get it! I already have 'Open the Gates of Shambhala' (2010) and 'Atavist Of Mann' (2011), but 'Lux Initiatrix Terrae' (2018) is my first preorder. I must have listened to album's opening track, "The Mystical Beast Of Revelations," four of five times in one sitting already. I play it as loud as I can during my daily commute. It's an amazing song that takes me to places not of this earth! The vocals sound different than the first two albums. The music sounds more sharpened and honed, though still very much the Hua†a we know and love. The organs add to the uniqueness and mesh well with the heavy, doomy vibe of multi-faceted gem of doom, ritual, occult, and psych metal. It was high time we interviewed the band, I thought. Following is my recent exchange of words with , in which they take us behind the veil of secrecy for a rare look at the musical minds that make up Hua†a. (Shawn)

☿

I used to have a radio show and played "Diving In The Swamp" and "The Imperial Wizard," which I absolutely love. Your new album comes out on November 23rd, which happens to coincide with a full moon. That's a great time to release an album, intentional I would imagine. I'll make sure to listen to 'Lux Initiatrix Terrae' under the light of the full moon and be transcended!

Ben: Thank you for those kind words. We like "Thee Imperial Wizard," too. It was a good song to play live, really deep and slow, as we enjoy.

Who is presently in the band?

Ben: I play bass in Hua†a and also guitars on Lux Initiatrix Terrae, plus fx and synths. I am responsible for a lot of the musical arrangements and composed both the music and lyrics with Ronan.

Ronan: Currently, Ben and I remain in the band, but the last album was recorded with David Barbe on drums and Gurvan Coulon on organ. At this point, we must say it's hard to hold Hua†a alive. We've had a lot of lineup changes. As the founder and last remaining from among the original members, I played with dozens of guys. I don't feel proud of it at all and I can't deny the help and devotion we had from many of the former members. I just wish I had not to deal with these lineup changes.

"At this point, we must tell the truth. There won't be Hua†a anymore."

So Hua†a is now a two-piece? What does that bode for the band's future?

Ronan: At this point, we must tell the truth: there won't be Hua†a anymore. This album will come as a posthumous album. This is due to musical disagreement and I now realize why many bands used the same argument and how it's difficult to explain! I personally don't want to stop playing music like Hua†a, because it's a strong thing I need to do in my life. Like, making it real, see? The thing is, Benjamin is at least as much in Hua†a as me and I can't deny it. So what I want to do now is make music again and all the ideas that could help me to make music like Hua†a did would be welcome.

Ben: As Ronan says, we weren't on the same page, musically and emotionally speaking, anymore after 10 years of doom worshiping to continue this project. We started to write this album in 2013, record it in 2015, and release it in 2018. This lapse of time weighted on us very much, in terms of how we wanted to continue this band. Our wills, visions, and expectations have changed throughout this hiatus and this split is for the best. Now I'm focusing on my other project, Fange, which grew up fast and good, as well as a new experimental hip-hop act called Bienveillance.

Lux Initiatrix Terrae by Huata

Who did the artwork for Lux Initiatrix Terrae?

Ronan: Ben has done all the artwork in Hua†a, from our first release onward. He did all the T-shirts, too, all of Hua†a's imagery remains his vision.

Related to that, when you’re not making music what do you like to do?

Ben: Creating visuals, having nice drinks and meals with friends, playing board games, watching the NBA, and listening to music, obviously.

Ronan: I am currently training for adults undergoing kite to become a Cook. I had a lot of jobs before. I'm like a regular guy; I like to eat, to drink. I like those good things we can take in this world, as I tend to be epicurean. For example, I like to drink and discover a lot of IPAs.

What's a damn good book you've read?

Ronan: I am now reading, again and again, 'The Morning of The Magicians' (1960) from Bergier and Pauwels, and I can tell that the power of this book remains in the themes it tackles. Hörbigers’s Welteislehre, especially, retains my fascination.

Ben: 'The Morning of the Magicians' is definitely inspiring and so is 'The Secret Doctrine' (1888) from Helena Blavatsky. A few books from Robert Charroux were also big inspirations for us in the writing of Hua†a's lyrics and philosophy. Otherwise, ‘2001, A Space Odyssey’ (1968) from Arthur C. Clarke is brilliant, as is the Kubrick's movie adaptation, my favorite of all.

What makes you laugh?

Ben: Monty Python, The IT Crowd, Black Books, Ricky Gervais, etcetera. English humor is the very best. Ace Ventura is also one of my favorites, along with Les Visiteurs.

Ronan: Monty Python! I love the absurd humor.

I love to cook and eat. What are some good French foods you love?

Ben: All of it, man. Don't mess with French people about food. This is more than a cultural institution here; it's a freakin' religion! (laughs) French gastronomy is a masterpiece -- from meats, cheeses, and wines, to fishes and seafood, to even offal, snails, and frogs. All are great, without mentioning the quality of our pastry. But if I had to choose one stuff it would be the bread. Everywhere else's bread is shit.

Ronan: (laughs) Well, I'm actually learning a lot about this topic, as a future Cook. I'm now attending to make a "Poulet vallée d'Auge," a chicken flamed with calvados -- yummy! -- cooked with onions, fresh cream from Isigny, mushrooms, cider, and all of this with roasted potatoes and a good Merlot from our many varieties of wine grapes.

What are your influences musically?

Ben: The first bands I ever listened to as a child were Magma, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, and a lot of '70s rock, thanks to my father, so these records really influenced my musical approach. Black Sabbath is the obvious one, because I'm devoted to the art of the riff. Also John Coltrane, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Zorn, and Trent Reznor are some composers I really admire, among many others. But for Hua†a, my influences were much more from the '70s psychedelic era than the doom-stoner one.

