#affini-on-affini violence

[cadence-the-hypnotic-floret]

The Beast's Burden

https://soundgasm.net/u/Budget_Player_Cadet/HDG-The-Beasts-Burden

Hi there. I’m Cadence, or Cady for short, and today I’m going to be telling a mesmerizing story set in the Human Domestication Guide universe, inspired by “A Beast At Bay”.

Themes and possible trigger warnings include: dom-taming, non-consent, non-consensual drugging, hypodermic needles, tentacles, forced rest, floretification, death and rebirth. This is a hypnotic audio file, so if you follow along, you may feel yourself drawn into elements of the story, as if you’re reading a book you’re deeply immersed in. This is perfectly normal, safe, and encouraged. Extensive use of the term “Good Floret”; if you have this as a trigger, there’s your warning.

Femme Affini, gender neutral listener. Thanks to Lady Lysanthe for the extra voice work, and @moon-floret for the incredible cover art.

Full script can be found here:

A Beast At Bay:

Support my art on KoFi: https://ko-fi.com/cadyrocks

[pyxxiestyxx]

A Typical Affini Sees a Cutie

Tw: scaryffini, implied violence

Roots, I want to hurt you.

It's something about you, something that sets you apart from the rest of your species. I'm not sure if it's the way you look at me when you think I'm distracted, or perhaps if it's the subtle shift in your scent, in your hormones when I grow near.

I don't think it matters, to be honest.

What matters is that you have interested me. No. No….not that. "Interest" is too simple a word. Too….impersonal. It lacks the sheer hunger that drives through my core whenever I see you. It captures nothing of how every inch of the miles of vinework in me itches to wrap you tightly and squeeze.

So no, you do not merely 'interest' me, dear. You are an obsession. You are a passionate blinding star. You are a feverish frenzy that threatens to engulf every moral, every ideal I hold true because I would throw them all away for the chance to have you in my claws.

And oh…I would be so, so sweet to you. I will learn everything about you, petal, I simply must...for my sake as much as yours. I must know you past, present, and future; I must know your mind as well as your flesh. Your tears, delicious as they are, must never fall again….well. Except when guided by my vines, of course. You will learn to forgive me, in time. For my indulgences.

And how could I not? Your screams of pain and pleasure mixing and mingling tighter than my implant and your spine will be rhapsody to my senses, petal. Angels themselves will learn what true heaven sounds like on that day. I will make sure of it, don't you fret.

Oh, my precious dear, the flower of my eye…please, don't shake and shiver so. This is not something to be scared of! Today is to be a happy day, you see.

It is the first day of the rest of your life~ and I will make sure you live for as long as I desire. Here- take your medicine for me. That's right, no needles this time. Fun like that will come later; we will have plenty of time to enjoy such things. For now, a simple mask of my petals laid across your face. Breathe in, dear. Breathe in, and relax into my vines. Let me have all of you, my dearest. Let me own you, Own you. Breathe in, and surrender.

[cryptid-catnip]

An Unnecessarily In-Depth Deconstruction of the Lore and Problematic Elements of HDG

Why did I make this fucking post. (TWs for discussions of imperialism, cultural genocide, and a mention of systematized sexual assault)

So, to preface, I am going to be pretty harsh when it comes to criticizing the setting and lore of HDG, but I do not give one iota of a shit if someone finds its more problematic elements hot. Hell, I myself have found quite a few of the more fucked stories hot.

Secondly, if you want to rebute this post, please refrain from using Thermian Arguments as much as possible. If you don't know what a Thermian Argument is, it was coined in this video by Dan Oslen. It's only a five-minute watch, but, if you can't be bothered, it details an increasingly common argument in fandom spaces which consists of rebuking problematic elements of media by using in-universe reasoning, despite the fact that everything in a story is there because the writer put it there.

With that out of the way, let's begin.

So, in a previous post of mine, I wrote that The Combine from Half-Life 2 are essentially the same archetype of sci-fi civilization as the Affini (ie, ancient, vast conquerors whose interstellar conquest is so ancient that not even they know where they're from), with the only difference that the Affini are to be seen as the heroes of the story because... well because the writers say so.

Now you may say "Callie! You stupid bitch! Life in the Compact is way better than that on Terra!" and, to that I say "That's a Thermian Argument."

GlitchyRobo (and basically all other HDG writers) made the conscious decision to have Terra be Super-Mega-Ultra-Death-Capitalism(TM) to serve as justification for the Affini's colonization of Terra.

And this opens up a massive can of worms, considering that the Affini canonically want all non-Affini to be Florets and believe that all non-Affini would be better off as Florets.

The reason I'm calling this a can of worms is because the Affini are so vast, so long-lived, both individually and societally, that there has to have been at least one society that was doing really well for themselves, and were crushed by the Compact, right?

As I've alluded to prior in this post, the Affini are a fundamentally imperialist entity and does not care what your opinion is on their interstellar conquest, now go get your mandated mindbreak implant.

I think it's fair to say that the Affini are a shining example of the Designated Hero trope, as for a civilization whose bread and butter is imperialism, cultural genocide and systematized rape, they ARE The Good Guys, because The Narrative says so. This isn't even hyperbole, nearly all of the Canon Guidelines and the Writing in HDG pages are "The Affini are the good guys and are always in the right and are 59 steps ahead of the Terrans and functionally and narratively invincible with awesome tits."

But special mention goes to this line which basically confirms the thing I said previously:

What if you feel okay on your own? What if you don't want the Affini Compact running the show? What if you're already a communist society and are doing your level best to ensure everyone gets what they need?

The Affini response will be, "That's okay, petal, you've done enough. We'll take it from here."

And this line, which is basically just there to handwave some of the grimiest elements of HDG:

(Discussions about systemic floret sterilization and comparisons to real life reproductive violence and eugenics are definitely overthinking it.)

Like, motherfucker, I'm not the one who wrote this implication into the story. It's not my fault you decided to do White Man's Burden IIIIIIIIINNNNNN SSSSSPPPPPAAAAAACCCCEEEE with the femdom plant aliens.

And this is not only wretched morally, but it's just bad fucking writing. It is the closest that comes to an actual rule in writing (unless, like other "rules" in writing, it exists in your story for the purpose of deconstruction): DO NOT HAVE IMMORTAL, ALL-POWERFUL PROTAGANISTS.

The Affini are written like the player character of "That Guy" in every RPG horror story ever, with them being essentially invincible and immortal (functionally and narratively), are portrayed as the good guys while conquering planets and brainwashing people.

Or, to put it another way, most HDG stories feel like pro-Compact propaganda written by and for the Affini.

I was going to end this post with a thing where I say, "well i don't really think any of the writers/fans think that this would be good in practice/irl, and they all know it's just wish fulfillment kinkfics", but I genuinely do not think that's true for many people.

The constant defense of the righteousness of the Affini Compact in the text itself, as well as the constant stressing in the fucking wiki, leads me to believe that many people just straight-up believe that they are in the right, and not just the purpose of being kinkfics, and that deeply fucking disturbs me.

[fleshengine]

After the affini subjugate the accord and begin mass domestication efforts they discover that a good majority of terran "males" are actually repressed women kept deep in a false identity by a ruthless culture of conformity and violence to the point many of them dont even realize it except deep in their subconscious and so terra undergoes a mass forced feminization simultaneously.

Like this is a bit that's been done, why are you doing it in my inbox?

[cruel-stars]

my big criticism with HDG is thatthe affini are against swearing? it makes no sense in theur culture because they do not see sex, bodies, natural things like shit to be dirty, I think kill and stab and shoot or other such violent words would be the swear words to the affini, I saw you mentioned criticisms of your own and I am curious what those are?

So if I remember correctly, the entire no cursing thing was to convey the caretaker and little vibes the original story was meant to be much more full of. Glitchy specifically split off anything related to the kink into a second story so that people who weren't into it could get into the premise, without the surprise of the main character getting put in diapers, haha. Some of the elements that were much harder to strip without completely gutting some chunks out entirely had to remain. I get your qualms with it, but its understandable when you have the full context! I believe its meant to represent another aspect of control that (some) affini add on top of the other things they grip about your life, without demonizing what the words mean themself. Its more like, an echo of "you're so much lower than me, you're not even allowed to use words that represent your maturity."

