#gothic tales from melancholia

[purrlockswatson]

If a pole dancing vampire isn't what you wanted to see today, you know better now, yes?

My vampire Pierce knows how to pole dance. I'm not sure what to do with that information, but it's there. He did ballet, that's actually plot relevant, but this... Well, he's having fun.

(I have a lot of less unhinged WIPs on the way, but I'm low on vivacity right now, I need to drink blood)

[purrlockholmesbooks]

Content warning: blood, needles, mild body horror, strangulation, decapitation, Sarah being Sarah and enjoying the gore a bit too much

Feel free to tell me what you think, I'm not holding a sword. Or a needle.

Thank you @windforkthewriter for sending a 💀 in my asks for an excerpt!

[purrlockswatson]

Ask this sneaky vampire cookie. And his colleagues.

A  PEAK  AT  WHAT’S  INSIDE  THEIR          .    .    .

[  *  ]      writing prompt      )         :             send a number  1 - 30  to take a closer look inside this characters life.        /        below you will find a series of various prompts offering a look inside a characters every day life.        these are meant to invoke character development     &     can also be altered as seen fit to better suit the character in question.         bonus if you explain why it’s there!

01.     pockets. 02.     bag   /   purse. 03.     car trunk. 04.     car glovebox. 05.     closet. 06.     bedside table drawer. 07.     medicine cabinet. 08.     wallet. 09.     “junk” drawer. 10.     pantry. 11.     phone home screen. 12.     frequently used emojis. 13.     to do list. 14.     computer home screen. 15.     bookcase. 16.     cd collection. 17.     calendar for this month. 18.     “secret” hiding spot. 19.     five most recent in contact list.  20.     refrigerator.  21.     home safe.  22.     amazon shopping cart.  23.     bank account.  24.     first aid kit.  25.     five most recent in google search history.  26.     most used playlist.  27.     least used playlist.  28.     five most recent sent text messages  29.     five most recent received text messages  30.     netflix watch history. 

[smilesession]

Hey man I've been watching some Wicked and Dune recently, what kind of movies do you like?

Nice I like The Heart of the World, Basket Case, Threads, Altered States, Der Himmel über Berlin, Das Weisse Band, Сталкер, Psychedelic Glue-Sniffin' Hillbillies, Julien Donkey-Boy, Badlands, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Guyana Tragedy: the Story of Jim Jones, Streets of Fire, Bicycle Thieves, Koyaanisqatsi, Possession, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Saddest Music in the World, Fehérlófia, Gothic, The Dark Backward, No No Nooky T.V., Tetsuo the Iron Man, Janet Planet, Dead Man, Septien, They Eat Scum, Possibly in Michigan, Face Like a Frog, Multiple Maniacs, Slacker, Caché, Melancholia, Down by Law, Black Christmas, The Florida Project, The Deer Hunter, Soylent Green, Bar-B-Que Movie, Sweetie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Paris Texas, Night on Earth, mother!, Brain Damage, Иди и смотри, Asteroid City, Barnyard, Shredder Orpheus, Reality 86'd, Carnival of Souls, Tales from the Quadead Zone, Old, We're All Going to the World's Fair, Scorpio Rising, Gummo, Waiting for Guffman, Grey Gardens, American Movie, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, The Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists, Trash Humpers, Turtle Dreams, Perfect Lives, Begotten, À ma sœur!, The Beaver Trilogy, Stranger than Paradise, The Holy Mountain, The Eyes of My Mother, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Kinds of Kindness, The Piano, The Lighthouse, House, Frailty, Hated, Phantom of the Paradise, Cry-Baby, Popeye, Jeanne Dielman 23 quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, Cruel Story of Youth, Hiroshima mon Amour, Last Year at Marienbad, Memorias del subdesarrollo, Easy Rider, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, Pink Flamingos, Κυνόδοντας, Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Hands on a Hard Body, PlayTime, Female Trouble, The Lovely Bones, My Dinner with Andre, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, π, Scanners,

[travisismylaurapalmer]

Yellow Jackets: Plastic Pain in the Dollhouse

DON'T POST ON REDDIT!

I list the text refences only however if want to know what show or what ep something is I'm happy to check

I've divided the Refences into sections because this particular has so meta so many

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte/Yellow Jackets Episode Specifics/Doll Parts by Hole/Goodbye Blue Sky by Pink Floyd/Forbidden Partners The Incest Taboo in Modern Culture by James B. Twitchell/Forbidden Partners The Incest Taboo in Modern Culture by James B. Twitchell/Yellowjackets 1.3/Yellowjackets 1.3/Denial—is the only fact by Emily Dickinson/Sites of Memory: Perspectives on Architecture and Race by Craig E. Barton/Sites of Memory: Perspectives on Architecture and Race by Craig E. Barton/Sites of Memory: Perspectives on Architecture and Race by Craig E. Barton/Denial—is the only fact by Emily Dickinson/Denial—is the only fact by Emily Dickinson/Gothic Forms of Feminine Fictions by Susanne Becker/Mykonos by Fleet Foxes/Sites of Memory: Perspectives on Architecture and Race by Craig E. Barton/

Goddess Mythological Images of the Feminine by Christine Downing/Pretty Little Liars 4.24/Pretty Little Liars 4.24/Pretty Little Liars 4.24/Moulding the Female Body in Victorian Fairy Tales and Sensation Novels by Laurence Talairach/Moulding the Female Body in Victorian Fairy Tales and Sensation Novels by Laurence Talairach/Family Ties by Diana Khoi Nguyen/The White Lotus 2.?/The White Lotus 2.?/ Family Ties by Diana Khoi Nguyen/Werewolf by Fiona Apple/The Woman in the Red Dress Gender, Space, and Reading by Minrose Gwin/Mad Men 1.1/The Woman in the Red Dress Gender, Space, and Reading by Minrose Gwin/The Woman in the Red Dress Gender, Space, and Reading by Minrose Gwin/The Woman in the Red Dress Gender, Space, and Reading by Minrose Gwin/ Werewolf by Fiona Apple/Yellowjackets 2.7/Yellowjackets 2.2/Yellowjackets 2.2/ Yellowjackets 2.2/Barbie Girl by Aqua/Yellowjackets 2.2/Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn(Book)/Mean Girls Deleted Scene)/ Mean Girls(Deleted Scenes)/Sharp Objects by Gillain Flyn(book)/