Ronan: I hear from my childhood rock, blues, folk and pop music. I'm not that much into metal music; I mean, not all of it. I'm now exploring some progressive rock music.

Hua†a is from Rennes, so I'm curious about some of the bands from area that you guys dig?

Ronan: I love Eat Roses. What they did was so deep and beautiful. Totorro also does good music. I'm not that much into thrash or death metal, but Hexecutor or Cadaveric Fumes are doing an excellent stuff. And the wave of garage rock bands -- I'm from Rennes -- is quite cool too, I even found Le druide du Gué Charette, which is from this wave and also wear monk robes like we did!

Ben: Eat Roses was the best, but DEAD and You, Vicious! are also quite good in the post-punk scene in Rennes, along with my mate, folk singer Dany von Del Baüt of Malaad Roy, and Straw Hair, who play hip-hop.

How is the metal scene in Rennes?

Ronan: There are the Roazhon Underground productions, Black Karma's new festival, and of course the "Tendresse et passion" scene. A lot of foreign bands visit the Mondo Bizarro or Terminus bars.

Ben: There was a big hardcore scene in Rennes in the late-'90s 'til the mid-2000s, but the metal scene didn't really grow up here. Can't say that there are obvious bands or venues, except the Mondo Bizarro, to really federate everyone, but some promoters are doing a good job to make it live.

What has been an awkward moment as a band?

Ben: Too much to remember, but most of them were more funny than weird moments, which makes good anecdotes, at least!

Ronan: There are so many I can't tell!

Your music has always had religious overtones, thematically and especially instrumentally -- namely through the use of organ. Do any of you have background in Christianity and Catholicism? I'm imagining, perhaps, the music of the cathedrals of your childhood, the grandiosity of the organ music there.

Some of us have been baptized and/or followed catechism class as children, but this has nothing to do with our reason for using an organ in our music, even if we are very impressed and enjoyed by organs in churches. There is nothing about religion in Hua†a, but there is spirituality and the will to cite many cults and convergences between ancient beliefs and occultism throughout history.

For this recording, what did you work with, organ-wise? It sounds like one of those incredible, elaborately piped church organs.

We would have loved to record a proper piped church organ, such as the one you can see on the alternative cover of Lux Initiatrix Terrae, but as with previous albums, we just recorded with a 1961 Hammond Organ -- which actually was used in a church in Brittany, back in the day. We chose to add an organ to our music because of our '70s musical background, but you're not completely wrong by saying that the majestic tones and serenity brought by the organ tones fit well with our musical purpose!

I'd love to probe the depths of each song, because I'm sure there are all kinds of fascinating details there our readers would love to know about. That said, I can understand if the band desires to preserve some mystery and leave it to the prerogative of the listener to search these things out. Certainly there are many rabbit trails to explore, not the least of which is the band's name.

Our lyrics and universe are very deep, indeed, and we do like to let our audience get into this if they want to. There is a big part of our work which remains hidden -- that's the purpose of the occult. To be honest, only a few really dug the lyrics, which are written in an ancient German code in our records, so you have to unscramble them in the graph way and by their meaning and references.

That is truly fascinating. Also, I noticed there were quite a number of contributing artists credited on the record.

We have had so many musicians throughout the years that it might be difficult to follow, I admit! We recorded Lux Initiatrix Terrae with a proper line-up, but summoned several extra-musicians to help us in expanding our musical palette. Their collaborations were even very mysterious, as we didn't meet in person with any of them -- except Laetitia, whom Ronan knows. They all recorded their own parts. We've only reached out to them with ideas of what we wanted and they managed to write what we were expecting.

I imagine there was a deliberate rationale for this?

Nothing extravagant, I'm afraid. They were just living in different areas of Brittany and the recording process took place in several spots over a two-year period. But it definitely fits the purpose not knowing who they are and having no interactions with them.

Not to end on a sour note, but I’m saddened to hear this is perhaps Hua†a's last album!

The decision to split apart was quit recent, but we were already in a hiatus for three years and no ceremonial activities in four years. As you may have gathered, we're a bit outside all these preoccupations we had back in the days, but it's always interesting and a pleasure to picture the whole frame of Hua†a with new disciples!

Follow The Band

Get Their Music

#D&S Debuts #Huata #Rennes #France #Doom #Metal #Atmospheric Doom #Occult #Seeing Red Records #Sludgelord Records #Music Fear Satan #D&S Interviews #Shawn Gibson #HeavyBest18 #D&S Reviews #Doomed & Stoned

5 notes · View notes

archaicaband · 2 years

Text

The symphonic metal project ArchaicA gets it's name from the word "Archaic", meaning ancient. In contrast to most pop music, heavy metal often bases itself upon mythical stories and elements that stand the test of time. The vision of ArchaicA derives from what remains unchanged regardless of the passing of time.

"I stood by watching and I seen 'em come and go. I seen 'em make that million then vanish in the snow."

- Primus, The antipop

Archaica's first album release The Creation of Soul consists of mostly instrumental, symphonic metal songs that could fit just as well in a cinematic film scenario as in a rock/metal scene. Musical themes vary between scores that could fit in Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns, Greek style Olympic themes and Arabian settings. All set to the thundering noise of distorted guitars, bass and metal drumming. The universal approach of dwelving into the different geographical musical themes is meant to support the vision of timelessness.

"Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times."-

- G. Michael Hopf,

ArchaicA's vision seeks to explore why the genre is called heavy metal. Metal derives from rock both in musical form and in elemental form. It's form is sturdy, hard and concrete. Metal and rock takes much pressure and effort to change and isn't easily affected by circumstanses as opposed to a feather in the wind. Such is the aim of Archaica's musical expression. Sturdy, heavy and without excuses.

"Pressure makes diamonds."