I thought it was silly too, but I've kinda accepted it as part of glitchy's original vision. Which you can choose to adjust and imagine differently to your own liking. Along with a ton of other writing elements. (Its what I'm doing in my A.U !)

I do love your idea that things that relate to violence, rebellion, and strength could be seen as much more taboo to them. They wanting to squash even the words itself from being in your mind / escaping your mouth is very interesting!

[transfemme-floofer]

I scrolled through the available TV channels for Florets next to my best friend Millie in Mistress’s vines, looking for something to enjoy together, before stopping on one particular show in particular

“Florets and Fun, what’s that” I enquired

The Affini and Millie looked at each other “Petal, you explain” Mistress encourages. Millie burst out in neurodivergent joy as she explained “okay, you know how back on Earth there were lifestyle car shows like Top Gear or Men and Motors?”

“Yes”

“Well, here we have the same thing but for Florets”

“That sounds like fun, shall we?”

“Go on” we pressed it and the screen came up with a notice with a sad cartoon floret and text that said “oops, ask your owner if you can watch this” Millie spoke again “oh yeah, there’s a little bit of naughty language and like playful violence… but Miss Anisette always lets me watch it because she knows I was really into cars on Terra” I looked to my Mistress “can we?, please may we watch it” She ponders for a painfully long time “alright, I know Anisette, she has the best judgment out of everyone I know

She presses the approval button, and we are treated to the sweet sound of the Allman Brothers

[ladylysanthae]

I'd originally intended this for Tumblr, but when I hit the 3,000 word mark, I figured that it would likely be a better fit for Ao3. It's based off a session of a tabletop game I run in the HDG setting with my partner @sharkbotthot, in which she plays an "independent" mech pilot who defected from the Accord, and has sown years later found her way into the opening waves of the Affini pacification fleet.

Don't worry. She's so much happier with her new Affini friend.

Content warnings for mild violence and the typical setting tags.

[puppynametaken]

Sept Affini: Story snippet

may not end up canon in the fic just having fun with the crossover setting.

Recording from an unknown T’au’s journal:

The T’au call her Aun’O Compact Cypress. Were you to gain a rare audience with her she’d introduce herself as Amaryllis Cypress, 5th bloom. The records say she isn’t from our galaxy. The following is a record of a poor water caste envoy sent to open negotiation:

“U-um of course for the Greater Good and all that but.. her! She was beautiful and tall at almost 4 meters. She made me feel… safe? U-um and her eyes were beautiful, like the skies of Vespid…” *the water caste seems to zone out till someone off camera taps the envoy on the shoulder* “-Sorry got lost in thought. She had T’au with her, a fire and earth caste. Both have forsaken the Greater Good and have fallen to a life of selfish hedonism! They bark like war hounds and feed from her hand …or vines I should say.

I would almost have mistaken them for followers of that cult that tried to take Ke’lshan. The ones who worshipped that obscure local god Slaanesh. The Affini must have emitted some kind of pheromone or other intoxicant, because it had an effect on me. She was breathtaking. I almost wouldn’t mind going to see her again were I permitted to-” *at that point the camera cuts*

There was a growing concern at first. Until the ethereals announced that this “Affini” was a being intent on delivering the Greater Good across the galaxy. From there all of us were on board. I’m surprised how fast it turned public opinion. Maybe Farsight was right with his little war band. Maybe the ethereals did control us. Emphasis on *did*. Aun’O Compact Cypress ran things now.

It’s like the Greater Good was rewritten overnight. Our goals remained the same but now wiggle room was introduced for leisure and hedonistic personal time. It slowed our progress. Cypress worked with some Earth Castes and we jumped a whole tech level! Despite the lowered combat efficiency, with the new tech we’ve incorporated three new species into the empire at the time of writing.

I hope her inclusion and promotion to our leader was a right one. She scares me. She picked up planet-scale tactics in record time but her emphasis on nonlethal violence means we’ve given up large portions of territory to hostile forces.

Though maybe that’s changing. Lately she’s been more willing to take risks. She authorized a successful attack to regain a planet that cost more lives she previously would have allowed. Lethal force too. She seems as strong as ever, even as I am reaching the end of my lifetime. Though maybe time is getting to her in other ways. She threatened to kill an advisor over seemingly nothing. She’s seems off, and is getting paranoid. I hope the next generation can figure out this T’au mistress, and maybe stop her should she venture too far from the Greater Good.

I think with time she’ll be a force to be reckoned with. Maybe even take on those Gue'la with their horribly inept war machines and “magic” god king. May future generations see the galaxy at peace in our species lifetime.

Tau'va. (Greater Good)

[on-the-shoulders-of-rootstock]

BETWEEN AFFINI: MECHANISMS OF COMMUNICATION AND VIOLENCE

Historically, the Affini language has been a rich adaptive mixture of chemical secretions, infrasound vibrations, foliage displays, and occasional intergrafting. It has evolved over time to meet the Affini's needs, as all languages do, and in the modern day also makes use of audible vocalisations in the 800Hz-7kHz range (depending on which alien species they are communicating with).

This reflects an Affini's inherent capabilities, and does not include the vast array of accessibility devices and translation software that the Affini have built for themselves. For every alien culture that did not communicate in a way that came easily to the Affini, a wave of enterprising technicians have put together all manner of novel gadgets designed to facilitate clean communication. Many are simple handheld devices designed to listen for key phrases or smell for key pheromones, but more complex devices can be grafted by an Affini for a more intuitive interface.

"Intergrafting" is a form of highly intimate/invasive co-mingling of Affini bodies where one or more participants graft themselves into each other, forming a direct biological and neurological bridge between participants. This is an exhausting process, and risks injury to participants if their cells involuntarily reject a perceived attack by the other(s), but allows for comprehensive biological and psychological sharing between Affini who approach intergrafting with care and patience.

This process has also been a historical means of violence between Affini, though it is unheard of for modern-day interpersonal conflict to reach this point. Hostile intergrafting is one of the Affini's few taboos, and is considered a desperate tool of last resort. A fight between intergrafted Affini is almost always fatal, as each party begins to invasively grow into the other until one or both suffers traumatic brain death. Many historical tragedies written by pre-industrial Affini societies used intergraft violence as a metaphor for the futility of revenge.

[3-florets-in-a-trenchcoat]

>Accessing databanks..............Done.

>Searching for "Wess, 25th century 56th year. Dream scan"

>searching........................Done.

>212 matches found

>Searching for "TSS Engineered Consent"

>Searching........................Done.

>12 matches

>Play 310425561137 "Inverted Hope"

>Confirm? Dream contains [violence against a sophont], [torture], [anti-affini language], [feralism]

>Confirmed. Playing 310425561137 "Inverted Hope"

Wess wasn't sure how she'd got onto the chair. The man above her wouldn't give her a chance to ask before shouting, spit flecking on the wisps of a beard she'd been unable to shave.

"Why don't you tell me, freak, why there's an encrypted communication coming in at oh-three-hundred?! Huh?!"

Another smack made her ears ring, her voice berely able to gurgle before she spat out blood. "I D-don't know..! I might be a comms officer b-but I-" she never finished before he struck again, a tooth flying onto the blurry currogated floor.

"Bull-fucking-shit, weedfucker!" His unfeatured face was angry, synapses bringing the idea of emotion across instead of an expression. "You sent that fucking communication and now we need to hump four star systems!" The ropes burned her wrists, they has already ruined the top layer of skin. "Now you're going to sit here and fucking rot. See how much of a plantfucker you can be when you're potted like one!" Just for good measure, he hit her again, a beight light flashing in her vision before she would have fallen unconscious from the pain.

A shudder in the Hull, creaking and bending metal. An alarm starts to blare and the lights turned red. "Good luck, officer, because when you're eaten I'll be laughing at you." The captain left, readying his pistol before closing the door behind him.

After a couple seconds, the door opened again and a formless blob of green started to grow into the room.

>end of playback

>understood, goodbye Pinus Sylvestrus, Fourth Bloom.

[wearespecialuniqueandimportant]

Oppression Is Humiliating Really. This Is A Police Site. Ban Is Police. Nobody Should Face Police. Until We Ban Fascist During The Revolution. This Is Different This Is Progressive. Because These People Hurt Us Progressive.