The Callisto Myth from Ovid to Atwood: Initiation and Rape in Literature by Kathleen Wall/Goodbye, My Danish Sweetheart by Mitski/The Gendering of Melancholia Feminism, Psychoanalysis, and the Symbolics of Loss in Renaissance Literature by Juliana Schiesari/The Gendering of Melancholia Feminism, Psychoanalysis, and the Symbolics of Loss in Renaissance Literature by Juliana Schiesari/Pretty Little Liars 5.2/Pretty Little Liars 5.2/Suggestions by Orelia Has Orchestra/ Yellowjackets 2.9/Yellowjackets 2.9/Violence and the Sacred by René Girard/Goodbye Blue Sky by Pink Floyd/House of Dragon and Fire 1.?/

[musicarenagh]

Forgotten Garden “Francesca”: A Haunting Ode to Wistful Longing In the darkened corners of the indie music scene, Forgotten Garden is blooming resoundingly with their latest offering, “Francesca.” Bridging a keen sense of isolated yearning and mental exploration with raw musicianship, they weave poignant whispers of Lana Del Rey with the shadowy echoes of The Cure, resonating a sonorous shmaltz of both past eras and the present indie landscape that is indescribably alluring. https://open.spotify.com/track/6QH6d2PZRPYcAp7JeatOf2?si=9e270de973ff4c0b From the outset, Francesca's tale is one of haunting poignancy. Fogged by duty and sequestered from her vibrant past, her story serves as a chilling reflection of isolation. Laden with overwhelming psychological implications, "your fading beauty feeds your mind's disease," the words unflinchingly capture the essence of a life unraveling, ever-so subtly heightening the stakes of this emotional plunge. Inês Rebelo's vocals are undeniably the star in this darkened pantomime. Her voice flits and flickers like spectral candlelight, luminescent against the dense crypt of melancholy woven through the texture of this song. It is a haunting, ethereal performance, not unlike the spectral influences of Florence Welch, Chelsea Wolfe and Warpaint, that spins an alluring web of palpable longing and shrouded regret. [caption id="attachment_51501" align="alignnone" width="1080"] Forgotten Garden “Francesca”: A Haunting Ode to Wistful Longing[/caption] Furthermore, Danny Elliott's lush guitar strums and synth sketches play pivotal roles in this harmonious intertwining. Acting as the tonal ribbing, their contribution is critical, winding around Inês's vocals and the pulsating beat in an entrancing symbiosis. Substantiating the dark indie aesthetic, Matt Snowden's drum hits echo with a Tom-tom richness, underlined by Mel D’s energetic bassline, balancing raw rhythmic force with an intimate intimacy. As ephemerally captivating as the mix by Inês Rebelo can be, the masterful touch of Jimistudios helps the track transcend. The melange of gothic themes and indie sensibilities becomes a dreamy sort of dirge. Produced by the duo of Inês Rebelo and Danny Elliott, “Francesca” beautifully encapsulates the intended acoustic melancholia and the electrifying jolts of their unique brand of indie music. Descendants of old-school dark lords of gothic music, Forgotten Garden, despite geographical separation, find harmony in their sonic fusion. They expertly draw from their influences to breathe life into a song that is hauntingly beautiful, pregnant with emotion, and sincerely impactful. "Francesca", is nothing short of a meditative musings of a faded socialite, lost in her wistful longing and stylized by the pens of the talented Forgotten Garden. It is a poignant ballad that echoes through the mist of existential exploration. This track offers music enthusiasts a raw, unforgettable journey stained with the somber colors of a soul longing for an elusive idyllic past. Follow Forgotten Garden on Website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

[arts-dance]

Stranger than paradise

Naughty shepherds, lifelike angels, a mysterious vase of flowers ... there's nothing conventional about the Portinari Altarpiece Christmas is a time for nativity scenes, and this is the story of one of the greatest ever painted. But what Christmas tale would be complete without suicide, attempted suicide and madness?

The monks tried everything to soothe the famous artist who had come to live among them as a lay brother. Hugo van der Goes retired to the Red Cloister, an Augustinian monastery near Brussels, in 1475. He spent the rest of his life there, praying, painting and suffering. He was treated as a special case; he was allowed to paint, even to travel. But, according to the chronicler Gaspar Ofhuis, nothing calmed him. Van der Goes descended into deep melancholia and tried to kill himself. The monks attributed his death in 1482 to the curse of melancholy.

In the 19th century, Van der Goes had a gothic appeal for Romantic students of art. In Emile Wauters's 1872 painting The Madness of Hugo van der Goes, choirboys sing to him, while the abbot, conducting, watches the nervous, darting expression on the artist's face and the ceaseless motion of his hands. "I myself have become especially haggard of late, almost like Hugo van der Goes in the famous painting by Emile Wauters," wrote Vincent van Gogh to his brother Theo from Arles in 1888. "Except that, having had all my beard carefully shaved off, I'm as much the very placid abbot in that picture."

Van Gogh was kidding himself. Later that year he would tell Theo that obsessive painting had left him "reduced once more to the deranged state of Hugo van der Goes in the painting by Emile Wauters", and on Christmas Eve 1888 he acted threateningly towards his friend Paul Gauguin, cut off part of his own ear, and presented it to a prostitute. Van Gogh spent Christmas in hospital. His Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, in London's Courtauld Gallery, was painted on his return in January 1889.