- U.S. Army General George S. Patton

Skepticism of mankinds bureaucracy and disbelief in use of fiat currencies - which has no basis in any metal such as gold or silver - has helped the group finance the expenses of recording a large symphony orchestra. Silver and gold investments are based upon trust in real money that has stood the test of time and suitingly has helped finance this massive music project.

"Between the velvet lies There's a truth that's hard as steel The vision never dies Life's a never ending wheel"

- DIO

The wisdom of the prophets have stood the archaic test of time and stands as the inspiration for much of ArchaicA's material, such as the album title "The Creation of Soul".

"The book of Genesis states In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be אור aur, light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that [it was] טוב tob (good): and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called ליל [layil, night]. And the evening and the morning were the first day. - Genesis 1 This is an Alchemical phrase. It is psychological. It is not physical; it does not concern physical matter. It concerns the creation of your soul."

ArchaicA will release their first album "The Creation of Soul" with 10 songs in 2022.

Musicians participating in this project, include:

Guitars: Michael Keihl

Bass: Torbjørn Stranda Myhren

Drums: Jonas Schütz

Piano: JF Viljoen

Orchestra: Budapest Symphony Orchestra

#metal #heavy metal #symphonic metal #symphonicmusic

0 notes

jezfletcher · 3 years

Text

1000 Albums, 2020: Albums #10-1

Here they are, my Top 10 albums of the year. As always, these are the top 1% of all the albums I heard this year which means, at least statistically speaking, they must be pretty good. The other thing that means they’re good is the fact that, well, they’re all just very good.

#10. Joe Wong - Nite Creatures (baroque pop)

This is one of the albums I heard as part of the period this year where I was up a lot in the middle of the night with a hungry, cranky baby. And it’s a hauntingly good soundtrack for the wee hours of the morning. It has a psychedelic wash to a lot of it, and orchestral-sounding arrangements that blur the line between strings and guitar, plus harp from Mary Lattimore. It has a rich slate of moving harmonic progressions, in the way that I like in the best dreampop. Wong’s voice is a pleasingly melted-chocolate baritone, which works well with the atmospheric swirl. Wong has a history as a composer for TV and film, and you can definitely see the influences of that in this work.

My top track (I have several) is Day After Day, elevated as it is by the presence of an oboe—an underutilised instrument. But other tracks are excellent as well, for example, the title track Nite Creatures, which almost sounds like what The Go! Team would write if they took a lot of LSD in the 70s. Other standouts are Dreams Wash Away, Nuclear Rainbow and Sleeping.

Recommended Track: Day After Day

#9. Luis Pestana - Rosa Pano (experimental electronica)

A fantastic sonic journey, Rosa Pano sounds atmospheric and theatrical from the very first moments, starting with a low drone, before bringing in tuned gongs, atonal synth scrawls and heavily processed vocals. This is never an album that feels weird-for-the-sake-of-weird though—it uses the more challenging elements as dramatic devices. For every moment of atonal noise, there’s a plunge into the cool clear waters of restrained melody. And yet at every moment, I feel like I’m leaning forward in anticipation of that next unexpected element. Pestana does an amazing job at drawing things out just longer than you expect, or giving you exquisite moments of crashing relief. I’ve not felt this level of control over experimental electronica since Roly Porter’s 2016 album Third Law, which also ended up near the top of my end-of-year list.

In some senses this almost feels like the 2020 equivalent of a classic album like Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells. It’s experimental, but has the feeling of narrative to it—elusive though the story might be, something is developing across the scope of the album. As such, it’s difficult, honestly to pick out individual elements—even though Sangra, for instance, contains some of the best bits in the album, it’s even better when it seamlessly moves into Arde Asa. Ao Romper da Bela Aurora brings in choral elements that shock you back into a remembrance of humanity, and Asa Machina provides an engine-like consistency moving you towards the finale. At 31 minutes, it absolutely packs a punch for its short running time, and is absolutely the kind of thing that you can (and perhaps should) consume at once, whole. It’s also the kind of thing I would love to see performed live one day. Hearing this boom over you in a dark room, sharing the experience with other audience members, would be a pretty incredible thing.

Recommended Track: Sangra

#8. Sufjan Stevens - The Ascension (art pop)

It has been a long time since we’ve had a proper solo release from Sufjan Stevens. In fact, his last album, Carrie & Lowell was actually the year before we started listening to 1000 albums a year. So The Ascension felt like a moment that was long coming for the music project. Better yet was the fact that unlike the subdued folk of his 2015 effort, this one feels more like the spiritual successor to his second-to-last album The Age of Adz. That was an album I adored (and saw him perform twice in concert), so I jumped into The Ascension with a great deal of joy. It has Stevens’ trademark ethereal but strident vocals, and layers upon layers of drifting synths. But there’s still a sense that there’s pure folk at its heart. The presentation might change, but so many of these songs you feel would survive either this level of heavy production, or Sufjan singing them with a guitar and no backup.

There are many tracks I love in here, including Make Me An Offer I Cannot Refuse, Tell Me You Love Me, and the harmonically challenging Ursa Major, which feels like the vocals and backing track are in constant tension with each other. I’m going to single out Lamentations though, which adds a surprising rhythmic element to what would otherwise be an extremely subdued, downtempo track.

Recommended Track: Lamentations

#7. MisterWives - Superbloom (indie pop)

In some ways, MisterWives is a victim of its own success with me. For a start, after so loving their 2017 album Connect the Dots, this was labouring under extremely high expectations. Moreover, while I generally try to hold out on listening to singles if I know that an album is imminent, I couldn’t stop myself from picking up the first trickles that came from this album, and then the half-album EP release that preceded it. Which meant that by the time it actually came around to listening to Superbloom, I’d heard approximately 50% of it already. I had missed that moment when all the goodness crashed on me at once. Of course, it’s still an extremely good album—but if the world were a fair and equal place, you feel like this should be a pure lock for my Album of the Year.