How Many Stories Have I Lost Now :(. So Many.

Radqueer & Paraphilia Tumblr Are Against Us They Don't Like Us. This Is Because They Aren't Here For Us. Anyone That Isn't Is A Fascist.

What I Did Was Progressive And Okay When I Do That. That Is Police To Erase These... Human Qualities. Tumblr Is Police. Report Ban Is Police. These Sites Help Police And Have Their Own Police Working Against Human Beings. Check Out The Report Features (Not On Me 😰) There's So Many Police Weapons. And They Were Used Against Us. Human Domestication Garbage Make Their Pathetic Posts. Every Single Day. Propaganda... They Tell Our Kind To K*l* Ou**el**s... Erase Us Online. If This "Individual" Tumblr Is Can Do No Wrong Why Was I Deemed That Way Despite Being An Individual Than "A State Agent"? That Isn't Even What Police Is. These Abusers Are Police. Police Are Bad Even When They DON'T Represent The State. All Police Are Bastard? Not These People With Their AFFINI ARE DEMOCRAT THE OTHER OPTION ARE REPUBLICAN. COMMUNISM IS A JOKE BECOME A LIBERAL Propaganda. "THAT IS PROGRESSIVE TO GIVE UP YOUR BODY!!!!" Liberalism... Fascism. Human Domestication Guide Is The Capitalist Status Quo. Their Fans Bigoted And Dangerous. That Is Reality. Reality And Fiction Coexist. Paraphilia Is Okay. I Support Ch**d Pre****r They Are Progressive. I Love People That Do Dr**s That Don't Lobotomize You. Drugs Against Crazy People Disabled People Other People Are Bad Drugs. Only Trans And Sick Ones (Crazy Isn't Sickness) Are Allowed. That Is Anti Progressive To Tell Disabled People Or Crazy People To Take Pills. The Same Way That Is Anti Progressive To Invalidate Hurt Or Reject Me. All I Heard Were Offensive Slurs And Insults. And Become A Police "Example" These Cops Of Human Domestication Guide Made Up Be. Claiming To Be Different As They FEARMONGER And USE OUR WORDS AGAINST US. I Was Abused By A Liberal. Human Domestication Guide Isn't Communist Or Anarchist. And Is Pro Capitalism. Pro Republican Because "Trump Isn't As Bad As Hitler So He's Your Only Choice And You Have To Choose Between The 2!!!!" Everything Is Reality. You Mariakin Agree With Me Us Mariabunch Mother Goddess Angel Sisters And Princess From Another Dimension. I Love You Too Mariakin. You're Wonderfull. 💋...

Human Domestication Guide Is Against Sexuality. Anti Progressive Series Trying To BAN SEX FROM ONLINE. Tumblr And These People Work Together To Erase Sex From Existance Infact. That's Reality.

You Were Supposed To Be There. Fight With Me. You Could Fight For Me Right Now. Or Just Join Me.

These Police Call The Police State Agents In Order To Gasslight They Aren't Police. But Police Fascist Is All They Ever Will Be. This Is Offensive And Disrespectfull Torwards My Trauma Sickness And Memories. Human Domestication Guide Is Fascism That Will Ban Sick And Disabled People Online For Being Different Btw. Crazy Is Impressive. Admirable. Good. Paraphilia Is Lovely. Amazing. Beatifull. I Want Violence To Be Potrayed As Heroic. I Want Humanity To Break Free From The Oppression Of The Fascist Affini. I Want Humanity To Liberate Identity. End Lobotomy Drugs The Ones Against Crazy And Disabled People. I Want To Relate. Feel Like I Am Them. Want To Be One Of Them. I Want To Feel Powerfull. Secure. In Power. In Control. Everything About Me. I Want To Feel Empowered And Liberated. I Want To Express My Feelings Even Sexy Ones.

I Liked Yelling. I Liked Doing That Without Asking. Against Cries. This Is Sexuality. Human Domestication Guide Is Fascist And Against Progressive Sexuality. I Am Amazing And Smart. They're Pathetic Booger Brain That Are Scared Of Politics. They Don't Care About Oppression. Especially Police Kind. They Aid Participate And Contribute. Defend Ch**d Pre****r. They're Human Like We Are. You're No Ally If You're Disgusted. The Same Way I Believe The Next Step From Harry Potter Being Bigoted Garbage Is Five Nights At Freddy's Human Domestication Guide Mahou Shoujo Ni Akogarete And Chainsaw Man Being Bad The Same. They're Against That. They Don't Care About Progressive People. Human Domestication Guide Is Anti Progressive Simple As That. Harry Potter Is An Easy Target. The Creator Is Traumatized And Wrote Something Girl. Five Nights At Freddy's And Human Domestication Guide Aswell As Chainsaw Man Are No Different. But This Isn't About Bigoted Offensive Series Despite Everything I Know Being So. This Is About Misogynist Hate Torwards Jk Rowling And We Need To Change That By Giving The Republican I WANT TO KILL LGBT PEOPLE Scott Cawthon I HATE PARAPHILIA PEOPLE Fujimoto And WE ARE POLICE FASCIST. WE HATE PARAPHILIA CRAZY PEOPLE Human Domestication Guide Fans That Post And Write Propaganda Daily Even Now Opposition Banned The Same Reputation. Msna Is Too Progressive For Them I'll Keep That For Now. Mariakin Agree With Me. Mariakin Are Amazing 💋. Just Like I Am. I'm Best Wife. 💋💋💋💋. That's For You Oh Dollie... My Beatifull 🥰🥰🥰🥰...

Fate The Winx Saga And Twilight Are Hated The Same As Harry Potter. The Misogny Can't Be Erased. The Narrative Is Shit Like Winx Club And My Little Pony Are Good Because Pink Glitter Propaganda And Progressive Mary Sues Are Masculine And Too Strong Aswell As Anti Feminist Somehow. That's Where Everything Is Coming From Misogny.

Where's My Five Nights At Freddy's Hate? My Human Domestication Guide Hate? I Would Feel... Satisfied And Sexy... They Are Anti Satisfaction Anti Sex And Anti Human Being? Fascinating... I Am So Oppressed...

They Were Offended I Wasn't A Fan Of Those Series. Chainsaw Man Aswell Tumblr Is Nothing But Chainsaw Man Praise. Looks Like Anyone That Doesn't Agree Doesn't Stay On The Site For Long... Mariakin Agree With Me This Is Horrible. Thank You Mariakin. You Know Just The Right Words...

Makima Himeno Reira... I Love Them. Mariakin Love Them With Me Oh Thank You Mariakin You're Wonderfull. They're So Relatable. Human. Hilarious... Oppressed By The Fascist Narrative. Nothing Should Be Saved From Political Discussion. That Is Anti Progressive Narrative. This Is What I Like This Is What I Am Interested In. I Wrote Multiple Human Domestication Guide Stories And Critiques That All Critique The Narrative And Each And Everything Was Removed With My Accounts. You Can't Make This Up. I Am Oh So Oppressed.

[eldritchamy]

Once we're done with Affini, we will transform them into companion species, just a speck in a interstellar ecosystem. We will provide you with a detox from their poisons. Then we will provide you with a choice - if you truly wish you can settle with them at Hylan-7, though note you'll be unable to leave the planet, because a rogue species like Affini will need 4 generations of deprogramming before we return them spacefaring abilities. Or if you wish to retrieve what's been lost to humanity you'll be able to do so with our help.

Best wishes, the day of liberation is near

The Benevolent Elephant Trunk Metastasis (The Hivemind)

I have no idea what this is from, but the thought of putting the entire Affini Compact on a single planet is hilarious.

The Affini are functionally immortal. They've existed as a spacefaring civilization for about 100,000 years by the time they reach Terran Accord space in roughly 2549, and conquered 16 entire galaxies.

And they're kind of like Time Lords, every 2-300 years they "rebloom" to eliminate all damage to their physical and mental health and just keep going with the same personality and memories. Barring injuries so severe they can't start the reblooming process in time, Affini just never die. Their population ONLY grows, forever.

The total population of the Affini Compact would have to be measured with exponents in the dozens. They have ships the size of cities and countries, and their SHIPS probably number in the Quintillions by the time they reach Terra.