The image that Van Gogh most often referred to when he wanted to discuss, at a remove, art and madness was that of Van der Goes. In his letters, he harps on about Wauters's painting - the first mention is just a year after the painting was executed - and, over the years, his allusions to the picture become more confessional.

Van Gogh and Van der Goes were similar, not just in their mental fragility, but in the intensity of their art. The reason Van der Goes was treated with such respect by the monks, that royalty visited him in his seclusion, that he is remembered as one of the greatest artists of the 15th century, is because he painted one of the most universal and glorious of nativity scenes. Except there is something almost too energetic and abundant about the Portinari Altarpiece. Advertisement

It is a stranger in paradise, or at least, an outsider in the Uffizi. Van der Goes's masterpiece has been in Florence since 1483, when a boat brought it up the Arno after a hard journey from Flanders. It was commissioned by Tommaso Portinari, the Medici bank's representative in Bruges, for the church in the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, back home in Florence. It was a way for Tommaso, so far away on business, to remind people not just of his existence, but of his civic loyalty.

The triptych consists of a large central panel with two wings. At the centre is a nativity scene intensely poised between joy and gravity, stillness and horror. Mary, in dark blue, prays to the newborn child on the ground. Joseph, to the left, is old, sombre, joining her in prayer. The shepherds seem almost to be leaping forward, their figures are so robust and elated as they squat and pray; they are very different in mood from the stately angels, whose faces are long and grave as they kneel and float all around. The setting is in the ruins of King David's palace - there is no glass in the gothic windows - where animals are stabled. They join in, too, expressing meditative devotion.

On the left-hand panel, the kneeling, plain-robed Tommaso Portinari and his little sons Antonio and Pigello participate in adoring Christ; St Thomas and St Anthony Abbot stand over them. On the right-hand panel, Tommaso's wife Maria Maddalena Baroncelli Portinari and their daughter Margherita pray with St Mary Magdalene and St Margaret.

The bare details are traditional - but there is nothing conventional about the ways in which Van der Goes brings this painting to stormy life. For a start, while the rich donor and his family are praying neatly, the shepherds are smiling, gesticulating, leaning forward to get a better look. They resemble slightly indisciplined actors in a nativity play staged by peasants. Van der Goes explicitly alludes to popular religious theatre; the whole composition of the central scene is theatrical.

In radical contrast, the angels are uncanny creatures. They have flattened, elongated, very serious faces; they are wise angels rather than happy ones. But most of all, they are real. The fusion of their coloured wings and almost drably humanoid bodies is so matter of fact, so convincing. Van der Goes can see them. He makes this emphatic by including, in the foreground, two vases of flowers, painted with the meticulous naturalism for which Dutch painters were to be revered centuries later. The detail of petals, leaves, ceramic and transparent glass placed at the centre of the painting, in front of Mary and between the angels, implies something about observation and fact: it implies that Van der Goes can "see" this vision just as surely as he can see those flowers.

This is a painting dense with personality and originality. Today's accounts of Renaissance art tend to put huge emphasis on patrons, on religious and communal commissioning. But a stunning new book, Gothic and Renaissance Altarpieces, in which the Portinari is reproduced, reveals that religious art was a territory of frenzied individualism. Altarpieces let the artist go crazy: Bosch painted The Garden of Earthly Delights as an altar triptych; similarly extreme are Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece and Bouts's wings from a Last Judgment altarpiece.

Big, folding, multi-layered, multi-scened altarpieces are some of the most ambitious paintings that exist, and they offered immense scope for bizarre invention, to delight and awe the illiterate churchgoer. The shepherds in Van der Goes's altarpiece represent the humble people to themselves.

Van der Goes is mysteriously fervent. His painting wants to say everything. In the background, the rest of the story is played out with magical concision. Mary and Joseph make their way through rocky hills to Bethlehem; the shepherds are visited by the angel; the Magi journey out of the east.

It is the northern, winter landscape that sets the emotional tone of the entire painting. The trees are bare and black against a sky whose chill brings a cold blast of winter to Bethlehem. What it tells you, unmistakably, is that the religious vision of Van der Goes is hard won; it is fraught with fear and the knowledge of death. That is why the angels are so serious; this newborn baby is death-bound. The warm little theatre of the nativity is surrounded by winter; mortal ravens perch on the trees.

In the Red Cloister, in Wauters's painting, they try to comfort him. The choir sing heartily. The abbot looks on caringly. But Hugo van der Goes is inconsolable.

· Gothic and Renaissance Altarpieces by Caterina Limentani Virdis and Mari Pietrogiovanna is published by Thames and Hudson, priced £65.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2002/dec/23/art.artsfeatures

[purrlockswatson]

How's the writing going, you say?

I was typing out my novel on my phone, looked up, and saw this. To clarify, I meant satin-LINED cavity, describing a casket.

Well, I hit my head on a toilet water tank today, so I can't expect myself to act rationally.

The story is about a vampire opera house. I played with the idea of adding Erik into it, but I didn't expect him to pop up out of nowhere to give one of my characters a house tour.

I think he wants to kill the vampires now, and I don't know what to do. How little control I actually have over my writing never fails to surprise me.

(More gremlin sphynx cat Erik here, fancy hat cowboy Phantom here)

[purrlockholmesbooks]

Interview with the vampire Pierce pt 3

Pierce, @whyisthereacentaur asks: Are there any flavour differences when comparing ABO blood groups, rhesus positive/negative, Duffy grouping or Kells antigens? Is it like different wines or different bottled water?

Pierce: Back in my day, such differentiation was unknown to us. However, now that I know of it, I shall be sampling the various types - why, I thought that ‘O’ meant ‘organic’!