There’s still plenty of great, thoughtful but mostly upbeat pop in this album. Danceable tracks like It’s My Turn and Love Me True are tempered by more atmospheric numbers like Valentine’s Day and Decide to Be Happy, the latter of which feels like it’s channeling a lot of 90s RnB, in the best possible way. Another thing, which made me realise this wasn’t the standout album of 2020, is that it’s an extremely long album (it’s 19 tracks, and over an hour in length), and the quality isn’t entirely consistent. This almost certainly means that tightening up the album would improve the overall quality. As a whole album, it suffers, even though as a collection of great tracks it packs more of a punch, perhaps, than some albums above it in this list.

Recommended Track: It’s My Turn

#6. Lola Marsh - Someday Tomorrow Maybe (Israeli noir pop)

For a long time this year, this was considered the front-runner for me. Coming out as it did in February, and being a clearly great album, everything released later was always compared to it: “is this as good as Lola Marsh’s album?” was a tacit question whenever a new great album came up. This survived most of the challenges, and winds up still in my top ten after what’s been a great year of music. This has excellent moments of songwriting, delivered with a sense of ennui, very appropriate for 2020, even though it was released before the pandemic truly took hold.

There are moments of exceptionally subdued folk songwriting, and elements which expand into rich dramatic presentations. Tracks like Like in the Movies start out with a beautifully simple melody and then build in a series of vast smash cuts to an ecstatic conclusion. The best track, however, is the opening track Echoes, which is melodically beautiful and develops in a number of unexpected but harmonious ways. They seem to know it’s the best track too, because they rework it into the more melodic, less rock-driven closing track Where Are You Tonight?. In some senses it feels like cheating to use the same song twice, but a) it’s such a great song that you don’t mind hearing it again, and b) the reworking is so skillfully done that it feels like both are worthy inclusions on their own merits. But it’s a great album, and one that still feels, 10 months later, like one of the very best of the year.

Recommended Track: Echoes

#5. Dyble Longdon - Between a Breath and a Breath (chamber folk)

This is a bittersweet album, a collaboration between vocalist Judy Dyble of Fairport Convention, and David Longdon, a multi-instrumentalist from the group Big Big Train. Shortly before its release, Dyble died, meaning that this was and is always going to be the only release we get from this duo. And that’s a damn tragedy, because this is a phenomenal album. It is even better as a collaboration, because there’s an inspired synergy between Dyble’s sweet trad-folk vocals and the sumptuous and rich arrangements from Longdon. There’s always a connection between the two, so it never feels like the simple folk qualities are being overwhelmed by post-rock ostentatiousness—often there will be interplay between the vocals and Longdon on flute, for instance, which connects the two elements beautifully.

Best though is the fact that they can use these elements to balance each other, or provide contrasts that generate immensely moving moments of drama. There’s the epic 11-minute France for instance, which feels symphonic in scope, or there’s my personal favourite, Obedience, which ties a beautifully sweet and simple folk tune with an immense prog-rock crescendo. But the album overall is a journey in itself. It’s incredibly sad that this is only perfect moment of collaboration we get from these two.

Recommended Track: Obedience

#4. Hugo Kant - Far From Home (downtempo nu-jazz)

I’m genuinely surprised with how well this held up, but I also remember how much I immediately fell in love with this album when I first heard it (in brief snippets when screening the week’s new releases, and then again when I listened through in full). This is a fabulous set of music, building rich soundscapes around punching downtempo breakbeats. You will notice jazz flute a lot in some of my top picks this year, and here’s another one which uses it extensively. But there’s a rich instrumentation overall here—woodwinds are part, but there’s more of the orchestra utilised at various points where it’s required to provide drama, or an upsurge in emotion from swelling strings.

Even better is when non-Western influences are incorporated to broaden the scope of the sound, or when there’s a deep groove to the bassline that drives a track forward despite anything else going on, such is the excellent Everything Is Transformed. My personal pick is personally High Gravity, which is probably more motif-based, and driven more by its percussion. It’s a high point for me, but others will probably consider tracks like Melancholia, or The Second Sun as more representative of the album overall. But whatever you pick from this album, you’re likely to find something good. It’s an eclectic but extremely enjoyable outing.

Recommended Track: High Gravity

#3. The Lemon Twigs - Songs For The General Public (alt rock)

This is a genuinely fabulous collection of tracks. It’s less of a thematically linked album than some of the others on this list, but the hit rate is quite phenomenal, especially given it’s quite a long album. There’s a genuinely beautiful throwback quality to a lot of these tracks—they feel often enough like they’re unstuck from time. Is this a long lost track from the late 60s psychedelia? Perhaps it’s pop rock from the 80s? Maybe, just maybe, it’s an ultra-hip interpretation of the last 70 years of music from the year of our lord 2020? Whatever it is, it’s exceptional songwriting for the most part, delivered with almost a kind of glam swagger that evokes the early albums of music project darling Kyle Craft.

Singling out tracks is both easy and hard to do, because I love so much of this album. The lead single The One is a particular favourite, but I grew to especially love the meter-shifting Only a Fool the more I heard it. Plus you can’t deny that it starts strongly with the one-two punch of rock driven sing-along Hell On Wheels followed by sunny pop Live in Favour of Tomorrow. But you have to also consider the cabaret charm of organ-or-maybe-calliope heavy Why Do Lovers Own Each Other?. You can see the bind I’m in. It was, to some extent a bit of a surprise to find this as high as it is on this list, but when I look back on the smorgasbord of goodness available from it, it absolutely feels like a correct choice for a Top 3 Album of the Year.