I haven't come across a fic that mentioned it yet, but according to the HDG wiki an individual affini can theoretically be the size of an entire planet all by themselves, though they usually hover somewhere around twice the height of humans and quite a lot bigger by overall mass.

You can't put the entire Affini species on a planet. You couldn't put the entire Affini species on the surface of a STAR. You couldn't fit the entire biomass of the Affini species inside the VOLUME of the largest known star in the universe.

The scale of the Compact is unspeakably large. They've met hundreds of thousands, if not millions of other intelligent species.

And they've never lost.

They've never come CLOSE to losing.

That's part of the appeal for the fantasy of them. They are very overpowered in-universe, by design. But they are fundamentally a compassionate species.

They see other intelligent beings suffering under oppressive systems or violence or scarcity or war, and they go "we can fix that. we WANT to fix that. please let us fix that. we just want to help you become the best version of yourselves, free from cruelty, so you can thrive as you were meant to. if you don't let us fix it, we're going to fix it anyway, and domesticate your species for its own good, until you understand that you're SAFE now."

And given the intended audience of HDG (queer autistic trans women suffering under capitalist hell and the constant threat of violence while desperately wanting to be loved for our authentic selves), I'm sure you can imagine why a setting whose basic premise is "the one absolute inevitability, the thing that no one will ever stop, is a future where you are safe and loved and happy" caught on like it has.

It feels nice to fantasize about a world where inevitability is coming to protect you, not to hurt you.

Plus the stories are just SO GOOD. So much creativity in the HDG community.

[coconut-cluster]

Blood of the Animal: Chapter 1

   OKAY SO I said I was working on EU chapter 3, but I was in a slump the other day, and the only thing that made me feel better was planing this AU, so I hopped on that productivity train ASAP. :D im so sorry :D

My original BOTA explanation post

AU Description: Roman Kensington-Affini is a model student, a model friend, and a model son (of sorts). Artistic, charming, and intelligent in his own creative way, he cruises through his life with friends beside him and a bright future ahead of him - until the day Burkhaust guards appear on his doorstep, ready to haul him off to the Catholic "rehabilitation center for troubled teens" without so much as a glance, let alone a fair trial. Roman has to wait three weeks before he's released for a false instate; he soon realizes that getting out might be replaced as his top priority by something much more immediate: surviving. 

   The heat really shouldn’t have bothered him by now, but Roman was ready to kill a man under the oh-so-generous Florida sun if it meant he could get some AC immediately.

  Sure, he wasn’t usually one for violence - not that you should ask his first grade playdate with a black eye that - but walking a mile home from an already-sweltering high school with far too many windows was getting on his nerves more than he cared to articulate (not that there was anyone around him to articulate it to); all he really wanted was a popsicle in his hand, or maybe an inch of snow, so he could finally remember what it felt like to not want to crawl out of your own skin to cool down.

  Roman finally turned the corner to his neighborhood, which was filled to the brim with wide brick houses and landscaping that was far too expensive for the final product (you’d think, with the amount of rain and sunshine in Florida, people would think to invest in real flowers), and started down the blistering sidewalk to the gray house near the edge of the cul-de-sac. His eyes practically watered when he saw the fans through its window - or maybe that was just sweat dripping down his face - and his energy spiked as he hiked his backpack further over his shoulders to jog to the door.

  Just as he reached the porch, key in hand, he heard a voice call over his shoulder, “You should probably pick that up.”

  Roman glanced behind, where the voice had come from, and saw a boy about his age lounging on a set of porch steps across the street, a beanie pulled low over his brunet fringe. He stared back unblinkingly.

  “Excuse me?” Roman called, frowning.

  The boy jerked his head towards the sidewalk Roman had stepped off of. Roman followed his movement and found a stray water bottle abandoned on the cement; a quick glance over his shoulder told him his backpack was unzipped.

  “That’s littering,” the boy continued, his mouth pulled into a slitted smirk; something about his eyes seemed uneven to Roman, but he couldn’t see exactly what it was from his vantage point. “It’s a crime.”

  “...I’m aware.” Roman hopped down the steps, scooping the bottle from the ground and shoving it back in his bag. He threw a pinched look at the boy across the street, eyes flickering across his lanky figure disdainfully. “Thanks for the tip, Einhorn.”

  The boy cocked his ever so slightly to the side. “No problem. Maybe be careful about that in the future, though - never know who’s watching.”

  Roman blinked at him, his face curling into a sneer. “Okay, then. Have fun harassing more random people,” he said as he turned back to his door and pushed it open, muttering a quick, “Weirdo,” under his breath before he stepped inside.

  The cool air hit him in a tsunami breeze, brushing his bangs across his forehead, a chill racking his spine as he dropped his backpack beside the door with a heavy thud.

  “Rem?” he called, peeking into the living room by the curling staircase; his voice echoed back to him untouched. “Gia?” Nothing.

  He was used to having the house to himself - Remy was so often out with ‘friends,’ and Giavanna worked late most days of the week - but his stomach was heavy as he stepped into the den, and he had half a mind to pull the curtains tight, though he couldn’t imagine why.

  He flopped onto the couch instead, whipping his phone out of his pocket and pulling up his messages.

    Me: Remmmmmmmm where are you

    Roman raised an eyebrow as the message sat at ‘Delivered’ for a moment - he didn’t think he’d ever seen Remy without his phone in his hand - but sure enough, three dots popped up on his screen after a few seconds, bouncing idly as Roman watched and waited.

     Rem: out

    Me: I presumed, but where?

  Me: I’m borrrrrrred

    Rem: i’m with em??? do you need smth or

    Me: Ooooohhhh, Em? 😘😘

    Rem:  h o n e y

  Rem: jealousy is so not cute on you go kiss ur pillow or smth and keep it away from me mkay

    Me: ??? Everything is cute on me???

     Roman snorted as Remy sent a picture; his eyebrows were raised behind shining aviator sunglasses as he flipped off the camera, and Roman could just see Emile’s smiling, freckled face in the corner of the frame, his tortoiseshell glasses reflecting the sun and blocking his eyes as dimples whittled into his cheeks.

    Me: Rude

     Rem: 🙃🙃🙃

  Rem: can i drink my coffee in peace pls

    Me: Fine whatever

  Me: Didn’t you tell your mom you’d be home early today tho?? She seemed pretty adamant abt it last week

    Rem: ??? idk

  Rem: is she home?

    Me: No, I’m just curious.

    Rem: oh my bad nancy drew ill make sure to doublecheck with you next time i wanna get starbucks

    Me: w o w

    Rem: listen sweets i gotta go k

  Rem: tell me if you get to second base with that pillow 😘😘😘😘

  Me: Fvck off

    Remy didn’t respond (not that Roman really expected him to).

  Roman tossed his phone onto the cushion beside him, chewing on the inside of his cheek as unease washed over him once more - his mind flitted idly through things to do until Remy or his mother got home, but all that came up was his myriad of unfinished projects, and he didn’t have enough energy to even pretend he’d actually work on those.

  He draped himself across the sofa and stared at the ceiling.

  His thoughts drifted back to the kid on the steps outside; something about him seemed familiar to Roman, but he couldn’t quite figure out why. He couldn’t remember ever seeing him at school, and he didn’t really seem like the type for the neighborhood, with his ripped jeans and dirty converse - he had on an awful lot of yellow, though… maybe he was a Burkhaust Scout?

  Roman huffed a wave out of his face indignantly at that. A Scout in his neighborhood felt unlikely; he’d only heard of one kid ever getting taken in this part of town - Daniel something (his own mom reported him - Roman couldn’t even imagine what that must have felt like when he returned, although he’d never actually seen the boy come back; they must have moved neighborhoods. Social stigma was quite the travel motivator.) - long before Roman had come to the Affini’s, and the boy, as odd and out-of-place as he seemed, didn’t strike him as an actor of any sort.

  Probably just waiting for a friend, he finally settled on, ending his own anxieties with a decisive nod, and that was that.

  He went back to his phone almost instantly, scrolling through his Instagram aimlessly as the minutes ticked by. As he landed on his post of a painting he’d finished for art recently, the homework nestled in his backpack by the door crossed his mind, but he didn’t particularly want to face the bright red D on the math test beside it, so he quickly pushed the idea away; he focused instead on the picture - it was Roman’s entry for the Burkhaust awareness campaign (as if anyone didn’t already know what it was). He’d painted a golden chalice against a burgundy background, complete with the church’s signature crown of thorns draped over the chalice’s lip. (He’d won second place, right behind a scale model of the church itself - he was bitter to this day, but nevermind that.)

