I just dropped off a car full of stuff at Deseret Industries (like Goodwill). It has a drive-through and there's a whole team of people there to help unload the goods. The lane I was in was closest to the building, super nice 20-something guy with a tired smile on his face.
Me: "It's been a brutal day."
Him: "Yeah, me too." Eye contact. Smile.
Me, while unloading stuff: "What do you do to detox?"
Him: "I don't know..."
Me: "I listen to heavy metal."
He had a great quirky smile. He ran inside the building to tell his friend. It sounded like, "Hey, this lady likes Heavy Metal."
Yeah, I look pretty normal. The heavy metal comes as a surprise.
As I pulled away, the song that came on was by Megadeth, one of my favorite tunes. To understand what happened next, it helps to understand what had happened 4 hours earlier.
This is why it had been "a brutal day": I found that someone changed the numbers on a legal document after I had signed it. Then tried to get away with it. I could have very easily exploded in righteous anger. I could have gotten tense. Changing a legal document after signing is illegal. They tried to take advantage of me. I could have drowned in anger.
Summary: We sold a home, signed, closing complete. I went to pick up the check and the title company had changed the totals so that our check was now $1,400 less than we thought it would be. The had a cute little box of chocolates with the paperwork to distract me then tried to get me to sign for receipt without reading the papers.
I walked out. I wasn't dumb enough to take the check, but I felt sick to my stomach because so many other home buyers and sellers might not have their guard up high enough. They might be dazzled by the escrow agent's smile and friendly banter. It was Just One of Those Days.
Yes, Limp Bizkit's Break Stuff isn't heavy metal and it also wasn't satisfying enough. (I just couldn't resist the "Just one of those days" reference.
Sidenote: It was the song I took with me to the hospital for delivery of one of my kids. Perfect for the bloody mess of birth.
For this situation, it was Megadeth's Sweating Bullets that did the trick. I turned it up to maximum volume and felt the pressure and stress fly out the windows, just fly...
Note that I really don't like the videos so I don't recommend actually watching them. Instead, just listen.
By the time I got home I was a kind, loving momma. I let the angst, frustration, all the ickies behind, floating up and out in the wind. When I first saw my husband I was smiling. That's why I listen to heavy metal.
Rock on.
Heavy Metal Mormon Chick
Showing the upside of an often maligned artform.
In Extremo
70,000 Tons Heavy Metal Cruise is coming up.
I'm looking at In Extremo today, German Medieval Heavy Metal band that will be performing.
They often use classic fairy tales for their inspiration.
Horizont (Horizon) is a song with a fairy tale aspect that I don't fully understand but I've listened to it more than a dozen times now and love it more each time.
The song is like an apology, repentance, a recognition of wrong-doing (see him pullin' the weight / sins?)
"I deceived myself a thousand times
*~*~*~
I'm looking at In Extremo today, German Medieval Heavy Metal band that will be performing.
They often use classic fairy tales for their inspiration.
Horizont (Horizon) is a song with a fairy tale aspect that I don't fully understand but I've listened to it more than a dozen times now and love it more each time.
The song is like an apology, repentance, a recognition of wrong-doing (see him pullin' the weight / sins?)
"I deceived myself a thousand times
I offended you a thousand times...
I repressed everything a thousand times
Repressed everything, everything, everything
I repressed everything a thousand times
Repressed everything, everything, everything
But
at this very hour.
When I lost you
I realise what I've done to you
And I condemn myself for it
When I lost you
I realise what I've done to you
And I condemn myself for it
I
spoke too much a thousand times
(I felt) the same sorrow a
thousand times
I broke your heart a thousand times
I regretted it too late a thousand times
Regretted too late, too late
I broke your heart a thousand times
I regretted it too late a thousand times
Regretted too late, too late
*~*~*~
In the middle they sing: "There where the horizon
And the sea become one
That's where I want to wait for you
So that you could find me there."
That's where I want to wait for you
So that you could find me there."
We MUST hear their open-air performance.
Therion - Proving Heavy Metal is an ARTform
What is the purpose of Art? (art with a capital A)
To make you feel.
--me
Not dictating what you feel, just that you feel something powerful, real, new, whatever.
What is the purpose of Art? according to LifeHacker
"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls."
--Pablo Picasso
Therion is a Swedish Metal band, symphonic metal, known as the "most adventurous metal band at present." (Therion biography, MusicMight).