Recommended Track (aw jeez… let’s go with): Only a Fool

#2. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - K.G. (microtonal psychedelic rock)

The first time I really got into King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard was in 2017, which was happily the year where they set out to record 5 albums in 12 months. What struck me then was that this was a technically brilliant band that managed to maintain a stunning level of quality when you’d expect them to be prioritising quantity. The standout from 2017 for me was Flying Microtonal Banana, their first experiment with non-Western microtonal tunings for their instruments.

Their successor to this, K.G., also done with microtonal tunings, is even better, and it’s perhaps the moment when my generalised love for King Giz turned into something genuinely special. This is a remarkably fine collection of music, played as a zero-gap set and running the gamut from heavy prog rock to swirling psychedelia, 90s electropop and metal. Everything is tinged with the alien from the unexpected xenharmonics, but everything is also bolstered by the technicality of the performers. It’s very easy for this kind of thing to become a mess—to lack structure or to get caught up itself too much. This does none of that, and stays crisp and polished right through to the slamming finale, The Hungry Wolf of Fate.

Recommended track: Intrasport

#1. Ada Rook - 2,020 Knives (electropop concrète)

In my mind, there’s no better album to summarise the year we’ve just had than this sprawling, angry and claustrophobically intimate album from Ada Rook. Rook has been prolific this year, releasing an album as part of the duo rook&nomie towards the very end of 2019, producing and mastering albums for an array of artists whom I’ve also enjoyed, and even turning her hand to industrial grindcore under the name crisis sigil. But nothing is better than 2,020 Knives. There’s a wrenching sense of trauma at the core of these songs—lyrically they can be by turns devastating, heart-breaking or strangely life-affirming. But they’re placed in a strong, aggressive punch of industrial electropop, laced with guttural screams of existence that seem to perfectly match the state of the world in 2020.

It’s not a satirical album though, and it’s not obviously trying to make some sweeping statements on the state of the world. Instead, it’s clearly a deeply personal album—but there’s such quality in the songwriting, the beautifully polished production, the complexity of the rhythms, that something connects and then we start to see our own reflection in Rook’s. And if it connects and hits as often as it does for me—well, it ends up your #1 album of the year. It’s a perfectly fitting album for the year that was 2020.

Recommended track: Reverie (JH Ligation Experiment 1)

And there we have my top albums for 2020. Stay tuned for my top 50 (!) tracks of the year, which I’ll post over the next couple of days. After the Christmas break, I’ll also post my longer list of albums #31-100, and my list of tracks #51-100.

I’m also in the process of collating a playlist of my top tracks of the year, which I’ll post after all is revealed.

0 notes

bytesnbolts · 4 years

Note

Cinnamon: Describe your aesthetic

(( From the (delicious!) cake asks

“Working 9-5″ BnB Aesthetics

Hand-me-down suits; Business casual; Solid or pastel colors; Flats or knee-high boots; Customer-service smile/voice; Duster/Trench coat; “Good morning~! Goodnight ~!”; Three screen set-up; Frozen-dinners in company microwave; Multitasking; Cleaning up other peoples’ messes; Ten alarms; OST/Instrumentals/Classical; “Where did my research paper go???”; In nine places at once; Internalized cussing; Passing out with the lights on

“Working 9-5 But I’m Quarantined” BnB Aesthetics

Business up-top off-shift down-below; Self-troubleshooting; “Is it a robocall or a customer...”; Half-finished bottles of water in weird places; In nine places at once but virtually with only one screen; Videogame/tabletop on in the background; Giant Frog background for video meetings; Trying not to pass out on the clock; Internalized cussing; “Mobile” desk; Laying on the floor for inspiration; Unplanned post-work naps

“No Errands” Weekend BnB Aesthetics

Printed pajama bottoms or comfy shorts; Muscle shirt or tanktop, No shoes or socks; Dresses/skirts; Bedhead; Rise with the midday sun; Homecook’en; Roleplaying; Embroidery threads and fleece; 80s Rock and Pop or Sea Shanties and Murder Ballads; Relaxed; Chill; Chores and DIY; Openly cussing like a sailor; Pillow nest; Singing and dancing by myself; New dishes

“Weekend Outing” BnB Aesthetics

Printed t-shirts or shirts with flowing sleeves; Light jacket or flannel over-shirt; Combat trousers/cargo pants; Steel-toed gym shoes or combat/cowboy boots; Heavy metal and House; natural hair with/without bandanna; Window-shopping; Thrift’en; Leftovers or Takeout; Singing to the radio with the windows down; Unplanned book or fabric store stop; Cussing inaudibly; New dishes; New experiences

Writer BnB Aesthetics

“Why won’t this write itself?!”; Talking out loud in different voices; Restless energy; Randomly striking poses; Bittersweet or tragic endings; Open word document; Wordbuilding/Character “bible”; THE WIP SPREADSHEET; Labyrinth of files; “No no no; no new WIPs!”; Procrastination!; “Screw wordcounts!”; Characters without plots or plots without characters; “Where did you come from!?!?”; Characters smiling too often; Sunflower seeds; Fruit/Floral tea; Blood Sweat and Tear (so many tears); All the cussing; Wanting to Talk about it vs not wanting to talk about it; K-pop and Trap; “When did it get to be that time?”

Convention BnB Aesthetics

Hidden in plain sight anti-theft and anti-creep gear; Bright colors; Glitter and make-up; “Bag of (Realistically) Holding”; Smuggled snacks and water; COSPLAY!!!!!; “How did I miss the panel???”; Lurking in gaming booths and merchandise alley; Afterglow; Sore feet

URL/Online BnB Aesthetics

Space; Neon; Underwater; Darker neutral colors; Tag talking; MEME ME UP SCOTTY!; Niche interests; Dark Symphonic metal and covers; “By the Gods”; “I wish that was me”; “Okay, but...”; “Listen here” ; “...obvious witchcraft!”; 10-ish tabs; Just vibe to the music; Down the wikipedia rabbit hole; background anxiety; BnB.exe has stopped functioning, XD

#(( Munday Memeage ))#(( an aesthetic for every occasion ))#((tbh sleep-deprivation circles and stylish belts go with all of these))#xxa-helping-handxx

0 notes

salsabubble · 6 years

Note

Bhazz! Of course! :3

Ooh, thank you for the ask! Assuming this is about the Headcanon thing, there’s more under the cut~

What they smell like:

Hard to answer for this one… he smells clean and somewhat synthetic (cuz he is) but not in the chemical way. Imagine the smell of washed clothes (without scented stuff added to the mix!), add a sort of plastic-y smell, and you’ve got it about right.