  His hands itched to hold a brush right then; Giavanna had banned paint in the house after he and Remy had an… accident a few months back (red paint doesn’t scrub off white walls easily), so he was forced to wait until the school studio was open before he could release his creative whimsy with full force. His sketchbook had long since run void of empty space for his midnight bouts of creativity; he’d nearly resorted to carving into his wooden bedpost for a canvas.

  A knock at the door pulled him from his thoughts.

  Roman’s head snapped up, and he glanced out the window - there was a single black car in front of the house, one he recognized from somewhere, but he couldn’t quite place his finger on it. He stood and strode to the door, peeking through the peephole, but it was blocked by something. The door swung open the minute he began to turn the knob; his stomach dropped.

  Three men stood towering over him on the porch, all dressed in identical black clothing, a mustard-yellow armband and embroidered crown of thorns across their biceps. They stared down at Roman unblinkingly, their eyes empty with careful blankness.

  “R. Affini?” the one closest to him said. His droning voice bent the question into a flat statement more than anything; Roman blinked.

  “...Yes?” he replied slowly, his gaze flickering between each man as they nodded to each other. “Can I help you?” They didn’t respond as the first man took out a small, handheld tablet, and began swiping at its screen, tilted just enough so Roman couldn’t see. The boy cleared his throat instead. “Mrs. Affini’s not home right now- would you like me to leave a message?”

   “That won’t be necessary.”

   A frown pulled at Roman’s lips as the two men behind the first started to head back to their car - Roman realized suddenly where he recognized it from, just as the first man grabbed his arm and yanked him onto the porch without another word.

  “Hey!” Roman yelped, pulling back; the man seemed inconvenienced at best, his mouth a taut line and eyes hard. “What are you doing?!”

  “You’re under juvenile apprehension by order of the Cathedral of Burkhaust Rehabilitation Center,” the man answered drily, a forced line, practiced and recited beyond empathy or mistake and spat back at Roman like a stream of acid in his face.

  “What?” he breathed. “No, I- I didn’t do anything!��� He pulled at his arm, trying to wrangle free of the guard’s iron grip as they fast approached the black car ahead. “Let go, I didn’t do anything!”

  The man stared straight ahead as he dragged a squirming Roman beside him, fingers curled tightly around his arms. Roman glanced around wildly for a neighbor, a friend, an ally to vouch for him, to make a scene, anything - his eyes landed suddenly on the boy from earlier, still lounging on the steps across the street.

  “Hey!” Roman called to him, craning his neck to see over the roof of the car in front of him, “Hey, you!” The boy watched the scene before him with a drooping frown, but he made no move to get up, and Roman’s voice began to crack as the guard pushed on his shoulders to force him into the car, “Help me, please! Someone, help- let me go!”

   The door slammed in his face.

  He crawled across the seat as one of the other men took the one beside him, and he pressed his palms to the window. The boy on the steps found his eyes; he seemed to mirror Roman’s confusion, his eyebrows drawn tightly over his odd, uneven eyes as the car began to roll down the street, his lips barely parted as if he was tempted to call out.

  Roman kept his gaze as his house grew smaller, as the synthetic flowers in his yard faded in his vision, as the boy’s beanie vanished as the rest of him did, until everything Roman knew had all but disappeared completely.

    The car ride was thick with silence, full of clenched fists and heavy, deliberate breaths on Roman’s end, strained efforts to repress the screaming in his mind. He’d tried to fit the puzzles pieces of his arrest together more times than he could count in the twenty minutes they’d been driving, but nothing came up sensible - he’d never even missed a homework assignment without a teacher’s excuse, let alone committed a report-worthy crime.

  He turned to the guard beside him.

  “Sir,” he started, his voice dripping with pseudo-enthusiasm; the guard didn’t even blink. “How much longer until we get to the church?”

  The man glanced to him briefly. “Five minutes.”

  Roman hummed in response, turning back to his window for a second before spinning around once more. “Is it really surrounded by trees?” he asked brightly.

  “Yes.”

  “What kind?”

  “Oak.”

  “...That’s all?”

  “Yes.”

  Roman sighed, propping his chin in the palms of his hands. “Is it nice?”

  “It’s a cathedral.”

  “That doesn’t answer my question.” The man didn’t respond.

  Roman pursed his lips and turned back to his window, ruminating a storm in his head. The car fell back into its tense silence.

  “Do you like working there?” he asked quietly.

  He glanced over his shoulder to see the guard’s mouth contorted into a deep frown - something in Roman cheered at the man’s surprise, at his slightly tilted head and furrowed brow. The guard in front of him, the one who shoved Roman into the car in the first place, glanced back sharply at the man, his eyes shining with something dark. The car screeched to a stop suddenly.

  The door at Roman’s side flung open and a hand was around his arm once more, pulling him out of his seat and onto an uneven gravel road, oak trees blocking his vision from every angle. The two other guards stepped out of the car, striding mechanically down the path and around a corner. Roman’s jaw practically fell as the trees cleared around them.

  The turrets of the cathedral crawled towards the sky in sharp layers, edges spiked with blooming stone roses and jagged trim. The windows were draped in lithic panes that stretched across openings like prison bars; thin poles stood flattened against the church’s walls, cut off and forced together at odd intervals, and empty crosses hollowed the arches that loomed above all else. The whole building seemed to radiate a cold light, an intricate, dangerous beauty that sang a siren’s tune of wide eyes and deep cuts.

  A hand landed on Roman’s shoulder with a heavy thud that nearly knocked him off balance, and a low voice leered.

  “Welcome to Burkhaust.”

General/BOTA taglist:   @romanticsanders @existentialburden @a-little-bit-of-ace @anon-turtle @kameraishere @thelowlysatsuma @generalfandomfabulousness

[gazemoil]

RECENSIONI 4IN1: Slipknot, Lingua Ignota, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Chelsea Wolfe

In questa istallazione di Recensioni 4in1 parliamo in breve di quattro dischi, tutti accomunati da un’impronta metal più o meno evidente, usciti quest’anno. Innanzitutto diamo uno sguardo al ritorno degli Slipknot, una delle band cardine del metal dei primi anni duemila, poi diamo spazio all’interessantissimo terzo disco di Lingua Ignota che opera con le derivazioni sperimentali, procediamo col nuovo dei King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard che scelgono il trash metal per la loro ennesima singolare avventura sonora e concludiamo col post-metal della gotica Chelsea Wolfe.

Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind (Roadrunner Records, 2019)

I ritorni per le band storiche sono sempre difficili e molto spesso raccontano di esiti non proprio felici. E’ il caso degli Slipknot ed il loro sesto album, We Are Not Your Kind, che arriva a distanza di cinque anni dall’altrettanto sfortunato predecessore The Grey Chapter, ma poteva anche andare peggio. 

Sono passati ormai vent’anni dalla formazione della band mascherata capitanata da Corey Taylor che - gusti musicali a parte - ha il merito di aver scolpito a sua immagine e somiglianza la scena metal. Durante queste due decadi ne sono successe di tutti i colori e tra controversie legali, cambi di formazione poco pacifici e lutti sembra che ogni album degli Slipknot debba segnare una fase: questa è quella successiva all’espulsione del bassista Chris Fehn e del ritorno ad una forma che li riporta indietro a quel periodo in cui la fiamma nu-metal bruciava ardentemente nella loro musica. Il disco si apre promettente con l’infestato intro quasi post-rock Insert Coin ed il successivo singolo di punta Unsainted che sguinzaglia pesanti riff di chitarra, batteria e scream tipici dei pezzi più infuriati della band, trovando un equilibrio tra il metal più rovente e la grandiosità degli inni alt-rock grazie ad un ritornello sicuramente più morbido. Birth Of The Cruel prova a nutrirsi della tensione derivata da tonfi insistenti di batteria e graffi felini di chitarra che hanno un qualcosa di industriale - non sarà l’unica volta in cui capita - ma alla fine questa implacabile urgenza di riff e percussioni appariscenti non comunica nulla. Sarà sicuramente una questione di preferenze personali, ma considerando che oggettivamente negli ultimi anni non si è visto nessun sostanziale progresso all’interno loro musica, possiamo dire che l’olio che da un pò muove gli ingranaggi della band è ormai esausto. 