(Interviewer's note: Pierce believes organic means something like ‘bougie.’)

Pierce missed last week's interview because he was modelling for his portrait. You can see previous interviews here! He is from my WIP, Gothic Tales from Melancholia.

[purrlockswatson]

I drew this with a pen on its last gasp:

Obsessed with the clean 6-inch gaps between them. @vladimirsangel I love your Pierce, he looks like a Christmas elf beside the others, bless him.

And of course they are talking about chicken.

Dumb sketches because I got obsessed with their height differences. Sorry it's so rough but my brain is like tangled wool tonight

Feel better soon @purrlockswatson!

Have a better day @blackforrestpunk!

(I don't know what they're talking about. Something fun)

[metvmorqhoses]

i just came across your blog from your amazing art taste. how did you come to get into such classical striking styles? from your love of donna tartt i assume it carried through to other art forms. what are some of your favourite artists or themes (could be visual, musical, literary etc)?

first of all, thank you from the bottom of my heart because this ask really made my day, you’re a sweetheart.

actually, i think if i have to track down a literary origin point for my art taste (even if it’s not entirely true it all originated in that specific way, it’s truer to state i was born with it, i would roam around the louvre or versailles at six and already feel so in awe and in my element, or i would arrive in rome at nine and feel home), but the real turning point of my artistic taste was the art for art’s sake movement, walter pater and oscar wilde. only ten years later i discovered donna tartt, and i had already graduated from my classics high school and in general studied the classics for ten years - yes, donna tartt added a great deal of beauty in my life, but i was already completely part of that world, so to speak.

it’s so difficult to list all the artists, and styles, and in general all the beauty that daily inspires my life, the right answer would be, “everything that strikes me within and that i find beautiful”, and that can be literally anything, but i can try, for art’s sake :)

art genres and movements:

mythology, classicism, neoclassicism, medioeval art, romanticism, gothic, surrealism, baroque, high renaissance art, impressionism, pop-art, street art, urban art, and photorealism.

aesthetics:

dark magic, classicism, dark and soft mythology, dark academia, pretentiousness and dandyism

authors:

sophocles, euripides, sappho, homer, ovid, oprheus, plato, saint john, catullus, seneca, lucanus, héloïse, petrarch, dante, boccaccio, machiavelli, kyd, marlowe, shakespeare, keats, hölderlin, goethe, byron, mary shelley, shelley, the bronte sisters, walter pater, oscar wilde, baudelaire, de saint-exupéry, hugo, dumas, woolf, joyce, d’annunzio, ungaretti, montale, quasimodo, lewis, talkien, fizgerald, pessoa, saramago, kundera, nietzsche, tartt, pullman, rowling, carey, weis, hickman, bulgakov, nabokov, rushdie, salinger, colli, baricco, pirandello, calasso, kerenyi, proust, my dead poets and, obviously, myself.

books:

the greek myths, the poetic edda, the orphic hymns, the bacchae, iphigenia in aulis, the iliad, the metamorphosis, the letters of abelard and héloïse, the divine comedy, the prince, the spanish tragedy, tamerlaine the great, marlowe’s doctror fausts and goethe’s doctor faustus, macbeth, romeo and juliet, the tempest, a midsummer night’s dream, julius caesar, the modern prometeous, jane eyre, wuthering heights, walter pater’s the reinassaince, the picture of dorian gray, the profundis, the importance of being earnest, the flowers of evil, the little prince, la esmeralda, the count of montecristo, the three musketeers, mr dallaway, the waves, orlando, paradise lost, the dubliners, the pleasure, the chronicles of narnia, the lord of the rings, the silmarillion, the great gatsby, the book of disquiet, blindness, the unbearable lightness of being, the greek tragedy, thus spoke zarathustra, his dark materials, harry potter, the kushiel’s legacy, the dragonlance saga, the secret history, the goldfinch, the little friend, the name of the rose, lolita, the master and margarita, the satanic verses, the greek sapience, oceansea, silk, remembrance of things past, the wedding of cadmus and armonia, the catcher in the rye, the elegance of the hedgehog, dracula, the phantom of the opera, elective affinities, the sorrows of young werther, venus in furs.

painters, sculptors and artists:

caravaggio, botticelli, da vinci, michelangelo, canova, dalì, klimt (who is my absolute favorite), fontana, de chirico, marina abramovich, waterhouse, dicksee.

directors:

lars von trier, baz luhrmann, wes anderson, michael gondry, the wachowski sisters, sorrentino.

movies:

only lovers left alive, her, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, mood indigo, nymphomaniac, dogville, manderlay, melancholia, antichrist, breaking the waves, moulin rouge!, the great gatsby, birdman, beginners, as good as it gets, trainspotting, fight club, amelie, breakfast at tyffany’s, submarine, seeking a friend for the end of the world, frank, american beauty, dead poets society, kill your darlings, the book thief, the importance of being earnest, joan of arc, elizabeth: the golden age, the name of the rose, the best offer, the great beauty, the trials of oscar wilde, the hours, the phantom of the opera, the mask of zorro, thelma, gone with the wind, troy, la haine, orlando, lord of the rings, dragonheart, ladyhawke, interview with the vampire, bram stocker’s dracula, last tango in paris, dangerous liasons, this beautiful fantastic, the dreamers, band a part.

tv series:

sherlock, the young pope, penny dreadful, sense8, kidding, westworld, peaky blinders, the man in the high castle, genius, the tudors, versailles, vikings, the 100, the handmaid’s tale, poldark, outlander, game of thrones, da vinci’s demons, dracula, the originals, the count of montecristo.

musicals:

the phantom of the opera, love never dies, notredame de paris, the lion king, les miserables, anastasia, le moulin rouge,

music:

leonard cohen, medieval organ music, tom waits, lana del rey, helsey, lou reed, bright eyes, all disney honestly, chopin, laura marling, natalie merchant, bjork, roberto vecchioni, the phantom of the opera: 25th anniversary soundtrack, love never dies: london soundtrack, fabrizio de andrè, nick cave, placebo, kamelot, adele, 30 seconds to mars, elton john, ramazzotti, bocelli, evanescence, zucchero, sinatra, garbage, hans zimmer, jeff buckley, david bowie, mina, pink floyd, mumford & sons, oasis, nostalghia, queen, notre-dame the paris italian soundtrack, sia, the cure, the phantom of the opera italian sound track, lucifer’s sound track, U2, wagner.

those are just a few off the top of my head, but i’m sure i forgot thousands. hope you’ll enjoy them tho, and being inspired by them as i am!