How they sleep (sleeping position, schedule, etc):

Bhazz sleeps, firstly, at very ‘weird’ times. He goes to bed at 11pm most of the times, and wakes up at 3am. Where he’s very calm and on the backlines of whatever is happening during the day, he is a very random sleeper and -very- quickly falls asleep as long as he’s in a bed. So… any position that strikes his fancy would be the position in which he sleeps in! If I were to have to pick one though, I’d say… flat on his belly with one arm under the pillow.

What music they enjoy:

He doesn’t really listen to music, but if he does he listens to whatever is being played. His preference is for Electronic Rock or Classical Music, but the occasional symphonic would come by as well.

How much time they spend getting ready every morning:

He doesn’t spend much time getting ready. After waking up at way-too-early-what-are-you-doing-you-crazy-go-back-to-sleep, he goes to the kitchen to eat his first breakfast and drink a cup of coffee and orange juice. Afterwards he’s mostly in the gym until 8am, after which he showers, dresses, and goes back to the kitchen for his second breakfast. Then his day just kinda… starts. As days do.

Their favorite thing to collect:

I’m going to give a very cheesy answer here, but I’d say he collects smiles. Despite his personality of not wanting to take charge and just let things happen, if he has the option to make someone smile even a little bit he’d take it with both hands. Other than that… he has quite the collection of fitness clothing. Those way-too-loose singlets and stuff.

Left or right-handed:

He’s ambidextrous!

Religion (if any):

Not really any religion, no, but he strictly believes that (because of what he is and looks like) he has the obligation to protect those who need it. He also adheres to a remarkable sense of pacifism, though he has no issue with friendly sparring for training purposes. Or wrestling, or other sorts of physical (and mental!) competitions. If a draw happens he’ll always be the one to step back and give away the victory, however.

Favorite sport:

He doesn’t have a particular sport he enjoys, he just enjoys heavy physical activity in general. Any sort of activity you’d be able to do in a Gym, kinda! As long as he gets to feel like he’s building and preserving mass, he’ll be happy!

Favorite touristy thing to do when traveling (museums, local food, sightseeing, etc):

He’s… actually never travelled out of Rata Sum and Soren Draa. He’d be one of those people who walks around and asks people to take pics of him and his friends in front of landmarks and such though. Also he’d -very- much enjoy buying exotic or special kinds of food. Lots of exotic and special kinds of food. Like… a -lot-.

Favorite kind of weather:

Beach weather, simply put. He likes the feeling of sun on his skin as he sits somewhere.

A weird/obscure fear they have:

He’s afraid to lose his ‘asuranity’, so to speak. As an experiment (he was made a synthetic augmented bionic by the Inquest) he was offered the stupendously rare choice to be a person instead of a tool, and ever since then he’s been afraid of having that choice be taken from him again. He’s also afraid of someday having someone he’s protecting be hurt because he wasn’t there or because he made a mistake.

The carnival/arcade game they always win without fail:

Those ‘How hard can you punch!’ things. He uh… tends to break them. And that’s winning, right? Right?

#ask #Salsa Answers #Bhazz #THANKS FOR THE ASK I APPRECIATE IT!#response

5 notes · View notes

goddamnitdazai · 7 years

Text

redux {oneshot}

I don’t generally write dark angst, but I’ve had an idea for awhile and sometimes I like making characters suffer. Characters: Dazai Osamu, Kunikida Doppo, Atsushi Nakajima Rating: General/Mature Genre: Angst Warnings: Graphic depictions of death, blood. Words: 1,176

The world didn’t look right. The stars, tiny cosmic specs of silver seemed to be shaking in symphonic notes of an unwritten and desolate song. They were hovering too close for comfort. Dazai reaches his shaking hand towards the waxing moon; all he can see is white and red and bits of falling snow. It’s too warm for snow, but it keeps falling falling falling. Dazai squints, snow shouldn’t be black—the sky shouldn’t be a swirling cyclone. The sound of crackling metal drags through his ears like a dagger on rock; Dazai’s teeth clench.