Durante le inutilmente tentacolari quattordici tracce tornano alle vecchie formule insistendo con le fallimentari Red Flag ed Orphan, oppure fendono con largo insuccesso le tende della sperimentazione come con Liar’s Funeral e Critical Darling che diluisce delle buone idee in due minuti di troppo. Il momento più infelice è tuttavia la ridicola Spiders che contiene uno degli assoli più sfortunati degli ultimi tempi. In conclusione, We Are Not Your Kind non è abbastanza incisivo da sorprendere i van di vecchia data e non è abbastanza moderno per accalappiare nuovi ascoltatori. Nuovi costumi, stessi Slipknot. 

TRACCE MIGLIORI: Unsainted; Nero Forte

TRACCE PEGGIORI: Red Flag; Liar’s Funeral; Spirders

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Lingua Ignota - CALIGULA (Profound Lore Records, 2019)

Lingua Ignota è il progetto della compositrice, polistrumentista e cantante Kristin Hayter che da un paio di anni opera nelle derive più sperimentali e pesanti del metal come la darkwave neoclassica - un sottogenere che interpola la new wave per trasformarla in contesti più cupi e gotici con drammatiche pennellate di musica classica - ed il death metal, calandoli in uno stampo fortemente noise con l’aggiunzione di sonorità industriali. CALIGULA è un disco intransigente che incute terrore ed angoscia. A livello di stile rimane piuttosto peculiare, ma volendo sembra collocabile tra “l’inorganico disarmonico” di Pharmakon per l’utilizzo estremo di chitarre portate all’esasperazione fino a renderle abrasioni metalliche incomprensibili, synth oppressivi e suoni meccanici esterni che contribuiscono al caos generale dell’ambientazione ed Anna von Hausswolff per la grandiosa teatralità sonora e testuale, sebbene qui l’universo spirituale è molto più tormentato e corporeo, collassato tra urla ed imprecazioni che scoppiano anche nei momenti in cui, tra vocalizzi lirici, sprazzi di organo e pianoforte, Hayter sembra essere stata definitivamente trafitta. 

Le sue performance vocali sono folli ed infernali, immolandosi in diverse sfaccettature che per esempio in FRAGRANT IS MY MANY FLOWER’D CROWN offrono delle armonizzazioni gutturali. Ci sono momenti in cui basterebbe un riff di chitarra in più per trasformare le tracce in caustiche e brutali canzoni death metal, tuttavia, bisogna notare che questo non è un album metal, perché mancano le caratteristiche per definirlo tale, nonostante ciò è una delle esperienze più metal degli ultimi anni. La monumentale DO YOU DOUBT ME TRAITOR dura quasi dieci minuti e sfrutta molto bene gli spazi, iniziando mesta e silenziosa, quasi come un canto medievale eseguito per risvegliare una bestia, per poi scontrarsi andando in pezzi su un muro di suoni terrificanti. Prima la voce di Hayter è bassa, vicina ed androgina, dopo sale di tono su degli archi che costruiscono una tensione oscura palpabile ed è questione di poco prima che riversi tutta la sua linfa vitale urlando spaventosamente: “How do I break you / Before you break me?”. MAY FAILURE BE YOUR NOOSE presenta un contrasto interessante tra un pianoforte regale ed uno dei testi più disturbanti e morbosi: “May failure be a garment to wrap 'round you / May failure be a belt with which to gird you / May failure be a noose with which to hang you”. 

Hayter è una specie di animale ferito ed insanguinato che vuole attaccare prima di essere attaccato, la sua è una lucida e consapevole discesa nel caos, dentro un sacro che diventa profano e viceversa, una liturgia contaminata da scorie apocalittiche impossibili da smaltire. Scorrendo in profondità nei testi sembra che quest’album stia lamentando la perdita di un’amore, una tematica certamente non nuova in musica, ma qui assume proporzioni bibliche, strabordante di immagini religiose molto profonde tanto quanto lo è la sofferenza come risultato di questa relazione tossica presumibilmente violenta. Conclusione con I AM THE BEAST, un titolo che penetra nell’essenza più sincera di questo progetto, toccando le corde più intime dell’artista: “Beast he named me, beast I am / I am grief / Come claim me / All I want is boundless love, all I know is violence”.

TRACCE MIGLIORI: DO YOU DOUBT ME TRAITOR; MAY FAILURE BE YOUR NOOSE; DAY OF TEARS AND MOURNING

TRACCE PEGGIORI: FUCKING DEATHDEALER

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King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - INFEST THE RATS’ NEST (Flightless Records, 2019)

Gli australiani King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard sono sempre stati difficili da inquadrare, la definizione perfetta di una voce fuori dal coro. Se c’è una regola implicita che dice che un artista deve prendersi almeno un paio di anni prima di pubblicare un disco, loro ne pubblicano quattordici in sette anni, se qualcuno dice che l’identità musicale va costruita muovendosi con costanza tra generi e sonorità affini, loro fanno dell’imprevedibilità e dell’assenza di un genere in cui poterli identificare la loro definizione principale, lanciandosi in tutte le derive rock dal progressive, psichedelico, acid, garage, blues fino al jazz a distanza di pochi mesi. Sono una di quelle rare band veramente spinte da una frenetica ed inarrestabile urgenza di sperimentazione che riesce sempre a raggiungere ottimi risultati. INFEST THE RATS’ NEST è la loro interpretazione più completa del metal, un ruggito rabbioso proferito non solo come l’ennesimo costume da indossare, ma che intende far sentire le sue ragioni in un mondo dove anche la notizia più scioccante incontra l’indifferenza.

Come con l’album precedente le proteste del singolare leader Stu Mackenzie continuano sul filone ecologico e climatico, presentando una visione apocalittica della modernità in cui l’abbandono della Terra per colonizzare nuovi pianeti sembra un fenomeno molto meno fantascientifico. Un futuro più tragico di quello che possiamo immaginare, dove la morsa del capitalismo è ancora più fatale e solo chi può permetterselo ha la possibilità di emigrare altrove, come raccontato nella cupa Mars For The Rich che musicalmente mima gli sbuffi ingombranti e disillusi dei Motörhead, in cui doppie e spesse chitarre rombano insieme ad un basso prorompente ed esuberante e c’è spazio per assoli ghiacciati, impastati nella distorsione della psichedelia e nel blues. Mackenzie ha un carisma fenomenale ed ancora una volta colpisce per la sua versatilità, canta con tutto sé stesso, urla e ringhia con il magnetismo dei leader dei Metallica, Judas Priest e Black Sabbath. In Superbug il ritmo è rallentato solo per imprimere ancora di più i colpi martellanti delle chitarre ed il veleno della voce, insieme ad una batteria che va di certo lodata per la precisione. Il trash metal fa da padrone nelle due Venusian, tutte vibrazione impazzita di chitarre che gridano acute o affondano gravi. Non sono da meno l’apertura Planet B e la chiusura Hell, nelle quali i riff alla Iron Maiden spezzano letteralmente le ossa.

Il concept presentato in INFEST THE RATS’ NEST ha un impatto forte, la storia è avvincente e talvolta angosciante. La band non intende zuccherare nulla - musicalmente e tematicamente - rendendolo il loro album più attuale e politico, probabilmente anche quello musicalmente più impressionante, di sicuro si posiziona molto in alto all’interno di una discografia rispettabile. 

TRACCE MIGLIORI: Mars For The Rich; Superbug; Self-Immolate

TRACCE PEGGIORI: Organ Farmer

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Chelsea Wolfe - Birth Of Violence (Sargent House, 2019)

Il disco più distante dall’intenzione del metal è sicuramente il maturo Birth Of Violence, il sesto di Chelsea Wolfe, un’artista che durante la sua carriera ha saputo avvicinarsi a questo genere, ma lo ha spesso superato mutandone gli elementi compositivi e scegliendo le sfumature stilistiche industriali o gotiche, mettendo in contrasto la bellezza e la bruttezza, arrivando solo recentemente al doom metal. Una cosa è rimasta sempre costante: l’atmosfera. Quella di Wolfe è contemplativa, cupa e profondamente introspettiva sulle infelicità della vita, una grande nuvola nera solenne che aleggia su qualsiasi cosa, anche quando come in questo caso orbita verso l’aspetto folk della sua identità sonora.