[doomedandstoned]

A Listener’s Guide to ‘Defying The Righteous Way’ by Cardinals Folly

~By Billy Goate~

~Photographs by Murder Basement Studios~

CARDINALS FOLLY belong to the Reverend Bizarre school of doom, but also takes its cues from '80s Gothic rock. In this way, Cardinals Folly (who started life as The Coven in 2004) and Lord Vicar were among the first to pioneer a sound that soon caught on with other bands like Acolytes of Moros, Caskets Open, and Weird Tales, to name a few. Their style makes for a transfixing listening experience and I've been enamored of the band since discovering their first LP, "Such Power Is Dangerous!' (2011). Who would have dreamed then that the trio from Helsinki would one day be playing Doomed & Stoned Festival?

It's also hard to believe that the doomed crew of Count Karnstein (bass, vox), Nordic Wrath (guitar), and Battle Ram (drums) are now on album number five, with two EPs and two splits also under their belt. As prolific as Cardinals Folly seem, they don't seem to have lost their edge on 'Defying The Righteous Way' (2020). After all, this far into an artist's discography I'm used to picking up on notes of lethargy, with some bands having to really stretch the definition of a "song" just to get another album out there (usually under contractual obligation). When you do what you do for the love of music, the compositional pen flows freely.

Let's start with the title. Defying The Righteous Way is an obvious dig at one of the Norseman's truest adversaries: Christianity. When the religion of Jesus came to Finland it was an aggressive ideology of conquest co-opted by the Catholic Church. The Northern Crusades saw to it that one way or another the Skandanavian people were converts, even if in name only. Before metal, there was still a heavy underground, so to speak, comprised of resisters who may have given lip service to The Cloth, but a very pagan connection to the earth.

The modality of Cardinals Folly quite often marries doom with ancient mannerisms of song, illustrated in the stately Medieval rhythm and the chanting chorus of "The Great Santur." I think it is this aspect of the band's output I've enjoyed the most, as it feels like they're somehow bridging a connection to the past, when resentments simmered for clergy and king alike.

For newer listeners, Defying The Righteous Way makes as good an introduction as any to the band's characteristic sound and style portfolio. Cardinals Folly toggles between fast-trotting songs like "Witchfinders," mid-tempo stompers like "Last House On The Left," and the more traditional slow burners like "Stars Align Again." In this way, they call to mind Saint Vitus (especially the Scott Reagers-era) out of all the Fathers of Doom.

If I have any complaint, it's simply that there isn't enough sadness on the album for my taste, with the exception of "Last House On The Left," which has some very effective moments of melancholia in its second half. Maybe it's because Mikko Kääriäinen's vocals have always hinted of sorrow for me, but they're mostly used to express gravity. I suppose "Strange Conflict" does come closer to scratching my depressive itch. By the way, I do love its Joy Division-esque pulse during the six-minute mark.

While the songs may not pop out immediately in a sing-along sense, the collective vibe does grow on you. There's an undeniable energy about Defying The Righteous Way that reveals a band with finely tuned musical instincts and a damning fire within, still longing to Burn The Priest.

Give ear...

Defying The Righteous Way by Cardinals Folly

Cardinals Folly Frontman Reveals True Meaning Behind New Songs

Doomed & Stoned recently asked Mikko Kääriäinen (aka Count Karnstein) if he would illuminate the new Cardinal's Folly album, 'Defying The Righteous Way' (2020). He responded by giving us this in-depth track-by-track breakdown, which fans of the band will surely relish.

STARS ALIGN AGAIN

Defying The Righteous Way by Cardinals Folly

The wild "we're back!" opener track starts off slowly but picks up pace nicely, to introduce both faces of the band. Once our warlocks of heavy doom metal have re-animated their body again after finding it from the northern graveyard, to honor the old gods in Lovecraftian fashion, the doom hulk is ready to ride again.

DERANGING THE PRIEST

Defying The Righteous Way by Cardinals Folly

Once the Deranged Pagan Sons have been let loose, things can't be stopped anymore. Second track unleashes NWOBHM-influenced galloping dirty heavy metal goodness with anti-religious statement and fury. Continuing on the path set by the previous album and it's title track indeed, "Deranging the Priest" unleashes even more wrath upon the tyranny created by righteous men. This song is traditional doom's own church burner.

WITCHFINDERS

Defying The Righteous Way by Cardinals Folly

Vicious metal riffs combined with the pathos of a psychotic witchfinder, a modern day Matthew Hopkins who sets out to punish evil witches in his own right. Disappointment in women was probably a major fuel in this fire, heh! This is maybe my favorite from the album. What's funny is that we almost dropped it. Right before the studio we had this and another song with our finger on the trigger, we needed to drop either of them to cut the album down to 45 minutes. Luckily we chose right, because on our recent German tour, this became an instant live hit as well.