Originally death metal, started in 1988 (that was ages ago! I had just barely tossed my aerobics leggings by then). They added classic elements one by one till they became what they are today -- full-on symphony for some songs / some performances.
They've gone through a massive metamorphosis.
These three videos don't do justice to Therion, but it is a glimpse of their brilliant abilities.
First video - show to friends when they indicate that they think heavy metal is just guttural grunting. So. Much. More.
Second video - opera is for the sophisticated for a reason. The combination of sounds is incredibly intricate. You'll see in upcoming posts that it's heavy metal that pushes the boundaries of what is possible in music. They mess with the structure of music in ways that other musicians in other genres don't dare try.
Third video - Son of the Staves of Time. I had to research this one. It felt a little like a Heavy Metal Schoolhouse Rock Bio of a Famous Person. Short version: They're singing about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Bureus
who was an antiquarian (librarian type for ancient books), polymath (someone with a wide range of knowledge, not just mathematics), and mystic.
My favorite part -- Byrger Tidesson wrote the very first ABC book in Swedish. He used the runic alphabet and latin script, but still, how fun to be inside the mind of some person who first conceived of an ABC book, something that had never been created before in his mother tongue.
Therion = Erudite Metal
If you have to look up what erudite means (learned, well educated) then perhaps Alestorm is more your speed. Wink. It's all good at different times, for different purposes.
To make you feel.
--me
Not dictating what you feel, just that you feel something powerful, real, new, whatever.
What is the purpose of Art? according to LifeHacker
"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls."
--Pablo Picasso
Therion is a Swedish Metal band, symphonic metal, known as the "most adventurous metal band at present." (Therion biography, MusicMight).
Originally death metal, started in 1988 (that was ages ago! I had just barely tossed my aerobics leggings by then). They added classic elements one by one till they became what they are today -- full-on symphony for some songs / some performances.
They've gone through a massive metamorphosis.
These three videos don't do justice to Therion, but it is a glimpse of their brilliant abilities.
First video - show to friends when they indicate that they think heavy metal is just guttural grunting. So. Much. More.
Second video - opera is for the sophisticated for a reason. The combination of sounds is incredibly intricate. You'll see in upcoming posts that it's heavy metal that pushes the boundaries of what is possible in music. They mess with the structure of music in ways that other musicians in other genres don't dare try.
Third video - Son of the Staves of Time. I had to research this one. It felt a little like a Heavy Metal Schoolhouse Rock Bio of a Famous Person. Short version: They're singing about
Byrger Tidesson |
who was an antiquarian (librarian type for ancient books), polymath (someone with a wide range of knowledge, not just mathematics), and mystic.
My favorite part -- Byrger Tidesson wrote the very first ABC book in Swedish. He used the runic alphabet and latin script, but still, how fun to be inside the mind of some person who first conceived of an ABC book, something that had never been created before in his mother tongue.
Therion = Erudite Metal
If you have to look up what erudite means (learned, well educated) then perhaps Alestorm is more your speed. Wink. It's all good at different times, for different purposes.
Swim with Dolphins with... Cannibal Corpse? Heck ya!
Earl and Athena |
Cathy and Jake |
If you haven't done a cruise before, an excursion is something you do when you reach your destination. A few we've been on in the past:
* Parasailing in Cabo San Luca
* Snorkeling in... I forget, somewhere west of Mexico, and I puked, super sea sick
The excursions are usually expensive and a lot of fun.
Cathy and Vincent |
We've tried a few excursions that aren't sponsored by the cruise line and they were blech.
On one, a horseback ride along the beach, was a one hour drive deep into Mexico. At one point we wondered if we'd ever make it back to the cruise ship. It was a 1+ hr long "very short trip, only a few minutes" to the beach and horses. We will always go with the cruise sponsored events from now on.