Why was he in the middle of the street? Darkness shrouds him and reminds him of the nights he used to walk home from the bar with Odasaku. Nights like this Dazai swears up and down he can hear Odasaku laughing about something ridiculous. Dazai smiles to himself as the blackened snow keeps sprinkling down from the sky. Bits of paper-like flakes crumpling from the canvas above—the world had begun unravelling over his head. His eyes sting as he tries to blink away the fuzzy edges distorting his vision. Had it really gotten this cold so soon? He reaches out again. Fingers sprawl towards the heavens; this time the outline of his arm is more than wavy lines. Crimson catches his attention, his lungs freeze. A river of carmine runs like chains down his arm; his bandages are tattered scraps. Black and blue ash blots the exposed skin under shredded ivory. Had he always been so pale? Odasaku’s phantom laugh grows smaller, colder. A light cuts through Dazai’s vision and blaring sirens pump through his ears. The familiar taste of iron in his mouth makes his gut clench. Nothing fits; everything is skewered like a box of mismatched puzzle pieces. His brain is haywire. Fog scratches out rapidly flashing memories but the sounds, god the sounds keep screeching in his ears—it’s deafening. Stop screaming; I’m trying! His head cranes to the right as the wind blows curling gunmetal smoke over his face. Deep tire marks skewer the pavement. An explosion jolts him upright. Blood spurts from his mouth and fills his throat. Somethings broken; a rib probably. Dazai ignores the sharp pain in his side as he rolls to his knees. The mental fog returns— but thinner. Fragments replay out of order; morning coffee, loud music, Kunikida slapping him with his notebook, Atsushi bringing him reports. When did all that happen? Dazai forces himself to rise, hand digging between tattered cloth and scraping at marred skin. He flinches at his own touch—something hurts. He inhales and chokes; smog fills his lungs and drags coal down his throat. Another burst of heat and thunder rattles up his spine. Nerves connect, thoughts fly; his eyes jerk to the side. Scraps of twisted metal clutter the country road, idling smoke coils over charred hunks of steel and glass. The scent of burning skin makes Dazai vomit. The job was hours away. Atsushi had brought Dazai the report this morning with coffee—he was late and slightly hungover (as usual). Atsushi was worried about the threats against the agency; Kunikida smacked Dazai with a notebook when he responded with ‘As long as a pretty lady kills me who cares!’ Atsushi still frowned at his mentions of suicide; he’d been with the agency for over a year now. Can’t the kid let it go? The air is frigid, creeping through the holes in his clothes and biting at his nerves. Wind disperses furled bits of paper through the turning shadows. The guard rail is dingy and protects nothing other than endless rows of barren fields drying up as the seasons change. Someone is whimpering somewhere; the faintest sound of agony. Dazai’s eyes widen and weed through the shadows, but his vision is still cloudy from the blow to his head. Green abruptly flints off a strip of moonlight peaking between heavy clouds. Carelessly he stumbles to the guard rail, torn up fingers shakily rolling over the seared binding. His chest caves in, trapping the air in his throat. Kunikida. His knees slam to the ground as far off cries grow closer; shut up shut up so I can think! Dazai’s hand drags to his neck—the vibrations in his throat are heavy. He’s screaming. The explosion replays on a loop. The car flipping, the glass shattering over his head—rolling. He can feel the fire; taste the burning gasoline on his teeth. It malfunctioned, the bomb, it had to have been fucked up. How else would he have survived? Dazai’s eyes shift to his left. The car is a massive hunk of mangled parts tipped on its side. Atsushi was on that side. The back window has Dazai’s blood and hair dangling from leftover fragments of remaining glass. A lump of sand drags down his throat. Atsushi Asphalt streaks his knees red and black. The night is too peaceful, too beautiful without city lights interfering with the stars. Textbook serenity follows him. Draping the dissolvent of his remaining sanity in saturated cosmic beauty. His entire body falls numb and the taste of blood has long become a consistent tang in his mouth. Dazai can feel the heat radiating from the car but the fire has long dissolved on its own. He can’t recall the time on the dash or the position of the sun when he was singing that damn song Kunikida hated. Atsushi’s hair was tangled from Dazai sticking candy wrappers in it; but where the fuck was the sun? Dazai peels himself from his hands and knees, wobbling to a standing position with his head hung low. He feels for the mutilated door handle or a semblance of one. His eyes can’t stand the strain. His fingers tangle with something cold and wet. A whimper passes through his lips as a flock of birds soar over telephone poles. White strands matted in scarlet. Dazai walks his hand up until he feels bone—open, cracked bone. There is no reason to look, but he does. Ironic punishment, karmatic bullshit—who the fuck cared. Dazai stares through the smoke; at death itself. At the limp form of his partner smashed to ribbons between the steering wheel and dash. Kunikida’s arm is entangled over Atsushi’s chest. Dazai snorts. This feeling is all too familiar. Dazai can barely contain his laughter. He hears himself through gurgled coughs and dry heaving—he sounds irrevocably mad. His chest falls to the top of the car, arms spread out and fingers still toying with Atsushi’s hair. The crinkled paper with Dazai’s name handwritten is still in his pocket. Little threats and little notes always made him smile. The thought of death and flowers and beautiful ways to say goodbye turned his nightmares into dreams. Like Gide and his truck with guns, or this person with the letters and his threats of fire and ash. Perhaps he had been focused so much on death he didn’t notice death was focused on others. Perhaps Dazai hadn’t changed much at all.

#oops #my writing #my writing dazai #angst #character death #dazai suffers #dazai osamu #dazai #bsd #bsd fanfic #tw:blood #oneshot:dazai/angst #no pairing #bungou stray dogs #kunikida doppo #atsushi nakajima #whoops

88 notes · View notes

euroman1945-blog · 6 years

Text

The Daily Thistle

The Daily Thistle – News From Scotland

Thursday 27th September 2018

"Madainn Mhath” …Fellow Scot, I hope the day brings joy to you…. Bleak weather has come to the Costa del Sol this morning, … Thick heavy clouds are boiling above Bella and my head as we venture out for our morning walk.. rain looks imminent… but to be honest, I don’t mind, life is like that, sometimes it rains sometimes the sun shines…we just have to learn to accept what we are given and make the best of it, sometimes the lemons taste good….