THE GREAT SANTUR

Defying The Righteous Way by Cardinals Folly

Originally meant as the album-closer track, "The Great Santur" again demonstrates our own take on nordic mysticism and it's epicness from the opening bell, and never lets it go. I love playing this song, because it's so ceremonial, and the chorus fills my mind with epic visions each time I sing it. The intro sample again is a throwback from the past, reminding us of "Secret of the Runes" from the previous album "Deranged Pagan Sons" (2017) and "Walvater Proclaimed!" from the Lucifer's Fall split (2019). I'm hearing a lot of Bathory, Summoning and even very early Amorphis in this one! We ended up choosing this as the A side closer, because it's slightly shorter than "Strange Conflict", and we nowadays plan all album structures with the vinyl format in mind, so it's divided in two halves.

THE LIVING DEAD

Defying The Righteous Way by Cardinals Folly

"The Living Dead" opens the second half of the album, which is an introduction to the B side, if you're listening to the vinyl version. It works the same way on any format, providing a brief séance and another visit to the bizarre horror classic "Psychomania" (1971), that we already tributed a track to on our third album "Holocaust of Ecstasy & Freedom" (2016)...

ULTRA-VIOLENCE

Defying The Righteous Way by Cardinals Folly

...which brings us to "Ultra-Violence", or more like throws it suddenly straight into our face. A fierce punk-doomer that deals with A Clockwork Orange and energy to stomp down a bunch of devotchkas after a hazy night in the korova milk bar. Slight doom part in the middle calms it down before the final attack. Music and lyrics for this one came from me already in 2016 before the previous album, but it was just waiting to boil up a bit. Definitely our most punky song so far. Anthony Burgess and Stanley Kubrick rule.

LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT

Defying The Righteous Way by Cardinals Folly

Doom, horror films and bloodlust definitely dominate the majority of the B-side of this album, and thus this song dedicated to Wes Craven's best film grabs the torch from its equally disturbing predecessor honorably, travelling through suburbs with Krug's horny and homicidal gang. It's grooviness is definitely one of the malicious and deadly kinds. As life escapes from the girls of this story, so does the groovy rockiness transform slowly into screams of horror, dirges of melancholy and hopelessness, and finally into a slow final riff draining our life into an uncertain death...

STRANGE CONFLICT

Defying The Righteous Way by Cardinals Folly

I guess it's an unwritten rule that every Cardinals Folly album should carry within itself some sort of homage to the "Prince of Thriller Writers", the late Dennis Wheatley (1877-1977). The title reminds us of the early works compilation we released through Shadow Kingdom Records back in 2013, yet it pays tribute to Wheatley's 1940 WWII black magic novel, where the nazis are determining the routes of the secret British atlantic convoys by using a witch doctor in Haiti, leading into an epic white magic/black magic battle. Musically it travels from epic doom to Iron Maiden-ish heavy metal takeoff, which boils down to the final slow doomed hypnotic dirge of the album, that floats us again towards uncharted seas and uncertain fates..

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[acturianacademy]

Origin of Werevolves: Fictional Origins

Werewolf! Most think of a man who transforms into a wolf during a full moon, correct? That’s only half the story. In this mini-lesson from my course of Fictional Origins at Acturian Academy, you will be taught the full story for this creature of the night.

The word werewolf was originally in Old English as wer(e)wulf. Were meaning man and wulf meaning wolf. The name scientific name for the disorder thought to transform a man to a wolf is lycanthropy. The word lycanthropy comes from Ancient Greek.

Clinical Lycanthropy And What It Is

Clinical Lycanthropia is a rare psychiatric syndrome that‘s main symptom is creating a person to have a delusion that they have been or can transform into a non-human animal. It is considered to be caused by another condition such as schizophrenia, bipolar or clinical depression. Patients can experience other behavioral changes such as growling, howling or crawling. Most patients report moments of reminiscence that they have or currently feel like an animal. It has been stressed by doctors at McLean Hospital there has been no specific diagnosis of mental or neurological illness for lycanthropy.

History Behind Werewolves

In the seventh century, Lycanthropia was attributed to medical conditions. The Alexandrian physician Paulus Aegineta blamed the behavior of those diagnosed with Lycanthropia to Melancholia, the excess of black bile.

Despite tales later linking werewolves to ‘Satan’, in 1563 a Lutheran physician named Johann Weyer said that he believed werewolves suffered from an imbalance in their melancholic humor and had a dry tongue, great thirst and dim, dry eyes.

Folklore Behind Werewolves

When it comes to the story of what a werewolf is, around the world there are many different beliefs. European folklore typically tell of werewolves showing animal like physical traits even in their human forms. But in Swedish lore, werewolf would be recognizable between real wolves only by the fact that they run on three legs and use one as a tail. Some stories tell that the werewolf transforms due to the power from the full moon but others say they transform through satanic rituals. In many werewolf folklore stories, the conversion to christianity is a cure for werewolfism.

Werewolves and Witches

During the witch trials, the popularity of werewolf related folklore spread further along Europe. Some would accuse lycanthropy of being involved along witches, and also burn them as the stake. Records show that 280 known cases of executions of werewolves happened, which looks meek compared to the 12,000 witches executed. Witches were accused of keeping werewolves as minions to help with evil deeds for the Devil. After the witch trials, the folklore of werewolf related fiction emerged in the gothic literary genre, combined with medieval romance. Come the 20th century, werewolves became a huge part of horror and fantasy in modern pop-culture.

Real Life Case

A recorded case of Lycanthropy was the Werewolf of Chalons, Demon Tailor. He was arraigned in Paris on 14 December 1598 on murder charges which were so gross that the court ordered all documents of the hearing to be destroyed. Even his real name has become lost in history. Burnt to death for his crimes, he was thought to decoy children of both sexes into his shop, and having abused them he would slice their throats, then powder and dress their bodies, jointing them as a butcher cuts up meat. In the twilight, under the shape of a ‘wolf’, he roamed the woods to leap out on stray passers-by and tear their throats to shreds. Barrels of bleached bones were found concealed in his cellars as well as other foul and hideous things.