*~*~*~*
So, here are the excursions so far for 2015:
Dolphin Touch Experience and Dunn's River Falls with members of THRESHOLD, TANK, GOD DETHRONED and EQUILIBRIUM!* 11:30 AM
Dolphin Swim and Dunn River Falls with members of ORIGIN, THRESHOLD, GOD DETHRONED, D-A-D and CANNIBAL CORPSE!* 10:30 AM
Dunns River Falls Express with members of THRESHOLD, THERION, JUNGLE ROT, and AMORPHIS!* 9:30 AM
Snorkeling with Kataklysm?! pic Canadian Death Metal |
Chukka Estate Pass with members of CANNIBAL CORPSE!* 9:30 AM
Champagne Catamaran Magical Escape & Dunns River Falls with members of ORIGIN and D-A-D!* 9:30 AM
Exclusive Snorkel and Dunns River Falls with members of KATAKLYSM, MUNICIPAL WASTE, JUNGLE ROT and AMORPHIS!* 10:30 AM
Pearly Beach & Dunns River Falls with members of PRIMAL FEAR, MICHAEL SCHENKER’S TEMPLE OF ROCK and GRAVE DIGGER!* 10:25 AM
Pearly Beach with members of PRIMAL FEAR, THERION and TANK!* 11:20 AM
*Artists joining the Artist Guided Excursions are subject to change without notice.
Well duh. Performing has to take a lot out of a person... More on that in future post about Contrast the Water.
Kiss Me In Extremo
Fascinating how love stories, love songs, differ by era, culture.
4 ... thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon.. thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.
4 ... thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon.. thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.
Songs of Solomon 7:4
Proverbs 31
So, ancient stuff is weird. Fishpools for eyes?
80s is hilarious too. See 1:30. How does he do that with a straight face?
Fast forward to 2009 when a hunky German metal band releases Kuss Mich, German for Kiss Me.
"...I am obsessed by your looks."
Um, sure.
"I know, I know how you feel... through the key-hold I will enter to bite your soul."
WHA?
"I know... how you sleep... You make my liquids boil..."
O...k...
I'm relying on translation for it, so perhaps it's wrong.
LOVE: the intro part, bagpipes FTW.
Love:
1. Perhaps it's the Scottish chick in me that makes the bagpipes so gripping.
2. All In Extremo's videos & lyrics clean from what I've seen and read so far.
3. MEDIEVAL METAL
Gotta admire a man who can wear a miniskirt while glaring.
Heavy Metal Band for Fridays
Which heavy metal band is best for Fridays?
There's a natural surge of "let's party" on Fridays that helps us transition to Saturdays.
Saturday is supposed to be like this:
To lead up to an awesome Saturday, you need a let's-blow-this-joint type of Friday.
So, obviously the band to profile today is Alestorm.
Message: Stop being so uptight.
There was only 1 group of uptight people in the scriptures. Pharisees. Just sayin.
Now, I may lose your respect with this next part, but when I heard Alestorm for the first time it was in the background after Sacrament and I had this awesome image of the deacons passing the Sacrament with, "Drink! Drink! Drink!"
The Drink! video is one of the cleaner heavy metal music videos, ending in a dance party, the girls in really cute white and cream skirts. Give the girls sleeves on their cute dresses and you have a Single Adults dance. Or at least, what I wish they would be.
Don't click out of the video before the very end -- one of the most enigmatic weird expressions I've ever seen. Perhaps creepy, but so, so loaded.
"We are here to drink your beer, scratch that, Sacrament wine, scratch that too, drink your blessed water."
Remember that the most pivotal moment in the history of humanity on Earth was a "Drink!" moment, the first Sacrament, the Last Supper.
If you're having a hard time focusing on Christ's Atonement next time you're taking the Sacrament (a bit of bread + little cup of water like at the Last Supper) then think of the Alestorm Drink! song and smile.
Eating & drinking are life-affirming.
The Sacrament is a way of saying, "I messed up. Life goes on. TG (literally) for my great big brother."
My guess is that Christ's atonement / the Sacrament as a reminder of the Atonement is supposed to be a HAPPY thing. Alestorm is a HAPPY band making HAPPY (albeit rough, uncouth, pirate-based) music.
* Note on why never to ask what a Mormon does on a Saturday. it's because of a highly contagious song we sang as kids, "Saturday is the day we get ready for Sunday." The lyrics are a long task list of all the chores that need to be done on Saturday. It's tedious. Sure, those things need to get done and yes, the song is upbeat. It's also great to help little kids see the purpose of Saturdays. It's just annoying the same way 100 Bottles of Beer or the Barney song are annoying. It makes you want to strangle someone. Since the song writer's purpose was to motivate and inspire kids, don't inflict it on adults.
There's a natural surge of "let's party" on Fridays that helps us transition to Saturdays.
Note: NEVER say, "What do you do on a Saturday?" to any Mormon you love.*
To lead up to an awesome Saturday, you need a let's-blow-this-joint type of Friday.