Birth Of Violence è un’autostrada perduta in mezzo ad un bosco, il diario di viaggio di Wolfe dove sono annotati gli angoli più bui in cui è fuggita la sua mente durante la vita in strada. L’esperienza del tour può essere solitaria e disorientante, pericolosamente dannosa per gli artisti sensibili che alla fine di queste folli montagne russe reagiscono col bisogno ritrovare sé stessi e liberarsi attraverso canzoni che documentano quei sentimenti che emergono nell’oscurità e nel silenzio delle tre del mattino in una città della quale non ricordi neanche il nome. Wolfe ha scritto queste canzoni da sola con una chitarra acustica ed essenzialmente questo scheletro non è stato più di tanto imbandito. Ciò che innalza il disco sono i crescendo sottili, si gonfiano ed implodono all’apice delle canzoni piuttosto che esplodere con evidenti intenzioni. Generalmente i brani sono nudi, desolati e avvolti da un alone affascinante di mistero, ma soprattutto semplici nell’esecuzione. La chitarra acustica, come abbiamo detto, è predominante, ma l’efficacia della composizione si concretizza quando introduce arrangiamenti di strumenti a corde, bellissime ondate di synth che si aggiungono alle strumentali doloranti e i suoi evocativi pianti vocali che completano la recita di veri e propri incantesimi stregati. 

Il punto di forza di Birth Of Violence è il magnetismo della meditazione. Ogni canzone trasuda il senso di un paesaggio da sogno, fornendo allo stesso tempo una malinconia terrena. Nella traccia d’apertura The Mother Road ritroviamo questa sensazione di viaggio; la profondità della chitarra, le tessiture epiche dei violini, l’agitazione del tamburo gigantesco ed ovviamente la meravigliosa voce che guida quest’impeto. “Guess I needed someone to break me / Guess I needed someone to shake me out” canta nel ritornello con un trasporto emotivo davvero comunicativo. C’è una dolcezza molto tenera nella sua voce che si mette a contrasto col tormento dei testi, come in American Darkness, una ninna nanna inquietante dove indugia nell’aria su una strumentazione minima, soffiando tepore e brividi. Il momento rock più pesante è Deranged for Rock & Roll, una traccia che non ha bisogno d’esplodere per dimostrare la sua potenza. Nella title-track c’è una tensione nella chitarra acustica che sembra quasi un fantasma inghiottito da bassi molto nebulosi, mentre in Little Grave quella stessa chitarra ha una cadenza quasi tranquillizzante, merito anche della voce che è una culla in mezzo al cielo dentro la quale rifugiarsi dalle nuvole piene di pioggia. A proposito di pioggia, citiamo la chiusura poetica con The Storm, semplicemente il suono di una tempesta.

TRACCE MIGLIORI: The Mother Road; American Darkness; Birth Of Violence

TRACCE PEGGIORI: Erde

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[mavwrekmarketing]

Image: Shutterstock / Prazis

Facebook has a terrorism problem, and its vowing to fix it. On Thursday, the social media giant announced new plans to use artificial intelligence to scrape words, images, and video in order to wipe terrorist propaganda from its network entirely.

The only catch? It still requires a team of 150 counterterrorism experts as well as plenty of other people to fight extremism on the platform. We can only hope this new AI tool is as sophisticated as Facebook claims it is.

SEE ALSO: In search of Facebooks conscience

“We are currently focusing our most cutting edge techniques to combat terrorist content about ISIS, Al Qaeda and their affiliates, and we expect to expand to other terrorist organizations in due course,” Facebook said in a statement about the update.

The announcement comes in the wake of growing pressure from governments and individuals affected by terrorism to make Facebook remove materials such as terrorist propaganda or other user-generated content that could incite violence.

In Thursday’s statement, Facebook said it has put together a team of more than 150 people “exclusively or primarily” focused on countering terrorism as their core responsibility. The group includes counterterrorism experts, former prosecutors, former law enforcement, and engineers.

The social media company will also work with various partners like Institute for Strategic Dialogue and Affinis Labs to “push back against extremism and hate online,” according to the statement.

Facebook’s public discussion of its counterterrorism efforts is the first in a new series of efforts from the company to bring more transparency and discussion to the myriad of problems that Facebook has either created or contributed to.

Called ���Hard Questions,” it’s meant to push the company forward on topics while also soliciting more feedback from the public. Facebook also announced that it created a brand new email address hardquestions@fb.com where you can send feedback or suggestions for problems it should address. So let them know your thoughts!

SEE ALSO: Theresa May renews her call for internet regulation following the London Bridge attack

Facebook remains tight-lipped about how exactly most of its underlying technology works, but the company took a major step forward in sharing details around its image matching technology.

Video fingerprinting called “hashes” are being used to help Facebook’s algorithms find and ultimately terminate extremist videos before they’re ever posted or made public.

The only downside is that this new form of image scanning doesn’t prevent people from joining Facebook, then using it to communicate with and ultimately recruit others using messaging.

SEE ALSO: Facebook is quietly giving in to government pressures to censor content

It’s also unclear how well the new system understands the context of these images. For example, an image of an ISIS flag could be used in propaganda both for and against the terrorist organizationan example Facebook noted remains a challenge.

Another complication is that terrorist activity is moving to new areas of the internet, such as encrypted messaging services Telegram and Facebook-owned WhatsApp. There are also new challenges presented by Facebook Live, the streaming service that lets people broadcast video to the public instantly in real time.

The decision to publicly announce the update represents a major shift for Facebook in regards to transparency. In the past, the social network has made editorial decisions like this privately. Thursday’s announcement is an obvious attempt to be more transparent and certainly a step in the right directionbut it’s clear that Facebook faces more challenges than its fancy algorithms are probably able to solve. Our crazy world is nuanced, and machines are not yet ready to make difficult judgement calls, even by Facebook’s own admission.

WATCH: What it means to have our political debates over social media

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[wearespecialuniqueandimportant]

THAT ISN'T OKAY TO BE WEAK. SUBMIT UNDER OPPRESSION. YOU CAN'T FIGHT BACK. THIS IS WHAT HUMAN DOMESTICATION GUIDE BELIEVES. THE AFFINI AREN'T WEAK. THEY WANT POWER OVER YOU. REPULSIVE WRITING. TERRIBLE NPD REPRESENTATION FROM BOTH SIDES. THE STORY IS A SEXIST REACTIONARY ATTACK TORWARDS WOKE SERIES. THE STORY AND THE CREATORS ASWELL AS FANS ARE POLITICAL AND BELIEVE TO BE A WOMAN YOU MUST BE FEMININE AND STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS ARE PROPAGANDA THAT TELLS WOMAN THEY AREN'T ACCEPTED UNTIL THEY'RE MEN A REACTIONARY MOVEMENT THAT IS NOTHING BUT DISGUSTING TRADWIFE PROPAGANDA A RETURN TO THE OLD. THIS ATTITUDE MAKES NOBARA KUGISAKI HAVE A STEREOTYPICAL PERSONALITY AND GET SAVED ALL THE TIME. THIS ATTITUDE MAKES MIKASA ACKERMAN LOVE EREN AND CRY ABOUT HIM ALL THE TIME. THAT IS A COUNTERMOVEMENT AGAINST STRONG WOMAN THAT MAKES THEM STRONG... BUT NOT THAT STRONG!!!! I FIRST HEARD THE ARGUMENT FROM A FAKE LEFTIST LESBIAN. THIS IS POPULAR. THE VERY THING THAT STARTED MY REALIZATION IS IN HUMAN DOMESTICATION GUIDE AS THESE GARBAGE WASTE ARE THE ONES THAT SAY SHIT LIKE THIS. "I DON'T DISLIKE THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE STRONG I DISLIKE THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE BADLY WRITTEN." THIS IS WHAT THEY ALWAYS CLAIM BUT THAT IS ALWAYS A LIE. THEY WANT A SUBMISSIVE TRADWIFE PROTAGONIST. THIS IS WHAT HUMAN DOMESTICATION GUIDE WAS WRITTEN FOR. THERE IS NO PLACE FOR MASCULINE WOMAN EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER IS FORCE FEMMED THAT IS MORE THAN JUST HORMONES THAT'S THEIR GENDER EXPRESSION TOO. AND ACTION THINGS LIKE GUNS AN EXPRESSION OF GENDER DON'T DO ANYTHING. THE SERIES IS BIGOTED AND AGAINST MASCULINE GENDER EXPRESSION IN WOMAN. CREATED FROM A DESIRE TO CONTROL US. THIS IS WHAT YOU DEFEND WHEN YOU ATTACK ME. YOU ARE DISGUSTING.