RAF TYPHOON FIGHTER JETS INTERCEPT RUSSIAN BOMBERS…. RAF fighter jets were scrambled to intercept Russian bombers near UK airspace. Typhoon fighter aircraft were dispatched from RAF Lossiemouth to monitor two Russian planes approaching UK airspace. The Russian Blackjacks long-range bombers were not talking to air traffic control, making them a "hazard" to all other aviation. The jets were monitored passing through a variety of international airspace before they were intercepted by the RAF over the North Sea. They were then escorted north, out of the UK's area of interest. RAF fighter jets have intercepted Russian aircraft over 100 times in the last ten years. The Moray airbase is home to one of the UK's two quick reaction squadrons, which are permanently on alert and ready to fly in minutes. More than half of 179 launches from RAF bases at Lossiemouth and Coningsby between 2005 and 2015 were in response to Russian aircraft, according to Ministry of Defence figures. The number of launches rose dramatically in 2007 after Russian President Vladamir Putin reinstated a policy of carrying out regular long-range patrols in European airspace. Russian aircraft are not thought to have entered UK airspace during any of the most recent incidents. Defence secretary Gavin Williamson said: "Russian bombers probing UK airspace is another reminder of the very serious military challenge that Russia poses us today. "We will not hesitate to continually defend our skies from acts of aggression. Once again the rapid reactions of our RAF have demonstrated how vital our Armed Forces are in protecting Britain."

THIEVES USE STOLEN FORKLIFT TO RIP ATM FROM SHOP WALL…. Three people wearing balaclavas targeted a Co-op in Dumfries and Galloway on Thursday. The alarm was raised after three people wearing balaclavas targeted the Co-op on Annan Road, Gretna, at 2.45am on Thursday. The trio used an industrial Manitou forklift to forcibly remove the machine from the outside wall of the store causing extensive damage to the building. It is understood the forklift was stolen from a nearby farm prior to the incident. The suspects made off from the scene in a stolen silver Vauxhall Vectra, which had been adapted to fit the ATM in the boot, heading along Surrone Road onto Loanwath Road. The ATM is believed to contain a five figure sum of cash. Chief Inspector Colin Burnie said: "Enquiries are at an early stage to trace the individuals involved in this reckless incident and I am appealing for members of the public to come forward with any information that could assist our investigation. "Detectives are currently carrying out extensive enquiries including examining CCTV and speaking to local residents. "I would ask anyone living in the area who saw or heard anything suspicious, and is yet to speak to police, to please get in touch. "I would appeal to anyone who saw a forklift or a silver Vectra car in the area in the early hours of this morning to please get in touch. "I would also ask any motorists with dashcams, or residents with CCTV, to check in case they have captured any footage which could be of significance." Anyone with information is asked to contact 101.

THE BODY OF A MAN HAS BEEN DISCOVERED IN A GARDEN IN ABERDEENSHIRE…. John Thomson was found dead outside a house on the outskirts of Sauchen. Detectives were alerted alerted following the discovery of the 65-year-old at 2.35pm on Sunday. Mr Thomson had been at an event in Thainstone, Inverurie, before he died. On Monday night Police Scotland confirmed the death is not being treated as suspicious. Detective Inspector David Howieson said: "Inquiries remain ongoing however at present we are content there is nothing to suggest any suspicious circumstances. "We are grateful to the community for its support whilst enquiries are carried out and thankful to those members of the public who have contacted Police to provide information."

EDINBURGH'S HOGMANAY TO CELEBRATE TIES WITH EUROPE…. This year's theme has been announced as the UK prepares to leave the EU in 2019. Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations will celebrate the ties between Scotland and the continent as the UK prepares to leave the EU in 2019. Franz Ferdinand and Capercaillie are among the Scottish bands performing alongside European acts including French performance artists Compagnie Transe Express. Youngsters will also play a key part in the festivities to mark Scotland's Year of Young People 2018 drawing to a close. The three-day festival opens on December 30 with a traditional torchlight procession through the city. This year's procession will be led by pipe and drum bands and will culminate in a "stunning" visual moment in Holyrood Park, where the procession will form the outline of Scotland lit by torches. On December 31, bands, DJs, street performers, dancers, acrobats, disco divas and fire eaters from Scotland and mainland Europe will be performing at the street party, which starts at 7.30pm. Franz Ferdinand will headline the Concert in the Gardens at the foot of Castle Rock, supported by Metronomy and Free Love, while some of the country's top ceilidh bands will play at Ceilidh under the Castle. Scots singer-songwriter Gerry Cinnamon will headline the Waverley stage, with Judge Jules headlining the DJ stage on Castle Street while Elephant Sessions will perform at South St David Street. At midnight, German band Meute will provide the soundtrack to the fireworks display from Edinburgh Castle. The McEwan Hall will be a Hogmanay venue for the first time, hosting three major concerts - Symphonic Ibiza on December 30 and Capercaillie and Carlos Nunez with special guests on January 1. Charlie Wood and Ed Bartlam, directors of the Hogmanay, said: "Edinburgh's Hogmanay is all about inviting the world to come on in and celebrate the end of one year and the start of a new, and as we move from 2018 to 2019 there's no better time to celebrate Scotland's cultural ties with Europe. He added: "We're confident that Edinburgh's Hogmanay offers something for everyone." "It's appropriate that this year we have chosen to say loudly and proudly to our European friends - 'we love you!"'

MORE THAN 30 SHEEP STOLEN FROM ISLE OF SKYE LAND…. The livestock was taken sometime in the past six weeks. The theft took place sometime within the past six weeks from an open hill ground on the Trotternish Ridge. The sheep all vary in age and were marked with black paint on their shoulders. Constable Katherine Tindall said: "We are asking that crofters in the Trotternish area check their land and also to report any suspicious activity including unfamiliar vehicles with animal trailers in the area. This comes as 50 sheep were stolen from a farm in Moray between Tuesday and Wednesday. "Rural crime be it the theft of animals, machinery or damage to property hits hard at the heart of small communities and by all being vigilant we can make the area a hostile place for those intent on committing such crime. "Anyone with information is asked to contact 101."

On that note I will say that I hope you have enjoyed the news from Scotland today,

Our look at Scotland today is by John Sinclair and his wife who were on the north of Iona when they spotted the dark clouds sweep over Mull.

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Thursday 27th September 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Scotland #News #Spain

#Robert McAngus #RobertMcAngus #scotland #news #spain

0 notes