So, obviously the band to profile today is Alestorm.
Message: Stop being so uptight.
There was only 1 group of uptight people in the scriptures. Pharisees. Just sayin.
Now, I may lose your respect with this next part, but when I heard Alestorm for the first time it was in the background after Sacrament and I had this awesome image of the deacons passing the Sacrament with, "Drink! Drink! Drink!"
The Drink! video is one of the cleaner heavy metal music videos, ending in a dance party, the girls in really cute white and cream skirts. Give the girls sleeves on their cute dresses and you have a Single Adults dance. Or at least, what I wish they would be.
Don't click out of the video before the very end -- one of the most enigmatic weird expressions I've ever seen. Perhaps creepy, but so, so loaded.
"We are here to drink your beer, scratch that, Sacrament wine, scratch that too, drink your blessed water."
Remember that the most pivotal moment in the history of humanity on Earth was a "Drink!" moment, the first Sacrament, the Last Supper.
If you're having a hard time focusing on Christ's Atonement next time you're taking the Sacrament (a bit of bread + little cup of water like at the Last Supper) then think of the Alestorm Drink! song and smile.
Eating & drinking are life-affirming.
The Sacrament is a way of saying, "I messed up. Life goes on. TG (literally) for my great big brother."
My guess is that Christ's atonement / the Sacrament as a reminder of the Atonement is supposed to be a HAPPY thing. Alestorm is a HAPPY band making HAPPY (albeit rough, uncouth, pirate-based) music.
* Note on why never to ask what a Mormon does on a Saturday. it's because of a highly contagious song we sang as kids, "Saturday is the day we get ready for Sunday." The lyrics are a long task list of all the chores that need to be done on Saturday. It's tedious. Sure, those things need to get done and yes, the song is upbeat. It's also great to help little kids see the purpose of Saturdays. It's just annoying the same way 100 Bottles of Beer or the Barney song are annoying. It makes you want to strangle someone. Since the song writer's purpose was to motivate and inspire kids, don't inflict it on adults.
Annihilator - more female themes than I expected
Drummer, I love you, but faker!
In "No Way Out" your hair looks red and I was looking forward to more redheaded awesomeness, but it was just the lighting at the beginning of "No Way Out".
The first time I watched this video, I spent the whole time asking, "Where's the redhead? Hey, where'd he go?" Think: cat (me) chasing a red laser.
Regardless of how well you hit the jackpot in the gene pool for red hair, you are a superbly talented drummer, Mike Harshaw.
The entire band performs live exceptionally well. Some bands don't. They look so comfortable on stage.
Technical skill aside, Annihilator has themes that I don't fully understand, but I'd sure love to know more. In several of their songs they talk about women and their power / lack of power.
In "Stonewall", they say -- get this, so cool -- in context of a cute little blond girl:
It's time to listen and hear her cries.
Reminds me of something an older brother would say... I wonder.
In another popular song, "Deadlock", the woman is powerless, total victim, then the guys all kill each other (message = war is futile), then in the end the woman wins. Fully Powerless / Ultimately Powerful.
I'm not including a link to "Deadlock" because DO NOT WATCH. It's not Mormon-ok content. It shows police violence (hurting police) and violence against women. The end message is good, but it's too Machiavellian. (In the 1400-1500s Niccolo Machiavelli had some great ideas, but didn't live long enough to see that his theory, "The ends justify the means," turns out badly nearly every time.)
Annihilator is a Canadian heavy metal band that's been around since 1984. What a great year to start a heavy metal band. (Think Orwell.) Jeff Waters has been the one and only constant all those years. He's the guy with the shortest hair in the "No Way Out" video. They're the highest selling Canadian heavy metal band.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annihilator_%28band%29
Annihilator has a more consistent beat than most. Their songs are so SATISFYING rhythmically. Some heavy metal bands shift rhythm so often that I end up intellectually challenged, but in the end, confused. Annihilator is more constant and that will probably make it more fun to hear them play in person.
Their official site:
http://www.annihilatormetal.com/
My favorite quote from Jeff Waters himself, "We are truly among the few bands with a long history, that have always waved the flag for honesty, integrity, and perseverance in this hard-edge category of music."
Mormon moment: "...honesty, integrity, perseverance..." sounds like the Young Women's theme
Skip Annihilator's videos, but they are a must-see in person. Something to play in the background during your next work session:
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