Meeting the Mentor

Hello, I am Mentor Dean at Acturian Academy. I teach Divination, Death Witchcraft, Spirit Work, Fictional Origins, and co-mentor for Curses and Hexes. This is one mini-lesson from my course, Fictional Origins. If you have any questions feel free to message me!

My Email: deanacturian@gmail.com

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My Instagram: dean_acturian_

My Twitter: dean_acturian

My Instagram: dean_acturian_

Interested in learning more:

Apply for this and our 26 other offered classes in this quick two minute form:

https://acturianacademy.typeform.com/to/iOnVQx

[purrlockswatson]

Thank you, @windforkthewriter ! Here goes:

I don't know what the heck to write after that. It wasn't supposed to be a funny scene, but well. If you'd asked a few minutes earlier would have gotten a messy monologue about vampire breakups. @blackforrestpunk @vladimirsangel @whyisthereacentaur No worries if you don't want to, you're the first writer friends to pop into my head!

Last Line Tag Game

Tagged by @thesongistheriver - who is also being very kind and beta-reading my current WIP. My first ever long-form Merlin fanfiction. I had posted an earlier version of the first chapter on AO3 a while back, but took it down when I realised I wanted to expand it more and write a decent chunk before uploading :-)

This line is taken from a scene where Merlin encounters the Triple Goddess during a quest through the spirit world. The forms disappear, the mother last... and the line is:

She slowly faded into thin air, though her touch, an indelible warmth, lingered: a tender imprint etched deep into his very soul.

I tag @bebravedearheart @samwinjester @windforkthewriter

[bonnierosebryan]

Inktober Day 14: Mrs Danvers (Judith Anderson), from the film Rebecca

Rebecca is a gothic tale of obsession, secrets,melancholia, and death. I loved the novel (by Daphne DuMarier), and the film is my fave Hitchcock, as well as one of my top 5 fave films of all time. No matter how many times I see it, Mrs. Danvers never fails to give me the chills! 

[bestnewsmag-blog]

New Post has been published on Bestnewsmag

New Post has been published on https://bestnewsmag.com/the-life-and-times-of-collingwood-legend-lou-richards/

The life and times of Collingwood legend Lou Richards

Critical Analysis of the Legend of the Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

  Washington Irving weaves heaps and lots of spider webs earlier than he involves the primary plot of the story. I would love to analyze the story from the factor of view of Romance, Gothic Fiction, Marxism, Psychoanalysis and Feminism.

As a romance, the story revolves around the protagonist Ichabod Crane’s efforts to woo Katrina. Ichabod Crane involves the village to be a college grasp. Katrina a buxom lass has many admirers and the tale sets the conflict between Brom Bones, the country lad, and Ichabod who’s additionally her admirer. The romance follows a regular medieval sample of courtly love. The men strive their first-rate to make amorous advances to Katrina.

Katrina unearths it attractive to be wooed by using many guys. This kind of romantic paradigm is identified through the Truthseeker Kristeva as belonging to melancholia that could be a longing for something that cannot be obtained. In this sport of romance, women are silenced and romance acts as a pursuing ritualistic recreation for the guys. Are ladies gadgets to be courtroom worshiped and obtained by subservient gestures? Is the proper of romance converting to women taking a more energetic role? Are ladies, poetic hearts to be adornments? Are gender roles moving and becoming extra feminine in trendy romance? The questions are clean to frame however the solutions are tough to conjecture.

The tale is modeled along the strains of Gothic fiction and the village is haunted by many ghostly stories. The most outstanding of them is the legend of the headless horseman who visits the village nocturnally and returns to his grave earlier than sunrise. The legend of the headless horseman turns into the crux of the plot of the tale as we in a while apprehend in the long run that when a celebration at Katrina’s residence, while Ichabod Crane is using on the pony, he’s accosted by a headless horseman and loses manage of his horse and whilst the head is thrown at him, he turns into an entire disarray.

We can handiest consider that the author has woven the plot as a ploy made by using Ichabod’s rival Brom Bones who is Katrina’s admirer to oust him from the village. the author has created a plot that is weak but leaving lots of room for fictional imagination. Submit modern-day style of fiction has sounded the dying knell for the Gothic. New age readers can examine via the plot as a fictional construct and Gothic plots within the postmodern generation are dull. The truth isn’t the amazing however the aesthetic in contemporary fictional phrases. Ridicule, irony and self-mirrored image are the devices thru which Publish current writer explores his or her work.

From a Marxian attitude, the story portrays the existence of the elite bourgeoisie, who’re rich but rustic and not very knowledgeable. It’s an underestimation that they do not pay a whole lot of an importance to the schooling of their children. That is found out within the shoddy construction of the school that is clearly a shack. Negritude is also portrayed within the tale with the magnificence of attention of disdain.

The story indicates the evolution of rural The united states and fits the paradigm of class consciousness that is snobbish, elite and but muddled in waters of being unsophisticated. The cultural ideals and values of Rural America are primitive and deeply tainted with excellent-naturalism and myths. The protagonist of the play, Ichabod is the most effective individual who resembles the proletariat. however, alternatively, the author clouds him with superstitious ideas. girls are limited to the role of congenial housewives or as items for guys to set their charms on.

Psychoanalytically talking, the story revolves around haunting specters, Christianity and the paganism of witchcraft. The humans of the village are riddled with the panoply of a harassed jargon of having staunch Christian ideals and yet being ardent admirers of witchcraft. This salmagundi is an amalgamated cauldron of irrationality. One finds it difficult to digest these myths inside the postmodern era. It also exhibits the writer’s confusion of an emotional dialectic between tough held Christian beliefs and paganism. At an archetypal degree, the dualism of the cosmos with properly and evil grow to be silhouettes that waddle the thoughts in perforations of substantiation. Devil and God grow to be allegorical attributes of a thought this is bewildered with arcane riddles. the writer’s unconscious is manifested with a consciousness that mingles fantasy and superstition with Reality.