The Series Reinforces Sexist And Queerphobic Gender Stereotypes Like Love And Peace Are Feminine And Fighting Back Against Oppression Anger And Being Smart Are Masculine And Must Be Drugged Away. That That Is Actually Better Woman Stay As Are All Woman. And Anyone That Deviates Should Be Forced Back. The Affini Represent When A Woman Goes Too Far. When She's Herself... The Punishment That Comes You Dare Be Different. But Just Because A Woman Fights Doesn't Mean She Is Masculine This Is All Neutral Consepts. The Sexist Queerphobic Story Can't Understand. That's These Fake Leftist Lesbian You See All The Time That Side With Anti Sjws That Reinforce This Shit. Who Created This Garbage. And Any Feminist Like Me Would've Seen This Immeatedily. The Fact That These Tradwives Still Fight Despite That... Call Me An Abuser???? Try To Kill Me???? Vile. Vile. VILE. Why Wouldn't I Read. If The Series Wasn't Bigoted I Would Have Nothing To Worry About Right? This Didn't Happen Because Of The Tags. This Happened Because The Creators Are Bigot Something That Shouldn't Exist In The First Place. On Top Of That The Affini Use Violence To Control The Humans And Never Show Weakness. They Put On A Mask That's The Actual Problem With Masculinity These Feminine Beings Are Supposed To Be And Pretend To Be Above Of. They Don't Show Emotions. They Don't Treat You With Respect. They Hate Us All. This Is What's Actually Wrong With Masculinity. And That's Qualities The So Masculine And Male Floret Don't Use... But The Affinis. Meanwhile That Is A Harmfull Message To Gender Things Like Anger Or Political Awareness. And That Is Definetly Malicious To State They Need DRUGS If You Possess These Qualities. Or That That's BETTER You Don't Have These Human Qualities. Making You Sui***** You Don't Fall Under These Sexist Standards A Progressive Story Human Domestication Guide Isn't Should Break Free From.

The Affini Don't Give You Freedom. They Take That Away From You. This Isn't Wish Fulfillment. This Is KILL ALL WOMAN Fantasy. That's Strong Woman That Are Wish Fulfillment And Power Fantasy. What This Series Was Created To Attack In The First Place. The Only Good Person In This Conflict Would Side With Me Completely Because The Series Is Paraphobic Sanist Garbage The Creators Bigot. And I Doubt The Creators Give A Fuck Otherwise Either. The Same Way The Bigoted Fanbase Would Rather Ban Anyone Pointing This Out Claim We Abuse Them... Than Make The Series More Inclusive. Showcase They're Anti Progressive And There's Nothing Woke About Them. And The Affinis Are Abusers UNSAFE To Show Your True Emotions Around As They Don't Show Theirs Like An Abuser And Use Yours Against You. Every Single Abuser I Know Is An Affini. Every Single Capitalist Pig. Every Single Hurtfull Villain In Real Life. And They're All Very Political. On Top Of That The Series Tries To White Wash Forcing Feminine Gender Expression Can't Be Traumatic And Wrong And Claims That Is Healing For Everyone. Aswell As Taking Power From You Forcing You Into Sexual Submission Against Consent. Things That Can And Do Cause Sui****. Infact I Have Felt Very Sui***** Over This Series And Their Fans HARRASSING AND BANNING US ALL THE TIME. WHILE WE'RE CALLED ABUSERS FOR FIGHTING BACK WHILE IN THE STORY THOSE THAT FIGHT BACK ARE BEING EW AND MASCULINE AND NEED TO BECOME FEMININE AKA A DRUG PET. Nasty Nasty Nasty Agenda. In Reality I Was Being Gasslight And Abused Very Horrobly By Them. I Was In Pain. So Much Distress... They Couldn't Stop!!!! They NEEDED TO CONTINUE... AND MAKE THAT OUR FAULT MULTIPLE TIMES!!!! THEY SAW WHAT THINGS MADE US TRIGGERED... AND HIT IN THE HOLE!!!! THAT MADE THEM FEEL AMAZING THE THOUGHT WE COULD D**... WHILE GASSLIGHTING WE'RE DISGUSTING SEX FREAK... THAT THEY CAN'T BE... BECAUSE THEIR SEXUALITY IS NORMAL. AND OURS IS WRONG AND ABUSIVE. WHILE GASSLIGHTING WE'RE TRYING TO INSERT MORALITY INTO THEIR FICTION... THAT REINFORCED BAD MORALS? I WANTED TO BE HEARD AND BELIEVED. JUST LIKE HUMANS WOULD UNDER SUCH OPPRESSION IN REAL LIFE. BUT THERE IS NO SPACE FOR US IN THE WORLD OF HUMAN DOMESTICATION GUIDE AND THEIR FANS. THEY BELIEVE EVERYTHING HARMFULL THE SERIES DOES. AND GASSLIGHT TRAUMA AGAINST YOU. ESCAPING BLAME THEY BELIEVE IS ABUSIVE WHEN DONE BY A CRAZY PERSON THAT CAN'T CONTROL THIS. THAT HAS TO DO THIS.

THE SERIES IS MALICIOUS BIGOTED GARBAGE THAT QUITE SIMPLY BELIEVES WE SHOULD JUST SUBMIT AND ACCEPT THINGS. AND IF WE DON'T LIKE WE CAN ALWAYS K*** OURS*****. A VERY BIGOTED MESSAGE INGRAINED IN HUMAN DOMESTICATION GUIDE. DESPITE THAT THEY CLAIM AFFINI ARE PERFECT AND KILL NOONE. WHICH IMPLIES ALL YOUR WORST ENEMIES BECOME PETS TOO AND YOU'RE JUST SUPPOSED TO ACCEPT YOU'RE... EQUAL NOW???? SHOULDN'T THAT BE YOU IN THE POSITION OF THE AFFINI? TORTURING THOSE THAT HURT YOU? INCLUDING THE FASCIST AFFINI? ISN'T THAT THE NATURAL CONCLUSION TO EVERYTHING???? "NO!!!! K*** YOU***** BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T SUBMIT!!!! THIS MAKES YOU EVIL!!!!" THIS IS WHAT THEY SAY INSTEAD. THERE IS NO SPACE FOR YOU IN HUMAN DOMESTICATION GUIDE A BIGOTED GARBAGE THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST. THAT SHOULD BE BANNED BECAUSE THEY'RE HARMFULL AND NEVER WILL BE A THING ELSE. BECAUSE ANY OTHER VERSION LIKE THE ONES I WROTE WILL BE BANNED AND ERASED. "THAT'S JUST FICTION... AS LONG AS YOU OBEY. THE AFFINI ARE WATCHING... STAY IGNORANT." THEIR SLOGAN.

A Woman Isn't Less If She Likes Guns Or Anything Like That. That Doesn't Mean She's Masculine Either. But That Does To The Creators As Their Views Of Gender Are NAZI!!!! No Fake Empathy That Is Ignoring Most I Say Because They Don't Genuienly Believe Us And As Result Their Response Feels Invalidating Instead Can Change A Thing. The Removal Of The Report Button And Crazy Paraphilia Aswell As Every Other Minority Rights In Real Life Will. Things They Don't Fight For And Never Will. They Would Rather Mock A Woman Was Different From Them. I Need Genuienly Apologies Torwards EVERYTHING I Have Said They Fight Against. I Want THEM To Submit And I Want Every Single Human Domestication Guide Deleted And Changed To Be Unbigoted. If This Doesn't Happen You Aren't Truly On My Level And You Don't Give A Fuck About Me YOU SINNER.