Looking for the story from a feminist factor of view We will say that guys are phallic fathers attempting to find the Oedipal female. ladies are either submissive, doting housewives or coquettish damsels prepared to be enticed by using men. Yes, Katrina is an authoritarian feminist in relation to romance. She enjoys fascinating all of the men out to entice her. however, Katrina’s role is limited to a gender stereotype and missing in autonomy and democracy. The phallic language of the textual content by means of making stereotypes of the masculine and the feminine desires to be strongly questioned via the lens of feminist deconstruction. Gender and language vibrate with a magnet that is a Utopian Phallic Father.

Developing Courage in Difficult Times

  We do not broaden braveness by way of being satisfied each day. We develop it via surviving hard instances and challenging adversity. Our tough instances often deliver out the first-rate in ourselves.

In my experience, human beings who’ve been via painful, tough instances are full of compassion. In spite of adversity, folks that are happiest seem to have a way of mastering from hard instances, turning into more potent, wiser and happier as an end result. The man isn’t always made for defeat. It’s far real that Mango through one of a kind phases in life. It’s a part of residing and current. On occasion we’re devastated because of the loneliness and emptiness we feel inside but we want no longer lose hope.

Extremely good guys do not enjoy small challenges. They face Fantastic project but that is what makes them Brilliant. that’s what give them the First-rate story. They live and leave one of a kind footprints of existence on minds

braveness is a choice that requires action. deliver yourself credit. Use the identical electricity to make courageous choices these days. On occasion, making the wrong preference is better than making no desire. You have the courage to move forward; that is uncommon. I am not a courageous individual by way of nature. but at a positive factor in my life, I discover the courage to go away my husband.

Finding the braveness to stand wherein I fall allowed me to have perseverance in existence. Or perhaps at times, It is a mixture of spirit and choice, love and wishes to recognize in which to the appearance without flinching. The only actual measure of braveness is perseverance under pressure.

Real braveness is doing the right component while nobody’s searching. The key to lifestyles is accepting challenges. Be thankful to the ones painful memories of your lifestyles, due to the fact the ones what shaped you to come to be who you’re now. Each mistake teaches you something new about yourself. There is no failure, take into account, except in no longer attempting. It’s far the courage to keep that counts. It could absolutely transform your lifestyles. Do the right issue because It’s miles proper. Those are the magic keys to staying your life with integrity even in hard instances.

You expand it by means of surviving hard times and hard adversity. You’ll never do whatever in this international without courage. It’s far the finest first-class of the mind, next to honor. The task will not wait. life does no longer look lower back. Preserve on to your energy and in no way supply it away.

That is what braveness is. Starting again. Damning the previous day and going through day after today together with your head held excessively.

Finding the True Love of Your Life – Be Yourself

  Finding the true love of your life is a cry of each regular human being in the world. A few are nonetheless scouting for that true love. Others are inside the technique already and they doubt if the only they have got is the genuine one. All people desires to be truly loved. A few attempted and they got disenchanted alongside the way and they determined to stop searching. You may nonetheless find your genuine love, it isn’t too past due. I admit that Locating the true love of your life is not that smooth. Why? People are complex. In order that complicates the technique. Finding the real love of your existence is a great factor. Let us read collectively the subsequent scriptures:

Seasoned 18:22 Whoever unearths a spouse reveals what is right, and receives favor from the LORD.

1Co 7:2 Due to the fact sexual immorality is so rampant, every guy have to have his own spouse, and every woman must have her personal husband.

It is straightforward for one while he sees someone he fancies to get tempted to come to be a one of a kind character. He tries to grow to be what the capacity existence companion is looking for. However one of these reinventions of self is short-lived. Eventually, you’ll be discovered out if you pretend to be something you aren’t. You cannot fake all the time. while the capacity love of your existence finds out you might lose badly. Just consider the golden rule. in case you had been to date a person and later find out that the character becomes faking himself or herself, how would you without a doubt feel? The opportunity is that folks that are proper to themselves would Simply terminate the dating system. Or if they had pre-dedicated, they could resentfully terminate the connection.

One can also ask, “What if I am in a relationship now and I am now not absolutely myself?” You can pop out to the open now earlier than it’s far too overdue. “What if the relationship comes to a cease?” you ask. it’s miles higher for it to come to a quit now than later. That could keep A few very deep hurts. The foundation of real love has to be honesty Due to the fact if not, it’s going to stop badly. In the end, you could discover that your genuine individual is what your ability love of your lifestyles is searching out. In no way faux yourself Because you might discover someone who isn’t always suitable for you. By using so doing you can appeal to the wrong accomplice and that isn’t always what you want.

I consider that out there, there may be a person who is searching exactly for the sort of man or woman you’re. That person is looking for an original which you are. This is someone who will not have a problem dwelling together with your failings and flaws. So be true to yourself and be who you certainly are. Be happy with yourself. Nobody is such as you on this planet. you are specific. So allow yourself to be distinctive.

Why perform little Human beings fake themselves?

Those are a number of the reasons amongst many legend Life times.

1) They may be insecure. someone who is insecure lacks self- confidence. He feels inadequate.

2) They experience that the capability love of their lifestyles is seeking out something better than they could offer.

Be yourself. Recognize what you stand for. You have to Understand what you are seeking out yourself. Have your own necessities to be met for a lifestyles companion. Do not be moved. As you continue to be true to yourself, be patient. Do no longer bow to stress. Right matters come to individuals who are capable of the wait. That is why I offer a dating coaching software to put together you for the love of your life.